Joh_14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Have you ever visited a church where you felt like you had gone to a Circus instead of a Christian Fellowship?
The preacher was stomping and snorting like a Brahma bull, folks were jumping up and shouting, running around the sanctuary, etc, etc. Ya, I felt a bit empty and embarrassed. I suppose there is a place and time for folks to share their excitement for God and what he has done in such a manner, but Sunday morning public worship service, aint it. Even Paul had a few things to say about that kind of public display, "1 Cor_14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order." I would be willing to say that Jesus is most likely embarrassed by how some believers act in the name of worshiping Him, especially when they go home and yell at the kids, kick the dog and gossip about their neighbor. Granted none of us are perfect and we all wear the title of hypocrite, but when things aren't done decently and in order, .... then Houston we have a problem.
Okay, but this is not what I want to chat about with you this evening.
What is on my heart is faith.
Faith is always on my heart because I always feel somewhat inadequate here. Jesus told us that if we had the faith of a mustard seed we could move a mountain and nothing would be impossible to us ( Mat 17:20). Perhaps it's my definition of "mountain" that's the problem. I have believed that my mountains are the problems of life, like bills, relationship issues, you know basically issues of life that seem insurmountable at times.
I believe that Jesus can do anything, but will He do it for me, and that's the real rub.
Andrew Wommack often says, " you believe that God will raise the dead for me, but if I ask you to pray for the dead man then it is all of a sudden different." His point is simple we have the belief that God will work through others, but that's where it ends and we believe he will not work through us.
We are afraid that we do not meet God's standard, whatever that is, and most of us have no clue what God's standard is!
We fear that the bad thought, the gossip, that moment of lust and the out burst of anger at a driver on the road, etc, etc disqualify s us from seeing demonstrations of God's Love for people that we pray for and ourselves.
Maybe that sin or character defect does create a hindrance, but I don't think so! What it does do is give Lucifer an opportunity to undermine your belief in Jesus. You see by you believing in your disqualification you are not believing in Jesus's qualification. You believe in the limit rather than the limitless. You do not believe that; "Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
So, now we come to the passage that I began this post with, John 14:12.
Jesus said "He that believes on Him, SHALL"..., not maybe , not if your good enough, but SHALL, "do the works I have done"..., and those are what???; heal the sick, give sight to the blind, cause the lame to walk, casting out demons, raising the dead, no one disagrees that these are the works that Jesus did, right! Jesus even took it a step further and said, "and greater works than these shall he do", meaning you, assuming you met the one criteria he gave, and that is you, " believe on Him."
No where does it say that we have to be good enough to warrant Jesus's attention to our prayers and requests.
Fact is the scriptures say we could never be good enough ( Romans 3:23) and that's why salvation is through belief on the Christ, on Jesus.
So, quit disqualifying yourself, your not good enough now or ever but that does not disqualify you from God's Love or demonstrations of it.
Does that mean we should continue in our old ways? Absolutely not!
What it does mean is that now by Christ power, released after Jesus accession, we can begin to overcome the mountains that have prevented us from experiencing His Love. Those Mountains are pride, fear, selfishness, lust, anger, sloth, gluttony and any other thought or behavior that is not of God.
I wrote the two Ten Commandments books with the above concepts in mind, none of us are good enough to be justified by the law which is why Christ came and justified us through his death, burial and resurrection. He then released the power of God into our lives that we might be able to overcome our mountains that have stood between His Love and us. All we have to do is believe on Jesus, then confess and repent of our mountains which the law will point out.
Our mountains are not barriers to His Love for us, they are the barriers that keep us from accepting His Love.
You Might be asking why I used a picture on this post of Elisha raising the ax head (2 Kings 6: 1 through 7). Elisha was amazing! He, through the power of God, did so much that had to be considered miracles; he helped a widow pay her debts and provide for her future with a single flask of olive oil, (2 Kings 4:1-7). He prophesied the birth of a child to a barren woman, then later resurrected from the dead that same child. He was able to prevent Israels army from being ambushed and prophesied the end of an enemies siege, the death of a scoffer, he healed a leper and more, even his bones after death caused a resurrection of some one else (2 Kings 13: 20 and 21).
Now what is really amazing about Elisha is he did all of this during the Old Covenant, before the Christ released His power ( the Holy Ghost ) upon all who Believe.
Elisha, Knew and Believed his covenant. He did not Doubt the provision of His God. As a result he was able to perform works as great as the Christ and even greater works. so please no more excuses. (and I am talking to me too.)
Yes you can! You can believe! You can overcome! I believe in You and I believe in the Christ in You. Your mountains are but grains of sand to His power and Love and His belief in you, but you must believe on Him, this is the requirement of our Covenant ( Hebrews 8:8 through 13 ) with the King of the Universe!
Again Thank-you to those who have purchased my books. My books are not meant to be a supplement to your study of scripture, but rather an enhancement, a means of sharing what I have learned in the hopes it will benefit your walk with Christ. You may get your copy or copies of my books here: Les's Books. Thank-you and May God Bless you and yours in all you do and say. Amen
Have you ever visited a church where you felt like you had gone to a Circus instead of a Christian Fellowship?
The preacher was stomping and snorting like a Brahma bull, folks were jumping up and shouting, running around the sanctuary, etc, etc. Ya, I felt a bit empty and embarrassed. I suppose there is a place and time for folks to share their excitement for God and what he has done in such a manner, but Sunday morning public worship service, aint it. Even Paul had a few things to say about that kind of public display, "1 Cor_14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order." I would be willing to say that Jesus is most likely embarrassed by how some believers act in the name of worshiping Him, especially when they go home and yell at the kids, kick the dog and gossip about their neighbor. Granted none of us are perfect and we all wear the title of hypocrite, but when things aren't done decently and in order, .... then Houston we have a problem.
Okay, but this is not what I want to chat about with you this evening.
What is on my heart is faith.
Faith is always on my heart because I always feel somewhat inadequate here. Jesus told us that if we had the faith of a mustard seed we could move a mountain and nothing would be impossible to us ( Mat 17:20). Perhaps it's my definition of "mountain" that's the problem. I have believed that my mountains are the problems of life, like bills, relationship issues, you know basically issues of life that seem insurmountable at times.
I believe that Jesus can do anything, but will He do it for me, and that's the real rub.
Andrew Wommack often says, " you believe that God will raise the dead for me, but if I ask you to pray for the dead man then it is all of a sudden different." His point is simple we have the belief that God will work through others, but that's where it ends and we believe he will not work through us.
We are afraid that we do not meet God's standard, whatever that is, and most of us have no clue what God's standard is!
We fear that the bad thought, the gossip, that moment of lust and the out burst of anger at a driver on the road, etc, etc disqualify s us from seeing demonstrations of God's Love for people that we pray for and ourselves.
Maybe that sin or character defect does create a hindrance, but I don't think so! What it does do is give Lucifer an opportunity to undermine your belief in Jesus. You see by you believing in your disqualification you are not believing in Jesus's qualification. You believe in the limit rather than the limitless. You do not believe that; "Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
So, now we come to the passage that I began this post with, John 14:12.
Jesus said "He that believes on Him, SHALL"..., not maybe , not if your good enough, but SHALL, "do the works I have done"..., and those are what???; heal the sick, give sight to the blind, cause the lame to walk, casting out demons, raising the dead, no one disagrees that these are the works that Jesus did, right! Jesus even took it a step further and said, "and greater works than these shall he do", meaning you, assuming you met the one criteria he gave, and that is you, " believe on Him."
No where does it say that we have to be good enough to warrant Jesus's attention to our prayers and requests.
Fact is the scriptures say we could never be good enough ( Romans 3:23) and that's why salvation is through belief on the Christ, on Jesus.
So, quit disqualifying yourself, your not good enough now or ever but that does not disqualify you from God's Love or demonstrations of it.
Does that mean we should continue in our old ways? Absolutely not!
What it does mean is that now by Christ power, released after Jesus accession, we can begin to overcome the mountains that have prevented us from experiencing His Love. Those Mountains are pride, fear, selfishness, lust, anger, sloth, gluttony and any other thought or behavior that is not of God.
I wrote the two Ten Commandments books with the above concepts in mind, none of us are good enough to be justified by the law which is why Christ came and justified us through his death, burial and resurrection. He then released the power of God into our lives that we might be able to overcome our mountains that have stood between His Love and us. All we have to do is believe on Jesus, then confess and repent of our mountains which the law will point out.
Our mountains are not barriers to His Love for us, they are the barriers that keep us from accepting His Love.
You Might be asking why I used a picture on this post of Elisha raising the ax head (2 Kings 6: 1 through 7). Elisha was amazing! He, through the power of God, did so much that had to be considered miracles; he helped a widow pay her debts and provide for her future with a single flask of olive oil, (2 Kings 4:1-7). He prophesied the birth of a child to a barren woman, then later resurrected from the dead that same child. He was able to prevent Israels army from being ambushed and prophesied the end of an enemies siege, the death of a scoffer, he healed a leper and more, even his bones after death caused a resurrection of some one else (2 Kings 13: 20 and 21).
Now what is really amazing about Elisha is he did all of this during the Old Covenant, before the Christ released His power ( the Holy Ghost ) upon all who Believe.
Elisha, Knew and Believed his covenant. He did not Doubt the provision of His God. As a result he was able to perform works as great as the Christ and even greater works. so please no more excuses. (and I am talking to me too.)
Yes you can! You can believe! You can overcome! I believe in You and I believe in the Christ in You. Your mountains are but grains of sand to His power and Love and His belief in you, but you must believe on Him, this is the requirement of our Covenant ( Hebrews 8:8 through 13 ) with the King of the Universe!
Again Thank-you to those who have purchased my books. My books are not meant to be a supplement to your study of scripture, but rather an enhancement, a means of sharing what I have learned in the hopes it will benefit your walk with Christ. You may get your copy or copies of my books here: Les's Books. Thank-you and May God Bless you and yours in all you do and say. Amen
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