Faith is not a Feeling

by Dawn Bennett

The definition of faith is; confidence or trust in a person or thing: 2. belief that is not based on proof: 3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion. And belief is defined as confidence in the truth.

We must be confident in what God says is true, confident that every Word written in the Bible is for us. Confident that God will always do what He says. Our core belief must be that everything God says is THE truth.

Regardless of any circumstance in your life, words spoken, rationale, relationships, emotions and feelings, we must take God at His word and chose to be obedient.

In Hebrews 11 the Bible talks about people who were remembered for their faith. Each one of these people put emotion aside and obeyed what God told them to do. They had the faith to walk it out and not let their feelings get in the way. Most of the circumstances listed seemed impossible and yet they put it all aside and did what God told them to do. A lot of it even seems crazy.

Noah built an ark, even though it had never rained, Enoch was translated, Abraham left everything to go to a land he didn’t know to receive an inheritance, Sarah even though well past child bearing age had a child, and the examples continue. (read Hebrews 11) Each of these people, even though it seemed impossible choose to hold on to what God said and obey. And each of these people walked into something greater because of that obedience.

Feelings aren’t bad….God made us to have emotions. What God is looking for is how we walk it out. How we take what He says and live it out. How we do what He told us to do. How we say no matter what I’m feeling, no matter what I see, it doesn’t matter because I have faith in what God told me. I choose to trust confidently in His promises, and obey.  God rewards those who diligently seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6  says “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”

We should all want to be remembered for our faith in Christ. We have to put our thoughts and emotions aside and take God at His word and obey. When we do that only the best that God has for us can come to past and we see the reward at the end of the trial.

A Way Through

by Dawn Bennett

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?…… No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”

Romans 8:35,37

We have heard the part of this verse, “Nothing can separate us from God’s love”, multiple times. What is more interesting to me are the next parts. Even though we have God’s love and nothing can take that from us does it mean we won’t go through trials? NO! It does not. We face all kinds of stuff in life and it never for one moment did and does not mean that God does not love us.

God loved the Israelites and promised them the He would lead them to the Promised Land. But they went through trails, setbacks and obstacles to get there. And even then when the Pharaoh finally freed them, he changed his mind and sent and army after them. They then came upon the Red Sea. They were cornered, an army behind them gaining ground and in front of them, no where to go.  Now what? Did God just magically pick them up and put them on the other side. No. He made them go through it. There was still an amazing miracle there, God opened up the sea and they were able to walk on dry ground right through. But God did not just remove the Red Sea (the obstacle) He made a way through it. We all have to go through things, we will all face situations that feel like we are at the water with our enemies in hot pursuit behind us and we have no where to go. But God promised He will make a way. The last line of those verse tell us. Despite all these things, despite all the circumstances, the pain, the worry, etc, we have victory! Victory is ours because we have Christ, who loves us!! That’s an awesome promise to keep.

No matter what you are going through remember, first that God loves us and nothing can take that away, and second He WILL bring you through, even though you might have to walk through some stuff to get there.

His Return

7/5/16

As I was sitting in church on Sunday listening to the message I was reminded of an article I read a few years ago. It was about the significance of Jesus’ burial cloth. I decided to find the article and share it here this week, as our blog post. I thought it was pretty cool, let me know what you think. ~Dawn Bennett

(article credit https://christiansareus.com  Mark Davis)

 “Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection?

I never noticed this before … In the Gospel of John tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes.

The Bible takes the entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and placed separate than the other grave clothes.”

“Early ‘on the first day of the week’, Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran back and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved (John).

She said, ‘They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him!’

Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple (John) outran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen clothes lying there, but he didn’t go in.

Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying to the side by itself.

“Was that important?

Absolutely!

Is it really significant?

YES! 

In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day:

The folded napkin had to do with the ‘Master and Servant’, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition.

When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it.. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.

Now, if the master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table.

For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, ‘I’m done’.

But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because………..

The folded napkin meant, ‘I’m coming back!‘ “

 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep [a]in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words.

He is Coming Back!