Creekside Church Sermon of November 25, 2001 "Your Faith Makes You Strong" Philippians 2:1-11	Rev. Dave Eis
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History is full of biographies where individuals have overcome great adversity and have as a result, have become much stronger people. Most often it has been due to a faith in something outside of them that is stronger than they are. I would mention only a few.

• Corey Ten Boom
• Nelson Mandela
• Helen Keller

That is true of many individuals but it is truer of larger groups. When groups of people begin to work together toward a single purpose, miraculous things begin to happen either for good or evil.

These past weeks as people worked together to have a sale, clean up the rooms and move them out to other locations; we worked together for a common purpose. Many people worked hard at various endeavors to accomplish a single task. The task is not yet complete. But you have proved something to me and to yourselves. You know how to get things done if it is important to you. It causes me to raise the question, "What else can we accomplish in this Church if we put our mind to it?"

There are difficult tasks and then there are impossible goals that we can rightly say we are not strong enough to accomplish. We are not strong enough if we rely upon our own strength. But do you remember what Paul told the Church at Philippi? He said, "It is your life in Christ that makes you strong. You have God's love that comforts you. You have compassion for one another, and you have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit" What do you mean when you say, "We can't do it?" Are we saying that we do not have a life in Christ? Are we saying that we do not have compassion for one another? Or are we saying that we do not have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit?

As I watched the people working together and observed their kindness toward each other, I was impressed that we can do anything within the will of God that we want to do. God will give us all the money that we need, all the physical strength, and an extra dose of the Holy Spirit when we work together to accomplish His purpose. What's more he will give us all the time we need to do our tasks in His time. All that is required is that we live our lives in Christ so that we can become strong. It is another way of saying it is your faith that makes you strong.

In Hebrews 11:1, Paul says, "To have faith is to be sure of what you hope for and certain of what you cannot see. It was by faith that people of ancient times won the approval of God."

Over 15 times Paul uses the phrase; it was by faith, that they accomplished the various tasks.

• That we understand that the universe was made by God's word so that what we can see is made from what was not seen.
• That made Able make a sacrifice to God
• It was by faith that kept Enoch from dying
• It was by faith that Noah heeded God's warning
• It was by faith that Abraham went to a far off country when he did not know where he was going
• That made Abraham able to become a father, even in his old age and Sarah, his wife, was too old to bear children
• It was by faith that all these people died. They did not receive all the things God had promised but they could see them far off. They did not keep thinking about the country they had left, instead it is a better country that they looked for.
• It was by faith that the parents Moses hid him for three months. They saw that he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid to obey the King's order.
• It was by faith that he chose to associate with his own people and to suffer with them.
• It was by faith the made Moses create the Passover.
• It was by faith that made the Israelites cross over the Reid Sea on dry land.
• It was faith that made the walls of Jericho fall down.

They were week but became strong. It was their faith that made them strong.
Paul continues to explain that there were numerous other examples but he did not have the space to explain them all such as Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets.

Then Paul refers to some of his contemporaries. They could have denied their faith and have their lives extended instead of torture and death. It was because of a faith that they could go and be with the Father. They were sure of things hoped for and had a certainty of things not seen that gave them the courage to be faithful.

What are the things we hope for?

• To seek to live a life in Christ. To become more like Jesus.
• To celebrate the goodness of God and his gifts to us.
• To share our faith with others who are hungry and thirsty for something that satisfies.

In Isaiah God gives the Israelites a beautiful promise. "When my people in their need look for water, when their throats are dry with thirst, then I the Lord, will hear their prayer. I the God of Israel will never abandon them. I will make rivers flow among barren hills, and springs of water run in the valleys and the dry land into flowing springs. They will come to know that the Holy God has made it happen."

This is a time when looking back is a destructive activity. We must move forward, sure of the things we hope for and certain of the things not yet seen.

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