Praise
Jesus, everyone.
Today
it truly is a blessing to serve the God that can do anything. But, I want to speak today about a certain
paradox. And that is, something God
cannot do. I want to read about this and
if you take a look at it yourself, too, it will be more compelling.
This
is found in Mark 6, and I hope that some of us can hear this message today and
really learn from what God cannot do, and then apply that to our life so we can
become better.
This
is found in Mark chapter 6, and this happens right as Jesus is doing these
wonderful miracles that the Father is working through Him. We get to chapter 6:
“And he went out from thence, and came into his own
country; and his disciples followed him.
And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach
in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty
works are wrought by his hands?
Did you know that Jesus had sisters and brothers and they didn’t
even believe in him? They were offended
at Jesus because they saw things that Jesus did, and some of them were jealous
of him. They were offended at him.
Mark 6 continues:
“But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in
his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
And he could there do no mighty work, save that he
laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he
went round about the villages, teaching.”
So,
here is the question: what can Jesus not do by the power of God? We see there is something that he can’t do
here. It specifically says in verse 5
that Jesus could do no mighty work there, that is in his own town, except that
he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their
disbelief. So what Christ can’t do by
the power of God is healings in people and miracles in people with disbelief. Jesus would always heal people according to
their belief. And the one thing God
cannot do is be pleased with people with unbelief. He can’t heal people that are unbelieving and
without faith.
Now
I want you to take a look with me at how important it is to have belief in God,
to trust him, to know that he is our God and our Savior, that he loves us, and
that He will help us if we call on Him.
This is a very important principle in the Christian walk. It’s something that God requires of us, and
if we don’t know what God requires we can’t please Him. And there’s a lot of Christians who think they
follow the principles of God, the principles in the Bible, but they don’t
listen to the principles that Jesus taught.
They don’t follow the Lord. They
don’t honor Him. They can’t follow after
him in faith because they disbelieve God.
I want to read part of Hebrews.
This is the faith chapter.
Hebrews 11:1-6 reads:
“Now faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
For by it the elders obtained a good
report.
Through faith we understand that the
worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not
made of things which do appear.
By faith Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was
righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
By faith Enoch was translated that he
should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for
before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him.”
If
you don’t have true faith, then it is impossible for you to enter into the
kingdom of Heaven. It’s impossible for
you to get to know God. You have to have
an amount of faith that leads you forward, and not just faith that you believe
that God exists, or faith that God could come through for you. You have to have enough belief to take steps
in faith forward, trusting that God will catch you. I want to relate this to just something
really basic that I learned in school.
When
I was really young in school, I didn’t really trust the teachers. Not, rather, that I didn’t trust the teacher,
but I didn’t trust how I was hearing the teacher speak. So whenever they would give me an assignment,
I’d always second guess myself, whether or not I heard them correctly. But when I got to college, I learned to just
pay attention close enough. Whatever I
did on a report or an essay or an assignment, I just followed whatever they
said. And I had faith that if I followed
whatever they said, and if, in doing what they said, I did wrong, I had faith
enough to know that if I went back to the teacher I could relay an argument to
them: I just followed your
directions. Why are you giving me a “C”
or “D” or an “F” when I followed your directions?
I
had enough faith to know that if I followed those directions to a “T”, as much
as my understanding led me, and I still got a bad grade, I could make the
argument and put it on the teacher’s shoulders that they did not teach me
clearly enough. So, knowing that, and
having that amount of faith, it empowered me to do as much as I felt I could do
with the knowledge that the teacher gave me, and if I came up short, I would
rest that back on the teacher’s shoulders.
It wasn't on my own shoulders.
Now,
when I truly came to believe in God and trust Him, I had to have a similar sort
of faith. We do not test God in an
unrighteous way. We say, “The amount of
faith that you’ve given us, Lord, I want to act on that. And what I don’t know, if I’m a failure in
that, it’s because you have not given me that amount of faith.” And the areas I knew I was lacking, I prayed,
“Lord, please give me more faith in this area because if I don’t have faith to
trust you in this, then I won’t be able to do it.
One
example of this, that I have given before in my testimony, was when I was a
paid pastor at that Baptist Church. I
had this vision or this word from the Holy Spirit to pack my bags and to
leave. To sell my house and to
move. That was as much direction as I
got from my Teacher. So I knew that with
that amount of understanding, that amount of knowledge, that amount of
coaching, if God is telling me to pack my bags and move, but He’s not giving me
any more specifics, then when I start to move and act, God is responsible for
the rest. I had enough faith to know that the responsibility was on God’s
shoulders, but it was on my shoulders to act on what God told me.
Now,
a lot of people don’t have faith enough to act with the amount of faith or the
word that God gave them. They don’t
trust the teacher. They’re fearful that
they’re going to fail and it’s going to be on their shoulders. So, they can’t trust God enough to even move
them forward a half of an inch. But if
you trust that God can guide you because He loves you, and He’s a good teacher,
if you trust He will give you the amount of teaching that you need at the rate
you can receive it, then you trust Him enough to grow.
Because
I was able to muster together as much faith as I had, and trust the Lord, I put
in my resignation at my church. I told
them that church was like a whorehouse, as Jesus was telling me. I packed my bags and I moved because I had
enough faith to trust in God. As I did,
the Lord blessed me. I didn’t go
hungry. I didn't miss a single payment
on my mortgage. I was able to get all
the things that I needed to pack my bags and move because I had faith, and that
pleased God.
Now,
I could have easily told the Lord, “Lord, you didn’t tell me exactly which
direction to go. You didn’t tell me what
job I was going to have. You didn’t tell
me what my life would look like a year from now.” I could have made excuses about how bad of a
teacher he was, but I knew not to do that even from my earthly experience in
college. Teachers, if they are good
teachers, give you an amount of instruction that you need to complete the task
immediately in front of you. That
doesn’t mean that you know the whole course or that you’re gonna pass every
class or every assignment that was in the syllabus. But, a good teacher is giving you enough
information to enable you to pass those assignments as you receive them. And I knew that if I’ve had earthly teachers
in college that are good enough to get me by, obviously God is a better teacher
than they are. And God is worthy to lead
me and guide me by his Spirit of truth.
I began to grow in faith.
I
began seeing the Holy Spirit coming through for me: providing money for me when I needed it,
providing people in my life to give me the provision I needed when I needed
it. He just made the way for me. When I started to realize that, my faith
grew.
The
problem is a lot of people are not growing in their faith because they simply
can’t please God in the first place.
They don’t trust Him as a teacher.
They don’t think they have enough resources because they don’t trust
what God has given them. They can’t
overcome their sin because they don’t trust the Lord. They can’t have eyes that see because they
don’t ask for it. They don’t receive any
of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so they’re totally stunted. And what a lot of times happens, when these
people are stunted, they say, “Lord, I give up.
I’ll try to appease you by giving money to some of your people. I’ll donate money to Africa. I'll donate money to a church. I’ll give my 10 percent to appease you. Oh, God, but I can't do what you ask. I can’t be set free from sin. I can’t go where you call me. But I’ll just appease you by giving you money
or I’ll appease you by giving presents to my grandchildren.” I know a lot of elderly people that are
grandparents or parents, and they literally think they can buy their way into
the kingdom of God even though they’re not pleasing God with their own
life.
It’s
impossible to please God by trying to buy your way into the kingdom of
Heaven. You can’t do it. Without faith, it’s impossible to please
God. All of these grandparents around
Christmas time think they are going to do great things by just getting their
grandchildren presents. It’s wonderful
getting presents, don't get me wrong, but you can’t buy your way into the
kingdom of God if you’re lacking faith, and you don’t trust the Teacher,
Christ. If you don’t trust Him, you’re
not going to please God. You’re not
going to enter His kingdom. And at the
end of your life, He’s going to tell you, “Away from me you who commit
iniquity. I don’t know you.”
It
doesn’t matter how much you donated to the poor, or gave to children, or if you
tithe your 10% to the church, or donated your time to this charity or that
charity. What’s going to matter is if
you had faith that was pleasing to God, and if you did the things that He
called you to do. Did you overcome your
sin? Did you come into the light of the
truth? Did you overcome addiction? Did you live righteously? Did you love others as yourself? Were you able to forgive? These are the things that God calls us to do
that many people are neglecting. Instead
of doing the things God calls them to do, they become bitter at others. They become angry at God. They try to outwardly look good before
men. These are the kinds of people, in
the professional workplace, who are the first to donate to charity. They are the first to help someone get their
first vehicle or help the company get better.
They feel enslaved to do good things for the economy because
subconsciously they’re trying to buy off God.
They’re trying to earn their way to Heaven. But as we know, there is not enough good
works we can do to earn our salvation.
It’s impossible. Rather, you have
to have faith, and faith means doing the things that Jesus commanded of you to
do. Are we really men and women of
faith? Do we trust the Lord when He
gives us a hard task? Do we trust that
He gives us the provision to overcome it?
Do we start walking in faith with the amount of guidance that He’s given
us? Or are we stunted with fear? Are we terrified? Do we just not know what to do, or worse, do
we become cowards and start listening to people?
These
days, during Covid-19 and this pandemic, a lot of people are quick to run to
prophets. They want to hear a word from
men. A lot of us aren’t hearing from
God, so a lot of people are running to people.
People tell them all sorts of things that get them very mixed up. But Jesus didn’t promise a church. He didn’t even promise you the Bible. There are some people that don’t have the privilege
of reading the Bible, yet they will also be judged according to their works and
their actions. They will be condemned
according to the words they said or things they did, or they will be justified
according to what they did and said. So,
are we living with true faith? Do you
have faith? Look inward. Look inwardly at yourself and just ask: The amount of faith that God has given me, am
I really living for the Lord with what He’s given me? The amount of talents He’s giving me, am I
giving that back to the Lord? Am I
honoring God with my life? Or am I
living selfishly? Am I living without
faith? Am I living to please God by
showing signs to men that I’m righteous, but I’m neglecting the things that God
actually called me to do: true repentance, ridding myself of sin, asking for
forgiveness, apologizing to people that have offended me? Is your heart really clean and pure? Or are you full of bitterness and impurity,
immodesty, lust? Make sure that your
heart is really righteous before God. Because
it’s impossible to please Him without faith.
The
one thing that God cannot do is a miracle in someone’s life that has no faith
in Him. That’s why a lot of people see
no miracles. They see no healings. They don’t see God working. They have zero faith. But if you want to see God move, if you want
to see Him move through you, you have to ask the Lord to grow your faith. Ask Him to help you if you don’t have a
desire. If you just feel that you’re empty inside, say, “Lord, please give
me a desire to grow in my faith. Give me
a desire to have you working through me.
Give me a new heart that beats, a heart that is alive. Help me be able to see the way you see. I don’t want to see any more from the
perspective of men. I want to see from
the perspective of God.”
And
if we truly are seekers after the truth, after the light, then we’ll be seekers
after God, after His own heart. We want
to be chasing after God’s heart, because in Him there is life. He is the light of men. But if we’re chasing after men, and we have
no faith, we will be in darkness.
I
hope this encourages someone out there to really have faith to start
praying. To start your prayer life with
Jesus, and to act on the amount of faith that God has given you.
May
the grace of Jesus be with you.
