Deepening Your Faith
-
Upload
stephen-palm -
Category
Spiritual
-
view
163 -
download
5
Transcript of Deepening Your Faith
Series Outline
•A Mile High and a Mile Wide Aren’t Enough.
10
20
30The
essential Z Axis
Yea
rs S
ince
C
om
ing
to
Ch
rist
Breadth of Christian Service
Depth o
f
Relationship
Series Outline
•A Mile High and a Mile Wide Aren’t Enough.•Deepening Your Faith in God.•Deepening Your Love of God.•Tapping into God’s Power.•Experiencing the “Fullness” of God.
Series Verses:Ephesians 3
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
Series Verses:Ephesians 3
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
Ephesians 3
19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Deepening Your Faith in God
First PointIn order to grow in faith, we need to allow God to work
on our fear problem.
Faith and Fear
“Your boat is whatever pulls you away from
the high adventure of
extreme discipleship.”John Ortberg
1 Peter 3 (NIV- 1984)
13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." 15a But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.
There are 366 “fear not” verses in the Bible – one for every day in
the year, including one for leap year!Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie
Former Chaplain to the U.S. Senate
Two Types of Fear
1.Physiological Fear System: An internal warning mechanism that alerts us to danger. (Fast system)John Ortberg
Two Types of Fear
2. Rational Fear System: A slower “reflective” system.
John Ortberg
Question
What “childish” or irrational fear
prevents you from “getting out of the boat” and serving
God?
Second PointIn order to grow in faith, we need to allow God to work
on our trust problem.
John 14:1
•Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. KJV
•"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. NIV
•μη ταρασσεσθω υμων η καρδια πιστευετε εις τον θεον και εις εμε πιστευετε
Is God Trustworthy?
“Fear has created more practicing heretics than
bad theology ever has, for it makes us live as though we serve a limited, finite, partially present, semi-
competent God.”
Every uncomfort-able step of
faith provides the opportunity
to build trust.
What about failure?
Your heart is revealed and your character is forged when life does not
turn out the way you planned.
Question
Can you think of a failure in your life which God used to grow you? Did your trust in
God ultimately increase, despite this failure?
“Failure is an inside job. So is success. If you want to achieve, you have to win the war in your thinking first. You can't let the failure outside you get inside you.”
Third Point
In order to grow in faith, we need to allow God to
restore our hope.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen.
“Hope is simply faith directed toward the future.” (ISBE)
Hope vs. Optimism
“When I hope, I believe that God is at work to redeem all things regardless of how things happen to be turning out for me today.”
Two Laws that Govern Your Life
1.The Law of Cognition: You are what you think.
2.The Law of Exposure: Your mind will think most about what it is most exposed to.
Two Laws that Govern Your Life