Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
Oh Friends these are some of the most important and meaningful words that our Saviour spoke when He walked this earth two thousand years ago. Why? Because of the nature of faith; what it stands for, and how it operates. The dictionary defines it as ‘reliance on, trust in, belief founded on authority.’ That’s the basic, everyday definition. Then it goes on to talk about Theological faith; which is ‘belief in religious doctrines, especially such as affects character and conduct, spiritual apprehension of divine truth apart from proof; a system of religious belief, like Christianity and Jewry.’ Oh Friends, it all comes right down to trust and belief, whether there’s proof or not of whatever you have faith in. Whether it’s secular or theological, faith engenders a very strong feeling of trust. Now hear this powerful quote on the subject: ‘Faith is a living and unshakeable confidence, a belief in the grace of God so assured that a man would die a thousand deaths for it.’ Wow! Yes my people, that’s real faith, real trust, real belief. It’s so certain, resolute and strong, free from doubt, immovable, steadfast and unchanging that a man would die many times on its behalf. Those words are attributed to Martin Luther, the German monk, one of the men who stood strong in their faith during the days of the Reformation, when the Protestant Church was born. It’s reputed that he set the ball rolling on October 31, 1517, when he nailed his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. In those days religion was the very basis of society. The Catholic Church was the arbiter of all, and ruled with an iron fist. But Martin refused to put up with the Church’s oppression and hypocrisy. He decided to base his faith on the Bible itself, not what the church taught, and stood up to them. To that end, he translated the Bible into German. That gave other reformers the idea and courage to translate the Bible into their own languages. And as the Good Lord would have it, the inventing of the printing press in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg finally made the Good Book available to all people, not just a handful of churchmen and nobles. Now that’s the kind of faith Jesus was talking about my Friends when He rebuked the disciples in Today’s Bit. It’s also the kind of faith we need to really and truly serve Jesus. The disciples obviously lacked it at that point in time, for when Jesus hungrily passed by the fig tree in the morning and saw only leaves on it, at a season when there should have been some fruit, He cursed it. ‘Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!’ (Mat.21:19-20) Although they’d spent much time with Jesus and saw all His miracles, they still didn’t get it. There was also the time He rebuked them after they asked why they couldn’t cast out a demon from an epileptic man. ‘Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.’ (Mat.17:20-21) Oh my people, Jesus says that even a small amount of faith in Him, like that of a tiny mustard seed, will enable us to do great things. The mustard seed is indeed small, however, with time, proper nurturing and belief, it produces stuff many times its original size. The same goes for us, but the starting point is always sure trust and strong belief in Him, cause it’s only through Him that we are able to do anything at all. In other words; ‘If ye have faith, and doubt not.’ Oh my Friends, those last two words are also very important in our Christian belief system, in fact in anything we attempt to do. Doubt will cause unbelief and fear, which will render our efforts useless. Note what James says: ‘A double- minded man is unstable in all his ways.’ (James 1:8) And later on he advises and admonishes: ‘Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded.’ (James 4:8) Yes my brethren, as believers, we can’t afford to waver or be unstable. We need to purge the fear, uncertainty and doubt from our minds and souls. And the only way to do that is to draw near to God, sincerely seek Him, for if we do that we’ll surely find Him. He’s just waiting for us to come to Him in faith. And as Bruh Paul says; ‘We walk by faith, not by sight.’ (2 Cor.5:7) We’ve never seen Jesus, but others did, and spread His Words as He commanded them. And we trust that they were telling the truth. Bruh Paul never saw Jesus in the flesh either, but he certainly felt His power when His awesome light on the road to Damascus blinded him. He was subsequently converted and went on to become the most vocal and outspoken of those spreading the gospel. Martin Luther also didn’t see Jesus in the flesh, but he was willing to give his life for Him. Oh Friends, time and space are against us, so we’ll continue this tomorrow. But let me leave us with some fitting words of promise and encouragement from our Saviour. He said them to Thomas, who only believed that He’d risen from the dead after he touched His wounds. ‘Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.’ (John 20:29) Please my Friends, please let us live our lives so we can be counted amongst that blessed group. Much LOVE!…faith can move mountains…only believe…
Oh Friends these are some of the most important and meaningful words that our Saviour spoke when He walked this earth two thousand years ago. Why? Because of the nature of faith; what it stands for, and how it operates. The dictionary defines it as ‘reliance on, trust in, belief founded on authority.’ That’s the basic, everyday definition. Then it goes on to talk about Theological faith; which is ‘belief in religious doctrines, especially such as affects character and conduct, spiritual apprehension of divine truth apart from proof; a system of religious belief, like Christianity and Jewry.’ Oh Friends, it all comes right down to trust and belief, whether there’s proof or not of whatever you have faith in. Whether it’s secular or theological, faith engenders a very strong feeling of trust. Now hear this powerful quote on the subject: ‘Faith is a living and unshakeable confidence, a belief in the grace of God so assured that a man would die a thousand deaths for it.’ Wow! Yes my people, that’s real faith, real trust, real belief. It’s so certain, resolute and strong, free from doubt, immovable, steadfast and unchanging that a man would die many times on its behalf. Those words are attributed to Martin Luther, the German monk, one of the men who stood strong in their faith during the days of the Reformation, when the Protestant Church was born. It’s reputed that he set the ball rolling on October 31, 1517, when he nailed his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. In those days religion was the very basis of society. The Catholic Church was the arbiter of all, and ruled with an iron fist. But Martin refused to put up with the Church’s oppression and hypocrisy. He decided to base his faith on the Bible itself, not what the church taught, and stood up to them. To that end, he translated the Bible into German. That gave other reformers the idea and courage to translate the Bible into their own languages. And as the Good Lord would have it, the inventing of the printing press in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg finally made the Good Book available to all people, not just a handful of churchmen and nobles. Now that’s the kind of faith Jesus was talking about my Friends when He rebuked the disciples in Today’s Bit. It’s also the kind of faith we need to really and truly serve Jesus. The disciples obviously lacked it at that point in time, for when Jesus hungrily passed by the fig tree in the morning and saw only leaves on it, at a season when there should have been some fruit, He cursed it. ‘Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!’ (Mat.21:19-20) Although they’d spent much time with Jesus and saw all His miracles, they still didn’t get it. There was also the time He rebuked them after they asked why they couldn’t cast out a demon from an epileptic man. ‘Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.’ (Mat.17:20-21) Oh my people, Jesus says that even a small amount of faith in Him, like that of a tiny mustard seed, will enable us to do great things. The mustard seed is indeed small, however, with time, proper nurturing and belief, it produces stuff many times its original size. The same goes for us, but the starting point is always sure trust and strong belief in Him, cause it’s only through Him that we are able to do anything at all. In other words; ‘If ye have faith, and doubt not.’ Oh my Friends, those last two words are also very important in our Christian belief system, in fact in anything we attempt to do. Doubt will cause unbelief and fear, which will render our efforts useless. Note what James says: ‘A double- minded man is unstable in all his ways.’ (James 1:8) And later on he advises and admonishes: ‘Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded.’ (James 4:8) Yes my brethren, as believers, we can’t afford to waver or be unstable. We need to purge the fear, uncertainty and doubt from our minds and souls. And the only way to do that is to draw near to God, sincerely seek Him, for if we do that we’ll surely find Him. He’s just waiting for us to come to Him in faith. And as Bruh Paul says; ‘We walk by faith, not by sight.’ (2 Cor.5:7) We’ve never seen Jesus, but others did, and spread His Words as He commanded them. And we trust that they were telling the truth. Bruh Paul never saw Jesus in the flesh either, but he certainly felt His power when His awesome light on the road to Damascus blinded him. He was subsequently converted and went on to become the most vocal and outspoken of those spreading the gospel. Martin Luther also didn’t see Jesus in the flesh, but he was willing to give his life for Him. Oh Friends, time and space are against us, so we’ll continue this tomorrow. But let me leave us with some fitting words of promise and encouragement from our Saviour. He said them to Thomas, who only believed that He’d risen from the dead after he touched His wounds. ‘Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.’ (John 20:29) Please my Friends, please let us live our lives so we can be counted amongst that blessed group. Much LOVE!…faith can move mountains…only believe…
SCRIP-BITS 