Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Many years ago I met a man who was driving an old pickup truck, and had built a really interesting contraption for the back of his vehicle. He had fabricated a swing arm and attached an electric winch which he had securely mounted to the truck bed. He told me that he used it for lifting up heavy loads, such as butchered animals or feed, and hauling them to market. People have been loading heavy cargo for thousands of years. Maybe you have read about the old sailing ships who loaded their vessels at a shipping dock. Sometimes you could watch the sailors as they rolled wooden barrels onto the ship, or even carried things on their shoulders, but when something was too big to manhandle, they would attach a block and tackle. This is an ingenious little invention, which uses a series of pulleys to lift up extremely heavy loads. One set of pulleys was attached to a fixed location, while the other was attached to the load, being referred to as the upper and lower blocks. Then all you needed was to thread a cable or rope through the series of pulleys that was strong enough to support the load. Without getting too complicated, this is basically how it works. Each block that you use reduces the amount of weight that you have to lift. If you have a 200 lb pallet and use two blocks, each one will carry 100 lb so you actually only need to apply 100 lb of manpower to lift the load. The more blocks and pulleys that you use in the system, the easier the load is to lift. The block and tackle continues to be used in numerous applications today, capable of lifting things that at first glance seem insurmountable.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Although a block and tackle can move some heavy objects, there is nothing more powerful than faith. It might take a lot of pulleys to move something big, but it only takes a little bit of faith to move mountains!
Mark 11 ²² And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. ²³ For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. ²⁴ Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Things that seem impossible with men are possible with God. Although we are all men in the flesh, when we become a believer in Christ Jesus, through faith we can receive the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Through this power, we can do things that we were incapable of doing before.
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power,…… 2 Timothy 1:7
The Lord Jesus gave this power unto His disciples.
“And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” Matthew 10:1
“Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Luke 10:19
But in order to perform miracles just as the disciples did, we must have a strong and unwavering faith in God. Although Jesus had given them the power to heal, some of them doubted in their hearts that they could actually do it. It only takes a thimbleful of faith in Jesus, to produce remarkable results, but you must believe in the Word of God, and the power and abilities that He freely grants believers through His Holy Spirit.
James 1 ⁶ But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. ⁷ For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. ⁸ A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
God gives believers the power to do the same things that He did, but you must believe with all of your heart.
“And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.” Luke 9:6
To truly be a child of God, we must take on the attributes of God found in His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. When the Apostle Paul became a believer in Christ, his life went through a complete transformation, and many people in the church were amazed, and glorified God in him. The Lord was working through him by the power of the Holy Spirit, and he was involved in the same activities as Christ, converting people to the faith, and leading them on the path to eternal life.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” John 14:12
It only takes a little bit of faith to bring forth huge results. After all, look at all of the fruit that has come to pass, because of the conversion of Paul. Steven is another example of a man who was filled with faith and power.
Acts 6 ⁸ And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. ⁹ Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. ¹⁰ And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.
Through faith, we can be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, and greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. Remember that Jesus taught the kingdom of God is within you, as we are a temple of the Spirit of God,
Luke 17 ²⁰ And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: ²¹ Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
“And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” 2 Corinthians 6:16
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” 1 Corinthians 6:19
Man in his carnal state can do many things when he sets his mind to it, like fixing a truck, or filling up the wood shed with firewood, but those are only temporal concerns. In order to enter eternal life, it will require the power of the Holy Spirit which is only available through faith in Jesus. It is this power that enables us to overcome sin, submit to God, serve and obey Him, preach, heal the sick and perform miracles.
“And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:49
John 1 ¹² But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: ¹³ Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
“For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,…..1 Thessalonians 1:5
Sometimes when we get stuck in the mud, it will require the power of four wheel drive to get us out, but to overcome this world, it will require the power of the Holy Spirit. Although there have been many inventions made by man, there is nothing more powerful than faith in God. He can perform things in our lives that we could never do on our own. It only takes a little bit of faith in Him to move mountains, something that I am reminded of every time I watch sailors securing heavy cargo, rigging up some cables, and hooking up,……
…….The Block and Tackle
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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