The Fearful and The Faithful Ephesians 3:14-19

Introduction  Richness of our text Power in the inward man Rooted and grounded in love  Faithful are tested Old Testament (Hebrews 11:32-40) Christians in the New Testament  What makes the difference?

Things That Do Not  The love of God for me He loved us all (John 3:16; Romans 5:8, 9) If it were God’s love alone, then my failure is his fault  The grace or good pleasure of God It has come to all (Titus 2:11-14) How would we explain Paul’s “thorn in the flesh?” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

Things That Do Not  The support of other Christians We are to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2) However, brethren love both the faithful as well as the unfaithful Elders often have little time for the faithful (Hebrews 13:17)

Things That Do Not  Material prosperity Some teach a direct correlation Job’s friends tried to convince Job of it (Job 1, 2)  Admiration of the world Peer pressure is effective to a degree Yet, neither man nor his opinion is the measure (1 Corinthians 4:6-10)

The Depth of One’s Faith  This makes the difference One’s own faith (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:14, 15) “A strong person is a weak person leaning heavily on God.” (Billy Boyd) Experiences force us to look to Christ for strength (Ephesians 3:17; Philippians 4:13) Hope is our anchor (Hebrews 6:19)

The Depth of One’s Faith  How is it developed? Same way it began (Romans 10:17) Continued growth (1 Peter 2:2) Live it before others (Matthew 5:13-16)

Importance of Faithfulness  When parents were both active 93% of their children remained faithful  When only one parent was active 73% of their children remained faithful  When neither parent was active 6% of their children were

The Depth of One’s Faith  How is it developed? Same way it began (Romans 10:17) Continued growth (1 Peter 2:2) Live it before others (Matthew 5:13-16) Resist the effects of society (Romans 12:2) Distinguish between matters of faith and opinion (Romans 14) Otherwise, we bite and devour one another (Galatians 5:15)

The Depth of One’s Faith  We will face terrible events “Death out of sequence” Will we understand it? NO We must endure it (2 Timothy 2:12) Passing of time doesn’t heal Faith and trust in God does

Conclusion  Make preparations for hard times  Will you be fearful or faithful?  Are you even a Christian?