Faith Part 1: Old Testament

I've been looking at faith.
What is it? Where does it come from? Do we all have it? Can we lose it once given? Can we make it grow? etc, etc.
All I'm going to do here over 3 parts is put down the verses that strike me as having something significant to say, this is mainly for my benefit, with some comments, but if you get something out of it too, that's great.

If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her.
(Exodus 21:8)
The first mention of faith is linked to redemption. If the Master’s Bride does not please Him (capital letters used on purpose to make a point), rather than sell her, He allows her to be redeemed. After this, nearly every mention of Faith in the Old Testament is linked to the ‘breaking of faith’.


Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain
and gather it to your threshing floor?
(Job 39:12)
Faith as a question of trust. Faith in a Person, the Person of God.


who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
(Psalms 146:6)
Gods side of the covenant, he keeps faith with us. Forever.


And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you are not firm in faith,
you will not be firm at all.
(Isaiah 7:9)
Faith described as something needed with a detrimental effect when absent.


Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
(Habakkuk 2:4)
The last mention of faith in the Old Testament, and a prophetic insight into how faith will change the way we live as opposed to the Law.

Tough Fruit

I recently saw this picture, of a square watermelon, in my son's book of weird facts. Apparently the watermelon's are put in special glass cubes, where they grow into this shape.

The fruits of the Spirit however are not as soft as watermelon.

Galatians 5: 22 
 ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.


This fruit grows as we let it.
What do I mean?
Are you in a tough situation where there seems no end in sight? You need to let Patience grow. As you allow it, the fruit of Patience grows bigger.
Are you with people who are hard to get on with? Show them Kindness and Love, and that fruit will grow.
Do you have problems worrying? Develop self-control. Let that fruit become bigger.

As the fruit grows, the circumstances causing it to grow will be outgrown by the fruit. But unlike the watermelon, the fruit of the Spirit will just smash through the boundaries to keep growing, and that circumstance will have fulfilled it's purpose and be done with.

T Austin Sparks

I'm a bit stunned.
A few months ago, whilst on my weekend college course: School of the Word 2, we were discussing authors. T Austin Sparks was mentioned as a man worth reading. The Tutor also told us there was a church in the States whose ministry is to freely send his books to people.
I looked it up, and sure enough, found: http://www.austin-sparks.net/articles/bkcatalog.html

Rather than e-mail, I wrote a letter, and sent it air mail.
To be honest, I'd forgotten all about it, but last week I had a delivery of over 16KG of books!!!

I'm stunned. Blessed. Booked up to the gills!

Ern Baxter MP3 Library

I've just finished burning a 3.51GB DVD with 428 messages on from Ern Baxter.
All are freely available for download here: http://brokenbreadteaching.org/index.html

Are We Radical?

I've been re-reading some of my old books, and finding them very challenging. Even though they were written at different times for different generations they are still very poignant today. Arthur Wallis's book The Radical Christian is a case in point. Find a copy or dig out your old one and prepare to be challenged afresh.

• Without the Holy Spirit active in the church, or body, are we alive?
• Is it possible for a body of Spirit filled people to not be radical?
• Do we bend to His will, or expect Him to work within our structures?
• Is the Sunday gathering a completely predictable affair?
• When and if the Spirit challenges complacency, do we agree, say wasn't that a good word and then do nothing?
• In smaller gatherings (life group/house group) are we able to coast along without much interference?
• Do we really worship?
• Do we like happy praise songs, but the quieter worship songs drag on a bit?
• Is there a continuing stream of new growth in the body that stays?
• Why don't new people stay?
• How easy is it for people to come through the narrow gate?
• The prophetic word is nice on a Sunday, but would we miss it if it was gone?
• Are Tongues and the Prophetic about as much of the gifts of the Spirit we see or expect.
• We see where change should come but don't want to upset anyone?
• Do we look to natural methods or supernatural?
• Is good looking media more prevalent than Spirit life?

Shocking Billy Graham

No disrespect intended with this post because of the funny picture, this is a genuinely shocking question:

Dr. Billy Graham once made a critical analysis of the Church systems in general and came to the conclusion that "The Holy Spirit could leave the church and it would go right on doing 90% of what it was doing; and NOT KNOW that the Holy Spirit had left."

So, it begs the question:

If the Holy Spirit was to leave your church, how much activity would just carry on? 

The Highlighter Challenge

I recently heard of this challenge Bryn Jones made to a group of Leaders.

Take 3 different highlighter pens.

Start at the beginning of the New Testament.

Highlight in different colours each time you find something written about:

• Who You Are In Christ
• What You have In Christ
• What You Can Do in Christ

Bryn said that one of the biggest challenges facing the Church is for Christians to find their identity in Christ, and this was a very practical and clever way to help find that identity.