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Mission Statement
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OUTLINE AND SCRIPTURES I Corinthians 12:4-9 1. Definitions of faith A. Old Testament Deuteronomy 32:20 Habakkuk 2:4 B. New Testament Luke 12:28 Matthew 8:26 Matthew 14:31 Matthew 16:8 Hebrews 10:23 2. The gift of faith defined I Corinthians 12:9 Mark 11:22 John 14:12,13 A. For a specific purpose or instance Acts 3:16 B. Faith with power John 1:12 II Thessalonians 1:11 C. "Blind" faith II Corinthians 5:7 Hebrews 11:1 3. Summary of the gift of faith Philippians 2:13 Romans 10:17 Matthew 17:20 4. Warning I Corinthians 13:2 Romans 4:16,17 5. Examples Acts 9:40 Acts 27:22-25 Acts 28:2-6 Daniel 6:17-28 Ed Fidellow Purchase of a car Acquisition of a job Other examples 6. The interaction of the gift of faith with other gifts Matthew 10:8-10 Mark 16:15-19
THE GIFT OF FAITH Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all person. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit...I Corinthians 12:4-9a The gift of faith and the faith necessary to become a Christian are often confused. Both come from the Holy Spirit; both result in God being glorified. Yet there are some distinctions between the two. The word faith in Hebrew, means established, trustworthiness, firmness, security, fidelity, steady, truly, truth. It is found only twice in the Old Testament. Then he said, "I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be; For they are a perverse generation, Sons in whom is no faithfulness."
The Song of Moses. Deuteronomy 32:20 Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him, But the righteous will live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4 Even though, in the Old Testament, the word faith is only found in these two instances, the entire Old Testament is full of examples of faith - men and women who committed their lives and their security to God with strict yet loving obedience, fidelity, unwavering firm trust, and complete reliance upon Him for every need. In the Old Testament, instead of teachings on the doctrine of faith, we see examples of joyful love and trust lived out in the mundane matters of life as much as in major circumstances. We see people who obeyed the Law out of faith rather than mindless adherence to a set of rules. The spirit of the law is love and it was followed that way. Faith had to do with a specific word or work of God spoken either directly by God or through one of His prophets, through a revelation, through the general commandments of God. It was faith in God Himself. In the New Testament, faith has to do with the same things. However, in contrast to the number of occurrences where the word is found, the word faith is found almost 500 times in the New Testament. This could possibly be because the way in which the Messiah finally appeared was not what was expected. In fact, faith in Christ very quickly became synonymous with becoming a Christian. The words and works of Jesus were specifically carried out with the goal of creating and building up faith in Himself as the Son of God, the promised Messiah. In Greek, faith means persuasion, conviction of truth or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher, reliance upon Christ for salvation, constancy in such profession, assurance, belief, fidelity. Throughout the New Testament faith is not defined as simple intellectual assent; rather, it is a complete, total, and radical commitment to Jesus as Savior and Lord. Lack of faith (or unbelief) is the ultimate evil and the unforgivable sin. To underscore this last statement, in four instances, the word faith comes from a word that means incredulous, lacking confidence, of little faith. These four instances are:
But if God so arrays the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O men of little faith! Luke 12:28
And He said to them, "Why are you timid, you men of little faith?" Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and it became perfectly calm. Matthew 8:26
And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him (Peter) and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" Matthew 14:31
But Jesus, aware of this, said, "You men of little faith, why do you discuss among your- selves because you have no bread?" Matthew 16:8
There is one other place where the word faith means something a little different.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without
wavering, for He who promised is Here, the word faith means to anticipate, usually with pleasure; expectation or confidence, faith, hope. Even though, with the exception of these four verses, the meaning of the word faith is the same throughout the New Testament, when scripture talks about the gift of faith, a little more is meant. (We know this because of the context.) It is more than the measure of faith we have each been allotted (Romans 12:3). In I Corinthians 12:9, Paul is talking to people who have already exercised faith in Christ by receiving Him as Savior. Here he is talking about the specific gift of faith. It is a specific gift on top of what is necessary for eternal salvation and in addition to the fruit of the Spirit which comes as a result of receiving salvation. It is what Jesus was referring to when He said, "Have faith in God." Mark 11:22 This expression was a Hebraism which meant, "Have the faith of God." It is a gift that is to be used for the common good, to build up the body of Christ, to minister to others. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. John 14:12,13 This gift is not general in nature but is usually for a specific purpose or instance. It usually supersedes miracles and healings. Jesus used the gift of faith to perform many of His miracles. At times, so did the disciples. When Peter and John healed the lame beggar at the Beautiful Gate, they did not exercise the gift of healing as such. Peter specifically said, "On the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all." Acts 3:16 Listen to Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians - people who had already received Jesus and been given the right or power to become children of God (John 1:12). We pray for you always that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power. II Thessalonians 1:11 The gift of faith is a gift of power. With it, a person is able to see what God wants done, hear what God says, believe that He will accomplish His word, and act on that word in complete obedience. It often looks like "blind faith" because there is often or usually no physical evidence to substantiate what God is going to do. For we walk by faith, not by sight. II Corinthians 5:7
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
Notice two things here. #1 Faith is NOW! It is always in the present tense, not past or future. #2 Faith is connected to very real, tangible THINGS - in this life and the next. Faith is a tangible substance. It is not faith in what you can see, hear, taste, touch, or smell. But it is real and tangible nevertheless. It results in something you can see, experience, touch, taste, or feel. Faith is not natural, it is supernatural. In Greek, this word things means a deed, an affair, an object, business, matter, thing, work. The gift of faith is a manifestation gift given to those of us who have other motivational gifts. It enables us to accomplish and carry out a specific job or to believe that a certain unseen something is so. It gives us vision that inspires us, provides direction, and is the ultimate fulfillment of:
For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13 and So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Romans 10:17
With the gift of faith, mountains are moved.
...truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible. Matthew 17:20
Therefore, it is very important that people with this gift continually seek God for His kind of love.
And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. I Corinthians 13:2
When faith, as a fruit of the Spirit is exercised, faith is able to grow still more because the stories accumulate as a result of calling into being that which was not. In contrast, the gift of faith is instantaneous confidence that comes with power and conviction.
For this reason, it is by faith, that it might be in accordance with grace, in order that the promise may be certain to all the descendants...in the sight of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. Romans 4:16,17 Examples of the gift of faith in operation are: Peter received the gift of faith after he sent everyone out of the room, knelt down and prayed for Dorcas. When the gift came, scripture says,
...turning to the body, he said, "Tabitha, arise." And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. Acts 9:40
Paul's exercised the gift in the following two instances:
And yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there shall be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.' Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God, that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. Acts 27:22-25
And the natives showed in extraordinary kindness; for because of the rain that had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received us all. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, "Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live." However he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. But they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god. Acts 28:2-6
Daniel received the gift of faith when he was thrown into the lion's den. More than likely, though he already had a great deal of the faith fruit, he needed that supernatural, instantaneous surge of faith when he was actually lowered into the pit of hungry animals. Daniel 6:17-28
A man in one of my former churches had the gift of faith. With this gift, he owned and operated a K-12 Christian Montessori school. To the best of his ability, he ran the school as directed by God, doing and not doing things that are impossible or "unwise" from the world's point of view. Case in point: One year the Lord told him to require the parents of all the students to be involved in the education process. Under these directions, parents were required to visit the classroom once a semester, participate in a half day "work day" on campus once a month, carry the primary disciplinary responsibility of their child when the child broke school rules, attend school meetings, and participate in private sessions with him over how family values and rules are taught and enforced at home and how the school can cooperate. When he announced to the parents that they would be required to be involved with their child's education, he immediately lost half of his students. Like most private schools, the classrooms were full of messed up kids who couldn't make it in the public schools and whose parents wanted someone else to take responsibility for their children and not be involved in their lives. When they were challenged to participate, half were delighted and half left disgruntled. The gift of faith enabled my friend to keep the school running in spite of an immediate and drastic drop in income. Within three years, the school was not only still in operation, it had acquired accreditation with the state, additional land, and more students. A number of years ago, God gave me a gift of faith to be able to purchase a car outright - with no loan or payments. We have since acquired several cars that way. The gift of faith for a particular job enabled my daughter-in-law to "hang tough" through "impossible" situations and people for a particular job. She knew the job was for her; she believed it to be so; and she acted upon that belief. The gift of faith is faith so strong that you step out and act as if whatever you believe is so. There is no hint, even, of negative thoughts, doubt, or unbelief. The gift of faith is demonstrated often during intercessory prayer. It can also manifest itself through encouraging others, giving, leading building or stewardship campaigns. The gift of faith can motivate you to express God's love by whatever means God directs through ministry and/or manifestation of the Spirit. It is a gift that interacts with other gifts of the Spirit. When Jesus sent His first disciples out and when He gave His last instructions before His ascension, His orders indicate, that all the gifts of the Spirit must combine and blend with each other. In actual practice, this interaction is necessary for fulfillment.
Matthew 10:8-10
Mark 16:15-19 And these signs will accompany those who have believed;
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