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The Basis of Missions is True Biblical Faith – Hebrews 11:7 – Bible study

The Basis of Missions is True Biblical Faith – Hebrews 11:7 – Bible study

THE BASIS OF BIBLICAL MISSIONS IS FAITH

Heb. 11:7

by Cooper Abrams

    Introduction: The single most important thing in a Christian’s life isfaith.

      Eph. 2:8-9, Saved by faith. “For by grace are ye savedthrough faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Eph. 2:9

      Heb. 11:6, We can not please God apart from faith.

      “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for hethat cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is arewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Heb. 11:6

        ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ACTS OF FAITH AFTER A PERSON IS SAVED IS MISSIONS. MISSIONS IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF A BELIEVERS LIFE. THE ACT OF DOING THE WORK OF MISSIONS IS AN ACT OF FAITH.

      In truth, missions is the result of ones faith in the LordJesus.

    I. SOME HAVE A FALSE IDEA OF FAITH.

      A. Christians have too often let the world, or the falseteachers define for us Biblical truths. We have gotten ourunderstanding of faith from the so called “Faith Healers” onTV and Radio. The faith they present to their listeners is adistorted and deliberate perversion of Biblical faith. It isobvious they do it for “filthy lucre” or money.

      B. Their false idea of faith has misled many.

        1. Many have the idea that faith is somethingmystical. Faith is some invisible attribute.

          a. Some think it to be a mental exercise. Wefocus our attention on believing something and then makeourselves believe it.

          b. This warped view presents faith as a work ofones mind in which we coerce ourselves into acceptingsomething.

            THAT FALSE TEACHING, SAYS WE CAN MANIPULATE GOD AND MAKE HIM A PUPPET OF OUR SUPPOSE FAITH. THE ONLY LIMIT T OUR USING GOD IS OUR ABILITY TO BELIEVE SOME- THING.

          c. Folks that is not faith as presented in the Bible! When one has this view, it actually clouds true faith, andleads us away from real Biblical faith.

            WHAT I WOULD HOPE WE CAN SEE TONIGHT IS THAT BIBLICAL FAITH IS ACTING ON THE PROMISES OF GOD. IT IS A MATTER OF ACCEPTING GOD’S WORD, TRUST HIM BECAUSE HE IS OUR CREATOR, OUR GOD, AND THEN DOING WHAT GOD HAS SAID.

      C. What is a simple and true description of faith?

        1. FAITH IS ACTION BASED ON BELIEF AND TRUST IN THE PROMISES OF GOD.

          a. The basis of Biblical faith is the promises of God.

          b. Faith is accepting what God has said.

          c. When true faith is present action will be theresult. In the area of missions the result of faith will that theGospel is preached, souls are won to Christ and churches areestablished.

      ILLUS: How is a person saved? We must hear the Gospel. We must hear what God has to say to us to whom He created. FIRST: He says we are lost, we are sinners bound under thedeath penalty of our sin. But the GOOD NEWS is God hasmade provision for us! That provision is the Lord JesusChrist. God promises if you will believe in the Lord JesusChrist you shall be saved!

        What is faith’s part in Salvation? Folks it is that wesimply believe GOD!!! God made to us a promise. Weaccept what God says is true. WE are sinners and withoutthe forgiveness of sin we perish. We accept this as truthbecause God said it. If it is true then we are in peril.

      ILLUS: In Feb. 1993, on Sunday I visited a church inEastern North Carolina. The Pastor told of taking a trip ofseveral hours with his brother. His brother is a member of aBaptist church, but admits he does not understand Salvation,he admits he has never really trusted in Christ as his Savior. This preacher heart is broken for his brother’s soul. What isthe problem? The brother has not believed what God says istrue. Folks surely a church member in a Baptist church hasheard the truth that all me are born sinners. God says there isan eternal Hell prepared for all who die in their sinners.

    Folks who really believe that will flee from it and flee toChrist. I DID!!!

        2. Lets try to illustrate it in the context of missions:

        Matt. 28:18-20 The Great Commission.

          a. There is but one command in the commission: That is to “Teach” (V19), or make “disciples of all nations”. That is the verb of action.

          b. The going V19, the baptizing, and teaching ofV20 are participles. A participle is a form of a verb that hasthe qualities of both a verb and an also an adjective. Itdescribes the action of the verb.

          c. Making disciples means to win folks to Christ! At times I think we have the idea that being a disciple is apart time affair. Becoming a disciple is the action of onewho is deeply committed to another. Once a person receivesthe Lord Jesus they become followers….follows of Christ. Avital part of being saved is that God will change your life.

          d. Thus, a follower of Christ believes God andseeks to make disciples of all nations, He does that by (1)Going, (2) Baptizing, and (3) Teaching them.

      ILLUS: Not long after we had completed the new buildingin Beaver, Utah where I was a serving as a missionary pastor, I had one of the men who attended our church visit. He wasupset to some degree because our little church was giving$350.00 month to missions. That was about 18% of ouroffering received. He said he was concerned because hewanted the church to give me more money and thought thatwe should cut from missions to do it. I said we can’t do thatand do not want too. He said, “WHY? We ought first totake care of you!” So I tried to explain to him that we wouldnot be a true Biblical church without supporting missions inin our town, in the United States and around the World! Yes, the church should take care of its pastor, but the churchhad voted to give that money to several missionaries and themissionaries were serving based on the church’s promise. Itwould be wrong to drop them and give the money to thepastor. I then suggested that if the church wanted to helptheir pastor more, they should trust God and give more.

    I quoted Act. 1:9, I told him, we must trust God and dohis Will. He will take care of our every need! Mine, yoursand the church’s.

    I said, we are to obey God, this is His work, we by faithdo what He says and he will take care of our every need!!!

        e. Note the last part of V20. “I am with youalways, even unto the end of the age.”

        f. Folks, the Command to win folks to Christ ishinged to a promise. That promise is that Christ Himself iswith us. He enables, directs, protects, empowers, strengthens, and encourages us.

        g. Thus, the heart of the Great Commission is anact of faith. It is carried out be those who believe God, Itis doing what God says do. Who said he would be with us? Is God able todo what He says? Is God trustworthy? If he says He is withus then can we trust Him?

        h. IF the answer is YES, then the result of ourfaith, of our believing God is that we will do what he says.

      D.Do your find examples in the New Testament ofmen going out by faith? Acts 11:19-26

        1. QUESTION? Who were the first missionaries inthe New Testament who went to other areas and preached theGospel?

          a. The first were Christian fleeing persecution inJerusalem.

          b. They were some men from Cy-prus andCy-ren-e who first preached Christ to the Greeks who livedin Antioch. 300 miles north of Jerusalem. They believed God. The believed Matt. 28:19-20 and Acts 1:9

        2. Note V21. Just like Christ said, “The hand of theLord was with them and a great number believed, and turnedunto the Lord.”

        3. Their belief in the promises of God was theirfaith….and their trusting in the promise of Salvation to allwho would believe in the Lord Jesus made them share it withothers, even gentiles, when they were driven out ofJerusalem.

        4. Who was the second missionary? Barnabas! When the church in Jerusalem heard of the Greeks beingsaved, they sent Barnabas.

        V24, says Barnabas was a good men, full of theHoly Spirit and of FAITH! It was surely an act of faith forBarnabas to leave his home in Jerusalem and go to Antioch topreach.

        3. Paul was the third missionary. V25 says Barnabaswent to Tarsus and got Paul and they both returned toAntioch and preached and taught there for on whole year.

      E. Some falsely conclude that Biblical faith is a “leapinto the dark”.

        1. Their idea is to take some action alone withoutknowing whether it is right or wrong….but they take theaction hoping it will turn out Ok.

          a. FOLKS, Biblical faith knows the end result.

          b. Heb. 11:6 says, “But without faith {it is}impossible to please {him}: for he that cometh to God mustbelieve that he is, and {that} he is a rewarder of them thatdiligently seek him.”

        2. These men preached and went to other areas topreach the Gospel having the full and absolute confidencethat God was sending the and He was with them every step ofthe way.

        3. NO leap into the dark….THEY WALKED APATH THEY KNEW GOD HAD PREPARED FOR THEM. Where ever it lead it would be all right…the had the promiseof God.

    II. ANOTHER FALSE IDEA ABOUT FAITH: WE NEED LARGE NUMBERS IN ORDER TO GET THE LORD TO WORK.

      A. In Acts 11:20, it TWO men began telling theGreeks about the Lord Jesus.

        1. The hand of the Lord was with them.

        2. Great numbers believed.

          “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hastseen me, thou hast believed: blessed {are} they that have notseen, and {yet} have believed.” JOHN 20:29

      B. This great number of people 300 miles fromJerusalem….believed!!! Because these believers fromJerusalem trusted God….they obeyed God…they fledJerusalem for their lives….yet never gave up their faith in thepromises of God..

        Folks that flies in the face of the false teaches today. They says, you faith is to produce wealth and propriety…..These folks profession of faith in the Lord Jesus put their very lives in peril and even when they fled to escape death, their faith never waned…..they kept on telling people about the Lord Jesus.

      ILLUS: One memory I will always cherish was of a man IBaptized just before leaving Beaver. He was saved in July. He was dying of cancer. In the December several weeksbefore he died, I will never forget kneeling by his bed andpraying with him. I struggled to pray for him. My heart washeavy and he was in great pain. I wanted so to encouragehim. As I prayed I could feel him wench from the pain. I stopped praying and he sensed I was struggling and hebegan to pray aloud….You know what he prayed? “Thankyou dear Jesus for being so good to me? Thank you God forall you have done for me……!”

      That is Biblical faith.

    CONCLUSION:

      1. WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN TO ME, TO YOU,TO YOU AS A CHURCH?

      2. Missions starts and begins in the heart of one man,woman, boy or girl who will believe what Jesus has said, andthen do what God has commanded.

      3. It starts with one…one me….one you. Who willbelieve God and do what God said. Then as we do whatGod tells us others are added.

      Those folks in Acts 11, went forth doing what Godsaid. They obeyed God, and God worked mightily throughthem. As needed, God raised up more folks, Barnabas, thenPaul. Folks it started with some unnamed faithful believerswho believed God even when they were fleeing for their verylives.

      4. What an opportunity you and I have. We do not fearfor our lives. The door to witness freely is open to us. Herein your town, county, state, nation and around the world.

      5. Boy, that ought to bring us together…..as brother andsisters in Christ….as a church to work together to be busy atthe task the Lord has given us the privilege to be a part of.

      6. We you believe in the promises of God today. Theonly limit on God’s desire to work through us is our believingGod.

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