Tag: gospel

Belief and God Working: The Two Go Hand In Hand

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MiscellaneousLeave a comment

This morning I was reading in Mark 6, where Jesus returns to his hometown, Nazareth. The people have heard of Jesus’ miracles and authoritative teaching, yet when he comes back home, they utter, “How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?…And they took offense at him” Mark 6:2-3.

Jesus replies that he is honored by people everywhere else except for his hometown, a reoccurring theme that has happened ever since the ancient prophets taught in Israel. The verse that struck me, however, was verse 5 and 6, “And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief.” This is the first time in Mark’s gospel that we see that Jesus’ power can be limited for those who do not believe. This is not to say that he could not physically do any miracle that he wanted, because, him being fully God, he had the power to do so. He simply could not bring himself to force his miracles on a hostile, skeptical audience.

Knowing myself, if I was in Jesus’ place, the Nazarenes’ skepticism would have actually prompted me to work miracles, to prove them wrong. Yet, this is another example of our Lord’s great humility. He has no desire to prove himself right, to put people to shame, or to prove them wrong by obvious miraculous works. Instead, he keeps teaching and preaching, drawing those to him who truly believe.

My sincere worry, though, is that other believers and myself sometimes become like Nazareth. How many times do we say ,”Well God doesn’t do that anymore,” or “Well I don’t think God would do that.” How many times do we offer our requests up to him, yet we know in our hearts that we doubt that he will do what we ask! How many times do we enter into a situation without first consulting him! How many times do we make a decision without first asking his guidance! I believe that the reasons we do such things is from a lack of belief. My heart aches to wonder how many times we have limited God and his power by our unbelief!

Do you doubt that God will provide for your family financially? Do you doubt that he can turn your brother, sister, son, daughter, or mother’s life around? Do you doubt that he can bring revival or healing in your church? Do you doubt that he can take your weary and tired heart, and set it ablaze for him? Do you doubt that he can reunite your family, or place you in the job that he wants you? Do you doubt that he can speak to you? Do you doubt that he can heal your cancer, give you a child, or draw your friend to salvation?

My friends! I beg you to please ask him to help our unbelief. An easy believism has plagued our society and culture, that has drawn us to use God as nothing but a cherry on the top of our lives. O, how we could feel his presence and see his miraculous hand if we would only believe!! We must draw ourselves close to him, through the reading of his Word and through prayer, with an open heart, saying, “Lord, help us to understand and to believe!” My friends, I ask you to start this journey with me! I will not stop until I feel the Lord’s presence and see him working! Pray for belief!

Mark 9:24, “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

“Heavenly Father, would you please work in our hearts and help us with our unbelief! O, how the inner longing of our hearts is to know you and to see you work in our lives! Do not let us be like your hometown, but lead us to a heightened, stronger belief in you and in your power! Do not withdraw your mighty hand from us O God! We need you to bring us to this belief, for on our own, we cannot come to you. Please strengthen us, speak to us by your Spirit, and prompt us to the reading of your Word and to prayer, that we might draw nearer to you, and that our faith may increase. Oh Lord, I beg you to help us with our unbelief!”

A.W. Tozer- Self-Sins

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MiscellaneousLeave a comment

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20, KJV)

To be specific, the self-sins are self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love and a host of others like them. They dwell too deep within us and are too much a part of our natures to come to our attention till the light of God is focused upon them. The grosser manifestations of these sins–egotism, exhibitionism, self-promotion–are strangely tolerated in Christian leaders, even in circles of impeccable orthodoxy.

They are so much in evidence as actually, for many people, to become identified with the gospel. I trust it is not a cynical observation to say that they appear these days to be a requisite for popularity in some sections of the church visible. Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ is currently so common as to excite little notice….

Self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God from us. It can be removed only in spiritual experience, never by mere instruction. We may as well try to instruct leprosy out of our system. There must be a work of God in destruction before we are free. We must invite the cross to do its deadly work within us. We must bring our self-sins to the cross for judgment.

“Oh Lord, do that ‘work of God in destruction’ within me today. I am indeed ‘crucified with Christ.’ I pray this morning that the cross would obliterate the self-sins in my life and let me live only for Jesus Christ and His glory. Amen.” (Tozer on Christian Leadership, November 15)

“It Is Finished.” Jesus vs. World Religions

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Miscellaneous1 Comment

Faith in Christ compared to every other world religion or belief system is amazing in that- one man and his life changes everything. Every other religion in the world spells D-O and is all about trying to do enough to please God. Whether it be keeping laws, praying certain times a day, refraining from foods, sharing your belief so often, or taking part in rituals or traditions, the main goal is to do enough good things to achieve eternal life. In the Bible, Romans 3:23 lets us know that this is not achievable because “ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Our faith in Jesus Christ is drastically different than any religion. Where every other religion says D-O, Jesus says ,”D-O-N-E.” His final words on the cross exhibit this beautiful truth: “It is finished,” (John 19:30). Jesus did what we could never do by living a perfectly obedient life to the Father’s will. In addition to this, He willingly laid down his life for us on the cross and by doing so He paid for all of our wickedness and sinfulness by taking the Father’s wrath upon himself. This was done so that “whoever calls on his name shall be saved (Romans 10:13).” One of my favorite examples of how our salvation is not about doing is found when Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a generous landowner Matthew 20:

In my own paraphrasing, this is what happens: A master goes out and hires a group of workers early in the morning and promises to pay them a denarius (a day’s typical wage.) Then the master went back out around 9:00am and picked up some more workers, and he did the same thing again at 12:00, 3:00, and then even 5:00. All of the workers worked until about 6:00pm, and each were given one denarius. The workers that had worked for twelve hours exclaimed,” these last have only worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us.” But the master replies, “Am I not allowed to do what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” (Matt. 20:15).

What a beautiful representation of the Gospel! When I have talked to some of my coworkers and friends who are nonbelievers about the Gospel, I have usually been asked, “So someone who sins their entire life….can have faith in Jesus the last year of their life and still be saved?” The answer is YES my friends! It simply does not make sense to those who have not been shown by the Holy Spirit. But I wonder, how many times have we acted like the men who worked the entire day..judging and thinking that we have done more, are more spiritual, and deserve more blessings and recognition because of our obedience, works, and “strength of faith”? Jesus tells his disciples after the parable, “So the last will be first, and the first last.” This is the great beauty that is found in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ! It is all about our faith in him, and not about what we have done or how long we have done it! Each believer will be rewarded with heaven, whether he is a Billy Graham or a murderer who has faith in Jesus in the last moments. Don’t think this last part is sounds fair? Take it up with Jesus, who tells the thief who had just asked Jesus to remember him in his kingdom this: “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise” Luke 23:43.

How beautiful is this! The man on the cross next to Jesus had spent his entire life in sin, but at the end of it, something was different. At the end of his life of rebellion and wickedness, he realized how depraved he was, which led to his realization of his need for a Savior. Regardless of his life experiences, his simple faith in Christ was enough for him to be given Jesus as his personal savior, and for him to be granted eternal life. My friend, this amazing love is at the door for you and me! Oh how he desires for us to come to Him, just like the thief, at the end of our rope and in desperate need of a Savior. Seek Him, and you will find Him. He longs to save us from the weariness of doing, and bring us into the fullness of joy that is found in resting in what he DID!

How can we not love, worship, and seek to know this amazing God! We no longer have to do, because it has already been done.  Trust in him, and him alone, because when Jesus said, “It is finished,” I promise you, HE MEANT IT!