How
do I get my faith to grow?
A. Through
maintaining relationship with God
Reminder:
We don’t have real faith without
God. Current relationship with the Father is crucial.
You don’t have relationship without time
spent together – it’s true in families, it’s true in marriage, it’s true
with us and Jesus.
“dangling
relationships” or “relationships on hold” – Jerry, Lela
and Randall – not much contact, we pick up where left off . . .
However, when we aren’t in contact,
I’m not part of what is going on with them nor they with me. Likewise, when we
don’t spend time with our Father, we don’t know what He is doing, we’re not
part of it.
When we draw closer to God, fruit of faith grows. We draw closer
through:
1. prayer and
quiet listening time to hear His voice
2. reading
& meditating on His written word, affirming what we’ve heard or think we
have heard
3. spending
time in His creation – God speaks through His creation – Rom. chapter 1
Rom.
10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of
Christ.”
4.
through
fellowship with “believing believers”
a.
in
person
b.
via
video and audio tapes, on-line, on CDs, DVDs, TV
c.
by
reading books (including e-books)
I
love reading faith books or listening to/viewing faith teachings
Rom.
1:12 – “. . . that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each
other’s faith . . .”
All
of the above are God’s telephones to speak to us.
From
these forms of God’s words to us: 1.
We will feel His heart 2. We
will know His thoughts 3. We will discern His will
God
wants us to know His will and be involved in His work. Knowing what He thinks will inform
our prayers so that we will be praying in His will at any given time.
As we draw close to Him and enjoy Him
we will be changed so that:
1.
our desires will be reformed,
2.
our thinking will be transformed,
3.
our human nature will be conformed to
His image.
Luke 17:5-6 (NIV) “The
apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase
our faith!’ 6He replied, ‘If
you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree,
‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.’ “
It’s
not a question of more or less;
faith is a fruit of the indwelling
Spirit of Christ. It needs
opportunity to grow and ripen –to become Real
Faith.
B.
Faith grows in fertilized soil,
such as:
1.
Problems we can’t easily solve:
1 Peter 1:5-7
“. . . you, 5 who through faith are
shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be
revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now
for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth
than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor
when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Testing
is a part of the process of refining our faith and sometimes the closer we get
to the goal of real faith, the enemy works harder to discourage us and turn us
off the path that God is leading us on.
Acts 14:22 “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of
God.”
The school of faith is not for
cowards, or the weak-hearted. It’s not for wimps.
Pilgrims
Progress: Pilgrim goes on a journey to find the
Celestial City. He experienced obstacles on the whole journey, but it was when
he got near to the gate of that city that he experienced the greatest number of
dangers: including Doubting Castle and slumber. Many other pilgrims stopped
just short of the City and never entered in.
Reading of poem: “Beneath the Load”
2.
Investments of the faith we have – “measure of faith”
Parable
of the “talents” in
Mt. 25:13-30 – think faith instead of money
3.
Our willingness to step out and try something we can’t accomplish on our
own – sweetens the soil
2 Thes. 1:11 With
this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of
his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of
yours and every act prompted by your
faith.
Ships were made for use on the open sea: the church is not a
luxury liner, but a battleship. Its fuel
is faith.
4. Submission
to God’s will
Cheryl’s granddaughter – Sidney got hold of her dad’s cell
phone. He asked her to give it to him; she would reach out her hand as if to
return it, then pull it back. The process went on for several minutes. She is
such a cute kid, that it was entertaining to parent and grandparent.
God does not look at his children who
refuse to surrender to Him and say, “Isn’t that cute . . . “ He’s saying what
Jesus said to his disciples, “Why are you so slow to learn?”
We
need to stop excusing our lack of obedience and lack of surrender. God is not going to give us what we
want because we get mad at Him and kick our feet. We
need to choose to trust Him – He does not have to earn our trust. That’s what makes Him God and us not.
He doesn’t dare to respond to our
requests when we’re in rebellion.
and some of us are so fickle – one minute in the Spirit, the next
minute in the flesh.
He
wants us to stay in the Spirit, dependent on Him:
“. . . Christ, who is your life. . .” (Col.3:4), grants us His
faith as we are obedient and surrendered to Him.
2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power
has given us everything we need for
life and godliness through our knowledge of him . . . “
Illus:
Faithful servant
– reading of the will: “my faithful servant, Jacob, can have any one thing he
asked for from my entire estate. The rest goes to my only son.” Attorney: “What one thing will you ask for,
Jacob?” Jacob thought for only a moment,
then answered: “I’ll take the son.”
Because the son had everything that had been his father’s.
C. The
side- effects of faith
Faith
will produce in us:
1.
Salvation –
Eph. 2:8-9 8
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and
this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by
works, so that no one can boast.
2.
Righteousness
(right living) –
Rom. 1:17 For
in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is
by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The
righteous will live by faith.”
3.
The
ability to stand firm
–
2 Cor. 1:24 “Not that we lord it over your faith,
but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.”
4.
Answered
prayer –
James 5:15 “And
the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord
will raise him up.”
5.
Freedom and confidence:
Eph. 3:12 “In
him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and
confidence.
6.
A
dwelling place (comfortable home) for Christ: Eph. 3:16-17 “I
pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through
his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may
dwell in your hearts through faith.”
“Lord, make yourself at
home. . .” “I can’t because there is no
faith here.”
7.
A
shield from the enemy
–
Eph. 6:16 “ In addition to all this, take up the
shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of
the evil one.”
1 Peter 1:5 “ .
. . who through faith are shielded by God’s power . . .”
8.
A
connection to God’s resurrection power –
Col. 2:12 “ . . . having
been buried with him [Christ] in
baptism and raised with him through
your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”
9.
Works – 1 Thess. 1:3 “We continually remember before our
God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love,
and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
10.
Healings – James 5:15 “And
the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise
him up.”
11. Power to overcome the world – 1 John 5:4 ” . . . for
everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has
overcome the world, even our faith.”
D. Miscellaneous
faith facts
1.
A cargo of Sin causes a ship-wreck of
Faith –
1 Tim. 1:18-19 Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction
in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them
you may fight the good fight, 19 holding on to faith and a good
conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.
2.
We’re need to pursue faith – 2 Tim. 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with
those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
3.
Disciples must learn to live by faith – Heb. 10:38 “But my righteous one
will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.”
4.
Faith will be tested – James 1:2-4 “Consider
it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3
because you know that the testing of your faith develops
perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be
mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Are you satisfied with your level of
faith? I’m not. I’d like for 1 Thess 1:8 to be true of me: “The Lord’s message
rant out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia – your faith in God has
become known everywhere.
I want Real Faith:
1.
Faith that operates in love;
2.
Faith that “knows”, not just hopes;
3.
Faith that hears the voice of God
whispering,” turn left, turn right”;
4.
Faith that sees miraculous answers
to prayer for the glory of God;
5.
Faith that is tenacious and
steadfast;
6.
Faith that says, “I will not let you
go until you bless me.”