Sharing Faith…
You’re not going to die. Do you believe that? Have you seen this happen before – a person gets in a boat with the sun shining brightly overhead. In a flash a hurricane whips up outta nowhere. Jesus, decides its the perfect time for a nap. Peter, who screams louder than the other 11 Disciples, is shouting at Jesus that He doesn’t care if they die. Peter, mistakenly, is using the facts that surround him – hurricane = death, Jesus is napping = doesn’t care. These are the facts on the surface.
Jesus awakens and, once again, shares His faith with the Disciples.
He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. ~Matthew 8:26 NASB95
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We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
Why are we afraid? What is our deepest fear? For each one of us it will be completely different, but the end result could the exact same. Those that believe with all their heart, all their strength, all their soul and all their mind, they have all had the exact same result – the same as Saul/Paul, Simon/Peter, Gideon/Might Man of Valor, Jesus Christ who is the Son of Man – same result, same experience.
When they were filled, He *said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.” So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” ~John 6:12-14 NASB95
We still don’t believe and the next paragraph proves beyond question.
Jesus has just taken 2 fish and 5 loaves of barley bread, fed 5,000+ people. The Disciples gathered up 12 baskets of fragments – not a coincidence there are 12 baskets and 12 Disciples – so that nothing will be lost.
Almost immediately after this sign and wonder has taken place the people turn to Jesus and ask to be given a sign to show the world who He is!! If our sons and daughters were this hard-headed we would surely begin to question ourselves, but Jesus does not.
So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? ~John 6:30 NASB95
Then Jesus calms them, not through shame or attacks but as if He had never heard the question before, never been confronted by unbelief and answered with love and compassion, while at the same time expressing what is so obvious today. The actions and words of some do not align with these simple truths.
For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. ~John 6:33-36 NASB95
Born again means seeing through different eyes, understanding with a different mind and feeling things we have never, ever felt before. Being a new creature changes everything.
Either the Gospel is the divine Word of God teaching us how to live and how to be a reflection of Him, or it’s nothing more than a historical account of events.
