Steps of Faith

"The Lord had said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you'."

Genesis 12:1

Abram was called by God to "go to the land I will show you". He was supposed to pack up his family, his possessions and all of his servants and go to somewhere. He was not given any more specifics than this. No maps, no points of interest along the way and no final destination.

Can you imagine (especially those of you with children) loading up all of your household goods into a moving van, getting your family loaded up into the car, saying by to your dearest friends and family and just taking off down the road without a destination in mind?

This is exactly what Abram did. God spoke to him and he obeyed. I am sure that he must have had doubts about this journey God was telling him to make, but he had faith in this great God who said that he would lead him to a land and would make him a great nation. Abram had nothing to go on but the promises of God - but oh what wonderful promises they were!

~ That he would become a great nation

~ That God would bless him

~ That God would make his name great

~ That he would be a blessing

~ That God would bless those that blessed him

~ That God would curse those who cursed him

~ That all people would be blessed through him

Can you imagine the great anticipation that Abram must have had? He was being led by GOD, and if he had faith enough to follow, all these blessings would be his!

Now, so many years later, we can't help but see all the people that have been impacted by the simple obedient faith of this one great man. He has indeed become a great nation and all have been blessed through him.

Well, I'm sure that most of you have heard this familiar story from Genesis. I have another story that is very similar about someone who is very dear to me.

There was a young man in the early 1970's who had a vision to begin a certain ministry for young people. He knew that God was calling him to this ministry, but he wasn't sure how it was to become a reality. At the time he was working as a youth pastor within a local church.

One day, this young man got a call that the great aunt of a friend wished to meet and talk with him and his wife about their ministry with young people. He agreed and went to the farm where this elderly lady lived. Her name was Mrs. Foard.

Once this young couple was seated at her home, Mrs. Foard jumped right into the conversation by asking them a very pointed question. "What does God want you to do?" I am sure that the young man was quite surprised by this direct question from a complete stranger, but with the strong call of God in his heart he readily answered, "God has called me to develop a Christian camping ministry for young people".

Mrs. Foard's response to his answer surprised him even more than the original question. She said, "Young man, I have been praying for you for 6 years! I would like to give you the gift of 21 acres of my property to begin making this vision that God has given you a reality!"

Can you imagine how taken aback this young couple must have been? Here they had felt that God was leading them in a definite direction, yet they could not see how to get there. Now, they had arrived at this place and through this woman's generosity, God was GIVING them the very land that they needed to begin the ministry He had called them to! They must have felt somewhat like Abram when he arrived in Canaan and the Lord said to him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you...Go walk through the length and breadth of the land for I am giving it to you."

Even though they now had the property to begin their ministry on, this couple had many more obstacle to overcome in order to get their ministry up and running. They would have to work long and hard and they would have to take some major steps of faith before they could see the fruits of their labors paying off.

For starters, they would have to give up their current job at the local church. Then of course, they would be without health insurance or their pension plan. To make matters worse, their family was not very supporting...especially the young man's father-in-law! He thought that this young man was following a dream and he was taking his daughter with him. How in the world could he possibly support a wife with the money from a dream?

Then, there was the problem of finding a place to live. When they saw the house that they would be able to live in, it was almost to much for the young man's wife, but this young man had such a vision that he could see what it could be not what it was.

He excitedly walked around the property and pointed out the places where they planned to build different things. A baseball diamond, cabins, a pond, etc. He was living out the vision that God had given him so long ago!

Like Abram, this man had nothing to go on but the promises of God - and it was more than enough! Just like Abram, the simple step of faith that this young man took has impacted hundreds of lives over the last 30 years.

I am sure that most of you are familiar with the ministry that this young man started. When it first started, it was called Beachmont Christian Camp. The first year that they were able to run a camping program, they only had 50 campers. Over the years, this number has grown to over 1500 and Beachmont has become much more that just a Christian camp. The aspects of their ministry are too many to list as are the scores of people that have been reached through God's work there. The name has been changed to Beachmont Christian Ministries and the original 21 acres have grown to about 50 acres all being used for the glory of God.

The young man in the story is my father, Paul Twining. I know that he is a very humble man and would say that the glory all belongs to the Lord. This is very true, but if the Holy Word of God can recognize Abram for his act faith in "following a dream" than I think it fitting to recognize my father as a man who took a step of faith and "followed a dream".

I don't need to know all the details as long as there is Someone I can trust to lead me.

The Twining "Home sweet home"!

(I like the KEEP OUT sign on the door!)

The trailer that our family lived in during the remodeling of our home.

The finished product in the later 70's.

(The house has had a great room and a sun porch added on since then.)

FAITH

The definition of faith according to Webster is Unquestioning belief that doesn't require proof or evidence. According to Webster, we don't need proof to have faith, but we as Christians are blessed with evidence of the great God that we place our faith in. We have the Bible. 66 wonderful books by 40 authors who were inspired by God Himself. This Book took 1600 years to complete!

The definition of faith according to Hebrews 11 is a bit different than Webster's definition. "Faith is the substance, (the assurance, reality, confirmation, title deed) of things hoped for, the evidence (conviction, proof, conviction of their reality) of things not seen."

According to the Bible, we are saved through faith, live by faith, receive righteousness through faith, are justified by faith, have access to God's grace by faith, receive the promise of the Spirit by faith, do God's work by faith, and wait for His return in faith. Faith is vital to the life of a Christian.

Faith affects our lives in different ways everyday. We have faith that when we get into our cars we will arrive at our destination. We have faith that the food that we buy at the grocery store which is grown by absolute strangers is not going to be harmful to us. We have faith that our doctors are competent and therefore place our health in their hands. Without faith our lives would be very difficult!

Hebrews offers us many examples of how faith affected the people of God. We read about Abel. His sacrifice was pleasing to God and by faith he was commended as a righteous man. It talks about Enoch whose faith caused him to please God so that God took him from the earth and he did not experience death. His faith delivered him from death! Noah's faith manifested itself in works. As James says, "Faith without works is dead". Noah's act of building the ark came completely from his faith in God.
There are many more examples of faith in Hebrews. By faith Abraham... by faith Isaac... by faith Jacob... by faith Joseph... by faith Moses... by faith Rahab... James even goes on to tell us that he doesn't have time to talk about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets!
Faith is so important in the life of the Christian. Faith is when we please God, admit our dependence upon Him, and continually seek to rely upon Him and His grace.

Our faith in God should affect our attitude towards this world. True faith produces conviction not preference and convictions are non-negotiable. No matter what trials and temptations this world may bring, the convictions that come through our faith in God must stand firm. We cannot afford to conform to the patterns of the world and jeopardize the affect that our faith may have on others. Just as James speaks of those from the past whose faith is an example to us now, so our faith may now and in the future be commendable enough to be listed alongside of these great heroes of faith from the past.

"...Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."