The Awesome Power of Faith - Copy

[Pages:13]WEEK 5: THE GOD FACTOR--GOD'S POWER IN YOUR LIFE The Awesome Power of Faith

"Jesus did not do many miracles of power in His hometown, because of their lack of faith." Matt. 13:58 (Amp)

"Abraham's faith did not leave him, and he did not doubt God's promise; instead his faith filled him with power..." Rom. 4:20 (GN)

1. FAITH IS CHOOSING _________________________________________ "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Prov. 29:18 (NIV)

"God, by His mighty power at work within us, is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of ? infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes." Eph. 3:20 (LB)

"I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?" Jer. 32:27 (NLT)

"Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession." Ps. 2:8 (NIV)

2. FAITH IS BEING WILLING TO __________________________________ "They risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 15:26 (NAS)

"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." Daniel 3:17-18 (NIV)

"The fear of human opinion disables." Prov. 29:25 (MSG)

"Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else." Gal. 6:4 (NIV)

3. FAITH IS EXPECTING GOD ____________________________________ "I expect and hope that I will not fail Christ in anything but that I will have the courage now... to show the greatness of Christ in my life here on earth, whether I live or die." Phil. 1:20 (NCV) "I believe I shall enjoy the Lord's goodness in the land of the living." Psalm 27:13 (NAB)

Greek Word - En Theos = In God; Theology is the_________________________

"We serve God Whether people honor us or despise us. Whether they slander us or they praise us." II Cor. 6.8a (NLT) "Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see." Heb. 11:1 (GW)

4. FAITH IS _____________________________________________ "Be brave. Be strong. Don't give up. Expect God to get here soon." Psalm 31:24 (MSG) "My life hangs in the balance, but I will not give up obedience to Your Word." Psalm 119:109 (LB) "Even if good people fall seven times, they will get back up." Prov. 24:16 (CEV) "Let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't get discouraged and give up." Gal. 6:9 (LB) "Then the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, `Lord, I believe! Help me with my unbelief!" Mark 9:24 (KJV)

5 - ii

"The God Factor: The Awesome Power of Faith"

Various Scripture Texts

April 13, 2014

Rev. D2

Today we're going to finish our sermon series on God's Prescription for Your Health by looking at the Awesome Power of Faith. God uses all kinds of people of different ethnic backgrounds, ages, economic status, and languages. But the one common denominator that you can find in every person that God blesses is people who are not afraid to trust God completely. When you do that, it produces enormous power in your life. The Bible tells us there's a direct connection between faith and power. Jesus illustrates this in Matthew 13 when He goes to His home town in Nazareth and says:

"Jesus did not do many miracles of power in His hometown, because of their lack of faith."

Notice the connection between faith and power. Scripture reminds us that Abraham is called the father of faith and that it's faith that gives us power: "Abraham's faith did not leave him, and he did not doubt God's promise; instead his faith filled him with power."

So, let's look at four ways that you can grow in faith ? And so that God's power can be more evident in your life.

1. Faith is choosing and believing God's dream for my life.

It all starts with a dream. It all starts with vision, an idea. What does God want to do in my life? Proverbs 29:18 says:

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."

Where the church has no vision, it dies and the people go to another church. The point here is: Nothing starts happening in your life until you start dreaming and put a deadline on it and turn it into a goal. God gave you the ability to dream, to create, to imagine. Dreaming is an act of faith. So until you get a dream, nothing becomes reality. If you don't have a goal in life, your goal is just to go through life drifting by default. There're a lot of things in life you can delegate to other people. But, there's one thing you can't delegate and that's trusting God. It's your choice. You can trust God a little or you can trust God a lot. It's your choice.

Yet, how do you get God's dream for your life?

Ephesians 3:20 says: "God, by His mighty power at work within us, is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of ? infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes."

So you see, God blesses people who dare to ask. So, ask yourself: "What would I attempt for God if I knew I couldn't fail?" Let that expand your vision. It always starts with a dream. When you get a dream and you set a goal, goals are statements of faith. I believe I'm supposed to do this by such and such a date. I believe God will empower me. So if you want God's blessing on your life, first you dare to ask.

Secondly, you believe God's promises. The Bible says:

"I am the Lord, the God of all people of the world. Is anything too hard for me?"

The answer is nothing is impossible with God. Today's impossibility is tomorrow's possibility. It's tomorrow's miracle. A lot of things that are impossible become possible when you do it. Or as Erie Sauder often said: "It's amazing what you can do when you don't know it can't be done." Let your dream motivate you ? To pray more, To believe more, To trust more, To experience more, To learn more, To grow more, That's how you grow. Just because your dream seems "impossible" doesn't mean you shouldn't go after it. God is the God of the impossible. That's where faith works. Faith always works in the realm of the impossible.

And thirdly, dream big. God says:

"Ask of Me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession."

God says, ask me and I'll give you the nations. The size of your God determines the size of your goal. You haven't really believed God until you've attempted something that can't be done in the power of your own effort.

5-2

We please God when we live by faith which means you're doing something you can't do under your own power. Let me just say that when you begin to dream ? Dream big and believe God's promises by going to God in prayer. Often, we overestimate what we can do in a year and we underestimate what we can do in ten or twenty or thirty or forty. Most people set goals too low and try to accomplish them too quickly. What you need to do is set a bigger dream for your life and then take a longer time to do it. The other question you ask yourself is: What am I really shaped to do? I'm referring to your spiritual gifts, Your heart, Your abilities, Your personality, Your experiences. These are the five things that make you ? you. But you need to look at yourself and be honest and say, what's my heart? What do I love to do? What am I gifted to do? What are my abilities? Just be honest. You must be optimistic and realistic at the same time. This is one of the reasons we had you feel out the "I Like" Surveys! You've probably heard over the years: "You can be anything you want in life." But, it's not true. You can only be what God shaped you to be. If you try to be something that you're not shaped, wired, gifted to do, it causes a little thing called stress. But, when you're doing what you're shaped to do, it's fun. It feels good. And you're not as stressed. Stress comes from trying to be something you're not. So, dream great dreams for God. It's your first step in the walk of faith. And it pleases God. So step one is living by faith. And how do you do that? By choosing and believing God's dream for your life.

Step 2 is:

Faith is being willing to risk failure. You cannot go after a dream without taking some kind of risks. If there's no risks involved it's not a dream from God because God wants you to live by faith.

5-3

Acts 15 says: "They risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Remember the turtle! He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out! Don't be afraid to go out on a limb because that's where the fruit is. Don't be afraid to rock the boat if Jesus is in the boat. Go ahead and take that risk. What's the worst that can happen? You fail? So what? You just get up and do it again. That's how you learn. Besides, we never call it a failure anyways. We call it an experiment. Or we call it an education. Because at least now, we know what doesn't work. I want you making new mistakes every week because you're trying to be faithful disciples. In the book of Daniel, the Jewish nation of Israel has been taken captive for seventy years in Babylon ? Or today's Iraq. The king at the time was a guy name Nebuchadnezzar. In essence, this is what he said: "When I ring this bell I want you to bow down and worship this statue of me because I'm god." The Jews said: We're not going to do that. We only obey the real God, not some phony idol. There were these three guys in their twenties or late teens who also refused to do it. Their names were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So, Nebuchadnezzar says: "All right boys! I hear you're not bowing down to my statue. If you don't bow down we're going to throw you into this big fiery furnace."

Then the 3 guys said:

"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

Faith, real faith, does not demand a guarantee of a miracle. It says: We believe God wants us to do this; We believe God will be with us; We believe God will help us be successful and will protect us. But even if God does not, We're still going to do the right thing.

5-4

In other words, we're willing to make our plans and to go God's way and if it doesn't work out we're willing to risk failure. In fact, we're willing to give our lives for it. That's faith. God will honor that faith even if it doesn't work out the way you intended it to work out. God is more interested in growing your faith than God is in what we do in life. The guys in the Book of Daniel are getting ready to be thrown into the fiery furnace. Do you think they were scared? Of course they were. They were scared to death. But, they went ahead and stood up for their faith because as we know ? courage is not the absence of fear. It's moving ahead in spite of your fear. If you don't have any fear it's not courage. You don't need courage for things you're not afraid of. Courage is when you do something and you're scared to death to do it.

"The fear of human opinion disables."

We worry about: What will other people think? If it doesn't work out I'll look foolish; Or I'll look dumb; Or I'll be rejected. But, the moment you or I start worrying about what other people think we're doomed. You can't serve God and be constantly worried about what other people think. You've got to move forward. You've got to learn to live for an audience of one. Goals are based on what you believe God can do, not what you believe you can do. So how do you eliminate the fear of failure? I think there're two ways: One, is you redefine failure. So, what is failure? Failure is not failing to reach your goal. Failure is not having a goal. Failure is not failing to hit your target. Failure is not having a target. Failure is not falling down. Everybody falls down. Failure is refusing to get back up. So if you're attempting something for the glory of God, that's a good thing. Failure is not trying and then not accomplishing anything. Failure is failing to try.

Babe Ruth used to say: "Never let the fear of striking out keep you from taking a swing." In order to get rid of the fear of failure you must never compare yourself to anybody else.

5-5

The Bible warns us against it because if you do, you'll always find somebody who's doing a better job and get discouraged. Or you'll find that you're doing a better job than somebody else and you'll become full of pride. Both of them will mess up your life. Discouragement or pride will keep you from serving God's purpose for your life. God isn't going to say: "Why weren't you more like so and so?" God's going to say: "Why weren't you who I made you to be?"

Galatians 6:4 says: "Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to someone else."

Notice that there's a good kind of pride and a bad kind of pride. The bad kind of pride is comparing yourself to others. The good kind of pride is when you're proud and happy with what God is doing in your life, in your family, in your business or your church. So, let go of the fear of failure. Because anything you're attempting for God in love and in faith, God says that's a good thing. Regardless of the results. So, let go of your fear and trust God. And step 3 in learning to live a life of faith is:

3. Faith is expecting God to bless and to use me.

Paul expected God to bless him. In fact, he says in Philippians:

"I expect and hope that I will not fail Christ in anything but that I will have the courage now... to show the greatness of Christ in my life here on earth, whether I live or die."

Paul expected it and so did David: "I believe I shall enjoy the Lord's goodness in the land of the living."

All throughout the Bible you'll find a spirit of expectation. The people that God uses are the people who expect God to use them. God blesses them because they expect God to bless them. Expecting God to do, to bless, to help, to create a miracle is an act of faith. Nothing great is ever accomplished without enthusiasm. But, where does enthusiasm come from? A few weeks ago I mentioned that the Greek word en theos means to be "in God."

En means "in" and theos means "theology" or God. So, Theology is the study of God. So en theos means to be in God.

5-6

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download