A Radical Faith

This Sunday Sojourn had Brother Bob Russell, former lead pastor at Southeast Christian Church, come and preach on a radical faith. It was excellent and reminded me of how I really want to live. I want to have a radical faith!

We need radical Christians who die to themselves. Our nation is becoming hostile toward Biblical truths. If we are going to be effective in passing on our faith to others and the next generation we need a radical faith that stands out in the world. When we capture the radical truths from Scripture, we will then be able to stand when the truths of God are challenged.

Luke 9:23-26

23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24 For whoever wishes to save his [a]life will lose it, but whoever loses his [b]life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. 25 For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

A Radical Faith Follows Jesus Exclusively
The Truth of Scripture is that Jesus is the Only God, not just one of many gods. Acts 4:12
We are exclusive because we say that it is God's way, not our way
Our faith is inclusive, though, because no one is barred. Anyone can become a follower of Jesus.
Only Jesus claimed to be God and proved it by His miracles, His death for our sins and His rising from the dead. Jesus is who He says He is!

A Radical Faith Demands Self Denial
This is more than a mental ascent. It is how we act.

We Deny Carnal Desires Romans 13:14
We all have two natures in us. We are made in the image of God and desire to be like God; this is the Spirit. But we are polluted by our sinful nature; this is the flesh. The flesh and the Spirit are always at war within us.
Galatians 5, Are we willing to lose our life for Christ?
If you do what you want all of the time you will hurt many people including yourself
"If you act the way you wish you felt, you will eventually feel the way you act." William James

We Deny Out Intellectual Pride
1 Corinthians 1:20-21
We need to humbly accept the truths of God like a little child.
In our pride we have no room for God. The fool says in his heart there is no God.
If we believe the truths of God we will be rejected by the intellectual community.

We Deny Worldly Ambitions
Luke 9:25
The world measures success by possessions, wealth, achievement, beauty, etc.
This is not our aim. We find our satisfaction in God, in His peace, joy, and love.
He is our treasure. Where our treasure is, that is where our heart is.

Where is your heart?

Some books to check out on this topic are, Radical by David Platt, Crazy Love by Frances Chan and Not A Fan by Kyle Idleman