Chapel speaker: 'Faith is believing God'

Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow / Livestream

Lead pastor Des Wadsworth of Grace Community Church wanted to set the record straight at Chapel.

“Faith is not believing IN God,” Wadsworth told Grand Canyon University students on Monday at Global Credit Union Arena. “Faith is believing God.”

Wadsworth cited Gideon, who followed God’s Word to defeat the vast army of the Midianites, numbered at about 135,000, with an army of only 300. He doubted his ability to lead or overcome such an overwhelming force.

Wadsworth said he hadn't preached about Gideon in 22 years, having done so for the first time when he was 20 years old, and only because his preacher said he needed to preach on an Old Testament character.

That moment shaped Wadsworth.

“It caused me to realize that God doesn't need superheroes of the faith,” Wadsworth said. “He doesn't need people who are just, ‘Oh, I'm a fearless person for God.’  

“No, he needs actually weak people who have faith from a believing, fearless God.”

In summarizing Judges 6-8, Wadsworth asked students if their lives were going to be about faith or something else, such as their future spouse or future geographical location.

“Because the enemy wants it to be for something else,” Wadsworth said.

In the case of Gideon, he is so pensive that he is hiding in a wine press, thrashing wheat when the angel of the Lord shows up.

“Some of you this morning are hiding,” Wadsworth said. “Maybe you're hiding behind excuses. You're hiding behind some regret. You're hiding behind some guilt and shame. You're hiding behind another person. You're hiding behind something you said that now you’re just struggling to follow through on. You're hiding behind some insecurity in your own life. You're hiding.

“Can I just say this: God will come to you when you are hiding. He always has. He even did it to Adam and Eve when they hid.”

Furthermore, your identity is not bound by your greatest achievement or your worst moment.

“Your identity should be defined by God's Word over you,” Wadsworth said. “God’s Word over you is where you'll find your identity, and it's where the call to live by faith comes alive.”

The angel of the Lord does not call Gideon a loser, instead saying, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

That convinces Gideon, who originally recruits an army of 32,000 men but is told by God to reduce his force to 300. But this isn’t God’s way of winning a war.

And trimming nearly all of the army, combined with the strategy of smashing jars on the ground, igniting torches and blowing trumpets, seemed like an unrealistic game plan for the Israelites to overtake the Midianites.

But, “by faith – by faith – because God says, ‘trust me,” said Wadsworth, who added that “sometimes God subtracts before he multiplies.”

Wadsworth admitted that there have been occasions where walking by faith has made no sense. He waited a year before asking his wife on their first date on what he described as a “by faith moment.”

He and his wife had a two-year engagement, which he described as the “dumbest decision of their lives.”

“But God had said, ‘Can you trust me with everything? I'm going to be your provider.’"

Two weeks before their wedding, the Wadsworths had no place to live. “But God had said, ‘I got it, I got it, I got it.’ … And he came through.”

Thirteen years ago, Wadsworth, his wife and four children made the bold decision to leave England for the United States in what he described as “mind shifting.”

God said, “By the way, when you do this, everything you have, give it away.”

That meant giving their household items, furniture and a car. Their children were reduced to putting any necessary items in individual boxes.

“And God said, ‘Do you trust me in this?’" Wadsworth said. “ ... And we did. We prayed and we obeyed. And it was a white-knuckle ride. And it was scary.

“But God is good. When you get into your lives and into the future, stop playing it safe.”

Wadsworth emphasized to students that they need more obedience, not experience, and that they will grow more by faith, with obedience, and surrender than anything else.

“Thinking smart and education are tools, but walking by faith is power,” Wadsworth said.

He reinforced University Pastor Dr. Tim Griffin’s plea for students to bring others to tonight's Unite GCU event at Global Credit Union Arena, where followers of Christ are asked to come together.

“The gospel will be preached,” Wadsworth said as he looked at a 30-foot gap between the stage and students. “There's a big gap down here in front of me, not for my dance moves, but for people to surrender their life to Jesus. And you can contribute a name.

“This is a call to action today. Some of you, your parents, are following Jesus. Get on your knees by faith. Some of you've got siblings or friends, or whatever it may, be by faith.

“Are we going to be a people by faith?”

Next Chapel speaker: Noe Garcia, North Phoenix Church, 11 a.m. Monday, Global Credit Union Arena

GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]

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