Faith-in-Focus
Pastor Phil Derstine – 7-30-23
Faith: Complete trust and confidence in God
· Hebrews 11:6 “Without faith is impossible to please God.”
· II Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
· James 1:6 “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. (7) For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.”
· The Holy Spirit helps us keep our Faith-in-Focus!
Mark 8:22-26 – Jesus touched a blind man’s eyes, but he wasn’t healed… not right away.
· 3 Question Faith Exam:
1. Where do you live? – Move out of the land of unbelief, don’t live there!
· Mark 8:23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town…” (Bethsaida)
· Matthew 11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”
· Matthew 13:58 “And he (Jesus) did not do many miracles there (Nazareth) because of their lack of faith.”
· I Kings 19:9,13 “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (15) “Go back the way you came...”
· Nehemiah 6:2 “Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: Come let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono. But they were scheming to harm me: (3) so I sent messengers to them with this reply: I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down.”
· Get out of the Valley of Ono
2. What do you see? – Where is your FOCUS? Earthly things or Heavenly?
· Mark 8:23 “Do you see anything? (24) I see people: they look like trees walking around.”
· Jesus spit on the man’s eyes!
· John 9:6 “He spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.”
· Matthew 14:30 (Peter) “When he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me!”
· We need to break our fixation on the circumstances and change our focus to Jesus!
· II Corinthians 4:17“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. (18) So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
· Exodus 3:4 “When the LORD saw Moses had turned aside to SEE, God called him from the bush…”
· Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…”
3. Will you Receive a 2nd Touch? – Faith is progressive
· Mark 8:25 “Once more, Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”
· We are being changed, little-by-little, drip-by-drip
· D.R.I.P. Technology - the process of growing your Faith (Discover – Relate – Inspire – Prove)
· Martin Luther King, Jr. – “Faith is taking the first step, even when you can’t see the whole staircase.”
· Your FIXATION and FOCUS will determine your FAITH & FUTURE!
· II Corinthians 3:18 “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which come from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
