FAITH
It will be Interesting to know the number of Ministries that have either Folded or gone Apostate just because Men called by God failed to See Promised Results Soon EnoughBy Pastor Seth Asare Ofei Badu - BNWC Resident Pastor
Main Text: 1 John 5:1-5,10
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
Faith is trust, hope, and belief in the goodness, trustworthiness or reliability of God; Faith is belief that is not based on proof. Faith embodies more than the common notion of belief. Faith elevates one's being, while belief is often limited to a mental state or emotion.
All that we achieve as Christians is the result of our faith:
- Possession of Eternal Life
- Making Disciples for Christ
- Forgiving Others and Interceding for Them
- Being followed by Signs and Wonders
- Living Righteously and Living Within our Means
There are three(3) key things in our walk of faith:
- Faith comes not by sight
- Faith has rewards
- Faith's rewards are fully received beyond this life
Beloved, anything that we do out of faith will definitely be rewarded, and by God, the just judge, the only one who does not lie, and whose scales are perfectly balanced. No act of faith will go unrewarded. (See Hebrews 6:9-12; Col. 3:23, 24). It is therefore worthless to compare yourself to another, and copy a sloppy lifestyle and ministry because another without faith is being sloppy. Do your best for the Lord, expecting commensurate reward for all that you do for Him.
Abraham, David, Jacob, Enoch, Sampson among other patriarchs all believed but did not receive the promise on earth. The reward of of our faith will not always be seen while we live. Let's note that our reward is not limited to only our stay on earth; we'll not receive all our rewards here. The Apostle Paul made it clear to us that if our hope in Christ is limited to this earth, then we are of all men most pitiable. (1 Corinthians 15:19) Keep piling up your treasures in heaven by maintaining and increasing your acts of faith.
FAITH IN CHRIST is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Night and day we beg God that we have a share in His inheritance in the person of Jesus Christ. If we have no hope in that inheritance which was designated to be ours and our hopes instead are limited to this world’s matters such as a beautiful wife, healthy children, wealth, easy life, visits to loved ones and to beautiful countries, owning a comfortable home, have gained it all or still hope to, then what a disappointment to our hopes and what a dreadful destiny. But when we evaluate the good share in this age, we will have lost all we possessed and wish to possess. Possessions in this age are dust upon dust ending with decay and extinction, leaving us disappointed having lost the true hope that is not of these times, and dear friend the perception that the inheritance of the whole earth is under the tutelage of worms, thieves and bad luck, followed by a life of grievances and regret at the end.
ReplyDeleteWhile if we trust in Christ Jesus our Lord and hold on to His hope for us in a share of His glory, a life in His presence, and joyful conciliation with His Father, then we will have pleased God and earned our inheritance with Christ in His kingdom.
If our hope in Christ is limited to our needs in this world consisting of wealth, glory, and an easy life and are distracted by the world’s gifts and physical desires while thinking we believe in Christ and that He is our hope for what we receive and desire of wealth and pleasures, and are captivated by the world, then ours is the most miserable share to face, which is to be deprived of Christ’s inheritance preserved for those who were bare, hungry, persecuted and have tasted the bitterness of poverty and need, there only hope being in the Lord and what He saved for them in the coming age.
True hope is confined to what Christ prepared for those who love Him in the glory of the coming age. Faith in Christ is confined only to heavenly matters that are unseen. No one is to err and believe that faith in Christ is merely to acknowledge and follow Him in general, boasting His Name, without self denial and becoming integrated in the rows of believers and saints who have given up the world accepting persecution in Jesus’ name. Faith in Christ is equivalent to a repudiation of the world with everything in it. Because the world and everything in it has nothing of Christ, as Christ said that He was not of this world, and that all those who believed in Christ were not of this world.
The Apostle Paul boasts that he lost everything in this world to gain Christ, nay was also prepared to lose everything for the benefit of the knowledge of Christ. Paul the Apostle thus sets the law that to gain Christ is equivalent to lose everything in the world and to be prepared to lose all.
If we think that the hope Christ established for us is to gain something in this world then we have lost Christ Himself and all He prepared for us in the coming age. There exists no middle way. Either a loss and being with Christ or gain in the world and the loss of all heavenly supplies.
It is also impossible to combine what is the world’s with what is Christ’s. For Christ died for the world and we died with Him renouncing the world. So how can we live for this world? Would it not be a denial of the cross and of He who was crucified on it? For this reason the Bible says: “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” For light cannot be mixed with darkness. Light and darkness are either with Christ or against Christ and cannot be combined. We are called to a living hope in Christ’s share which ends with the inheritance of eternal life that is kept for us in the heavens. The living hope is alive in Christ and through Christ not marred by hope in the world.
Beware my friend lest the world would tempt you, or the old snake would lure you with its guile, stealing from you your heavenly share for the sake of trivialities that will perish and disappear.
We must give a lot of credit to Pastor David Nyansah Hayfron, Youth Director of the Church of Pentecost, for kick-starting this discussion with his sermon at the Headquarters' Daily Devotions. You may see the full outline of his sermon on my personal blog, ofeibadu.
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