What Faith Can Do For You

Rev. William “Buck” Day

Many years ago there was a weary traveler who was hiking through the desert.  He was hiking through the noon day sun.  As you might guess, he blew through his water supply rather quickly.  He knew that he had a long ways to go and if he didn’t find some water he wasn’t going to make it.  He began to be a little concerned.  As he walked along he came over a ridge and came to one of those cabins in the distance.  He began to make his way there.  As he headed into the cabin with the renewed hope that there would be something that would help him survive in there.  He found an old well with a pump.  Very excited he walked up and started pumping. Only nothing came out, some dust and some rust.  As you might guess he was a little frustrated and so he began to look around the cabin for other options.  He found a cup with a note in it.  He pulled the note out and it said, “Dear Stranger, the pump was all right in 1932.  I put a new washer in it and it should last a few years.  If the washer dries out you will need to prime the pump.  Outside under a white rock there is a jar of water that I put under there that is corked.  You will need that water to prime the pump.  You will need all of it so don’t drink any of it.  Take about a quarter of the water and pour it into the pump and let it soak in for a few minutes.  Then pour the rest of the water in and start pumping hard and you will get water.  This well has never run dry.  After you have watered up fill up the water jug again and put it back under the rock for the next stranger that comes this way.”  If that was you what would you do?  Would you drink the water knowing that you might survive as a result of it or would you use it to prime the pump and potentially get all the water you need?  Your decision if you decide to prime the pump and get water is based on faith.  Faith that the pump will still work that the washer is still good, faith that there’s water in the well.  Perhaps that is an extreme example but faith does play into our lives in many ways.  We have faith that that other car will stop at the traffic light.  We have faith that this roof will not collapse on us.  Faith is also critical for those that are followers of Jesus Christ.  It is the basis for all we believe.  Someone has said, “Faith to the Christian is like main spring to a watch.”  Or what we might say today a battery is to a watch. 

Over the next eight weeks we’re going to be doing a series that we’re calling “Achieving through Believing.”  We’re going to be looking at this topic of faith.  It is Chris’ desire as well as my own that as a result of our messages that all of our faiths would deepen, that our faith would become stronger, that our faith would carry us forward not only as people of God but also as Faith Church.  Have you ever thought, “I wish I had more faith”? 

We want to start by looking at a scripture that answers that.  This is our scripture start for the day.  Romans 10:17 Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of God. In other words, we grow in our faith when we listen to the Word of God, when we listen to scriptures.  That is one of the reasons why I have invited us as a congregation to read through the New Testament together this summer.  I believe that as we read through the New Testament we will grow in our faith.  A positive faith can make a difference in your life.  So we are going to be looking at a lot of scripture today that I hope will begin to build a positive faith into our lives. 

We are going to start with a very broad general overview today looking at faith.  We’re going to look at eight different ways to view faith.  To start with, to set the stage, what I would like to do is to view a clip from a movie.  It is a movie that most of you have seen.  I think that this scene is one of the best scenes talking about faith.  It is a scene from the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  [congregation views clip]  If you didn’t quite catch that he stepped out on to an invisible bridge that couldn’t be seen from where he was standing until he got out in the middle of the bridge.  I want to use that scene.  I want to use it without pushing that scene too far.  We are going to use it to talk about how we view faith. 

The first way we want to talk about viewing faith is that it stretches the imagination.  Indy’s imagination could not have comprehended that invisible bridge.  He didn’t know that it was there but he did have some kind of idea or picture in his mind as he stepped out and the same is true for our faith.  Faith always begins with an idea, with a concept, a vision or some kind of mental picture.  A great example of that is from Genesis 15 where God takes Abraham outside.  He talks about how Abraham is going to become the father of a great nation.  He takes Abraham outside at night and says, “Abraham, look up at the stars.”  It’s not like when you and I look up at the stars with all the city lights that wash them out.  It’s those times when you get up north and the stars are right in your face.  That’s how it was for Abraham.  God says, “Look up Abraham, try to count the stars.  Your descendents will be more than the stars.”  God is giving Abraham a picture for him to dream about.  God stretches the imagination through the giving of a dream or a vision.  What we dream and what we believe we can achieve.  Faith starts with stretching the imagination.  My question for you is what’s your dream?  What’s your vision for your family, for your career, for your children?  What’s your dream for Faith Church?  God wants us to dream god-size dreams, God-size dreams requires faith.  Paul reinforces that by basically saying, “God can do more than we can than or than we can imagine.”  Faith stretches the imagination. 

If faith stretches the imagination it also takes initiative.  Indy knew in that scene we saw that he had to cross that ravine.  He didn’t know how he was going to do it but he knew he had to do it and so he stepped out in faith.  Just like the woman in Mark 5:30-33 who had a bleeding disease for many years.  She believed that if she just touched Jesus’ clothes she would be healed.  So she goes into the crowd which was a social no-no because she was a social outcast because of her disease.  She worked her way through the crowd thinking, “If I just touch his cloak.” She worked her way toward him and touched him and she was healed.  Jesus knew it right away.  Jesus was looking around trying to find her he finally discovers her and she comes clean with Jesus.  She turns and tells him the truth and Jesus’ response is, “Your faith has made you well.”  Faith is about deciding to act.  It is committing yourself to an action.  It is the antidote for procrastination.  If you want to grow in your       faith then step out, stretching your imagination. 

Faith is also about risking failure.  Indy was stepping off a cliff to what could have been certain death.  He didn’t know but he stepped out any way.  There is no faith without some kind of a risk, stepping out into the unknown, taking that step of faith.  2 Corinthians 5:7 for we are called to live by faith, not by sight.  It is a call to live with spiritual lives, to let go of our securities, to face our fears, daring to risk failure.  Peter was the one that got out of the boat and walked on water.  Faith is investing time, money, energy, reputation, whatever it might be it is investing those things knowing fully well that it might fail.  That is faith.  It is stepping out onto that unseen bridge. 

Faith is also expecting the best.  Indy was expecting something to happen when he stepped out.  He couldn’t tell you what it was but he was expecting something to happen.  And so were those that came to Jesus.  In Matthew a man who was blind came to Jesus and Jesus’ response after he healed him was Matthew 9:29 According to your faith it will be done to you.  Faith is about expectation.  You expect God to answer.  You expect God to provide a solution, a way out.  You expect God to put all the pieces together, to fall into place.  Expectations are faith.  We feel the way we expect to feel.  Have you ever thought about that?  When you woke up this morning how did you feel?  Did you feel “Good morning Lord!”?   Or did you feel “Good Lord, its morning”?  What did you expect when you got up?  What we expect sets ourselves up for failure or success, for frustration or fulfillment, all depending on our level of faith.  Faith is expecting the best.  Faith is getting into a row boat to go get Moby Dick with tartar sauce in hand.

If faith is about stretching and taking and risking and expecting, faith is also about waiting.  Sometimes the answer doesn’t come right away in our lives, there’s a delay.  What do we do while we’re waiting?  Faith is waiting for the answer.  Faith is the evidence of our faith.  Psalm 40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord when he turned to me and heard my cry.  How do you respond in the waiting rooms of your life?  How you respond is the evidence of your faith.  You think, “How long should I wait?”  That is the mark of maturity.  Maturity is the ability to wait and faith is waiting for the answer.  What I’m discovering in my life many times now is that I pray for an answer but many times it’s the answer that needs to come at the right time.  The timing of that answer many times is just as critical as the answer itself.  For if God would have answered my prayer in the time that I wanted it may not have had as full of an effect as it was answered in God’s timing.  It’s waiting on God to put all those pieces together for the maximum effect for God’s plan for human history and for His people as well.  Faith is about waiting for the answer.

Faith is also about following instructions.  Did you notice in the clip from the movie that Indiana had a book that he was following and when he got to that point he needed a “leap of faith”?  Faith is about following instructions even when they don’t make sense, even when they’re not logical, when they’re not rational.  Once again Abraham is our example in this.  Abraham follows God.  Hebrews 11:8 God says, “Get up and go.”  What does Abraham do?  He gets up and he goes and he doesn’t know where he’s going.  Faith equals obedience.  Has God ever asked you to do something that didn’t quite make sense?  Don’t ask, just do it!  Faith is about obeying and trusting even where you don’t understand.  Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. 

Faith is also about being persistent.  Faith is keeping on, keeping on.  Faith causes us to persevere where others want to quit.  Its working on your marriage, it’s improving at your job, it’s believing that you will have a breakthrough on a relationship, on a project, whatever it might be.  Our example here is Noah.  Noah is a great example of being persistent.  “Noah, build an ark, the rain’s coming.  Yeah, I know you’re in the middle of the desert.  You’re a long way from the water.  Don’t worry about that, just start building.”  Noah did that for one hundred and twenty years.  He was faithful to his construction even as everyone was laughing at him.  Noah persevered, he was persistent, and Paul reinforces that Galatians 6:9 Do not become weary in doing good. 

Faith is also about rebounding from failure.  Have any of you failed at anything, at a relationship, at a job, a dream?  We all make mistakes.  If you look at those people who we would call successful they have had many failures in their lives.  The difference for them is that they don’t let failure get them down.  Scripture reinforces that as God speaks through the prophet Isaiah 43:18-19 where he says, I am going to bring productivity out of wasteland.  I am going to bring success where there has been failure.  Forget about the past, I am doing a new thing.  Rebound from your failure. Scripture has a lot to say about how we recover from failure.  It doesn’t say that we won’t fail but it does talk about our response to failure.  When we fail do we throw ourselves a pity party?  Or do we look to the future to see what God has for us next?  Remember, all things work for good for those that love God, even failures. 

Faith can do anything that God can do.  Let that soak in a little bit.  Faith can do anything that God can do.  That’s why we are going to spend the next eight weeks looking at faith because it is so powerful, it’s so fundamental to who you and I are and how we live our lives.  Perhaps break the procrastination habit, how to take risks, how to expect the best, to learn to wait, how to follow instructions, to be obedient and even how to rebound from failure.  I hope you will join us as we go through this journey this summer.  All of it starts with stretching our imagination.  It is saying to God, “Lord I believe that there is just the smallest bit of faith in my life, a mustard seed size faith but God water it, grow it for me so that I might grow in my faith, so that I can see myself in ways I’ve never seen myself before.  So I can stop thinking, ‘this is the way I’ve always been, not focusing on who I am but begin to focus on what my potential is as my faith takes root’.”  That’s what we want to be about over this next season.  Amen.