What does it mean to have faith? It is this: to trust God wholly with our provisions, protection, and providence. It is to be assured of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb 11:1). Faith is in operation in our lives when we look to our Heavenly Father and place complete confidence in this Word through Jesus Christ in all things. The Bible exhorts that this is the standard way of life for a Christian (Rom 1:17). However, we still struggle with trusting God in various seasons of our lives. We are guaranteed to stumble in faith when we place our confidence in anything but Him. Sometimes, we even live in a duplicitous way. Meaning, we give lip service of worship declaring our faith in God, yet our lifestyles reflect that we trust more in:
· Human abilities

· Earthly provisions

· People

· Governments and politicians

When we have displaced God’s throne in over lives for other things, idolatry is present. We can see the fruits of its sinful operation in our hearts we show more reverence and adoration for things that are created over the Creator. The point is that we worship what we place our faith in.

In this sermon series, Paul reminds the church of the dangers of unbelief by surveying the Biblical history of the Israelites continual cycles of distrust in God (despite the many miracles, signs and wonders he performed delivering them out of Egypt). He wants the church to learn from the saints of old. He wants us to clearly see the perils of unbelief and the disciplining judgment of God it invites into our lives. Remember, man has been created for worship. We will worship something. We will either place our faith in living God or idols invented by vain human imaginations.

Focus Scripture: 1 Corinthians: 10:1-5

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