Lesson 719

(Lesson 719)(08-08-13) Today's lesson on faith takes us to the example found in Matthew, 9:29. Our reference will involve Matthew 9:27-30, "And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, according to your faith be it unto you, and their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, see that no man know it."

In this example, Jesus used both the words "faith", and "believe", in His conversation with the blind men. Believing, by definition, is an exercise of faith. Ones faith is expressed through his willingness to "believe".

In this example, Jesus first asked the blind men, "Believe ye that I am able to do this?" After verifying that the men did indeed "BELIEVE", Jesus said "according to your FAITH be it unto you", after which both men received their sight.
Did the blind men heal themselves? NO!! The exercise of their faith allowed the power of God to heal them ("according to") that faith.

Jesus placed no further requirement on these men except that they not speak of what had happened.

There's some significance in Jesus' telling those men to "see that no man know it.", in that, further reading in this chapter tells us that they directly and immediately disobeyed what Jesus instructed them to do. Did they lose their sight again because of it? No. Therefore, one could easily assume from this demonstration, that disobedience is not tied to whether, or not, one maintains the fruits of ones faith.~

Lesson 718

(Lesson 718)(08-07-13) Today's Lesson takes us to Matthew 9:1-2, "And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee."

When Jesus recognized the demonstration of faith that was displayed by both the sick man and those who brought him ("Jesus seeing their faith") He said,"thy sins are forgiven thee", thereby healing the man.

There are two very important things we can learn from this text. The first is that sin is what causes all the problems in our daily lives here on earth, even our illnesses are brought on by sin. The second is that having FAITH in God through His Son Jesus Christ, accomplishes forgiveness of ALL sin, upon the exercise of that faith by merely asking.

There are those of us who say we have faith, but when push comes to shove, we rely on ourselves until it becomes overwhelmingly evident to us that we are not going to get the job done, then we turn to God as a last resort. That is not a demonstration of true faith!

Just as those disciples in Matt. 8:26, after walking along side Jesus on a day to day basis and being first hand witnesses to His awesome power, did not exercise faith during the storm prompting Jesus to ask, "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?"

Just as those scared disciples should have done, those of us who claim to believe and have faith in Jesus Christ should do, if what we are trying to do is within the perfect will of God, is to approach everything we confront KNOWING that we will get the job done because the power of God through Jesus Christ is behind us and WILL NOT allow us to fail.~

Lesson 717

(Lesson 717)(08-06-13) Today's lesson on faith takes us to Matthew 8:5-13, "And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour."

That Centurion demonstrated absolute faith in Jesus, recognizing that He was the Son of God with all the power of the Father. The Centurion knew Jesus did not need to go, or do, anything physically. He knew, by faith, that Jesus was God in the form of a man, and had the power to heal his servant from anywhere simply by willing the healing to be so. Which, we learn later in the quote, He did.
Jesus raised up the faith of the Centurion before His fellow Jews to scorn them for their own lack of Faith in Him, "Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel."

Jesus goes on to say that, because of that lack of faith among His own people, the Jews, He would give over the authority of the Kingdom (His Church) to the Gentiles, "And I say unto you, That many *(Gentiles) shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, *(The fathers of the Jews) in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom *(The Jews of Jesus' day) shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

*The words inclosed in parentheses, within the above quote, are not an actual part of what Jesus said, I added them to better clarify the intent.

Just as Jesus healed the Centurion's servant because of his unwavering faith, He stands ready to heal the sinful souls of all who will place that same unwavering faith in Him. "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Revelation 3:20.

It might seem that faith would come more easily to those who walked and talked with Jesus, watching Him perform miracle after miracle, like perhaps the Centurion. I don't believe that to be the case, I believe that through God's divine word, we are given an even clearer picture of the many miraculous things Jesus did and therefore it should be easier for us today to have faith, than it was for those who walked with Him.~

Lesson 716

(Lesson 716)(08-05-13) Today's lesson concerns the circumstances within which Jesus first invoked the word "faith". That usage appears in Matthew 6:30. For context, we will quote Matthew 6:19-34; "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

Herein, Jesus very clearly explains what the word faith truly means for those who might dare to claim it. Jesus demonstrates, that to actually have faith, we must exercise it in everything we undertake in life. To exercise faith, we must allow ourselves to be wholly dependent upon God, through that faith, for EVERYTHING, ALWAYS. NEVER worrying about what tomorrow might bring, or how we will prepare for it. Because if we do indeed have faith, we KNOW God will provide it all for us.

Does this mean we should just lie down and do nothing? No! We are to step forward and reach out for those things necessary to life, and the things that make us happy, because the effort of getting up and acting is also an exercise of our faith in that reaching out is a demonstration of faith. We are also to reach out for those things that simply make us happy and are not necessary to life because they too are a part of God's promise.

A perfect example of most of modern "Christianity" is found in James 4:2, "Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not."
We "ask not" because instead of exercising our faith, we rely on ourselves and demonstrate a lack of the absolute faith in God that assures that our prayer will be answered.

To me, the following are some of the most humbling words that are written in the gospel of Jesus Christ, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

How do we achieve "his righteousness"? Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Romans 4:4-5.~

Lesson 715

(Lesson 715)(08-14-13) The words 'faith or faithful' appear in the New Testament approximately one hundred times. Some grammatical form of the word 'believe' appears approximately three hundred seventy times. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is wholly dependent on the application of these two words. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9.
With any bible study it becomes very apparent that God always has and always will require faith and belief from those who seek His ultimate plan for the redemption of mankind.

In the old testament we find examples of faith that delivered many and some ultimately changed the face of the earth.

Noah demonstrated an awesome faith when he built the ark saving his family and all the creatures of the earth, he also suffered the ridicule of all those around him, simply on God's promise that the world would be destroyed by water.

Abraham's faith was such that he offered the life of his son Isaac to God knowing that God would provide something to ease his agony.

Job endured unthinkable misery and the loss of everything he owned, including his family, having faith that God, in the end, would make it all right. Because of Job's faith, God returned everything he had lost.
Moses demonstrated an awesome faith when he relocated an entire nation of people over the power of the Egyptian Pharaoh, simply through a promise given by God's voice from a mountain top. Through the power of his faith, Moses went on to part the sea, and provide an existence for the Hebrew people for forty years then lead them to the land God had promised.

There are many more examples of faith that are demonstrated in the old testament, and there are many truly great things that were accomplished through that faith.

As we undertake the study of faith and belief, and how we should apply those two words to our lives, lets do it having faith that in the end the Lord's will shall be done in all of us always.

Lesson 714

(Lesson 714)(08-03-13) Today we will begin a series of Lessons on "faith" and "belief", and what the New Testament application of those two terms demand of those of us who commit ourselves to them.

The most well known example of faith was demonstrated by Jesus, a virgin born human male, divinely ordained as God in the body and mind of a man, "the only begotten Son of God".

This same Jesus demonstrated absolute faith when he took it upon Himself to suffer and die a horrible death so that through His testimony and sacrifice, mankind could receive eternal redemption from the sin brought upon us by Adam.

Jesus perfectly demonstrated what the fruits of faith can be. Although He was personally confronted by Satan himself and offered vast kingdoms if He would only deny God, (temptations the magnitude of which you or I will ever have to endure.) and was threatened repeatedly and eventually crucified by His own people, His faith persevered to the end. Because of that absolute persevering faith, Jesus was resurrected after three days, just as God the Father had promised.
Jesus, by remaining faithful to the end, demonstrated to us that if we only we have faith in God, He will, through Jesus Christ, grant ANYTHING we will ever want.~

Lesson 713

(Lesson 713)(08-02-13) Today's is the last lesson in the series on the term "baptize" and it's grammatical variations. The last appearance of the term "baptism" is found in 1 Peter 3:21.

Our quote will include verses 18-22 of 1 Peter chapter 3, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him."

There are some who contend that because Peter, in the above quote, said, "eight souls were saved by water", and "baptism doth also now save us", one MUST be "baptized" (immersed) in water to attain eternal salvation. That contention is not, in any way, supported by the New Testament gospel as it concerns both "baptism" and eternal salvation.

Does "baptism" save the souls of those who accept it? Absolutely!! However, the soul saving "baptism" is that same "baptism" Jesus said He was about to endure in Luke 12:50, which says, "But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" Jesus was referring to the, at that time, soon to come sacrificial ordeal He would undergo to accomplish remission of sins for all who would place their faith in Him. That "baptism", in no way, exemplifies, a water "baptism".

One is saved by immersing oneself, by faith, into that "baptism" that Jesus afforded with His death, burial, and resurrection.

The term "baptism" as it appears in 1 Peter 3:21 refers to the immersion of Jesus Christ into His sin remitting sacrifice for all who will place their faith in Him unto the redemption of the eternal soul. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit", that act is the "baptism" that saves.~