Increase our Faith

I. Introduction:

II. Text: Luke 17:5-10

III. Must first have faith

A. Romans 10:17 – Comes from hearing the word of God

B. Hebrews 11:6 – Without faith it is impossible to please Him

C. Faith starts small but is intended to grow

D. Mustard seed is an extremely small seed. Within the seed is the potential for growth and the design for the tree. The seed will grow with nutrients, in the case of our faith, all things for life and growth comes from God.

E. The seed is supposed to grow; it is worthless if it does not.

F. Not bear fruit, cut down and cast into the fire.

G. Even small faith is powerful

H. Say to the tree, be moved and it will. Matthew 17:20-21 – Demon possessed boy, apostles could not cast out demon because of little faith that was weak. However, even if they had little faith, they could command the mountains to be moved into the sea.

I. Strong faith comes by trusting and keeping the word of God.

IV. “Lord I believe. Help my unbelief,” Mark 9:24.

A. Doubt is not the enemy of faith but a catalyst for its growth.

B. Someone said, “He who feeds his faith will starve his doubts to death.” Doubt often spurs someone to dig deeper for the truth, John 20:24-29.

C. Those who will not seek answers to their doubt will choke their faith and can ruin their lives.

D. Cannot lazily walk around and say, “I’m not sure what I believe about that.” We must seek answers from God’s word.

E. Jeremiah and the field

F. It is through weakness, that faith is made strong, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

G. We need not wait for obstacles to be removed to gain strong faith. We need strong faith to move the mountains out of our way.

V. Centurion’s example of great faith

VI. Faith of the sheep, Ps 23

VII. Must have service (7-10)

A. James 2 Faith/Works

B. Add to faith virtue, knowledge, self control

VIII. How do we increase our faith (summary)