Sunday, March 27, 2011

Practical Atheist: Not Sufficient Funds?

www.Eastview.org
Wonderful worship music.
Choir: Silently, silently, speak and we will hear.

Pastor Delbert Enns.
How do you prepare for your faith to be tested?
Will spring ever come? Do you have faith that it will come?
Mark 9:14-27 the healing of the deaf and dumb epileptic boy.
Is this like the exorcist movie? Jesus used this event to teach about faith. Jesus asked the disciples to follow him to the valley. Jesus' glory is manifest on the mountain top but his power is shown in the valley. Where everything is going wrong Jesus can show us his power.
In 1517 Rapheal's painting of the transfiguration was commissioned. It does a wonderful job of illustrating the story.
The 9 disciples that stayed in the valley were trying to follow Jesus by osmosis. The religious Truth Squad criticized everything.
We live in a relative world. We live between faith and reason. The father says, have mercy. We forget the urgency. We forget to help the needy. We freeze. I do believe. Help me with my unbelief. That's an honest cry. Without faith you can't please God. Faith is something you have to work on. Worries don't solve our problems.
Unbelief will cause you to lose focus. It will put you into the dark part of the picture. Jesus could do few miracles in Nazareth because of their unbelief.

How do you overcome unbelief? Learn to unlearn some things from the past. Believe even if you can't see it. Work at unlearning. Jesus' desire was to turn the world upside down. Get rid of fear and guilt. Self-sufficiency.
Read God's word daily. Stop arguing about the law and pay attention to the hurting. To those who don't know Jesus. As we wade into the valley of life remember Jesus is Lord. We have the word of God. Jesus can do miracles today.
The Lord's Table is where we celebrate Jesus' overcoming the valley of death. Jesus came to give hope. Life. Some things require more prayer. Father I want to confess that you are Lord of my life. If you believe Jesus we invite you to participate in this communion.
Song; I will bless the Lord.

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