Growing In Faith

Transcript

Rob McFarlane: 0:59

The title of my sermon today is Growing in Faith. Let's read 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 3 from the English Standard Version of the Bible. We ought to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Here we see the church in Thessalonica being commended for their growing faith. For our faith to keep growing, it must experience four things. Faith must be inspired by God's word. Faith must be confessed with the mouth. Faith must be worked out in action, and faith must be tested by trials. We're going to look at these four things together. So number one, faith must be inspired by God's Word. Romans chapter 10, verse 17 in the New International Version says, consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. Faith comes and grows when we understand God's will. This happens as we hear God's word and we discover what His will, His purpose, and His plan for our lives is. If we don't know what His will is through His Word, then our faith is resting on our feelings or what we can see or our past experiences. But when our faith is based on the truth of His Word, His great and precious promises, it's on a firm foundation. When there's a faith deficit in our lives, it's the result of a word or Bible deficit in our lives. If we increase our time in the Word of God and we meditate on His Word, then our faith will begin to grow and increase. Let me give you an example from my life. In my first year of ministry, I was involved in an itinerant ministry. I was traveling around southern Africa, and each night almost I was sleeping in a different bed constantly on the move. And during this time, as a young man, I lost my inner peace. So what I did is I got promises in the Bible concerning the peace of God, and God's peace is a promise to us, and I began to meditate upon them. I thought about them, I mused over them, I memorized them, and as I spent time in His Word and in His promises concerning peace, I began to experience His peace in my life. That peace that passes understanding. And there's so many wonderful promises about peace in the Bible. Whatever you are facing as a challenge in your life, I encourage you to do what I did. Get Bible promises concerning that area and begin to build your faith. As you begin to recognize and realize God's plan, His purpose, His will for your life, and you begin to feed on those promises related to that particular subject or experience, you will grow in your faith. So we've seen number one that faith is inspired by God's word. Number two, faith must be confessed. The Greek word that is translated confess or confession means to say the same as. Nevertheless, it cannot be avoided. Our faith must be tested. Someone once said that faith that has not been tested cannot be trusted. Let's look at two portions of scripture together. The first is James chapter 1, verse 2 to 4, reading from the English Standard Version. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith, notice that, the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Our faith will be tested, and we can rejoice in the testing of our faith, because the testing of our faith produces steadfastness and maturity in our lives. It says, In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. So that, what's the purpose of these trials? So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it's tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. We see in these verses a metaphor painted, a picture painted, a comparison, an analogy between the testing of our faith and the refining of gold. Gold is purified through intense heat to remove the impurities. In the same way, our faith is proved genuine as it's tested through tests and trials and temptations. It's important for us to recognize that when trouble comes into our lives, it's an opportunity for us to grow in our faith. Faith that has not been tested cannot be trusted. Jesus was baptized in Luke chapter 3, and a voice from heaven proclaimed, the Father spoke out in an audible voice, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Then in Luke chapter 4, Jesus was tempted by the devil. And in those temptations, the devil says, If you are the Son of God, I want to encourage you today. That when God gives you a word, perhaps a prophetic word or a word of encouragement through the scriptures, it will be tested. What has God said to you? Well, tests, trials, and temptations are sure to follow. But God wants you to overcome the test so that you receive the crown of life, so that you grow in your faith, so that your faith, tested through the intensity of the tests, the trials, and the temptations, is proved genuine. So today we've seen for our faith to keep growing, it must experience four things. It must be inspired by God's word. Our faith must be confessed with our mouths. Faith must be worked out in actions, and faith must be tested by trials. Let's pray. And as we do, let's ask the Holy Spirit to show us what He wants us to do as a result of what we've heard in today's sermon. What adjustments do we need to make? Let's pray. Father God, thank you. That you want us to have a precious faith. And you want us to grow in our faith. And thank you that faith comes by hearing your word. Faith begins where your will is known. Thank you, Lord, that faith is something that we need to speak with our mouths, something that we need to put into practice, and faith will be tested through tests and trials. I pray that you would help us, Lord, to speak your promises over our lives. I ask that you would help us, Lord, to put your word into practice. And Lord, when we face tests and trials, help us to stay true to your word, to stay on course and not go to the left or the right, but to stay faithful so that your faith can be developed in us of greater worth than gold. We ask these things. Holy Spirit, please speak to us and show us what adjustments you want us to make in our lives, whether it's the words that come from our mouths, or whether it's the actions that we take, or whether it's to stay steady through the test and trial. Speak to us now, Holy Spirit. We ask. We thank you for this today. In Jesus' name. Amen.