Having Faith - 260208

Hello, I'm Rosemary Malkiewycz. Welcome to Let God Speak. Today our panel will discuss the concept of faith. When the sun sinks below the horizon in the evening, we have faith that we will see it again in the morning. When we turn on a light switch, we believe the light will go on, even though the electricity is invisible. In cases like these, our faith is based on past experience. When it comes to our relationship with God, faith is similar. We have past experience to go by, and like electricity, God is invisible, but we see him at work. Various Bible verses help us to know about faith. Hebrews tells us that faith is the evidence of things we cannot see. Paul tells us that faith is the gift of God. Today our panel will endeavor to give insights into faith as well as what to do with doubt and unbelief. We'll be back in just a moment. On our panel today we have John Kosmeier and Lena Yoon. Welcome. I'm glad you've joined me today on the program. SPEAKER B 00:01:36 - 00:01:37 Thank you. SPEAKER C 00:01:37 - 00:01:38 Thank you. SPEAKER A 00:01:38 - 00:02:24 And before we get started, let's pray. Father in Heaven, as we discuss today the wonderful topic of faith and as we look at what You have said in Your Word, I pray that those who listen, as well as ourselves, will come closer to you and have a better understanding of what faith is all about and what we can do to increase our faith. And we thank you for this wonderful topic that we've got to discuss today. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Faith is a wonderful thing for us to learn about, but there is a, a common saying that says Seeing is believing. Is that true, Lina? SPEAKER B 00:02:27 - 00:03:40 We are living in an age where, you know, it's becoming more and more difficult to believe what our eyes can see. You know, it's fairly easy to create fake videos, including fake news or fake photos, through AI, artificial intelligence. But some in the Bible times wanted to see a sign or miracle. We're gonna go and see. In Mark chapter 8, verses 11 and 12, "But then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. But He sighed deeply in His spirit and said, 'Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation.'" It's really odd that the early part of chapter 8 of Mark demonstrated the miraculous healing and the feeding of 4,000 people. And also in chapter 6, we can see that so many people were healed miraculously. Even in chapter 5, you know, there was a woman who actually was healed after touching the garment of Jesus. So obviously Jesus had already performed miracles, many of them, and signs before this confrontation. SPEAKER A 00:03:42 - 00:03:50 Yeah, exactly. And so He had already done things. So should events of the past help strengthen our faith, John? SPEAKER C 00:03:51 - 00:05:13 It helps. When you read Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verses 2 and 3, and I'm reading from the King James, the New King James Version. Verse 2: And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And so here we find that, that after leading the children of Israel for 40 years and they were given manna every day, Moses said, Don't forget. Remember. Because he was just repeating what he'd said previous to that in Deuteronomy 4:9, where it says, "Only take heed to yourselves and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget." And this is what happens. And this is where we, are far more fortunate than what the children of Israel were because they had half of the Old Testament. We have half of the Old Testament extra to look back to, and then we have all of the New Testament times as well. SPEAKER A 00:05:14 - 00:05:27 Yes, we have. We're blessed in that way, and it is good to remind ourselves personally of things that God has done in our lives. And how can we do that? Will that help us to grow our faith? SPEAKER B 00:05:27 - 00:06:31 Sure. So, we might set up Ebenezer stones or memorials, so to speak, you know, of times when God has revealed Himself to us. So, He can, you know, do this in so many different ways, quite oftentimes in amazing ways. So, we may write them down in our journal or take a photo of it even and put it on a calendar so we can have a reminder there that we can see easily. And so, when we look back on them later on, we may be able to remember what God did and how He led us in the past and how faithful He was in the past. And also, based on that, we know that God is still, you know, God is still working in our lives and He is still faithful. And we know that also He will continue to be faithful in the future. So, this is a great way to help strengthen our faith and also to remember God is still faithful to us and God is still leading out in our lives. SPEAKER A 00:06:32 - 00:07:23 That's right. That is true. So after Jesus' resurrection, talking about faith, 10 of the disciples actually saw Him visibly, but Thomas wasn't there. So I just want to look at John 20:24-25, the first part. It says, now Thomas called the Twin, one of the 12, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, we have seen the Lord. So he said to them, unless I see the hands, see in his hands the prints of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. So what did Thomas indicate with his doubt here. SPEAKER C 00:07:25 - 00:07:27 I love Thomas. He's so much like us. SPEAKER B 00:07:27 - 00:07:28 Yeah. SPEAKER C 00:07:29 - 00:09:05 Unless we see it, feel it, touch it, we're not going to believe it. And this is what happened right here. When you go to John chapter 20, where you were, when we read what happened a week later in verse 26, it says, and after 8 days, his disciples again inside, and Thomas was with them this time. "Jesus came to the doors being shut and stood in the midst." Uh, here He was with the disciples and then all of a sudden Jesus was with Thomas. So there are some interesting things happening here. Mm. And then Jesus said in verse 26, right at the end, "Peace to you." Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here." 'Look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side.' What had happened there? That's where the Spirit gone, hadn't it? 'Do not be unbelieving but believing.' And so here we find that, that he actually was given what he wanted, and that was to have evidence, but But there is a more important point, and that is verse 29, where it says, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed; but blessed are those who have not seen," and that's us, "and yet we believe." Yes. SPEAKER B 00:09:05 - 00:09:05 Yeah. SPEAKER A 00:09:05 - 00:09:06 That's right. SPEAKER C 00:09:06 - 00:09:08 So what a, a real blessed story. SPEAKER B 00:09:09 - 00:09:09 Yeah. SPEAKER A 00:09:10 - 00:09:54 There was another time that they were on the ocean or on the Sea of Galilee with Jesus, and they were caught in a storm and it seemed like they were going to sink and they thought they were going to die. And so Jesus calmed the storm. He, with just a command. And I'm going to read about this in Mark 4:40. And, and it says there, He said to them, after He had said, "Peace, be still," and the calm came after the storm had finished, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" So, did the disciples lack faith frequently or was this just one occasion? SPEAKER B 00:09:54 - 00:11:33 Well, as Pastor John, you know, discussed already and we are, you know, like them. So, as we saw even with Thomas' unbelief, and, you know, just because we are the followers of Jesus Christ, it doesn't automatically mean that we have a strong faith. Because we start off with little faith. So, because the faith has to grow to become strong. So, we can find a very wonderful story here of a Gentile woman who lived in the area of Tyre and Sidon. So, I'm going to go and read Matthew chapter 15. 15:22-28, "And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, 'Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.' But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, 'Send her away, for she cries out after us.' But He answered and said, 'And I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, 'Lord, help me!' But He answered and said, 'It is not good to take the children's bread and throw Shall I throw it to the little dogs? And she said, Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from the master's table. Then Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire. And the daughter was healed from that very hour. So, as we can see that this Gentile woman had great faith, and also Jesus also made a comment on her great faith. And, you know, occasionally we can see, you know, great faith is seen or found in very unlikely people like us. SPEAKER A 00:11:34 - 00:12:41 That's right. She wasn't even a Jew. And let's look at another story about a non-Jew, a Gentile, the Centurion at Capernaum. Jesus was there and the Centurion's servant was almost dead. He was sick and dying. And the Centurion called for Jesus to come and heal his servant, but he sent other people to do it. And Jesus wanted to come to his place. And let me just read that in Luke, Chapter 7 and verse 6. It said, "Then Jesus went with these people. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, Lord, 'Sir, do not trouble yourself, for I'm not worthy that you should enter under my roof.' The centurion had faith to believe that Jesus could heal his servant with just a word at a distance. He didn't even have to come there to do it. So what was the outcome of this encounter? John, can you tell us? SPEAKER C 00:12:43 - 00:12:52 The outcome was that Jesus was absolutely and utterly totally surprised. And he said to the crowd— I'm sorry? SPEAKER A 00:12:52 - 00:12:53 Encouraged. SPEAKER C 00:12:54 - 00:13:31 Well, he was surprised because he said to the people, this man here is a centurion. He was a Roman and he was a soldier who had invaded the place. And he came to Jesus and he said, you don't even have to come. Just say the word. And this is where 'I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.' And when he went home, he discovered that the servant who was sick had actually been healed. And so this is, you know, displaying great faith. SPEAKER A 00:13:33 - 00:13:38 Very much so. So can Jesus still help us when we have only a little faith, Lena? SPEAKER B 00:13:38 - 00:14:58 Most definitely. because faith grows by exercising it. So, we're gonna go and read Mark chapter 9, verse 24 here: "Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, 'Lord, I believe, and help my unbelief.'" So, this is a story of hesitating faith mixed with some doubt or unbelief, but Jesus didn't turn this man away just because his faith was so little. And so, this man cried out to Jesus for help, and Jesus answered his cry for help, you know, not only by healing his son, but also strengthening his father's unbelief, you know, faltering faith. And so, you know, we actually can learn is when we are discouraged or, you know, in a discouraging situation or difficult situation, we need to ask God for help with our unbelief, which is very important. And then, you know, God actually has all the power. It's not just that, you know, the problem is not with us, you know, not with God and with us. Then all we need to do, cast ourselves on His mercy when we doubt. Many of us doubt at times. SPEAKER A 00:14:58 - 00:15:02 Actually, yes, we do. Is doubt a consequence of our fallen nature? SPEAKER C 00:15:04 - 00:15:22 Yes, very much so. And the more of a choleric you are, the more difficult it is to just have faith. And I know that to be true. And that's one of the reasons why I love Peter so much. He's this amazing disciple. He sees Jesus walking on the water. SPEAKER A 00:15:23 - 00:15:23 Yeah. SPEAKER C 00:15:25 - 00:15:35 And then he says to Him, "Call me to come to You." Jesus does. And Peter gets out of the boat and walks on the water during the storm. Yes. SPEAKER A 00:15:35 - 00:15:35 Yeah. SPEAKER C 00:15:36 - 00:16:52 And so, I mean, that is faith. No evidence, no history, no. And it was just Peter walking on the water. And then, of course, because of his human nature, he looked at the sea and he took his eyes off Jesus. And oh, what a difference that made. When you come here to Luke, to Matthew chapter 14 and then verse 28, it says, "And Peter answered Him and said, 'Lord, if You command me to come to You on the water.'" So He said, "Come." "And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous," and here's the human nature coming in, He was afraid and began to sink. He cried out saying, Lord, save me! And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand, caught him and said to him, Oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt? And we doubt. But the end of that story was that Jesus, that Peter ended up saying, Jesus, I know now that You are the Lord God. And that's what faith does. Once we have faith. Yes. Wonderful. SPEAKER B 00:16:52 - 00:16:52 Yeah. SPEAKER A 00:16:53 - 00:17:55 I just want to read Matthew 17:20. And it's the second part of that verse. Jesus said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move." and nothing will be impossible for you. Now the mustard seed is a very, very small seed, only about 1 or 2 centimeters in length, and it— I mean millimeters in length, it's so small, and it grows really quickly into a bush about 3 meters tall. So from such a small seed to a big bush, and it's a very important bush because it it produces oil and spice, the mustard spice. And Jesus likens it to faith from this very small seed to a big bush. So how can we grow our faith like a mustard seed? SPEAKER B 00:17:55 - 00:19:38 Yeah. So the lesson is that, you know, it doesn't matter how small our faith is because we can grow it, increase it by exercising it. So we're going to go and read Matthew chapter 13, verses 31 and 32. So another parable He put forth to them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds, but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. So just, you know, like the kingdom of heaven grows like a mustard plant, plant, so we can grow or increase our faith by nurturing it. So especially through, you know, prayers, Bible studies, and witnessing. So basically, you know, the good thing is actually, fortunately, we are all given some faith or measure of faith by God, you know, as a gift. So we're going to go and read Romans 12:9. Verse 3, so here, "For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." So even this tiny, you know, mustard seed of faith we have, right, but that is is good enough, powerful enough. And that's all we need to start our relationship with God. As long as we are willing to work with God, God will help our faith grow. SPEAKER A 00:19:38 - 00:19:39 And move the mountains. SPEAKER B 00:19:39 - 00:19:40 That's right. SPEAKER A 00:19:40 - 00:19:43 What if I don't feel like I have any faith, any at all? SPEAKER C 00:19:44 - 00:20:24 Fortunately, the Bible answers that in Ephesians. And here the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians, Chapter 2, And verse 8, "For by grace you have been saved through faith." And this is where faith is an avenue of salvation. Mm-hmm. "And that is not of yourself. It is the gift of God." And if you feel as though you haven't got any faith, all you have to do is thank God for having given you faith. Yes. Because the gift has already been given. It's just that we don't recognize it. SPEAKER A 00:20:24 - 00:20:24 Yes. SPEAKER C 00:20:25 - 00:20:27 And we don't recognize it because we don't exercise it. SPEAKER B 00:20:27 - 00:20:27 That's it. SPEAKER C 00:20:28 - 00:20:36 But the more you exercise faith, the greater God's grace. And that's turning a little gift into a big one. What a blessing. SPEAKER A 00:20:37 - 00:20:42 And we're not supposed to allow feelings to control us. Faith has to control the feelings. SPEAKER B 00:20:42 - 00:20:42 That's right. SPEAKER A 00:20:43 - 00:20:54 And so in that case, How do we allow faith to rule and not our feelings to be in control? Lina, what do you think of that one? SPEAKER B 00:20:55 - 00:22:26 Oh yeah, so we can go to Hebrews 12:1-2. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. So, it doesn't matter how we feel. What we actually need to concern about, actually, what we need is to look to Jesus because Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. And hence, He is our ultimate, you know, perfect example of our faith. So, and it's important not to look at ourselves or others. So, you know, Luke, you know, just taking our eyes on Jesus is all we need to do. And that way our faith is strengthened. So, we're going to go and read Romans 10:17. So here, "So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." So, you know, as we hear the Word of God, our faith increases, and it's the Word that actually directs us to look to Jesus. SPEAKER A 00:22:26 - 00:22:46 That's right, it does. Hebrews 11:4-12 talks about examples of heroes of faith in the Old Testament. We've got Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, and others, and those people had strong faith in God. So how confident was their faith? SPEAKER C 00:22:48 - 00:23:30 It was amazing. When you read Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrimages on earth. And I think we need to remember that, that we are strangers and pilgrims. Because here in verse 31, it named, named some of them. By faith, the harlot Rahab, she did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace. And she dangled a scarlet cord out the window. SPEAKER B 00:23:30 - 00:23:31 Yeah. SPEAKER C 00:23:31 - 00:23:34 And that was her faith being exercised. SPEAKER B 00:23:34 - 00:23:34 Yeah. SPEAKER C 00:23:34 - 00:24:01 And it saved her life and her family's life. And then you go to Gideon and to Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets. And so here we have a whole panorama of people that God knows are men and women of faith. And so here we have Daniel in the lion's den. And he survived because he had faith. SPEAKER B 00:24:01 - 00:24:04 Yeah. Yeah, that's right. SPEAKER A 00:24:05 - 00:24:30 I'm going to just go on to Revelation 12, verse 14. Sorry, Revelation 14, verse 12 at the moment. And this is a very important verse. In the faith business. It says, "Here is the patience of the saints. Here are those that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." So, what does the faith of Jesus mean, Lena? SPEAKER B 00:24:32 - 00:25:35 Yes, there's two meanings. First, we have faith in Jesus as we fully accept God's, you know, for salvation through Jesus Christ. And He gives us His grace for forgiveness through faith. And then we have the faith of Jesus, and that's the faith actually Jesus had. So basically, as you allow, you know, God to live in our life, right, through faith. And it's all— and also He gives us His grace for power to obey God and overcome sin, just as Jesus Christ obeyed God as a man, right, which is important. And also, it's all about God's grace and in answer to our faith in Him. And also, the other important thing is not just only faith is important, but also, you know, this points out that Jesus, the faith of Jesus involves keeping the commandments of God. SPEAKER A 00:25:36 - 00:25:39 That's right. And that verse helps tell us that. SPEAKER B 00:25:39 - 00:25:39 Yeah. SPEAKER A 00:25:39 - 00:25:47 So, John, what does this experience in the Garden of Gethsemane for Jesus teach us about faith? The faith of Jesus. SPEAKER C 00:25:49 - 00:26:32 It gives me the horrors to think of what Jesus went through. Yeah. It was just almost unbelievable that, that anybody would go through that. By their own choice. And here in Matthew 26 and verse 36, 26 verse 36, then Jesus came with them to the place called Gethsemane and said to the disciples, I go over there to pray, pray with me. And this is where prayer comes Faith comes by prayer. And that's what happened with Jesus. SPEAKER B 00:26:33 - 00:26:33 Yes. SPEAKER A 00:26:34 - 00:26:42 And Jesus went through that experience of having to say, Father, if you can take this away from me, please take it away. SPEAKER B 00:26:43 - 00:26:43 Yeah. SPEAKER A 00:26:43 - 00:26:45 But not my will, thy will be done. SPEAKER B 00:26:45 - 00:26:45 Yes. SPEAKER A 00:26:45 - 00:26:55 And so He showed His faith through trusting the Father regardless of what was going to happen to Him. And that's the faith that he is willing to give us as well. SPEAKER B 00:26:55 - 00:26:55 Yeah. SPEAKER A 00:26:55 - 00:26:57 If we will believe in him. SPEAKER B 00:26:57 - 00:26:57 Yeah. SPEAKER A 00:26:58 - 00:27:59 Thank you so much, both of you. That's all the time we have to discuss faith today, but we exercise faith more than we realize it in everyday matters. But what about faith in God? You may not consider that your faith is great, but even a small amount of faith can grow. The power of faith is not in how much faith we have, but in whom our faith is placed. When you trust in God and the Bible, when you trust in Jesus Christ who died for you, you are putting your faith in the one who loves you and who will never fail you. So we're glad you joined us today on Let God Speak. If you are blessed by this program, why not tell your friends? Remember, all past programs plus teacher's notes are available on our website 3ABNaustralia.org.au. Email us on [email protected]. And join us again next time. God bless you. SPEAKER B You have been listening to let God speak, a production of 3ABN Australia television. To catch up on past programmes, please visit 3abnaustralia.org.au. Call us in Australia on 02 4973 3456. Or email [email protected]. we'd love to hear from you.