"7 Steps to Stronger Faith" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

morning seven steps to stronger faith we're going to get right to it this is one of the most important things i think that we could talk about because faith is essential in being saved now when i went to uh school i loved history i didn't do so well in in spelling or english or math or just about every other subject but i did okay in history because i just was fascinated with the story of history or the stories and one of the stories that always fascinated me was the story of hannibal the carthaginian i actually went to carthage when i was 16 years old and on a sailboat and hannibal took an army well let me give you the back story first what made it incredible the carthaginians north africa were at war with the the rising roman power there in italy and hannibal who is a very wise general he knew that he could not just cross the mediterranean and attack the boot of italy like everyone had done all their forces were amassed there and one of the most important elements in a battle is the element of surprise and he thought you know they're not going to be guarding their northern border because the italian alps are up there and they're just never going to be expecting an attack from there so i'm going to land my army in spain and we will march up through the pyrenees mountains we will march through the alps and we will cross those mountains and attack from the north that was a pretty outrageous plan because his army consisted of uh 38 000 infantry 8 000 calvary and 38 elephants african war elephants now i just i just think uh and by the way he did it he landed in spain he marched this army he managed to the supply line the organization if you talk to military experts they'll tell you that some of the greatest generals in history julius caesar alexander the great and hannibal and hannibal was considered the father of military strategy i won't take that very far but the thing i thought was amazing is that it's pretty hard to cross the alps but to do it with elephants and i always just pictured these um quiet little alpine italian villages where they're out there you know they're taking care of their farms and their little herbs and their tulips or whatever they did and all of a sudden they heard the trumpet of an elephant and they saw an army of elephants come marching through the alpines must've been something but he managed to do it he was able to overcome the mountains which made me think about that statement of jesus in matthew 17 verse 20 assuredly i say to you if you have faith as a mustard seed you'll say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you if you have faith do you have faith do you have enough faith faith is the central most crucial element in our salvation the bible tells us without faith in hebrews 11 6 without faith it is impossible to please him for he who comes to god must believe that he is and he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him faith can become can be achieved by diligently seeking after him but you must come in faith you think about it and there were two people straddling jesus on the cross two thieves one on the right one on the left bible is very clear that one called out for salvation and he was saved the other called out and he is not saved the difference between the two thieves is one thief began his prayer with if he didn't have faith he said if you are the son of god save yourself and us jesus had no promise of salvation for him the other one said lord save me when you come into your kingdom it was a prayer of faith he will be saved two kinds of people saved and lost two kinds of prayers a prayer of faith and one that lacks faith a father once came to jesus and his son was harassed by some devil that cast him in the fire one day and in the water the other day he was always getting nearly burned or nearly drowned and two opposite extremes and he said lord i brought him to your apostles and they tried to cast out the devil and they couldn't do it if you can do anything and jesus said wait a second he said if you believe all things are possible you can't come to jesus with an if you might say but you know i tried these other religious leaders i tried these other prayers he had been to the apostles and they couldn't do it you look back on your failed prayers and your failed efforts searching after god and and if you lose faith you can't make it you've got to have faith it's crucial ephesians 2 8 by grace you are saved through faith and jesus asks the question when the son of man comes you know what he says will he find faith in the world for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever has faith in him that's what believeth means whoever has faith in him will not perish but have everlasting life so do you have faith do you have enough faith would you like more faith we need more faith to get through the mountains that will be ahead of us in life don't be discouraged if you think oh you know my faith is small is there any hope for me how many of you believe the apostles will be in heaven do you know how often jesus said to them oh ye of little faith so something must have happened to the apostles along the way where their faith grew let me just remind you of that matthew 8 in the storm at sea he said to them why are you fearful you of little faith and he arose and rebuked the wind and the sea and thank god he sometimes answers our prayers in spite of our little faith and he then again said if god clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow thrown in the heaven will he not much more clothe you o ye of little faith jesus often had to talk to his disciples about having faith that was too small he says have faith in god believe in god so this is crucial now you may also want to remember matthew 13 58 when jesus went to his hometown the bible says he did very few miracles you know why because they didn't have faith because of their unbelief he did not do many mighty works there very simple more faith more mighty works little faith little mighty works if you want to see more of the power of god in your life we need more faith so that just introduces the seven steps this won't be long it's not going to be hard well i say that sometimes i don't keep my promise but shouldn't be long step number one the word everything else we're going to read about the other steps is based in the word so i thought i'd start with the word but if you want more faith you need to spend time in the word here's the promise romans 10 17 so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god you maybe heard about this blind man named bartomius and he heard that jesus was coming by and so he called out son of david have mercy on me and the crowd told him be quiet but he would not be quiet he called even more son of david have mercy on me now it's interesting that jesus had just come away from the religious leaders that didn't really believe jesus was the messiah but this blind man even though he can't see he believes the word that he hears and he says that's the son of david and so he's brought to jesus not based on what he sees he's brought to jesus based on what he hears and christ is able to open his eyes acts 20 verse 32 so now brethren i commend to you god and the word of his grace that is able to build you up what can the word do for us you can build up your faith through the word build you up and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified the bible says we are sanctified by faith in christ the word can build us up you know how sin entered the world what's the first question in the bible hath god said the first question is the devil questioning the word of god doubting the word he was trying to plant that doubt in the minds of our first parents and so sin into the world through a lack of faith in god's word the more faith we have in god's word god's word will keep you from sin our sin will keep you from god's word that's kind of how it works you read it you'll be convicted you'll either change your behavior you'll stop reading it kind of like the man who really enjoyed rice and then one day he got a microscope and he looked at his rice under a microscope and he saw that that rice was crawling with all kinds of very small bacteria i'd say he didn't know what to do so he broke the microscope because he liked his rice people who are convicted by the word either need to give up their sin or they start giving up the word by the way it's also true with church church will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from church so we need to read the word jesus said matthew 4 4 man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of god and solomon probably repeating the words of david to him and proverbs 4 20 he said my son give attention to my words incline your ear to my sayings do not let them depart from your eyes keep them in the midst of your heart for they are life to those who find them and health to all of their flesh when you read the stories of the miracles in the bible and the wonderful things that god has done that should inspire and encourage your faith when you read the promises of god in his word that strengthens your faith and not just reading the bible but reading biblical stories and or reading stories of people who've had experiences in in prayer and answered faith um that kind of helps put skin on it so that you uh your faith is strong i used to love reading the testimonies of great missionaries and the miracles that they experience faith comes by hearing those words and this is a good segue to point number two number one you want to grow your faith spend time in the word spend time in the word every day have scheduled time you driving in your car you can put it in a cd or on your ipod or whatever i got so many different ways you can listen in your car to the bible right now you can do it through your phone you can do it through a little sd card you can do it through a usb you can do it through the radio or cd if your car still has one anyone still have a cassette player in their car i see a few yeah i got some cassettes i'd like to share with you sister so listen to the word then pray number two is pray in building your faith james 5 15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the lord will raise him up if he's committed sins will be forgiven through prayers of faith things happen you pray big prayers what will happen to your faith it gets bigger have any of you you prayed a prayer and and then you see an answer to your prayer and what happens your faith gets stronger just this week i lost a key to the car now you know the keys to the new cars are more expensive otherwise the old days you just go get a copy made it cost you two dollars now it's like 145 to replace one of these keys and so i was really praying it wasn't a little key prayer it was a big key prayer and i i knew i brought it home from the health club and i looked all over and i went through the laundry and i i was digging around and you ever looking for something you check your pockets three times you think maybe i missed it the other two times and you just keep going back and i was digging around i was digging around then i realized it was garbage day i thought maybe it fell out of my pants i don't know how it happened but i said you know wouldn't it be awful if it was in the garbage and the garbage is out in front of the house and we'd already thrown all the garbage in there and so i thought i went out and started digging through the garbage thing did it fall in there i didn't go to the bottom though i thought i could just it's not worth it i'll pay 145 dollars before i do that so finally i thought well i'm searching i'm frantic pray so it wasn't long after i prayed i found my key it was in the car it had fallen down it had fallen down between the seat and the shifter thing so when you pray and then what happened to my faith after you pray and you find it prayer works look at that ought to do it more often so pray more pray big prayers don't just pray for yourself pray for others and you'll see keep a log do you ever write down when god answers your prayer make a little log of it write it down and then it'll refresh your faith as you look back at how many times god has answered your prayers over the course of your life i've got a prayer list that in my computer when i do my worship in the morning i have a little prayer list and i write things down and over the years i've checked off those answers i delete them and then i add new ones and i thought man i shouldn't be deleting them out of save them all the answered prayers that god has performed james 1 6 when you pray ask in faith nothing doubting for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is tossed for the wind let not that man suppose he'll receive anything from the lord he's a double-minded man unstable in all of his ways god says when you pray believe that seems so simple listen to how jesus said it so if you don't like what pastor doug is saying you got to take this up with him jesus answered mark 11 22 similar to our first scripture have faith in god for assuredly i say to you whoever says to this mountain be removed and cast in the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things that he says will be done he will have whatever he says therefore i say to you whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you'll receive them and you will receive them well that just you read that you think i can't actually mean that i may not mean the part about praying to mountain moves because most of us don't need to move mountains it's mountains of sin the bible tells us that you can say to a mountain be cast into the depths of the sea and it'll be done and it's the mountain of sin we and god says he casts our sins into the sea that he deals with therefore whatever you ask when you receive believe that you receive them and you will have them well that's pretty clear that you pray in faith and he says all things are possible with god so don't ever put any doubts on what the lord is able to do mark 9 23 that man said lord if you can do anything help my son jesus said if you can believe all things are possible to him that believes and then the father of the child said lord i believe help my unbelief in other words i've got an element of faith but i need more faith now how many of you need to pray that prayer i've had to pray that prayer lord i believe but i still struggle with unbelief and then you can say what that father said lord help my unbelief now did jesus answer his prayer that day he did he had jesus said if you've got mustard seed faith even if you've got a little faith you can pray and look how much can be accomplished his son was healed all right read the bible pray step out in faith act upon the faith that you have don't wait until you know that all obstacles are removed real faith is taking that step of faith it's kind of like when jesus came to the disciples and they were out that night rowing against the wind on the waves of galilee and jesus was walking on the water and peter said lord if that's you bid that i come to you on the water jesus said come at some point peter must have believed that he could come to the lord and all it was was the word of jesus that said come to me and peter had to take that first step he had to step out of the security of the boat into the storm and when he did that the water became firm under his feet he was able to do the impossible as long as he kept his eyes on jesus he was able to walk on water but at some point along the way peter i just think i can't prove this but i think he was wondering are my friends getting this on their iphone no one's ever going to believe this i want to stream this live and he looked around to say hey guys you get this but when he took his eyes off jesus and then he saw the waves and his faith began to sink and what happened to him he began to sing with it till he turned back to jesus and said the shortest prayer in the bible lord actually there's a shorter prayer peter's prayer was lord save me jehoshaphat actually said lord help that was all he said god answered his prayer so you've got to take a step james 1 22 be doers of the word not hearers only people say i believe i believe they never do anything about it it's like the pastor called his church together and said let's have a prayer meeting for this drought they're having a terrible drought there in in georgia and folks came and right away the pastor looked around said all right prayer meeting's over we'll see you sunday this week you told us to come and pray about the drought he says you're not serious about praying if you were serious you would have brought umbrellas so when you come and you pray for rain do you bring your umbrella you need to take a step of faith hebrews 11 by the way if you want to know more about faith read hebrews 11. hebrews 11 by faith noah being divinely warned of things not yet seen he moved with godly fear he didn't just say yeah lord i believe there's a flood he moved with godly fear he prepared an ark to the saving of his household by which he condemned the world and became heir of righteousness which is according to faith this is one of the greatest acts in the bible one of the greatest acts of faith is that noah used all of his resources to build an ark on dry land in a world where it had never rained because he trusted god's word and then you know the incredible thing is after he did that it takes a lot of faith to invite two termites on the boat it had never rained before and he builds a boat not only noah stepped out in faith what about abraham abraham in the bible is called he's referred to as the father of the faithful because he was willing to offer his son believing that god was even able to raise him up hebrews 11 8 by faith abraham when he was called to go out to the place which god he would receive as an inheritance he went out he took that step not knowing where he was going you know that takes a lot of faith today if i'm going on a trip i mean you can even look at the hotel you're going to you can say i want to see the rooms of the hotel and sometimes i don't trust bonnie's booking me hotels she said i got you a hotel sometimes i'd always trust the pictures they show you of the hotel room online because they'll take a picture of that hotel when the rooms were new 30 years ago and they looked okay back then but they haven't done anything to them since then and the neighborhood's falling apart so i'll actually get on google earth and i'll go and you know on google earth you can go to the street in front of the hotel and you can get a street view and i look all around i said i want to not only know what the room looks like i want to know what the neighborhood looks like where this hotel is because i got to take a taxi here and you can learn a lot more i thought how did they make that room look so good when the outside of the hotel looks really dilapidated but abraham couldn't google it god said to abraham i want you to go to this land that you've never seen and you can't look at any pictures i want you to entirely trust me it's a land flowing with milk and honey and i'm going to give it to you that takes faith it takes faith to uproot your whole family and move to a place where you've got no job because you think god is calling you it takes faith when you prayed for years for a son and he gives you a son and then god says now if you really trust me i want you to offer him as a sacrifice it says in hebrews he offered him believing if necessary god would raise him from the dead because god promised that through isaac a great nation would come that takes a lot of faith so you got to actually take a step malachi chapter 3 pastor sean referenced this in the offering appeal here's an example of where it takes faith god says bring the tithes and the offerings into the storehouse that there might be food in my house and try me test me prove me says the lord if i'll not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out such a blessing you will not have room enough to receive it god says test you test me see if i am going to be faithful to you so real faith at some point will put the promises of god to test you read it you pray it then you act upon it you got to step out someone said faith sees the invisible believes the incredible receives the impossible i think it was augustine who said faith is to believe what you do not see the reward of faith is to see what we believe and sometimes you'll finally be rewarded with what you believe and then have patience and persistence so when you are praying about something particular keep in mind the eternal perspective god lives for eternity you might say lord help me find my keys and you wonder why you don't open your eyes and there are your keys you might have to go search doesn't jesus say seek and you'll find that doesn't mean you've lost faith you now combine some work with your faith and but it takes persistence hebrews 6 12 he says do not become sluggish but imitate those who through faith and patience faith and patience inherit the promises revelation 13 10 says here is the patience of the faith and the faith of the saints revelation 14 12 here is the patience of the saints here are those who keep the commandments of god and the faith of jesus notice how many times you see these words together did you catch it faith patience i thought faith means you get what you want right away faith means you hang on the faithful in the bible are not just those that get their promises answered they're the ones who waited that extra five minutes and they got their promises answered you need to hold on to the promises of god victoria's faith is often more than believing sometimes it means believing a little longer than everyone else hebrews 11 by faith the walls of jericho fell did they fall the first time they marched around them or did they have to go around them how many times 13 one time for six days seven time on the seventh day right and probably about the sixth time on the seventh day they were getting tired how many times we're going to march around this city joshua said one more time you've got to keep going so faith it says the walls fell by faith but that faith was combined with a persistence and a patience as well as obedience one time christ was walking through a crowd a woman wanted to touch him she wanted to talk to him she had a personal problem medical problems she'd been bleeding for 12 years and and she just couldn't find an opportunity and the crowd was there and it looked like it was never going to happen she thought well i'm not letting him get out of my way if i don't reach out now i'll never get my answer and so she persisted and pushed her way through the crowd until she could at least get a hold of the hem of her garment and you know what jesus said he stopped eventually she confessed the reason that he'd been healed or she'd been healed and he said to her woman great is your faith it was a faith that persisted and god wants us to be tenacious in that way and hang on he that endures to the end will be saved have that persistence in your faith there's another woman and she was actually not a jew jesus was on his way up to tyre which was the land of the phoenicians the zidonians and and a woman who was not a jew began to follow after and said lord have mercy lord have mercy and he ignored her at first and the disciples said send her away she's crying after us making a spectacle and jesus turned to her and he said something that kind of makes us wonder he said woman i'm not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of israel she said oh lord please heal my daughter. he said it's not appropriate to take the children's food and give it to the dogs what do you do when it seems like god is saying no to your prayer she didn't turn around he was testing her faith he was answering her the way the religious leaders would normally have answered her gentiles or dogs and she said yes master but even the little dogs get the crumbs that fall from the children's plates she's she's not just dog even the puppies not just people just the children's drop a few crumbs because they eat messy you know and they get something do you have any crumbs for me and jesus was so moved you know there's only a couple times jesus said people had great faith they were both times they were gentiles the roman centurion and this woman and he marveled and he said great is your faith why did he call her faith great it all happened in a few moments because she persisted she would not give up when she was praying she kept at it do you give up sometimes if you don't get an answer right away to your prayer so part of saving faith is persistence now you know how your faith grows persistence and patience through trial so if you say lord give me more persistent patient faith you know what you're asking for if you pray for patience you're asking for delay because you do not learn patience by getting everything right away you know how to ruin a kid give them everything they want right away they turn eight years old you give them your own cell phone 14 new car you can ruin them aren't you if you want them to appreciate something you got to make them wait so if you say lord give me tenacity give me patience you know what you're asking for a young christian went to an older christian for help he said would you please pray for me that i might be more patient he said absolutely let's kneel together the old man began to pray lord send this young man tribulation in the morning send him adversity in the afternoon send him trials in the evening and he shook his friend and said no no no i didn't ask for that i asked for patience he said ah it is through tribulation we develop patience that's what the bible says so do you really want faith james 1 3 and 4 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience but let patience have its perfect work that you might be perfect and complete lacking nothing sometimes you may have to pray for something or someone for a long time i i remember reading a book by george mueller it was a testimony that he was a real man of faith have you heard of george mueller you've never heard the name before jot that down just google it and you'll find some wonderful stories great man of faith he was an infidel and drank and gambled and lied and stole and he was converted and became a great man of faith lived in like 93 and he saw the most incredible answers to prayer he took care of orphanage with several orphanages actually with thousands of children and he got everything every day through prayer later in his life he said you know i've been praying for some close friends for years and one by one they've all come to the lord except for one but i still believe that god is going to reach him and he may have said this when he was 93. he said i've been praying for that man for 53 years but i still believe god is going to reach him the man was converted at mueller's funeral listening to the testimonies and so you may have to wait a while before you get your answer have you heard my smoking pickups truck story when i uh uh when i was uh a young man living up in the hills i was struggling with smoking before i was baptized i smoked for several years my mom smoked my dad smoked my grandparents smoked my at least my grandfather i grew up breathing in secondhand smoke so sometimes when the kid smokes their first cigarette they start coughing not me i was already primed and ready to go and so i enjoyed smoking and uh i used to roll my own cigarettes and i could actually open a book of matches and light a match with one hand because i i smoke quite a bit but um after reading the bible i started going to the administration i became convicted god wanted me to quit smoking i felt fine but i knew god wanted me to quit i tried several times i even stopped once for three months it was involuntary i stopped because i was on a boat where they didn't allow smoking and i couldn't smoke again until i got off the boat and it was the first thing i did um and i'd stop smoking i tried everything you know i i threw my cigarettes away and then i'd go buy more one time i threw them in the outhouse because i knew i want to go back and get them i said i'm going to quit now if i throw them down there i won't be tempted and i wasn't i just went and bought some more but it was a struggle i was i was really addicted and finally wanted now while all this is happening i was in the wood business i sold firewood dave and i were in the wood business together and but he didn't smoke and i was by myself i was driving up the hill i at this time i had an old ford pickup truck it was a used very used truck i mean it was so bad this truck was like it was almost like a cartoon i mean you'd stop and you'd slop shut the door and the headlight would fall out and half the time when you whenever i parked it i'd park on a hill because i had to push start it any of you have one of those vehicles you had to strategically find if you were on flat ground you're in trouble but i had to push it so often i had to push that truck and then jump in and pop the clutch to get it started anyone remember those days i mean some of you have had to do that this is how i had to start that truck every time i couldn't afford the repairs so uh and you know yeah i had to fill it full of stp and uh stuff to give it enough compression to actually turn over so i had a friend who had just bought a new datsun four wheel drive pickup truck i thought wow that's just what i need and i began to fantasize this is back when they were datsuns before it was nissan so you know how far back this goes and i began to fantasize and i remember i was driving up the hill from kovalev to our cabin one day i thought man if i could get one of those new little pickup trucks i'd put dual tires on the back i put a flat bed on it so i could hold one quart of firewood i'd put the springs on it i put a winch on the front i said four wheel drive oh man that's just what i need i could haul one quart of wood it would be perfect and i'm starting to think about this truck have air conditioning and cruise control and and while i'm thinking about the truck i was just coveting in my heart and i blurted something out and i said lord if you'd give me a truck like that i'd quit smoking and i almost instantly heard this voice i'm sure it wasn't audible but in my head it just was very loud and said so you're telling me doug you'd quit smoking if i gave you a truck but if i give my son to die for your sins that won't be enough oh i said here you know i'm telling making deal i said i'll turn it from my sin if you give me a pickup but if you sacrifice your son that's not enough and so i threw away my cigarettes i never smoked again now here's the rest of the story uh ten years later i went to sacramento with our son micah and we shopped in because sacramento's four miles away there's no car dealerships in kovalev and i shopped around to find a pickup truck and after shopping all day long look at all these different trucks finally we actually signed at like midnight the deal was done and i'm driving home and as i'm driving home i'm looking at my truck and i'm going what do you know this is a nissan four-wheel drive pickup truck got a winch if you've got power windows and air conditioner and cruise control so this is the truck that i prayed for 10 years ago i did i'd totally forgotten that i said lord you gave me my truck and then i said lord why did you wait so long and i heard another little voice and said doug i didn't buy the truck you bought the truck with the money you saved from smoking it took 10 years you want to hear the rest of the story that was in 1987. that truck is still running 32 years later and it's on the property today isn't that amazing so god will bless your truck too no that's not a sermon anyway all right so you've got to be persistent number five if you want to have stronger faith associate with faithful people proverbs 13 20 he who walks with wise men will be wise but the companion of fools will be destroyed hang around believers and you'll do more believing amen you want to have more faith and you stay away from church and you stay away from prayer meeting you stay away from christian association home bible study group spend more time with christians hebrews 6 12 that you do not become sluggish but imitate those who faith and patience inherit the promise now i've used this verse twice i want you to notice and imitate those in order for you to imitate those with faith you must be around people with faith does that make sense does it first corinthians 11 1 paul says imitate me as i imitate christ so follow those who are following jesus and matthew 5 14 christ said let them alone they are blind leaders of the blind if the blind lead the blind they'll both fall on the ditch follow those who know where they're going that have faith so stay positive there's going to be difficulties but look at those difficulties as opportunities to strengthen your faith someone wrote a nice little poem doubt sees the obstacles faith sees the way doubt sees the darkest night faith sees the day doubt dreads to take a step faith soars on high doubt questions who believes faith answers i you want to be positive you want to believe that all things are possible with god you know sometimes i'll go and i'll visit a person who is struggling with some sickness and and it doesn't look good and i always offer to pray for them and in spite of what i think i pray a prayer of faith for their benefit and you know jesus never healed somebody and said my faith has made you whole he said your faith has made you whole i don't want to say anything that is going to diminish their faith so encourage their faith don't be negative and discourage the faith of others i always laugh when i think about this story there was a a russian comedian yikov smirnov came to america and he told the story about how shocked he was when he came to america and he saw the unlimited variety of things in the stores and this is back during the cold war karen and i were in russia right after the communism they took us to the supermarket there were five different things in the market they called it the supermarket now like bread meat cheese i forget what the other two work but it was pretty sad so he came to an american supermarket he's just dazzled by the variety and the sophistication of all the products and he said you look on one aisle and he says you've even got orange juice and you got powdered oranges you add water and you get orange juice and i went up another aisle you get milk and you get powdered milk you add water and you get milk so then i went around the corner and i saw baby powder i thought what a country add water you get a baby and then he found a package of instant water all you gotta do is add water no i threw that in you didn't say that so hang out with faithful people and you know i just need to say as in because there's scripture for it avoid the people who sap your faith there's special bird out there called the faith sapsuckers they suck the faith out of you now jesus gave some examples of this you look in mark chapter five there's a man named jarius he said lord will you come will you heal my daughters he's sick he's very gravely sick christ is on his way to raise the daughter or to heal the daughter of jerius and on the way while christ was delayed this messenger came and says don't trouble the master anymore your daughter is dead and jesus heard the messengers tell jerius your daughter is dead and he saw his face and jesus said he heard it he said do not be afraid only what don't let them take away your faith you know i'm with you i'm on my way to do something for your daughter do not become discouraged so he comes to the house he permits no one to go with him everyone was slowing him down except peter james and john the brother of james and he came to the house where the ruler of the synagogue was and he saw the tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly the funeral had already begun and when he came in he said why are you making this commotion and weeping the child is not dead but sleeping he tried to stop all their their negative pining and they ridiculed him they said we saw her she's dead but he put them all out why did jesus put him out they were the faith sap suckers they were doubting they would not believe he put them all outside he took the father and mother father another wanted to believe of the child and those who were with him peter james and john he entered to where the child was lying then he looked at her took her by the hand said talitha kumai which is translated little girl arise and immediately the girl arose and walked it was a miracle a resurrection but he had to put out the people that didn't believe years later peter went to the house of dorcas and the funeral had already begun you know what peter did you go to acts chapter 9 verse 39 peter rose and went with them when he come they brought him into the upper room and all the widows stood by weeping showing the tunics and the garments the dormants had made while she was with them and they're all mourning her death peter put them all out and he knelt down and he prayed and he turned to the body said tabitha arise and she opened her eyes do you want to have more faith don't let the people around you destroy your faith now what if you're married to one of them well you're stuck but otherwise try not to associate with the people who are going to say it can't be done albert einstein said stay away from negative people they have a problem for every solution you know those people you've got you know you want to be with people who've got a solution for every problem but some people they got a problem for every solution you know on any given day here in northern california you've got a couple of different birds that are flying around uh one of them is a vulture and the other one's a hummingbird but both birds both fly they both live in the same neighborhood but they've got very different attitudes the vulture is flying around and is looking for some poor bunny that got run over by a car and they want to eat something dead they're looking for that which stinketh they're looking for that has no future and then you got the hummingbird flying over the same country but it is not looking for dead skunks it's looking for bright blossoms and sweet nectar that is the promise of new fruit there's two kinds of people out there you got buzzards and you got hummingbirds don't hang out with the buzzards you sit there they're the ones you know you're talking to them and say yeah it's a beautiful day and they say yeah but you know it's gonna flood or everything's gonna dry out now that just everything has always got to be negative they're just contesting anything positive you want to have more faith find out people that have faith hang out with them because that kind of faith can be contagious and finally point seven your faith will grow as you give it away share your faith faith does not grow because it has come to you faith grows because it goes through you faith is for giving away tell others what god has done for you every christian's got a responsibility to share their faith you know barna you've heard of the barney serva surveys i actually by accident sat down with george barna who is the founder of that group and had a very interesting conversation he did a study in 1993 9 out of 10 christians in 1993 believe christians had a responsibility to share their faith that's 89 roughly today he did a survey i think it was actually like 2015 and it's down to 64 percent of christians believe they have a responsibility to share their faith i think it's a job of the televangelists or the pastor or somebody else but they don't believe they personally have a responsibility i'd like to submit that if you are not involved in sharing your faith your faith is going to diminish it's like a muscle you don't use it if you don't give it away you lose it you need to be involved first timothy 4 16 take heed to yourself into the doctrine continue in them for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you you are saving yourself as you share your faith with others daniel 12 3 those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever turning others to righteousness you want to be able to share your faith get par are you part of a home study group get part of it invite others to your home some of the other believers and then you can invite guests doesn't have to have a lot of people you know three or four two or three gathered to my name on there have a small study group get together have deliberate times to share your faith with others look for opportunities wherever you go kind of neat yesterday i went to get a subway sandwich now you can't always do what i do because as soon as i walked in the store the guy's making sandwiches there he says i just saw you on tv that doesn't always happen it's neat when it happens so it's kind of neat of course i had my amazing fact hat on and uh he's serving two ladies and they're looking at me and going you know how'd that happen how'd you end up on tv and i said well i'm a pastor in the area and and then we weren't too far away from sierra college i said you know that church that's going up bumping the hill yeah so that's where we're going to be we like to have when we open come visit us and so i was encouraged when i went away every time you get an opportunity to say something to someone else about jesus as small as you might think it is i've got a friend writing a book right now i haven't seen the book yet but it's a great title it's called 60-second evangelism how to do evangelism in a minute i thought that's great because you know some of the best evangelism can happen in a minute everybody can do something amen so finally as we're talking about what you can do to grow your faith i don't want to make it sound like it depends on you jesus said the disciples had small faith yet he saved them why because he is faithful his mercies are new every day i'm so thankful for his faithfulness now you know where we really need the faith because we need to have faith that god can save us from our sins and that he can give us power to have victory to be new creatures to be born again isn't that your desire he is faithful i'd like to invite our singers out we're going to sing 100 great is thy faithfulness one of my favorite let's stand together please as we sing [Music] forever i see great is [Music] is to my faithfulness me jesus is blessings is is let's pray father in heaven dear lord like that father that brought his son to jesus we pray lord we believe but help our unbelief lord we we pray that you'll strengthen our faith help us do all we can do to cooperate with the steps and the principles you give in your word so that we can have a faith that will be prepared for the last days i pray lord that you'll give us the courage to step out when we see what your word says grant us the resolve to spend time in prayer in time in your word to spend time in fellowship with other believers that our faith might grow and then of course lord in sharing our faith with a world that is perishing please bless each one here help us to know in our lives how to apply this message and make it practical and real and be with us as we go from this place to let our light shine we thank you we pray all of this in jesus name amen you may be seated give us a chance get to the door and greet you god bless and happy sabbath you

Channel: Daily Hymns

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Length: 53min 18sec (3198 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 02 2021