Traditional Faith

Matthew 28:18–20

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Today’s presenting scripture has been called the the Great Commission. It is often seen as the marching orders for the Christian Church. It will be a part of our sermon on Easter morning this year.

We are called to go and make disciples of or for Jesus Christ (whichever makes the most sense to you – lol). In the early years of the Methodist movement – making disciples – followers of Christ – seemed to be the main focus. Revivals and Camp Meetings were all the rage and altar calls were common place in Methodist worship – as pastors challenged parishioners to be transformed after the likeness of Christ. I typically have an altar call each week to challenge those in attendance to faith – or to a deeper faith – or simply to pray about something that has been a challenge for them. Even online – we challenge people at the end of our services.

Early Methodists were called to holiness – they were part of the holiness movement in the United States. We were taught to study the Word of God (the Bible) and to strive to live our lives after what it taught. We were even encouraged to avoid some of the ills of our society. The way it was explained to me (as a third generation Methodist pastor) – Methodists were encouraged to abstain from alcohol – from playing cards – from dancing – even from playing pool. The reason – again as it was explained to me – was because these social activities were often associated with bars and night clubs – with gambling and behavior and places that were not appropriate for folks striving to follow after Christ. We were encouraged to avoid even the appearance of evil or sin (we actually called behavior contrary to God’s will – sin in those days).  We were encouraged to keep Sunday set aside for the Lord. In my home growing up – Sunday was a day for worship and Sunday School in the morning – a family lunch – a nap time – youth group – and worship in the evening. Sunday was a day set aside for being with God and with other Christians.

Always Be Prepared

1 Peter 3:15

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

Before we get into today’s devotional – just an update on the poll we took a few days ago. So far 24 people have responded and 23 of them said they are following the Orioles! Only one voted otherwise – and that was a vote for – I don’t follow baseball. No one voted for another team – which is surprising to some degree. On a side note but still on the subject of baseball and the Orioles – I had to upgrade my Xfinity TV package to their ultimate package in order to get MASN sports – and I’m not happy about it.

On with the devotional thought. I often encourage us to witness our faith. We are called to be ambassadors of Christ to the world around us – 2 Corinthians 5:20 – We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. We are also called to a royal priesthood – 1 Peter 2:9 – But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Everything is Possible for One Who Believes!

Mark 9:23

Everything is possible for one who believes.

Let’s begin today’s devotional with today’s passage in context. Mark 9:17–29 – ¹⁷ A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. ¹⁸ Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” ¹⁹ “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” ²⁰ So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. ²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. ²² “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” ²³ “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” ²⁵ When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” ²⁶ The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. ²⁸ After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” ²⁹ He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

Keep Sharing Your Witness

Isaiah 55:11

…so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

We’ve been talking and sharing about Christian Discipline for several weeks in our sermons. You can listen to the services and sermons here. We covered these topics – Faith – Tithing – Private Worship – Public Worship – Study of the Word – Fasting – Prayer and this week we will deal with the topic Fellowship. This series isn’t meant to be all encompassing – but rather prick our hearts and cause us – during Lent – to did deeper in our walk with Jesus.

Today – I want to encourage us to continue to witness our faith in Christ. There are many ways to witness our faith. I sent the following text/email/Facebook post to my family and friends. I have a birthday coming up on March 4. I would love to have as many of my family and friends as possible to join me for worship at Trinity Church on March 3 at 10:30 AM. What a blessed gift that would be. The message that Sunday is the final message of our Christian Discipline series. The Sermon is titled “Fellowship”. What a great example of fellowship it would be to have many of my family and friends there on that Sunday.

Do We Put Limits on Our Faith?

Mark 2:11

“I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”

How convinced are we of the things that we believe? I mean – where are our limits on our faith? We all have limits to our faith – don’t we? For instance – few would argue that God calls us to pray – even continuously – yet how many minutes a day do we pray? Is our limit 5 minutes or 10 minutes or even an hour? If we wish to grow spiritually – we might need to push that limit some – and spend more time in prayer. Christ’s example – He often prayed all night long! He would pray – for long periods of time – before making a decision or taking on a challenge. When is the last time we spent significant time in prayer? Luke 5:16 – But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Few would argue that the Bible calls us to tithe (giving 10% of our income to the Lord’s work) or to give sacrificially to God’s work – yet – how much do we give? (Sunday’s sermon was on this topic and can be heard here.) Is the measure of our giving a limit we need to push back – in order to grow spiritually? Tithing is the one area where God says test me. Malachi 3:10 – “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

How convinced are we in the things that we believe? Where are our limits to our faith? Men tend to have more faith in their sense of direction than they should. I mean – some men won’t even stop and ask directions – even though the family is getting restless and needing a break and they’ve been searching for what seems like hours. They just know they know where this place is –  and it will just be around the corner (the same corner that has gone around before).