Saving Faith Vs. Circumstantial Faith

Update From Your Pastors

Dear Welling Church family,

We praise God that He is always faithful and at work even though our lives can be filled with such uncertainty. No matter the circumstances, our desire as a church is to continually focus on and follow Christ so that we can bring glory to Him regardless of what’s before us.

As a leadership, we are forever thankful for the continued faith of those who call Welling Church their home. It is a blessing to see the love and generosity from so many in our church during this time.

We are a church with a mission. We strive to live so that others may come to know Jesus Christ. Though we can’t be together physically at the moment, our church still has a desire to serve and make much of Jesus. 

God’s love isn’t cancelled.
Prayer isn’t cancelled.
Serving isn’t cancelled. 
Worship isn’t cancelled.
Our church isn’t cancelled. 

Let’s continue to keep caring, keep serving, and keep showing the hope of Christ to everyone. 

We will get through this time together! 

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Prayer Points

1. Lucy, Charlotte, and Caroline have an elderly neighbour Ken who prior to COVID-19, he was waiting cancer treatment which went on pause with hospitals not wanting to take on anymore patients. He has now been told, that given his age/risk value, his cancer is now going to be untreated given the strain COVID-19 has had on hospitals.

2. Vicky has asked for prayer for Jatinder in India he has the coronavirus and his oxygen levels are very low he is running a high fever and has been in hospital for 5 days now.

3. Pray for all the kids that are going back to school to have confidence and comfort for being there.

Ministry Opportunity

Getting together for fellowship has been very tough over the past 3 months, and this weeks ministry opportunity is a small step to help that. If it is possible and safe to do so we would love to encourage each family group to meet up with another family group for some much needed fellowship. Wether it is a walk in the park or hanging out in a back garden, it would be great for our church to be fellowshipping with each other all over the city. Please be sure to follow all the governments guidelines on social distancing and meeting up with others outside your family group.

Weekly Devotional

Authentic Faith Part 1: Saving Faith Vs. Circumstantial Faith

There are two main things that shatter a one's faith: poor choices & unexplainable tragedy. When/if these were to happen to you will the faith you have shatter or will it hold strong? 

Circumstantial Faith

When our faith is based primarily on the circumstances in our life it will be a weak faith and prone to falling a part. This is because circumstantial faith is supported by our ability (or inability) to interpret events.

It can be so easy to misinterpret events, especially when when we don’t know all the facts or can’t see the full picture of what is happening. (Example: Ask a four-year-old on the way to the GP for a jab if his daddy loves him. He would have doubts. But years later, ask that same child about the GP visit, he will have a completely different perspective. Just as a child cannot correctly judge his parent’s character based on a trip to the GP, we dare not draw conclusions about God’s goodness based on the immediate circumstances of our lives.)

Circumstantial faith also weakened by our inability to see the importance of the events in our life. This is especially true when we think about these events in light of a lifetime of events or the future of unknown possibilities. It is even harder to put them into a proper understanding of eternity. 

Joseph spent fifteen years as a slave in Egypt, yet God was using that to do something beautiful behind the scenes. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness before God sent him back to Egypt and introduced some purpose to what seemed purposeless. We need to understand that when God does not answer our prayers by next week that does not mean he does not exist.

The Foundation of Our Faith

The true foundation of our faith must be a person, not what is happening or just happened in our life. Jesus Christ must be the foundation of our faith. As Christians, we must redirect our faith away from current events and fasten it to the One in whom we can securely place our trust.

The first three chapters of Hebrews explain that Jesus is God. The author concludes these three chapters by saying that Jesus is one we should have as the foundation of our faith (or confession).

Hebrews 4:14-16 "14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

If our faith and hope rests on anything other than the person of Jesus Christ, we are building our lives upon fragile foundations.

Matthew 7:24-27 24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Our faith needs to be based on what Jesus did not what is happening to us. 

Saving Faith

God has promised to forgive our sins, once and for all, if we put our faith in Christ’s death as the payment for our sin, this is saving faith. True saving faith is based on two very important facts that must at the centre of our belief: Jesus is the Son of God, and his death on the cross paid for all our sin, apart from anything we do or intend to do.

John 14:1–7 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Salvation is a gift from God. This is not a reward, anything we can earn, or even something we could buy. God does not offer it because we deserve it. God offers every person salvation because that is his desire. We only get true authentic faith by trusting in Jesus alone, this is our foundation and what we build our fellowship with God upon.

Faith Defined

The Bible very clearly states what faith is. The writer of Hebrews says that “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (11:1). Faith, then, is confidence that God is who he says he is and will do all he has promised to do.

Noah spent years and years building an ark because God promised that it was going to rain. Abraham left his home and set out without a destination in mind because God promised to lead him to a new home. Gideon charged down into an enemy camp totally outnumbered because God promised victory. Moses went back to Egypt after being chased out because God promised to deliver Israel through him. Joshua marched around Jericho because God told him to.

Walking by faith is behaving as if God is who he says he is and will do what he says he will do. It is living as if God is trustworthy. Our faith can never be based on the moment or the circumstances that are happening around us. The foundation we should have for our faith is Jesus Christ. If Christ is who he saw he is, then we don’t need to worry when bad things happen. If Jesus really died for the sins of the world, then we have no reason to doubt his love. If he has promised to comeback for us, then we have to know that he has our best interests in mind.