Flourishing in Faithfulness

to send Timothy back to the church in Thessalonica, he didn’t want to know how many people they had, or if they had a building, or how much their offerings were. His primary concern was whether or not they were flourishing in their faithfulness. Let’s look at a few verses from 1 Thessalonians 3:



Verse 2: “We sent Timothy…to strengthen and encourage you in your faith.”

Verse 5: “…when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith.”

Verse 6: “But Timothy has…brought good news of your faith and love.”

Verse 7: “…we were encouraged about you because of your faith.”

Verse 10: “Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.”



When Jesus told the Roman centurion in Luke 7 that He would go to his house to heal his servant, this commander told Jesus to just say the word and his servant would be healed. When Jesus heard this tremendous expression of faith, verse 9 says, “…He was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following Him, He said, ‘I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.’” On the other hand, when Jesus went back to his hometown of Nazareth, He couldn’t do any miracles there because Mark 6:6 tells us, “He was amazed at their lack of faith.”



When Jesus looks at you this morning, is he amazed at your faith or is He astonished by your fickleness? I’ve asked myself this question all week: Is my faith flourishing or am I floundering in fear? Am I pulling the trigger of faith so that God’s power is released in my life and in this church, or am I just going through the motions? Paul’s words in Galatians 3:3 echo through my soul: “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”



One of the most vivid pictures of faith is found in the well-known story of Peter walking on the water. Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 14:22-33. Let’s set the context. 5,000 men had walked nine miles around the northern edge of the Sea of Galilee just to be with Jesus.













If you count the women and children, it’s quite possible that over 15,000 people gathered around Jesus. Matthew 14:14 tells us that Jesus had compassion on them and healed those who were sick.



Because it was getting late, the disciples wanted Jesus to send the people away, but Jesus had other plans and fed everyone with only 5 barley loaves and two fish. Their growling stomachs had been replaced with grateful hearts. There was even enough food left over to fill 12 baskets. John 6:14 tells us that the people were very excited and said, “Surely this is the prophet who is to come into the world.” Verse 15 reveals that Jesus knew they wanted to stage a coup and make him king by force. They wanted a Messiah who would turn the nation of Israel into a world power.



The Faithfulness of Jesus



We see the faithfulness of Jesus demonstrated in four ways.



1. He sends. Matthew 14:22: “Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd.” Jesus took “immediate” action with his disciples and “made” them get into the boat. This word means to “compel by force.” The disciples didn’t want to leave this celebration. They didn’t want to miss out on what was