IN CHRIST ALONE!: FROM OUR BRETHREN... A CHRISTIAN DENOMINATION THAT IS IN UNION WITH US IN OPPOSING THE FALLACIES OF THE RH/RP BILL: “Excellent Faith"

“Excellent Faith"

September 16, 2012

The 16th Sunday of Ordinary Tine

A.K.A.

Kingdomtide

and

Time of the Church

Isaiah 50: 4 – 9/Psalm 116: 1 – 9/James 2: 1-5; 8-10; 14-18/Mark 9: 14 – 29

His Eminence

The Most Reverend Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines D.D.

Archbishop of Manila

and

Primate

of the

National Church in the Philippines

and

the Territorial Church of Asia

International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church

I welcome each of you today – the Bishops, Priests, Deacons and all the royal priesthood – as we gather to bring praise, thanks, and honor unto God. We are here for one purpose: exalting God. We are thanking God for His favor and His life. We, as God’s people, have been given much. What He has given to us will help us accomplish whatever we set our hearts to accomplish in faith.

Jesus said, “If you believe, all things are possible.” I do not understand where we have come up with the thing that we say, “It is too hard. It is too difficult. It is too expensive.” Those are not words that would come from Christ. They should not be words that would come from a Christian. God shows the potential of faith that which He has given to us.

Scriptures tells us that God has provided to each of us a measure of faith. If God gave faith, and knowing God, His character and who He is, He cannot do anything but that which is good; not only good but excellent. Look at His creation. The maintenance of it over the generations is awesome. The sun alone speaks of the greatness of God – its power, its ability, its purpose and its plan, and yet, faithful over all these years. We don’t know how old the sun is.

Scriptures do not tell us when all of these things took place. Scientists tell us that perhaps this creation was five billion years ago. If it was five billion years ago, can you see the excellence of God’s ability to place the sun in place? To empower it in a manner in which it will never falter?

The consistency. The perfection. The earth, day and night, all that God created is excellent in all that He has done. If there are any weaknesses today or any portion that we might consider failure, they are not God’s fault but our mishandling of what He has given to us.

God is great! His provision is more than enough. This is the beauty of Him. In Jeremiah 29:11, God was speaking to people who were anxious and fearful of the events around them, the things that were happening. They were giving up and not sure of what was going to take place. God spoke to them and said, “I know the plans I have for you.” God knows what He has planned is perfect. He understands that these plans will not be able to change. ‘“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and hope.’”

If we would only know God and His ways, we would set in our own being that confidence, that assurance. The things that might come against us, we would not be anxious at them or fearful of them because we know they cannot destroy. We are told, “If God is for us, nobody can be against us.”

Jesus came because of our failure. He set us free from the results of our rebellion. He took away the sin, the iniquity, and took it to His own life. It took Him to the cross. “He who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God, in Him.” Can we begin to see the character of God? He does not count our sins against us. His love covers those failures. We are the ones who condemn ourselves. We are the ones who condemn others but God is a God of restoration. He is a God who wants us to have a hope, a future.

All the things that go on around us are for a purpose and a reason. The end product is that God will fulfill to bring His plans and His purposes with all that Christ did in His life upon earth.

In the gospel today, the crowd is murmuring and complaining, discussing the failure of the disciples. Jesus sensing that something is going on calls on them, “What are you talking about?” The father speaks up and says, “My son is sick. I brought him to your disciples and they couldn’t heal him.” Jesus, at this moment, did not rebuke the disciples. He rebuked the crowd. He said, “How long do I have to be with you. How long shall I put up with you?”

Jesus had caused many things to happen. He had shown His power to the people. He had demonstrated His abilities, His love. He showed why He came – to conquer, to confront the forces of evil. Even though He was performing these miracles in their midst, they still doubted. They still murmured. They still complained.

When we read Christ’s words in the Bible, we read them absent of emotion because it is very hard to put emotions into a word. Jesus said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you?” He had given Himself to people. He had given and given to the people even at times not having a time to eat and to rest. The crowds would come for Him to feed them, to heal them, and to minister to them. He gave all that He has. Yet, He did not see, perhaps at this time, a change. The people were still, “Give me, give me, give me,” rather than comprehending and understanding what He was trying to show them. How He was trying to build them up and deliver them from despair, destruction, fear and anxiety.

Jesus desired that they would have confidence, assurance, and security. He desired that they would know who they were, how God created them, and the power that He instilled within them. “O unbelieving generation.” Unbelieving – they were those who were questioning whether He was the son of God. They were questioning His personality. They did not think any good will come out of Nazareth. They were spreading the gospel and planting fear in the hearts of the people, planting doubts, planting wrong thoughts and accusations against Christ so that the people wouldn’t have faith.

Jesus said, “How long shall I put up with you?” Jesus said to them, “Bring him to Me.” When they brought the young boy to Jesus, he had another seizure. Jesus asked the father, “How long has this been taking place?” The father answered, “Form childhood…but if you can do anything.” Jesus had just confronted their lack of faith. He just spoke minutes before of unbelieving. And yet the father comes to Jesus and says, “If you can do anything.” Perhaps, the response of Jesus was a response of ridicule, “If you can?” Is that faith? Is that putting confidence in what you are asking for? Is that believing, “If you can?”

Jesus said, “All things are possible if you believe.” In the ministry of Jesus, almost every time that anyone was healed, He would speak to them and say, “Your faith has made you whole. Your faith has healed you. Your faith has set you free.” Here was a man coming to Jesus looking to Him. Jesus said, “If you can?” The man obviously realized that he made a mistake. He turns and says to Jesus, “I do believe, but I am human. I have heard all these stories. Help my unbelief.” The man acknowledged his weakness. He did not stand behind his weakness and not move. He acknowledged that he was weak, “Help my unbelief.”

Thank God for compassion and mercy. Thank God for the love that He had planted in Christ. Even though Christ’s words perhaps indicated a little frustration, a little anxiety, He did not hold this against the boy. Perhaps, the boy could not have faith in his condition, but the father was his covering. The father was the one who was responsible for his son. The father was responsible for the family. If the father had faith, it should have covered the son. When he appealed to Christ, Christ healed the young lad.

When they got back to the house, the disciples asked Him, “Why couldn’t we do that?” He rebuked them. He challenged them. Christ did not do this in public, but privately He did, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.” See the necessity of being in relationship with God, communicating with Him, and knowing what He has given to you and what belongs to you.

It is a real challenge to us today. I wonder what Jesus would say to us if He was here with us personally in the flesh. Would He say to us, “For eighteen years, you have been in communion with the Church, why do you not believe? Why do you not have faith? Why are you not bringing forth the witness to the world that says Christ is with us?” We have been freed and delivered. The forces of evil have lost their power. What would He say to us? What words would He speak?

Jesus’ ministry was for three years only. We have been walking with Him for eighteen years in communion. What would He say to us? “ How long will I put up with you?” I believe we have to look at this. I will speak to you of God’s compassion, His love, His gentleness and His mercy, but there is also that time where responsibility must be accounted. In the parable of the talents, He gave all these talents but one said, “I was afraid of you so I did not do anything.” We have been blessed. We are blessed people.

Recently, I heard this report regarding why there are nations in the world that are poor. It listed four major situations that would cause a nation to be poor. Then, they began to list the nations that were a part of. For some reason, at the end of the report, it said that the Philippines lacked in none of these things. They are missing not one of these things that cause a nation to be poor. The question would be, “Why are we poor when we have been given everything we need to be prosperous by God?” Should it not be that we are challenged and brought to a point of concern of why? We can come up with all kinds of excuses, but we have no excuses. We have everything. We are one of the riches countries in the world in natural resources. Educationally, we have a literacy rate that is even higher than United States. We have what we need to be prosperous, but we go overseas instead of developing what God has given to us.

This is the same in our relationship with God who has given to us everything in Christ. We lack in nothing. We have been granted everything pertaining to life and godliness. We should be the most secure, the most peaceful, and the most prosperous people on the planet because of what God has done for us. Christ took away the sin, the iniquity. He gave us righteousness of God. He restored us back into relationship with the Father. He gave to each of us a measure of faith. Ephesians 4 says that to each one, grace was given according to the measure of God’s gift. He gave us not only the faith, but the ability to use that faith.

What are we going to do with it? Why are we not using them? This is the challenge that comes to us; the awareness that we are potentially with great power. Romans tell us that faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of God. Are we really listening? Colossians says, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell in you with all wisdom.” Do we really take time to see what God has given us? Do we know what is ours? Do we understand it?

You have heard me say many times that when the enemy knocks on your door, tell him, “Wrong house. This house belongs to Christ. I have been redeemed. I have the sign of the Cross on my forehead and this is my redemption. I have been saved. I have been redeemed. I have been given new life in Christ. I am not going to be deceived.” When the doctor says you have a problem, you say, “I was healed by the stripes of Christ.”

If only we believe! Instead of believing the negative, believe what Christ said. We have been given excellent faith. It came from God – the faith that will produce; the faith that will give to us the hope that will cause us to rise up. We have been so indoctrinated by failure and defeat that we find a difficult time to believe what God had said because we are listening to the wrong voice.

God chose us personally. He made us a holy nation, a royal priesthood. He chose us to demonstrate, to proclaim His excellence. To demonstrate His excellence is our task. This is our hope, our ability, our provision. We are human, and in many cases we are weak and we succumb easily to the negative rather than holding firm to the positive. We must make up our minds that we are tired of failure and of defeat. God has redeemed us. He has wiped away anything that would be against us and He has given to us new life.

All things made new; the old has passed way. Do we believe this? Why do we hold on to the old? Why do we hold on to the failure? Why do we hold on to the things that pull us down? He says, “The old has passed away.” It means it is gone. “Behold, all things are new, and all of those new things are from God.”

Look at the potential we have in Christ; the potential that He has implanted in us so that we can be His witness in the world. The greatness of our God – excellent faith. God did not give us old fashioned faith. He did not give us faith that was weak. He did not give us faith that wouldn’t work. He gave us the measure of faith that came from Him. Whatever comes from Him is perfect and excellent. This is God! This is His love for His church.

As a His Church, we should desire to bring glory to Him. We should desire to bring praise to His name. It should be that which is challenging to us. Yes, we fail. Yes, we stumble. Yes, we fall, but don’t let that stop you. Get up, confess, receive His forgiveness and go on.

One of the beautiful things in the life of King David is that when Nathan, the prophet, spoke to David the words that God spoke through him, “You are forgiven and redeemed from death,” David believed the word. He did not argue. He did not come up with, “But,” “I did this,” What about that!” David believed what God said, “You are forgiven.”

We need to believe that and that needs to be what is in our lives. Instead of arguing with God, arguing with ourselves, condemning ourselves, accept the forgiveness that God can do the great things through our life that He desires to do.

We have been looking at what builds the Church. I believe we are going to see that begin to take place. We didn’t take it out from somebody’s writings in the bookstore. We took it from God’s word. God gives us the pattern. He shows us how to cause the Church to grow. The priests have listened and I believe we are ready to take the first step.

Faith – God has given us. Faith – He will work through our lives if we will listen to Him. May that be what is seen and what we are known for. May it be that we are known as a people of God’s faith. We believe what He says. Walk in it and we live it.

May each of us listen to Him. May we be challenged to bring forth that which brings honor and praise to Him. Forget ourselves and bring thanks to God for all things. Our God is a great God. His love for us is awesome. He forgives, He restores, and He empowers. We have all we need if only we believe.

LET US CONTINUE OUR REFLECTION

WITH

HIS GRACE, THE MOST REVEREND ARCHBISHOP LUIS ANTONIO "CHITO" GOKIM TAGLE D.D.

ARCHBISHOP OF MANILA AND VENERABLE PRIMATE OF THE PHILIPPINES

THROUGH

THE WORD EXPOSED