Living Faith
A. Explain Series
1. 1 Corinthians 13:13 – And now these three remain:
faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these
is love.
2. Over the next couple of weeks we are going to be
talking about each one of these three virtues. We
are going to try to increase your faith, give you
a better hope, and enrich your love for one
another.
3. Why are we doing this?
a. Because these are the basics, these are what
are beliefs are made of. Sometimes we tend to
stray away from the basics. When we study
scripture, we make it to difficult and look for
a deep theological meaning when in all reality,
all we need is to accept it unconditionally and
have the faith of a child.
4. Today I want to talk to you about Faith. What it
means to have faith and to live by faith. We are
going to discuss three main things today: we are
going to talk about the kind of faith you need to
enter the kingdom of heaven, we are going to give
you some examples of Faithful Servants, and we are
going to discuss ways to Strengthen Your Faith
B. Faith of a Child
1. Illustration of Sally giving all her money to a
doctor to save her little brother.
2. The faith of a child, what a wonderful thing.
a. In Matthew 18:2-4 – He called a little child
and had him stand among them. And he said: “I
tell you the truth, unless you change and become
like little children, you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles
himself like this child is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven.
3. Why does Jesus say this?
a. Let’s think about that for a minute and I want
you to think back to your childhood days.
b. When you are a kid, you have no worries.
1. You don’t have to worry about where your next
meal is coming from.
2. You don’t have to worry about paying bills,
loans, or car insurance.
3. You just don’t have the worries of this world.
4. Really the only thing that you worry about is
being able to get hoime from school in time to
play outside before it gets to dark.
4. You have no worries because you know you are
being taken care of by your parents, your mother
and your father.
a. You know that if you break the rules that you
will get punished.
b. You know that if you obey the rules then you
will be rewarded.
c. You know that your parents will do everything
they can to protect you b/c they love you
unconditionally.
5. In the faith of a child:
a. They accept what their father tells them b/c
they know that he loves them unconditionally and
would never hurt them.
b. They have not experienced right or wrong yet so
they just accept the teaching b/c they trust
their father.
6. Do you see where I am going with this?
a. Do you see why Jesus wants us to be like
children.
b. Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is being sure of what
we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
7. Jesus wants us to have this kind of faith, the
faith of a child, so that we will be able to
accept Him unconditionally. He wants us to believe
in that which we cannot see and to be certain of
what we hope for.
C. Examples of Faithful Servants
1. Hebrews 11:4-31
2. Hebrews Ch.11 is known as God’s Hall of Fame.
3. We were given many examples of faithful servants
so that we could learn and see what it means to
have faith.
4. Faith is a scary thing b/c it is taking a chance
on that which you cannot see, it is trusting your
gut feeling, and it is leaving your comfort zone.
5. Abraham – scared to leave his family and friends.
- sacrifice his one and only son.
6. Moses – to go back to Egypt after killing someone.
7. Israelites – When they passed through the Red Sea.
8. But something inside them put them at peace. They
could not see Him but they knew their was a God,
they could just feel it all over.
D. Ways to Strengthen Your Faith
1. First, you must read God’s word and become
familiar with it.
a. 2 Timothy 3:16 – All scripture is God breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting
and training in righteousness.
2. Second, you must pray unceasingly for you, your
family, and those around you.
a. 1 Thes. 5:17-18 – Pray without ceasing. In
everything give thanks for this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
b. 1 Timothy 2:1 – I urge, then, first of all,
that requests, prayers, intercession and
thanksgiving be made for everyone…
3. Third, You must listen.
a. Romans 10:17 – Consequently, faith comes from
hearing the message, and the message is heard
through the word of Christ.
4. Finally, you must test yourself.
a. 2 Corinthians 13:5 – Examine yourselves to see
whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.
Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you-
unless, of course, you fail the test?
b. James 1:3 – because you know that the testing
of your faith develops perseverance.
E. Conclusion
1. Matthew 17:20 – He replied, “Because you have so
little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have
faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to
this mountain, “Move from here to there’ and it
will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
2. If you have faith then all things and there is
not a single thing that you cannot do.
