Where do we find strong faith? How important is it? This message helps us evaluate where we’ve placed our faith and gives practical instruction for building faith.

We’ll look at faith from three aspects: faith defined, faith demonstrated, and faith directed. Each aspect offers insight on understanding and building faith.

About the Speaker

Tony Higgins has been a follower of Christ for over 50 years, and serves on the Board of Faith Chapel. Through the years, he has also been both a student and leader in Bible studies. In his spare time, you’ll find him researching a new message, tinkering with computers, or spending time with his grandkids.

Being Certain of What You Cannot See

How strong is your faith?

In his book, Six Hours One Friday, Max Lucado tells the story of how he and his boat survived a hurricane. An old sea man gave Max the advice to take his boat to deep water, drop anchors off each corner of the boat, and pray that the anchors held. Max survived that storm, but learned an important lesson: all of us need an anchor that will hold during the storms of life.

That anchor is our faith.

• What have you put your faith in?

• How important is it to have faith?

• Where do we find a faith strong enough to make it through the storms of life?

Faith Defined - What is Faith?

Today we’ll look at faith from three different aspects. The first is faith defined. Before we discuss what faith is, let’s look at what faith is not.

Faith is often called upon in our world and looked at as a virtuous thing. If you want to get ahead in this world and be victorious you have to have faith in yourself and keep your chin up. Yet, what the world means by faith is often radically different than what the Bible means when it stresses the necessity of faith.

According to the world, faith is little more than positive thinking. It's what we fall back on when our carefully crafted plans fail and when things move outside of our control. You might say “it’s our backup plan.” For so many in our world, the only time faith really comes into play is when we encounter something that we can't think our way through or pay our way out of. Then, like Indiana Jones, we take a leap of faith and hope against all hope that it works out. You might say it’s more like “wishful thinking.”

There’s nothing wrong with thinking positive. Noted pastor and motivational speaker Norman Vincent Peale wrote over 40 books. His most successful is titled The Power of Positive Thinking. It was on the New York Times' best-sellers list for 186 weeks, including 48 at the number one non-fiction spot. The book sold more than five million copies worldwide has been translated into over 40 languages. It has been bought and read by both Christians and non-Christians.

The book begins by stating ten rules for “overcoming inadequacy attitudes and learning to practice faith”. The rules include four that are Christian-based:

• Repeat “If God be for us, who can be against us?” ten times every day (Romans 8:31).

• Repeat “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” ten times every day (Philippians 4:13).

• Affirm that you are in God's hands.

• Believe that you receive power from God.

These are all good things to do. The other six rules deal with strengthening one’s inner self. There’s nothing wrong with that. But when we focus on doing these things apart from God we are headed in the wrong direction.

The non-believer’s view of faith is far different than what we experience as Christians.

Let’s look at some of God’s promises and statements about him. God has spoken many promises in his Word. He has said:

• “I will supply all your needs according to my riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

• “I will pursue you with goodness and mercy” (Psalm 23:6).

• “He will never leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

• “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

• “I will give you wisdom for every new challenge” (James 1:5).

• “I will be with you and strengthen you and help you” (Isaiah 41:10).

• “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8).

• “I will give you words that you need to speak” (Luke 12:12).

• Jesus said “If you abide in me, you will bear much fruit” (John 15:5).

• “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

• “The Lord is my helper, I will not fear, what can man do to me” (Hebrews 13:5-6).

• “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1).

According to the author of Hebrews, faith is the principle that we live by. The righteous will live by faith (Galatians 3:11).

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6, NIV).

Faith is not something we retreat to as a last-ditch plan. Faith is what sustains the people of God in the good and the bad. Faith is the means by which we persevere as the people of God. It’s at the very core of our relationship with God.

Faith is not optional; it is required to have a relationship with God. We have been saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).

So, salvation is by God’s saving grace—but it’s only attainable by our faith in God for who he is and for what he can do. And it is apart from anything we can do by ourselves. There is no way to “work your way to heaven.”

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17, NIV).

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17, KJV).

We build our faith by reading God’s word and learning his promises and his accomplishments.

At the very basis of our relationship with God is having faith in his existence and that he has a plan of life for those who seek him.

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:1-3, NIV).

In Hebrews 11:1 the word assurance in the Greek is “hupostasis.” It has the same beginning of another Greek word “hupotasso” which is a military term meaning “to bring oneself under the authority of another.” Here, the word “hupostasis” means “under a contract or a promise.” It may be translated as “title-deed.” When we put our faith in God and come “under his authority” our eternity is assured by the blood of Jesus Christ and our existence and provision are supplied by God Almighty.

So, the first thing we understand about faith is that it embodies confidence in what we hope for, namely salvation and eternal life, and assurance about what we cannot see. For many people that’s not an easy task. They want to see it to believe it. Yet most of them go about their everyday lives accepting things they can’t see. They get on airplanes and soar into the sky at the hands of a pilot without knowing his or her competency, state of mental health or level of sobriety. And from the time they are born until the moment they die they breathe the air that they cannot see.

Every day, you breathe in just over 2,000 gallons of air—enough to almost fill up a normal-sized swimming pool. Breathing air is something we do every day and all the time without thinking about it. What would happen if suddenly there was no more air for the entire universe? Nobody wants to think about that. We don’t have to have faith that there will be air. We just have to breathe. But if God is the creator of all things, then he is the one who supplies the air that we breathe. So, when we have faith in God, we trust him to supply all of our needs including the air that we breathe.

Not only is faith the cornerstone of salvation, you can’t please God without it.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

We don’t, and can’t, have a relationship with God without faith.

Faith Demonstrated - How do we see faith in action?The second point is faith demonstrated.

Hebrews 11 is often called the faith chapter. It describes how various people responded in faith to what God said to them. But these stories about faith in the Bible are not told as historical trivia — they encourage us to have faith in our situations, too.

Let’s look at Noah. Verse 7 says “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.” You can read the account about Noah in Genesis 6-9. Wickedness spread throughout the land. God decided to wipe out the entire human race and all of the animals. But Noah found favor with God. He was a righteous man and the Bible says that “he walked faithfully with God.” There it is – faithfully. Noah walked faithfully with God.

So, God told Noah he was going to destroy the earth and its inhabitants. He gave Noah specific instructions on building a boat. He told him to gather two of every animal and creature, male and female. Noah was faithful. He acted faithfully in obeying God’s directions without knowing what lay ahead. Forty days and forty nights can be a long time afloat in a boat with all those animals and creatures. Noah concludes his journey by building an altar and making a sacrifice to God to show his gratefulness.

Next, we come to Abraham. He’s mentioned twice in Hebrews 11. The first instance is found with verses 8-9 where it says: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.”

So, here’s Abraham acting on faith and obeying God by going to a foreign land and living in tents, not knowing what conditions he will face or how long he’ll be there.

Then in verses 17-19 we find Abraham’s second account of being faithful: ‘By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.’

Before Isaac came along, Abraham reached old age. God told him he would be the father of many nations but he was having trouble being the father of one child. At last he had Isaac. But now God was telling him to sacrifice the son of promise. Abraham continued to be faithful to God and prepared to carry out God’s instructions, not knowing exactly what was going to happen but assumed that he would sacrifice Isaac and God would raise him from the dead. When he took Isaac up on the mountain, he told the others to wait in Genesis 22:5: ‘He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”’ Notice that Abraham said we will come back. He knew that both he and Isaac would return. Abraham’s steadfast faith allowed him to trust God for the future.

That’s the kind of faith God wants us to have. The kind that confidently trusts in God no matter what comes our way.

Faith DirectedThe third point is faith directed.

1. We are to have faith in God alone. First and foremost, our faith is to be in God only. Not in our own ability, our job, or anything else. Our faith should not be in our wisdom, but in God’s power (1 Corinthians 2:5).

“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind” (James 1:5-6, NLT).

2. We are to stand firm in the faith. To be on guard, stand firm, be courageous and strong (1 Corinthians 16:13). You may be strong in your faith and anchored in Jesus. Until one day something rocks your world.

• Job loss.

• Divorce.

• Loss of your home.

• Finding out you have a terminal illness.

• Loss of a loved one.

Loss of a loved one can be the hardest one. A young cousin of mine died in a house fire that resulted in my aunt receiving third degree burns in over 40% of her body. In the hospital she asked about her four-year-old son and was told that he perished in the fire. He was her oldest child. The emotional pain of her loss was greater than her physical pain. She was placed in a room with another burn victim who was a pastor’s wife. The two of them began to talk about their faith and trust in God and both affirmed their faith at 2:00 AM by singing “Oh How I Love Jesus” and “Victory in Jesus.” My aunt wrote a book about her life experiences including the fire and loss of her son. She lived victoriously, firmly planted in her faith in God.

By sharing our life experiences with others, we can help them build their faith. And we can build our faith by remembering our life experiences.

A few weeks after Rosa and I were married it was announced that they were going to close and demolish the older buildings where we worked at the VA Hospital in Livermore because it was not up to earthquake safety standards. A letter was sent to all employees informing them that they were going to cut the staff in half. My job was at risk because I didn’t have seniority. Everyone at risk would be offered one job which wouldn’t likely be at the same location but could be at a VA facility in the Bay Area or anywhere in the country. Nothing was promised more than one offer. I was in my third year at Bible College and wanted to continue. Working out of the area would make it impossible to do so. So we prayed. We embraced Proverbs 3:5-6 where we are told to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Taking a step of faith, we moved forward. In the coming weeks I would be offered not one but several jobs, including at two new VA Hospitals in Arizona and Missouri. Each time I was called to the personnel office and given the offer and had to sign a rejection form. They tried to reason with me and said I needed to think about how I was going to support my wife. I told them that God would take care of that. Just days before my layoff date I was called in one more time. Too many employees had retired or transferred elsewhere and they had some job vacancies. Even though the odds were against me, God took care of the situation. I was offered a job in Livermore as I wanted, but another department. The pay was less than what I was earning. So, they put me at the top of the pay scale, which resulted in a raise. I accepted and worked there for another eight years when I left for a job elsewhere. That experience helped prepare us for what was ahead. We have found numerous times when our faith was put to the test. God is awesome!

“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20, NIV).

We don’t know the extent of our faith until it is put to the test. James 1:3 says, “Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

So, what about you? How’s your faith? Is it strong or has it been shaken? Seek God and read his word to restore your faith.

Suggested Praise and Worship

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This and other sermons brought to you by Faith Chapel, an Assemblies of God church in Pleasanton, CA.