A Faith That Sustains

Notes
Transcript
Handout
Philippians 1:6 NIV
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6 The Message
6 There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.
Start Here:
Ephesians 2:8–10 NIV
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Hebrews 11:1 NIV
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
substance, firmness, confidence, collection of documents establishing ownership, guarantee, proof
‘what is set or placed under’ any thing, a foundation,
Assurance - proof; proving, argument of disproof or refutation
It’s the place from which we argue against everything that exalts itself against the Word of God.
If were going to experience sustaining faith we need to believe. God wants to pull you up and out of the darkness of unbelief.

God helps me in my unbelief.

Un- 1. Prefix ( Added to Verbs) denoting the reversal or cancellation of an action or state.
Un-tie / un-do ( Release, separate or reduce.) /Un- burden ( Jesus said He’d un-burden us.)
Mark 16:10–14 NKJV
10 She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. 12 After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. 14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
Hebrews 3:12 NIV
12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
Sinful- (ponēros), wicked, evil, bad, morally corrupt (Mt 5:11); guilty, the result of an evil deed (Heb 10:22); , jealous, envious , stingy crime, an evil legally chargeable (Ac 25:18)
unbelief, distrust, apisteō be unfaithful; fail to believe
sklēros, hard, dry, stiff, inflexible, rigid
sklērokardia, hard-heartedness
John 20:24-29
John 20:24–29 NLT
24 One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.” 26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” 28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. 29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
Thomas wasn’t with the disciples the first time but he was the second. Even his confession of unbelief didn’t cause him to walk away. He still gathered and participated in.
It was a season for Thomas. All of us will have these seasons but we must continue to do what’s right through them.
Key thought is that they didn’t stop gathering together.
Faith without works is dead. If The lord has started something in us he’s invested in us and he’s a wise investor. he will tend to you to move you forward.
Mark 9:21–24 NLT
21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22 The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” 23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” 24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
Hebrews 3:12–13 NIV
12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Hebrews 3:14 NIV
14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.
Hebrews 3:12–13 The Message
12 So watch your step, friends. Make sure there’s no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. 13 For as long as it’s still God’s Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn’t slow down your reflexes.
Hebrews 3:14 The Message
14 If we can only keep our grip on the sure thing we started out with, we’re in this with Christ for the long haul. These words keep ringing in our ears: Today, please listen; don’t turn a deaf ear as in the bitter uprising.
Numbers 14:22 NKJV
22 because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice,
Three issues They faced. going back provision, direction.

1. Faith sustains me when I look back.

Numbers 14:3–4 NIV
3 Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
Acts 7:39–41 NIV
39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ 41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.
You have to guard your heart
Proverbs 4:23 NLT
23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Philippians 3:13–14 NLT
13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
We will always create an idol that will lead us back to bondage.

2. Faith sustains me in times of need.

Exodus 15:24 NIV
24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
Exodus 16:2–3 NIV
2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
Matthew 6:25–26 NIV
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Matthew 6:33 NIV
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

3. Faith sustains me in His promise.

Joshua & Caleb
Joshua 14:6–9 NIV
6 Now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, 8 but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. 9 So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.’
Joshua 14:10–11 NIV
10 “Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.
Philippians 1:6 The Message
6 There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more