Faith Decision
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Today is our prayer service
What happens to people who are raised by unbelievers? An interesting study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life revealed that 14 percent of people raised Catholic and 13 percent of people raised Protestant abandon the faith of their childhood. At the other extreme, over 50 percent of people raised in “staunchly atheistic or agnostic households” have abandoned the non-faith of their childhood. These people have abandoned disbelief and have embraced faith. What moved them to faith? Over half of those who abandoned unbelief say they had unmet spiritual needs in their lives.
We were created to be spiritual people. If we are open and honest with ourselves, we recognize there are some uniquely human needs that cannot be met apart from God. The Spirit then will move us toward Christ.
So how important is your faith?
5 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
6 So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
Its interesting they are called Apostles here. Not just mere disciples.The church was and is indeed built on the Apostles doctrine.
These Apostles realized they where called by God and with that calling comes great responsibility. But also with the calling there is a clear recognition of character flaws .
We become more aware of the inadequacy of our faith when we are made responsible for leading others.
Jesus didn’t equip the apostles with this great faith!
But He promised to be present in the smallness of there faith.
Its tempting to asked for greater faith then the ones Gods called you to Pastor or to lead, but in reality He promised to be with us in the smallness of our faith.
The disciples are asking Jesus to increase there faith.
Lord give us greater faith then what we already have.
James R. Edwards the Bible commentor said it this way,
Christians, even apostles, are distinguished not by the quantity of faith, but by the employment of faith; not by greatness or smallness of faith, but by acting on faith, even faith the size of a mustard seed.
Jesus said they need not more faith but the right kind of faith.
Because even the smallest of all faith like a mustard seed can say to the mulberry tree (which has very deep roots) to be pulled up and planted in the sea and it would obey you.
Jewish rabbis celebrated the mulberry tree for its vast and firm root system, which endowed it with a half-millennium life span.
Because of its root system nothing could dislodge it.
Are there issues in your life that have very deep roots. Issues that goes back to your childhood.
Sin that goes back years and year ago.
The mustard seed’s smallness was proverbial.
19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”
Mustard tree, from a tiny seed, grows as tall as 30 feet in one season
The mustard seed is something that begins almost invisible, but yet grows and becomes something so large. So rapid so decisive and dominant.
The mustard seed is supernatural creative growth.
God does more with your mustard seed of faith then anything you can do with it.
If you properly utilize your mustard seed of faith God will do great things!
Your faith will grow into something the birds will live in.
In other words your faith will grow into something that means men and women can glean from and grow off of.
Psalm 104:12 (NKJV)
12 By them the birds of the heavens have their home; They sing among the branches.
We are like these birds being weak, defenceless, timid, liable to be taken in traps , and sometimes wonderfully delivered.
10 These were the visions of my head while on my bed: I was looking, and behold, A tree in the midst of the earth, And its height was great.
11 The tree grew and became strong; Its height reached to the heavens, And it could be seen to the ends of all the earth.
12 Its leaves were lovely, Its fruit abundant, And in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, The birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches, And all flesh was fed from it.
What is the right kind of Faith?
7 And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’?
The Servant was someone who worked both outside farming and shepherding and worked inside the house.
This servants life was fully devoted to its Master.
The same with us and our God our lives are fully devoted to Him.
8 But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’?
9 Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.
Do you thank someone for not performing there job?
Do you think someone for sending there kids to school.
Do you thank someone for eating today.
Do you thank someone for washing up brushing there teeth.
Why don’t you thank them? Because they are doing what they are suppose to be doing.
10 So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ”
So we are unworthy because at our very best we are only doing what we should be doing.
You will never do more then what you should be doing for God and in this life.
But typically you will do much less.
Just imagine your going to God for some appreciation because you got it right one time. and 4,000 other times you failed to not honor God.
Unworthy servant isn’t an insult, its a reality.
Hudson Taylor spent 51 years in China as a British Protestant missionary, he founded the China Inland Mission.
He was responsible for bringing over 800 missionaries to china, who in turn began 125 schools, which directly resulted in 18,000 Christian conversions.
But this is what Hudson said about himself.
Hudson Taylor was being introduced by a Presbyterian moderator in Melbourne. He was the visiting missionary speaker. The introduction was effusive (extravagant) and ended with a reference to “our illustrious guest.”
“Dear friends,” began Hudson Taylor, “I am the little servant of an illustrious Master.”
We have to be careful we don’t become Pharisaical in our prayer life.
Prayer is important because Prayer lays bare the human heart, and Jesus is concerned with the heart. James R. Edwards
The lack of prayer reveals your heart, the words that you say reveal the heart
9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’
Maybe this Pharisee had humility the fact that he was praying could resemble humility. But he had a different kind of faith.
God knows the difference between a parade of righteousness and the intention of the heart
13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
The tax collector stood at a distance. The tax collector sensed a personal unworthiness to stand close to the sanctuary.
outcast people being justified over outwardly righteous people. These parables include those of the Two Sons (Matt 21:28–31), the Two Debtors ( Matt. 7:41-44 ), the Good Samaritan (10:30–37), the Great Banquet (14:16–23), and especially the Prodigal Son (15:11–32).
Prayer
So we are going to have prayer. Feel free to walk around get on your knees .
You can come up and grab the mic.
Pray by your self or with a neighbor.
But this is time for us to pray.