"FAITH DOES NOT DOUBT - PART 2

Go in peace, thy faith has made you whole!

None the less, the woman who is not 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 said that he judged right!

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; His eyes didn't judge her. Jesus told Simon, "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, so he had little love for the Lord. Do you think that if we feel this way 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 forHim 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 attitude of the Pharisee with Jesus!"How are we to feel the love that this woman had for Jesus?", you may ask, just as I did when I first read this passage.

We must look long and hard 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 how I saw myself and what I felt about my past and what God had truly done for me. This brought me to a deeper appreciation of what Jesus meant to me. 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. He forgave her for all of her past sins and her choice of lifestyles that had given her such a bad reputation. Let's look at what Jesus says to her next,

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

But why do you think Jesus make mention of this that day? I believe that He was making a point to each of those sitting at the table that day; also to each of us reading this passage 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 help us to realize the awesome power of Jesus as the Messiah when we believe! And he said to the woman, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." ~ Luke 7:50
It was the sincere belief in God and the message of the Messiah Jesus that caused this woman to change. Her faith was made alive and that seed of faith which had been dead began to grow in her heart, her mind and then became 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.
Finally, let's take a look at the word "peace" in the Greek translation and what it means to those who have faith!

In the Greek the word "peace" is eirēnē
It is pronounced i-rah'-nay (go ahead, try to pronounce it one time)
Peace (used 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 and remember the words of Jesus, "Thy faith has saved you; go in peace."

"FAITH DOES NOT DOUBT" - PART 1

Your faith will change your life!

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 or someone. 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 are able to 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 take it!". Another one I have heard is, "I asked God to save me, but I never did anything that bad anyways".

It is good for us to take time to study the parables and teachings of Jesus, as this will show us what we need to build a solid foundation for our lives. 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 place in time when Jesus had been performing miracles. He was invited to the home of a Pharisee to dine and Jesus had accepted the invitation. He had been teaching and performing miracles, so I'm sure that there was quite a crowd gathered around the man's house, just waiting for Jesus to reappear and continue demonstrating His miraculous power and the pouring out of His compassion on them. Somehow though, a woman had slipped into the room where Jesus had taken His seat on the couch. 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...TO BE CONTINUED

"WITHOUT A DOUBT, YOU WILL BE DELIVERED"

Your beliefs can destroy you or deliver you!


Seeing the victory and prosperity of the nation of Judah at the end of our last message probably brought hope to most of your hearts.

As the author of these messages, I can admit that even at the time of this writing, I have been encouraged by the victorious outcome of the battle and the riches that were carried back home from the battleground for three whole days! Wow! After I read that passage my eyes got big and I began to dream of how God might even bless me after he gets me through the impossible situations in my life! Didn't that thought cross your mind as well? Maybe, just a little bit of prosperity possibility thinking crept into your thoughts? There's nothing wrong with thinking about the fun stuff, but we must first remember the faith stuff!

Well, I thought about that and the next thing I knew, doubt began to lurk in the back of my mind as to whether or not God would ever do anything that great for me. After all, I've never just gone out to pick up riches and treasures for a few days and take it home with me. That would be equivalent to the local bank or jewelry store opening it's safe up and the Lord telling you to just go ahead and get all you wanted for the next few days. Maybe for some, it would be the local gun shop or sporting goods store, depending on what you consider as valuable in your life. I can imagine that you too may have felt a bit doubtful as you considered this idea of receiving prosperity beyond your imagination. Why do we begin to slide back into our doubting selves long before God even has a chance to prove His infinite power to us?

The nation of Israel was following the leadership of a king that believed with all his heart that his supreme God was the highest of powers above all the earth, all the kingdoms and all courts, all plagues, all famines or any weapons formed against them! I want to back up a few verses before the battle of God took place against Ammon, Moab and mount Seir. Let's look at the way that Judah believed and we may find out why we find ourselves doubting so quickly today,

2Chronicles 20:4 And Judah (nation) gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

This nation who prospered so greatly following their deliverance from their enemy had an attitude of reverence and honor for God long before the armies ever arrived on their sea shores. This is evident in their immediate response to the frightening news that spread across their kingdom of the approaching enemy. This passage tells us that they assembled themselves and the next thing they did was to ask for help of the LORD.

I'd like to share with you the literal Hebrew translation of this part of the passage above. The word "ask" in the Hebrew is "bâqash" and is pronounced as baw-kash'. The literal translation of this word is "to search out" (by any method;specifically in worship or prayer). The word "help" was added into the english text so we can leave that word out for now and the literal text would actually go like this, "Judah assembled themselves together to seek Jehovah in worship and prayer". You may be thinking that an entire nation would never be able to come together in one accord to worship; but look at the next part of this passage,

2Chronicles 20:4.....even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

When you look at the literal Hebrew of this passage, where we see the words "seek the Lord" we would find one additional Hebrew word that wasn't in the first part of this verse. In the Hebrew it would say "bâqash 'êth yehôvâh" and the addition of the Hebrew word "'êth" causes this passage to literally mean "came to seek each for themselves in worship and prayer to Jehovah"!

It's the truth! An entire nation came to seek God in worship and prayer!

How hard is it today to just get the all the local members of a church out to a church picnic, much less to pray about something of importance? I was away from home once in a middle North Carolina town and had been looking at some of the churches in that area online. I saw a website post for a large prominent church in the area that had a special time of prayer on Wednesday nights. I believe it was called the "Power Hour"! I decided to go and get in on this powerful time with fellow believers as I had been very busy and needed to take time to recharge and fellowship with prayer warriors of the faith.

My friends, I cannot express the way I felt when I walked into their sanctuary. I went to the sanctuary and found no one there! I walked all through this majestic church facility and found nobody anywhere in the first and second floors. Finally I got to the basement and walked into a room where a large group of teens were listening to music and playing games, so I asked if this was the prayer service. They looked at me kind of funny and said that they didn't know of any meeting of that type there. So I figured that I must have gotten confused and went to the wrong church. As I was making my way back through the huge basement to the front of the building I saw a small single piece of paper taped to a door which read, "Power Hour". I got kind of excited for a minute as I peaked into the small window in the door and must have bumped the door as the man who was leading the meeting waved for me to join them. As I opened the door, I realized that the window hadn't obscured my view as I had thought originally. There were only about six people in the room and most of them had canes or walkers with which they were able to make the hike as I had down the long modern halls of this huge church to the only prayer meeting that night. Oh, how shocked I was! Strangely enough, they didn't seem to be surprised when I asked if this was the prayer service upon my arrival. They just nodded their heads and smiled.

I had only been there for a short while when I realized why the group was so small and why there were not any new believers in this meeting. This was probably the core group that had been there since the church began. They began to pray one by one and as they prayed, their prayers were doubtful. They only asked God for what they could have even done themselves in the first place! How often do believers today find themselves praying while in doubt and too fearful to ask for something beyond all human power and comprehension? I heard them ask for relief of the pain of terminal illnesses, for people to find guidance to get help, for someone able to go and reach the lost and for someone to give to help those in need. I didn't hear one request of anything impossible that night! I didn't hear any worship or praise that night! When they had all prayed, I almost broke out in prayer, but I seriously was concerned that I would have certainly sent some of those precious elderly Carolinians to the hospital with cardiac arrest had I begun to ask God for all those humanly impossible situations that were listed on their prayer list. I wanted to just shouted out at that very moment, as Jehoshaphat did in verse six;

2Chronicles 20:6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest (not) thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there (not) power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

Except that I would have said it without the "not" that was added in the english translation. That would remove the doubt in this message that our God is above all. I truly believe that Judah was not doubting this for a moment, but the word ("not") was added twice in the making of this translation. It would have been fitting for the king of a believing nation as Judah and Jerusalem, who worshipped and praised God, to cry out,

"Jehovah my God of our fathers, Aren't you our God in heaven above? You rule with all dominion over any nation and your hand is forceful and mighty, without any other existence equal to you!".

Our wars today are no different than the war in this passage! The only real difference is in our beliefs! How would the people of Judah have felt if they had walked with you or I today and experienced the things we spend our day talking about, laughing about and what we do for entertainment and most importantly,to experience how we worship our God each day? Would they know by our actions that we believed in the same God that they worshipped and praised as the armies were approaching them that day to destroy their homes, families and their place of worship? How is our home, our families and our place of worship under attack today?

Is the battle growing nearer every hour? Are you in the middle of the battle already? Has the enemy got you afraid and ready to give up; ready to break down?

Are you thinking, "How can I possibly be delivered from this impossible situation in my home, my family or my church?"

I want you to know something today!

I can tell you this without a single bit of DOUBT whatsoever in my heart!

Without a DOUBT(IN YOUR HEART), you WILL be DELIVERED!

BELIEVE IN GOD'S POWER AS YOU PRAY & FAST!

SEEK & WORSHIP GOD FOR GUIDANCE!

PRAISE GOD FOR HIS PROMISE TO DELIVER YOU!

Matthew 6:33-34 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.