Faith In God elementary doctrines series As you know, we started last week with basic foundations. Some of you discovered that there is something in the Scripture called Elementary Doctrines. Some of you didn t know that there are six areas of elementary doctrines. We are going to work our way through the 6 elementary doctrines; not because they are simple and unimportant but because they are elementary, which means, if you don t have foundations you are not building on the right foundations. Elementary doesn t mean unnecessary. It means if you can t say, ah, b, c and start forming the sounds; you don t get to read the words and the documents unless you know the basics. We started last week with Repentance from Dead Works. It s available on different platforms. You can find them on our website or download the Lighthouse Parow app. Today we are talking about Faith Towards God or Faith in God. We will talk about the other doctrines, the doctrines of baptism, the doctrines of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgements. Are we ready? Today is a very, very basic elementary doctrine of Faith towards God. Now, many people unfortunately in the Church remain at a level in faith in God which only amounts to having my needs met. In this teaching of the elementary doctrines of faith in God, I want you to have a clear picture of what faith is. Remember almost three years ago, we did a series, Step Up. You can get all those materials on line or on mp3s. We spoke on different stages of growth of maturity. Do you remember? Some of you were here. The rest of you, the resources got and get and work through it. In the human life cycle there are different stages, cycles; so to in your spiritual growth, there are different stages. The first stage is easy. It is the nappy stage. It s called Nepios. In America, they call it a diaper but here it s a nappy. The you are first born again, you enter the Kingdom as a little baby. Then you go on to the toddler stage; you take down the little ornaments because they are learning to crawl and walk and hold onto things; and figure
out what they can touch and what they can t touch. Then you get into the childhood stage and teenage stage. All of these have words like Teknon Then you become after a teenager What is a teenager? A teenager is learning to take responsibility. Right? You are also cleaning the house, washing the dishes, mowing the lawn; you are learning to take responsibility in the house, teenagers. Some of you are still little children. You haven t become teenagers yet. Young adults are learning to handle the affairs of the house. You have come into the place where you are learning to handle the affairs of the house. You are beyond just someone else paying for your school fees. You are learning to take responsibility for affairs of the house. Then you come to the stage of a fully matured son. Even as we speak of the template of the father/son template; we said you can t be a healthy father until you ve learnt to be a son. A fully mature son is one who can be a father to others. These different stages in our maturity are to be also to be reflected in our journey in faith. The type of faith that you had as a baby is not the same type of faith that you should have as a fully nature son. That s what I want to speak about. By the way, we made the announcement that you can still join Word School this week. On Tuesday evening, Marko will expound on this Tuesday night. I want you to press in deeper. Marko will teach on elementary doctrines in Word School. You need to be able to teach others and walk with them as they come into the understanding of walking in truth. I m going to highlight some of these aspects so that the whole congregation is on the same page. I want you to press in deeper, not just for you to come into maturity but to be able to teach others. When you make disciples, you should understand what these elementary doctrines are so that you can teach others and walk with them as they come to the understanding of the truth. So, every stage of your life as you grow and mature in Christ is a growth and maturing in faith. All of life is a relationship. In a relationship, you grow in every aspect of your relationship. So in your relationship with your wife, your friendship relationship grows, your sexual relationship grows. Your emotional relationship grows. All of these aspects of your relationship needs to grow as you grow in that relationship. Faith is a relationship growth in being able to put your faith in God.
1 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV) 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. There s growth. When you become a man, you put away the ways of a child behind you. You move on. The point is that we can t remain in the same way we were in our relationship and faith towards God and our thinking and our reasoning as we were when we were a child. What does a baby do? A baby has needs and when you have needs, how does the baby communicate its needs? It cries. It has different cries sometimes for different needs. I know that some of you are anxious about becoming parents and will I know what the baby needs but yes, you will know what a baby s cry is. But, waaah, I have needs, meet my needs, mommy, daddy. That is quite appropriate for a baby but when you are a baby in the Lord, you need the faith in God to meet your needs. That quite often is unfortunately where many Christians remain. God wants us to come as we come into maturity into that kind of faith, the faith that is needed to handle the affairs of the house. That is a whole different level of faith then just wah, I have needs God, meet my needs. Faith is not just for things but faith is how you live. Faith is how you live. In fact, all you do in life is either by faith or you miss the mark. If it s not done by faith, it is sin. Romans 14:23. Romans 14:23 (NIV) 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.[a] It s the way of life. It s a way of doing absolutely everything you do. But what you do as a baby in Christ is different from what you do as you are becoming a toddler, a child, a teen, a young adult then a fully mature son. Jesus demonstrated to us that how everything He did was by faith. Some people think that Jesus didn t need faith because Jesus was God. Isn t it funny how sometimes we think that Jesus was not a full human being; born as a baby. He had to come through a toddler stage, a little boy grow up. In that, He had a body and a soul. He is a Spirit just like we are but He has a
soul and His soul was screaming and shouting and wanting to reason but Jesus says, There s nothing I do that is not of faith. I only live by faith. I don t do untying that I don t see My Father doing. I don t say anything that I don t hear My Father saying. Nothing I do was of myself. That is a walk of faith, in trusting His entire self to God; and faith for us and the walk and journey of faith is much more than just, I have a need, Father, can you meet my need. It is, can I entrust my entire life to you? I know that You will direct my life better than I could in my own strength. If you use the analogy of driving a car, so you are driving a car and you run out of petrol. Wahhhh. I need petrol. That s fine for that level. Or you are driving your car and now you have a flat tire. Waaah, I have a flat tire. Jesus change the tire. Growing in faith is not about having more tanks of petrol. That s not growing in your walk in faith that I never ever pay for petrol anymore. Jesus fill my tank! Some of you come to a service to get your tank full. (chuckling). Eina. That s your level of faith. Jesus, come fill my tank. I must just make it for one week. Come fill my tank. That s perfectly fine if you are a babe and your level of faith is just about God meets you at that point because the is where you are. What God wants to do, is He wants to not just be the God who will just fill your tank but He wants to be the One who drives the car while you are seated behind the steering wheel. Can you handle that? [playing video clip of car driving with person behind the wheel and Jesus take the wheel song by Carrie Underwood playing.] In this video, technology was driving the car. That person sitting behind the wheel has faith in technology that a company has developed. Obviously, that company didn t just start up yesterday. That company has a proven track record of being able to develop the systems and the technology to be able to come to that point where that guy says I will sit in this vehicle and let this technology this program, this program that this company developed; I will let it take full control of the vehicle. Hello. It is different then saying Jesus fill my tank. This is coming to the realization actually that He can steer my life far better than I can. I can entrust everything of my life to Him, not just for my survival but for my direction. He tells me where I m going. He is preparing me
for the journey. Can we say, Jesus take the wheel because You can direct my life better? What is faith? We know Hebrews 11 verse 1. We are all familiar with Hebrews. Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) 11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. How many of you have been in court or seen a court case on television? In a court case, the judge or jury, whomever is making the judgement should have no prior knowledge. The judge is supposed to come into that court room or the jury is supposed to come into that court room without any prior knowledge of the case. Then, in court, the defendant is represented by someone who must present evidence. The prosecution and the defense must produce evidence, evidence of the entire matter. The evidence must be the complete picture so that the judge can make an accurate judgement based on the body of evidence provided. That word evidence is used in that environment. Now, who is the one who gives the evidence in this case pertaining to faith? Is the evidence of things not seen? It is God who is proving Himself to be a good God. If you go back to the evidence since you were a babe in Christ was His evidence not good enough in providing for your needs? I ve seen the goodness of God. In every aspect of my life when I was a baby Zach is here because we fed him but now he can feed himself. Believe me. Let me tell you, he ate his lunch and my lunch on the same day and he comes home for two dinners. There was a time when he was a baby that if we didn t feed him, he wouldn t be here today. It s my faithfulness to his provision, not evident to him? Of course it is and all through his life, even when he was a child; he didn t say, Dad, I must go to Kindergarten and now I must go to grade 1. He didn t say that. We said, this is where you must go boy and we made full provision for you to grow in that stage. Did he worry about school books or school fees? No. Was the faithfulness and goodness and provision not evident? Yes, as he has grown up, he has taken
more and more liberties. Haven t you Zach? He knows the evidence is there of a father that has always provided. Do I pack his lunch? Do I pack his lunch no? Boytjie, if you don t make lunch for yourself; if you don t provide lunch for yourself, there are certain skills that you should have learnt by now. Psalm 23:6 (NIV) 6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The confidence we have in the evidence God has provided is that He is always faithful. The evidence, overwhelmingly, is that I can trust in God. What is your judgement on the evidence that God provides? God is always faithful. God is always trustworthy. He is never not faithful. He is never not trustworthy. So, now that I know that, I can go and grow in the next level that He is taking me to. 1 Peter 2:2-5 (NIV) 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, the living Stone rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Do you see the point? Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. The point is not that you tasted that He is good and remain a baby. The point is that you ve tasted that He is good now grow. There is an entire invisible realm; there is an entire realm invisible to you. As a babes, all we see is the visible realm; our visible needs. God is taking us to a place where the invisible realm comes to view and the natural fades. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV) 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs
them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. That was the realm we lived on as we were babies. We fix our eyes on things which are not seen.verse 18. Faith is evidence of this unseen realm. Evidence God provides of His goodness He provides in every stage of our lives is so that we can come into seeing the invisible realm and how God is not always there to provide but He is taking us on every step of the journey. He is presenting His goodness to us through every stage of life that we have ever come through. You first saw that in the evidence of Him taking care of you as a baby. Then as a toddler and you ve seen the evidence of His willingness to meet your needs. It s not wrong for you as a baby to cry as a baby for your needs to be met. If that the right time/season in your life. It s not appropriate for a mature man to cry as a baby. Is it appropriate for man to cry like a baby because he has to go to the bathroom? No! There are certain skills that you should have learnt by now. Say to your soul, that thing which is always looking for its own provision and its own protection. Say to your soul, God is moving me on. Faith must move on. If you continue to want to only relate to God as a supplier of your needs, the supply might dry up. If you refuse to grow up in your faith and you only want to remain as a baby where God must supply my needs; the supply of your needs might dry up because God wants to move you on. God wants to move you on. Can you imagine Jesus on the earth, the only thing He trust His father for is for food, for clothes and for something to wear, someplace to sleep? Can you imagine that being faith? Now He is growing in faith so he is getting better food. Faith is not trusting in God for a bigger car, a bigger house. You ve been duped into believing that greater faith is believing for more, more stuff, bigger houses, bigger cars, better this. That is not growing in faith. That is just becoming more inward focused of just give. Me stuff, I am a baby. God wants to move you on. Jesus is our example. In fact, not only does Hebrews 11 speak of the whole chapter speak of faith but it goes on in chapter 12 verse 2 and it says that.
Hebrews 12:2 (NIV) 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. The word, Author is better translate originator. He is the first in a long procession. He is the originator who begins and continues as the leader of that movement. Jesus is the One who initiates this faith walk that we are on and He demonstrates how to walk by faith for us and He is also the completer of this and He is the One who brings it to its end. Jesus, we look to Him who initiates this faith walk in us and is also the One who wants to bring it to a place of maturity, to a conclusion. Now you have this evidence before you. The evidence of God s goodness completes it and brings it to a conclusion. Now you have this evidence before you. In every stage He was there when we were babies, but the question you need to ask as you are growing is not Lord, where is my provision? You need to be saying, Lord, where do I see Your goodness? What place of my life am I now seeing Your goodness? So, when you are a babe, His goodness was in meeting your needs. As you learn to take responsibilities for the affairs of the house; where do I see my goodness in my life. Is it remaining at provision? No, that s part of the package but I am trusting God in goodness in how to raise my children, how to have wisdom in managing the affairs of the house, in how to manage the affairs of this spiritual house, on how to have insights from God, how to hear from God and make right decisions for the responsibility God has given me in handling the affairs of His house. Isn t that where I am experiencing God s goodness? We need to recognize and ask he question, In what stage of my life am I seeing God s goodness? If its drying up in that area, its because God is moving you on and He s showing you His goodness will be revealed in the step that He s wanting you to step in faith in your maturing. As you grow, your faith must grow, not for more things but into a new stage of maturity in Christ. From faith just to survive to faith to rule. It s different. It s a growing stage; from faith to have my needs met to the goodness of God revealed in how His
grace is towards me in learning how to be an administrator of His grace. Are we getting the picture? Marko, you ll explain it better. He ll take you over and chew through it. God wants to bring you into fullness. We spoke a few months ago of the Seven Spirits of God. God wants to bring us into fullness of the manifestation of the Spirit of God; the fullness of the Spirit of Lordship, of wisdom, of understanding, of counsel, of might, of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. This is what God wants to bring us into a fullness of and the faith that He s growing you in and your faith development towards God is now has to do with every stage of growth and maturity where this fullness is coming into your life. God based on the evidence of His goodness was He good to you as a babe and you needed provision? Was He good to you when you became a toddler and you learned how to walk and what to handle or what not to handle? Was He good to you when He was teaching you how to serve others and not to just take care of yourself but how to minister to others? Was He good to you when He wanted you to speak a word to someone else or to your children? You don't have it in yourself but you trust in God. Is the evidence there of His goodness? He will continue to show goodness in each new stage of your life. Faith, is the evidence of God s goodness in this unseen realm given to you in each stage of your life; to bring us to a conclusion, to a maturity in Faith. You can trust in the goodness of God. So now, as you mature, when God speaks you can act on it. Now you re not just saying, God give me stuff. Now God is directing you and when He speaks, you can make plans based on that unseen realm. You can now make plans and start preparing yourself to receive that and to manage that because God is bringing you into as the Holy Spirit directs you. You can be certain. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. This hope is not wishful thinking. It s not wishing for something. This hope is a certainy, a certainty. It means to be fully persuaded by the evidence. Faith is being fully persuaded based on the evidence. Faith now is you being fully persuaded based on the evidence. This substance that you have now of the things hoped for, this is the title deed.it s the title deed. It s not the wishful thing, I hope I ll get it. I hope so. No, its the confidant assurance, the certainty, the title deed is
there. It s a guarantee. This thing, I can now act, not wishful thinking but have certainty. That s when someone passes away we don t have to mourn with wondering but we have certainty as that s why don t have to mourn when someone passes away in Christ. Not, Ah, I hope he makes it. Now you hear people that have buried and died and we hear people say, rest in peace. No, that s wishful thinking wishing, wishing that someone, will somehow, will rest in peace. That is wishful thinking. The certainty that we have, the hope we have is because of the evidence that God has provided, the guarantee that He has already made. This we have, this hope as an anchor for our soul; goodness with the proof. Faith is that substance, that substance, that surety of things hoped for; things that we can count on with surety based on evidence of the things we have not seen in the unseen realm becoming more and more evident to us, certainty of a new level of faith. Now when God speaks, we can act with certainty and even though the timing of God is not what you want it to be. He is waiting for things to align properly, for circumstances to align, for things to come into being, we, based on evidence, don t now start not trusting. We now, based on the evidence, in this new stage that God is bringing you into, we don t have to waver or think that God isn t coming through, God won t step in No, the evidence that you had of faith like a child. We have to have the faith like the child s faith had but not of the child. The child s faith is certainty that dad will provide. It s the childlike faith but not of that child, not the same level of just trusting for those things. Now that you are coming into higher things, you can have the certainty that the child had that his dad will provide for his/her needs. You can, with certainty, allowing Him to bring the things into right alignment, to set the time for it. While you are waiting patiently for His timing, because you trust your Father fully. You can allow Him to prepare you for it. That s faith. Faith now for the mature is God what are you doing in me? How are You preparing me? What are You working in me? Not, what can You give me? This is the basic elements, the basic elementary doctrines of our faith in God. If you see the picture clearly, you will understand, we need to grow. Our faith needs to grow. We had a level of faith as a child that will not suffice. If you want to remain there, God will make it uncomfortable for you. Does it mean
that we don t can t Him for provision? It s not even a thought. It s not even the issue. That is child s bread. It s obvious stuff. We don t have to struggle and now, I have faith for it. What nonsense people. You can t faith for things. Faith is based on a guarantee of the character of your Father and you are convinced by the evidence. Your judgement is, There is no way that my Father He says do you think it s unfair when Jesus says, Don t worry about food, clothes and where you will sleep? Do you think it s unfair? It s not unfair. Does it mean that people don t eat or don t have clothes. No. It s not unfair for Jesus to say, Don t worry about that because your Father knows that man. There are greater things that you should be seeking. Seek first the Kingdom! This is where your faith is pushing you towards. Your faith is pushing towards seeking the Kingdom. That other stuff is finished. The only time that stuff needs to dry up is when that s where you want to remain in your faith. You want to see a bunch of babies have a crusade and get the man of God comes for people and will bless and this and that. God is going to bless you with stuff. God is going to give you stuff and healing and blessing and get more stuff. That man of God The place is full. The place is full. Babies. Babies. Its like a soup kitchen! Its like you never had food before. Oh, Jesus, the man of God shall come, today. Jesus help me please with these things; soup kitchen, man. Hey, stand in a line to get things Your Father, your inheritance is far beyond that. Zach, if you stand in a kitchen soup line, I m going to give you a klap. (laughter) Firstly, because it s an insult. Secondly, because he s taking poor people s food when he has plenty of food at home. Do you see where God is taking us? Faith in God is not just for the little stuff. That is where you begin, yes begin in trusting God for provision. You need to be a babe sometimes. For goodness sakes, now that we ve seen His provision, let s grow up. Now that we have confidence in the evidence God s provided, we can believe Him for ruling and reigning stuff. Some people are nervous because this is now a bit dangerous. I prefer the soup kitchen [laughter]. I prefer standing and waiting for food every day and now you re saying that I must take responsibility to rule. Yes, yes yes! Do you think that as we rule we don t have full supply to the royal kitchen? We can walk into the royal kingdom anytime we want. Why do you want trouble
yourself waiting for soup and bread. God is moving us on. Don t hear what I m not saying. I m not saying that you shouldn t trust God for healing. I m saying, don t let the level of your faith remain that is all you are seeking. That stuff, we should know that we have full confidence in our Father s goodness that He will provide that stuff. We are seeking the invisible realm. We are seeking the things that our eyes are seeing much more clearly, the eternal stuff, the eternal stuff; not the temporal which is fading away. It doesn t even have the allure for us. It doesn t even have the attraction. The enemy can t even entice us with that stuff anymore because we have this is my small change, hello. As if the millionaire is now worried about the two Rand change in his pocket. That s pocket change. The pauper says, Please give me R2 for bread. God is taking us beyond that. Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV) 2 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.