... And Be Not Faithless, But A Believer

STUDY: # 823- Church in the Houses FROM: July29 –August 4, 2014

TOPIC: "... And Be Not Faithless, But A Believer" John 20: 24-29 He who has difficulty believing, who only believes if he can see things with his own eyes is incredulous! He has a LACK OF FAITH! For some reason he no longer has faith, he has lost it. Most people are incredulous because their heart has become hardened. Their incredulity is because of their lack of contact with God or "with the spiritual world." God had called Thomas, who was one of the twelve apostles, to be a man full of faith. The Lord wanted him to be A BELIEVER! How wonderful it is that Jesus chose Thomas so that he would see with his own eyes the wonders of his deeds! But when Jesus was crucified, for Thomas everything was over. It was the end of the miracles and wonderful works and words he had seen and heard by the Lord. We cannot allow whatever we have lived lead us to think or believe that EVERYTHING IS OVER! Jesus' death was not the end, on the contrary, His death took all believers to have MORE BLESSING! Whatever happens we will have more blessings. Any different or unexpected direction thru which life takes us is not to make us incredulous. We must not stop believing! If we stop believing that lack of faith will take us through great difficulty. We must not doubt how powerful God is to do in all our circumstances and times that reach us. To lose faith is to lose EVERYTHING in life! If we lose faith, and if doubt dominates our lives, then we will lose everything that we could have gained. With incredulity comes anger, rebellion and hatred. The more things we lose the more rebellious we get with God. He who takes care cultivating and maintaining his faith firm will receive and believe more. Rebellion will not come to him, nor anger, or hatred because he has taken good care of his faith. There is joy and peace in keeping the faith. The Lord had called Thomas to be a believer. He wanted Thomas to be a man who believes, who accepts, who is faithful to God and in what he had believed. Being faithful is to be "firm" and constant in what he has believed. He is someone who is loyal, firm, constant follower, and reliable. This is what God wanted to form in Thomas and in all those who He calls. THOSE WHO WILL HAVE EVERYTHING TO GAIN ARE THE ONES WHO BELIEVE! He who does not believe God live in bitterness with hatred, with rebellion. Jesus came to make things easier in our lives. And I ask myself, how does one respond to him with disbelief? This should be Impossible! But it is sad to say this is how it is. No one is justified for doubting God. Can you imagine all the powerful and wonderful things Thomas saw when he was with Jesus? He saw the dead rise, lepers being healed, he saw multitudes eating bread from nothing, he saw a stormy and rough sea calm down with a single command of the Lord and he saw the Lord walk on water. He had the wonderful opportunity to see Christ with his own eyes! And so many things that Thomas saw and experienced being close to the Lord which are unknown to us but were known to him. In Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God because if you approach Him it is not to contend but to believe. It would be cruel to approach God and then say he does not exist! Then why do we say we want to approach Him to not believe? "But without faith it is impossible to please God; because it is necessary that he who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” A disciple must please God by BELIEVING!

God is responsible for doing great things to fill our lives with His wonders. That’s how natural our belief, our faith, our fidelity should be. There is great difference between these two: faith and incredulity. Those who believe have everything to gain. The unbeliever will lose it all. When God is pleased with you it is because He likes the way you believe. It is a pleasure to God when we believe. God is glad with those who believe. He is sad and displeased with the incredulous. Thomas faith did not come easy; and obedience was not his spontaneous reaction. He was a man who had to be sure first and he had to calculate the price of things before, but once he was sure of them and once counted the exact price of things then he reached the limit of faith and obedience. Why must we first speculate and examine so much to believe? It would be easier for you and I just to believe so that Jesus won’t have to rebuke us like Thomas. We should not believe only when we see, what comes from faith is not seen, that’s how it is. Faith is the conviction of WHAT IS NOT SEEN! Hebrew 11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." It is believing without seeing! John 20:29 "Jesus said to him: Because you have seen me Thomas, you have believed; BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN AND BELIEVED.” That’s how the Lord wants it, believe without seeing. This is how He who gave his life wants it so that you and I may be filled with His great power, who wants us by faith to experience His greatest miracles in our lives. Amen.