Disciple Up #259
CONTACT! When Faith & Reality Collide
Pt. 1, The Hidden Fabric of the Universe
By Louie Marsh, 5-18-2022
Intro – bit of a summer series and a time to reflect on where we go from here.
1) REMEMBER what God has done for me.
32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Hebrews 10:32-34 (ESV)
2) Keep my confidence in GOD
35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Hebrews 10:35-39 (ESV)
3) SEE what faith really is.
1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. Hebrews 11:1 (CSBBible)
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 (ESV)
1 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. Hebrews 11:1 (MSG)
- “assurance” =what stands under anything (a building, a contract, a promise). of assurance that steadiness of mind which holds one firm. It is common in the papyri in business documents as the basis or guarantee of transactions.
- “conviction” = The idea of evidence which goes to demonstrate the thing under consideration, or which is adapted to produce conviction in the mind, seems to be the elementary idea in the word. So when a proposition is demonstrated; when a man is arraigned, and evidence is furnished of his guilt, or when he establishes his innocence; or when one by argument refutes his adversaries, the idea of convincing argument enters into the use of the word in each case. – Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament.
4) ACCEPT what gives birth to faith.
4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, Colossians 1:4-5 (ESV)
Hope, which “springs eternal in the human breast,” comes first. Then, faith sees freedom from sin on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice, a consequent loving relationship to God, peace with one’s neighbors and joy in the midst of life (all what we hope for). These realities, though invisible, are personally appropriated; as a result, love for both God and others flows from the sense of gratitude which faith has awakened. Thus, the famous triumvirate of “faith, hope, and love” are central to all Christian living.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV)
5) UNDERSTAND that faith underlies the entire universe.
2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Hebrews 11:2-3 (ESV)
Column in Parker Live Online, Scientists have found that according to all their mathematical models the universe shouldn’t exist! They believe there are equal amounts of matter and anti-matter, so when the big bang went boom, everything should have been destroyed. But it wasn’t – so what does that tell us and is it even possible that in this impossibly possible universe of ours that there is nothing impossible other than what God has said is impossible.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Genesis 1:3 (ESV)
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Hebrews 1:3a (ESV)
37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 1:37 (ESV)
26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26 (ESV)
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