[Faith-talk] FW: [URCTCPrayerGroup2] Can the Church Function Without Faith? - Dr. Larry Ollison

[Eric Calhoun]

Original Message: 
From: Donna Kiser <kiserdonna5 at gmail.com>
To: URCTCPrayerGroup2 at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [URCTCPrayerGroup2] Can the Church Function Without Faith? - Dr.
Larry Ollison
Date: 
Thu, 9 Jun 2011 14:09:34 -0400

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Can the Church Function Without Faith?

by Dr. Larry Ollison



A few weeks ago I received a letter from a minister in Illinois that was
upset because I was teaching faith. He said that if we could just
eliminate
faith teaching, then the church wouldn't be in such turmoil.


Well, I've been thinking about what he said. And you know, I think he's
right. If we would just quit teaching about faith and anything related to
it, the church would not be in turmoil. You know why? Well, it's because
without faith, there would be no church.


What do I mean, there would be no church? Well, it's this way. The church
is
not a building. The church is not a denomination. The church is not a
ministry. The church is a group of people who have accepted Jesus as Lord
and Savior of their lives. The church is a body of believers. The church
is
the Christians who collectively make up the body of Christ. If you are a
Christian, you are the church. The church building, which is commonly
referred to by many as the church, is not the church, but it is the
meeting
place of the church. Christians are the church.


Now, with that in mind, let's look at how you become a Christian. The
Bible
says in (Ephesians 2:8), "For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God."


Did you catch that? "For by grace you have been saved through faith."
Without faith there is no salvation. If no one gets saved, then there is
no
church. We need faith for salvation.


Also, (Hebrews 11:6) says, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him,
for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder
of those who diligently seek Him." Is faith important? Well, without it we
cannot please God. It doesn't say that it is difficult to please God, it
says that it is impossible to please God. If we want to please God, we
must
have faith.


Let's pretend that there was a way to get saved without faith (which
there
isn't), and let's pretend that there was a way to please God without
faith
(which there isn't), and somehow we became a Christian without faith
(which
we can't).

At this point it would still be impossible to function as a Christian
because we wouldn't be able to pray. In James the first chapter, it says
that when we pray we must pray in faith because if we don't pray in faith
we
cannot expect to receive anything from the Lord. In other words, we can
pray
all we want, but if we don't pray in faith, we might as well be doing
something else, because our prayers will be in vain.


Here is another interesting thing about faith. In (Hebrews 4:2) it
says,"For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but
the word
which they heard (the gospel) did not profit them, not being mixed with
faith in those who heard it." This verse says that the gospel, the good
news, was preached to two groups of people. But even though one group
heard
the gospel, it didn't profit them because they did not mix it with faith.
According to the Bible, without faith the gospel will not profit you.


To sum it up, let me say this. As the church we need faith. Without faith
the church cannot exist.


What is faith? Faith is believing God and acting on what you believe.
Where
do we get faith? (Romans 10:17) says, "So then faith comes by hearing,
and
hearing by the word of God."


[image: Donna - Anim Hearts.gif]



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This article may be reproduced for teaching purposes but not for
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resale
When writing about this devotional, refer to devotional #0064 *

Larry Ollison Ministries <http://www.larryollison.com/> PO Box 880, Osage
Beach, MO 65065 USA



-- 
*Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable
in
Your sight, O Lord, my [firm, impenetrable] Rock and my Redeemer. Ps
19:14*