#92
The
Five Faces of Faith (31/08/03)
By Dr. Michael Guillen
Thank You so very much
to Dr. Robert Schuller for inviting to give this morning's sermon.
I'm humbled and over whelmed. This is an emotional moment for
me that I can't even put into words. And my prayer is this: that
the good Lord continue to bless Dr. Schuller, his son Robert Anthony,
his entire family, the volunteers of the Crystal Cathedral ministry
and each one of you members, continue to bless this ministry all
over the world. That's my prayer and all God's children said;
wow indeed.
Do you remember the
first time you ever fell in love? I mean head over heels in love.
Do you remember how that magical moment
changed your life? I do. When I met Laurel my wife, everything
in my life changed. Everything. It put a bounce in my step,
it made me feel like WOW I was on top of the world. Everything
changed over night. And by the way she still
makes me feel that way. Can't imagine life without her.
That's love. That's love.
And guess what: that's
also true faith. That's today's headline. So let me repeat that.
Having faith in God is like falling
in love. It's a magical, mysterious, mighty force that changes
your life, by my count five different and profound ways, one way
for every letter in the word faith.
First off
trust God like you've never trusted Him before and you
will become fearless. Jesus Himself
said to us in John 14:27,
"Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
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Guys,
can you imagine being a seventy-five year old retiree living
the good life in a place like Beverly Hills and then one day,
one day you feel agitated. You feel God calling you to pull
up stakes and move off somewhere to the boonies. Would you
do it? Honestly would you do it? How would you explain it
to your wife and your family? They would
probably think you are going senile. But Abraham did
it. Why? Because he trusted God. He trusted that inner voice
that said to him, "Go and I promise
you I will make you a great nation." That's the power
of faith shaping a man's very sense of reality. That's the
power of faith shaping a man's behavior. That's
the power of faith making him fearless. |
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Or
take Mother Teresa. You know most of us hold our breath if
somebody next to us sneezes. We're afraid to death of catching
something and yet all her life Mother Teresa willingly and
cheerfully ministered to people who had every contagious disease
known to medial science. Why? Because she trusted the Son
of Man when said in Matthew 25:34, "Come, take the kingdom
that has been prepared for you because when I was hungry you
gave me something to eat, when I was thirsty you gave Me something
to drink and when I was stranger you let Me in." That's
the power of faith shaping a woman's relationship to others.
That's the power of faith making her
fearless.
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Or
finally take Mel Gibson, the movie actor, right at this very
moment he's in Italy making a movie about Jesus in Jesus'
original language, Aramaic, without subtitles. The Hollywood
moguls think he's gone out of his mind and predict that the
movie will be bust. Yet Gibson is determined. Why? Because
he believes that God will bless his efforts. That's
the power of faith making a person fearless. |
Just one word of caution:
be careful. Don't become like the guy, the so-called fearless
believer who is determined to do God's will no matter what. So
he opens up the Bible randomly and the first passage he comes
to is this, "And Judas went out and hanged himself."
A bit confused the guy tried again and this time the passage said,
"Go and do like wise." Rattled by now the poor guy opens
his Bible randomly one last time and this what he sees, "What
you are going to do, do quickly."
So how do you tell
the difference between fearless faith and reckless faith? How
do you tell the difference? By being attuned
to God's will. That's the second thing that happens to
you when you have faith in God like you never have before.
Let me demonstrate
to you what I mean. You've probably noticed over here a wrecking
ball. And what's it doing in the Cathedral. Well I'll explain
it to you in moment. It's fifty pounds of pig iron I want you
to know and its usually use to demolish walls and buildings, but
I have a different purpose for it in mind.
To make a point about
being attuned to God's will, I'll explain that in a moment, but
first the demonstration. I'm going to press this right up, smash
it right up against my face three, two, one. I want you to note
that I am not moving a muscle or blinking an eye.
Yes, there is a God.
Okay, now what's that all about? First of all, kids don't do this
at home! You adults don't do it either. That would be practicing
reckless faith. It's taken me years of studying
to become attuned to the behavior
of swinging objects. Thank God for a little friction and a little
air resistance. I understand and trust the laws of physics. And
because of that, I'm willing to put my life on the line. I'm willing
to stand my ground and look danger straight in the eye without
flinching.
The same with God.
It takes years of reading His word, of studying His creation,
His beautiful creation to become attuned
to His will. What does God want from you? Does He want you to
make a big scary move, like Abraham, perhaps to another state,
or a foreign country, or to a new job or career? Or does He want
you to become selfless, like Mother Teresa? Maybe to take care
of someone whose sick, or down on their luck, or maybe just plain
lonely! Or does God want to face ridicule like Mel Gibson? By
standing up for an unpopular cause, or an unpopular person, or
for God Himself?
If
you're attuned
to God's will, if you understand what He wants from you, and you
trust Him then you'll be willing to put your life on the
line too. You'll be able to look at danger, dislocation and discomfort
and derision straight in the eye, stand your ground without flinching.
Thirdly, the power
of faith makes you insightful. You
hear about good-luck, bad-luck. Forget about it. There's no credible
evidence, scientific, spiritual, or otherwise that we live in
a random purposeless universe? Just the opposite. The universe
is lawful. It's orderly. It's meaningful. Everything, everything,
everything happens for a reason. If only you have the insight
to recognize it. Jesus said in John 12:46, "For I have come
into the world as a light, so that no one who believes
in Me should stay in darkness." And if you don't believe
that, I mean really believe that, listen to this little story.
When I was a kid growing
up in East Los Angeles, that's right, in the middle of the barrios
of East Los Angeles, my family attended a group of churches, the
largest Spanish speaking Pentecostal group in the world called
the CLADIC. My father was the director of the seminary. My grandfather
was the President.
One day the two had
a terrible argument. I remember being in my bedroom and hearing
the shouts. And dad resigned from the CLADIC the following morning.
Just like that. Our whole world collapsed. Then when dad prayed,
what now Lord? What now? Things got even crazier. Because God
filled dad with an ambition to become, of all things, a lawyer.
He was a minister, and God filled him with ambition to become
a lawyer. And we said, Why? And we wondered how, dad had a wife
and 3 children to support.
Looking at all that
confusion straight in the eye, with fearlessness and a conviction
that he was doing God's will, dad stepped forward in faith. By
day he was a cabinetmaker. By night he went to law school. During
the weekends, if he wasn't hold up in the law library, he was
doing little extra jobs for a little extra money, and he would
drag me along while all the other kids were playing on Saturday,
I was with dad working to earn a little extra money.
It was a grueling insane
schedule. But in the end Dad not only graduated from Law School,
he passed the dreaded California Bar on the first try. And not
only that he reconciled with my grandfather and became Chief Counsel
of the CLADIC. Now you might think that's the end of the story,
but it isn't. I've saved the best for last. The all-important
insight didn't come until decades later. When the CLADIC found
itself in a major crisis, because of a change in the Mexican Constitution,
the CLADIC was suddenly in danger of losing all of its churches
in Mexico. More than a hundred in all.
In 1990 the problem
came to a head when the Mexican police actually threatened the
President of the CLADIC to be arrested the next time he set foot
in Mexico. That's when dad, by now in his late 60's, found himself
exactly the right man, in exactly the right place, with exactly
the right combination of experience and training.
Working with the Minister
of Religious Affairs, he got the Mexican government to do an about
face. In the end dad rescued all those CLADIC churches, and in
the process protected the rights of the Mexican people to worship
however and wherever they wanted.
Shortly after that
incredible achievement dad died of Melanoma. He was only 72 years
old. But God had been faithful. Have faith in God and you will
become fearless in doing His work,
attuned to His will, and insightful
about His constant presence in your life.
Fourthly, trust God
like you never have before and you'll become
transcendent. You'll suddenly find yourself feeling, unbelievably
relaxed. Like when you go away on vacation for a couple of weeks,
except that in this case you don't suddenly feel tired as soon
as you get back home. As Jesus said in John 14:27, "Peace
I leave with you. My peace I give to you. But not as the world
gives do I give." Jesus' peace is
transcendent.
It's like when the
young man goes to meet his fiancee's parents. After dinner the
future father-in-law escorts him into the study. "So what
are your plans?" the father says.
"Well," says the young man, "I'm a theology student."
"Oh, great" the father says. "But how will you
earn a living?"
Calmly, serenely the
young man says, "Oh, God will provide." And the father
says, "But, but how will you afford having children, and
raising children?"
Once again the boy
said, "God will provide." Later that night the wife
asks the husband how the conversation went, and he says, throwing
up his hands up in the air, "Well, the kid has no money or
jobs lined up, but on the other hand he does
think I'm God."
When you trust God,
I mean really put your confidence in Him.
You'll find yourself transcending life's everyday worries. That's
what Laurel and I are experiencing right now. It's very super
natural. It's not that you're going to, you know, passively wait
by for God to provide, and kind of give up on your own. No. No.
No.
Becoming transcendent
simply means that you're going to stop trying to control everything.
Does that sound familiar? That's what transcendent means.
Let me try a little
experiment on you. Take a look at this rosebud here. Suppose I
asked you to figure out a way of opening up this rosebud without
hurting, or tearing any of its delicate petals.
Now if you're a control freak and let's face it, we are all of
us control freaks to some degree, you'll say, no problem. And
then you'll proceed to tear your hair out trying to figure out
how, right?
On the other hand,
if you're a transcendent believer you'll approach the problem
more serenely, more calmly. To start with, you'll water the plant.
You'll fertilize it. You'll protect it from insects. You'll make
certain it gets plenty of sunshine. And then you'll do something
that control freaks would never think
about doing. You'll turn to God for help. How about that?
For transcendent believers
you see life isn't a solo act, it's
a powerful collaboration. So, after doing their
part, transcendent believers will wait for God to do
His part, the part they know they can't do alone. In this
case they'll wait for God's amazingly gentle hands to open the
rose naturally.
Finally, what about
the 5th change? Well, here it is. Trust God like you've never
trusted before, and you will become healthier.
That's right. Having faith in God is good for your health! According
to a growing body of medical evidence, now listen to this, faith
is like a miracle drug that helps prevent substance abuse, teenage
pregnancy, depression, and suicide.
These are all documented
in the literature. And that's not all. Compared to atheists and
agnostics, sincere believers heal faster after surgery, have lower
blood pressure, and live longer. That's the real biggy. In fact
according to one major study, compared to atheists and agnostics,
sincere believers who worship God regularly live seven years longer.
Seven. Among African - Americans the difference is even more dramatic.
Among Africans-American compared to atheists and agnostics, they
live on the average 14 years longer. And that's just here on earth.
As we all know these great health benefits carry on into the next
life. That's the best news. As Jesus says in John 11:25,
"I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever lives and believes
in Me will never die." So there you have it. Something,
something about this simple but sincere act of believing in God
has the power to change our lives.
So this morning I ask
you, each of you, who do you love? Who do you trust? I mean really
trust, trust with your life? If your answer doesn't include
God, if your answer doesn't put God at the very
top of the list, if you don't trust
Him will all your heart and with all your mind and with all your
soul, then dear friend take it from me, you are not connected
to the most powerful force in the universe.
That's why here and
now I want to urge you, if you haven't already, dare to take that
first step. Dare to seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness,
and then all these things we've talked about will be given to
you as well. Fearlessness, attunement to God's will, insight into
His ways. Transcendence, and yes health like you've never had
before.
Dare to have faith
in faith. Dare to trust your Heavenly Father and you'll see for
yourself it's every bit as exciting as falling in love and just
as profound. Thank you so very much. May God bless each and every
one of you.
    
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