Sermon Tone Analysis

Peter says that our faith is more precious than gold.

In fact, faith is the central concept of Christianity.

We can be called Christians only if we have faith.

Faith is related to every part of our Christian lives.

By faith we receive salvation.

Faith was one of the main thrusts of Jesus’ ministry.

In the Gospels, we continually find statements such as “Your faith has healed you.”

In Jesus’s hometown, He could not do mighty miracles because the people there lacked faith.

He wasn’t powerless to do so, but the atmosphere in that place prevented our Lord from exhibiting the power of faith.

However, whenever He found men and women of faith, He released His power, and miracles took place.

God assures us that if we believe, then nothing is impossible, and He withholds nothing.

We start out with Saving Faith.

This is the belief that Jesus can save us and it’s what draws us to Him and accept Him as our savior.

But many times in the Bible when folks don’t believe, Jesus rebukes them of having “little faith.”

I don’t want my faith to remain little and I’m sure you don’t as well.

My intentions and prayer that after today, you and I will raise our faith that it’s not little faith but that we and others can recognize it is growing faith.

For the entire time Jesus was on earth, there are only two recorded instances of Jesus being amazed!

The first instance is found in Mark 6:5-6.

The second instance is found in:

In the first place, Jesus was amazed because of a gross demonstration of unbelief.

In the second place Jesus was amazed because of a great demonstration of faith!

Which category of belief is Jesus amazed to see in your life today?

When I read about the two places in all of scripture where Jesus was amazed, I tell myself, “be like that Centurion and believe in Jesus so much, that when He looks over the whole world today, He is amazed because of your unprecedented degree of faith.”

I don’t ever want Jesus to look in my direction and then hang His head, amazed with my lack of faith.

So how do I grow my faith?

FAITH IS A LIVING, BOLD TRUST IN GOD’S GRACE… —MARTIN LUTHER

Faith is a living, bold trust in God’s grace, so certain of God’s favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it.

Such confidence and knowledge of God’s grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures.

4 Ways to Grow in Your Faith

God has dealt to every person a measure of faith

He wants you to GROW in Him! Growing in Him means growing from faith to faith

Grow Through Hearing the Word

“ I prayed for faith and thought that some day faith would come down and strike me like lightning.

But faith did not seem to come.

One day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

I had up to this time closed my Bible and prayed for faith.

I now opened my Bible and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since.”

Dwight L. Moody

If you want to grow in your faith, it starts by hearing, and that means feeding yourself with God’s Word.

When you hear God’s Word, it changes you.

It affects your worldview and alters the way you think.

Is this talking about brainwashing?

Yes—if brainwashing means washing your brain with the Word of God!

We want to see things the way God sees them, and we want to think the way He thinks.

The good news is, there’s an entire book filled with the way God thinks: the Bible.

Open your Bible and begin to read.

Get an audio recording of the Bible, and listen to it as you go to sleep, as you get ready in the morning, or as you drive in your car.

Get audio and video teaching from Bible teachers you can trust.

Grow Through Believing the Word

It’s one thing to hear the Word…it’s another to believe it.

You may have heard for years that Jesus is Lord.

You may have grown up in a Christian home and been taught that since you were old enough to understand what your parents were saying.

But something happened the day you believed it.

Everything changed.

“The old passed away and everything became new.”

Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (KJV, emphasis added).

You became a Christian from hearing—and believing—God’s Word.

That goes for every part of your Christian life.

When you read God’s Word, don’t hesitate to believe it.

If God said it, it doesn’t matter how you feel about it.

If God said it, it doesn’t matter what you’ve heard that’s contrary to it.

God’s Word trumps everything else.

You may be struggling with your health.

You may feel sick.

You may have gone to a church that says God doesn’t heal today.

What does God’s Word say?

It says:

“I am the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26).

“By his wounds you are healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

“[Jesus] healed all the sick among them” (Matthew 12:15).

If God’s Word says it, the matter is settled.

It’s time to believe it.

Grow Through Taking God’s Word

“But I’m still sick!” you may say.

Once you’ve heard God’s Word and made the decision to believe it, you need to make the decision to take it.

Take hold of the truth and never let go.

Taking it means putting God’s Word before your eyes and keeping it before your eyes.

Every day, speak that truth.

When you want to receive your healing, search through God’s Word and find verse after verse after verse about how God wants to heal you.

Highlight those verses.

Print them out.

Tape them on your mirror.

Add them as the home screen on your smartphone.

Speak them every day.

When you take God’s Word, the world may be playing tug of war with you, but you won’t let go of that truth!

Read it, believe it, take it and never let go no matter what comes your way!

Grow Through Acting on God’s Word

“Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead….

Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:17-18, NKJV).

It’s one thing to read, believe and take hold of something.

It’s another to act as though you believe it.

When you know that you know God has healed you—because that’s the loving God He is—it’s time to act like it.

Wake up in the morning and thank God for your healing.

You may feel sick; you may feel like not moving a muscle.

But don’t let your feelings stop you from acting on God’s Word.

You may not be able to do much yet, because sometimes it takes time to get the natural in line with the supernatural.

If someone tells you, “You look sick,” reply, “No, I’m doing great because by His stripes, I am healed!”

“I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.”

As you act upon His Word, you’re allowing it to grow in you, settle in you, become active and strong in your life.

Hearing.