Growing In Faith Series

Growing in Faith

Series: Daring Faith

Brad Bailey – September 23, 2018

Intro –

It’s a joy to welcome you into our official start of our fall venture which we are calling Daring Faith.

Last week was an introduction to our focus on faith.

By way of recapturing what we are engaging…lets take a moment to recapture what faith is.

What is Faith?

Let me offer this way to summarize what we engaging…and seeking to grow in.

“Faith is trusting in the larger reality of God’s purposes and power. It’s not avoiding what is at hand… it is daring to seek the larger God inspired potential… the intersection between the finite and infinite… and stepping into it.”

Faith is not simply optimism … or wishful thinking. As we were reminded last week… perhaps the most Biblical description is what is given in the Book of Hebrews.

Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It is speaks of what is hoped for…that is … longings. And human longings are correlated with something to something of substance. If we feel hunger…it’s because food exists. If we feel tired…it’s because sleep exists. Faith is the substance…the reality that lies within our longings. And it is evidence of things unseen. When we realize that there may be realm that created this realm…that supersedes this realm… not bound by this realm…we are living by faith.

Faith is seeing that there is more at work in any given situation.

It is seeing more. It’s not denying what we may face or feel…it is about realizing there is more at hand.

And we focused on how faith is the antidote to fear. Fear makes us presume that the potential at hand is smaller… faith presumes the potential at hand is larger.

And today…what we need to realize is that….

Faith is something which we can all gain and GROW in.

Faith may begin with a special moment… a moment we realize there may be more… but it is then something that can be developed. In other words… faith may begin with a moment we sense God’s divine presence… or we hear of God’s love in coming in Christ…and something in us says this is true…but the trust we have in that truth can grow. And it can grow in ALL of us.

This is really significant. Some of us really need to hear this. Some of us think we will never be able to have faith because we just don’t seem to have the same open disposition as others. Some of us may feel that we are too cautious… too given to doubt.

Here is the good news…we can all grow. As the Scriptures describe…

“Let your roots GROW down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so that you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous...” Colossians 2:7 (NLT)

We can all develop larger roots in God… and that connection to God grows and with it… our connection to the larger reality.

Trust is something that develops. Trust develops by exercising trust.

A muscle only gets stronger by stretching it. A muscle only gets stronger by developing it. A muscle only gets stronger by putting pressure on it, putting some weight on it. We’re going to put some weight on our spiritual muscles.

Let me list a few ways we can expect to grow through this venture and beyond…

1. We will grow beyond the bounds of the familiar

When we seek what God may have for us to fulfill in our lives… we are opening ourselves up to what may lie beyond the familiar.

While we may find comfort in the familiar…many of us know that we have become too settled in our lives. So we will grow beyond the bounds of the familiar.

That is why his venture is called “Daring Faith”…because it means confronting the power of familiarity. Familiarity is good…it’s a source of valuable comfort. But one can never expand unless we explore what is not familiar.

In this sense…Faith is spelled R-I-S-K. It is always stepping beyond what feels safe and certain.

2. We will grow deeper in power to endure hardship

When we grow deep roots… we develop the power to endure. As James, the brother of Jesus explained in he Bible…

“When your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you’ll be strong in character and ready for anything!”

James 1:3-4 (NLT)

None of us like the idea of “enduring”…but we all know that this world will bring opposition…life will bring some hard times. When we develop a connection to the bigger reality of God… and get through difficult times…we develop a stronger more centered life.