Being Strengthened in the Faith
Sermon notes from Pastor Andy George at Crossroads Fellowship on how the gospel strengthens our faith by shaping our beliefs, desires, and actions.
Being Strengthened in the Faith
Pastor Andy George | Crossroads Fellowship
The gospel shapes the whole person: what we believe, what we desire, and how we live.
Being right is not enough
Have you ever been completely convinced that you were right, but handled the situation poorly?
Being right about the issue does not automatically mean we respond rightly to the person in front of us.
What does strengthened faith mean?
To be strengthened is to be established, confirmed, and made firm. As the church was being born, Paul and his companions wanted believers to become strong enough to stand.
This strengthening involves our whole lives:
- Head: right belief.
- Heart: right desires.
- Hands: right action.
37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark.
38 But Paul thought it best not to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work.
39 Their disagreement was so sharp that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus,
40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
41 And he traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
A warning: mission without relational alignment
Paul and Barnabas agreed on the gospel, the mission, and the need to strengthen the churches. They disagreed about bringing John Mark.
Paul was concerned about someone who had previously withdrawn from the work. Barnabas wanted to bring Mark with them. Both concerns were legitimate, but their sharp disagreement fractured their partnership.
We can be right about the mission and wrong about the relationship.
God redeems our failures
Luke does not declare Paul or Barnabas right. The sermon challenges their response as falling short of Christian love.
God continued his work despite their shortcomings. Later, Paul described Mark as useful for ministry.
God's ability to redeem our failures does not mean our failures are insignificant.
2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction.
3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.
4 So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but to all who crave His appearing.
9 Make every effort to come to me quickly,
10 because Demas, in his love of this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.
11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is useful to me in the ministry.
12 Tychicus, however, I have sent to Ephesus.
13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.
14 Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.
15 You too should beware of him, for he has vigorously opposed our message.
16 At my first defense, no one stood with me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be charged against them.
17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of the lion.
18 And the Lord will rescue me from every evil action and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
19 Greet Prisca and Aquila, as well as the household of Onesiphorus.
20 Erastus has remained at Corinth, and Trophimus I left sick in Miletus.
21 Make every effort to come to me before winter. Eubulus sends you greetings, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers.
22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all.
When preferences become divisions
Sometimes what we call conviction is pride. Sometimes what we call discernment is unresolved hurt. Sometimes protecting the mission becomes protecting ourselves.
We can allow secondary disagreements to create primary divisions, making our preferences more important than our relationships.
Being strengthened in faith means becoming more like Jesus, not merely becoming firmer in our positions.
1. Strengthened faith thinks according to the gospel
Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, but first had him circumcised. This followed the church's recognition that circumcision was not necessary for salvation.
The distinction matters: Timothy's circumcision was not about acceptance into God's family. It was about removing an unnecessary barrier to people hearing the gospel.
2 The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.
3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, so he took him and circumcised him on account of the Jews in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
4 As they went from town to town, they delivered the decisions handed down by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey.
5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.
Timothy and Titus: different situations
With Titus, Paul refused circumcision because people were treating it as necessary for acceptance by God.
With Timothy, circumcision removed a barrier to communicating the gospel among Jewish people.
Paul would not compromise the gospel, but he would surrender a preference for the sake of someone hearing it.
2 I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I spoke privately to those recognized as leaders, for fear that I was running or had already run in vain.
3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.
4 This issue arose because some false brothers had come in under false pretenses to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.
5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
6 But as for the highly esteemed—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism —those leaders added nothing to me.
7 On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted to preach the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.
8 For the One who was at work in Peter’s apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in my apostleship to the Gentiles.
9 And recognizing the grace that I had been given, James, Cephas, and John—those reputed to be pillars—gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.
10 They only asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
11 When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, because he stood to be condemned.
12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself, for fear of those in the circumcision group.
13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
14 When I saw that they were not walking in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
15 We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile “sinners”
16 know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
17 But if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves are found to be sinners, does that make Christ a minister of sin? Certainly not!
18 If I rebuild what I have already torn down, I prove myself to be a lawbreaker.
19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
21 I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, Christ died for nothing.
A filter for our preferences
- What does the gospel require?
- What does Christian freedom allow?
- What might love lead us to surrender for someone else?
Paul did not change the message. He adjusted his approach so that his preferences would not become an obstacle.
23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
Keep the gospel primary
There are truths the church must not surrender:
- Jesus is Lord.
- Salvation is by grace through faith alone.
- Christ died and bodily rose again.
- Scripture is authoritative.
- The gospel must be proclaimed so people can hear the good news.
Personal preferences must be held with humility.
Questions for our thinking
- Are my convictions ruling me, or my preferences?
- Am I pursuing truth or comfort?
- What actually matters most?
Right thinking keeps the gospel primary and holds personal preferences loosely.
2. Strengthened faith desires the purposes of God
Paul knew his calling to preach Christ, but he did not know every step of the journey.
He moved toward Asia, and the Holy Spirit prevented him. He attempted to enter Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not allow it. Then the Macedonian vision clarified where to go.
7 And when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit them.
8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.
9 During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
10 As soon as Paul had seen the vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Move faithfully; let God redirect
Paul kept taking steps toward what he believed God had asked him to do. As he moved, God clarified.
God often gives enough direction for the next right step, not the next ten.
A closed door does not necessarily mean we misunderstood God. Sometimes it is how he refines our understanding of obedience. A good opportunity is not automatically God's opportunity for us.
A closed door can be a gift
In the sermon, the preacher recalled applying to colleges in Idaho, Washington, and Florida. He expected to attend one of the first two, but only the Florida school accepted him.
There, his faith was shaped and his calling confirmed. What first looked like an unwanted direction became a place where he repeatedly saw God's faithfulness.
Obedience can shape desire
Right passion is not merely strong desire. It is desire surrendered to God's direction.
The preacher recalled reluctantly attending a senior-adult lunch as a young pastor. What began as obedience became a lasting love for ministry with seniors as they encouraged him and helped him grow.
Sometimes we wait for our hearts to change before obeying, while God intends to change our hearts through obedience.
Questions for our desires
- Where has God closed a door that you are still trying to force open?
- Where are you demanding complete clarity before taking the next faithful step?
- Where have your desires become more attached to your plans than to God's purposes?
3. Strengthened faith acts in obedient love
In Philippi, Paul went to the riverside and spoke with the women gathered there. Lydia listened, and the Lord opened her heart.
Paul did not merely obey by going to the right place. He obeyed by engaging the people God placed in front of him.
The mission was not just Macedonia. It was the person before him.
12 From there we went to the Roman colony of Philippi, the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river, where it was customary to find a place of prayer. After sitting down, we spoke to the women who had gathered there.
14 Among those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.
15 And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
Do what God has entrusted to you
We cannot save anyone, but we can share the gospel. We cannot change someone's heart, but we can love them.
We can invite people into our lives, serve them, pray with them, listen to them, and be present.
Do we see people as part of God's mission, or as interruptions to our own?
Obedience is often ordinary
Notice the people around you. Begin a conversation. Offer help. Invite someone into your life. Speak about Jesus naturally.
We can spend so much time asking God to reveal his will that we ignore the act of obedience already in front of us.
The sermon offers this counsel: Go until you get a no. If it is not sin, will not harm you or someone else, and you believe God may be calling you to it, take the step.
Action must remain rooted in love
The gospel changes how we treat people, use our possessions, and open our homes. It produces generosity, hospitality, service, and love.
Obedience is not an attempt to earn God's favor. It is a response to the God who has already given us everything.
Without love, even impressive spiritual activity becomes noise.
Questions for our actions
- Who has God placed in front of you?
- What conversation have you been avoiding?
- What act of service have you been postponing?
- What ordinary opportunity have you dismissed?
Where is God asking you to be an extension of his grace and love?
Head, heart, and hands together
A three-legged stool cannot stand firmly with a leg missing. Neither can our faith remain whole when belief, desire, and action are disconnected.
- Knowledge without love and action is not enough.
- Knowledge and passion without obedience are not enough.
- Loving activity without proclaiming Jesus leaves out the truth that changes lives.
The call is to be so deeply formed by Jesus that others recognize him in us.
What is out of alignment?
Our thinking is shaped by his truth. Our desires are surrendered to his purposes. Our actions become expressions of his love.
- Where have preferences won out over his truth?
- Where have your passions demanded your way instead of his?
- Where have you stopped yourself from expressing his love?
Ask God to form you into the image of Christ. This is the work of the Holy Spirit over a life of obedience.
An invitation to surrender
For those who have never accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, the sermon invites a response:
God, I have made my life about me and the things I wanted. I am out of alignment. I want to surrender my life to you. I want others to see you in me, not for my sake, but for yours. I want to offer others the truth of who you are.
This first step begins a journey with many more steps of faith.
One people in God
The service closed with Ephesians 4 sung over the congregation: a reminder that we are one people, shaped by the same Creator, for his glory.
The invitation was to let God build not just one segment of life, but its entirety.
Crossroads, walk in a manner worthy of your calling.
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
3 and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
