Thoughts from Pete’s Message February 12, 2016

Faith or Fear Part 2

Thank you Lord for allowing us to meet as a band of brothers, as like minded men who link together within the body of Christ to influence our surroundings not with our righteousness but with your righteousness. Thank you Lord for reminding us that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much and for your blessed assurance that there is no fear in love, for perfect love casts out fear.

Words reveal the heart of a man. It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles a man but that which comes out. Jesus taught a parable about a master who gave his servants talents to manage. To one he gave five talents, to another he gave two, and to the third he gave one talent. The servants to whom he gave five and two talents both doubled their talents by the time their master returned. The master praised each of them, “well done thou good and faithful servant. Thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things, enter thou into the joy of the lord.” The one who received one talent buried his talent and gave it back to the master when he returned. He said to his master, “I knew that you were a hard taskmaster, reaping what you have not sown and gathering where you have not planted. So in fear I buried your talent and have returned back to you that which is yours. This servant made a fear based decision instead of a faith based decision. The master said to him, “you wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gathered where I have not planted. You should at least have put the talent in the bank so that it would earn interest. Therefore, take the one talent that you buried in fear and give it to the faithful servant who has ten.” The lord has given each of us resources to allow the master to bless us back abundantly when we invest wisely and in faith according to his purposes. That which is done in believing faith reaps rewards in eternity. Fear based decisions result in weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The only way to experience the love of God is to allow God to break you so that you can be reconciled back to him. We must first experience a Gethsemane in order to experience the hope of the resurrection. Many years ago, when Pete was in the father’s waiting room, and the doctors told him that his baby might not live, God asked Pete, “no matter what happens to your wife and your baby, will you still love me, praise me, and serve me?” These are the times that try men’s soul. In the midst of adversity, will you be a man of faith or fear? When the doctor came back into the waiting room and said, “I’m sorry, we lost the baby,” this cataclysmic event forced Pete to seek comfort in the Lord. The next few weeks as Pete sought the Lord in faith were the times of the greatest spiritual comfort in his life.

According to Phillipians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.” My strength is not by my own power but only by the power of God’s mighty hand. It’s easy to speak and think things that are theologically correct until the crisis comes. We have no control in the midst of the storm. Isaiah 41 says, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold the with the right hand of my righteousness.” To be a man of faith, we must die to ourselves in order to live for him. Our security is not in the things of this world… our government, our job, our paycheck, our family, or our accomplishments. The secret of Gethsemane, was the conclusion of Jesus’ prayer: “If it be thy will let this cup pass from me… nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.” Prayer is not aligning God’s will with my will, but rather, aligning my will with God’s will. The conclusion to your prayer will determine whether you will be a man of fear or a man of faith through believing according to his will.

Often we ask God to work a miracle and to deliver us immediately from the crisis of the hour. However, God often says wait. For tribulation worketh patience and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy spirit which is given to us.

Until we put our hearts on the altar of God, we will never hear “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” It’s not the amount of faith that you have, rather it’s the quality of your faith. What’s important is the object of your faith, Jesus Christ. Not in my own strength but in his strength alone… I must decrease that he may increase.

Luke 18 begins with Jesus’ parable about a judge who feared neither God nor man. A woman who was consistent in her request continuously petitioned the judge to settle her dispute with her adversary. Because of her persistence, the unrighteous judge granted her request. Likewise when the son of man comes will he find persistent faith upon this earth? When the crisis comes, God expects his men to be the reliable ones who endure faithfully to the end. God has plans for our suffering so that we will be the faithful ones who prove his power in the time of trial and tribulation. The Apostle Paul even though he was in jail said “I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Are you a man of faith or fear? Jeremiah was called the “weeping prophet” because he warned Israel that because they failed to make faith based decisions, Israel would be taken captive by Babylon. In the midst of his lamentations, Jeremiah wrote by God’s inspiration, “Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father… there is no shadow of turning with thee. Morning by morning new mercies I see. Thou changest not thy compassions they fail not, great is thy faithfulness Lord unto me.

May God richly bless you,
Your brother in Christ,

Michael