Outrageous Faith

Many church buildings, ours included, have a plaque somewhere with a list of names of people who died in one of the world wars. They are there as a reminder of the heroes of the freedom we have today.

The Bible also has a kind of plaque of heroes, you can find it in Hebrews chapter 11. It is a list of people who, because of their commitment, amazing deeds and certainty in what God had said, have shaped what we think and believe about God’s activity in the world. In the midst of this list the writer says “And without faith it is impossible to please God”. 

Two things are striking about this verse;

• It is possible to please God – wow! Mere human beings like you and me, messed up, broken people like me (and maybe you!) can actually bring a smile to the face of the creator of all that is. It is a stunning thought.
• We do this by our faith – the context is important here. The writer is talking about an Old Testament character called Enoch. We know very little about Enoch (although there are various myths about him) except he so pleased God that he went straight to heaven without dying! But this verse goes on to call us to earnestly seek God which seems to be a key in understanding what set Enoch's faith apart.

At St Andrew’s we have just started a new sermon series and a prayer challenge for Lent called ‘Outrageous Faith”. You can listen to the first sermon, called 'Sun Stand Still', here and find out about the prayer challenge here. During Lent we want to encourage you to step up in your faith, to start believing that he is the God who can do the impossible and in some way act on that belief.

However, if we want to be a people of outrageous faith who are living life like the people in Hebrews 11, we need to start by being like Enoch - people who ‘earnestly seek God’. We cannot expect to see God move in incredible and outrageous ways until we align our hearts and minds with His. We do that be seeking him and his Kingdom.

As we start this amazing journey of Outrageous Faith let me encourage you to spend time earnestly seeking God. Make sure you have space every day to be in his presence and to deepen your relationship with him. There in that place He will start to reveal his heart to you and let you in on the things he wants to do through your prayer and through your actions.

Earnestly seek Him.

Doing the Hard Work of Change

Have your New Year resolutions collapsed yet? Has your desire at the start of the year to grow in your faith been completely drained? If so you are not alone. The great thing about resolutions is they express the desire to change that many people have, whether its to lose weight, read the Bible more, grow in faith etc. We all know we are meant to be better than we are! And the thing that drives all this, the thing that makes all this so frustrating, is that we know that change is possible. We've seen it on the TV, we've read it in books and especially heard it in Church - people can change. I'm sure that right now you can think of a real life story of someone who has changed, maybe quite dramatically, in some way or other and you know deep inside you that if they can change so can you.

But here's why so many of us fail in making the change that we so long for - it's flipping hard work!

It seems to me there are some changes that God does for us but then there are some things that He looks for us to do. We are required to do the hard work of change. Yet too many of us (me included just give up when it gets hard. Recently, I watched two short TED talks (if you don't know what TED talks are you are missing an amazing resource check them out) by two professors that considered the physiology and psychology of improvement and change. Both essentially say the same thing that any kind of change is hard, but that it is actually the difficulty of the process that brings about change. Essentially it is through the difficulty that our minds create new neural pathways and so create changed behaviour. We need the hard work to rewire our minds to think and act differently. (You can watch the videos here and here).

So our experience says that change is possible, science says change is possible and of course God says change is possible.

Romans 12:2 says "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

There are plenty of other verses that encourage us to believe that change is possible. So if you are struggling with the hard work of bringing about the change that is needed in your life here are four thoughts to encourage you

1. Embrace the struggle - it is the hard work that is right now rewiring your brain for the change you desire
2. Everyone struggles - you are not alone in this. Even Paul, who wrote Romans 12, said that there were things he wanted to do but didn't do them and things he didn't want to do but couldn't help himself from doing them. So why not find someone else who is looking to make the same change as you to encourage one another and hold each other accountable. Don't face the hard work of change alone
3. Persevere - the people who change are the ones who face the hard work and do not give up. In one of the TED talks Angela Lee Duckworth says the only thing that separates people who are 'successful' from others is 'grit'. They are the people who overcome their shortcomings with simple hard work and perseverance.
4. Plan for change - change does not happen by accident it needs to be planned for and we need to be able to count the cost of change. In Luke 14 Jesus talks about counting the cost of being a disciple. Counting the cost means planning, organising your life around the change you want to make and understanding the sacrifices needed to see the change come into reality.