1 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [upbeat music] 2 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 In touch with Dr. Charles Stanley 3 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ 4 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 through sound biblical teaching 5 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Next on In Touch, 6 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Levels of Faith in the Life of the believer 7 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When you face difficulties and trials 8 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and hardships in life, 9 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 how do you respond? Do you respond 10 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with doubt and fear and anxiety and fretting 11 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or do you respond by faith? 12 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And if you respond by faith, what level of faith? 13 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You say what do you mean by "What level of faith?" 14 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That's right, what level of faith? 15 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You say, "Well, how do you know what these levels are?" 16 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Well we're going to talk about it. 17 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 How do you distinguish one from the other? 18 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 What does it mean in my life? 19 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 How does it affect my life? 20 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Speaking of levels of faith, well we all operate 21 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 on one of three levels of faith. 22 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And the older we are the more faith we ought to have 23 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That's how we ought to go in our faith. 24 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But some people will stay all of their lives on the lowest level because 25 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Number one, maybe they don't even know that there are levels of faith. 26 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Secondly, too afraid to launch out. Too 27 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 fearful to trust God. And so what happens is 28 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you go through life and you miss His best 29 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because you never grow in your faith. 30 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And that's what I am going to talk about in this message, and that is the 31 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 levels of faith in the life of the believer. 32 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And it is very evident in scripture that faith is very, very important 33 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the eyes of God, and that He sees 34 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 faith as very important in our life. 35 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And so, what we want to talk about in this message 36 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is this: How to raise your faith level. 37 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 How to get in a position, where you and your relationship to God, or 38 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the way you trust Him will position you, listen, to be blessed to the maximum 39 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of your potential because 40 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the way you trust Him determines the way the blessings come. 41 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You don't trust Him? You don't get blessed. 42 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You trust Him? You get blessed. 43 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And the more you trust Him, and the way that you are able 44 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 walk in these levels of faith, 45 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the greater the blessings that come in your way. 46 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Think about how absolutely essential and important faith is. 47 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And let's think about it in this light: 48 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 If you look at the life of Jesus, look at His ministry, 49 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 here is what you discover. You discover 50 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that the theme of faith permeated the whole ministry 51 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of Jesus. No matter what. 52 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And I want to give you a few verses of scripture ... 53 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now, I won't have you turn to all of these because 54 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I have enough of them for you to turn to. 55 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But I want you to think about some of these verses for example, 56 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you find in the scriptures concerning 57 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 His healing ministry. Listen to what 58 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 He is continually saying, when He's confronting people, 59 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 whether they are paralyzed, whether they are blind, 60 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or whatever the situation may be. 61 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Listen, for example, in Matthew 9 62 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 He says to this lady, "Daughter, your faith has made you well." 63 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Then in Matthew 15, "O woman, your faith is great; 64 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 be it done unto you as you wish. 65 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And in the second chapter of Mark. When these fellas are 66 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 tearing up the roof of this man's house and letting 67 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 their friend down by ropes, 68 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so they could finally get to Jesus and be healed, 69 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Jesus said to them seeing their faith, 70 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "Son, your sins are forgiven.