"YOUR FAITH WILL MAKE YOU WISE"

From the series, "What Faith Will Do"

"Your Faith Will Make You Wise"

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17

Our faith in God comes from hearing the truth of the gospel through the word of God! We have heard leaders all over the world expressing popular beliefs, opinions and philosophy in recent years, but the Bible says that we will receive the faith that we need by the hearing of the word of God. It appears that Paul is asking himself in the book of Romans,"Has all of the earth heard this message of faith?" and then he answers his own question in the same verse. Let's look at this,

But I say, "Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world". ~ Romans 10:18

Into all the earth! Their words went to the ends of the world as they knew it in their day! Every nation had heard the Gospel by way of disciples, apostles, kings and servants. The message had been spread to everyone that lived and they didn't even have Internet or cable television! Isn't that amazing!
God has always made a way to get His word to the people of the earth. We don't have to take it all on ourselves to reach every man. God is at work in the hearts and lives of each person who believes and accepts Him by faith. Knowing this takes a huge burden off of me as a forgiven and compassionate child of God. When I look around, it's easy for me to become overwhelmed with the masses that are following the idols of this world and people of all ages that have bought into the lies of advertising while on their quest to satisfies their inner longing.

One of the best sellers on the music charts even told the world for almost 50 years, "I can't get no satisfaction!" and still people go out in groves searching for satisfaction week after week, month after month, year after year until their lives have literally slipped through their fingers and finding themselves at the end of their life without the satisfaction they had been promised by this world.

The satisfaction that we long for and search for all of our lives is experienced in faith, faith in the living God of our universe and this faith is found in the hearing of the message found in the word of God. Paul was a very educated man who had been in positions in government that required him to make many tough decisions, but the best decision that Paul ever made was the decision to believe and follow the Messiah who had come to save the world and to accept His message by faith!

It was the same man,Paul, that wrote this passage in Romans that had also, at one time, persecuted the Christians and their families.

The challenges we face today don't even begin to compare to the challenges Christians faced before Paul accepted Christ! Christians were scattered all over the globe, trying to escape this man and his wrath! His name was Saul and God changed it to Paul. His business was to wipe out every Christian alive because he believed man, but God stopped him and he heard the word of God.
Paul went from a proud murderer to an humble servant of God overnight! His eyes were opened and he could see the wisdom of the word and the satisfaction filled his heart; that satisfaction that he had longed for every night when he closed his eyes and heard the screams of those he had persecuted.

It is evident in Paul's writings that he had faith by the hearing of the word of God! Paul had gained a wisdom that couldn't be found in biographies and philosophy. This wisdom couldn't be found on the porches of Athens or in meetings with the King's counsel. This wisdom that Paul found came only through the word of God. The faith that Paul found gave him the satisfaction that we all have longed for in our lives, even today!

Paul is talking to the Gentiles in chapter eleven and he is telling them that it is because of the Jews lack of repentance that the gospel went out and had spread to their Gentile nations. It was because of the lack of faith in the Jewish nation that the Jewish believers were directed by God to go into all the world, so that the Jews would become jealous of the mercy that the Gentiles had obtained through God and come back to receive their faith in God. The Jews were going to see the wisdom of the rest of the world through their receiving of the word of God by faith. They would long for the mercy, Paul says, that the Gentiles had obtained!

Even so have these(Jews) also now not believed, that through your(Gentiles) mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all (all nations) in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? ~ Rom 11:31-34

We can learn so much from the word of God and it is clear that Paul feels just as I do today! I feel that the wisdom and knowledge found in God is beyond anything else that I can get my hands on in this world! So let's treasure what we have found in His word and in communion with God; the wisdom and knowledge that starts with faith in Him.

When we come to realize how great a God we serve, the fear (reverence), forgiving (mercy) and faith (wisdom) will be so incredible that it not only changes us, but others long to know and have what we have! Listen to how Paul described this at the end of chapter eleven of Romans.

For of him(God), and through him(God), and to him(God), are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. ~ Romans 11:36

Those are words of wisdom!

It is my prayer that you have this FAITH THAT WILL MAKE YOU WISE!

If you find you don't have the faith I spoke of today, but would like to know that you do; please contact me by phone or email and I will be glad to help you begin this wonderful, satisfying experience in your life today! The experience of God's forgiveness and mercy by faith in Him!

"YOUR FAITH" Will Carry You

By Rob Bailes

"Your Faith Will Carry You"

Have you ever had a really great day when everything went better than you had planned? You had your time alone with God and your day was productive from the standpoint of accomplishing your goals; you felt so good that you couldn't help humming or singing a tune in the car on the way home. Then it happened!



Suddenly out of the blue, you get a phone call with bad news or you suddenly realize you've lost something very important; or someone dear to you gets hurt; or someone you care about disappoints you! This is a really good time to do a faith check! It is at this moment that we will usually either panic or stay calm. The faith that you have in Christ will make the difference at a time like this!

The disciples found themselves in just one of those moments in chapter four of Mark when their ship had filled with water in verse thirty-seven.

Mark 4:37
And there arose a great storm of wind,(like a hurricane) and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

I could see in this passage that the ship is now full of water and Jesus was asleep on a pillow in the back part of the ship. The disciples had ran around in a panic before they went and woke Him up from His rest. Jesus had been teaching and healing people all day long and the disciples needed Him to do something to save them. Let's take a look at what they said to Him.

Mark 4:38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, "Master, care thou not that we perish?"

We see in this verse is that they addressed Jesus as their Master, which in the Greek means "teacher". Those guys were afraid that their end was near and they would soon be sucked up by the sea! They needed someone to give them a plan of action; a "master" plan, so to speak.
Yes, I believe that these men were pretty much in a state of panic and they wanted Jesus to either come up with a solution or to at least, panic with them!

They asked Him, "Don't you care that we are going to die?". Their understanding was blurred by the circumstances and they were past the reasoning and understanding that they were on a ship in a storm with the Son of God! The same One who had spent days and weeks teaching them about the power of faith and exercising this faith in many different ways.

Can you imagine a team of men in a large ship and the waves are crashing over the deck and filling the ship up faster than they can bail it out? Imagine the wind tossing their boat in every direction and the rain beating down on them as they bail faster and faster to keep the boat afloat.
They have been battling this storm for maybe an hour or more and they're loosing the battle. The boat is quickly sinking under the added weight of the water on board. They probably could hear the boards of the ship beginning to creak and move under the stress and they felt as though there was no hope for survival.

Finally, in this moment of total despair, I imagine someone shouted out,"Wake up Jesus!".

When we read what happens next, it is very clear to me that they didn't wake Jesus up for the purpose of stopping the storm. They didn't wake Him with the purpose of delivering them from the circumstances either, as they believed that they were going to die. I believe they were really upset that Jesus was sleeping and they were all bailing water and they just couldn't stand to let Jesus rest so peacefully while they were fighting for their lives! They acted as though they felt that the calm, peaceful sleep that Jesus was experiencing was a sign that He didn't care about them. They had forgotten all the lessons that Jesus had taught them about the battles and struggles of life's difficulties and they were acting purely on human instinct!

How many times do we do this very thing when something catches us by surprise? Do we feel we should battle our way through it and wait until we are about to sink before we run to get help from our Lord? Why do we wait? Some people will tell us that we should do all we can and that God expects that from us, but I believe that too many times we wait until our boat is full of water before we will call out in prayer!
What do you think would have happened if the disciples had woke Jesus when the storm began? Would this have been a good sign that their faith in Him was strong? Would Jesus have responded to their faith earlier in the storm? I feel sure He would have and we see this in the next passages that follow. Let's look at the next two verses together,

Mark 4:39,40
39 And He(Jesus) arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, "Peace, be still". And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
40 And he said unto them, "Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?"

The same power and authority that we see displayed here when Jesus spoke to the wind and the sea was also available to those pitiful, scared disciples already! Earlier in this passage written by Mark, the disciples were given the power to perform miracles by faith! Jesus had taken them up onto a mountain and ordained them to preach the gospel and to heal the sick and cast out devils! Jesus had told them that they could ask anything if they had faith.(Even moving mountains!) Faith is a powerful thing to have and to understand! We excuse our lack of the power of faith in our lives many times by counting ourselves weak and vulnerable as humans. This isn't what Jesus wants for us as his children and messengers to the rest of the world!

Even still,as people talked, the disciples had heard rumors of how Jesus was from the devil and how Jesus was breaking the laws that had been laid down by the religious leaders, concerning the sabbath day. So we must remember all of that when we see the disciples reaction to the miracles Jesus performed on this day in the storm. Let's read on,

Mark 4:41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, "What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"

It's interesting to read in the previous chapters of Mark how the evil spirits all seemed to know and acknowledged that Jesus was the Holy Son of God and we can also read how that the Holy Spirit descended as the Heavens opened up when Jesus was baptised by John. These same men had been with Jesus to see allot of these things take place, but they hadn't understood and recognized in the time of panic that this same Jesus was the Son of God and has the power to do all things with anything or anyone that He so chooses!

Do we still struggle with this today in our society of logic and legalistic thinking? Would Jesus ask us the same thing that He asked the disciples; when we think we are so smart and capable that we try to get through life's difficult circumstances all on our own?
Do we still get surprised when Jesus answers our prayers? Why should we, if we have constant unwavering faith in Him? He doesn't waver from His promises as we go through life's difficult circumstances; our faith is what can change the way that things turn out and it is each person's faith in God that will deliver and restore you in the presence of life's storms.

Jesus was there in the ship the whole time! The sooner that we understand that this holds true in our lives, the sooner we will find our lives filled with the unlimited resource of miracles and blessings of God through our faith in Him. The Faith of the disciples, or should I say, the lack of faith was the the cause of their distress and panic in this storm. It was their decision to take on the storm all by themselves and did you happen to notice in that last passage that nothing was said about the water in the boat?

Jesus stopped the storm, but they still had a boat full of water!

I just can't help but wonder how they dealt with that situation. That's the problem with waiting many times when crisis comes! We still have the repairs and the cleanup to do as a result of waiting to call for help! Use your faith and call out to God early when a sudden crisis hits you! Your FAITH will carry you safely through the storms and calm the waves and wind.

I'd like to close this Part two message on "FAITH" with a final thought and by reading some verses that will help illustrate this for you. "Hang with me, you won't want to miss this!"

Question - How does our faith carry us through the times of difficulty?

We must be careful not to think that we are constantly on a battleground and that we must always be ready to fight off the unseen forces of satan. In sharing my final point, I would like to point out how living our lives battling satan would be very different from what Jesus was teaching the disciples in the time that He was here on the earth.

The disciples may have tried to handle their difficulties all on their own at times, but I believe that they eventually found, as we will also, that it is not for us to wage war against the devil and sin by our own strength, because we will loose the battle every time!

It is by FAITH in God that we WIN our battles and remain victorious over the evil forces and the difficulties of this world.

That is going to mean giving up our ego trips, putting our own weapons away and trusting in the all consuming power of God. That means fear and respect for the Mighty One who is greater than us all and admitting this daily! Let's look at some verses that illustrate man's Faith in God that carried him through circumstances of difficulty!

The following passage tells us about a group of men who reached out to help a paralyzed man who was completely helpless. They didn't decide to pitch in to get him a new hospital bed or take him meals on wheels. They, in faith, took action to change the man's life forever! They believed in the spoken word of the Lord! By faith, they carried him to where Jesus was speaking.
Mark 2:3-5 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy(paralyzed), which was carried by four men and when they could not come near to him because of the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed that the sick of the palsy(paralyzed) lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee".
It is true that our sins are what keep us held captive in our troubles and it is the faith in the Lord that allows us the deliverance from the bondage of sin and doubt. The faith of these men showed on this day and Jesus recognized it within their hearts and in their willingness to come to Him for help. Remember, it's so very important for us to be used of God and live a life of freedom from sins bondage! Why would anyone want to remain bound by sin?

The next passage we'll look at is about a woman who had been experiencing a continuous flow of blood for twelve years and she had been to many doctors trying their remedies and spent all that she had, but on this day she had heard that the Lord Jesus was coming and she knew if she could just touch His robe that she would become healthy and have a normal life again! She had come this day with unwavering faith; faith in the power of the Lord Jesus. She believed it with all of her heart! Imagine the joy that filled her life this day!
Mark 5:25-34 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, "Who touched my clothes?" His disciples said unto him, "You see the multitude thronging thee, and you say, "Who touched me?" He looked round about to see her that had done this thing, but the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth and he said unto her, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague".

There was a woman of Canaan who had heard that Jesus was going to be at the coasts of Tyre and Sidon and she believed that Jesus could perform miracles and that He was the Lord. She also knew that she was not of Israel, like others who followed Jesus. Yet she knew what she believed and she wasn't going get discouraged and give up because of her ethnic origin, as many times this could become a major social and religious barrier in this region of the world. She knew Jesus could help her daughter who was controlled by a devil! She had to go in faith.
Her friends probably warned her that she wasn't going to be able to be helped, as she was not socially accepted by the nation of Israel. She probably had some doubts herself along the journey to where Jesus was, but by the time she had arrived she was so sure of His power that she knew if she could just get a few crumbs from the bread of life, that her daughter would be free again from being possessed by the devil! Let's look at this passage in Matthew and see what happened,
Matthew 15:22-28 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil". But he answered her not a word. His disciples came and besought him, saying, "Send her away; for she cries after us". But he answered and said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel". Then she came and worshipped him, saying, "Lord, help me". But he answered and said, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs". She said, "Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table". Then Jesus answered and said unto her, "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt", and her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

These men and women who were made whole or who were freed from evil spirits were all changed forever! What I want to point our attention to is the thing that made the difference in the lives of the men who brought the paralyzed man to Jesus, the thing that made the difference in the life of the woman who had spent at least a quarter of her life in pain, sorrow and doctor's offices trying to find an answer and the thing that made the difference in the life of the mother and the daughter who was suffering being controlled by a devil that had plans to destroy her body, mind and soul. The thing that made the difference in the lives of these people and many more throughout the Word of God is that they had come to an understanding; a major realization of the hope that was found only in the Lord Jesus who had come to earth as a man to seek and to save that which was lost.

You see, they had come to understand the fear of the Lord's Power through respect and reverence; they had come to understand the love of the Lord in His power and willingness to forgive people of their sin and this brought each and every on of them next to understand His compassion on all of them as He always recognized their faith and trust in Him as their Savior!

Your FAITH will carry you through the difficulties and bring you amazing deliverance from the circumstances and troubles of this world. You will live above the times of crisis when you trust GOD to carry YOU, by Faith!

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"What Faith Will Do"

By Rob Bailes

"Your Faith Will Change You"
Have you ever had someone warn you of something and you thought to yourself, "I'm not so sure about that", only to find out later that they were right?
It is at the moment that we realize that something is for real and we know without a doubt that what we have heard is true, that faith takes seed in our hearts, our minds and our body! It's at that moment that we also find ourselves moving into action, as the situation becomes more clear.

Jesus gives us an example about the man that digs deep and lays his foundation on the rock so that his house will stand when the water beats against the house. Jesus was referring to the man that will listen to what He tells him and then "do" what he has heard. It is through the believing of something that we experience faith and this faith will cause us to act accordingly. Right now, what I want you to concentrate on is what you believe! Take all other thoughts and interruptions and leave them in the next room. I want you to focus your full attention for the next ten minutes on what you believe and look at how it has changed your life. Ready?

It is simple to say we believe in something, but it is different to believe in it so much that we have faith in something. We use the words faith, believe, commit and dedication so casual in our day, that we often miss what it really means, but I find that the parables and experiences of Jesus actually take us to a level of understanding where we receive wisdom and knowledge that we can apply to each of our lives. "Faith Doesn't Doubt!" There seems to be allot of confusion about this simple, yet profound statement today.

I hear people say so casually, "I believe in God,but...this or that" and people say, "I have faith, but I think there's a limit to how far you should go with it!". Another one I have heard is, "I asked God to save me, but I never did do anything really bad".

It is good for us to take time to look into the parables and teachings of Jesus, as this will tell us what we need to build ourselves a solid foundation. Jesus teaches all of us that the first thing we need to do in laying our firm foundation is to believe without a doubt, have faith. Let's all take a few minutes to look at a time when Jesus had been performing miracles and He was invited to the home of a Pharisee to dine. Jesus had accepted the invitation and had been teaching and performing miracles, so I'm sure that there was quite a crowd gathered around this man's house just waiting for Jesus to reappear and continue showing His miraculous power and pouring out His compassion on them. Somehow though, a woman had slipped into the house where Jesus had taken His seat on the couch, which was a Jewish custom. The Jews would eat while laying on their side and their knees bent with their feet behind them.

I can imagine this woman showing herself at the doorway and Jesus motioning for her to come in and join them. Perhaps the Pharisee had gone to check on the food or may have been inviting some of the others that were his friends, as we see later that there were others at this meal. None the less, the woman who is not ever named, enters the room. She has been listening to Jesus teaching and has seen His miracles performed and has come to the realization that this must be who they say He is; the Messiah, sent by God to save His people from their sin. She stands behind Him now, maybe trying to control herself, but it is impossible! The tears are flowing uncontrollably as she stands at His feet! She wipes her eyes and sees that she has soaked His feet with her tears and kneels to wipe the wet dust from His feet with her most adorned apparel, her hair. She continues to cry as she thinks about her past and how many times she has felt the guilt of her sins; avoiding conversation with those who would dare to mention God or anything related to worship. This would normally have only made her feel worse about herself and the life she had chosen to live long ago. Now though, she was sitting at the feet of this One they called the Messiah, the Savior of His people! At His feet, where typically the servants would stay, she began to clean His feet with her hair and her tears. As she washed them she also began to kiss His feet, which was an act of adoration and respect for Jesus. But she didn't just kiss them once, but over and over again in love for her new found Lord! She felt so blessed to be able to show Him her love and belief in Him in such a way as this.

Then she took out the alabaster container of ointment, a bottle of perfume; a perfume that some theologians believe she had used to attract the attention of others and most likely her most treasured possession. Ointment was a very expensive product in this day and was used much like our cologne and deodorant today. You see, the Greek translation for the word that describes her as a sinner means one living in sin or a whore. Now how do we feel about this whole picture? What would we have been thinking if we had been sitting in that room, knowing that she had this reputation?

Wait! Let's bring it up to our day and time! Ok? What if she was a woman who was known as a Playboy centerfold and stripper who had been on public TV and the latest Yahoo News sites all over the world? Now, how does that make us feel? Maybe we can understand a little better about what happens next!

The Pharisee, whose name was Simon, was thinking within himself,"If this man was a prophet, he would have know what kind of woman was touching Him and that she was a sinner (whore)". That's when Jesus shared something with Simon. Jesus asked him,"If one man owed $50 and another man owed $500 and they didn't have anything to pay and the creditor told them that he wasn't going to make them pay. Which one of the men would love him more?". Simon answered and said that he supposed that the one that owed the creditor more money. Then Jesus told him that he had judge right!

Then Jesus told Simon to look at the woman, but Jesus also looked at her according to this passage. Jesus had no problem giving her His attention because he saw her through different eyes; eyes that didn't judge her. Jesus told him, "See thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gave me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gave me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.

In Simon's eyes, he had few sins and so he had little love for the Lord. Do you think that if we believe this about ourselves, it will also have an impact on how much we love our Savior. If Jesus walked into the room right now, how would you honestly react? Would you drop to your knees? Would you just stare at Him in amazement and wait for Him to recognize YOU? Do we think that we are going to be His focus when we get to heaven? Are we really that great in our own eyes? I hear this dangerous doctrine taught all across America today and it is teaching people to love God less, just as we see in the house of the Pharisee with Jesus! "How are we to feel the love that this woman had for Jesus?", you may be ask, just as I did when I first read this passage.

We must look hard and long at what we believe! This passage has brought me to realize two very important things. I took the time to search my heart and see the way that I saw myself and what I believed about my past and what God had done for me. This brought me to a deeper appreciation of what Jesus meant to me as He was the one who forgave us all as He hung on the cross. he forgave us even before this, just as He had forgiven the woman that day so long ago for all of her past sins and lifestyle that had given such a bad name. Let's look at what Jesus says,

Luke 7:48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.

But why did Jesus make mention of this? I believe that He was making a point to each of those sitting at the table that day and to each of us reading this lesson today. Jesus knew that the question would come up in their hearts, "Who is this that forgives sins also?". This has become the question of the century by many a Muslim and other religions across the world and many of them deny it! They can't believe that a man named Jesus can pardon the sins of wicked men!

I believe what Jesus says next will clear this up for us all!

Luke 7:50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

It was the sincere belief in God and the message of the Messiah Jesus that cause this woman to change and her faith was made alive and that seed of faith which had been dead began to grow in her heart, her mind and then was evident in her body. She changed the way she felt; she changed the way she thought and she changed the way she loved! She went from doubting, bondage and oppression to having faith, pardoned and peace. Let's take a final look at the word "peace" in the Greek translation used here.

The Greek word is eirēnē
It is pronounced i-rah'-nay
Probably from a primary verb εἴρω eirō (to join); peace (literally or figuratively); by implication prosperity: - one, peace, quietness, rest, + set at one again.
Let's take a few minutes to kneel at Jesus feet and adore Him as we grasp the fact that He has forgiven ALL of our sins! Let's love Him more and more each day!
"Thy faith has saved you; go in peace."