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Grace Emmanuel Church
Pastor Sam Chess
THE POWER OF FAITH
(Five Reasons You Must Have Faith)
Faith… what is it, who needs, it, who can have
it, who doesn’t have it, why not??? We’ve been working on this
subject for 5 weeks. I was thinking back this week about all the
teaching on faith that I’ve heard in my lifetime and so often the
subject was:
Five reasons you must have faith…
Six reasons your life will suffer if you don’t have
faith.
Three ways to endure when you faith is tested
Examples of people who had faith.
Ok… that’s all good.. but somebody tell me
how to get faith, how to grow faith, how and
when to exercise faith!
I’ve preached on this subject many times over the
years and pretty much followed the same format. Why you must have
faith, what happens if you don’t, examples of who’s had it… how it is
tested. What’s a bit different about this series, I hope, is that I’m
trying to be honest about what it takes to grow faith, beyond your
mind…… and right down into your heart, so that when you need faith,
you’re not reaching out into thin air trying to find what you don’t
have… it’s has become part of who you are!
There is always somebody out there who will make
you feel guilty by telling you that if you had enough faith your aunt
Gertrude would not have gotten sick and died. Not only do you have to
carry around the guilt of knowing that your lack of spirituality was
solely responsible for Aunt Gertrude leaving this world… but, often,
they forget to tell you how you could have had the faith to believe
that in the first place.
I’ve got something new for you here today, it’s
fresh…. I just learned it, myself, as I was preparing for this sermon
this week. Before I jump into that, let me refresh your memories with
a little background.
I. What is faith?
1) Now faith is the __________ of things hoped
for, the ___________ of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
1) Now faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
2) Faith is the confident assurance that what we
hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot
yet see. (NIV)
3) Faith is catching a glimpse over the hill of
what is… and grasping a picture in our spiritual mind of what God
wants to be!
4) Faith brings into our mind and our heart the
assurance of what is not as if it already were!
5) Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and
gives us proof of what we cannot see. (CEV)
I. Steps to the Prayer of Faith
A) Step one: Desire
_______________________________________________
B) Step two: Determine___________________________________________
C) Step three: Ask________________________________________________
D) Step four: Receive_____________________________________________
Mark 11:22-24 "Have faith in God," Jesus
answered. 23"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain,
'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart
but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for
him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer,
believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Most of us aren’t so interested in moving around
mountains as we are how we are going to pay our bills next week, how to
deal with the disease we, or a family member are fighting, or how to
find the direction for the next stage of our lives. You understand, I’m
sure, that Jesus was using hyperbole (exaggeration) for the sake of
emphasis. He was probably pointing to an actual mountain as he said it
but he was talking about your mountains…. The things in your
life that are mountains to you…..
I found another example, from the mouth of Jesus,
that you might relate to even better:
Luke 17:5-6 And the apostles said to the
Lord, “Increase our faith.” ("We need
more faith; tell us how to get it.") 6 So the Lord said, “If
you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry
tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it
would obey you.
What did he mean by that? I’m not so focused on
pulling up the mulberry tree here as I am on “mustard seed” faith.
Jesus really got in to the seed analogy…he used it a lot. Modern
versions say that Jesus was referring to the fact the mustard seed
was so tiny and Jesus was saying that if you have, even, tiny faith
you can do huge things… I’m not sure that is totally accurate.
Jesus focus tended to be, not on the tiny-ness of the seed, but on
what a tiny seed can grow into. The last thing Jesus ever wanted to
do was to leave the impression that there was anything good about
tiny faith.
When the disciples asked for their faith to be
expanded Jesus put a picture in their mind of a tiny seed being put
into the ground, coming up as a sprout, eventually, over time,
growing into a huge tree. He didn’t use that illustration by
accident… it’s a perfect illustration of what is supposed to happen
to our faith. Seed, sprout, little plant, bigger plant, with enough
time, and stretching, and blowing wind, and people trying to yank
us up by the roots, and trying to saw off our limbs, our faith
becomes so big, and so strong, that it is more powerful than most
of the elements around it. Watch this:
Mark 4:30-32 Again he
said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what
parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed,
which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32 Yet when
planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants,
with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its
shade." (NIV)
I don’t wasn’t you to lose sight of the fact the
mustard seed thing is Jesus direct response to the disciples request;
Increase our faith.” ("We need more faith; please tell us how to get
it.")
In fact I’m going to suggest, to you today, that the
seed analogy is, perhaps, the best way for us to understand our
whole “growth in faith” journey.
Picture Jesus sitting in some quiet, out of the way
place, teaching his disciples the real realities about spiritual
growth. What lengthy analogy does he use? You guessed it…. the seed
thing”….let me read most of his side of the conversation that day and
then we will discuss it:
Mark 4:3-20 "Listen! A farmer went out to plant
some seed. 4 As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on
a footpath, and the birds came and ate it. 5 Other seed fell on
shallow soil with underlying rock. The plant sprang up quickly, 6
but it soon wilted beneath the hot sun and died because the roots
had no nourishment in the shallow soil. 7 Other seed fell among
thorns that shot up and choked out the tender blades so that it
produced no grain. 8 Still other seed fell on fertile soil and
produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as
much as had been planted." Then he said, 9"Anyone who is willing to
hear should listen and understand!" (NLT)
10 Later, when Jesus was alone with the twelve
disciples and with the others who were gathered around, they asked
him, "What do your stories mean?" 14 The farmer I talked about is
the one who brings God’s Word to others. (14
The sower sows the Word) 15 The seed that fell on the hard
path represents those who hear the Word, but then Satan
comes at once and takes it away from them. 16 The rocky soil
represents those who hear the message and receive it with joy. 17
But like young plants in such soil, their roots don't go very deep.
At first they get along fine, but they wilt as soon as they have
problems or are persecuted because they believe the word. 18 The
thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the Good News,
19 but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares of
this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for nice things, so
no crop is produced. 20 But the good soil represents those who hear
and accept God's message and produce a huge harvest--thirty, sixty,
or even a hundred times as much as had been planted." (NLT)
We often stop reading here but that’s not the end of
Jesus teaching on seeds that day… in fact, it is not the section where
I want to spend the rest of this sermon. We pay much less attention to
what he says next but it is vitally important:
Mark 4:26-32 He also said, "This is what the
kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night
and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows,
though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces
grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the
head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it,
because the harvest has come." ………..30 Again he said, "What shall
we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to
describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest
seed you plant in the ground. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and
becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches
that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."
III. A New look at Faith
Let me try to put this together in an understandable
package. In this Mark 4 passage Jesus says the seed planting thing is a
matter of planting the Word. Unfortunately lots of Word gets planted
but only some (25%) of the Word that get planted actually grows into
spiritual life. Because you know more of the Bible than just this
chapter and because you have listened to other sermons in this series;
You know that when the word gets planted what
sprouts…. Is our faith!
How do we know that? The Bible tells us so!
Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
I’ve explained this to you, understanding it is
important to what I’m going to show you next Faith comes when the Word
is planted… but just because the Word is planted doesn’t mean it is
going to get a chance to grow. Romans says that we must hear, really
hear what God is saying to us…. Once we really begin to hear God… his
Word becomes “Rhema” (a different greek word for Word) Mark 4 says the
Word (Logos) is planted in the life of everyone. Romans 10 says in
order for it to sprout into faith the planted seed has to become
something more in us than dead seed. It has to move from words on a
page to truth we own in our heart. The more we truly hear God, the more
sure we become of where god is leading our lives. His truth, comes
alive in us… and the plans of his mind and heart begin to become the
plans of our mind and heart.
Hopefully, we all understand the theory part of the
growing of faith. But we can understand, in theory, what God is wanting
to grow in us and how he wants to do it, but when it comes down to
practice we start tripping all over ourselves. Let’s work on this:
Think about the issue that is most worrisome to you
right now and your prayer for God to show you His truth, as your seed
of faith being planted in the ground.
We all, probably have done that this week, we
come before God with our impossible needs,
Desire + Determine + Asking (working on the
receiving part)
(believing that your prayer has reached God
and He is going to answer even though your circumstances have
not yet changed.)
All of us are probably sitting here today with some
faith seeds planted in the ground.
Mark 4 gives us the sequence of how this process is
supposed to unfold.
Mark 4:26-32 He also said, "This is what the
kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground.
As soon as the seed is planted what happens next ?
________________
When a farmer plants a seed does he walk out the
next day and look for it to be growing? Of course not. When we plant
our seed of faith, do we walk out the next day and look for it to have
sprouted, Yes!! Yes we do! Most every time!
How many times do we get so concerned, after a
few days, that our seed of faith has not sprouted that we dig up
the seed to see if it is O.K.
The process of digging up your seed of faith is
called…….. worry!
How can I know the seed is OK if I don’t check on
it? About how often does a seed grow when you dig it up every day and
check it? We’ve, probably, all dug up some of our faith seeds until
they’ve shriveled into nothingness. If you are grabbing hold of God’s
truth and believing him, in faith, for some impossible situation in
your life, and you’ve planted your faith in His Word, your next step in
to do nothing! Wait…..Rest!
Mark 4:7 Night and day, whether he sleeps or
gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the
head, then the full kernel in the head.
Obviously, it’s when the seed is sitting in the
ground, you can’t tell what is going on with it, that the evil one…
the enemy of this whole faith process in you is going to harass you
the most. But even that is not outside of God’s plan.
James 1:2-4 Dear brothers and sisters,
whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for
joy. 3 For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a
chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is
fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for
anything.
Notice how careful Jesus is to include the stages of
growth…
Mark 4:7 Night and day, whether he sleeps or
gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know
how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the
stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the
head.
Mark 4:29 As soon as the grain is ripe,
he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."
. The steps to faith, the involve opposition, the
temptation is ever present for us to de-rail the progress. Honestly how
many of us have waited for the seed to sprout… and then picked the
sprout before the faith fully developed.
Remember when God helped us to miraculously buy
our piece of land; cash… If we had, then, gone to the bank and
borrowed money to build the building, we would have picked the
sprout before if had a chance to develop into full kernels of
faith!
How many times have I done that in my own life.
Jim McKeegan has warned us from time to time not to accept the
first possibility that comes along because it could very well be an
Ishmael instead of an Isaac.
If you constantly dig up your seed you will
largely miss the life of faith God has planned for you.
If you pick the ears of faith in your life when
they are green, you may, still bypass the bulk of God’s plan for
your life.
What is the main ingredient in our lives that keeps
us from resting in God until he fulfills the greatness of his
plan in us?
Fear!
The opposite of faith is fear.
Actually fear is faith… opposite of what
we are supposed to be trusting in.
1 John 5:4 for everyone born of God overcomes the
world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even
our faith (NIV)
1 John 2:5 But whoever keeps His word,
truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know
that we are in Him (NKJV)
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,
because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been
made perfect in love.
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