Pursue Fierce Faith 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 1 Timothy 1:18-19 Hebrews 6:10-12 Hebrews 11:1-2 Daniel 3:16-18 25 28-29 1 Peter 1:3-9 Hebrews 10:35-39 02.06.19

 PURSUE FIERCE FAITH

BREAD

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. ²⁷ No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.  1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV)

¹⁸ Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, ¹⁹ holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.  1 Timothy 1:18-19 (NIV)

¹⁰ God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. ¹¹ We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. ¹² We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.  Hebrews 6:10-12 (NIV)

¹ Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. ² This is what the ancients were commended for. Hebrews 11:1-2 (NIV)

¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. ¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up”…. ²⁵ He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” …. ²⁸ Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. ²⁹ Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.”  Daniel 3:16-18, 25, 28-29 (NIV)

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,        ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.  1 Peter 1:3-9 (NIV)

³⁵ So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. ³⁶ You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. ³⁷ For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. ³⁸ But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” ³⁹ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.   Hebrews 10:35-39 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Sometimes the enemy seems to get an advantage over us; but the battle is not over yet.  At last thou shalt have the victory, and carry the day for all that.  In hard struggles remember the power of Christ, who, in his resurrection, broke through everything.  With him thou canst also break through, and be more than conqueror.  Yea, in every conflict, if thy faith be firm, thou canst be sure of victory beforehand; for faith engages Christ’s power, and his power ensureth victory; it is as impossible for thine enemies to keep thee always in bonds, as it was impossible that Christ could be kept in the grave by the stone, seal, and keepers.  Nay, the greater their force is, the more glorious will be the victory of Christ over them.”  K. H. Von Bogatzky

“Faith is a living and unshakeable confidence, a belief in the grace of God so assured that a man would die a thousand deaths for its sake.”   Martin Luther

“When faith has the upper hand in my heart I am satisfied with Christ and His promises.  This is what Jesus meant when He said, ‘He who believed in Me shall never thirst’ (John 6:35).  When my thirst for joy and meaning and passion are satisfied by the presence and promises of Christ, the power of sin is broken.  We do not yield to the offer of sandwich meat when we can smell steak sizzling on the grill.  The fight of faith against lust is the fight to stay satisfied with God.”  John Piper

“Belief is truth held in the mind; faith is fire in the heart.”   John Henry Newman 

“What is needed is not mere present professions, but perseverance to the end in the power of faith.”    Ignatius of Antioch

“If he has faith, the believer cannot be restrained.”  Martin Luther

“His love is unfailing, His Word unchangeable, His power ever the same; therefore the heart that trusts Him is kept in ‘perfect peace’…I know He tries me only to increase my faith, and that it is all in love.  Well, if He is glorified, I am content.”    Hudson Taylor

“Faith in God will always be crowned.”  William S. Plummer

“Faith expects from God what is beyond all expectations.”   Andrew Murray

“To believe in the God over us and around us and not in the God within us – that would be a powerless and fruitless faith.”   Phillips Brooks

“Every unanswered prayer, every stretch of faith, and every difficult trial is an invitation from Him to come closer.”   Anonymous

“Satan strikes either at the root of faith or at the root of diligence.”   John Livingstone

“Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee…..Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as He built the heavens and the earth, glorify Himself in thy weakness, and magnify His might in the midst of thy distress.  The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye.”   Charles H. Spurgeon 

“Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible.  There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible.  Faith begins where man’s power ends.”   George Mueller  

“The invitation to enjoy God is not icing. It is the cake of Christianity. If he is not enjoyed in real measure, then he is not truly believed, trusted, feared, obeyed, or worshiped. God is not seeking disinterested praise, but “worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). He isn’t enlisting dutiful soldiers, but those who will serve with gladness (Psalms 100:2). He is the kind of God, so rich and full, so free and secure, that he will not settle for human compulsion and going through the external motions. He calls, and effects, the willing and eager. He wants, and is worthy, to capture the heart. The trust he wins is not disinterested faith (as if that were really possible), but the kind of faith that enjoys him (2 Corinthians 1:24; Philippians 1:25; Hebrews 11:6).”  David Mathis

“Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.”     Augustine

“Faith like Job’s cannot be shaken because it is the result of having been shaken.”  Abraham Heschel

“Until a man learns how to take a blow and keep on standing he will never produce a steady walk of faith.”   Alan Stewart

“Nobody can fight properly and boldly for the faith if he clings to fear of being stripped of earthly possessions.”     Peter Damian

“Most of us go through life praying a little, planning a little, jockeying for position, hoping but never being quite certain of anything, and always secretly afraid that we will miss the way.  There is a better way.  It is to repudiate our own and take instead the infinite wisdom of God…..God has charged Himself with full responsibility for our eternal happiness and stands ready to take over the management of our lives the moment we turn in faith to Him.”   A. W. Tozer

“Courage for the Christian is simply doing the next right thing through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results in God’s loving hands.  He is always faithful to give the grace sufficient to meet each need as we need it.  Courage is faith in action – not faith in ourselves but faith in Him.”   BHY

“Seek, O believer, that every good thing you have may be an abiding thing. May your character not be a writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the rock! May your faith be no ‘baseless fabric of a vision,’ but may it be built of material able to endure that awful fire which shall consume the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite.  May you be rooted and grounded in love. May your convictions be deep, your love real, your desire earnest. May your whole life be so firm and strong, that all the blasts of hell and the storms of earth shall never be able to remove you.”   Charles Spurgeon

HEART SAVOR

• ·         Have faith to attempt great things for God through His power for His glory.  He looks for a willing, faithful heart to do His bidding.  God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.
• ·         Run the race set before you as to win the prize.  Faith in God will always be crowned.
• ·         We must not become lazy but imitate those who through faith and patience inherited what was promised.