Precious Faith| Rugged Cross Baptist Church

” What It Takes To Makes A Great Church ”
Sermon Series # 7

Faith
Hebrews 11: 1-6

Intro: The sermon in our series today, is probably one of the greatest tools in the Christian life. It is a necessity to make a great church. We will be preaching about “Faith”. Displaying great faith is easy to talk about, but often it is hard to put into practice. It is often easy to talk of faith when life is easy and things are going good in our lives but we all know that life can change in an instant. Troubles and hardships can become reality for us and it’s during these times that we need to demonstrate a faith in Christ that proves he is strong enough to guide us through the toughest of circumstances.

I. What is Faith — V.1
A. The substance (reality) of things hoped for, the evidence (proof) of things not seen.
B. Believing in what you cannot see

II. Without Faith It Is Impossible to Please God — v.6
A. Must believe that he IS
B. Must believe that he rewards those who seek him
C. Must believe that he can calm our storms — “Disciples on the ship”

III. Wide Range of Examples — Heroes of the Faith in This Chapter
A. Noah — V.7
B. Abraham — V.8
C. Moses — V. 24-25
D. Others — V. 32-38

There is a story of a man who slipped on a ledge and managed to grab onto a small branch before plunging to his death. He began to scream for help. He yelled, ” Is anyone up there?” He then heard a voice that said, ” I am here.” The man then asked ” Who are you?” The answer came, ” I am the Lord.” Enthusiastically the man said, ” Oh Please help me!” To which the Lord replied, ” Do you trust me?” The man responded, ” yes Lord I trust you.” God then said,” OK let go of the branch.” The man thought a few minutes and then yelled, ” IS ANYONE ELSE UP THERE?”

Our faith is often just as the man in this story. I encourage all of us to try and exemplify a great working faith !!!!