KEEP THE FAITH
At the end of my first year of ministry in the autumn of 1975, I had the opportunity to travel for the first time to the USA with my friends Olle who is Swedish, and Chris (who has an English mother and an American father).
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We went to East Hill Church in Gresham Oregon where Chris came from. The Pastor there was Jerry Cook an outstanding teacher and author of the best-selling book “Love Acceptance and Forgiveness” - which I highly recommend!
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We were given the opportunity to take part in a small conference for about twelve pastors and their wives to look at how this thriving church functioned, having grown from about twenty-three original members to over two thousand.
While we were there, we also met some people from California who invited us to visit them.
So after our time in Oregon, Olle and I travelled to Van Nuys and during our time there, we had the opportunity to attend a conference at the Church on the Way, led by another brilliant teacher, Dr Jack Hayford who wrote the song “Majesty” among many others, and was the executive editor of “The Spirit Filled Bible.” These were phenomenal experiences for me and helped to lay a foundation for the rest of my ministry.
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While we were in Oregon we stayed in the brand-new home of a lovely couple from the church. One afternoon our host asked if we would like to visit his father who lived a short drive away. So we went and had a pleasant hour or so with this dear old gentleman. At the end of our conversation, we prayed together and as we were standing up ready to go, he turned to us and said, “Young men” – we stopped to listen, “Keep the Faith.”
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As you can see, I never forgot those words and here I am 50 years later, still keeping the Faith! – How foolish it would be to do anything else since Jesus alone has “the words of eternal life.”
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The phrase “The Faith” appears over 20 times in the New Testament and here are the ones which encourage us to keep the Faith faithfully until the end:
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Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13)
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Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? (2 Corinthians 13:5)
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He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight, if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel. (Colossians 1:21-23)
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As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7)
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I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7)
One of the titles of the British Monarch is Defender of the Faith which was given by the pope to King Henry VIII for writing against Martin Luther and the new Protestant movement. When Henry became a “Protestant” himself - because the pope would not let divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon, he kept the title Defender of the Faith and became Head of the Church of England, and all monarchs have held those titles ever since.
Our present king, Charles III always made it clear that he wanted to be a “defender of faiths.” By that he meant that he wants to respect all faiths and the right of people to freely have their own beliefs in this country. However, at his coronation he vowed to uphold the Protestant faith and does seem to have a personal belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In this modern day where anything goes and we must be ‘politically correct’, those of us who believe in THE Faith must stand our ground…
The Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.
(1 Timothy 4:1)
Stand fast in one spirit,
with one mind striving together for the faith.
(Philippians 1:21)
Contend earnestly for the faith
which was once for all delivered to the saints.
(Jude 1:3)
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