Hebrew 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Rev. Si Duoyong, a house church pastor in Southen China, delivered the message on faith to the "Heart-to-Heart" fellowship in Hangzhou.
People are familiar with the word "faith." There are many Christians around us, who actually have various "faith." Some Christians have active faith while others present passive faith. Some believe in God wholeheartedly while others are skeptical about God.
Rev.Si claims that our faith revealed in life shows that we believe in God, therefore, we have confidence in ourselves."God wants us to have faith in him because it is impossible to please God without faith. God doesn't require us to do anything we cannot do, but he has provided us approaches to get faith.So faith is revealed in two aspects: saving faith and faith in our life."
What is saving faith?
Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.
Jesus came to save sinners, giving us a chance to be saved through faith in him.
Paul also claims in Chapter 10 of Romans, "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.'" (verses 9-11), "'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'"(verse 13) and "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."(verse 17).
"So we can see from these above verses that there are some steps to salvation: first of all, hear the word of God then let it enter your heart from the ears, finally, you can be saved. "
Where does faith come from?
"Faith comes from God's word."
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
The Bible speaks about "faith" in many places, saying that whoever seeks God must believe that God exists, otherwise, God can't reward him.
"When we're confident about ourselves, we tend to believe in others. People who have belief in others also believe themselves."
The pastor shares that there are many advantages in building your self-confidence. "Confident people trust others, society and also God.Conversely, a man who doesn't believe in himself hardly has confidence in others and faith God.How could he have faith in the unseen God since he has no trust in people that can be seen?"
The speaker says that there are all kinds of things in our lives through which we can learn the lesson of faith. We need to have confidence in many things during our life. Citing that we should have faith in taking a lift, car or plane, Rev. Si explains that we need to believe in everything around us.
"Whether we can trust (God) or not after hearing sermons happens in our hearts. The process also practices our belief in ourselves.We won't believe in what others say when we lose confidence in ourselves.Especially in receiving salvation from God, we doubt the sermons preached by others and God's word for we don't believe in ourselves. "
It's true that God exists whether you believe it or not. "It's good for us when we accept the fact. Our sins can be forgiven through faith and we can have eternal life through faith. By faith we're called the children of God; by faith the Holy Spirit dwell in us. As a result, 'faith'means believing in Jesus and receiving Jesus. Moreover, it requires that you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth...This is the process of faith." He concludes.
Translated by Karen Luo
