Faith Is Spelled R-I-S-K: a Motto for Kingdom Life
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FAITH IS SPELLED R-I-S-KA MOTTO FOR KINGDOM LIFE 1 FAITH IS SPELLED R-I-S-KA MOTTO FOR KINGDOM LIFE INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 3 WEEK 1: A MOTTO FOR THE KINGDOM LIFE ....................................... 4 WEEK 2 : FAITH ON FIRE ..................................................................... 5 WEEK 3 : DOING WHAT THE FATHER IS DOING .................................. 8 WEEK 4: PERMISSION TO TRY .......................................................... 10 WEEK 5: THE GREAT EQUALIZER ...................................................... 12 WEEK 6: RISK STORIES TO ENCOURAGE YOU .................................. 13 CONCLUSION: FAITH IS SPELLED R-I-S-K ......................................... 19 © 2020 Vineyard Resources All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc. TM 2 INTRODUCTION John Wimber, the late founder of the Vineyard Movement, popularized a phrase that has rocked the church world for almost a half-century. “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K.” When it came to the Christian life, John’s forte was to live at the intersection of the profound and the practical. He wasn’t content to just read about Jesus doing miracles, casting out demons, and healing the sick. He believed that Jesus had come to do something more – to invite us to do the work of the Kingdom alongside Him. In other words, John believed what the early Christians believed – that Jesus did not come to just do all the works of the Kingdom Himself. Rather, Jesus came to train us – average, ordinary people – to become His apprentices, doing the works of the Kingdom of God just as He did, then training others to do the same! John believed that if Jesus healed the sick, then we could learn to heal the sick. If Jesus heard the Father speak to Him, then we could learn to hear the Father speak. The phrase, “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K” reminded John, and those with whom he shared it, that the mystery of faith is expressed in the realities of everyday life. In other words, faith is about more than just believing all the right things. Faith is about belief in action. Or, as the book of James put it: What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ...But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. James 2:14,18 3 WEEK 1: A MOTTO FOR THE KINGDOM LIFE Faith in Jesus was never meant to be understood as a disembodied, sing-it-say-it-pray-it-and-go-home kind of faith! Jesus had no intention of founding an anemic Church that would become highly skilled at doing religion without true spiritual power (always expressed in love, according to Galatians 5:6) backing it up. The Gospel-faith Jesus gave us, modeled for us, and distributes through us in our homes, neighborhoods, churches, and cities, is real power for real life. And to be a disciple of Jesus is to become His apprentice – learning to do what He did and to do it smack in the middle of everyday life as we know it. “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K” is a motto that we can carry along with us on our journey as Christians, every week, from Sunday to Saturday, from birth to death, as Kingdom people. POWER ENCOUNTERS What was John Wimber trying to communicate, by connecting the words faith and risk, to the church of his day and ours? He was trying to communicate that if you want to see God do miraculous things, through ordinary people like you and I, you’re going to have to practice going out on a limb, taking leaps of faith, and diving in headfirst. In other words, you and I will have to learn to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, and then to respond with action to what He speaks to us – taking bold risks with God. Wimber took risks with God as a young Christian, believing that what Jesus said was true – that we as His followers could learn to pray for the sick, and to see them healed, as we act in trusting obedience (Mark 6:7-13). So John took some risks. He prayed for the sick that he met on the streets, and saw them miraculously healed. He asked God to speak to him for complete strangers, and he heard the Holy Spirit whisper to him things about peoples’ lives he could never have known otherwise. 4 This led hundreds of people to faith in Jesus as they had “power- encounters” with God in which they experienced His overwhelming love for them as His children. And from John’s childlike willingness to put feet to his faith in God, seeing God move in astounding ways through himself and other ordinary people, an entire church movement – the Vineyard – was born. LEARNING TO TAKE RISKS – TOGETHER Vineyard churches became communities where people learned to hear and to trust the voice of the Holy Spirit. They became communities where people could even practice taking risks with God. They became communities where everyone – from a small child to a seasoned saint – could play on the field of Kingdom living at the same time. Inspired by what God was doing in their midst, Vineyard people began to look for every opportunity to show God’s love in practical ways, taking risks of faith and seeing God “show up” on the scene! Taking risks of faith with others, especially with those who have learned to hear God’s voice and to act on what they hear, can give us the confidence we need to make “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K” a motto for our own Kingdom life. Reflection Question: Is there a risk that you’ve taken, believing the Holy Spirit was guiding you, that you took because you saw someone else model it first? How did seeing someone else risk boost your confidence? WEEK 2: FAITH ON FIRE Faith, the Scripture tells us in Hebrews 11, is “...the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1, ESV). Many of us, when we read this passage, assume that faith is equivalent to belief. We think that if we just believe the right things, we have faith. Right? 5 While that may sound correct, that faith and belief are the same thing, that is not the picture of faith we see demonstrated in the life and ministry of Jesus in the Gospels. It’s also not the picture of faith we see in the rest of the New Testament, watching Jesus’ first disciples in action. There is something about Jesus’ faith, something about the faith of the disciples, that is deeper, wider, stronger, and more “faith-with-skin-on” than mere belief. It’s called “conviction.” Conviction, it has been said, is faith on fire. RISK & CONVICTION Conviction ignites faith to become real-life, risk-it-all, buy-the-field- to-find-the-treasure... action. When we have a conviction about something, not only have we agreed with a belief in our hearts and minds – we are also backing up that belief with our entire body! We take action! We walk into difficult and unknown situations and we do things we never thought we would do. Conviction has the power to motivate us to go beyond our fears – enabling even the most timid person to throw caution to the wind as they act on what they believe. Conviction means that a belief has soaked deep into our bones, and now our entire body is involved in acting out that belief. Mark 9:20-27 illustrates a powerful message about risk for each one us. And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” And after crying out 6 and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. Mark 9:20-27 The father in this story has taken a public risk. He has put his personal reputation on the line to ask Jesus to do something for his dear, tortured son. The scene is in full view of everyone, and there is no turning back. There may be no more profound demonstration of humility than that captured in the father’s words: “I believe; help my unbelief.” What if we were all as self-aware as this man about having a faith that is incomplete – one that lacks teeth, that lacks gripping power, that lacks some important level of hope and trust? This is where the rubber meets the road for every Christian.