You’ve Got to Get Your Own; Building Stronger Faith for the Mount Up

This powerful teaching challenges us to examine the foundation of our faith and asks a crucial question: are we living on borrowed faith, or have we cultivated our own? Drawing from Philippians 2:12 and Ephesians 2:8-9, we're reminded that while salvation is a free gift received through faith—not earned by works—our spiritual maturity is demonstrated through how we live out that faith. The message uses a compelling analogy of sharing possessions we value, like cars or ice cream, to illustrate that faith, like these treasured items, must be personally owned. We cannot mount up on someone else's testimony or ride the coattails of our pastor's miracles. The Mount Up year isn't primarily about material blessings, but about building the kind of faith that produces the fruits of the Spirit in our toughest moments. When we choose patience over anger, forgiveness over revenge, and peace over adversity, we demonstrate that our faith has an engine and is moving. The teaching reframes 'working out our salvation' as maintaining our covenant relationship with God—staying 'married' to Him through our daily choices. Our faith is displayed not in what we say we believe, but in how we respond when life tests us. The Mount Up isn't coming—it's already here, manifesting every time we choose God's way over our natural reactions.