Four Fundamentals of Faith

1.) A NEED – Men and women come to Christ because they need Christ! “The well have NO NEED…” (Matt. 9:11-13).

2.) THE WORD – Faith’s one foundation is the Word of God. We have no reason to believe anything except what God hath said. “Faith cometh by hearing the Word” (Rom. 10:17).

3.) CHRIST – The sole object of saving faith is Christ, (Isa. 45:22; Heb. 12:2) our Lord. He, of God, is made unto us all things that we need. We believe, look, trust, and rest in HIM (Col. 2:9-10).

4.) GRACE – Both the will to believe and the power to believe are the gifts of God, “not of works” (Eph. 1:19; 2:8-9).

Pastor Henry T. Mahan (Bulletin 1986)

WHY CHRIST PATIENTLY WAITED

Psalm 40: 1: I waited patiently for the LORD….6: Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. 7: Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, 8: I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

Due to our sin we never wait without sinful discontent over God’s timing. But “patiently waiting” upon God his Father was the very character of our Lord Jesus. On the cross Christ “patiently waited” in faith, hope, and confidence that the Father would deliver him once Christ had declared God just and Justifier of his people. How amazing that the all-powerful Son of heaven loved his Father and his brethren so much that he willingly put himself in that place, "by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Heb 10:10). Brethren let us ask for more grace to “patiently wait” upon the LORD, believing and confessing from a pure heart, “My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.” His time is the right time.

Pastor Marvin Stalnaker

Prayer

“But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking” (Matt. 6:7). True faith is not receiving what we ask, but rather it is faith in God. In no way is prayer a means of bringing a pressure to bear on God to obtain from Him what we have decided to receive for ourselves in the name of faith, no matter what the cost. God does not let Himself be intimidated by presumption any more than by heaping up of words.

Faith is not a blind and obstinate assurance. It is not founded on the strength of our right, nor on the firmness of our conviction nor the strength of our desires.

Faith has confidence in the goodness, the wisdom and the unlimited power of God. Faith does not say, “If you can do anything, take pity on us” (Mark 9:22, 23). It knows without a doubt that God can do whatever He wants to do. Therefore, faith never says, “Lord, you must heal me.” To impose our wills on God, to demand that God should obey us is no longer faith, but self-willed presumption. Faith says, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Pastor Scott Richardson

FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE

“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (1 Cor. 13:13).

What great blessings the Lord has freely and eternally given unto His church (Rom. 8:32). Indeed, Christ has blessed us with all spiritual blessings (Eph. 1:3). The apostle Paul makes mention of these three great and spiritual blessings that abide in every believer; faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Why would Paul say that? Because it is true!

Every believer lives by faith (Rom. 1:17), walks by faith (2 Cor. 5:7) and will die in faith (Heb. 13:5), always looking and trusting Christ (Heb. 12:2). But one day faith will end in perfect and complete sight, when we behold the Lord Jesus Christ face to face (1 John 3:2).

Likewise, every believer lives with a fervent hope, a living hope and a blessed hope (Titus 2:13); because it is a good hope through grace (2 Thes. 2:16). Hope springs from faith in Christ (Heb. 11:1), for He is our hope (Col. 1:27; 1 Tim. 1:1). But the good hope we have in Christ, that too will one day come to an end in the certain expectation of the reality of that hope being predestinated to be just like the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29-30).