Part 6 Growing Faith Series

FAITH

PART 6 – Growing Faith

First Baptist Church of Tawas City Michigan

Rev. Bruce A. Shields – 11-27-2005

www.tawasbaptist.org

WELCOME

• Visitors (Visitor Cards & Prayer Request Cards in pews)

• The Teen Youth will be having a special offering at the end of the service today to help raise money for the Christmas Drive this year for single mothers.

• Also, the 4 ½ pound one of a kind chocolate snowman is downstairs, put your donations with your name into the can and whoever donates the most for the Teen Youth Group will receive the snowman.

• There IS a Teen Youth meeting after the service today.

• If someone feels lead to head up the 12 and under group please see me so we can get that started as well.

SCRIPTURE READING

Genesis 12:6-10

“6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring [a] I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. 9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.”

PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT

Last week we talked about the first step in receiving the type of faith the scriptures say can move mountains.

That first step being to trust that the word of God WILL do what God says it will do.

We talked about Noah trusting in God’s word and acting on it in faith.

Abram, the man God chose to begin the great nation of Israel, trusted in God’s word as well.

We, like Noah and Abram, are called by God.

And like Noah and Abram, God’s call on our life is not about us, God’s call requires us to make sacrifices, God’s call comes with promises, and it requires us to step out on blind faith, trusting only the word of God.

Let’s refresh ourselves on the biblical definition of faith:

Hebrews 11:1

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

When Abram “went forth as the Lord had spoken to him…” he did so in faith.

He did not know where he was going, he went because God said so.

This began his journey with God. This began the process of Abram becoming a great man of God, known through the ages as a man of great faith. So how did this come to pass?

We all, like Abram, begin our walk with God by faith.

“By grace you have been saved through faith.”

What I want us to see, through the life of Abram, are the various stages of faith. We go through stages in our faith. Today we are going to examine a growing faith.

Having a growing faith means:

I. We Go Deeper.

A. Deeper in what?

B. Abram moved deeper into the land God wanted to show him. Deeper into what God had called him to.

1. Abram did not just go to the border, cross over it and say “I’ve made it.” Pour the slab, get the bricks, build the house, we are here.

No, he went deeper.

2. Vs. 6 “And Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh.”

C. I don’t believe we are meant to stay on the fringe of faith. I don’t think God desires us to stay on the outskirts of the abundant life. We need to be willing to go deeper into our walk with Christ. Deeper into where He has called us.

Hebrews 6:1

“Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…”

2. Paul wrote in I Corinthians in 3:1-4

“1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?”

Paul had a problem with the behavior of the body of Christ in Corinth because they were more focused on the man giving the message than the message of Christ.