Faith Boost Part 2

Hi Everyone!!

I hope you're having a great week thus far!

This past Sunday, we got another faith boost. They're like a pre-workout supplement that gives all the fuel and nutrients one needs to go put in the work.

Per usual, it's always worth revisiting the Hall of Faith when discussing faith boosts:

Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11:6

Hebrews 10:38

Some complementary scriptures include:

Romans 12

The story of Joshua and Caleb

The blog for the Faith Boost part 1 can be found here: https://wopccbiblestudy.blogspot.com/2019/06/faith-boost.html

That blog goes into the weeds of what was preached in part 1.

_______________________________________________________________________________

This Sunday was like the water break where we got the opportunity to hydrate before we got back to work. 

The sermon started with a demonstration so we could get an understanding of the parallel between sight and obedience. 

The idea was that eyes closed = no sight; eyes open = sight; and one eye open = sight

Simple enough right? Through that, we were reminded that:

1) There's no such thing as half faith; either you're going to trust or you're not
2) Partial obedience = 100% disobedience

Part 2 of the faith boost emphasized the work aspect of having faith. There is a responsibility that we also have. James 2:26 tells us that faith without works is dead.

2 Bible stories where the characters clearly had work to do was with Adam and Ruth

Genesis 2:15-18

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. [Adam's part: keep the garden nice] 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat [God's part: provision of an organic all you can eat buffet]; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 

Ruth 2

Take some time to reach this chapter, but the gist is that Ruth had to put in work before she was able to be with Boaz.

No one is excluded from having to do work!

In addition to/in order to hold(ing) up our end of the deal, there must be a shift in perspective.

Perspective: "a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view"

Pastor emphasized how there are 2 perspectives of what you're going through - there's the godly (optimistic) way and the (pessimistic) negative, "the sky is falling" way. 

James 1:5-8

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

[Wisdom is seeing from God's perspective. If you have trouble seeing things from a healthy perspective (realistic, but understanding that God said He will and actually does come through) or if you're having trouble finding the hope in a situation, ask God for wisdom to have a changed point of view]

Using the godly POV, we can rest on:

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Genesis 22:1-19

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the [a]lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the [b]lamb for a burnt offering?”

8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, [c]The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

15 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

[Abraham was a great example of what having a godly POV looks like. He told the people he left at the bottom of the mountain that he and his son would return even though he knew his son was supposed to be the sacrifice. He knew what God has done before. He had faith. He trusted God. He saw from God's perspective and didn't fret about the daunting task of having to sacrifice his son. The result? Something else was provided and Abraham and Isaac left the mountain together]

Keys to exercise a godly POV:

• Remember what God said "back then".
• Properly relate to your past: look at it, but don't live in it.
• Worship while you wait
• Remember that when you see it, your Isaacs will also be blessed
• Run on & See what the end will be

To tie it all in, when I hear "boost", I'm reminded of when we were children and wanted to be able to see or reach something and asked our friends to "give me a boost." 

If you're unfamiliar, it's where someone would intertwine their fingers (the booster) to create this little pocket so that the person they're boosting (the boostee) could step into it and the booster would give the boostee a little push up as the boostee bounced themselves up. It's kind of similar to how a cheerleader is put into a stunt.
*The part where the girl is bounced except it's way less people.

Anyway, the thing with this idea of giving a boost is that you would never ask someone who's clearly too weak to give you a boost, nor would you ask someone you don't trust who would drop you. In addition, there is some work you would have to do to get up and over whatever you're climbing; they're just helping you get up there. Same thing with faith; either you trust God to help get you up and over or you halfway trust them and you fall or never make it up because you were afraid. Even going with the visual of the cheerleaders, coming from a former cheerleader who used to throw people in the air, it's tough working with a flyer who is afraid because they're heavy (they're likely not holding their weight) and when they're standing in a stunt, they have shaky Bambi legs. I mean, eventually they get the hang of it and go into it unafraid, but they had to learn and keep putting in the work. The difference between the afraid flyer and the confident flyer is her perspective. As the reluctantly afraid flyer, her mindset is that this is something that's scary and these girls will probably drop her. As the confident flyer, it's something she's done before and she knows how to keep form so she lessens the likelihood of falling. Overall, she trusts her bases/foundation.

It's important for us to trust God as our base or our booster to get us to where we need to be, but it's so much harder on the booster if the boostee just stands there expecting someone else to do all the work.

Have Faith, Put in Work, and Run On & See What the End Will Be

Facebook Live: Sunday, July 14, 2019

Til next time,

Upcoming Events:

• Bishop's Preaching Engagement
• July 26, 2019
• WOPCC's Annual Cookout
• August 11, 2019 after church
• Cosca Regional Park
• Men's Game Night
• August 17, 2019 @ 6:00pm
• WOPCC's Fellowship Hall
• WOPCC's Men's Ministry: Baseball Game [All are Welcomed]
• August 24, 2019 @ 6:00pm
• Bowie Baysox Stadium