TITLE: INCREASING FAITH

THEME: GOD’S WAY OF INCREASING OUR FAITH

TEXT: HEBREWS 11:1-26

Introduction: Whether this is your first or four-thousandth day as a Christian, or you aren’t sure you really
want to be a Christian yet, you’ve probably heard of this thing Christians call “faith.” What you might not be
sure of is why it’s such a big deal.

You’ll hear people talk about it when things are good: “I knew things would turn around if I just had faith!”

You’ll hear people recommend it when they’re not sure what to say: “I’m sorry you’re going through a rough
time. Just have faith.”

And, when others seem unfazed by life’s obstacles, they might tell you it’s because they “have faith.”

But what does that mean?

Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as "confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."

Faith is the result of believing the Gospel — the good news that Jesus died for our sin and made a way for us
to be right with God and spend eternity in heaven. When we allow the reality of the Gospel to affect every
part of our lives, it changes the way we think which changes how we behave.

Faith causes us to act on what we haven't experienced yet, to believe promises in the Bible that haven't been
fulfilled yet, and to trust God when our situations haven't changed yet.

Today, Just like Jesus’ disciple we want to have increasing faith. In Luke 17:5 the apostles said to Jesus, "Lord
increase our faith." How do we do that? I’d like to have more faith.

You’d like to have more faith. If that’s what pleases God, then we want to have more of it. The question is
how? If faith is what makes life rewarding & fulfilling how does God build our faith? He builds our faith by
putting it to the test, by trying it. Faith is like a muscle. When it’s stretched and pulled it develops. Our faith
develops as it is tested.

You don’t develop your faith by just setting on your blessed assurance in church.

James 1:3 says this "The testing of your faith develops perseverance so that you may be mature and
complete." The purpose of tests is that our faith, our perseverance, will grow and will become ever more
mature, complete and like Christ.

Did you realize that God is testing you every moment of your life? Every moment of the day your faith is being
tested. Every day God is providing you with faith building opportunities. The problem is most of us don’t
recognize them for what they are. We fail the test because we don’t even realize it is a test. We don’t even see
that God is trying to help us grow.

So if God wants us to live by faith, and if God wants to increase our faith by testing it, then the natural
question is: how does God do that? I want to give you three ways that God tests us to increase our faith.

I. THROUGH DIFFICULTIES
"It was by faith that Sarah together with Abraham was able to have a child,  even though they were too
old and Sarah was barren. Abraham believed that God would keep his promise. And so a whole nation
came from this one man, Abraham, who was  too old  to have any children—a nation with so many people
that, like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them." Heb. 11:11-12
(NLT)

That’s trials, problems, pressures, and difficult circumstances. Through all the stresses of life. There
is a difference between TEMPTATIONS and TRIALS. Temptations come from Satan. They come from
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the outside to make us weaker. Trials, on the other hand, come from our Father God to make us
stronger.

Listen to 1 Peter 1:6-7, "For a little while you have had to suffer great and all kinds of trials. These
have come so that your faith may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor
when Jesus Christ is revealed."
 The trials and the problems and the difficulties that come into your life come to test your faith
and to prove your faith. Nothing ever happens by accident in the life of a follower of Jesus
Christ.
 But nothing comes into your life without God’s permission. There are accidents in life. Of course
there are. But God uses them. Some problems God allows us are custom-made to test us. They
are just the right thing that we need to grow in the area that God needs us to grow in the most.

 Look at Jonah and the whale. God gave Jonah a custom made problem. At first, it overwhelmed
him. Sometimes God allows a problem that can threaten to swallow us up. When that happens
we are to say, "There’s nothing else to look at except the Lord." That’s how Jonah felt.
Jonah in 2:7 said, “When I lost all, I once again turned my thoughts to God.”

 If life were easy then it wouldn’t require any faith. If you could feel God all the time then you’d
just go by your feelings. But sometimes God removes His feelings -- the feelings of His presence
-- just so we learn to trust Him in the difficulties of life.

 Here’s a great verse when you’re going through tough times. Isaiah 48:10. "I have refined you
though not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction."

 What is the furnace of affliction? It’s when the heat is on. How are you doing in the furnace of
affliction? Are you feeling the heat right now? Have you felt it this past week? Are you under
pressure? Is it getting a little hot under the collar?

 The Bible frequently compares our problems and difficulties to a furnace. It’s compared to the
furnace of a refiner’s fire. The refiner heats it up so high that the gold and silver melt. All the
impurities are burned away.

 A silversmith was once asked, "How do you know when the impurities are burned away in the
silver?" He answered, "When I can see my reflection in the silver.” When God can
see His reflection in you then He knows that the impurities in your life have been burned away.

 The purpose of testing your faith is to help you to see whether or not your faith is real and how
strong that faith is.

Illustration: A jeweler gives as one of the surest tests for a true diamond what is called the water
test. An imitation stone is never ever so brilliant as a genuine stone. A genuine diamond placed in
water sparkles brilliantly although it’s under water. While the imitation is practically extinguished
as to its sparkle. Place one alongside the other in water and you’ll be able to pick out the real
diamond right away.

Application: So what should we do when that happens?

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 The Bible tells us. James 1:2-3 says, "Consider it pure joy... whenever you face trials of many kinds
because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."
 Why? Because you know that God is with you. God has a plan for you. He has a purpose for
your life. He’s going to help you through it. God’s purpose is greater than the pain or the
problem or the difficulty you are going through right now. If we want to learn to live by faith we
must learn to rejoice at all times and in all things.
 We’re to rejoice in the situation- whatever it is- if we are going to learn to live by faith.
 How quickly do you praise God when things go wrong? The Bible says "Rejoice in the Lord
always. And again I say rejoice." Why? Because God uses difficulties. He tests our faith. He
builds it not just in the easy times but also in the hard.

II. THROUGH DEMANDS

"It was  by faith  that Noah  built an ark  to save his family from the flood. He  obeyed  God, who warned him
about something that  had never happened before."    Heb. 11:7(NLT)

 God came to Noah one day and said, "Noah, I’ve got a demand. I want you to build an ark."
Now remember Noah lived in the middle of a desert. And God says I want you to build an ark
because there’s going to be a flood. The Bible says that until that time it had never rained.
Water came up from the ground as a mist. But it had never rained.
 Would you build an ark in the middle of a desert, when you’ve never seen rain or a flood, just
because God says so? Noah did. The Bible says, "By faith Noah built an ark."

 He asks us to do things that are seemingly impossible. In the New Testament there are over
1000 commands for believers to obey. Some of them seem inconvenient. Some of them seem
downright impossible.

 So what do we do when we have an impossible command? The issue at that moment is this:
“Who am I going to believe? Who is it I’m going to trust? Am I going to believe what God says to
do? Or am I going to believe what I think is right to do? All of the promises, all of the commands
are there to test us. Some seem simple, others more demanding.

 A command like "Don’t worry about anything." Have you ever struggled with that one? That can
be a tough one. Or a command like "Do good to your enemies." Or "Forgive other people." Or
"Be thankful in everything." Or “bless those who persecute you.”

 Every time God gives us a command in the Bible it is a demand that is placed on our life. It’s a
test. Like "Confess your faults to one another." That’s a test. The test is, am I going to trust
what God says to do? Am I going to do what He says is right? Am I going to trust my own
opinion? Or am I going to do what I believe is right in my own eyes?

 There are literally hundreds of examples in the Bible of people to whom God said, "Do this" and
they trusted Him. They had faith. Even though it didn’t make sense or even seemed impossible.
The people of Israel were on their way from Egypt, where they had been in captivity. They were
on their way to the Promised Land. On their way, God put a demand on their life.

 He gave them something called manna. It was a command. Manna was a bread like substance
that fell from the sky. They had to go out each morning to gather enough to eat. God said
here’s the command. All you can get is enough for that day Just today. Not tomorrow. Nothing
more. Ex. 16:4 reads, "The people are to go out each day and gather enough manna for that
day. In that way I will test them and see whether they will follow My instructions."
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  Israelites thoughts: “Just enough for today? Why can’t I gather enough for the week? It’d be
more convenient that way. It’d be a better use of my time that way. What if I get sick
tomorrow? What if I trip and hit my head on a rock and a snake bites me?”

 But that wasn’t the point. The point wasn’t does it make sense to you. The point was I want to
test you so that you’ll trust Me day by day. Follow My commands. I want to grow your faith.
That was the point.

 Often God asks us to do the impossible. Why? He wants to grow our faith.

 How about Abraham? He was seventy-five years old. God said, “I want to take you some- where
to make a difference in this world. I want you to go somewhere where you’ve never been.”
Abraham says, "Where exactly am I going?" God says, "I’ll tell you." Abraham says, “How am I
going to get there?" God says, “I’ll show you. Abraham says, "How will I know when I get
there?" God says, “When you get there I’ll tell you.”

 How would you do with a command like that? We might say, "God, could I Google that first?.
Let me input the coordinates into my GPS. Let me get a satellite view of that. Look at a
topographical map. Then I’m ready to follow Your directions."

 Faith is often a risk. When it’s a risk it means you can’t understand it all in advance. Why would
God do that? He’s not interested in making us comfortable. He wants to test and grow our
faith. So the Bible says in Heb. 11:8, “By faith Abraham obeyed and went.”

Application: God tests our faith. He does it through difficulties. But He also does it through
demands.
 If we want to learn to live by faith we must learn to not only rejoice continually. We have to
learn to obey immediately. Obey immediately. When God says it, we do it. Whether we
understand it or not, we do it. Whether it makes sense to us or not, we do it.
 WHY? Because we know it’s what God has asked us to do. That’s the test of faith. When God
tells us to do it in the Bible then we do it. How quickly do you do what God tells you to do?
That’s the question. Do you obey God just when it’s convenient? Do you do it when it hard? It
shouldn’t matter.

III. THROUGH DELAYS

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value
than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith Moses left
Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible." Heb.
11:24-27(NIV)

 If every prayer were immediately answered, if your every need were automatically met, if every
problem were instantly solved you wouldn’t need faith. Your faith wouldn’t need to be
stretched.

 But it is not that way. We have to wait on things. We hate to wait. We hate waiting lines. We
hate traffic. We hate everything about waiting.

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  Yet a large percent of our life is spent waiting. If we can’t learn how God wants to stretch and
grow our faith during times of waiting we miss out on many of the faith lessons that God wants
to teach us. The times He really grows us thru waiting are tests.

 Look at the exodus from Egypt. They could’ve walked to the Promised Land in two weeks. But it
ended up taking them 40 years. Why all the wasted time? Because God was more interested in
developing their faith than in getting them from point A to point B in the quickest way. So it
took forty years.

 They had to learn faith by waiting patiently on the Lord and His timing. The issue was not just
waiting. It was waiting patiently. With faith. With confidence and assurance.

 The Bible says in Deuteronomy 8:2, "God led you all the way in the desert these forty years to
test you in order to know what was in your heart."

 That’s what happens in times of waiting. In times of waiting we get to see what God sees. It
gives us time to examine our hearts. Do you ever find yourself in situations where you feel like
you’re in a hurry and you get the definite idea that God is not in a hurry. It happens all the time.
Why? Because God is more interested in growing our faith than anything else.

 But sometimes we start asking the ’when’ questions while we’re waiting.
 When is my marriage going to get better?
 When is my life going to turn around?
 How long is it going to take until I get well?
 When am I going to find just the right job?

Illustration: Are we there yet?

Application: Some of you are waiting on something right now. Maybe you’ve been waiting for a long
time. While you’re waiting God is there. He does not leave you alone. It just may be a test. Because
God does use difficulties and demands. He also uses delays to build our faith.

 This is Isaiah 64:4 "God acts on behalf of those who wait for Him." It pays to be patient.

 Just remember this: while you are waiting God is working. You’re not waiting alone. Waiting in
faith knows that God is working. God is doing things behind the scenes. He is doing things in
your heart and other people’s hearts that you cannot even see.

Conclusion: So what’s the faith lesson? If we really want to learn to live by faith we’ve got to learn to rejoice at
all times and in all things despite of all difficulties. We are to learn to obey immediately when we hear God’s
commands. We must learn to wait patiently.

Today, if it your first time to come to church or heard this message and you want to have increasing faith
through these tests in your life. Invite Jesus to come in to your life.

You heard and understood the message, and God placed in your heart today the seed.

We cannot live our life without faith in God.

Hebrews 11: 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He
is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
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