01-12-2020

Dr. E. Dale Locke, Rev. Trevor Johnston, Pastor Efrain Silva
Sermon Series: Best Year Yet
Week 2: Faith
English PDF file for printing: here
Para imprimir el archivo PDF en Español

1.    Keep practicing our memory verse for this sermon series - 2 Peter 1:3: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

2.    This sermon series is intended to help us to push out into deeper water and “add to our faith”.  What are some areas where you personally sense God wants you to go deeper?

3.    Read 2 Peter 1:1-8:
     “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: 2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

     3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

     5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What questions or comments come to your mind when you read this passage?

4.    What is “faith”?  How would you define faith?  If you were asked to say what the opposite of faith is, how would you answer? 

Faith isn’t a blind leap

5.    Mark Twain said, “Faith is trying harder to believe what you know ain’t so.”  Why do some people think this is what faith is about? 

6.    Some people think faith is believing something without any basis. But the Bible indicates that it’s wise to gather information.  If you don’t have some good reasons for what you believe, you could have just as well ended up in a strange cult. Jesus said we should love God – not just with our heart – but also “with our mind.”  (Luke 10:27: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”)  What are some reasons you have for believing the Christian faith?

7.    Read the following passages and discuss what they communicate about faith.  Hebrews 11:1-3:  “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.  This is what the ancients were commended for.  By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” Hebrews 11:6: “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.” 

Faith isn’t 100% Certainty

8.    Do you agree that doubt is an inescapable part of the human condition?  Why or why not? 

9.    What happens to a person who waits for 100% certainty before they will commit to anything? 

10. Read Jude 22 (NIV): “Be merciful to those who doubt….”  The Message version of that verse is: “Go easy on those who hesitate in the faith.”  What does this verse communicate to you?

11. What do we mean when we say that all people live by faith?

12. Doubt can actually help our faith grow – but it depends on how we handle it.  What makes doubt a hindrance to faith?  On the other hand, what makes it so doubt can become an opportunity to grow and deepen your faith?

Faith is Active Trust

13. James, the brother of Jesus, wrote in James 2:14-18, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.”

What does this passage add to your understanding of faith?  

14. Read the following passages, and talk about what else you learn about faith: 
Mark 5:36 – “Don’t be afraid.  Just believe”
Mark 4:40 – “Why are you so afraid?  Do you still have no faith?”
Hebrews 11:23 – “By faith By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”
Hebrews 11:27 – “By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.”