Friday, November 21, 2008, Part 3

Hebrews 11

IDEA: There is no such entity as an unchallenged faith.

PURPOSE: To help listeners become aware that faith is often difficult, not because of persecution but because of doubts.

Do you remember when you became a Christian? Is there an advantage in growing up in a Christian home? Is there a disadvantage?

I. Does it seem to you at times that your faith was passed down to you along with your grandfather's watch?

Do you think that there MUST come a time in their lives when people who have grown up in a Christian environment must make their faith their own? How may that happen?

Can parents protect their children from having to have a crisis-of-faith experience in their lives?

II. What causes some Christians to go through a period when they experience a "crisis of faith"? What might precipitate that in their lives?

Some possibilities:

They may become disillusioned. They discover the frailties and sinfulness of professing Christians (Matthew 18:1-10).

Perhaps promises were made to them in the name of God that were not kept. Maybe they misunderstood what was said or there was an "over-claim" by youth leaders or pastors.

Sometimes "the facts of faith" don't measure up to what appear to be "the facts of life." Asaph, the author of Psalm 73, went through an experience like that and he admits he almost lost his faith.

Sometimes questions arise that people are not prepared to answer, and they assume that there are no adequate answers.

Sometimes people are bored. Boredom is a destroyer of life and hope. The Christian faith becomes "old hat" to them.

III. What might someone do who is going through that kind of crisis experience?