5 Things God Uses to Grow Your Faith — 2.17.19 Sermon

Some circumstances are not just hard; they are pivotal. This message argues that God leverages painful seasons to grow faith, and works through John 11 to make the case in its most uncomfortable form. The center of the teaching is Jesus' delay. Told that Lazarus, the one you love , is sick, Jesus stays two more days and lets him die. The Greek so that in verse 15 is the hinge: he was glad he was not there so that they may believe . Belief, in Jesus' economy, weighs more than even a healing, and Martha's exchange with him exposes how much bigger his claim is than her expectations. Drawing on James 1 and the shortest verse in Scripture, the application is honest rather than tidy: trials can drive us from God or, if we let them, mature a persevering faith while Jesus weeps alongside us.