Walking by Faith

One of the more memorable verses in the Bible is Hebrews 11:1 which says, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Sometimes, though, familiarity causes us to overlook some very important concepts. There is something very significant in this verse that is easy to overlook, which in turn leads to a misunderstanding of related verses.

Notice that faith is not the "things hoped for," and it is not the things "not seen."

Faith is not hoping for something. Faith is the substance of what we hope for. In other words, faith is that which brings our hopes into living color and reveals them to our senses.

Faith is not composed of what we cannot see. Faith is the evidence that what we cannot see is real – that even the things that we cannot see are truth. Faith is substance – solid matter and observable phenomena that make visible those things that are for the moment invisible.

Faith is our observation of what has been and what is, which leads us to act on the belief that what will be or what cannot yet be seen is truth.

Faith is not based on what we cannot see but on what we can see.

Faith in Christ means that we take the full measure of Christ – who He is, what He has done, of his ministry, his passion, his death and resurrection – all things that are either evidential (his deity) or observable (his ministry), and on that basis we trust in what is coming.

With this understanding, read again Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." It should now be more apparent than ever why the faith that leads to salvation does not find its source within us, but in Christ. He is the substance and the evidence – the solid ground upon which our salvation and our future are founded and secured.

Thus a walk of faith is not a leap in the dark, but a walk in the light which reveals the future to us with the same assurance as if it were a current event.

Walking by faith means resting in the knowledge of Christ gleaned from the word of God as well as our personal experience of knowing Him as Lord and Savior.

Here is the concrete and substantive foundation for previewing the future, which should reduce or remove our fear of coming days.

Accusations - The Trial & Stoning of Stephen

Sermon 27Jun2010 mp3
Sermon 27Jun2010 Word
Sermon 27Jun2010 pdf

Bailed out!

OK. I did my time and served my sentence for MDA. I know that many of you are regretful that they did not keep me longer, but I was able to bail out. Thanks to all who contributed. We were able to raise $715.00 for the cause. I had to eat jail house food, but life is tough. (Actually, it was roast beef, mashed potatoes & gravy, corn, bread, and sweet tea!). Thanks again for your support. PD

To Die is Gain

One of the more intriguing questions of life to me is why the church seems to have so little apparent impact on our community and our nation. I know that some churches are booming, but it seems that, even in light of church growth, there is little change in the moral fabric of our society except in a downward direction.

Maybe it's just my perspective and things are much more positive than they appear on the surface. Yet I do not see much evidence of an improvement in morality – especially in our political leadership. I certainly do not see a love of Christ or a desire for knowing and worshiping God.

I think that here is one reason this may be true.

Hebrews 9.22 says, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins."

I have always interpreted that verse on a limited basis – that "shedding of blood" refers to the shedding of the blood of Christ, and "remission of sins" refers to the sins remitted by the blood of Christ. The verse should certainly be interpreted this way.

Yet what if there is more to its meaning? Could this verse also mean that persecution – or more appropriately, martyrdom – is that which makes the Gospel message effective?

In America, we are shielded from persecution by the First Amendment. Could the reason that the church seems to be so impotent in impacting our culture is that there is no persecution? (I mean persecution in the New Testament sense of Hebrews 11, not that your friends won't speak to you because you went to church and not to the beach.)

How many of us are willing to die for what we believe concerning Christ? Could it be that, for the church to grow, we must go and die as necessary?

Tertullian said, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."

An article I read recently said it this way: "The blood of the martyrs is a necessary means for the worldwide application of Christ's great redemptive accomplishment."

The church is the body of Christ; thus, our blood is His blood. This brings a new significance to Paul's testimony in Phil. 1.21: "For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain."

Earlier in the year, I preached on this verse and made the point that Paul was in a quandary. His desire was to go to be in the presence of Christ, but he also knew that he had a mission to accomplish in establishing and strengthening the church. Paul clearly expresses that conflict of heart.

But in light of the thoughts of this blog – that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church" – the concept of "to die is gain" also takes on new meaning.

Historically, the church blossoms in times of persecution. It languishes in times of peace.

The Apostle Peter wrote, "For to this (persecution) you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps." (1 Peter 2:19-21)

We pray for our churches to grow, but would we be so strong to desire growth if we knew that the price for growth involves losing our freedom or possibly our lives for the cause of Christ?

Just thinking.

Experiencing God

Reports from each of the small groups studying Experiencing God this summer have all been great. Each team has either six or seven members and, from what I have gathered, the members of each team are not only gaining a greater understanding of God, but are growing closer to one another at the same time.

That's the way it is supposed to work. When God's people get closer to Him, they naturally grow closer to one another. When we seem to be drawing farther from each other, that is evidence that we are not growing in Christ and have drifted farther from the Father.

Holiness in individuals brings wholesomeness in the church.

In a sermon that I recently listened to, David Platt, Pastor of Brook Hills Church in Birmingham, AL, said, "God is more interested in the sanctity of His people than He is in the success of His church."

In 1 Cor. 2.9, Paul quotes from Isaiah 64.4, "Since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him."

Many people have applied this verse to the future when all of the people of God are gathered together in His presence in Eternity. But I believe the verse speaks of a more contemporary time, because Paul goes on to say in 1 Cor. 2.10, "But God has revealed these things to us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God."

The Spirit knows the deepest thoughts of God, and we are the recipients of those thoughts. By the Holy Spirit, we have been given a look into the mind of God concerning salvation and the grace of God that no other people have ever had before the time of Christ – including the prophets who wrote foretelling the coming of Christ.

The world cannot conceive of such knowledge because it can only come from knowing Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit. (1 Cor. 2:14) Earlier in the New Testament, the Apostle John wrote, "Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God." (John 8:47)

However, things are very different for those who know Christ as Savior. In a later verse in 1 Cor. 1, Paul wrote, "We have the mind of Christ." (1 Cor. 10:16)

There is a joy that accompanies such knowledge, but these verses are about more than just joy and happiness. There is a certainty that God does talk to His people and that He is constantly teaching us more and more about who He is through His word and through our walk with Him – through our daily experiences of seeing Him at work in our lives as well as in the affairs of the world.

This is the theme of Experiencing God. We are called to know Him and to experience Him and to glory in HIm as our Lord. Henry Blackaby has pointed out that the Bible is a God-centered book and the message is a God-centered message.

The Bible is not the story of the progress of man from his deadly state of sin to eternal life, but it is the story of God working out His purposes among men and through men. Throughout Scripture, it is God who takes the initiative in all of the affairs of men.

There is so much to be learned in this study that I pray you are taking it seriously and spending the time required to comprehend what is meant by experiencing God.

Father's Day Sermon - Leaving a Legacy, John 5.17-21

Sermon 20Jun2010 mp3
Sermon 20Jun2010 Word
Sermon 20Jun2010 PDF

Sermon 13Jun2010

The sermon recording faced more technical challenges this week. It is missing the first five minutes or so of the sermon. The message is about the man, Stephen. The part that did not get recorded is an introduction to his life, primarily giving evidence for the belief that Stephen was a Hellenistic Jew, one who was born outside of the Jewish homeland and raised in a Greek culture.

Sermon 13Jun2010 mp3
Sermon 13Jun2010 Word
Sermon 13Jun2010 PDF

D-Day Tribute

Today is the 6^th of June.
Sixty-six years ago this morning, June 6, 1944, Allied forces, of which U.S. soldiers were a major part, under the overall command of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower landed on the enemy-occupied coastal regions of Normandy, France.
Their purpose was to free the European Continent, and eventually the entire world, from a reign of terror by a man who had determined that he would rule the world through powerful armies, a ruthless aggression, and a genocidal agenda.
It was not an easy task, but through sheer courage and fortitude and the iron resolve of a determined leadership, the combined Allied forces breached the sea wall of fortress Europe in the first chapter of what would come to be known as one of the greatest chronicles of victory the world had ever known until that day.
I have stood on the beach at Normandy and wept as I walked among the graves of those Americans who gave their last drop of blood – who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of the freedom of other people.
In the generations that followed WWII, the idea of patriotism, self-sacrifice and the fight for freedom was lost in the politics of self-gratification and the rights and autonomy of the individual. For many years, the calling to serve one's country in the armed forces was looked down on by our culture. Veterans of such wars as Vietnam were demeaned and treated with disdain by an ungrateful society.
We thank God that today, there appears to be a rebirth of patriotism, the love of freedom, and a revival of an old adage that all that it takes for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing. 
Once again, our sons and daughters are not only proud to serve in the armed forces, but are recognized as heroes by an ever-grateful population.
I think it is proper, on this day of remembrance, that we recall the sacrifices made by the men and women of our country – who laid down their lives for their brothers and sisters of the United States and in the greatest sense of altruism, on behalf of people they would never meet – those in foreign countries persecuted by oppressive governments who were powerless to defend themselves.
This morning, I invite you to stand with me for a moment of reflection and remembrance in honor of the fallen and as we offer up a prayer of gratitude to Almighty God in whose hands and by whose mercies we continue to experience the joy and privilege of the freedoms of speech, of assembly, and of worship. 

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Mobile Church 2010

This past Sunday was our second Mobile Church event where we take our entire Sunday morning church program out of our church and into a neighborhood. This year we were located in the courtyard located at the site of the old Imperial Theatre in downtown Griffin. (See the pictures below.)
I am not sure how we could have asked for the event to have been any more successful. The weather was perfect, the location lent itself to worship, the music was awesome, and the congregation of just over 100 people and one pet was involved and in the spirit. So it went really well. One person said to another as they were leaving, "I'll see you here next week."
I understand that there were some prisoners cleaning up across Solomon Street behind us who sat and listened during worship, waiting until we finished to begin their work. That was a set of guests that we did not expect, but we are privileged that they were able to be there.
I am so thankful that God put the band, Tymbral, in our path. They led us to worship through their songs, but what made them so effective is the Spirit that accompanied their efforts. Thanks Ernie and Charles and the whole band! And thanks to Matthew, their drummer, for such a great testimony.
There were so many of our people who helped to plan this event. I thank you on behalf of the church for all that you did to make this event a success.
But most of all, I give thanks to God for the way that He made all of this come together. And I thank Him for the privilege of serving Him and the congregation of DaySpring Church. God bless and have a great day!
Pastor Dan



Mobile Church Message MS Word
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