Faith That Pleases God

Oh, amen. It's good to see you this morning. We are uh we're going to talk about faith this morning. The our title of our series is uh is is that's my church. And it's from the perspective of Jesus pointing to his church and saying, "That's my church." What does it mean to be a church that is pleasing to God? And this morning, we're going to talk about faith. Faith inside that whole subject. And I'm I'm looking forward to this. You know, faith I is a thing that um many of us are in different places and many ministries are are in different places in terms of faith. But but but God God is using faith. It's it's the very process that he uses in our lives. He uses faith. The scripture says without faith it's impossible to please God.

I I'll touch on that again. It's impossible to please God. And I I noticed uh I was going back through uh through Genesis a little bit and and in chapter five in Genesis uh I I found it interesting and I and I I pulled this passage of scripture out because as you open up Genesis starts in the beginning and we get to chapter 5. It it gives a genealogy between Adam and Noah and and it mentions all all of the generations and and it mentions the dad and and their sons and how many how long they lived and and out of this whole process in chapter 5 in this in this line of genealogies, one of the things that I notice is there's one guy in there that God intentionally says something about for the for the most part.

The rest of them, he just states their names and how long and and it's just it's pretty plain and simple. But but this guy God specifically talks about in a different way. In Genesis 5 24, it says Enoch walked faithfully with God. And and it goes on to describe just a little bit more about that. It's just a very very brief very brief passage, but it says he walked faithfully with God. You you don't nobody else in that in that does God say anything about it.

It's such a unique passage and it's so unique that the writer of Hebrews points backs to that and brings it into the New Testament and the writer of Hebrews says by faith Enoch was taken from this life so that he he did not experience death for before he was taken he was commended as one who pleased God. These guys lived huge amount of years and his entire life he he pleased God. It says and and and the very next line says without faith it's impossible to please God. Impossible to please God. I I put the look at this on the screen with me because I I I think we ought to look at this. What if our greatest goal wasn't just to improve our lives? But but what if our greatest goal was to please God above everything else?

What if what if that was our goal in our individual lives? We we we want to get a newer car. We we want to get get a home and a job. We want to prosper. And we should want those things and we should do those things. But but what if we did those things and yet the number one thing in our life was to please God? In Colossians chapter 3, Paul writes it this way. Paul says, "Whatever you do at work, do it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for human masters." In other words, do your job, but do it absolutely well. I heard a story this week of a gentleman who worked in the factory in a tire plant who every day when the workers left, they were covered with like a a black kind of a dust all over them.

And he embraced this passage of scripture and he worked hard at what he did. And the guy next to him came to him and said, "You you need to slow down. You're making us look bad." And he said, 'I can't I can't do that because this is what my Bible says and I need to obey my Bible. And he kept doing it. And other guys came to him and says, "You you you got to back off a little bit." He says, "No, I have to obey my Bible and I have to live this way." He says, "I'll I'll help you. I I'll come alongside you. I'll I'll help you." The union rep came and the union rep said to him, "You you've got to ease off.

You're making everybody you this is not sustainable." At his funeral, at his funeral, the pastor asked the church, "How many of your lives have been affected by this guy?" Every single hand went up. And then the pastor said this. He said, "How many of you are here and have given your life to Christ because it was influenced by this man?" And more than half of the church raised their hand. We talk about Christianity. We talk about our faith. And Jesus is saying, "I want you to live it out." You can't imagine what you what you're doing if you live it out. And the writer of Romans, Paul, Paul 12:1, he says this way.

Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. One of the newer versions actually says it is your reasonable response to what God is doing. It's your reasonable response. The question is, is our faith pleasing to God? Is our faith alive in our everyday decisions? Because it's Paul who says we walk by faith, not by sight. We walk in our lives in faith following Jesus regardless of what is going on around us. We think we pray prayers of faith. A prayer of faith is not saying, "God, if you want me to marry her, then then place an elephant in the middle of the room." That is not a prayer of faith.

It's faith to trust God even when and especially when we don't understand, even when what he says doesn't line up with what we see. Faith, David, King David, King David started out as a shepherd boy. David actually grew up in a godly family. David was somewhere between 12 and 15 when the prophet Samuel came and and and and uh and and blessed David and and made sure that God was saying this is who the next king is going to be because Saul was the first king of Israel and God had had it up to here with Saul and he said I'm going to place someone new in and he chose David as a young shepherd boy he got really good with his sling he was disciplined ed in his practicing and and as a shepherd all the things that he did.

Shepherds were known for using a sling. They were also no known for using their staff and and they took care of the sheep and protected the sheep and led and guided the sheep. And David actually goes to visit his brothers up up up near the battlefront which really wasn't much of a battle going on. and he's he's probably around 16 years old, ma maybe 17 years old. And what's going on up there is no battle. There's actually this guy named Goliath. And Goliath is a Philistine and he's a huge guy. He's like 10 feet tall. And and he's he's hollering to the army of Israel. He he's he's he's just pestering them. He's constantly annoying them and he's saying, "Send someone out.

Just just send someone out to fight me because listen, we'll just fight and if I win, you'll be our slaves and if you win, we'll be your slave. Let's just settle it right there." And Goliath is constantly doing this and mocking. And David comes to just bring some things to his three of his oldest brothers who who are old enough to be in Pharaoh's to be in in Saul's army. And David hears this and it boggles his mind that nobody is responding. David cannot believe that the entire nation of Israel and there's not a warrior that's responding to this. Let me pick that story up here just for a little bit. David says, "I'll do it. I'll fight Goliath." And and and everybody begins to hear about this.

And they actually take him to the king, to King Saul. And and David says to Saul, "Listen to this." He says, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him." And Saul replies, "You're not able against this Philistine and fight him. You're only a young man, and he's been a warrior since he was since his youth." But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep." And when a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, and I struck it and and rescued the sheep from its mouth. And when it turned on me, I seized it by its hair and struck it and killed it. and your servant has killed both a lion and a bear.

This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them because he has defied the armies of the living God. Paul says, "Okay, well then here, take my armor." And they put his armor on. He puts his armor on David and it's just too much and too too David says, "This is not going to work. I I I can't do anything with this on." And in David's mind, as you as I read this story, see the the lion and the bear and Goliath were all reduced to the same thing. They they were all enemies of God. And this was God we're talking about. Last week, we talked about the awe of God. David had this awe of God. David just continues. He he he doesn't doesn't back up and he goes to face Goliath.

And it says, "Meanwhile, the Philistine," meaning Goliath, "has his shieldbearer out in front of him." And he kept coming closer to David. He looked at David. He looked David over and he saw that he was little more than a boy glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. And he said to David, "Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with a sword and a spear and a javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defiled." He had an awe of God.

And over his life, little bits of faith built faith stronger and stronger in his life and a dependence and a security on the disciplines of his life built into the faith of his life. This day, he goes on, the Lord will deliver you into my hands and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. It's like a Montipython scene, isn't it? This very day, I will give the carcass of the Philistine army to the birds, the wild animals, and the whole world's going to know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it's not by sword or by steer that the Lord saves. The battle is the Lord's and he will give it all to you in he will give all of you into our hands.

And as the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line and reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead and the stone the stone sank into his forehead and he fell face down on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone. Without a sword in his hand, he struck down the Philistine and killed him. And David ran and stood over him. And he took hold of the Philistine sword and he drew it from the sheath. And after he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. And the Philistines saw that their hero was dead. And they turned and they ran. What was unthinkable was counted as faith when God did a miracle.

David slew the giant. See, it was faith in God when David said, "I'll do it." And it was faith in God when David kneelled down by the stream and he picked up five stones and put them into a little bag. And everybody, you got to know that everybody around there was thinking, I don't know how this is going to end. I mean, I'm sure they were hoping, but but but this was nobody knew what the results were going to be. And yet, we let our limitations limit God. We let our limitations choose the path of our faith. And and I got to remind you, one of the things that God always does is he uses the most unlikely person, which makes you and I unbelievably eligible because we are not the most likely person. You know what?

I I I wrote something here and I put it up on the screen and and and we'll read it, but it's this is not from the Bible. I I can't even I can't even say that I I would back this up theologically, but but I wonder sometimes if God says, "I wish there was a people who would see me for more than what they have experienced. There is more." As I look at the gospels, there really just there are two examples here that I see of of Jesus with faith. And they're very different. And let's look at them quickly. Jesus was actually teaching in his hometown. He he he was back in his hometown just like in many other places. He just began to teach and and touch people's lives. And and in his hometown, they they were kind of critical of him.

They they said things like, "Wait a minute. Isn't this Joseph the carpenter's son? Why why are we why are we listening to him?" And they didn't honor Jesus. and they didn't believe that what he said was true. And in Mark chapter 6, Jesus says this. It says he was amazed at the lack of their faith. Jesus was amazed how they really didn't have faith. Then there was this other time where Jesus was was entering into Capernaum and and he began to teach and and he began to touch and heal people and and a man came up to him whose servant was dying. And he said to Jesus, "Lord, don't trouble yourself.

Don't I don't deserve to have you come to under my roof." And so I didn't even consider myself worthy to come to you, but but just say the word and my servant will be healed. And and in Luke chapter 7, Jesus says this. He says, it says, "When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him. And and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." See, on one hand, Jesus hears about this faith and and he's amazed at the lack of it. And on the other hand, he's just absolutely amazed at the level of faith. I I hear those two stories and and and I look at you and I look at me and I'd say where where do you think you are? Where do you think I am?

I mean, am I more like this guy or am I my I'm I'm hope I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't know. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. And that's what we're thinking. And then I look back and I got to tell you in the early 1970s I I think God was pleased with Leroy Owens as he got together a group of people out here just past 75th in Camelback and they decided to purchase three acres and and put a little building on there and they would meet together and and and the beginning of this church happened. I I think God was pleased with his faith. I look around the room and I know many of our families and I and and so many of us and and I think God is pleased with progress that he's making in our faith.

And I was thinking of my nephew Paul and his wife Nicole probably six or eight months ago found out that he had stage four Hodkins lymphoma. and and they just began to pray and and were asking everyone to pray and they begin to do research where should we go, what kind of what kind of treatment should we look for and and they were just praying about the direction they should go and and they they searched everywhere and and wanted opinions and and even reached out to me and I reached out to one of our board members and and and and they they landed in a place where where they were comfortable and they felt the Lord wanted them and and everyone was praying and and as he moved through this whole process, we all just continued to pray actually from here to the east coast and and and over time, God continued to work and move forward.

He was able just a few months ago to ring the bell and walk out of there and head back to Virginia and pick their lives up honoring God and worshiping God and leading their family. Faith, God uses it in our lives. And recently I, you know, I shared with with our with you guys, our church about my brother-in-law Cameron. And then we we've been praying and we we've been watching how how Cameron's wife and his and his three boys have been so intentional intentional about pouring their lives into taking care of their dad and and searching and doing research and finding the best place for the next step for him. and and we watch as God is beginning to touch his body.

I remember when Karen and I were there, they they they would try to get him to answer questions and and it one one of the times they were just doing that and and and they they were just kind of rustling him and and because he just wasn't coherent and and and I I remember one of them saying to Cameron, "Wiggle your toes. Cameron, give us a thumbs up." and and on his right hand, his thumb went just like that. Just like that. They didn't even see it. They were looking at his left hand and his feet. But we saw that thumb go up. God is at work. God is at work in all of our lives. God is using Cameron, what Cameron is going through and that whole family is going through in many of our lives. Faith is this process that he grows in our lives.

Sometimes he gives us gives us a gift of faith for something specific if if if he wants something he wants us to accomplish or wants us to do or wants us to see. He may give us a gift of faith. But but for the most part, he is at work building faith in us. And last week I talked about whether we have a high view or a low view of God. You see, the reality is the strength of our faith is a reflection of our view of God. It's a a reflection of that. And when you have a high view of God, your faith will grow. It will be tested and you'll have difficult times, but your faith will grow. But if we have a low view of God, there are several things that can happen, and I'll just cover two of them.

One of them, frankly, is just rampant here in America. We have a conditional faith. We say, "God, I'll I'll I'll trust you if if you'll do what I think you should do, then I'll trust you. I'll have faith in you if you if you do what I" And then when he doesn't, we we feel disappointed or or we think, well, well, that's not good enough, which is kind of funny because it because God is good. That's that's all he is. And sometimes we feel betrayed and we'll think, well, that's that's that's not real faith. That's control. And and and we do it all the time. Or or maybe we'll pray specific prayers for I I want to get that job or I I want to date that girl or I want to go to that school.

And we should be praying those prayers, but sometimes when it doesn't happen the way we think it should, we say, "But God, I I I did everything right." And and then we feel like our faith is fragile. You know, it's usually that way because our faith is dependent on the outcome and not on God. And God says, "I want more than that." God pleasing faith isn't trusting God to do what we want. Godpleasing faith is trusting God even when he doesn't do what we want. With a weak faith, sometimes we choose to have a safe faith. We pray for things that probably going to happen anyway. I can't tell you how many times I've prayed for traveling. Not that we shouldn't, but that's a pretty safe faith.

If our goal is to live by faith and we continue to play it safe, it's impossible to please God without faith. You see, it the Bible says it's by grace of by the grace of God that we're saved through faith. We can't be saved without faith. When we accept Christ as our savior, we're putting our faith and our trust in him. See, a church that pleases God is a church with people pleasing God. It's people in the process of becoming like Jesus. In other words, it's us becoming like Jesus. I I I think we need to re be reminded who God is. I think last week talking about awe of God is is so important because he's our savior who saves us from our sins. He's our redeemer who made us new when we thought we were too far gone.

He's our comforter, our healer. He's our defender. He's our hope when everything seems uncertain in the world that we live in today. when so much is uncertain. He's our peace that passes all understanding when you feel anxious. Jesus said to his disciples, he was talking with his disciple. They they were all sitting sort of in a circle, probably Jesus leaning on a on a rock. And the disciples said to Jesus, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus did something fascinating. He said, it says he called a little child to him. He He called a little child. Come, come up here into this. He said, "Mate Venica, come up. Come up.

Come up." And he placed him right in the middle, a little child. And and then Jesus says this in in Matthew 18 to his disciples. Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of God. You know what little children do? They trust. You know what little children do? They believe. They believe. I call Oakley and and and and I get him right in front of I Blakey, come over here. You want to see Papa pull his finger off? I'll shake it and I'll smack it like that. Y'all say, "You ready?" And then I'll just I'll just work that finger and I'll pull it off and put it back on. And they they believe They believe that Papa took his finger off and put it back.

Now, I let them in on the whole thing because I don't want them bribing and not even cutting their finger off for doing something weird, you know? They believe. They believe. Little children never worry. They learn to worry. Jesus said, "You're my children. You have got to get to the place where you trust me and you believe what I say. And little children obey. Well, some of them do. Children obey. But instead of listening to Jesus and learning that and growing into that and let that kind of faith move so often, we actually we grow up and and we have trauma in our lives and trials and experiences and and we experience broken relationships and we're skeptical about I'm a skeptical New Yorker.

We're skeptical about things that and we don't believe people when they say some things and and we can get to the place where we question everything and we let a broken world shape us and we come to the place where we feel like, you know, I don't think I have enough faith because we're growing up and we're letting the culture shape us instead of Jesus saying, "Mate, you need to be like this little child. And then Jesus goes even farther. He doesn't let it it doesn't let it sit there. In Matthew 17, he says this to us. He says, "Listen, because you have so little faith because we recognize that's where I am because you have so little faith.

Truly I tell you, if you have faith such as small as a mustard seed, which is one of the smallest seeds that there are, you can say to this mountain, move and it'll move from here to over there. Nothing will be impossible for you. And we hear that verse and we think how on earth what the s what is he talking about? And it sounds overwhelming, but what Jesus is saying to you and to me, it's not how much faith you have. It's where your faith is placed. Is your faith placed in me? Is it in me? Even if it's even if it's a tiny bit, I can deal with that. You forget who I am. I can take that somewhere. I can deal with that. I can take you places you never even dreamed. Who is your faith placed in mustard size?

And we we start to recognize that we're a sinner. We think, "Oh man, I I gotta got to clean myself up before I go to church. I got to start I got to stop cussing and I got to start before I before I even begin to talk to God." And and Jesus is saying, "No, no, no, no, no. I paid the price. I want you just the way you are because I'm gonna take you with that step of faith just the way you are and I'm going to create what I want to create through you. And I'm going to take that just the way you are. And little by little, your faith will grow. Things will happen just like they do for everybody. I'm going to walk through life with you. I'm going to take you through this process and we're headed for where I want you to be.

Billy Graham crusades for years. At the end, people would come up front to the altar and the choir would sing Just as I am without one plea. And that your blood was shed for me. Shed for me. Just as I am, I come. I come. I recognize who you are. I recognize it's a fallen world and I need a savior. And I come. And he takes us into his family. And he just through faith, our faith in him, he grows our faith. Sometimes he lurches us forward in our faith. Especially through difficult times that we go through. He will use times like that to grow us like no other thing could to grow our faith. And then Paul writes in Ephesians 3:20, and I'll close with this because this is what we need to recognize.

Paul says, "To him who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever. Amen. Faith, you can do a whole lot better than that. I'll tell you that. Stand with me this morning. God is working in your life through faith. God is moving you in this process. He's creating in you the the the person that he wants to create. Lord, I thank you this morning. I thank you this morning that that we are your children. I thank you that by faith you're creating in us, Lord.

Even with Cameron, with Paul, with with so many as we come here at the end of a service and we say, "Lord, we need something from you." And we come to you knowing who you are, believing that you're at work in our lives. Lord, I just I just pray for our entire church family. I pray for those who are going to come up here after the service that we pray with. But oh so important, if you're here this morning and you've never accepted Jesus as your personal savior, if you've never never publicly made that decision, if if you've never said, "I recognize who you are.

I believe that you, Jesus, are the son of God, came to earth in the form of a baby, were crucified, laying your life down, rose from the the dead on the third day, the son of God, paying the price for your sins and for my sins. If if you believe that, that means you're be you are his child and his family, and you are what we refer to as saved as opposed to being lost. this morning. If you're here this morning, you've never done that, you'd like to do it this morning, I I'd like every head bowed, every eye closed, and if if you just want to accept Jesus as your savior, just simply put your hand up and put it right back down for me and just do it quickly. Yes, I see that. Yes. Father, Lord, we just celebrate.

All of heaven rejoices, you say when one comes to you, Lord, this morning just recognizing recognizing your work in our lives, recognizing the price you paid. Lord, we celebrate this wonderful gift of faith that you build in us that you use to build our relationship with you that that you you use to take us places we never even dreamed. God, I ask for that for each one of us here this morning that you just continue to do that in our lives and do that in our lives as a church that we that much more would be a church that is pleasing to you. Oh, Father, we pray that you would take joy in your people, inhabit the praises of your people. We love you this morning. We worship you. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen.