Luke 17:5-6
The apostles
said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied,
“If you have faith as small as a
mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in
the sea,’ and it will obey you.”
Immediately we learn
that faith can what? GROW!!!
Previously in Luke 16
Jesus says if you don’t use what you do have he will not give you more, in fact
what you do have can be taken away if not used.
Luke 16:1-12
Jesus said to his disciples,
"There was once a rich man who had a manager. He got reports that the manager had been
taking advantage of his position by running up huge personal expenses. 2
So he called him in and said, 'What's this I hear
about you? You're fired. And I want a complete audit of your books.'
3
"The manager said to himself, 'What am I going to do? I've lost my job as manager. I'm not strong
enough for a laboring job, and I'm too proud to beg. . . . Ah, I've got a plan.
Here's what I'll do . . . then when I'm turned out into the street, people will
take me into their houses.'
5 "Then he went at it. One after
another, he called in the people who were in debt to his master. He said to the
first, 'How much do you owe
my master?'
6
"He replied, 'A
hundred jugs of olive oil.'
"The
manager said, 'Here, take
your bill, sit down here — quick now — write fifty.'
7
"To the next he said, 'And
you, what do you owe?'
"He answered, 'A hundred sacks of wheat.'
"He said, 'Take your bill, write in eighty.'
8 "Now here's a surprise: The master
praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after
himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding
citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits.
9 I want you to be smart in the same
way — but for what is right — using every adversity to stimulate you to
creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so
you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good
behavior." God Sees Behind Appearances 10 Jesus went on to make these comments: If
you're honest in small things, you'll be honest in big things; 11 If you're a crook
in small things, you'll be a crook in big things. 12 If you're not
honest in small jobs, who will put you in charge of the store?
The story is not about how smart this
guy was. It is about how lazy he was with whathe had been given. An owner made
him manager to oversee what the owner had given him. He took advantage of his
position without managing well and was fired – so he cheated the owner further
on his way out just to survive – but it wouldn’t last. - By
faith, God has given us our life to manage, and if we take advantage of that
and mismanage our faith, we too will be fired and will find ourselves doing
things we never imagined we would do just to survive.
Your faith, my faith – is not a set of
ideals – is not simply belief. Your
faith, my faith – is our belief in action:
James 2:14-26 MSG
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have
faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but
does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is
dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will
show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe
that—and shudder. 20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is
useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he
offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his
faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it
was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called
God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by
faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous
for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a
different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Dr. Phillip Paschal of
Mt. Olive Baptist church
MY BROTHERS AND MY SISTERS, IF WE WANT
TO SEE REAL POWER, MOUNTAIN MOVING POWER, SOUL CHANGING POWER, LIFE CHANGING
POWER, WE MUST DEMONSTRATE OUR OBEDIENCE TO GOD IN LIVING LIVES THAT ARE
PLEASING UNTO HIM. AN ACTIVE FAITH CAN OPEN DOORS THAT NO MAN CAN SHUT, AND
SHUT SOME DOORS THAT NO MAN CAN OPEN.
FAITH IS MORE THAN JUST A PROFESSION
FROM OUR LIPS, IT MUST BE A POSSESSION OF OUR SOULS.
Deuteronomy 32:20 “I will hide my face from them,” he said, “and see what their end
will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful.”
Faith in God makes great optimists. We
American Baptists have a vital living history of FAITH in ACTION: 200 years ago Over in Burma, Adoniram Judson
was lying in a foul jail with 32 lbs. of chains on his ankles, his feet bound
to a bamboo pole. A fellow prisoner with a sneer on his face said, "Dr. Judson, what about the
prospect of the conversion of the heathen?"
His instant reply was, "The prospects are just as bright as the promises of God."
Luke 17:5-6 The apostles said to the
Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to
this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”
How many trees have you moved lately?
Where are you challenged to increase your faith? When was the last time you ask God to use you
for His glory? How does God want your
faith to increase? If it is as small as the smallest of seeds, Jesus Christ is
ready to use you to do great things for His kingdom because "The prospects are just as
bright as the promises of God." You ready to see this church splitting at the
seems because people are finding the kind of faith you have? The let you faith so shine that others may
WHAT? See your good deeds and praise your father who is in heaven.
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