Experiencing God
Lesson 10 Part 1
Crisis of Belief
Memory Verse:
Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) — 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.
1. Turning Point
a. Where the rubber meets the road.
i. This is “put up or shut up”
ii. Have you ever known exactly what God wanted you to do—but hesitated because it seemed impossible?
iii. Almost every believer has experienced this.
iv. The issue usually isn’t knowing God’s will.
v. The issue is deciding whether we trust Him enough to obey.
vi. “When God tells me what He wants to do through me, I will face a crisis of belief.”
b. God sized assignment
i. “When God invites you to join Him in His work, He has a God-sized assignment for you.”
ii. This is the kind of assignment that will fail unless God is helping you.
iii. There is example after example in scripture.
iv. “This is the crisis of belief when you must decide whether to believe God for what He wants to do through you.”
v. This is the point where a God sized faith is required.
vi. Some people are simply not willing to do that.
vii. You will be able to spot this lack of faith in your own walk but also in others.
viii. It is always framed with “we can’t” but what they are really saying is “God can’t”.
2. Crisis of Belief
a. Review the steps
i. God is always at work
ii. God pursues a love relationship
iii. God invites us to join Him in His purposes
iv. Then God speaks – Bible – prayer – circumstances – believers.
v. When God speaks that becomes a crisis of belief.
vi. “The word crisis comes from a Greek word that means decision or judgment.”
vii. A crisis of belief is not a calamity in your life but a turning point where you must make a decision.”
viii. This is not a one-time experience.
ix. It occurs on a regular basis.
b. Seems impossible
i. What some biblical examples that seemed impossible without God?
ii. _________________________________________________
iii. What is something God has asked you to do that has caused a crisis of belief in your life?
iv. __________________________________________________
v. My idea of a crisis of belief is a God sized assignment that requires God helping hand, guidance and wisdom. It is nothing that can be done in our own strength and abilities.
c. Biblical examples.
i. Joshua 6 and fall of Jericho. God sized task
ii. Judges 6 & 7 Gideon defeated the armies of Midian and Amalek.
iii. In 1 Chronicles 14:8-16 David asks God to help him defeat the Philistines.
iv. Peter catches a fish to pay the temple tax in Matt 17:24-27
d. Four truths
i. An encounter with God requires faith.
ii. Encounters with God are God-sized.
iii. What you do in response to God’s revelation (invitation) reveals what you believe about God.
iv. True faith requires action.
3. Encounters with God Require Faith
a. When God speaks
i. When he does it requires faith
ii. God is revealing His purposes, and ways and that requires faith.
iii. God sized assignments require God sized faith.
iv. Hebrews 11:1 says we are to believe to the unseen not just what we can see.
v. 2 Cor 5:7 says we are to walk by faith not by sight.
vi. Just a side note on this. There are lots of people prophesying that are fake.
b. Mustard seed faith
i. John 14:12 (NLT) — 12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.
ii. Matthew 17:20 (NLT) — 20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”
iii. 1 Corinthians 2:4–5 (NLT) — 4 And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. 5 I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.
iv. So much preaching and worship services are based on cleverness.
v. God’s wisdom and power far exceed anything humans can come up with.
vi. “Faith is confidence that what God promised or said will come to pass.”
vii. Satan can offer a counterfeit. Always make sure you faith is built on God and not a person.
c. Obedience indicates faith in God.
i. Disobedience often reveals a lack of faith.
ii. Self-centeredness will always get in the way.
iii. We will look at the assignment from human eyes.
iv. Mark 10:27 (NLT) — 27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”
v. There have been many things happen in this church that have only come about because faithful people believed God and God accomplish His purposes.
d. What God sized assignment has God spoke to you about?
