Increasing Your Faith Series

INCREASING YOUR FAITH

INTRODUCTION

1. Beloved, Praise the name of Jesus. I am so thankful to all that my Great God is doing in my life. “I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of praise.”

2. Are you feeling weak and disillusioned. Does it feel like the bottom has fallen out of your world. Are you constantly struggling, and never overcoming. Do you ever wonder why you continue?

3. Beloved, yes these are problems that are encountered in the flesh, but we do not have to worry about that, or do we? NO WE DON’T, RO 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

4. I am not under condemnation, I am free from the law of sin and death. GAL 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

5. The problem however, is that I find sometimes that my faith is not as focused and strong as it should be. Like the apostles I cry out, LK 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

6. Beloved, one of the disciplines that I need to focus and work on. Possibly the most important discipline, is increasing my faith. Without faith, I am not able to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Without faith, I am dead. The whole of Christianity, in my relation to God, revolves around my faith. Faith is a definite Christian KEY.

7. I don’t know why it is so hard to have real faith in action when it comes to my God. Because….

I. GOD IS TRUSTWORTHY

A. God Is Faithful And Trustworthy

1. Whatever God says, He will do. It will happen. 2TI 2:11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; 13 if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

2. In the last sermon, we saw that God is bound to always tell the truth, always do what is right, always be holy and righteous. Like the movie “Chronicles of Narnia” we see that there is a higher magic, but it is not magic, it is the holiness of God. He cannot and will not sin, and for Him to not keep his word, that would be sin.

3. REV 4:8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

4. If God said it, it will surely happen. Here is a truth you can bet on. If you are in Christ, then you shall see God, and if you are not in Christ, then you shall surely be eternally separated from God. God has to keep His word, and so it is not God’s choice, where you go, it is yours.

5. Peter gives us this admonition. 1PE 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

B. God Is Love.

1. God’s whole personality is love, which manifests itself in a giving nature. Consider for a moment, whether any of you have a right to even be alive. Who made you, planned you, gave you air to breathe, an earth to live on, food to eat, health to work your job, time to play when you want to. It was all given to us by God. Now what do we bring to the table in this deal. NOTHING! I cannot repay God for what He has done for me, everything I have, He created by just speaking it into existence. In reality, I am about as useful to God as a flea on the back of a dog, constantly causing irritation and actually a parasite, totally dependent upon my host.