"Increasing your measure of Faith"

By: Pastor Roy DeLaGarza –

 

Intro:

The Baseball hall of fame is in Cooperstown, New York; The Football Hall of fame is in Canton, Ohio. The Cowboy hall of fame is in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Chapter eleven of Hebrews is faith’s hall of fame or as I like to call it the "Hall of Faith". Faith is conviction that keeps you going. Believing that Isaiah 11:10-12 predicted it, Christopher Columbus believed that he wouldn’t die until he’s found a westward passage to Asia. I’m continuing the message that I began last week, "Increasing your measure of faith". Faith is important because without it you cannot please God, the Bible says. Faith is illustrated in something funny I read. Whether you are a basketball fan or not, you are probably familiar with the name Larry Bird-the former basketball great of the Boston Celtics. During a retirement party for Larry Bird in Boston Garden, former Celtics coach K.C. Jones told of diagramming a play on the sidelines, only to have Bird dismiss it, saying: "Get the ball to me and get everyone out of my way." Jones responded, "I’m the coach, and I will call the plays, Okay?" Then coach Jones turned to the other players and said, "Get the ball to Larry, and get out of his way." That is the church’s message of faith! "Give the ball to Jesus, put your life in his hands, and get out of the way!"

I want to review some of last week’s message quickly and then continue today. We must learn about faith, it is not simply believing! (Review last weeks message)

1. Faith is formed and developed through Trials and Tribulations

Faith, (remember) comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God but you can form and develop it. Have you ever prayed, "God develop my faith!" Do you know what you are asking for? Do you know what God uses to develop your faith? If you’re still in Hebrews turn to chapter 12. "I feel God here this morning. Some of us are getting ready to have our faith activated and see God do incredible things. Heb. 12:11 says, "No discipline seem pleasant at the time but painful, later on however it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace by those that have been trained by it." There’s that word trained again. It’s talking about disciplines, (trials) which come our way. Now go with me to the next book, James 1:1 "Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of any kind. Knowing that develops, perseverance." Nothing impresses me, or God, as the power to hang in there. That’s why I’m not so impressed by some of those massive meetings and crusades because I don’t often see those meetings produce lasting results. If they do, great! True men and women of God are those who make it over the long haul. And sometimes what produces that are the trials and tribulations of life. (Listen)

· Often the trials and problems we go through are needless. They are often the result of stupid decisions. What we sew we reap. Sometimes we say, "Oh, God is putting me through these difficult trials, but the truth is many times you put yourself in that situation because of a stupid decision you made.

· A lot of trials we could avoid if we just familiarized ourselves with the owners manual. (Remember my teaching about the two storms) Remember my "Big Wheels" story. I could have saved myself a lot of heartache if I would have read the directions. It only would have taken a few minutes.

· There are some people here, that if your life were a big wheel, your handlebars are on backwards. You are going the wrong way. You need to get a hold of the directions.

Jesus said, "In the world you shall have tribulations." They are part of life. There’s a bible verse you don’t have to name and claim. John 16:33 just happens. Because you are alive. But then he goes on to say, but cheer up. Make a choice to rejoice! I have to work at this! Some people by nature are just happy. I’m like that because of Christ. I am happy!Some people are just pessimistic by nature. Like the person who put on their tombstone, "I told you I was sick". You may be a skeptic and rejoicing and being positive may not come natural to you.

· There are certain things that I don’t enjoy doing that God has me do that I really have to work at. Raising money, building, expanding. It’s great it’s fun, invigorating when finished, but the truth is, I would love it to be finished and not have to do the work part of raising money or asking for commitment to get it done.

· For me I have to make a choice to rejoice. Some of you, it’s natural. "Thank you, Lord for our new building and the county we have to deal with" I count that pure joy!

Look at what Peter says, in 1 Peter 1:7. Peter is basically saying, stop feeling sorry for yourself as if you’re the only one that goes through stuff. "Why Me?" Peter is like, "Oh, shut up, everyone goes through their stuff. You may be going through different stuff than me, but we all go through stuff. And don’t be so surprised at the stuff you go through. (Again some of it is because of our own stupid decisions) God will still teach us.

2. The testing described:

Not that you did anything wrong. – 1 Peter 1:7: "These have come (trials) so that, your faith of great worth than gold. (Faith is the currency of the kingdom) If you can learn to get that faith growing, it will bring to you the benefits of the kingdom. That is more precious than money.

· Here are the four tests we go through in our faith. Ready?

· The test of difficulty – Something has problems, always does. You know our church has never built from the bottom up. We have always redone, and remodeled existing buildings. I believe that is symbolic of our ministry to restore broken lives and remake them. God spoke to me about that. We have taken shattered lives and put humpty dumpty back together again. You have been remodeled too. This place may not be the Crystal Cathedral but it’s a pretty hip sanctuary.

· Your life, your marriage may not be the Crystal Cathedral of marriages yet, but your not where you were when you got here either.

· Demands – God asks you to do something impossible. Listen, when was the last time that God asked you to do something that was so huge that when you got finished you looked at it and said, "It had to be God!" I’m trying to stretch your faith. When was the last time you had to believe God for something so great that it had to be God?

o The great missionary to China Hudson Taylor said, "There are three phases to the work of God. Impossible, possible, and done! (I like that)

· Dollars – Money problems. These are to prove our faithfulness. Being faithful can only reveal itself when it is not practical to do so. (Don’t get me started on finances)

· Delays - Hebrews 6:12 says, "It is through faith and patience that we inherit the promises. Delays are not denials. Between every promise and every provision is a problem. Daniel, when he prayed; 21 days later had an angel showed up. The archangel Michael. (Not Travolta) He loves to fight. "By the way Daniel, the Lord heard your prayer 21 days ago but I was opposed by the prince of Persia. God hears you and gets on it right away, but often there is opposition. Opposing powers around. Maybe your prayer involves other people and God has to deal with them too.

· God perhaps has to get someone your praying about saved. Or God has to whisper in your bosses ear, "give ‘em a raise, give ‘em a raise" God has to deal with them, then suddenly BAM! The answer shows up.

· God wants to stir up your faith. God is going to do great things through us. He’s going to take us to the next level. The next level is not based on an external revival but inner faith based power.

You make the choice, God will make the change.