Increase my faith

8/22/19 By Jeannie L Horton Life Christian University student

Title: Increase my faith

Topic: How to increase your faith when raising a family

Introduction:

1. I have permission to share this story. This past summer, my daughter Naomi went to camp with the church. Naomi drove to the camp instead of taking the bus that was provided. When the camp was over, I assumed Naomi would leave at the appointed 11 AM time and would be home in 2 hours. I waited, and I waited, I then texted her to see when she would come home. She did not reply. I then called, and there was no answer. About one hour later, she called and let me know she was at the county fair with a friend. She said that her phone only had 8% battery life left. She also spoke to my husband let him know that the fair picks up after dark, and didn’t know exactly when she’d be home. I found out that the fairgrounds closed at midnight. Knowing her, I figured she’d stay that long. I kept texting her, asking when she was going to be home, and what her friend’s cell phone number was: she never let me know either. Her phone died. Midnight came, and I’m waiting up for her. 12:15 came, 12:30. No Naomi. About 12:40, I’m panicking, and I wake my husband Brett up. At 1 AM, he calls the police, and I drive to the fair to see if her car is there, it wasn’t. This whole time, I’m praying, worshiping God, and thanking Him for keeping her safe. When I get back, Brett lets me know we could put in a missing person report, but it would be helpful if we had the plate #. We looked and couldn’t find it. He goes to see if she’s at Shari’s or an ex-boyfriend’s. It was while he was gone that I briefly heard from God where she was, but I was too scared to believe it. My fear of the “what-ifs” were too intense. I lacked faith. God said, “She drove her friend home.” I woke my other daughter on Instagram. She was still at camp. I'm letting her know we didn’t know where Naomi was. It was 2:15 AM, and you can read on the messaging app, “Oh my God, she’s here.” And at that moment, I went to the driveway, and I fell to my knees, thanking God through tears. I said to her, “We were so worried, we called the police!” All she could do was tell me she’s sorry and that she lost the necklace that I got her for Christmas. She also told me that she had to drive her friend home, because her car was dead, yet she was nervous that I’d be mad at her for doing so. Her friend lived 45 minutes away. She locked her keys in the car when she got home with the engine on. The next day, I replaced the necklace and let her know that the necklace is replaceable, but she isn’t.

2. Raising a family is not easy. It is hard to maintain our faith when an adverse situation involves our family. I’ve had many situations that have tested my faith. I’ve prayed over my family many times, and I’ve said to God I trust You. But I admit, I still worry. I mean, it’s my family. God even spoke to me one day on the way to church. He said, “You don’t trust me, you’re too quick to take your prayers back by trying to intervene. Your family is safe and protected.” Because He is so good, He continues to be gracious to me in proving that He can be trusted. He has my family in His right hand. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 says, “But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you against the evil one.”

Proposition: Having faith of Biblical proportions is what Jesus taught His disciples about and what He wants us to have.

Interrogative sentence: How can we increase our faith, even when everything seems so wrong, even when our family is involved?

Transitional sentence: I get it, your child is being bullied at school, and you feel powerless to help. Your teenager says he will be home at 11 PM, but it’s midnight, and he’s not home. You can’t get a hold of him, and you’re a nervous wreck. We normally are okay; we can say, “God, I trust you!” We are even able to have faith for others. But when it is our own family, why do we lack faith? It is the same God that is in control, why is our situation any different? It isn’t. This morning we are going to look at the faith of Abraham when he was asked by God to kill his son Isaac. We’ll also look at what Jesus taught His disciples about faith in the book of Luke, and lastly, we’ll learn four ways of how we can increase our faith. Are you ready? Here we go.

I. FAITH OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS

 Abraham waited so long for his promised son Isaac. In Genesis 22, God tested Abraham’s faith when He told him to take Isaac to Moriah and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on a mountain. Now, I have to say the people from long ago got away with a lot. Even the idea and agreement, “Okay God, I’ll go and sacrifice my child,” would get us into a lot of trouble with the police. We’d end up on the evening news.” Now back to the story. Abraham agrees. He gets up the next day, taking firewood, his donkey, two servants and his son and goes to the mountain, a several day journey. On the third day, he tells the others to stay put. Abraham and Isaac were going to go a little further to worship but would be right back. He places the firewood on Isaac’s shoulder, and Abraham carried the fire and the knife. Isaac asks where the sheep was for the offering. I’m sorry, but red flag! Runaway kid is all I’m thinking. Abraham lets him know that the Lord will provide the sheep. I believe that Abraham had faith that the Lord wouldn’t possibly allow the promised child to die, that God would stop it. When they arrived at the mountain, Abraham built an altar. He laid Isaac on top of it, and just as Abraham picked up the knife to kill him, God innerves and stops him. God says in verse 12, “Don’t lay a hand on the boy! Do not harm him in any way, for now; I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.” Wow, just wow.

Abraham’s faith is incredible. He was willing to sacrifice his only son for God. That is how much He loved God and had placed Him above all things. I believe in this example, God was telling him, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” When Abraham said to Isaac, “God will provide the sheep,” he must have known deep down his son would be spared. God wants us to have the faith of Abraham. He wants us to trust Him at all times, even when a situation involves our family. 

God created us, and He created our earthly home. He didn’t just leave us to fend for ourselves. He hears our prayers and our cries. He collects our tears and knows how many hairs we have. He sends angels before us to protect us. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and was arrested, He told the armed men that He could have 12 legions of angels immediately for His protection. We can ask God for the same, and He would provide them, even 12 legions of angels. It says in Psalm 91:11, “For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.” We can thank Him for this promise.

Transition: I don’t know about you, but if I were Isaac, I’d be asking an aunt and uncle if I could stay with them after being taken up to a mountain, tied to an altar, and almost killed by my dad. Abraham remained faithful to God that He wasn’t going to ask him to kill his son, and they are both breathing a sigh of relief. God hears your prayers, and He wants to increase your faith. Next, we’ll learn from Luke 17 how Jesus increased the faith of His disciples after He was asked to do so.

2. When the apostles asked Jesus how they could increase their faith, He taught them.

           a. Jesus taught them about the mustard seed. It says in Luke 17:6, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you.” In the story of the mustard seed, Jesus is saying, you only need a small amount of faith, and God will accomplish big things in our belief. It is never us doing the work; it’s always God’s power. We can’t boast about ourselves, giving ourselves unjustly credit. It’s all God and His power! But, we need to speak the prayer, and then God will go to work.

b. In verse 7-10, we learn the parable of the servant. It says, “When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’ And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. In the same way, when you obey me, you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.” This parable showed me that we are unworthy servants of God’s goodness, mercy, and grace, but He gives it to us anyway. We are His children, and whether we deserve it or not, He’s going to bless us. I’ve had so many situations in my life that I was extremely confident that God was shaking His head at me in unbelief at my behavior and the situation that I got myself in. But, He still extended His hand out to save me. That’s who He is. He is good and gracious, genuinely faithful to us.

Transition: We learned about four ways that we can increase our faith. They were: speaking His Word, by experience, asking Him, and lastly through praise and worship.

3.  God is bigger than my unbelief. The question is asked in Romans 3:3, “True, some of them were unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful?” No, it doesn’t. God is always good and always faithful, even when we are not. So, how can we increase our faith, even when everything seems so wrong, even when our family is involved?

           a. We can increase our faith through God’s power when we speak His Word. Isaiah 55:11 says, “It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” God wants us to use His Word: to speak it over our situations, over our family, and others. His Word has the power to help us in so many ways. But we can’t use His Word if we don’t know it. Mathew 4:4 says, “People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Live your life speaking His Word. Speak it out. It will change all circumstances. Ask Him to increase your faith, and He will. Ask Him to give you wisdom. He will give it to you.

b. While I was preparing for this sermon, I was thinking about the ways that we increase our faith, and I thought about experience. With every situation where God answers our prayer, pulls through for us at the last second, mightily turns a situation around, or protects us from something dangerous, our faith in Him is increased, and this is what He wants. It says in the Word that if we can have faith as small as a mustard seed, He will move mountains. He wants us to come to the place in our life that we can say, “This is happening right now in my life, but my God is bigger than this situation. He is bigger than all of my situations. He is going to provide for me. God’s got this, and everything is alright.”

The night that I didn’t know where my daughter was, He spoke to me and told me where she was! This wasn’t a coincidence. It was God letting me know she was safe. She wasn’t making the best decisions since she didn’t call me with her friend’s phone, but God in His wonderful grace was protecting her. He loves me so much that He couldn’t stand to see me in so much distress; He spoke to me through my panic and tears. You don’t ever have to “strive” to hear His voice. He’ll speak to you when He wants to. 

c. We can ask Him to increase our faith and He will. God wants us to depend on Him. He wants us to be righteous people, and He wants us to be conformed more and more into His Son’s image so we can do His will that He has for us. But we can’t be conformed into His image nor can we do the will that He has for us if we don’t trust Him.

d. We can also increase our faith by raising a hallelujah. The lyrics to the popular song Raise a Hallelujah are this:

“I raise a hallelujah, in the presence of my enemies

 I raise a hallelujah, louder than the unbelief

 I raise a hallelujah, my weapon is a melody

 I raise a hallelujah, heaven comes to fight for me

I'm gonna sing, in the middle of the storm

 Louder and louder, you're gonna hear my praises roar

 Up from the ashes, hope will arise

 Death is defeated, the King is alive!” 

In the presence of our enemies, we should sing praises to God. Our praises to Him are louder than our unbelief; our praises to Him are a weapon used to fight against the enemy. Even in the midst of our storm, we shall sing a hallelujah to Him. He will hear it, and He will be glad. He will defeat our enemies, and He will rescue us. Psalm 22:3 says, “God inhabits the praises of His people.” He hears you when you cry out to Him, so worship Him.

Conclusion:

2 Timothy 2:13 says, “If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.” He is faithful and forever will be even when we are not. He will never leave nor forsake you. Say scriptures over your situation. His Word spoken in faith is a weapon; there is power in His Word. When you are facing adverse situations, raise a hallelujah. Give Him praise for who He is, and for loving you. Sing in the middle of the storm; sing in good and bad times. Never stop giving Him praises. He will increase your faith. Trust in Him