The word crisis comes from a word that means, "decision". The same Greek word is often translated judgement. The crisis of belief is a turning point where we must make a decision. That is, we must decide what we believe about God.

You see, how we respond at a turning point like this actually determines whether we go on to be involved with the Lord in something God-sized that only He can do, or whether we continue to go our own way and miss what God has purposed for our life. The point is this - how we live our life is a testimony of what we believe about God.

Let's look at an example for a moment.

2. Example of Gideon

Turn your Bibles to Judges 6 and 7

Judges 6:33

Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

Judges 7:1-8, 12

Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2The Lord said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, 3announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.' " So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

4But the Lord said to Gideon, "There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go; but if I say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go."

5So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink." 6Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

7The Lord said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place." 8So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.

The first thing we see here is that there were plenty of the enemy. Chapter 7 and verse 12 tells us that they were as thick as locusts. (Elaborate on what a locust plague looks like)

We are also told that the number of camels was like the sand on the seashore. So in Aussie slang, 'there were more than you could poke a stick at'.

Gideon had only 32,000 fighting men. If you were a strategist for the military, your advice would be, 32,000 soldiers is just not enough to win the battle.

In spite of this, God tells Gideon that he had too many for the battle - obviously God would not qualify for a military strategist. He tells Gideon to cut the numbers by 22, 000. Gideon now only has 10, 000 soldiers for the battle.

But still, God said to Gideon, "You still have too many." I wonder what Gideon might have been thinking at this stage. Never-the-less 9, 700 men are cut out. Only 300 soldiers are left to fight an enemy too large to count and representing More than 2 countries - probably many countries. I guess a similarity would be Ayr fighting the might of the United Nations. Now common sense tells us that would be impossible.

I have no doubt Gideon must have struggled with this crisis, because that's exactly what it was in human terms - a crisis. In total God had sent 31, 700 fighting men home, leaving only 300 to fight against this tremendous force. But God was going to give the victory with only 300. Now, we might ask, why on earth would God do that?

Well, last week we looked at perspectives. From our perspective, in this situation, what God was doing was very unwise. But think for a moment about God's perspective, what was it?

Well, it was this, when the battle was won, which it was, everyone knew it was only achieved through God's enabling, empowering and work. It just required obedience, belief and trust on Gideons behalf.

So we see that this was a God-sized assignment that only God could achieve.

3. Sandgate Baptist Church

Belief in God and seeing things from His perspective is such an important thing for us as His children. Sadly, we reduce what God can do in and through us down to human logic.

I had an experience in the first church in which I was a pastor which testified to the people going beyond human logic, and branching out to see things from God's perspective.

The membership of the church was 135. My major role in the church was in an overseeing role of the administration and management side of the church's ministries. A part of this was to prepare the budget for the church. We followed the normal procedures of approaching ministries and negotiating with those ministries their financial needs for the coming year. We were looking at a significant increase in our weekly requirements - never-the-less we believed that the Lord wanted us to take on the increase. The previous year the budget was at $2, 800 per week. The increase was to jump to $3, 200 per week. It was a big ask for the sized church we had, and it wasn't as if people were flush with cash because it was a blue collar church, not a middle class church.

We came to the members meeting, and sheepishly I presented the new budget, included the increase that we believed the Lord was challenging us with. When I finished the presentation I then asked for comments and questions expecting opposition that we couldn't take that kind of step.

Well, I did have opposition and very strong opposition - but not in the way I was expecting. You see, the church had been praying about what the Lord wanted from us, which included our budget. The people said unanimously that me and the team preparing the budget were not trusting enough of God. That we were selling Him short, and that the budget needed to be higher than what we presented. The outcome was that the members increased the budget a further $300, up to $3, 500 dollars per week.

You see, the people were not looking at their own abilities, but they were looking from God's perspective. By the end of that financial year, they had easily exceeded the budget because they responded to the Lord's challenge. The perspective the Lord had was on our ministries and most importantly, ministering to people both within and outside the church. Now finances were not the only step of belief for the church, they had learned obedience in all things, as a result people were growing abundantly in their relationship with Him and many people were coming to know the Lord.

You see, the point is this. Encounters with God require faith.

Who has watched the show 'Who Dares Wins'?

(elaborate on some of the activities - eg, bungy jumping out of a balloon) - people place their faith in the equipment:

• The rope won't let go of their ankle
• The basket won't break with the force of the person falling
• The knot tying the rope to the basket won’t let go etc.

What does the Bible tells us is faith?

1. What does the Bible tells us is faith?

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see"

Faith is being sure about God and what He is doing. It's not some kind of meaningless hope, but has its foundation secured in a living God who has made the way for all humanity to have a personal relationship with Him, if they just place their faith and belief in Jesus Christ.

This then influences how we live.

2 Cor. 5:7

We live by faith, not by sight.

We don't live by the limitations of human logic which is trusting in only what you see. But live by God's perspective and trust Him in what He wants, even though we feel humanly incapable.

What proves we have faith?

John 14:12

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

We become involved in the things Jesus has been doing - that is, we all become involved in ministering to others and proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.

How can we reach this high calling. I mean we are only human aren't we and limited by that humanity?

1 Cor. 2:4-5

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

You see, it is the Holy Spirit - God Himself - who empowers us to fulfill what He calls us to do. For Paul, his preaching wasn't from studying the latest books on positive motivational public speaking, but by what the Holy Spirit was leading him to say and do.

How do we know where God wants us to be involved?

John 5:17-20

Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." …"I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.

The Father shows us.

So what displays faith?

2. What displays faith?

It is our obedience to God that displays our faith in Him.

Faith was required of Moses and the disciples. When God calls a person to join Him in a God-sized task, faith is always required. Obedience indicates faith in God. Disobedience indicates a lack of faith in God. So, without faith, a person cannot please God, and without faith, a church cannot please God.

You know often the reason why we lack that faith is because of our own self-centredness. We think that we have to accomplish these things the Lord is leading us to by our own power and by our own resources. As a result the thought goes through our minds "I can't do it. Me doing that is just impossible!" But, you see, we forget that when God speaks He always reveals what He is going to do. This way we can join with Him in His work, by His initiative so that He then works through us. With faith we can confidently obey God because we know that He is going to bring to pass what He purposes. In Mark 10:27 Jesus indicated that what was impossible with man and our limited resources and abilities, is possible with God. And there are plenty of examples throughout Scripture that displays this truth.

The question is, do we believe God and His Word? The answer to that question is found in our obedience to Christ because what we do tells what we believe.

3. WHAT WE DO TELLS WHAT WE BELIEVE

As I have said previously, encounters with God are commonly God-sized - they are not reduced to the confines of human logic.

1. Encounters with God are God-sized

Now some people say, "God will never ask me to do something I can't do." Well, that thinking is just simply wrong. You see, God demonstrates His nature, His strength, His provisions, and His kindness to people and to a watching world. Therefore, the assgnments He commonly gives people are God-sized and beyond the confines of our own personal abilities and know-how.

Let's think of some examples found in both the Old and New Testament

• God leading Abraham away from His homeland to birth a new nation
• As we saw before, Gideons defeat of the enemy, despite the odds stacked against him.
• Jesus calling Peter to lead the church, eventhough he denied knowing Jesus 3 times just a few days previously.

What other things can you think of?

Let's look at David's encounter with God

Gen. 15:4, 6 highlight for us how God promised Abraham affspring as numerous as the stars. Now, Sarai, Anbraham's wife was 70 at the time. She knew she was beyond the age of being able to bear children. So she decided she had to use human logic to build this family God was promising Abraham. She gave her maid to Abraham to bear a child not believing that God would make her fertile again and able to bear a child herself. Do you see how Sarai's actions indicated what she believed about God? She didn't believe nor have the faith that God was capable of doing the impossible. Her belief about God was limited by her own human reason. So the lesson here for us is that what we do in response to God's invitation really does indicate what you believe about God.

You see, true faith requires action - action that trusts God will do His work in and through our lives.

3. TRUE FAITH REQUIRES ACTION

James 2:26

Hebrews 11:32-38

Hebrews 12:1-3

This sermon has been created and adapted from the book 'Experiencing God' by H.T.Blackaby and C.V.King by Pastor Scott Douglas for teaching in the Burdekin Baptist Church on 6^th June, 1999.