Small Group Leaders Facilitation Worksheet:
Produced by Rhema Bible Church North:

THE BIRTHRIGHT OF FAITH

[Second of a four part series]

ICEBREAKER: The question I posed in our 1st session was;“Is faith an important principle in the Kingdom of God?”
What are your thoughts now?
[Allow one minute feedback from each person]

  1. What is Faith?
    INTRODUCTION:In our first session we looked at the principle of faith being our belief, trust and assurance in God that we have in our hearts, being released through the words of our mouth. We could say it
    another way; it is our God-given heartfelt confessions.

Faith is powerful and we should not take it lightly;

READ:Mark: 11v23-24
Verse 23For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,'
and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have
whatever he says.

Verse 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and
you will havethem.
1 John:5v14

Verse 14Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that IF we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

Verse 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him

  1. What is Faith?

Let us look at where this Faith comes from:

READ:Romans: 12v3

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

The Amplified Bible

For by the grace (unmerited favor of God) given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance], but to ratehis ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him.

The King James Bible

For through the grace given to me, I say, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highlythan he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure offaith.

QUESTION:What is this verse telling us?

[Allow for feedback]

CLARIFY:This is showing us that God, who is the Author and Completer of our FAITH [Hebrews: 12v2] has dealt/given to each of us NOT just A measure but THE measure of faith needful to complete our destiny In Him. He has invested that potential within each one of us, and that potential can grow.

READ:2 Peter: 1v2-5

Verse 2Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

Verse 3 as His divine power has given to us ALL THINGS that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

Verse 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may bepartakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Verse 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue [Thought – how can you ADD to something if you do not have it in the first place?], to virtue knowledge,

CLARIFY:So now we can see that we all have this God given potential to live by faith. Now the question might be raised as to when did this happen to us or is it yet to occur?

READ:1 Peter: 1v23
having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,

Ephesians: 2v8-9

Verse 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that NOT of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

Verse 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

QUESTION:What happened to us when we were born again?

[Allow for feedback]

READ:2 Corinthians:5v17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, HE ISa new creation; OLD THINGS have passed away; behold, ALL THINGS have become new.

CLARITY:Let us put all this together now;

  • When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour we did it by faith according to the principle set out in Roman: 10v9-10
  • We were born again of the incorruptible seed which is the word of God.
  • We were born again through faith and that was given to us as a gift by God Himself.
  • When we were born again it was our spirits that were recreated!
  • When our spirit man was recreated he was recreated with the God given measure of faith to fulfill to fulfill our destiny.

QUESTION:Can you begin to see the miracle of the new birth yet?

[Allow for feedback on the unseen miracle of the new recreated spirit man at the new birth]

READ:Hebrews: 11v6

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that Heis a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

A couple of points here;

  1. If we are ever to please our Heavenly Father we must/need/have to live by faith!
  2. BUT it would be very unfair AND unjust of God to demand something from us that we are not able to attain to.
  3. UNLESS He has given us the potential of fulfilling it, BECAUSE he IS the Author AND Finisher of our faith, AND we ARE His workmanship after all!

So the potential to please God is within us, ALL BECAUSE HE HAS PUT IT THERE!

  1. What is Faith?

Now that we have ascertained;

  1. The power and potential of faith
  2. That we require it to please God
  3. That God has already created us with the potential to live a faith filled life for His glory
  4. And that He would never demand from us that which He has not given us the potential to keep or complete.

QUESTION:We have to ask ourselves the question;

We now know HOW faith works but do we really know WHAT faith is???

Let us reflect on this for a moment.

[Allow for feedback, questions, clarification and then before you closeexplain that; “In our next meeting we will be looking at this in detail”.]

Produced by Rhema Bible Church North:
VM 20/02/12Page 1 of 4