Growing Your Faith

This past Wednesday night we started our new class with Mark and myself co-teaching. We have never done that before, but I hope it will be beneficial to your study of God's word. We paused our study for a moment to discuss reaching out to new converts which I think is a good discussion, and I hope you are thinking about and looking for opportunities to do that. That caused us to miss out on the last part of our class.

The author talks about increasing our faith. That seems to be a question that many have: how do I increase my faith? There have been many answers given and many things tried to various degrees of success. Have you ever thought about what God says about it? Romans 10:17 says, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." If the God of the universe says that is how our faith grows, who am I to question Him or teach something different? Even though that is what God says, it does not make it the popular choice of many.

May people find sitting down and studying the Bible boring. We have tv; who wants to read the Bible? We find it hard to understand. It can be. I find it hard to understand sometimes, and I have been doing this for a while. May I suggest starting in one of the gospels (not Revelation, lol). Find a good notepad to take notes, a good Bible dictionary to find the meaning of words, a good commentary to help when you have questions. Write those questions down and ask the elders. Take a chapter a day or set aside fifteen minutes until you get the hang of it. Find a quite place. Put your phone up. Pray before and after you study and ask for wisdom (James 1:5). Then look for opportunities to apply what you have read (James 1:22-25). Do you want your faith to grow? Get into the word of God, and it will help you grow, grow, grow.

Out With The Old

As we begin a new year, could I challenge you to get rid of some old things? Maybe you are thinking: Well, I do that every beginning of the year. I throw out the old, torn, broken things around the house so I can start using my new things. I want to challenge you to throw out your idols. You might be offended by that challenge. How dare you say I have idols in my home? I am not heathen; I am a Christian. You probably do not have any gold or wooden statues that you fall down and worship like they did in Athens (Acts 17). (If you do, repent and turn back to God.) The false god that I am talking about is self.

Why would I claim that we are our own gods? How do we make decisions? This is what I want. This is what I think. This makes me happy or feel good. This will make me look good. We could go on and on, but I hope you get my drift. Too often, the god we serve is self because we are not asking, “What does the true God want? How would He respond? What would He do? What would He command?”

How do I rid myself of this false god? First, I have a desire to please God. Second, I find out what pleases God (Ephesians 5:10). How do I know what pleases God? It is not what I think but what the Bible says. Third, I want to get into the Bible and learn it so that I know what God desires of me. Fourth, I want to take the Bible and apply it to my life (James 1:22). It reminds me of what Paul is saying in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (See 1 John 5:21)

Happy New Year!