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Cultivate Faithfulness

Cultivate Faithfulness

FAITHFULNESS

Cultivate Series Purpose: Learning how to partner with the Holy Spirit in our lives to grow godly spiritual fruit.
o It is important for us to remember that we can’t grow in the fruit of the Spirit without the Spirit!

Today we are talking about faithfulness.

Galatians 5:22-23 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

TO UNDERSTAND FAITHFULNESS, WE NEED TO FIRST UNDERSTAND FAITH.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

• The Greek word for faith is “pistis,” and it means “to BELIEVE.”1
o At the core of faith is belief! Have you ever tried to have faith in something you really didn’t believe in?

MAIN POINT: If we are going to be faithful in our relationship with God, it starts with us believing that God is who He says He is, that He has done what He said He would, and that He will continue to do what He promises to do in the future.

• Faithfulness means being committed—committed to a person or a thing regardless of circumstances.

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.

Genesis 6:12-13 12And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

• It took Noah around 70 years to build the ark. Imagine what people were thinking when they walked by and saw Noah building the world’s largest boat without a rain cloud in the sky!
• There is a reason that Noah is mentioned as one of the Faithful men of the Bible. He was committed to God! We are called to be committed not to a religion but to a person—to God—because of God’s commitment to us.

We can be faithfully committed to God because God has been faithfully committed to us!

Matthew 28:19-20 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

• Did you know that this promise still holds true for you and I today? God has proven Himself faithful!

Psalm 89:1-2 1I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. 2For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”

FAITHFULNESS MEANS BEING LOYAL.
• One of the most loyal Bible characters was David.
• David made a ton of mistakes! But his mistakes didn’t define him. He would faithfully return to God even after making some really poor decisions.
• In 1 Samuel 16, David is anointed king over Israel. This is a huge deal and David was only just a young man! But it would be 7 years before David would actually reign as king. During some of this time, David was running for his life.

1 Samuel 19:9-10 9Then a harmful spirit from the LORD came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. 10And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.
o David could have killed Saul multiple times, and he would have been justified. But he was faithful to God even when things weren’t going his way.

1 Samuel 24:2-7 2Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats’ Rocks. 3And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. 4And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 5And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 6He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the LORD’s anointed.” 7So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul.
o David’s priority was being faithful to the Lord even if it meant his life was in danger.

Being faithful is easy when everything is going our way! But what about when things aren’t going our way?

HOW CAN WE KNOW THAT WE’RE GROWING IN FAITHFULNESS? (THIS TAKES TIME!)
1. Our confidence and trust in God is growing. We are not easily shaken in our faith.
2. We recognize the faithfulness of God in our lives.
3. We are growing in our faithfulness to one another.

• We are not only called to be faithful to God. Did you know that we are called to be faithful to one another, as well? We are called to be committed to one another and to be loyal to one another!

1 John 4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND DISCUSS:
Passages to consider: Proverbs 3:3; Psalm 1:3; 3 John 1:3; Matthew 23:23
Icebreaker: What is something you do consistently? Do you have a morning or night routine? Do you have a rhythm for your favorite hobby or sports team?

  1. Something was significant in the sermon to you; share what that might be.
  2. Read a passage used in the sermon. What is it saying about faithfulness and God’s heart?
  3. What is important about faithfulness? A) Where have you experienced faithfulness? B) What can make trusting and faithfulness challenging?
  4. What impact would letting the Spirit cultivate faithfulness in your life have on your thoughts and actions? A) What relationships and situations might be affected? (Is there another fruit that God is asking you to pursue being cultivated in your life?)
  5. Read Hebrews 11:1-3,6 & 12:1-3. How do you fix your eyes on Jesus? A) What do you need to throw off or get untangled from?
  6. What are you doing differently because of this sermon series on Cultivate?

Try it! Read Hebrews 11.
Passages to prepare for next week, Cultivate! Week 9, Gentleness
This week, read: Proverbs 15:1; Proverbs 25:15; Isaiah 40