[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 8th of October, 2017. Look for the video on our Vimeo channel: http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]
What does it mean to believe in Jesus? That’s the very foundation of our Christian faith, isn’t it, believing in Jesus as the Son of God. It’s all about John 3:16, right?
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
But what does it mean to believe in Jesus, really believe? Let’s see if our Bible can help answer that. Listen and follow along as I read from the Gospel account of the Apostle Mark, chapter 11 verses 12 through 14 and 20 through 24, from the New Living Translation of our Bible…
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
But what does it mean to believe in Jesus, really believe? Let’s see if our Bible can help answer that. Listen and follow along as I read from the Gospel account of the Apostle Mark, chapter 11 verses 12 through 14 and 20 through 24, from the New Living Translation of our Bible…
12 The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 He noticed a fig tree in full leaf a little way off, so He went over to see if He could find any figs. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. 14 Then Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat your fruit again!” And the disciples heard Him say it.
20 The next morning as they passed by the fig tree He had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. 21 Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree You cursed has withered and died!”
22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours."
--Mark 11:12-14; 20-24 (NLT)
Let us pray… Father God, we say we trust in You, but too often we look to ourselves and our own abilities and inabilities to decide on a course of action. Forgive us, please Father, when we fail to truly trust that You have our best interests at heart, that You can do anything and will see us through our difficulties. Speak into our hearts through Your Holy Spirit this morning and help us understand Your message. Show us Your will for our lives. In the blessed name of Your Son Jesus we pray. Amen.
Where is our faith? Do we believe miracles still occur? A little girl in a Confirmation class once defined a miracle as, "Something we cannot do, but God can." Orator and politician William Jennings Bryan once mused:
I was eating a piece of watermelon some months ago and was struck with its beauty. I took some of the seeds and weighed them and found that it would require some 5,000 seeds to weigh a pound. And then I applied mathematics to a forty-pound melon. One of these seeds, put into the ground, when warmed by the sun and moistened by the rain goes to work; it gathers from somewhere two hundred thousand times its own weight and, forcing this raw material through a tiny stem, constructs a watermelon. It covers the outside with a coating of green; inside of the green it puts a layer of white, and within the white a core of red, and all through the red it scatters seeds, each one capable of continuing the work of reproduction. I cannot explain the watermelon, but I eat it and enjoy it. Everything that grows tells a like story of infinite power. Why should I deny that a divine hand fed a multitude with a few loaves and fishes when I see hundreds of millions fed every year by a hand which converts the seeds scattered over the field into an abundant harvest? We know that food can be multiplied in a few months' time. Shall we deny the power of the Creator to eliminate the element of time, when we have gone so far in eliminating the element of space?
Have you ever thought about a watermelon quite like that? It really is mind-boggling how one tiny little seed can produce multiple large fruits, each with more seeds in it than I’d want to count! Can you even imagine a machine or device that could do that, reproducing itself in such a dramatic fashion with little or no human help? A watermelon can, and so can a tomato, a squash, a cucumber – all because God made them that way.
God can do anything, anytime. I think we do understand and accept that, deep down. But what we too often fail to accept is that He will do anything for us! Anything.
Where is our faith? Do we believe that what Jesus tells us is the truth? Then we should believe God will do anything for us, because Jesus told us exactly that, in verses 23 and 24 of our scripture reading. We just need to have real faith in God and believe that we have already received what we are asking for!
And the big one, the one that holds us back, is the condition that we must have no doubt. We cannot doubt God’s ability, nor His willingness to do what we ask of Him. Unfortunately, our head tells us that, yes, God can move a mountain if He wants to, but He’s not going to do it for me. Why should He? What have I done to deserve Him doing something so great just for me? That little seed of doubt, planted in our brains, soon reproduces itself, multiplied in our hearts. And we don’t get what we ask for because we don’t really believe we’ll get it.
There is another factor that can hold us back as well, something besides those seeds of doubt. James, the brother of Jesus, warns us about it in chapter 4 of his book, verses 2 and 3…
Wow! James pretty well just described a fairly large segment of our society today, didn’t he? We don’t have what we want, so we take it from someone else who does have it. If necessary, we’ll start a fight to get it from them. And if we have to kill them to get it… well, that’s tough for them. We do anything and everything but ask God, because we think – we reason – that we can only get things by our own strength, ability, skill, and effort. That, or because we just don’t think we’re worthy of God doing anything for us.
But then James points out that even if we do get desperate enough for what we want that we finally ask God for His help, we still won’t get it because we’re asking for all the wrong reasons! We only want what will give us pleasure.
Isn’t that one of Satan’s most enticing lures, the pleasures of this life? There’s all these things we want because they bring us pleasure, they make us feel good, at least for a time. The devil doesn’t mind making them available to us. But will God grant our request for something that simply gives us pleasure?
Well, God can do anything He wants to do for any reason He wants, but James says if our sole motivation is for pleasure, our heavenly Father will likely deny the request. Our prayers to God must be for worthwhile needs, must be asked for without any doubt of those prayers being answered, and asked as if we have already received them.
We started out this message talking about miracles. A miracle is simply God at work. Think of a watermelon seed. God can do and still does miracles.
When Jesus walked the earth among us, He performed miracles as signs of who and what He was. He turned water into wine, healed people of diseases and infirmities, cast out evil spirits, even raised the dead back to life. To Him, performing a miracle was a simple task, because He was, after all, God.
The little girl said that a miracle is something we can’t do but that God can. Well, Jesus might disagree with that. Listen to what He tells us in the Gospel account of the Apostle John, chapter 14, verses 12 and 13…
Where is our faith? Anyone – any one – who truly believes in and trusts Jesus can do the same miracles as He did, and even greater ones than those! All we have to do is ask God in Jesus’ name and Jesus will make it happen because of all the glory it will bring to God.
But we have to really believe. We must have complete and utter faith in God our Father and Jesus His Son. We can have no doubts whatsoever – none! We must not be selfish in our request. And our expectation of receiving what we ask for must be complete, so that we know we have already received what we are asking for even as we ask!
That is faith! That is trust! Trusting so much that God will grant our request that we thank Him for what we are asking for even as we pray for it!
Family, where is our faith? Is it fully in God, or do we think we have to do it on our own? I’m reminded of the pastor of a small church that needed a new roof and it would cost a bundle. The pastor stands in the pulpit one Sunday and says, “Folks, our new roof is going to cost over $50,000. The good news is that we have all the funds we need! The bad news is, the money is still in your pockets.”
Family, we’ve got to stop looking only to ourselves and our own resources. We’ve got to put our faith in God and ask for His help. We’ve got to really believe, and to act just like He has already given us what we need.
Ask in the name of Jesus so that the Father can be glorified by the work of His Son. Have faith in God. He still works miracles.
In the blessed name of Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, there is nothing You cannot do. Help us, please Father, to truly believe in You and Your power. Help us understand that You will exercise that great power on our behalf if we only have faith that You will. Help us to ask as if we have already received. Help us to rid ourselves of those nagging doubts that prevent You from working miracles through us. Forgive us, please God, when our faith is less than complete.
Please hear us now, Father, as we silently speak to You straight from our hearts, thanking You for Your great mercy, repenting of our disobedience and sin, and seeking Your forgiveness…
Lord Jesus, You want to glorify our heavenly Father by doing miraculous works through us. Help us, Lord, to stop thinking we have to do everything on our own power and ability. Rid us of those thoughts in our minds that affect our hearts and fill us with doubts. Forgive us for not fully trusting in You and our Father God.
This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith. Amen.
Where is our faith? Do we believe miracles still occur? A little girl in a Confirmation class once defined a miracle as, "Something we cannot do, but God can." Orator and politician William Jennings Bryan once mused:
I was eating a piece of watermelon some months ago and was struck with its beauty. I took some of the seeds and weighed them and found that it would require some 5,000 seeds to weigh a pound. And then I applied mathematics to a forty-pound melon. One of these seeds, put into the ground, when warmed by the sun and moistened by the rain goes to work; it gathers from somewhere two hundred thousand times its own weight and, forcing this raw material through a tiny stem, constructs a watermelon. It covers the outside with a coating of green; inside of the green it puts a layer of white, and within the white a core of red, and all through the red it scatters seeds, each one capable of continuing the work of reproduction. I cannot explain the watermelon, but I eat it and enjoy it. Everything that grows tells a like story of infinite power. Why should I deny that a divine hand fed a multitude with a few loaves and fishes when I see hundreds of millions fed every year by a hand which converts the seeds scattered over the field into an abundant harvest? We know that food can be multiplied in a few months' time. Shall we deny the power of the Creator to eliminate the element of time, when we have gone so far in eliminating the element of space?
Have you ever thought about a watermelon quite like that? It really is mind-boggling how one tiny little seed can produce multiple large fruits, each with more seeds in it than I’d want to count! Can you even imagine a machine or device that could do that, reproducing itself in such a dramatic fashion with little or no human help? A watermelon can, and so can a tomato, a squash, a cucumber – all because God made them that way.
God can do anything, anytime. I think we do understand and accept that, deep down. But what we too often fail to accept is that He will do anything for us! Anything.
Where is our faith? Do we believe that what Jesus tells us is the truth? Then we should believe God will do anything for us, because Jesus told us exactly that, in verses 23 and 24 of our scripture reading. We just need to have real faith in God and believe that we have already received what we are asking for!
And the big one, the one that holds us back, is the condition that we must have no doubt. We cannot doubt God’s ability, nor His willingness to do what we ask of Him. Unfortunately, our head tells us that, yes, God can move a mountain if He wants to, but He’s not going to do it for me. Why should He? What have I done to deserve Him doing something so great just for me? That little seed of doubt, planted in our brains, soon reproduces itself, multiplied in our hearts. And we don’t get what we ask for because we don’t really believe we’ll get it.
There is another factor that can hold us back as well, something besides those seeds of doubt. James, the brother of Jesus, warns us about it in chapter 4 of his book, verses 2 and 3…
2 You want what you don’t have, so you kill to get it. You long for what others have, and can’t afford it, so you start a fight to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you do ask you don’t get it because your whole aim is wrong — you want only what will give you pleasure.
--James 4:2-3 (TLB)
But then James points out that even if we do get desperate enough for what we want that we finally ask God for His help, we still won’t get it because we’re asking for all the wrong reasons! We only want what will give us pleasure.
Isn’t that one of Satan’s most enticing lures, the pleasures of this life? There’s all these things we want because they bring us pleasure, they make us feel good, at least for a time. The devil doesn’t mind making them available to us. But will God grant our request for something that simply gives us pleasure?
Well, God can do anything He wants to do for any reason He wants, but James says if our sole motivation is for pleasure, our heavenly Father will likely deny the request. Our prayers to God must be for worthwhile needs, must be asked for without any doubt of those prayers being answered, and asked as if we have already received them.
We started out this message talking about miracles. A miracle is simply God at work. Think of a watermelon seed. God can do and still does miracles.
When Jesus walked the earth among us, He performed miracles as signs of who and what He was. He turned water into wine, healed people of diseases and infirmities, cast out evil spirits, even raised the dead back to life. To Him, performing a miracle was a simple task, because He was, after all, God.
The little girl said that a miracle is something we can’t do but that God can. Well, Jesus might disagree with that. Listen to what He tells us in the Gospel account of the Apostle John, chapter 14, verses 12 and 13…
12-13 “In solemn truth I tell you, anyone believing in Me shall do the same miracles I have done, and even greater ones, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask Him for anything, using My name, and I will do it, for this will bring praise to the Father because of what I, the Son, will do for you.”
--John 14:12-13 (TLB)
But we have to really believe. We must have complete and utter faith in God our Father and Jesus His Son. We can have no doubts whatsoever – none! We must not be selfish in our request. And our expectation of receiving what we ask for must be complete, so that we know we have already received what we are asking for even as we ask!
That is faith! That is trust! Trusting so much that God will grant our request that we thank Him for what we are asking for even as we pray for it!
Family, where is our faith? Is it fully in God, or do we think we have to do it on our own? I’m reminded of the pastor of a small church that needed a new roof and it would cost a bundle. The pastor stands in the pulpit one Sunday and says, “Folks, our new roof is going to cost over $50,000. The good news is that we have all the funds we need! The bad news is, the money is still in your pockets.”
Family, we’ve got to stop looking only to ourselves and our own resources. We’ve got to put our faith in God and ask for His help. We’ve got to really believe, and to act just like He has already given us what we need.
Ask in the name of Jesus so that the Father can be glorified by the work of His Son. Have faith in God. He still works miracles.
In the blessed name of Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, there is nothing You cannot do. Help us, please Father, to truly believe in You and Your power. Help us understand that You will exercise that great power on our behalf if we only have faith that You will. Help us to ask as if we have already received. Help us to rid ourselves of those nagging doubts that prevent You from working miracles through us. Forgive us, please God, when our faith is less than complete.
Please hear us now, Father, as we silently speak to You straight from our hearts, thanking You for Your great mercy, repenting of our disobedience and sin, and seeking Your forgiveness…
Lord Jesus, You want to glorify our heavenly Father by doing miraculous works through us. Help us, Lord, to stop thinking we have to do everything on our own power and ability. Rid us of those thoughts in our minds that affect our hearts and fill us with doubts. Forgive us for not fully trusting in You and our Father God.
This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith. Amen.
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