faith

Jesus said in Luke 17 that if you had faith the size of a mustard seed that you could tell a mulberry tree to move to the sea and it would obey you. Have you ever tried to move a tree before ? It's not easy. Last year I tried to move a small oleander out of our side yard and I couldn't do it. It took a large truck to move this thing after I had been digging for hours.

It seems like Jesus is saying: do you think this ____________ is impossible ? If you have faith... it can happen. I think I doubt to protect myself. I stay negative and pessimistic so I won't get my hopes up so that when it doesn't happen I can say : "well, I figured that..."

What builds your faith ? ( see Romans 10:17)

Faith comes from hearing...

and hearing by the word of Christ.

Application: how have you found ways to have Christ's word go through you ?

our stuff

In Luke 14, Jesus says that if you do not give up all your possessions, you cannot be His disciple.

What does this mean ?

me myself and I

I was thinking of Philippians 2 recently which talks about looking out for the interests of others and not just your own. So, I looked up some scripture that has to do with selfishness...



What are the explosives we use to destroy the tendency to act in a self seeking way ?


Explosive # 1 IDEAS

( Biblical ideas)



Biblical idea # 1 Jesus’ harshest condemnations were toward the Pharisees for being self indulgent.

“they clean the outside of the cup, but inside they are full of robbery and self indulgence..”

Do I want to align myself with the people Jesus often condemned for being self centered ?



Biblical idea # 2 God will “bring to an end” those who exalt themselves

Jeremiah 48:29-35 Moab was “self exalting”
V 35 “ I will make an end of Moab.”

Point: when you are selfish, you put yourself in competition with God
( see also I Samuel 2:10 Those who contend with the Lord will be shattered )

Even more: Nahum 1:9 “ Whatever you devise against the Lord, He will make a complete end of it. “

Self exalting people are in competition with God and He has said clearly in Isaiah 42:8, “ I will not share my glory with another.”






Biblical Idea # 3 Selfish people just make it worse on themselves

Isaiah 28:22 “ do not carry on as scoffers ( selfish people) or your fetters will be made stronger; For I have heard from the Lord God of Hosts of decisive destruction on all the earth.”



Biblical Idea # 4 the self ( the old self) is being corrupted

Ephesians 4:22 “ that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit…”

Why get on a train headed for derailment ?

pure joy

I went fishing in the mountains of northern New Mexico a few days ago and caught a few rainbow trout. I had a lot of time to think about life and the future. When I was younger, I would want to fish for 10 hours straight. As much as I still enjoy it, I found myself alone alot and wondering. What I discovered is that the thrill of catching fish for myself was not nearly as meaningful as watching my kids catch fish. When I finally got them into the river and they begin to catch fish for themselves, it was amazing. It made me think about enjoyment that is limited to yourself. It just doesn't mean as much. I read somewhere years ago that when we like something we want other people to enjoy it with us. The author said that "praise" not only expresses the enjoyment but completes it. We want to praise something/ someone and then tell someone else. Think about kids who want to tell you all about their new lego creation or the wife who wants to tell you about strawberries on sale at Albertson's. We have a desire for someone else to enjoy what we are enjoying. It really can't be just anyone... we want to tell our friends. I can tell a homeless person about the fish I caught... but if the right person sees me, then it means so much more.
Do you enjoy forgiveness for your sins ? Why don't we get more excited about telling other people about this ? I just wonder sometimes why we are so "into" the stuff we are into and yet we essentially ignore the commission Jesus gave us. I'm talking to myself here and wondering why I don't share my faith more. I'm tired, I've got too much to do, I'm intimidated and on and on... I heard someone say that in order to cast compelling vision you must be captured by that vision.

What are you captured by today ? Is the extent of your vision your wife's cooking and the remote control for 3 hours in the evening ? Is the extent of your vision an hourly wage and a three day weekend ? Do you ever stop to think about the reality of heaven and hell ? It's so easy to get focused on just "getting through the day" and paying the bills and mowing the lawn and planning the vacation and going to Sam's and cleaning the garage and ..... and ...and...

Luke 9 " He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God..."