deepening your faith

Series Outline

•A Mile High and a Mile Wide Aren’t Enough.

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Series Outline

•A Mile High and a Mile Wide Aren’t Enough.•Deepening Your Faith in God.•Deepening Your Love of God.•Tapping into God’s Power.•Experiencing the “Fullness” of God.

Series Verses:Ephesians 3

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

Series Verses:Ephesians 3

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

Ephesians 3

19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Deepening Your Faith in God

First PointIn order to grow in faith, we need to allow God to work

on our fear problem.

Faith and Fear

“Your boat is whatever pulls you away from

the high adventure of

extreme discipleship.”John Ortberg

1 Peter 3 (NIV- 1984)

13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." 15a But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.

There are 366 “fear not” verses in the Bible – one for every day in

the year, including one for leap year!Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie

Former Chaplain to the U.S. Senate

Two Types of Fear

1.Physiological Fear System: An internal warning mechanism that alerts us to danger. (Fast system)John Ortberg

Two Types of Fear

2. Rational Fear System: A slower “reflective” system.

John Ortberg

Question

What “childish” or irrational fear

prevents you from “getting out of the boat” and serving

God?

Second PointIn order to grow in faith, we need to allow God to work

on our trust problem.

John 14:1

•Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. KJV

•"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. NIV

•μη ταρασσεσθω υμων η καρδια πιστευετε εις τον θεον και εις εμε πιστευετε

Is God Trustworthy?

“Fear has created more practicing heretics than

bad theology ever has, for it makes us live as though we serve a limited, finite, partially present, semi-

competent God.”

Every uncomfort-able step of

faith provides the opportunity

to build trust.

What about failure?

Your heart is revealed and your character is forged when life does not

turn out the way you planned.

Question

Can you think of a failure in your life which God used to grow you? Did your trust in

God ultimately increase, despite this failure?

“Failure is an inside job.  So is success.  If you want to achieve, you have to win the war in your thinking first.  You can't let the failure outside you get inside you.”

Third Point

In order to grow in faith, we need to allow God to

restore our hope.

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the

evidence of things not seen.

“Hope is simply faith directed toward the future.” (ISBE)

Hope vs. Optimism

“When I hope, I believe that God is at work to redeem all things regardless of how things happen to be turning out for me today.”

Two Laws that Govern Your Life

1.The Law of Cognition: You are what you think.

2.The Law of Exposure: Your mind will think most about what it is most exposed to.

Two Laws that Govern Your Life