Now Faith Dr. Reginald Van Stephens

Now Faith Dr. Reginald Van Stephens 2018 Church Theme: "Now Faith is Being Sure of What We Hope For and Certain of What We Do Not See" Hebrews 11:1 “Now Faith” is a term I began to pay particular attention to after a young pastor friend of mine organized and named a new church. The new church was comprised primarily of young adults known today as millennials. Initially I thought the naming of this budding group “Now Faith” was faddish; but later realized he was simply trying to organize a contemporary church around an established and sound biblical principle. I do not know if that church ever caught on and grew, or still exists (I hope it does). Because if those who are in that fellowship actually put into practice the biblical principle around which they were organized, they will be successful in the Kingdom of God. Hebrews 11:1 is the verse by which Christians have come to understand the basis of faith. The Holy Spirit has led me to bring more attention to faith here at White Rock during the year 2018. Our new church theme is intended to inspire believers of all ages not just to know how to define this phenomenal key to activating God's might and miracles; but to use it! When the writer of the letter called Hebrews penned this 11th chapter, he was continuing his encouragement to Christians to persevere although they experienced sufferings (see Hebrews 10:3211:1). He reminded them of why they stood bravely for Christ through personal difficulty and exhorted them not to throw away their confidence because of God's promises (see verses 35, 36). “Now” used at the beginning of chapter 11 can be interpreted two ways: either as a transitional word to talk about the future based on what has been known so far, or as an adverb to modify “faith” in a way that brings attention to the ‘present tense’ of the verb. Either way it is interpreted, faith is a necessity for real Christians. We cannot simply “have faith” understood as a type of intellectual object (as a noun). No, like love, faith is a verb - meaning unless put into action (now) it doesn't exist. So, without faith it is impossible to please God…. As a matter of fact, according to the author of Hebrews, “through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.”(NLT) What does this mean concerning our ministry at White Rock? It means we have a fortunate opportunity to be like the people who gained God's approval. We have an opportunity in Durham to earn a good reputation, too. Some examples are in the 11th Chapter of the book of Hebrews: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, just to name a few. The scriptures are filled with men and women who demonstrated that faith rarely is practiced within the luxury of ideal circumstances. In fact, the opposite is true. Faith is best recognized when our personal resources are slim and we must trust and depend on the Lord. I wonder whether a newly formed congregation will embrace Now Faith? How about a congregation which has existed 151 years? The beauty of Now Faith is when the Lord manifests what is hoped for into reality, we rejoice in knowing we pleased God! The Lord will bless us with even more than before because the “Glory is to God”, no one else.