Faith | Building Faith through Honesty: Unshakeable Faith - Part 1

Springcreek Church - Garland, TX Podcast

BUILDING FAITH THROUGH HONESTY
Unshakeable Faith – Part 1
Springcreek Church | Senior Pastor Keith Stewart
April 14, 2024
#god #realspringcreekchurch #unshakeablefaith #faith #honesty #doubt #prayer #struggles #transparency
https://www.springcreekchurch.org/
The absolute, undeniable prerequisite in developing an unshakeable faith is honesty. God encourages us to be honest about our struggles – transparent with our doubts – because one of the greatest acts of faith is bringing our whole selves to God. If you’ve ever struggled with doubts in your spiritual life, this message was made for you.
SERIES | UNSHAKEABLE FAITH
When we’re going through a crisis and our faith is shaken, two things are always revealed: who you are and what you really believe. During times like these, many will depart from their faith. For faith to endure, it must be bigger than whatever it is you are facing. That’s what we’ll learn in the coming weeks, how to build an unshakeable faith.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. At any point in your spiritual life, have you struggled with doubt? If so, what sort of doubt was it? Did you receive any direction or help in addressing it? What, if any, resolution have you come to regarding your doubt?
2. What stood out to you most in today’s message? How did it impact you? Challenge you? Comfort you? Or trouble you?
3. Clearly, Jesus had compassion on doubters. Take some time to review the three characters Pastor Keith mentioned in the message that are prime examples of dealing with doubt; John the Baptist, the post-resurrection disciples, and Thomas. When churches treat doubt as sinful and shame those who experience it, they are not modeling their behavior after Christ. In the examples of John the Baptist and Thomas, we see Jesus responding directly to doubters. What is most meaningful to you about Jesus’ response? How does that shift your thinking when it comes to your struggles with doubts, disappointments, and failed expectations?
4. Faith is all about moving forward based on what I know not on what I don’t know or might not ever know. In other words, there will always be questions and aspects of our faith that are challenging to us. In those areas, we hold our questions and doubts in tension, hoping that one day we will grow to better understand it or that in the presence of God in the end, all things will be made clear. What sort of questions do you hold in tension?
5. The closing story about Charlotte Elliot (author of the hymn “Just as I Am”) is a powerful illustration of a person who suffered a great deal in life, never had definitive answers for her suffering, but believed anyway. At the same time, she never suppressed her questions and readily acknowledged her ongoing battle with doubts. What’s even more amazing is how the song she wrote talks openly about this internal struggle with doubts and has brought more people to Christ than practically all the sermons ever preached. What does that say to you?