Believe

[0:00] A Pastor's Reflections Believe. Exodus 4, 5. That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared unto thee.

[0:13] Matthew 17, 20. Truly I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

[0:28] Hebrews 11, 6. But without faith, it is impossible to please him. God's ability to work in Moses' life and the children of Israel's lives was not something that was ever in question.

[0:43] God was not worried about how he would deliver his people or if he could deliver his people. There was never any question of God's ability. What was in question was whether Moses and Israel would believe God was able and willing to do what he said he would.

[1:01] Even as that statement is made, we realize how ridiculous it sounds. Of course God is able to keep his word. Of course he is willing to deliver. Who would ever doubt God's ability?

[1:13] Then why do we so often doubt the outcome he has already told us he will bring about? Hebrews 11, 6. But without faith, it is impossible to please him.

[1:26] For he that comes to God must believe that he is, that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. God's ability is never in question. But our ability to believe God is.

[1:37] It is never that God won't fulfill his word or deliver on his promises. But will I take part in that deliverance? Will I trust his promises and believe his word?

[1:49] My lack of faith in God would never hinder God's ability to bring about what he has promised. But it will hinder my ability to partake in God's promise.

[2:02] God has so created man that we have been made in the image of God. We are free moral agents. We, like God, have a deterministic morality. Unlike the animals, we can morally choose, right and wrong, good and bad, obey or disobey.

[2:19] If you take away man's free will, then you take away his likeness to God. However, unlike God, our decisions are very much in question.

[2:30] God has free will, and he freely and willingly chooses the way of righteousness every time, because he is righteous. We, however, find ourselves in a fallen world with a fallen nature.

[2:41] For that reason, God gave us the opportunity, through the cross, to choose to believe that God would impute his righteousness to us by faith. Our faith in God then becomes of utmost importance to us and to God.

[2:58] God will move mountains on behalf of a mustard seed faith, because faith in God is what gives us access to God's deliverance, that they may believe.

[3:10] God was not in doubt about his ability to deliver the people of Israel, and he would do whatever it took to ensure that Israel would not be in doubt either.

[3:23] Upon that one question of faith hung the deliverance of every man, woman, and child among God's people. And upon that same question hangs our deliverance today.

[3:35] John 11, 25-26 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die.

[3:51] Do you believe this? Father, thank you for the surety of your word and your deliverance. Thank you that we never need to doubt your ability to fulfill what you promise.

[4:03] Help us to have the faith that believes you are not only able, but willing, to deliver each and every one of us. Let our faith in you open the door for you to do great things in and through our lives.

[4:17] Amen.