Welcome to the cultivating growth podcast where each week we discuss different ways in which we can grow as followers of Christ this week's topic Will be growing in our faith and how can we do that? Why should we do it with all that in mind? I'm excited about our conversation. Let's get right to it. 

Well faith is one of the most important component of being a follower of Christ in order to serve Him, in order to obey Him, and in order to lead others to Him. We have to be serious about being people of faith, and that's something that we see throughout Scripture, certainly throughout Jesus teaching.

As he highlights faith and as the rest of the New Testament writers highlight faith, it is something that all of us should give serious consideration to. And it's that topic that we're going to talk about today, growing in faith. And I'm going to kick us off with a passage that I know Jeremy loves, because you've used it several times in your sermons.

And it may be one that you had written down as well, but in Luke 17 and verse five, after Jesus has been talking to his disciples about some very serious topics, we see them responding by saying, Lord, increase our faith. And I've always been struck by that. And again, I've heard you use that passage several times, and it's a passage that I think is very fitting for a conversation about growing in faith.

Because even as Jesus disciples walked with Him each day, saw Him perform miracles, heard Him teach, they recognized a deep need to grow in their faith. And if they recognize that deep need to grow in their faith, I need to recognize that deep need. Within myself to grow in faith, and so we're gonna spend some time talking about that today.

So so Jeremy, let's start there  Why is it that the disciples recognized a need to ask the Lord to help them grow in their faith? What was it they were looking for there? Yeah, I mean you make a good point especially when it comes to you know faith and the the importance of it I mean it is All over scripture.

I mean, it is talked about over and over and over and over again, and it's alluded to so often, and Jesus even makes the point of how important it is. I mean, he'll point to when he has apostles or disciples that are struggling, and he makes mention of their lack of faith, or their little faith even, and so Jesus is constantly thinking about it, and so it's easy for us to understand that it is something important.

Sometimes when we think about the word faith, you know, we'll use the word Believe, or we'll use the word trust. I think for our discussion, I like the idea of trust a little bit better. You know, chances are, I mean, certainly for you and I, and for the most that will be listening, you know, to this podcast, are believers of God, are believers that He exists.

Now can we build upon that and grow that belief? Sure we can. But really, I think, for our discussion, it is this idea of trust. Trusting in God and growing in that trust. And that passage they made reference to  there in Luke certainly is that, right? Because Jesus is laying on them a difficult task, or what they seem as a difficult task, and they look at that and they think, Well, I'm just, I'm not able to do that.

on my own. I need a larger capacity to do that. And certainly Jesus is there to help. And so he's, they look to him to increase their faith or increase their capacity to trust or, you know, to increase their capacity to depend on God or Jesus. And I think in a lot of ways for the Believer in God, building or growing in your faith is, is really that idea to build your, your trust or your dependence upon God and really his will or his way.

You know, we, we talked often about how a lot of what Jesus teaches, a lot of what the Bible teaches in general can be seen as somewhat. countercultural in a lot of ways  and the idea of being dependent is just that we, we don't like typically the idea of being dependent on someone or something else, especially as Americans, we are we are ingrained with the notion that I can do everything I need myself.

I can take care of it myself. I don't need anybody else. That's the American way, right? And yet Jesus comes on the scene and he says, that's not the way of followers of mine. That's not how followers of God think. Followers of God recognize a dependency, a deep need for God. And as Christians, it's important that we're constantly growing in that area, that every day I'm reminding myself I have a deep need for God.

He's not just my friend. I need him. I need him in the decisions that I make. I need him in the relationships that I have with my wife, with my children, with my friends.  I need him at work. I need him everywhere. He is everything to me, and I need his presence in my life, and I am dependent upon him for everything that I am and everything that I have.

That really starts to get to why it's so important to grow in this area, because that is something we have to constantly be reminding ourselves of and training ourselves. And I think what the disciples represent there in Luke 17 and verse 5,  It is a need to ask God to help us to grow in this area. Talk to God about growing in faith and ask for his help in that.

And he will be faithful to answer just as he was for the disciples. As their faith continued to grow throughout Jesus's ministry and beyond. We see their growth, certainly from the time that they first encountered Christ all the way through the book of Acts and, and in the, the, the inspired writings that follow. 

Their faith grew consistently, and I think one of the reasons it did so is because they recognized that this, this increase can only come through God, and so they were faithful to ask Him to do just that for them, and I think it's something that we should do as well. Yeah, and I think an understanding, and I think one of the reasons certainly why, you know, you and I have chosen to kind of talk about this topic so early, In the, you know, in the podcast here, just the second episode, because, you know, there is an understanding that if I have a desire to grow in a lot of the other areas that will continue to talk about it as the weeks, you know, kind of go, if I, if I want to grow in those ways, I have to.

grow in my faith that all of those other things are standing upon that. And I mean, that's the passage in second Peter. I mean, that really famous growth passage, if you will, I'm sure it's one that we will continue to allude to you know, throughout this podcast when You have that image given of adding.

You're adding this, and then you're adding that, and then you're adding this. And you have that picture of building or growing.  Well, I've always been struck by, you're adding those things to faith, right? You're adding from the base at or the thing at the base, your foundation is your faith. And then listen, you can go back to your days as a, you know, as a child playing with Legos or playing with, you know, bricks or blocks or whatever the case may be, and you're wanting to build something.

You figure out pretty quick. If you want to go tall, your base has to be big. And the taller you go, the bigger your base needs to be. And you figure that out pretty quick. And for the Christian, it's no different. If you want to be able to grow in some of these other areas that we're going to talk about, or that Peter talks about in 2 Peter chapter 1,  Your faith has to be focused.

You've got to focus on your faith. And you've got to continually focus on your faith. Because there's a time, if you forget your faith, you won't be growing anymore. And if you want to continue to grow, you've got to continue to build that faith. And the point that you just made, that God is the key component to that growth, and understanding that, the earlier we get to that understanding, the better.

Yeah, we, you know, we'll talk about just over the, the course of this podcast, we'll talk to all, we'll talk often about the fact that if we're not growing, we're dying. I mean, essentially that that's not just the picture we see in scripture. I mean, that's kind of the human experience. All right, you're growing in different ways, and if you're not, that means you're decaying.

That means you're, you're, you're dying, essentially. And the same is true when it comes to something like the foundation of our faith. It's not something that we say, okay, I've got that foundation laid. Now I can move on to other things and neglect it and not worry about it because I got it figured out.

Well, it is the foundation, but it's a foundation that has to continue to grow just as you said, so that we can continue to reach new heights as a Christian. If I want to be more spiritually mature, then I need to increase my faith so that I can grow in other areas as well. And so it's something that when you're 15,  you know, that, that base of faith looks one way.

And when you're 35, it looks another way. And when you're 55, it looks a different way because it's, it's a, it's a exponential curve of growth for a Christian. At least it should be. That's what we should be aspiring for. And so if you're, if God blesses you with 90 years on this earth. Well, when you reach 90, your faith should be stronger than it was 20 years earlier because you're continuing to grow until the day that we die and we take our last breath, we're going to continue to grow in our faith.

And that comes through the communication with God that we've talked about in prayer. It comes to reading His Word and really making it a part of our lives, being with our brothers and sisters, worshiping God, praising Him. All of these different aspects of drawing near to God help increase our faith. And so it only makes sense that the longer I get to do that, the greater my faith is going to become.

But that's how we should look at it as Christians, is we've been given this wonderful opportunity to grow in faith for as long as God gives me breath. Yeah, and listen, we could full circle this thing back to where you started in Luke, you know, when we try to, we're trying to start to tackle that question of how do I do that, right?

How, you know, how do I do that? The apostles, they're literally with physical Jesus, they're able to turn to him and ask him, right? I mean, they're able to talk to him and then, then listen to him. But, you know, for us, it really comes down to much the same way. I mean, you have, you know, God giving to us that same kind of equation.

Now, you know, it's from Paul in the book of Romans in talking about faith that, you know, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It allows me to go to God's word, just like the apostles turned to Jesus and asked them.  to increase your faith, we can still do the same thing. We can turn to God through prayer.

We can turn to God through his word and ask, you know, increase our faith, increase my capacity to trust, you know, increase my awareness and dependence upon you, right? We can ask for those things as we go to him in prayer, as we study and we lean on him. By gaining a knowledge of who he is and what he's all about, that in turn is increasing our faith, that in turn allows me to increase in all of these other areas, but it all really, you know, flows back to that trust that we have in God.

One of the passages that I came across, and we can end with this in second Thessalonians chapter one, as Paul writes to the Christians in Thessalonica. I love what he says in verse three. He says, we are bound to thank God always for you brethren, as it is fitting, because Your faith grows exceedingly. I thought that was just a beautiful picture of Paul looking at a group of Christians and thanking God for them because their faith grows exceedingly.

And I would hope that that's the case for you and I, for the, the church here at Trader's Point or wherever you may worship, if you're listening to this. Would someone look at you and look at your brothers and sisters and say I'm thankful to God because your faith grows exceedingly. That's the hope that all of us should have.

And I hope that as we've talked about this today, maybe this has given you some things to think about. So that like the Christians in Thessalonica, your faith can continue to grow. 

Thank you for listening this week. If you haven't already done so, we'd appreciate it if you would take just a second to subscribe to the podcast. Whatever platform you're listening, rate and review the show so we can continue to spread the good news of Jesus widely and effectively as possible. Thanks again for joining us this week, and we'll talk again next week. 

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