Jerry Bridges :Faith and The Power of God Part 2

Please endeavour to read the prelude to this text which is available through  Jerry Bridges :Faith and The Power of God Part 1.

Having finished reading the first part of this text by Jerry Bridges, this is the second and final part of it.

The importance of faith is further emphasized in Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ question: “Why could we not cast it out?” (Matt. 17:19). He said it was because of their little faith. We are not told in what way their faith was deficient. We do know that Jesus had previously given them authority over demons to cast them out (Matt. 10:1–8), so why was their faith so weak at this time? Perhaps it was because the demon did not respond immediately to their command, and so they began to doubt the power of Jesus. Or perhaps they presumed that because they had been successful before, they would be at that time. So we see that faith not only involves a firm reliance on Jesus’ power and ability, but also a complete renunciation of any confidence in our own.

Last month we looked briefly at the subject of God’s providence. In Matthew 17 we see an example of it in action, in connection with a mundane event — the paying of the temple tax. Jesus, as the Son of God, was under no obligation to pay the tax. Yet in order to give no offense, He sent Peter to catch a fish in whose mouth was the required shekel. This brief account raises some questions: How did the shekel get into the mouth of the fish? How did Peter just “happen” to catch that fish and not another one nearby? It is possible that Jesus performed a miracle and created the coin out of nothing in the mouth of the fish.

It is more likely, however, that it was a work of providence. Someone “accidentally” dropped a shekel into the sea. A particular fish grabbed it, and it stuck in its mouth. The fish swam to the exact spot where Peter cast his net and the fish was caught. None of these events was miraculous; yet all of them were necessary to accomplish Jesus’ purpose, and Jesus was in control of each one of them. God’s power is as much at work in His providence as in His miracles. So as we struggle with our own faith, or lack of it, in the difficult situations of life, let us believe that God is able, whether through miracles or providence, to care for us.

Do you believe in Christ?
Do your friends believe in Him?
How well do you know Him?

Please spread the message of the gospel.

HAVE FAITH IN GOD

 A message by Senior Prophet TB Joshua of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Lagos Nigeria.
In this teaching, he talks about our faith in God and how we should strive to maintain it in all situations.

It is surprising to see what faith people have in wrong things. Some people have faith in their own physical ability as was the case with Goliath when he faced the small shepherd boy, David. Others have faith in their worldly possessions like the rich young man in Matthew 19 who could not separate himself from his riches.

There are also those who have faith in the power and might of the sword like the Egyptian army when they pursued the Israelites at the Red Sea.

Look at Jesus’ answer in Mark 11: 22 – 23 “’Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.’”

This means God is the Source of our faith. God is the Giver of faith. As Christians, we have faith and we increase in faith through Him because

He is the Source of our faith. As faith people, faith is something we have by our very nature.
 God has given us the measure of faith, the Spirit of faith and the Word of faith we would require to live for Him.

Therefore, if you discover that your faith is not enough, you can ask God to add to your faith. We are not asked to look inward to see how much faith we have but we are asked to look to God and take from Him the faith we need to live for Him here and now. It is easy to increase your faith through Him and to have faith through Him because He has a nature that makes it easy for men to trust in Him. Upon our own strength we cannot rely, we simply have to trust Someone greater, smarter and wiser than ourselves – Jesus Christ.

False Humility

By Chris Donato

Dearest Uglúk,

Delightful. Utterly delightful. You have made wonderful progress with your subject. Not only has he come to embody a humility most false, he has begun to run with a crowd that will do naught but reinforce it.

You have done well convincing him, albeit subtly through the use of quasi-Christian spiritualists (some of our greatest allies), that it is “humility“ to disdain thinking for himself, and further, to regard everyone, even himself, as having got it wrong — whether it involves the non-essentials of that blasted Christian faith, such as apologetic methods, or its central tenets, such as trinitarianism(see footer for wikipedia definition). But it is nothing more than lazy pride, and for that we commend you. He wears it well.

The beautiful thing is, he needn’t leave the grossly orthodox church in which he is a member, for he can quietly infect the minds of others, if — and we can’t stress this enough — you take great care to keep his pseudo-humility in place. Every time he hears one speak boldly the truth about God and His Christ, make sure his automatic response is suspicion. Get him to think that the confident proclaimer of that tyrant’s so-called good news is an arrogant fool.

Even better, get him to reinforce that splendid assessment philosophically and sociologically. If you can do that, then you might just be able to consider this case closed. Do be sure, however, that he only dislikes it when the truth is proclaimed confidently. We want him to approve with gusto those truly arrogant sentiments having to do with secondary or tertiary issues, such as politics or moralistic blue laws. We like our “Christian“ warriors to fight over everything but that confounded gospel, you see.

Finally, a word about managing his lifestyle, for the sake of maintaining this false humility, is in order. In our experience, it is best to push him in the direction of rigid self-denial. While it might prove dangerous, in that such practices could bring him clarity and newfound Christian zeal, we find that it often leads to nothing more than self-gratification. A pious sham, in other words. We presently enjoy the company of a great many ascetics whose intentions, while quite opposed to ours, have nonetheless paved their road right to us. What we want is the “zeal“ without the “Christian.“ Got it?

Your Master,

Legion

 

Trinitarianism is the Christian doctrine that God exists as three persons (Greek hypostases) but is one being. The persons are understood to exist as God the Father, God the Son (incarnate as Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit, each of them having the one identical essence or nature, not merely similar natures.

Some parts of this letter seem very cryptic, please leave a comment below if you have any way of explaining it for the benefit of others.

What do you think is the general message of this letter?