First Baptist Church of Vineland, NJ

Welcoming, Witnessing & Winning for the Kingdom of God

GEORGE

It has been said that we here in America are creatures of duality. That we divide our lives into sections that we can organize and, at least on some level, deal with in some kind of constructive manner: sacred vs. secular, spiritual vs. material, body vs. soul and Saturday night vs. Sunday morning. One factor that builds a bridge between our divided natures is faith. A faith that is manifested in our daily lives and in all that we do. A faith that does not quit and believes that nothing is impossible.

Remember the story of the group of companions who wanted to get their lame friend to see Jesus? (Mark 2) They carried their friend on a stretcher to meet with the Lord and instead they were greeted by an incredible throng of people who all had the same idea. Jesus was speaking in a building and the crowds filled the doors and the windows and there was basically no way for them to approach. There appeared to be no entrance into where Jesus was.

It was at this point that they changed their perspective. It was at this point that they had the revelation that they could go through the roof. And, it was at this point that they demonstrated a faith that truly believed that nothing was impossible.

What do you imagine the people in the crowd were saying? "What are you doing? Hey, you can't do that! What will the roofing committee say about this? You are damaging a fine example of Greco-Roman architecture!"

Whatever the attention or disturbance it caused, this group was willing to change their approach, to create a new opportunity and to put their faith into action. Their friend was lowered through the roof, met Jesus and was healed.

My friends, sometimes we have to go through the roof to get things done. We have to be willing to put our faith into action as well. This means we may have to step out of our comfort zone in our congregations and in our communities to make the difference for the glory of God.

You know fear and doubt are the enemies of faith. They encourage us to give up or to not even try at all. I’ve experienced both of these in my own walk. At times when I feel that my fears and my doubts are being pushed to their limits I remember in Scripture that this is all I need. In Scripture, it says that all we need is the faith of a mustard seed. As you can see, that’s not much. But that’s OK, a little goes a long way.

Faith helps us focus on healing and wholeness. Faith reminds us truly that with God nothing is impossible.

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