Building Our Faith
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Intro
Today we're beginning 21 Days of Prayer. We'll finish on August 30. Our theme is Expect Miracles.
Take a moment to fill out the connection card — we'll cut off the bottom portion, and those prayer requests will be placed at the altars on Wednesdays. Wednesday we will pray over our kids who are all beginning school.
This new series is called I've Witnessed It, and it's focused on miracles. Anybody need a miracle? I believe that if we press in these 21 Days, we can miracles in our lives.
During these 21 Days of Prayer, I will send out a short video devotional that hopefully will help you each day.
We are focusing on miracles because we serve a great God.
13 O God, your ways are holy. Is there any god as mighty as you? 14 You are the God of great wonders! You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.
God is a God of Miracles. Even Jesus life on earth was marked by miracles. Jesus did three things… take a look.
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
Three words in that verse describe Jesus's ministry: teaching, preaching, and healing.
Teaching is discipleship — it's meant to feed you and grow you. Some of our series lean into that. The Totally True series we just finished on Wednesdays was that kind of series. Last week was more of a discipleship sermon.
Preaching is sharing the good news. And we're entering a season — the fall — when many people will visit church if they're invited. There are some Sunday’s we want to invite people…
Healing is where this series lives. We want to see miracles in people’s lives.
And when people hear “healing,” they usually think purely physical. But the Bible records a lot of different kinds of healing that Jesus did:
17 Bodily cures 6 Deliverances from Demoniacs 3 Raised from the Dead 9 Miracles over Nature
17 Bodily cures 6 Deliverances from Demoniacs 3 Raised from the Dead 9 Miracles over Nature
Bodily cures are physical healings — the ones we think of first.
Deliverance from demonic oppression is about what's happening on the inside, things we might not even notice on the outside. Some of you need a miracle on the inside — depression, anxiety, sleepless nights. There could be something going on inside of you that God wants to heal, and needs to heal in you. One of these messages is on emotional healing.
Raised from the dead speaks for itself.
Miracles over nature — feeding the 5,000, the catch of fish, calming the storm. For us today, that might look like miracles of provision: our finances, our jobs. Many people need miracles in their finances, their jobs…
These are just the miracles that were recorded. Jesus did far more than what made it into Scripture. John tells us as much.
25 Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.
We want to lean into that during this season. You may think all of this ended when Jesus ascended into heaven. It didn't. Jesus always intended for us to do what He did. God performs the miracle, but He does it through us. Jay Binder with Brandi
1 Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness.
And then…
7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Once again, you may think that was just for the disciples. NO. That’s intended for us as well.
Why can we do that? Because we have received.
Now, for those who believe miracles stopped with the disciples — if even one miracle has happened in the last 2,000 years, then they haven't stopped. And there have been far more than one. Jesus even prophesied this Himself.
12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
Amen to that verse — but it can also be frustrating. We believe it, so we know it's true. But doesn't the Bible make it sound a lot easier than it sometimes feels for us?
So today is the setup for the rest of this series. What's the key to miracles?
I want to lean into one thought: there is not a single place in Scripture where a miracle happens without the Bible talking about faith. I don't know everything about faith… not even close. There's a lot I don't know, and there's even teaching on it I'm not sure I agree with. But I do know Scripture consistently ties Miracles to faith.
So I want to take us to the hillside of faith. Here's something you need to know:
Your faith can be built up.
Your faith can be built up.
I don't know what level your faith is at right now, in whatever situation you're facing, but I know your faith can grow. It can be built up. I've known Jesus for over 50 years, and I know that when I saturate myself in the things of God, my faith grows. I don’t know about you, but I want my faith to be strong.
Think about it: what would it look like if you fully participated in 21 Days of Prayer? Church on Sundays and Wednesdays. All four installments of this series. Getting baptized, if you haven't. Give us a month. Lean into it, and it will grow your faith.
Stories grow our faith. Pastor Kathy loves stories. So we want to tell some stories during this series that will help build your faith.
Look what John wrote…
1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
John is talking about Jesus. He's saying, “I was there.” And he's saying that what draws us into fellowship is the stories — what people have seen Jesus do. Our fellowship isn't just with each other; it's with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
So each week during this series, we want to tell some stories.
Jayden… Susan’s grand daughter…
Marriage healing - the drummer we had at Celebration… His children were saved and Baptized. When asked what made them decide to commit to Jesus, they said it was the change in their dad.
Physical healing - We were praying for Susan and Dianne’s mother at West Jeff one time, and she asked us to go pray for a man whom the hospital wanted to disconnect him from life support. We went and prayed for him. The next day, he was awake after being in a coma for weeks, and was blowing kisses…
Jenny Kropp - stopped smoking
We are going to pray at the end of this service. If you are sick, we want you to come come up here so we can pray for you.
God is not some kind of celestial Santa Claus. But miracles do happen. So today, we want to begin building our faith so we can see miracles in our own lives.
I am certainly not an expert in miracles, but I believe them and I know they key is our faith.
Let's learn from this story.
35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind beggar was sitting beside the road. 36 When he heard the noise of a crowd going past, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him that Jesus the Nazarene was going by. 38 So he began shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 “Be quiet!” the people in front yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 When Jesus heard him, he stopped and ordered that the man be brought to him. As the man came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” he said, “I want to see!” 42 And Jesus said, “All right, receive your sight! Your faith has healed you.” 43 Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus, praising God. And all who saw it praised God, too.
From this story, we're going to look at five things about miracles.
1. We need to be passionate
1. We need to be passionate
He cried out to God. He passionately cried out to God. He was determined for Jesus to notice him.
God responds to those who give Him their whole heart. We have a tendency to put our tow in the water… He is an all in God. Are we?
13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.
We all want to find him and have the prayer answered. But we have to ask with our whole heart.
9 The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. What a fool you have been! From now on you will be at war.”
That’s what he is looking for. Our whole hearts committed to him. In the NT,
23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.
The word worship literally means to kiss — like a dog licking its master's hand. Dogs express their excitement when you get home. Shelby God is looking for those of us who respond to Him with passion, with excitement.
8 ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”
4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!
Passion os important to God. If your excitement for Jesus has dimmed, it’s time to turn it back on. Remember: when the crowd told the blind man to be quiet, he shouted even louder…
2. We need to be persistent
2. We need to be persistent
Keep praying until the miracle comes.
You may wonder why God waits so long. It's because He loves to do a work on the inside of us on the way to doing the miracle itself. This is the part most of us don’t like, we wish He'd do differently. We wish He would just answer the prayer and do the miracle. He wants to teach us a few things…
Listen to this story.
1 One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. 2 “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. 3 A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ 4 The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, 5 but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’ ” 6 Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. 7 Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”
Jesus is teaching us to be persistent. I have prayer requests of my own that I'm going to keep praying during this season. If you don’t get an answer, keep praying.
It’s like… this. There are two types of people:
Destination people have a goal, and the goal is to get there. I am a destination person… get there. I hate having to pass the same slow people on the highway again. I stop for gas, use the restroom, and grab a snack all at the same time.
Journey people enjoy the trip — they want to stop, look at things, shop, eat.
God is a journey person. He'll get you to your goal, but He's going to teach you along the way.
insert a miracle story
Lady with Endometriosis. She was told she would never get pregnant. She prayed for 21 Days… She has now had a baby and then followed it up with twins.
Naaman the army commander who approached Elisha in 2 Kings 5. He wanted to meet with Elisha to be healed of Leprosy. He thought he would have a dramatic encounter with the Prophet and be healed. But instead, Elisha sent a messenger out to tell Naaman what to do.
Naaman was furious and decided to go back home… which would have left him dying of Leprosy. At the urging of his assistant, he did what the prophet had told him to do through the messenger and he was healed. the miracle was in the healing.
But God was actually after Naaman’s pride… his need to control how the miracle occured… His resistance to obedience to something that didn’t make sense to him. God used the disease, the journey and the solution to do what he wanted in Naaman before he ever performed the miracle.
Remember that Jesus asked the man, what do you want? Jesus knew what he needed… not just the healing.
3. We need to be precise
3. We need to be precise
Jesus wants us to be specific, not general. “Lord you know…”
Anyone remember the “unspoken” prayer request? Listen — speak it. It needs to be spoken.
The Bible says:
2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.
Over twenty times in the New Testament alone, the Bible says, “Ask me.”
There was a missionary named George Müller who wrote down every one of his prayer requests and dated when they were answered. You can buy a book of them today — over 10,000 answered prayer requests, all dated. What a faith builder.
Keep a journal of your specific prayer requests. It will build your faith when God answers them.
Remember, Jesus told the man, “Your faith has healed you.” Faith is your attitude toward God. Attitudes aren't something you feel — they're something you choose. That’s why the 4th P is…
4. We need to be positive
4. We need to be positive
Positive about what? Positive that God is at work, even if it doesn't seem to be happening the way we want. Positive that God is still good, even when He doesn't answer our prayers the way we asked Him to.
There's a lot of negativity that creeps into prayer. One thing that drives me crazy is when people pray somberly — “Lord, if it be Thy will...” That's Christian-ese for “I don't think You're going to do this.”
That's not how the Bible describes our faith and you will know why I believe our attitude is important.
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
I have made up my mind that I am going to have that kind of attitude. I am going to pray specifically and be positive in my faith in God.
I know the big elephant in the room is…
Why doesn’t God heal everyone?
Why doesn’t God heal everyone?
He almost seems mean, or withholding. Why doesn't He answer my prayers? Get ready — here's the answer: I don't know.
All I know is that He always does the right thing. I know He's always at work. I know He’s always good. I know He always loves us. I know He always is working for our good.
I'm going to keep that attitude, because I know that one day in heaven, I'll see things as He does. And the first sound in heaven isn't “Hallelujah” — it's “Ohhh... You were right. That was the right way to do that.”
That's why the Bible encourages us to believe like this. Some in Heb 11 experienced great miracles. Others didn't. Take a look.
39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.
God had something better in mind for them. And we won't fully see that until we're in heaven with Him. We have to learn to trust him.
Faith is not belief. Faith is trust
Faith is not belief. Faith is trust
Faith must go from “I believe He exists” to “I trust Him with my life.”
Faith must go from “I believe He exists” to “I trust Him with my life.”
Even when it doesn’t go the way we want it to go.
story of Chris’s dad… had surgery but doctor said he would never smile, eat or speak… he was eating, talking, smiling … just like normal.
or
Sister Radke healing
Here is what I know…
18 Yes, and the Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
Which one is He going to do — rescue me, or deliver me to heaven? Yes.
Either way, we're in a win-win situation. God is always doing good for us. That's faith
5. We need to be Praiseful.
5. We need to be Praiseful.
Finally, remember — the blind man praised God for what He had done.
Be full of praise, not just after the miracle, but while we're still on the journey, looking for and waiting on the miracle.
Gratitude is ultimate expression of your faith.
Gratitude is ultimate expression of your faith.
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Lord, I am going to thank you for what you have already done… I praise you whatever you do.
Wrap up -
Story of Larry Stockstill was dying in 2023 … They told is wife to call Hospice. He didn’t call hospice. He listened to 600 hours of faith teaching and now he is healed… no medical explanation.
I believe that over the next 21 days beginning next week, our faith can be built.
Prayer
There's also a spiritual healing available to every one of us — all our sins forgiven — when we receive Jesus. This is where faith begins.
Salvation Prayer.
Prayer Team Praying - Have worship team singing. Kathy, Jewel, Carol, Marty,
Body, relationships, emotions, finances…
Open both hands to the Lord…
Heal bodies right now
Restore marriages and families… children
Heal anxiety, fear and depression
Financial breakthrough - you are our provider.
