In today’s season opening podcast, [Season 11] our topic of focus is faith, growing faith, faith in God, that is. In previous seasons, we have recorded several podcasts on this subject. Several podcasts are just a soccer ball drop in the ocean for such a vast subject. There is no way one can fully cover this just a few thirty-minute sessions. To fully cover a topic, you must fully know it and, I do not lay claim to this. But the good news here is that faith comes by hearing. And since it does, by hearing we can continually develop and go beyond where we are. So, we need to talk about faith constantly. The Bible talks about it in huge batches and we are following suit. Talking about what God talks a lot about keeps us in a safe place. If you’re interested in what we’ve already discussed on the matter, check the links below and see that all things are possible to them that believe. Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible ¹ Abraham Lincoln understood this and chimed in by saying faith is to believe what we DO NOT SEE; and the reward of this [kind of] faith is to SEE what we believe.² That’s good — you get to see the thing you are believing for manifest in the physical realm. So faith in God, makes visible the invisible. You’ve got to admit that’s pretty exciting? That’s why our focus today is Why Growing in Faith Brings Amazing Results all on this week’s Light on Life.

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The Enormous Need for Believing Jesus Is The I AM

when you vocalize the Word, faith comes by hearing it and things happen. Click To Tweet

Read the Notes

You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This week’s call is:

Will you accept the New Years challenge of growing in faith so the gospel will go forward speedily?

Join the Conversation

Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.
This week’s question is:

Question: Share a testimony about how the Lord God has answered prayer in your life because of exceeding growing faith. Share your story in the comments section below.

Episode Resources:

We are currently teaching in the book of Second Thessalonians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

1. #S10-052: Why Powerful Prayer to Advance the Gospel Is Right [Podcast]
2. #S10-51: Reasons Why People Fail to Receive From God [Podcast]
3. #S10-50: Why You Shouldn’t Be Quickly Shaken by Prophetic Happenings [Podcast]
4. #S10-049: Why Jesus Proven Second Coming Produces Ironclad Hope
5. #S10-048: Why God’s Amazing Dynamic Deliverance Is Coming Your Way [Podcast]
6. #S10-047: What Does a Spiritually Healthy Jesus Follower Look Like to God? [Podcast]
7. #S10-046: Why Repetition Is a Vital Need for Godly Spiritual Growth [Podcast]

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 47 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 42 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic, you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com

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Prayer

Let’s pray.

Father God, you are so wise and lovely. Thank you for the opportunity to walk by faith. We appreciate being able to show that you are enough for our lives. All we need are the words from your mouth, for you are a God that cannot lie. Open our understanding today. Grant unto us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you. We thank you in advance for this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Podcast Notes

Growing in Faith: Review

2 Thessalonians 3:1–3 (ESV) — 1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, 2 and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.

• In a previous podcast, we talked about Paul’s prayer request here in verse one.
• A plea that the Word of God would go forth with great speed and haste.
• We covered just how that works – it’s not that God’s Word itself needs a boost because, by its very nature, it runs swiftly.
• The Word itself is designed to deliver results quickly.
• Preach salvation and people will be saved.
• Teach on healing and people will be healed.
• Teach on the Baptism of the Spirit and you get the idea.
• Where this gets bogged down is in the need for laborers to carry this super-charged Word.
• If the Word stays in the Bible, nothing happens.
• But, when you vocalize the Word, faith comes by hearing it and things happen.
• These laborers have beautiful feet, the scriptures tell us.
• They are a must to carry the spoken message from heaven.
• That’s the great need Jesus told us to pray about.
• Messengers need to go forward into all the world unhindered.
• They need to be free to declare all the Word.
• Pray earnestly that the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers into His harvest.
• Remember, it’s His harvest, not yours.

Growing in Faith: The Truth about All Wicked Men

• Today, we move on to verse two in Second Thessalonians three.
• That is the second part of the prayer Paul asked these believers to pray.

Pray for us that we would be delivered from wicked and evil men for all men do not have faith.

• Paul’s opposition — the hinderances to His work came via faithless men.
• So, one thing is a cinch, evil men do not have faith.
• We’ve got that much figured out.
• Do you understand what ‘no faith’ means?
• It means ‘zero’ on the faith scale of 1 to 100.
• There’s a faith scale?
• Well, in one sense, yes and in another no.
• But since there are individuals with zero faith, who are those at the opposite end?
• Is there anyone who scores 100 on the faith scale?
• There was only one person who ever made a 100 — Jesus.
• Where does that leave the rest of us?
• Hopefully we are up on the scale.
• I mean, if you are a Jesus follower, you have faith.
• You must have it because faith is the only way to get saved.

Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV) — 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

• So think about this — by grace you’ve been saved.
• That means if you know Jesus, you already have faith for the biggest miracle a person could ever believe for.
• So you have faith — the question is at what level.

Growing in Faith: Levels

• Is it possible to measure faith?
• Yes, you can!
• Well, let’s look at the Word.
• The verses we will look at today are locaters.
• They will help you zero in on where we are.

Growing In Faith: Little Faith

Matthew 6:27–33 (ESV) — 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

• Notice the words ‘little faith.’
• The Word says if you are anxious about the necessities of life, then you have a little faith.
• The Greek for ‘of little faith’ is one word in the original language and it means exactly what it says — little faith or trust.
• So faith can be little.

Matthew 8:23–27 (ESV)— 23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

• There it is again — little faith.
• In Matthew 6, ‘little faith’ manifests as anxiety.
• In Matthew 8, ‘little faith’ is about fear of death.
• The Greek word ‘perishing’ is the one we want to look at and with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
• The word ‘perishing’ means to cause or experience destruction.
• Now, that pushes the bar even higher, doesn’t it?
• You might say, ‘Well, Lord, give us all a break here.’
• I mean, there has to be a little consternation involved facing death, wouldn’t you say?
• But that’s not how Jesus viewed this.
• Jesus said, ‘this is not home going time — all you needed to do is rebuke the storm.’
• Rebuke the storm? — We can do that?
• Per Jesus, you can and per the Son of God you should have.
• Fear must never factor into our lives.
• Your mission should you choose to accept it is to eradicate fear from your life.
• Heaven has no fear and the will of God is that you enjoy days of heaven on earth.

Matthew 6:9–10 (ESV) — 9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

• So, fear is a locator
• If you give in to fear, you will only operate in little faith.
• Fear diminishes your capacity to believe.
• How about it? — in this new year, take the limits off.
• Combat fear – rebuke it — resist its message.

Matthew 14:25–33 (ESV) — And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

• Here’s another example where the disciples exhibited little faith — again, you see this fear component involved.
• Peter is sinking.
• Fear puts a choke-hold on him.
• We read that and think that this is normal.
• It’s not normal.
• In God’s economy, fear is abnormal.
• It was never meant to be in style.  * The source of fear is demonic — it is rooted in sin.
• Adam and Eve had no fear.
• Fear entered via the Fall.
• When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, fear was one byproduct.
• Enter Jesus right?
• Enter the plan of God. * Jesus dealt with the same issue and since He did so, He also dealt with the byproduct.
• Fear, anxiety, worry were all nailed to the Cross.
• Now, you must wrap your head around this.
• If we are yielding to fear, if we are courting anxiety, if we are not trusting that the Lord will come through for us, that’s an indicator of little faith.
• Look at Peter’s reaction again — He is displaying fear right in Jesus’ presence.
• What does that say about his confidence in Jesus?
• What does it say about yours, or ours if engage in the same thing?
• So, growing in faith means we are growing in our ability to put anxiety in its place.
• Growing in faith means you’re identifying fear as an enemy and you fight that enemy, and resist it everywhere you see it in your life.
• Where are you in these things?

Growing in Faith: Trusting God for Daily Necessities

• Here’s another area that you want to monitor if you want to grow in faith.
• Trusting the Lord for daily necessities.

Matthew 16:5–12 (ESV) — 5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” 8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? 9 Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

• What’s the story here?
• The disciples witnessed a Jesus miracle – they had a front-row seat to the astounding miracle feeding of 5000 people with 5 loafs and 2 fish.
• The disciples saw the 12 baskets of bread and fish left over.
• They handled the food and served it.
• Do you understand what that means?
• The fish multiplied in their hands as they doled it out.
• The bread blossomed right in the basket.
• They handed out the last loaf and reached into the basket and lo-and-behold, there was another loaf.
• Repeatedly, up one row and down another — massive multiplication.
• A continuous miracle.
• How much time do you think it took to feed 5000 people?
• This was not a buffet style meal.
• Is that mind blowing to you?
• It is to me — this is super impressive.
• What an exhilarating day.
• If you were there, and you witnessed this, maybe even be a part of it, how many days would this miracle event sit on your head?
• I’m talking about the impact here.
• Now you are in this place of wonder, I have you traveling with the disciples here as the proverbial fly on the wall.
• You’re part of Jesus’ ministerial team and, guess what?
• There’s another Jesus’ meeting with a massive number of attendees.
• This time it’s not 5000 men besides women and children but 4000.
• The same scenario — these people have been in the meeting a long time and they need to eat.
• So, the same miracle occurs a second time!
• You understand, this feeding miracle occurred twice.
• Same thing here, up one roll down the other.
• Loaves and fish a plenty.
• Think on that for a bit! – 9000 people fed in these two meetings alone!
• This is the first century now — it’s not the 21st century where we have almost 8 billion people resident on the planet — We’re talking 9000 first century people.
• That’s a great number of people.
• These 12 disciples handled all their food — it passed through their hands.
• They would take a basket of fish, reach into it , they know there was only one left — they saw it — but the next time they reach in there, there’s another fish and another fish, and another one — on and on — over and over.
• This miraculous multiplication of fish occurred thousands of times.
• Bread the same way.
• And there wasn’t just enough to get by barely — you know God trying to be economical — there were basket loads left over.
• Almost the same MO here on the second occasion — 7 loaves, a few fish, and 7 baskets left over.
• That Jesus repeated this miracle twice is of huge importance.
• Bread was and is today a super big deal.
• I’m not talking Wonder bread, rye bread, pumpernickel bread, potato bread, French Bread, Naan bread, sourdough bread here — we could go on and on.
• The concept of bread aims directly at all that is necessary to sustain the will of God on earth.
• Men establish God’s will on the earth.
• They must eat.
• Men need fuel.
• That men eat is of utmost importance to God.
• That’s why Jesus told us not to worry or stress out about this area.

Matthew 6:25 (ESV) — 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

• The Father will move heaven and earth to see that you are fed.
• So then, why does hunger exist?
• We’ve already read about the answer.

For not all have faith.

• The Greek word faith is one we should look at and with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
• Faith is confidence in God.
• Faith is assurance in the Most High.
• It is the Greek word pistis.
• Hunger exists because men are faithless.

Growing in Faith: Worship and Daily Necessities

• Even worshipping God is not as vital as eating to sustain life.
• We can see this from the following passage in Mark’s gospel.

Mark 2:23–28 (ESV) — One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

• So you see, sustaining David and his men was more vital in God’s eyes than any sacred symbology represented by the Shew Bread.
• God did not make man for the Sabbath — it’s the other way around.
• Allow your thinking to elevate to this level of understanding what real religion is.
• The Father God showed through Jesus how necessary it was for a man to be sustained physically by using His very resources to make sure the needs of such a large crowd of people were met.
• And, He double emphasized this by performing the same miracle of feeding a vast multitude twice.
• Twice means emphasis.
• Emphasis means importance.
• The disciples were witness to both events and it should have marked their thinking pattern.
• Jesus’ expectation was for them to incorporate the lessons of provision these miracles showed.
• Now we come to the case at hand.
• Bread was a daily staple.
• Because it was, bread became a synonym for food itself and even the symbol for that which in any way might sustain physical life.

Deuteronomy 8:1–4 (ESV) — 1 “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.

• Did you hear that?
• Man shall not live by bread alone.
• Of course not, you need butter to go on your bread.
• You need to protein alongside your bread.
• Vegetables now come into view — you need those as well.
• And, you don’t just need it today — you need it every single day of your life.
• Yet having this truth, the disciples still came to the wrong conclusion when they realized they had forgotten to pack bread.
• And with that thought, here is the Historical Background of the Day.
• This background comes from the ‘Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible.’

Teachers sometimes delegated to particular disciples the task of procuring food for a journey.

• So, the disciples failed to do their job.
• They dropped the ball.
• The disciples quickly forgot the miracles of yesterday.
• So that’s little faith.
• But there’s another kind of faith, a faith you can and should aspire to.

Growing in Faith: Ever Increasing Faith

2 Thessalonians 1:3 (ESV) — We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.

• And with that thought, here is the Quote of the Day.

A little faith will bring your soul to heaven; a great faith will bring heaven to your soul. —Spurgeon

• It is possible to have a faith that grows abundantly.
• A faith that you have put to the test.
• A faith that refused to bow to fear, anxiety, and worry.
• It’s a faith that is ever increasing.
• Did you get anything out of this podcast?

Now, Father God, thank you for the start of yet another New Year. This will be a year where we rise against fear, anxiety, and worry. With your help, with your grace, with your mercy, we march forward in faith in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

• Why Growing in Faith Brings Amazing Results
• You guys have a great God week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

Why Jesus Shocking Bread of Life Statement is the Only Way to Heaven

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