I Believe....Lord, Help My Unbelief
John 11:40 NKJ
40.Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”
If you're a born again Christian…
If you believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God…
Then this verse should mean something to you!
According to bible info.com
According to one person's count, there are 3573 promises in the Bible. The word promise itself occurs over 50 times in the King James Version of the Bible.
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/promise
Full Definition of PROMISE. 1 a : a declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified. b : a legally binding declaration that gives the person to whom it is made a right to expect or to claim the performance or forbearance of a specified act.
The same Jesus who...
*healed the lame, the mute and the blind
*who raised the dead multiple times
This same Jesus…if you're a born again Christian this morning
lives inside of you and is willing to do the very same things for you,
that he has done for untold, countless others...since the moment
His Father sent Him to bring us the Gospel...
the Life Changing Message Of Grace!
However...it's seems as though there is always a however....
some Christians doubt that God wants to work a miracle for them today.
They believe that there are miracles performed today, but that they are not for them...If that's you this morning...that line of thinking is not from God
Whatever your reasoning is, its not good reasoning...and you
Need to put as much distance between it and yourself as possible!
You may say you don't feel worthy...I've got Good News..
if you’re a Christian...Jesus is your WORTHINESS
YES...He is your worthiness!
He is your qualifier!
He is you deliver!
He is everything you need and so much more!!!
It's in those don't feel worthy moments…that our feelings seem to rule over us
That makes what He did for us...His selfless act of obedience on the cross so incredibly precious and real to every believer who is standing in faith for their Miracle!!
The fact that He did that for me...and He did that for you!!
One can choose to disagree with the written word...if they so choose
but that doesn't mean God is not still in the Miracle Working
and Healing Business TODAY!! Praise The Lord!!!
But if you choose to agree....
I said if you choose to agree…
All you have to do is let what He already did...take care of what you have already been set free from and just step into YOUR miracle.
Oh there are a lot of Christians that talk a good game...
Like the guy at work, who seems to know everything
About anything you seem to talk about??
They come to church regularly..know their bible pretty good..
They act like they hear the word and they say all the right things that Christians are suppose to say...
But just when their just about to partake of the feast… They let the devil come along and steal the food right out of their mouth!
They go away empty handed every time...
and their mouth is still watering..wondering..confused and in need...
God is looking for someone today to stand up and say....
I ain't leaving until I get my fill!!
I ain't ever leaving Gods Presence hungry again.....Amen???
And God would have me tell you today that you don't have to…
You don't ever have to Leave God's presence and go away hungry!
God wants us to know that He is still the God of miracles today.
Its like the parable of the sower in Matt. 13:3-9 NKJ.
3.“Behold, a sower went out to sow.
4. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.
5. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.
6. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.
7. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.
8. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
9. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
So many people go through the motions of Christianity, but never really take hold of what Jesus has made available to them.
While this may be a parable… If you will grab a hold of it,
you can make it real in your life, you can become good soil....
Becoming Good Soil is a CHOICE!! Amen??
We can’t keep on continuing to be anything but good soil...
And Expect Gods Favor and Good Results!!
You know we hear the word, and how good God is
and what He wants to do in and accomplish in our lives,
And it's in one ear and right out the other it goes...
oh we say we agree with it but it never takes root..
It's so sad...because when it's like that it will never produce
and yield the amazing benefits it was designed for!
We need to consistently strive to be good soil,
God’s word is sown into our lives over and over, if we let it take root
it will produce an Amazing Harvest of whatever were BELIEVING FOR!! Amen??
Yes it Will....with results in our lives...like we can’t even imagine.
A 100 fold result is a 10,000% return on the seed, which is the word that is sown into ones life...
Sometimes Its hard to comprehend the power of believing...
And what the Kingdom of God is capable of...
The key here is… Stop making it hard!
Just believe and take God at his word that it is possible!!!
And if you want to know the truth of the matter…
The fact alone that God said it should be more than enough
reason to believe it!
Because its what He’' capable of...not what were capable of...
and that right there...is the only thing that makes it possible.
Martha was like one of those Christians were talking about...
She wondered if Jesus could perform a miracle when her brother Lazarus died.
By the time Jesus arrived on the scene, Lazarus had already been dead
for four days...So she thought that Jesus was four days too late.
John 11:20-24 NKJ
20 Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
Notice what she says in vs 24
"I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Now when we read this...some of us read Martha, like a lot of Christians,
She believed that Jesus could perform miracles in the past and would
do the same in the future...
And while that is true… Look at verse 22
22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.
She knew that even at that very moment that God would give Jesus whatever he ask for… And it seems she wasn't going anywhere, after all she was there to receive what she was asking him for....
38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
(Remember...she had just earlier said...even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.) but now she was saying...wait a minute Lord, he's four days dead..he will surely stinketh....
she was human wasn't she… She was kind of saying
Lord...I believe but what are you doing?
Like Martha… A lot of us have to get beyond the fact that… Nothing is too hard for God...no matter how impossible it may seem!
it's one thing to believe...but we also have to be able to receive
what we believe for...when God delivers what we ask! Amen?
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
What a victory… What a miracle… What a God!!! Amen?
But I imagine there were still there those who said…
Did you see what I just saw?
I can't believe it… But I know I just saw what happened
And if seeing is believing and I just saw it… Then I must believe!
I imagine after they saw what had happened… They were still
Mumbling the words for years....I believe, help thou my unbelief..
People still do the same thing today...but that doesn't change
the miracle working power of the word of God...
And I'm here to tell you that God is still in the miracle working business! Amen??
Today, Jesus stands ready at the point of your need...
To be your very own in assessor,
Advocator, originator and deliverer of your miracle!
What miracle do you need from Him?
There's nothing too big or small…
That you can't come boldly to Him with!!
Or anything you can bring to him...that he already hasn't confronted,
Conquered and already captured the Victory for you in advance! Amen??
*Believe that He is still the same miracle-working God today.
*Believe that the word that has been sown and is still being sown in your life, will take root and produce the return that God intended for it to!
*Believe that you will see the glory of God in your life and you will,
working all things together for your good.
*Believe yourself...to be good soil and the growth and results
that God gives you will be nothing but Amazing!!
*Believe that all things are possible..to him who believes!
Text Illustration:
HE WAS HEALED
Tony Campolo tells a story about being in a church in Oregon where he was asked to pray for a man who had cancer. Campolo prayed boldly for the man’s healing.
That next week he got a telephone call from the man’s wife. She said, "You prayed for my husband. He had cancer." Campolo thought when he heard her use the past tense verb that his cancer had been eradicated! But before he could think much about it she said, "He died." Compolo felt terrible.
But she continued, "Don’t feel bad. When he came into that church that Sunday he was filled with anger. He knew he was going to be dead in a short period of time, and he hated God. He was 58 years old, and he wanted to see his children and grandchildren grow up. He was angry that this all-powerful God didn’t take away his sickness and heal him. He would lie in bed and curse God. The more his anger grew towards God, the more miserable he was to everybody around him. It was an awful thing to be in his presence.
But the lady told Compolo, "After you prayed for him, a peace had come over him and a joy had come into him. Tony, the last three days have been the best days of our lives. We’ve sung. We’ve laughed. We’ve read Scripture. We prayed. Oh, they’ve been wonderful days. And I called to thank you for laying your hands on him and praying for healing."
And then she said something incredibly profound.
She said, "He wasn’t cured, but he was healed."
A lot of times were only looking for the cure…that's what man does,
he looks for the cure...and when we do that we only limit
the capabilities of God...
But the healing capabilities of God is able to accomplish so much more
if we can only believe....Amen??
Let's pray!
