HOUSE CHURCH — 5/8/22

Many Christians have a skewed understanding of faith when they read Hebrew 11 –the hall of faith chapter in the Bible. We tend to believe that all we have to do is believe and pray our requests to God and that we will have everything we wanted and prayed for.  And when it doesn’t occur like we think it should, many of us tend to lose our faith. Some completely lose their faith and walk away, some become disappointed, and think it wasn’t God’s will and some become bitter.
 
Although the scriptures reveal that people received their promises, we do not recognize that there was a gap, or a period of time waiting; sometimes it was 25 years like with Abraham having a son or that some promises are never received in their lifetime. In the time of waiting for our promises we need to understand that we can have faith and still have unbelief. (Mk 9:24) It’s not just that we believe or that we are in unbelief. We need to see that faith is an important commodity in the kingdom of God and the enemy will come to steal our faith. So, we need to recognize the things that will hinder us from believing in our God and his goodness.
 
 Some things that war against us:
1.     Circumstances– when they do not change, will we still believe? (Heb 11:39) they did not receive their promises
2.     Impatience—will we wait?  (James 1:3)
3.     Weariness and exhaustion—will we believe endure (1Peter 1:7)
4.     Silence from God—will we be disappointed and angry with God (Ps 94:14; Is 41:17)
 
Consider the following questions:
1.     Evaluate our faith level? Do we have unbelief?
2.     What wars with our faith? What is causing us to have unbelief?
 
Since it is impossible to please God without faith (Heb11:6) and because the trying of our faith is more precious than gold, can we like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego say that even if God does not deliver or provide like we think He should, we will still worship Him and believe in His goodness (Dan3:17-18)or like Job say though he slay me, yet will I trust him?(Job13:15)
 
Remind your people:
1.     OCSM classes begin next Sunday: When Generations Run Together class with Pastor Bobby, Leadership college with Tony Bailey, Spiritual Warfare with Kara Fry, Maturing in Christ with Dr. John and Foundations with Luly Pulles
2.     Honoring our Graduates and Baby Dedication
3.     Water Baptism- May 29
4.     Encounter Weekend -May 27-28
5.     Prayer Initiative for May