Welcome to the Honest Faith By Stan Beerman message. Here are the sermon notes that I took on 8 June 2019 when Stan gave this message at Riverside Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church in Washougal, Washington.
Sermon Notes
Many of the beaches of Oregon and Washington allow people to drive their vehicles on the beach. Drivers should be aware that driving on the sand can be difficult. You must stay on hard sand which is more common in the winter months. Stan shared a recent visit to the beach in the warmer weather and quickly realized that his truck had gotten stuck in the softer sand.
Stan prayed and just a couple of minutes later, a man in a 4 wheel drive truck with a long chain pulled up. The man asked Stan if he could help pull Stan’s truck out of the sand. Stan was amazed at how fast God had answered his prayer. Stan asked the man what his name was. The man replied Mike Angel. Stan got Mike’s address after asking him if he could send Mike a gift for helping him get unstuck.
Turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 13 which is known as the Love Chapter in the Bible.
1 Corinthians 13 New King James Version (NKJV)
The Greatest Gift
13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Build Faith
We must build our faith on earth. In Mark 9 and Matthew 7, Jesus was transfigured on the mountain in front of His Disciples Peter, James and John. Some Christian writers state this was the First Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus shined brightly.
Matthew 17:2-3
He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
There is a parallel here. Moses face shined brightly when he left God’s Presence on Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb. We should pray that as Seventh-day Adventist Christians that we should have a glow about us
In Mark 7:14, the Disciples asked Jesus what to do about the demon in the boy. Then in verses 19-20:
“Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”
20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Do we see spiritual needs in others and feel inadequate? This is what the Disciples felt. Jesus was a great Psychologist.
In verse 21, the demon convulsed the boy. In verse 23, Jesus gets the father involved. Jesus tells us that all things are possible.
The Christian author CS Lewis wrote: Be transparent with God, be brutally honest. Jesus tells us that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, all things are possible. A mustard seed is one of the tiniest seeds in the world.
How big is your God is the question we need to remember. Let us continue on with the Honest Faith By Stan Beerman message.
Pastor Beerman was in his second year of ministry when he got a call from a couple that was in their late 30’s at the time. The couple had no children and the couple desired having children. Pastor Beerman met them and had intercessory prayer for the couple.
Just 3 months later in the summer heat, Pastor Beerman is at a traffic light and stops next to a truck. The woman has her windows rolled down. The woman tells Stan that she is pregnant. The woman happens to be the woman he had prayed for 3 months earlier.
Another incident happened when Stan had a serious cold and was visiting an Idaho prison. One of the inmates prayed and one hour later, Stan was healed.
In Hebrews 11, Abraham believed. Faith is a relationship of trust that grows over time. We build our faith in our acts and behavior.
When we pray, it is what we believe in God’s character.
A pastor friend of Stan’s was a man named Doug. Doug had cancer. All of the elders had been in intercessory prayer for Doug. Doug died from the cancer.
In Mark 9:24, the father prays one of the most honest prayers in the Bible:
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
God’s character has to be cleared in our own minds. The boy was healed. The father prayed a desparate prayer.
God knows and likes to hear our prayers. Hope you have enjoyed reading the Honest Faith By Stan Beerman message.