"Do you believe that I am able to do this?"

In Matt 10 two blind men kept following Jesus around asking for mercy. They wanted to see. So Jesus asks them… “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes Lord,” they replied. Then Jesus touched there eyes and healed them. There are areas in your life both spiritual and physical that might be in need of a little healing. Wether it be cancer or depression, a common cold or alcholism, or even a mean hangnail. We can learn a lot from the story of the two blind men. First, they had to ask for healing. We also must start with asking for healing. Next, realize that Jesus is asking you a question. “ Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Well do you? Jesus died for our sins and our sicknesses. Lots of people don’t believe in healing….. but do you? Remember that Jesus could do very few healings in his own home town because the people there did not believe. So ask Jesus for your healing, and believe that he is able to heal you, believe that you have received and you will have it. I’ve seen with my own eyes a lot of people miraculously healed of things. My Mom was healed of Rheuma Tory arthritis, a disease for which there is no cure. You can be healed too.

Bad stuff happens, sometimes to good people.

Bad stuff happens, sometimes to good people. It’s a rough world out there filled with all kinds of evil. But great people who do great things in this world have one thing in common. They have failures and tragedies in their past, just like you. The trick they will tell you is what they do with their past failures. Paul said it like this in Phillipians 3: “One thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” Paul’s past included hunting down Christians and arresting or even killing them. It’s good to see that Paul didn’t say that he forgot what was behind, but that he was still in the middle of forgetting it. He was trying. It’s hard to forget failures, and hard to forget bad moments in life. It’s not like a light switch. But people who live in the past become has beens and used to be’s. they cannot move on. Don’t look for problems, look for solutions. Don’t look behind and how bad things may have gotten, but look ahead to how great things will be. God’s got a great big race for you, but you can’t run fast if your looking the wrong way. Look straight ahead, and run hard. Starting right now… go.

90% of America claims to be Christians

90% of America claims to be Christians, but only about 14% go to church weekly. Hmmm. Not that church is the beat all end all to being a Christian, but why do so many not go. Well many say, “I got burned at church.” And then they have some great sob story that is horrifying to everyone. Okay, here’s a different way to look at it. If you have values that the church needs, then bring them to the church. Help change what it is that hurt you. Help the church become more relevant and authentic. Society keeps changing, and although the moral values of church cannot be compromised, the way the word is communicated must change. Out of the side of Christ the church was born, Jesus is the head of the church, and the church itself is the body of Christ. Christ needs to get some stuff done, and as long as you have church at home in front of the TV, you become the knee cap that won’t bend on the body of Christ. Church isn’t for you and what you can get, its for others and what you can give, it doesn’t reach inward, it reaches outward. I got burned cooking waffles the other day. I’ll still cook waffles. I’ll just be a little more careful. I went and saw a football game the other day. The sound was horrible, the parking was impossible, and no one talked to me. But I’ll still go watch football. So buck up little Christian, and plug in.

Power of God

When the soldiers came to arrest jesus they said “we are looking for Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus says “I am He”, and when he said that all the soldiers were thrown backwards and hit the ground. Now that’s what I’m talking about. You know that same power that Jesus has he gave to us. The very same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is in us when we accept Jesus as the Lord of our lives! The power is revealed in our lives when we begin to understand who Jesus is. You see when Jesus revealed himself as “I am He”, the power of God was revealed. We have that same power and authority when we show others the Jesus in us. So the next time life tries to mess you up, instead of thinking about how you can handle it, think about how the Jesus in you can handle it! Where you are weak, he is strong, and he became poor so that you could be wealthy, and he became sick so that you would be healed, and he came that you might have life more abundantly. Jesus said “greater things will you do when I am gone.” So go in the strength that he provided and do something!

Invest in your mind!

How important is your education? Should you continue on in college, or go back to college? Your mind is one of the most valuable tools you have. God has given you a mind, but its up to you to use it, and to invest in it. In the parable of talents Jesus tells of 3 people each given different amounts of money. The two who invested the money were rewarded, but the one who did nothing with it, the one who buried it, got in trouble.
God has given us a mind, and we need to invest in it, and take care of it. Moses was chosen to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses, having been the only Israelite not raised as a slave in Egypt, but raised by the Pharoah’s daughter in the palace, was probably highly educated. The apostle Paul was highly educated, having spent his life studying under the great Hebrew Philospher Gamaliel. (acts 22). If he had not gone to schooling, and known how to read and write both the languages Greek and Hebrew, he would not have been able to write so much of the new testament. Most of the people in that time could not read or write. God needed to use an educated man to carry his Gospel, and to proclaim Jesus Christ’s righteousness to a people yet unborn. So whatever you decide, college, medical school, or bible school, your brain is a valuable tool. Don’t ignore a tool God has given you.

Fix our eyes on Jesus

What are you here to do? Hebrews 12 says Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us That’s right, God has a specific purpose for your existence. A race that he’s marked out for you. But how do you know what that is? Where are the markers? The passage goes on to say… “let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” Our purpose can be discovered by allowing Jesus to author and perfect our faith. An author writes a book. Jesus wants to write your faith, and perfect it. We keep our eyes fixed on him, even though he’s invisible. We can do this by reading the words he said, and following his example in the way he lived. You see John 1 tells us that Jesus is the Word of God. So fixing your eyes on Jesus can mean studying God’s word. We need to be sure of what we believe before we can live our purpose for God. In studying and learning, and allowing the Word to author and perfect your faith, that is, what you believe, you will infact begin to clearly see the race that has been marked out for you. Now all you have to do is run your race with perseverance, and with that, I need to quit now..