It is well
documented in history many of the great accomplishments of various named Christians. The list is enormous starting from Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob and bringing us into our modern times with C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham, and D.L. Moody for just a few.
There is no way we could do justice to all the great works that God has done through those who walked by faith, but
this week we are going to look at what they all had in common and that is faith in God, but not just faith that they claimed
to have, but faith that they lived, faith that they put into action. With this we want to keep in mind
Hebrews 11:6 "For it is impossible to please God without faith!" and put our faith into action!
Putting our faith into action means becoming workers in the harvest and serving a greater purpose than ourselves.
One of the effects of having too few
workers in the harvest was even recorded in Jesus ministry. Mathew 9:37 “Then saith he unto his
disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.” Friend, the work of God
is often resisted because it requires commitment. Not many people want to commit their, time, money, or
talents to the work of Christ. There was a story in Africa where the famous Dr. Livingston was at work and received a letter
from a few willing individuals that read; Have you found a good road for us to come to you yet? This from
some supporters that wanted to do the work of God but resisted the idea until a road was made for them. Dr.
Livingston replied: If you will only come when a good road is made for you I don't want you to come, I want those who
will make the road and then come. He was talking about their commitment level and faith.
Putting our faith into action requires
commitment.
Mathew 9:35-38
35 “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching
the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
36 But
when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep
having no shepherd.
37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers
are few;
38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.”
Have you ever been
presented with a task that caused you to look at the magnitude of the task and conclude that you will need others to assist
you? Here we see that Jesus looked at the multitudes and saw the condition or the magnitude, in which the task at hand would
require workers,
volunteers and devotees that saw a purpose much greater than themselves. He was moved with compassion for the multitudes
understanding that like sheep when they are traveling through life they primarily keep their head down failing to look up
and see where they are going and failing to realize how far they have drifted away from the Shepherd who protects them from
ravening wolves. His great concern was that his loved ones would be eaten up by devouring wolves in sheep’s clothing
and began to ask the Disciples to pray to the Lord of the Harvest that he would send laborers to help to keep the sheep near
to the Shepherd.
The Lord of the Harvest of course is Jesus and Jesus was with them already so why did he ask this? He
wanted the Disciples to understand the purpose of having leaders in the field and why it is critical to understand that lives
go astray like sheep when they are left unattended.
After
reading these verses what questions do you have?
Answer the following questions:
What caused this feeling of compassion that Jesus experienced?
What was Jesus doing at this time?
When Jesus saw how
much work was to be done what did
he say?
What was his instructions concerning prayer?
Mathew 11:1-12
1 “And it came to
pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.
2 Now when
John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
3 And said unto him, Art thou
he that should come, or do we look for another?
4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again
those things which ye do hear and see:
5 The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the
deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
6 And blessed is he, whosoever
shall not be offended in me.
7 And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What
went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
8 But what went ye out for to see?
A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.
9 But what went ye out
for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.
10 For this is he, of whom it is written,
Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
11 Verily I say unto you,
Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in
the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,
and the violent take it by force.”
As the earth travels around the sun it has times in which it is closer to the sun and times
in which it is not so close. In the close times we call this summer and the not so close times we call
it winter. If the earth were close to the sun always and too close then it would of course burn up and
if it were always far away it could freeze and have no life at all. Here we see that John the Baptist who
was once preaching with a fire in his heart and who was absolutely positive that Jesus was the Messiah the son of the living
God now asking Jesus “are
you the one” We all have times such as this when affliction takes its toll. What can we do? Jesus simply told the Disciples
to go and remind John of the miracles of the past. Sometimes we need to be reminded of all that Jesus has
done for others and us. We need to remember where we came from and all that he has done to save us.
Even the strongest have weak times and when we are weak lest us return to the foundational truths that Christ has laid
before us and recall all that he has already done!
After reading these verses what questions
do you have?
Answer the following questions:
Why do you think there are so few workers for Christ?
What emotions do you believe John the Baptist
was experiencing and why?
Have you ever grown weak and began to doubt?
Why do you think that the workers of God suffer?
Mathew 8:5-13
5 And when Jesus was entered
into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
6 And saying, Lord, my
servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal
him.
8 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.
9 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.
10
When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great
faith, no, not in Israel.
11 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.
12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast
out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
13 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.”
It is a rare thing
for a Centurion to call anyone besides the Emperor “Lord” Who was this man that even Centurions in which had servants
of their own and who themselves only called the emperor Lord and served no other would actually have them calling him Lord?
This man was the son of the living God, the Messiah who had the power to save and heal. Here this Centurion
realizes the healing powers of Jesus and goes to him in faith, not demanding Jesus to heal his servant, not ordering Jesus
to heal his servant, but instead in such an amazingly humble way he requests only that Jesus speak the word and his servant
would be healed. Often in our despair we go to God with our urgent demand, with words that point at God
stating “You said” instead of humbling ourselves at his feet and requesting him in faith to give his word and
this will be enough. Is his spoken word enough to do what we need?
After reading
these verses what questions do you have?
Mathew 12:33-37
33 “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt,
and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
34 O generation of vipers, how can
ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
35 A good man out of the
good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of
judgment.
37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
Good and bad, words
are judged! We say a lot of things out of our mouth and seldom remember that what we have just said or are planning to say
will determine good or bad in our life. If a tree is known by its fruit we in like manner are known by our words.
Either make our words
good, and the fruit good, or else make them corrupt, and the fruit corrupt, for we are known by our words, for out of the
abundance of our heart the mouth speaketh!
We tell on ourselves all the time, what type of person we
are simply by what we say.
After reading these verses what questions do you have?
Answer the following
questions:
If a man is a good
worker for Christ what will he bring forth?
How can you tell?
What happens to every
person that does not bring forth fruit?
And every person that does?
How can a person bring forth much fruit?
Does Jesus call us branches?
What does it take
to glorify God?
James 2:14-26
14 “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works?
can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And
one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are
needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea,
a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my
works.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
20 But
wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works,
when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works
was faith made perfect?
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed
unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified,
and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers,
and had sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
Earlier we talked
about what we say, but it is also what we do that tells the story of our heart. Physically the heart is an amazing machine:
From the moment it
begins beating until the moment it stops, the human heart works tirelessly. In an average lifetime, the heart beats more than
two and a half billion times, without ever pausing to rest. Like a pumping machine, the heart provides the power needed for
life.
But, spiritually
the heart is deceitfully wicked! Woe! Wait a cotton picking minute! My heart is a good heart!
Truth is..... our hearts are wicked
apart from Jesus. It is an amazing organ that works tirelessly, but it can also bring harm to us if we allow it to lead us
astray from God. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Jeremiah 17:9 With this in mind, how can we trust our decisions? We must allow God’s words and our belief in Jesus to
dictate to our hearts what we must do. Without this we will surely do what seems right to us, but leads to destruction.
After reading these verses what questions do you have?
Answer the following questions:
What use is it to
claim to have faith but never act on it?
Can faith without works save anyone?
Just claiming to believe is this real faith?
Luke 19:1-10 and examine Zacchaeus'
commitment level and remember what Dr. Livingston said earlier.
Luke 19
1 “And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
2 And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans,
and he was rich.
3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
5 And when
Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I
must abide at thy house.
6 And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.
7 And when
they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.
8 And Zacchaeus
stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any
man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to
this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which
was lost.”
