Tag Archives: faith

Do you have a “faith account”?

SOME YEARS AGO, I picked up one of those plastic water cooler containers at a nearby yard and converted it into a piggy bank of sorts…

And each time that my family and I returned from the store, we would always drop our loose pocket change into the container. It seemed like an effective way of saving for a rainy day.

Recently I took that container down to the bank, and to my surprise, the four of us had saved a rather considerable sum of money. We had done so by simply saving the dimes, quarters, nickels and pennies that had come from our pockets. Of course, the money was only available because my family had been making regular deposits for quite some time.

It occurs to me that the same can be said of our faith. Unless you and I make regular deposits into our “faith account,’ then no funds will be available when the storms of life appear on the horizon.

What about you, dear Christian? How much faith will you put into your account today? (Mike Benson)

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Rom. 10:17

Magic tricks and faith

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It’s Magic!

Many years ago, I learned a few “magic” tricks so that I could entertain the young people. On one occasion, I was “magically” pushing a pencil through my ear, and pulling it back out. Well, the kids were impressed. Their eyes opened wide, their mouth’s dropped open, and I could even hear a few gasps. Mission accomplished.

However, after church that morning, I saw a little boy with a pencil in his ear, grimacing in pain, as he was trying to push that pencil in his ear. Ouch! It was at that point I decided not to do that trick anymore. I can just hear it now…The emergency room doctor talking to the parents of this boy saying, “He said he preacher told him to do it.”

Something else I learned that day is that “Faith is only as safe as the object in which it is placed.” Blind faith is not only useless, but it can be dangerous. Friends, consider the things that you believe. In what have you placed your faith? We certainly don’t want to find ourselves pushing pencils through our ears because of a misplaced faith. Open your Bible and study it, for faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17).

— Steve Higginbotham

The genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes

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LAST YEAR WHILE hiking in the mountains of North Georgia, I came across a very large unusually shaped brick…

The brick was almost completely covered in green, fur-like vegetation. After I scraped the green goop away, I carefully inspected the brick and discovered that it was a brownish-yellow color instead of the traditional red. I also discovered some unusual markings and identification numbers on the brick. When I returned home, I was able to do some research and found that this particular type of brick was used in the early-to-mid eighteen hundreds to construct smelting ovens. These ovens melted and purified gold after it was mined from the mountains of North Georgia and Carolina. The purpose of the melting process was to remove any impurities that were attached to the gold.

THOUGHTS: God compares the difficulties and trials that each of us must experience in our lives to the purification or smelting process that gold goes through in order to become valuable. It is kind of like the refining process that the old yellow brick had been a part of over a hundred years ago. The brick had actually facilitated the fire’s ability to remove impurities from the gold after melting, and thereby increased its value. And more than likely some of the very gold which was purified in that particular type of brick smelting oven is still around today, possibly in the form of antique jewelry that has been passed from one generation to another. (Mitch Temple)

“The genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:7

Mike Benson

An e-mail from Darrell

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Today I received an e-mail from “Darrell” entitled “concern.” Darrell is troubled that our congregational web site does not teach “salvation by faith alone.”

Darrell asked me to examine more than 30 Scriptures to prove his claim that salvation is by faith alone, but every verse he cited speaks of being saved “by faith” instead of salvation by “faith alone.”

My reply to Darrell included the following statement: “If you could show me where “faith alone” is used in the Bible to describe salvation, I would be grateful.”

So far Darrell has not written back. Maybe he has not yet looked his e-mail or maybe he is searching for just one passage that supports his belief that salvation is by “faith alone.”

“Faith alone” is found just one time in the New Testament; the NIV uses this exact wording in Jas. 2:24 to say “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.”

Many claim we ARE saved by “faith alone,” but God’s inspired spokesman says a person is NOT saved by faith alone. Who will we believe—God or a man like Darrell?

Brad Price