Sermon seeds – Page 2

I’ve been meditating all week on Bible verses about faith. Here are a few:

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Heb. 11:1

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Heb. 11:6

So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Ro. 10:17

And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:22-24

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” Lk 17:5

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Tim. 4:7

So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. James 2:17 NLT

What I’m about to tell you is true. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, it is enough. Matthew 17:20

So, how is your faith today? Growing? Fading? Active? Passive?

Today as I was reflecting and preparing for Sunday’s message, I realized I’ve been pretty comfortable with where my faith has been. You can translate that as stagnant. I don’t feel good about either of those words. I went to front of our sanctuary and knelt in prayer. And wept.

I talk about the great things God wants to do in this church, in the lives of this body of believers, in this community…in me. But am I willing to step into that growth, willing to take on the changes for me? That’s scarey…and it’s all good. God’s promise and plan shouldn’t be a fearful thing.

So this revelation is going to cost me. Bonhoeffer wrote that there is no cheap grace…the same is true of faith.

This thing we call faith is the foundation for everything we build your spiritual life upon. We need to make sure it’s rock steady.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

This afternoon my grandson stopped by the office for a few minutes. There was about a twenty minute lag between when his mom needed to drop him off and his grandpa (my hub) got off work. We played a few points of air hockey and then went to my office where I was working on the sermon.

He asked what I was doing and when I told him his eyes lit up and he begged to help. Since I have taken this interim position, he has developed a new outlook on church. On Sunday he told his Sunday School teacher his favorite part of church was the preaching. (Go ahead, picture me grinning quite hugely.)

This afternoon, I told him I would love his help. I showed him the text (see above) and asked him to look at it and tell me what he thought the most important parts were. Let’s see if they match up with what you think stands out.

First he pointed out how cool it is that God has given us everything we need to follow him. Next he liked the part that God chose us. And finally, he felt it was pretty amazing that we get to share in the God’s nature…and we need to be sharing that.

Seems to me that preaches pretty well. Not bad for a nine year old.

Tag: Sermon seeds

Sermon Seeds: Faith and Foundation

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