Faith: The Pathway to True Christianity

By Richard Rosalia, Th.M.

Faith: The Pathway to True Christianity plunges the reader into the depths of faith. It also guides the reader through subjects such as: How important is faith to Christianity? What does the Bible have to say about faith and the role that faith plays in God's plan of salvation. These topics and more are explored in this study on faith. It is the author's intent to teach believers how to build their own faith. A strong faith will strengthen the believer's relationship with the Lord. This study will give the believer a deeper understanding of the workings of faith and therefore deeper meaning and purpose in their relationship with the Lord. By building a strong faith, the believer will be able to stand strong in their personal fight against the flesh and the powers of darkness that are out to destroy our faith. The stages of the growth of faith, from beginning to fruitful are covered. Teaching believers how to develop a strong Christian faith in a Biblical manner is the goal of this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644161623

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Faith

The Pathway to True Christianity

Richard Rosalia, Th.M.

Copyright © 2018 by Richard Rosalia, Th.M.

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. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

DEDICATED TO:

My best friend and wife, Denise, my wonderful children, Richard, Matthew, Julie, and to those who need to strengthen their faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Preface

Faith is something every human being has and exercises. People have faith in their machines, money, and power. But those are not the types of faith that are being discussed in this book. Christian faith is the subject. The person who believes in God, believes God, and accepts God’s only Son Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior is considered the believer in this writing. The believer sees the world from a different perspective than the nonbeliever. The believer sees the world from a Spiritual, God-given perspective, while the nonbeliever sees the world from the carnal, human perspective. Both see the same world around them, but both perceive it very differently. One views the world from experience, and the other, the believer, views the world from the spiritual side. Their outlook and attitudes will be very different, in many respects opposite of one another because of their views.

God loves everyone; this is because God is love, and all mankind is created in His image. God loves His creation, and as believers we must love everyone, as our Lord did. The human carnal nature is opposed to the Holy Spirit, so believers must turn from sin and self-satisfaction to salvation and love. This turning is the result of repenting of one’s sins and turning away from our sinful nature to a new way of life, a Spirit-filled and guided experience. The Spirit will always guide the believer into good, even if the situation looks bad. If the Holy Spirit is working in the believer’s life, the situation will work out for the believer’s overall good. Follow God faithfully, and He will prove Himself to be faithful.

1

The Journey Begins

Faith, do we really know what it is? Christians throw around terms like Keep the Faith or when we are going through rough times we’re told, our faith will get us through. At other times when we’re anxious about upcoming decisions or events, we are told to have faith. Beginning faith is believing in God. But real faith is so much deeper than that, it gets into our being, our fiber, into our heart. Faith changes us into something God can work with and through. Faith will become a way of life and the way that gives life to those who believe.

Zondervan’s Bible Dictionary defines faith as, That which differentiates their lives from others is their self-commitment to God, implicitly involving unwavering trust in and obedience to Him.¹ (God). (3). Webster’s Dictionary² defines faith as: Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.³ (4). The Scriptural definition of faith is found in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (1).

The New Testament was originally written in Greek. The word which is translated to the English faith is the Greek word pistis. Strong’s number G4102 pistis; from Strong’s 3982; persuasion, i.e., credence; mor. conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliant upon Christ for salvation; system of religious (Gospel) truth itself: assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.⁴

Faith is believing in God, but it is also believing what God tells us. Faith is obeying God when logic (or our flesh) tells us not to. Faith fights against our human nature and sometimes, faith hurts. It hurts our human nature but builds our spiritual strength. Faith believes when human knowledge says no way, but God can make a way when there is no way. Every bit of our Christianity is built upon the foundation of faith. And our Christian faith is built upon Jesus Christ the solid rock, through God’s grace.

Grace is a free gift of God. Please do not mistake the word free with cheap or worthless. God’s gift of salvation came at a price: the life of His Son, His one and only Son Jesus Christ. This plan of salvation was not an afterthought or a last-minute fix. This was planned before the foundations of the earth were put in place. God’s plan of salvation was for the benefit of those who would believe in and follow Jesus.

Faith, like any seed that has been planted, has stages that it must grow through in order to become complete or mature. The stages of faith are: Persuasion, Belief, Moral Conviction, Testing, Obedience, Trust, and Dependence. The believer’s faith grows in stages, and like a plant our faith can be in more than one stage at a time. This is dependent upon our setbacks and progress through the building of a healthy faith. Faith is sometimes exciting and sometimes painful, but faith’s lessons will always keep us growing more to the likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As a tree starts out as a seed, likewise our faith begins as we hear the Word of God. The seed of faith is planted within us by God’s Word. When we hear God’s Word people can feel the impact of it within them. Changes from hearing God’s Word begin within people as they are persuaded that what they are hearing truly is the Word of God. Some people are persuaded quickly and some take more time and proof; then there are those who just refuse to believe. We won’t deal with them at this time.

What do people need to be persuaded of? Not all people need to be persuaded of the same thing. For instance the agnostic⁵ believes that there is a possibility that God exists, but he doesn’t believe that we can communicate with Him. While the atheist⁶ doesn’t believe that God exists at all. These people need to be persuaded in different areas of understanding of the Gospel Message. So the