Ep 17: Xtreme Faith – Part 1

 

 

Hi there Tom Mahairas here with it’s all Greek to me, thank you for following us. We’ve gotten tens of thousands of people following in the last few months and you’ve also been introduced to Vicki, my wife. And we’re going to go into a deeper discussion on hebrews 11 1 and two about what is faith and who can you believe in these days? Can you believe in politicians? Can you believe in educators? Can you believe in the media, who do you believe in? And you want to believe in somebody who is believable faithful? And so we’re gonna go deeper into this whole concept of faith and the various pictures, the photos of faith as we get into the discussion on Hebrews chapter 11 1 and two follow us and we’re excited to be with you. This is a special day because we are now starting our new series on Extreme Faith X faith. And you know, a lot of people want to understand what biblical faith is all about. We use faith all the time, but Vicki and I today we are going to talk about Biblical faith, not just faith when you sit down or you take a jet or you’re you know, you’re going somewhere and you believe the signs that you’re following, You’re hoping that it’s sending you the right way, but we’re talking about extreme faith, Biblical faith and how we can really make that ours so Vicky we’re ready to rock. Okay, so Faith, what is faith? What is it? You know? And it says that we’re going to go right to the faith chapter in the bible, which is Hebrews chapter 11 of course, you’ve got 1 to 11 and then you get, you know, it comes out of chapter 10 in Hebrews and it talks about faith. It says in verse 39 but we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. And so faith tells us right away that it preserves our soul. And then the next verse says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction. Ellen course of things not seen for by it. Men of all gained approval. Okay, so that’s that’s the way it starts in hebrews chapter 11 Verse one and 2. Okay, so let’s let’s get into it. So, what do we want to say about this? Well, it prosthesis is um epo under Okay, let’s go to that And Easton me to stand. Okay, so we’re talking about a strong foundation and this assurance. It’s a guarantee also in a legal term, there’s many, many things. It’s a title deed to a legal standing that when you transfer property, they give you a legal deed that verifies that guarantees that this is your property. You you have have it. It’s very sure it’s certainty. Yeah, it’s certainty. And we’re gonna look at all the different aspects of just that first word prosthesis and what it means. But there are other pictures concerning faith and we just want to have just the plethora of pictures And I was thinking about this the last two or three months as I was preparing why so many pictures in the bible of what faith is, you know. And uh, so we, we talked a little bit about that. Uh, it’s it’s referred to as assurance. It’s referred to as evidence. It’s referred to as a witness, a gift of God. The spoken word or the Rema faith is uh, talks about us having victory because of our faith. This is the victory that overcomes the world, the flesh and the devil. It’s our faith. You want to continue on the list there, the mustard seed faith, the mountain moving faith. The fruit of the spirit. One of the fruits of the spirit. Love. Joy, peace, faithfulness, faithfulness, mm hmm. The shield of faith. The measure of faith and the work of faith. The eclipse of faith. The fight of faith, the soldier who is going to fight that battle of faith, the athlete, the farmer, the little faith. The big faith. There’s just so many pictures in the bible. And I think that the reason for that is because faith is so much part of the believer’s life from beginning To the end, Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. It’s just in hebrews 11 and 12. We’ll see later. It’s viewed as like you’re in an arena that the angels are watching or the saints are watching over the battlements and we’re actually running this race of this life, uh, faith and it’s pictured as a race, it’s pictured as a fight. It’s pictured at all these pictures. And the reason is because in every part of our life we need faith. Is that right? Absolutely. Um, Hebrews 11 6 and without faith it’s impossible to please God. For he who comes to God must believe that’s also the word faith pistachio that in him and that he is a reward er of those who diligently seek him. So let’s just talk a little bit about why we even put confidence in the bible, why we even believe, uh, you know, some somebody who’s an atheist or an agnostic agnostic, meaning that he doesn’t know an atheist means he’s against God. Officials who know stars. Both of these are have the negative prefix for God. And for knowledge, these people, you say man, you can’t believe the bible. What do you fool? Are you an idiot? And some people who are very educated and very uh they’ve studied, they’ve got doctorates, they’re very intelligent. The same thing with atheists and agnostics, just because you are educated and you’re an agnostic or an atheist, it doesn’t mean that you’re a fool if you believe the bible or you’re stupid or somehow if you believe in in an invisible God, like, like the bible says that he that comes to God verse six of this Hebrews 11 chapter must believe Festival that he is, that he actually exists and that he is a reward er of those who diligently seek him. Now, why do we even believe that there’s a God or that there’s a bible? I wasn’t born that way, I didn’t grow up reading the bible, I didn’t, but I knew just intuitively in my spirit, I just knew there was a higher being that you know, so that there was a God, I had that belief as a little child. Uh So let’s talk about that. Why would we even believe that there is a God and that the bible is the word of God and true. How could we put confidence in that? Well, faith is only as strong as the object of your faith. And the bible has many qualities of God and one of them that I would like to just read a few verses about is that God is faithful. Oh yeah, yes, he is faithful. And in Deuteronomy 79 it says know therefore that the Lord your God, he is God the faithful god God who keeps his covenant, his loving kindness to 1\/1000 generation, with those who love him and keep his commandments. So you can trust God. We have repeated already before twice that uh that God cannot lie in Hebrews 11 18, it says God cannot lie, he cannot, he always tells the truth, He’s always faithful. He’s always compassionate, he’s always loving, he is not like man. And so it also says um thus says the Lord, this is Isaiah 49 7. The Lord the Redeemer of Israel, Everybody who studies the bible, the old and the new testament. Knowns That there’s only one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the true God, the Living God. And that he is God the faithful god. The piece does God who keeps his covenant, his loving kindness. Um and then one more verse. Thus says, The Lord the redeemer of Israel the Holy One because the Lord who was faithful, he has chosen us. And so we put our confidence in God. I have just a couple of verses in the new testament. So when we’re tempted as christians And we will be tempted even after we accept Christ as our savior, the Bible says no temptation has taken you in first Corinthians 1013, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful. He will not allow me or you to be tempted above what we are able but will with the temptation also make away to escape. So whenever you’re tempted, remember call on God, God show me the way to escape and then it says um faithful First Thessalonians 5 24 is he who calls us, He will also bring it to pass. He’s gonna finish your course, he’s gonna help you get to the place he wants you to be. And um one more, if we are faithless towards God, he remains faithful, he cannot deny himself. Yeah, that’s pretty amazing. That’s what first john uh no that is uh Hebrews. Second timothy 2 13 2nd timothy 2 13. I like to remember where these verses have found because that helps us to meditate and go back again. And even after 50 years we we know the bible but we want to remember exactly what it says and then we want to dig into the greek. We want to dig into the hebrew and find out what the original thought and intention of God was. So that we could better understand and have intimacy with God. Now Vicky has been talking about the faithful god. God is best. Uh because if he wasn’t faithful, if he wasn’t trustworthy, why would we believe what he says? Because there are thousands of promises in the bible. This book, the scriptures have thousands of of promises. Now you can this prove God anytime you want, go to one of his promises, find one that he’s broken and then we’ll say, okay, it’s not true. But here’s the amazing thing that after all these thousands of years, the word of God is trust worthy God is faithful. His word is trustworthy, we can put our confidence in his word. And that’s what the bible says. It’s been tried seven times in a in a fiery furnace and proved to be pure and true. The other thing is when this past year, you taught about Jesus, promises over 300 prophecies about him, there’s no way any human being could fulfill them, where he would be born, how he would travel well. His mother was expecting the time, the place All the prophecies, 300 of them all from the Old Testament, Jesus Christ fulfilled every single one and we can trust Jesus, he gave his life for us. He is so faithful and loving. I am so when I pray and I know that Jesus intercedes for me, he loves me, he’s always caring about me, he does. And those prophecies. Let me just tell you something about the prophecies because think about it 700 years before Jesus was born, There’s a prophecy that the messiah of Israel, the anointed one will be born in Bethlehem. Now Jesus, his parents didn’t live in Bethlehem. They lived in Nazareth and there was another town of Bethlehem that was near them, but that wasn’t the place that he was born and they had to travel 70 miles south of Jerusalem. Uh They traveled south of Jerusalem to Bethlehem of judea Efrat to used to be called and that’s where the messiah was predicted to be bored by Micah and the profit and it was fulfilled exactly the way God prophecy that it would, that he would be born and then again, the time of his birth, that he would have to be born 483 years after the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem as Nehemiah chapter two talks about it. So you have prophecies over 350 prophecies, 360 prophecies to be exact just about jesus, the christ coming where he would be born the time of his birth, what he would do in his life, how he would die some 22 Isaiah 53 that he would be crucified for the sins of the people and that he’s the lamb of God, that will take away the sins of the world, that he would rise from the dead psalm 16 and other passages. That’s why we look at this bible, this book from genesis to revelation. And we can put confidence and trust in God Faithful God. Because everything he said has come to pass. The promises of God are all true. If you went to second Corinthians chapter one, in fact, I think you quoted it before about the fact that all of his promises are yes and amen. Was that one of your profit? The you said it verbally. Okay. And yes and amen. Every one of the promises have got a yes and amen. So that is one of the reasons we get into this. Now, what we wanna do is we want to look at this word and continue on the fact that the bible says that this is our assurance number one it is. And the word assurance. You notice the greek word here, pasta pasta sauces, epo is under and to stand is is what it’s talking about. That there is something solid underneath our feet that were standing on and that’s what faith is and it’s not just pie in the sky. I hope it comes true. It’s based on the character of God. The integrity of God, the holiness of God, the truthfulness of God, the love of God, the purity of God, you know, Holy Holy Holy, if he was a liar, he couldn’t be holy. And so that is the integrity, the foundation that we’re stepping on and then the promises of God, thousands of them that we can trust of what God said as Vicky said it was the title deed of legal standing. It also talks about the foundation, not just the assurance, but the foundation that like a house being built. It’s a foundation. When I found out what a foundation is to a house. Faith is to our to our salvation. That’s exactly right. And that’s that’s what we came up with in our definition. Why don’t you just read it? It’s a solid foundation under our feet to stand on. Um Faith is to a christian what the foundation is to a house. It gives us confidence and assurance that he will not only stand, but we will also be standing. That’s pretty exciting. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. The pasta sauces, the IPO under an estimate to stand of things not seen Faith is to a christian like you said before, what a foundation is to a house. It gives confidence and assurance that he will stand. And that was given to us by warren will be one of our mentors in the faith. So we have established that this uh prosthesis is an assurance in a foundation. The solid foundation under our feet to stand on. That’s really the definition of a post as is the solid foundation under our feet that we’re standing on. And then we go to the passage of scripture that Jesus actually explains this in Matthew chapter seven verse 24th or 29 the Lord jesus christ said. Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and acts upon them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and and uh they slammed against that house and yet it did not fall for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act upon them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And then the rain fell, the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against that house and it fell and great was its fall. And when jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching for he was teaching them as one having authority and not as the scribes now. So right here are the the two different types of people, the people that hear the word of God and believe it and act upon it and they build their life on a solid rock and then the people that hear the word of God and don’t act upon it, do you have anything you want to add to this? I would just say that true faith is an action word. It causes us to live differently because of the belief that we have and the people that we have become by the grace of God and so we will live differently and we will, we will move towards what God wants us to do, we will do great and mighty things on this planet, then we’re gonna go through the same kind of pressures as people that don’t act upon it. Don’t believe in the word of God, but there’s a difference. The rain is going to attack the roof of the house. The winds will attack the sides of the house, the floods will attack the foundation of the house. But because we’re standing on a solid rock, the words of jesus and acting upon them and having faith in the we’re gonna stand amen and even in our life when we have problems, you know many times we would stop and get back on our knees and pray together and cry out to God and say Lord you have to help us. We know this is not the right way to act. We want to really be christians and live like you want us to live and we claim the promises of God and he does it amen. So we go to the next one it says and he is the radiance of the glory Of the exact representation of his nature. Hebrews 1 3 I post Asus and upholds all things by the word rima of his power when he had made purification of sins. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty of God on high and so these are a few of the verses that use this word in pasta sauces. Hebrews 3 14 Vicky for we have become partakes of christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance prostheses, firm videos until the end, I like that word videos along with the post office is now listen to this word, it’s all greek to me. Listen to videos in hebrews three, it says videos an adjective derived from ven know to walk where it is solid, properly solid sure enough to walk on and hence firm, unshakable. The figure of lee, it’s absolutely dependable, giving guaranteed support security and is absolutely sure pick it up vi videos. What can be tread upon then refers to what is fully dependable, worthy of confidence because of solid footing and this describes something fully secure, stable and therefore can give us false apart. That’s the God says that faith is for we need firm faith, its visuals, visuals and greek when you say a massive evils, I am fully sure and positive levels is used in ancient legal text for what is valid and sure anchored to a solid foundation in classical greek and the Papiri this root veggie means solidly dependable, firm secure so it’s able to be validated, confirm and legally guaranteed. It’s an incredible word. It was also used in hebrews 2 2 for the words spoken through angels proved unalterable. That’s the word videos and every transgression and disobedience received. A just reward christ was faithful as a son over his house whose house we are if we hold fast our confidence and boast of our hope firm videos until the very end. And then in Hebrews 3 14 for we have come we’ve become part acres of christ. If we hold fast at the beginning of our assurance firm vevo until the end Hebrews 69 this hope we have as an anchor of the soul a hope both sure as felice which also is another word for safe. You know like when you put money in the bank it’s as families, it’s secure and safe and steadfast vegetables again and one which enters within the veil and then it says as families from uh Alpha, not and follow totter or cast down. So someone who is not tottering, you know, but it’s very sure. Let’s go to the next Hebrews 9 17 for a covenant is valid visa bills only when men are uh dead for it is never enforced while one is alive now. Second peter 1 10 is incredible because here Peter is saying that he has something more vegetables more sure than the actual voice of God and the miracle that God did when they saw jesus at the at the baptist at the baptism and at the transfiguration primarily in Matthew 17. Therefore brethren we all the more diligent to make certain videos about his calling and choosing you for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble And 2nd Peter 1 19. So we have the prophetic word this right here. The scriptures is more sure v villas to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arise in your heart. The second word that he uses his conviction or evidence. In fact Vicki and I came up with this definition. Ellen hose is evidence or proof of the evidence and an inner conviction of right and wrong. Um, faith is the conviction of things not seen. So you may not be able to see it but you’re fully assured, fully uh convinced, convinced and convicted of things not seen. It’s often translated evidence. We have evidence properly to convince the soul and compel us to believe in what we’re hearing Notice some of the places that it’s used in John 16 8 and he when he comes will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. Ephesians 5 11 do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness but instead even expose them. So to summarize faith is three things according to Hebrews 11 1 and two. Number one it’s assurance. Number two it’s evidence or Ellen hose and number three it’s witness or marty area in in modern greek but Martorell here in the coin and the witness is the third point go ahead Vicki He was 11 to for by it men of old gained approval, Martorell means to bear witness testify believers whose testimony character and life reflect the reality of God. Now this is the the definition that Vicki and I came up with that it is believers whose testimony, character and life reflected the reality of God. But you will receive power, the enemies when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses marta del both in Jerusalem and in all of judea and samaria and even to the remotest parts of the earth in Acts 5 32 and we are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has chosen, who’s given us rather to obey him. Vicki. Why don’t you read this one first timothy 6 13. I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of christ jesus who testified or marta rio the good confession he said the imola gil. He gave the same exact words that he needed to say before punches pilot and together to speak a conclusion on the logo. A conclusion embraced by a common confession and profession and affirmation and the verb Homola joo also means to say the same thing about a confession, profession or recognition. So our words of our mouth and the belief in our heart have to be consistent and agree and that’s what this third word marty area is all about. So it is number one, it is an assurance number two it is the evidence and number three it is the market area of the believer who has faith. We’ve been talking about faith is the under footing the the flooring the structure for us for us to stand on. But there’s some other words that go along with this, there’s confidence, there’s reality substance, certainty, evidence, conviction, assurance proof. These are not words for somebody who’s just kind of hoping it. So the word of God has been proved seven times in a fiery furnace. It’s found to be true. Every word of God is true and he is a shield unto those who put their trust in him. God says we believe the word of the living God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God and God tells us without faith in his word and in him who is faithful, we can’t please him. So if you want to really experience God then step out by faith confess with your mouth that jesus christ is Lord. Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you shall be saved. God bless you. I hope you continue following us with it’s all greek to me with tom and Vicky my Mahairas.