Practical Biblical Teaching Series

Five Things God Uses To GROW Your Faith

Part 2: Practical Biblical Teaching

Matthew 7:24-29

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Dr. Randy Deal, Executive Pastor, Rock Point Church

GOD USES FIVE THINGS TO GROW OUR FAITH:

1. Practical teaching

2. Providential relationships

3. Private (spiritual) disciplines

4. Pivotal circumstances

5. Personal ministry

Practical Biblical Teaching…shows us where we ARE and where we need to GO!

THE PARABLE OF THE WISE BUILDER VS. THE FOOLISH BUILDER

Matthew 7:24-29 (NIV) "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does NOT put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

1. LISTEN to Jesus!

2. DO what He says!

Matthew 5:19, John 13:17, James 1:22

3. STORMS WILL come!

Job 14:1

4. Storms test our FOUNDATION!

Isaiah 59:19, 1 Peter 5:8b, Revelation 12:15

Ephesians 4:14

5. Our foundation is The ROCK!

Luke 6:46, John 14:15

1 Corinthians 3:11

The Bible can save your life!

Psalm 119:105, Psalm 119:130, Hebrews 4:12, 2 Timothy 3:16

Five Things God Uses To GROW Your Faith

Part 2: Practical Biblical Teaching

Matthew 7:24-29

Dr. Randy Deal

Mountain View Family Church

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Video: Baby Got Book (4:25)

Funny! Very funny! But as we will come to understand today, it’s not the SIZE of your BIBLE that matters, it’s the SIZE of your FAITH because you put the Bible into practice! When our OBEDIENCE, our acts of FAITH, intersect with God’s faithfulness, God shows up and our faith gets bigger! Stronger! BIG FAITH comes when we APPLY God’s Word in our lives, not just HEAR it or BEIEVE it.

See…It’s one thing to believe in the benefits of EXERCISE and another thing to actually exercise! It’s one thing to believe in good NUTRITION and another thing to eat healthy. (Yes...I had to go there! )

Many churches are content to teach us what to BELIEVE. And if we BELIEVE, that’s enough! But people with BIG FAITH are people who are living it out! And they started living it out when someone challenged them with the Scriptures, with the Teachings of Jesus Christ, with God’s Word! Can’t just BELIEVE it…gotta DO something about it!

Last week, Pastor Rick opened this series with very thought provoking questions. He shared that in tough times, our TRUST often turns into DOUBT! He asked…

1. What would it be like if we had COMPLETE TRUST in God?

2. What if God really existed and we had BIG FAITH in Him? BIG FAITH that honors Him!

3. What if we were ABSOLUTELY CONFIDENT that God was WITH us? That He was FOR us NOT AGAINST us?

4. What if we were ABSOLUTELY CONFIDENT that EVERYTHING that came our way was part of God’s divine plan, and that someday we’dd look back and see how it all fit together?

5. What would happen to our stress? Our fears? Our illnesses? Our budgets?

6. What if we were COMPLETELY CONFIDENT that God REALLY did have our best interests in mind when he gave us his Word to live by?

7. What if when faced with temptation, we immediately went into a mode of: God, I trust you to get me through this—and then we leaned hard and walked away?

8. What if we lived with the BIG FAITH that God was WITH us and FOR us and working THROUGH us…NO MATTER OUR CIRCUMSTANCES?

9. What if we began TRUSTING God again, with BIG, BIG FAITH, and entered into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ?

10. What if our lives GLORIFIED GOD because we truly lived in active, death defying, out-of-the-box, OVER-THE-TOP FAITH and TRUST in Almighty God?

11. What would THAT look like?

How many of us live like THAT? How many of us know someone like THAT? Who wants to be them?  See…Christians…Believers…who have fully embraced a BIG FAITH like THAT…are AMAZING people of God! And when you hear their stories, when you hear their spiritual journeys, when you listen to them testify about how God has SHOWN UP AND SHOWED OFF in their lives…five things emerge:

As Pastor Rick previewed last Sunday (if not here, please go listen online!)