A Nugget from New Life Network
(by Dr. Larry Ollison)
Scripture for the Day (December 7, 2017)
Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]. For by this [kind of] faith the men of old gained [divine] approval. By faith [that is, with an inherent trust and enduring confidence in the power, wisdom and goodness of God] we understand that the worlds (universe, ages) were framed and created [formed, put in order, and equipped for their intended purpose] by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. (Hebrews 11:1-3, Amplified)
A few weeks ago I received a letter from a minister in Illinois who was upset because I was teaching faith. He said that if we could just eliminate faith teaching, then the church wouldn’t be in such turmoil.
Well, I’ve been thinking about what he said and you know, I think he’s right. If we would just quit teaching about faith and anything related to it, the church would not be in turmoil–because without faith, there would be no church. What do I mean by that? Well, the Church is not a building. The Church is not a denomination. The Church is not a ministry. The Church is a group of people who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives. The Church is a body of believers. The Church is the Christians who collectively make up the Body of Christ. If you are a Christian, you are the Church. The church building, which is commonly referred to by many as the church, is not the Church, but it is the meeting place of the Church. Christians are the Church.
Now, with that in mind, let’s look at how you become a Christian. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Did you catch that? It’s “by grace…through faith.” Without faith there is no salvation. If no one gets saved, then there is no Church. We need faith for salvation.
Also, Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Is faith important? Without it we cannot please God. It doesn’t say that it is difficult to please God, it says that it is impossible to please God. If we want to please God, we must have faith.
Let’s pretend that there was a way to get saved without faith (which there isn’t), and let’s pretend that there was a way to please God without faith (which there isn’t), and somehow we became a Christian without faith (which we can’t). At this point it would still be impossible to function as a Christian because we wouldn’t be able to pray.
James 1:6 says that when we pray, we must pray in faith because if we don’t pray in faith, we cannot expect to receive anything from the Lord. In other words, we can pray all we want, but if we don’t pray in faith, we might as well be doing something else, because our prayers will be in vain.
The bottom line is this, as the Church we need faith. Without faith the Church cannot exist. What is faith? Faith is believing God and acting on what you believe. Where do we get faith? Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
