January 9 2011 Building Your Faith
/Building your Faith
(Matthew 9:29 - Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you")
(Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.)
(Luke 17:5 - The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!")
I. How Does God build my faith?
By testings
(James 1:3 - because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.)
(Job 7:17-18 - "What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, that you examine him every morning and test him every moment?")
II. How does God test our faith?
1. God tests our faith through difficulties
(1 Peter 1:6-7 - In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.)
(Isaiah 48:10 - See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.)
(James 1:2-3 - Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.)
LESSON: To live by faith, I must learn to rejoice
2. God tests our faith through demands
(Exodus 16:4 - Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.)
(Hebrews 11:8 - By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.)
(Hebrews 11:7 - By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.)
LESSON: To live by faith, I must learn to obey God quickly.
3. God tests our faith through delay
(Deuteronomy 8:2 - Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.)
(Isaiah 64:4 - Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.)
LESSON: To live by faith, I must learn to wait patiently
