Category: Faith

HAVE FAITH IN GOD

Published on by sgf1964Leave a comment

By

Shelby G. Floyd

Good morning, we are glad that we can all be together and worship God from our own homes. The New Testament church had to worship from their homes because of persecution. And we are worshiping from our home because we are being persecuted by a virus. We will all survive this and we thank God that he has protected us.

Today I am speaking to you because of a picture I recently noticed of a little girl. On this picture the little girl said, “Give it to God and have faith.” Sometimes little children handle difficult things a lot better than the adults do. They have great faith in their parents and they have great faith in God. It is like one of my little great granddaughters said, “Covid 19, Covid 19, we are all in this together.” Therefore we must trust God that he will bring all of us through this safe and sound. Continue reading “HAVE FAITH IN GOD” →

FAITH ALONE NO. 2

Published on by sgf1964Leave a comment

By

Shelby G. Floyd

“Faith alone” is not a subject found in the New Testament and therefore should not be considered a biblical doctrine to be discussed. And it would not be discussed were it not for some religionists who are wedded to the Calvinistic Human Creed that salvation is by “faith alone!”

For instance, one of the Calvinistic persuaders writes,

“The benefits of the gospel come to the person who has faith alone in Christ. The blood of Christ is applied to the sinner upon faith alone in Christ and not at baptism.”

The person affirming that proposition could not prove it by any evidence found in the New Testament if his life depended on it. Why? The answer is because it is not a subject found in the New Testament. In search for evidence what the Calvinist would find instead, is the subject of salvation “not by faith alone.” Continue reading “FAITH ALONE NO. 2” →

THE TESTING OF OUR FAITH

Published on by sgf19642 Comments

By

Shelby G. Floyd

Our lesson today is one of a series from the book of James. You can prepare to learn more by reading this very practical book each week.

OUR FAITH MUST BE TESTED

In almost every area of life things must be tested before there can be any benefit to the human family. Medicine is one example where much testing must be done before it is made available to the public. These wonderful drugs are often tested for years to see if they will do what they were designed to do. Aerospace is another area where repeated testing is done to see if planes, rockets and missiles will do what they were designed to do by the engineers.

The same thing is true with computer products. Software companies test these products for months before they are marketed to businesses and the private sector of our economy. Even after much testing often the consumer will discover that the product has a “bug” that must be corrected.

Even nations are not exempt from testing. Our country was severely tested on Sept. 11, 2001 like it has not been tested for some time. This tragic event tested our people to see what we are made out of and to see if our country will do what it was designed to do—live in liberty and have justice for all.

In like manner God has chosen to test your faith and my faith. God does not test our faith for his benefit, but for our benefit to see if our faith is genuine. This testing is to see if our faith will do what it was designed to do. Scripture says, “Without faith we cannot please God” (Hebrews 11: 6). Faith is therefore the basis of our hope of eternal life and heaven. We may think that our faith is strong, but until it has been tested we do not really know for sure. We may say, “I will survive anything that comes my way.” But we do not know until we have come through the various trials that come our way. Continue reading “THE TESTING OF OUR FAITH” →

THE POWER AND NATURE OF FAITH

Published on by sgf1964Leave a comment

By

Shelby G. Floyd

I do not know of any topic that is more important than the subject of faith.

Our text is found in Hebrews chapter 11 in verse one, where Paul said, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” This will serve as our basic text, but we will go in further pursuit of the importance, the nature and the power of faith. Continue reading “THE POWER AND NATURE OF FAITH” →

GO FORWARD IN FAITH

Published on by sgf1964Leave a comment

By

Shelby G. Floyd

forward-in-faith

As we focus on the future, God’s people must go forward with a strong faith that God will bless our efforts when we trust in him.

During the darkest hours of the Second World War, when the future of Great Britain was hanging in the balance, Winston Churchill rallied the people of Great Britain and the world when he said, “let us go forward together.”

Many centuries before when God’s people came out of Egypt to escape their bondage, while they were being pursued from behind by the Egyptian army and with the mountains on each side of them, and the Red Sea before them, the Lord admonished Moses to command the children of Israel to go forward: “and the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward” (Exodus 14:15).

Many congregations are spiritually asleep and not actively pursuing the work of the church. A congregation cannot go forward when it is like the church at Laodicea. They were lukewarm and the Lord said he was ready to spew them out of his mouth. They were like a warm cup of coffee that is neither hot nor cold and therefore nauseating to drink. To the church at Laodicea Jesus Christ wrote these words:

“These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:14-16).

The message then to all of God’s people is to wake up out of our spiritual sleep and become active in serving the Lord. That’s the reason Paul wrote to the church Ephesus and said, “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Ephesians 5:13-14).

Almighty God has been good to all of us. He has blessed us by placing us in the most prosperous country in the world. He has blessed us with great material wealth and therefore we need to remember Solomon’s Council to his son in the book of Proverbs:

Proverbs 3:1, 9-10
My son…Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
NIV

Let us all go FORWARD IN FAITH!

Copyright © 2016 Shelby G. Floyd, All Rights Reserved

Shelby Preaching

Shelby G. Floyd
Heartland Church of Christ
1693 West Main Street
Greenwood, Indiana

Work Out Your Salvation

Published on by sgf1964Leave a comment

By

Shelby G. Floyd

Living is Christ

Credit: Google Photos

The words in this title were written to the church at Philippi by the apostle Paul. Our salvation from sin is both man’s work and God’s work. Man’s work is to appropriate the salvation offered by God to man through faith and obedience to the gospel

To Believe is the Work of God

To believe that Jesus is the son of God is a work of man. But it is also the work of God. Some Jews asked Christ, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:28-29). Continue reading “Work Out Your Salvation” →