“Fat” is where it’s at!
The state of Missouri is known as the “Show Me” state. The phrase, “Show Me,” was coined in 1899 by then Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver while delivering a speech in Philadelphia. “I come from a state,” he said, “that raises corn and cotton, and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me.”
Sadly, many of us in the body of Christ, in varying degrees, are waiting for the scriptures to “show us” – to manifest in our lives – before we will be completely convinced that scripture is true. Because we are in various stages of our spiritual growth, many of us have some “Missouri” in us but we’re slowing removing it.
Many of us have seen the power of God operating through others and we talk about it like it’s a fond memory. “Do you remember when ...” “I still remember the day that…” “Wasn’t that amazing?”
When we find ourselves thinking fondly of God’s power moving in days gone by, we break our Father’s heart because we are living far below His life that lives in us. He doesn’t want the power to be a memory.
He wants the power to be an everyday present reality in our lives. He wants it to be a part of who we are. He wants the power to flow so people will be born again. He wants people to know that there is a God in Dayton, Ohio.
We know what the bible says:
In Romans 1:17 it says “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith”
“Therein.” What is the “therein”? Go back up to verse 13.
(13) Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
(14) I am a debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians,; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
(15) So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome also.
(16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
(17) For therein – (therein what? The gospel of Christ.) For therein is the righteousness of God reveal…What Paul is saying is that when you read the gospels, you are getting a revelation of who God is. It’s not just another book with “Holy Bible” written on it. It’s a book that shows you who your Father is.
We know that the just shall live by faith and it says the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. Ladies and gentlemen, as long as you are here, as long as you occupy your body, you are going to be going from faith to faith. And that’s a good thing! There is always more of God to have! I like that.
Where I am in my life, I know there is more. Last year, I knew there was more and I’ve gotten a little bit more this year. But I’m greedy! I want more. We know that the just shall live by faith and we know that that faith comes from hearing the Word of God – Romans 10:17.
Now turn to John 20. We going to take a quick look at Thomas. We’re going to jump down to verse 20. Prior to this, Jesus had already visited with the disciples once before but Thomas was not with them.
(26) And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being short, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Why were the doors shut? Go back up to verse 19 – “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews…”
It says the disciples lived in fear of the Jews. The disciples ladies and gentlemen! These were the men who walked with Jesus. These are the men that Jesus told “When I am gone you are going to carry the torch.” And now they are behind closed doors because they are afraid of the Jews.
What does this tell you ? It tells you that they did not completely believe the gospel that Jesus spoke. That tells you that when Jesus told them He was going to die but be raised again, there was some doubt. When you read in this gospel, Peter even talks about going fishing again – going back to working his 9 to 5.
There are many in the body of Christ, ladies and gentlemen, who are fishing today because they don’t completely believe that this book [I held up the Bible.] is all that it’s cracked up to be. They’ve gone fishing. They haven’t walked away from God. They haven’t denounced Jesus. In their lives and how they live, they have gone fishing.
They don’t have the same zeal that they had when they first got born again, when they were first introduced to the gospel. They don’t have that burning desire to tell the world about Jesus anymore. The world has convinced them that “You need to go fishing.”
Ladies and gentlemen, if you have gone fishing, you are the fish with the hook in your mouth. If you’ve gone fishing, you are the one who is being fished because you have been taken away from the gospel. I pray to God that I am not talking to anyone who has gone fishing.
(Read verse 26 again)
(27) Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands: and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
That word “faithless” is apistos. It’s the word “pistos,” which in the Greek means faith. When you put an “a” in front of “pistos” it communicates the opposite of faith. It also communicates, ladies and gentlemen, that Thomas had heard enough of the word to have faith, but Thomas did not have faith. Do I need to say that again?
Thomas had heard enough of the word – he had spent three and a half years with Jesus – and so when Jesus says “Don’t be faithless,” He’s saying “Thomas, you know better! You know better! You’ve spent three and a half years with me and you don’t have any faith? You know better!”
And that’s why Jesus tells Thomas not to be faithless but believing. This word “believing” is pistos. So, we could say it this way: “and be not faithless, but walk in faith.”
Thomas says “But Jesus, you were gone. We didn’t see you. We didn’t believe what you said was true and that’s why we were behind closed doors for fear. You were gone Jesus. You left us.” And we know in John 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 that Jesus makes it clear that He was not going to leave them as orphans. Jesus said “I’m going to send you a comforter, someone who is just like me to pick up where I left off. Thomas, I told you that. So why don’t you have faith?”
Ladies and gentlemen, this book tells us the same thing. Why don’t we have faith? This book tells us the same thing.
(28) And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
Hold your finger here and go to Matthew 8. This is the first time that the word “pisteou” is used and I want you to see what it is in reference to. The centurion has come to Jesus on behalf of his servant who is dying. And Jesus tells him he will come and heal his servant. And the centurion says “Jesus, you don’t have to do that. I am a man under authority. I understand that when someone who has the authority speaks, it gets done.”
Did you hear what the centurion said? Did you really? “When someone who has the authority speaks the word, it gets done!”
Remember Jesus says in John 14:12 the works that I do you will do too. Someone who speaks the word and has the authority, it gets done. Is this being redundant? The authority that Jesus had on earth, you now have. And if you don’t have it, do you know what that means? You are not born again.
So the centurion tells Jesus “I am a man under authority and when I speak the thing gets done. Jesus, you are a man under authority too. So, I know that if you speak healing to my servant, he will be live.”
Look at how Jesus responds in verse 10. “When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”
The question, ladies and gentlemen: What indicated to Jesus that the man had faith? He took Jesus at His word. Jesus says “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. I have not found anyone who has taken my word as gospel.”
This life we live as Christians is not that hard. Do you now why we are not seeing more of Christ living in us? To varying degrees, and you are not going to like the word I am going to use, we are in rebellion. Plain and simple. We are in rebellion. And as long as we are in rebellion, we are not going to see Jesus living through us.
Thomas said My Lord and my God. Look at verse 29.
(29) Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou has believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
Jesus is talking about us. Now we need to believe completely. When people see us, they see Jesus.
Do you see the word “blessed”? That word means possessing the favor of God, that state of being marked by fullness from God. (It means you are blessed because God has given you everything He can possibly give you!) It indicates the state of the believer in Christ and, as a result, the person should be fully satisfied no matter the circumstances. (What are you telling me Bro. Barry? The circumstances that come into your life mean absolutely nothing because you’re blessed. You are blessed!)
To be makarios, which is the Greek word for blessed, is the equivalent to having God’s kingdom within one’s heart. Remember, Jesus told us. You won’t see the kingdom of God coming because it’s going to be in you. You are blessed ladies and gentlemen, no matter what your feelings say. How many of you know that you are blessed? ?
Since we know these things, why does it seem that we never come to the place of fully believing that the Word of God is true? What is it that is keeping us from believing that the Word of God is totally true? We’re going to look at three possible reasons over the next few minutes.
Turn to Numbers 23:19. “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good”?
God is incapable of lying. He’s not like Barry. Barry is capable of lying. Sometimes we read our abilities and capabilities into our Heavenly Father.
Look in I Samuel 15:29. “And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.”
I love that. “The Strength of Israel.” God is our strength, ladies and gentlemen. He is our portion. He is our provider.
Look at Ezekiel 24:14. “I the Lord have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord God.
The part I want you to see is “I the Lord have spoken it: it shall come to pass.”
Titus 1 we’re going to read verses 1 and 2..
(1) Paul, a servant of God’s and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
(2) In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.
I want to read verse 2 out of the Amplified. It says “[Resting] in the hope of eternal life, [life] which the ever truthful God Who cannot deceive promised before the world or the ages of time began.”
The thing that struck me when I read this verse from the Amplified – it says we rest in the hope of eternal life. We rest. We calm down. We get to the point that we trust God. We trust God that what He says is going to come to pass. There should never be a day that God is not going to tell us the truth.
Turn to Hebrews 6 and we’re going to begin with verse 13.
(13) For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could not swear by no greater, he swore by himself.
(14) Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
(15) And so, after he (Abraham) had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
(16) For men verily swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
(17) Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
(18) That by two immutable things…
What were the two immutable things? First, God gave His word to Abraham that he would have a son. And, second, God established a binding covenant with Abraham as sign to him that He would keep His word.
That by two immutable things , in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
(19) Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul…
What is the hope that we have that is an anchor for our souls? What God says, God will do! That is the hope that we have that anchors our souls. Could this be the reason we are not fully seeing the Bible manifest in our lives? Could it be that we really don’t trust God to keep His word the way we think and say we do?
Based on the scriptures we’ve read, we know that God keeps His Word ladies and gentlemen. So the issue is not with God. It’s with us. For some of us, that question may not feel good. That question may tick us off, make us angry, because it shows that maybe we really don’t believe the way we think we do. There’s nothing wrong with that. The only thing that’s wrong is not acknowledging that the question is a possibility.
Let’s look at another reason that we may not be seeing fulness of scripture in our lives.
Psalms 138:1 and 2.
(1) I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.
(2) I will worship towards thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou has magnified they word above thy name.
Ladies and gentlemen, that’s pretty high praise in my book. God says that of all the things that you have available to you, My Word, the Bible, should be #1 on your list.
Joshua 1:8 says “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou majesty observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success.”
The “good success” have everything to do with making good decisions and doing things in line with God’s Word.
Now turn to John 6:63, a verse that we’re very familiar with. “It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” Jump down to verse 68. “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”
Now look at John 14. We’re going to read verses 23 and 24. Let’s start with verse 21.
(21) He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:
Do you hear what Jesus is saying? He’s saying if you love me you will do what I say. So, whenever we don’t do what He says, what are we saying? We’re telling Jesus that we really don’t love Him.
and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
(22) Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not to the world?
(23) Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
(24) He that loveth me not keepeth not my savings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
Jesus is saying “Don’t be mistaken. The words that you hear me speak are really words from the throne room of My Father. My only job is to tell you what My Father says.
The second reason that could be keeping us from being fully persuaded what the Bible says:
Could it be that what is said in the Bible is still only “head knowledge” for us?
We can quote scripture. But is it here [pointed to my head] or is it here [pointed to my heart]? If its not here [again pointed to my heart] the it’s head knowledge. It makes you sound good Barry but it’s not manifesting in your life Barry. And there are so many in the body of Christ who are sounding good but are not living what they are saying.
Know the Word is not keeping it. Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus just told us that. Could it be that what it said in the Bible is still only head knowledge for you? A question that I didn’t ask: Could it be we are hearers with itching ears?
I’ve been thinking about the messages that have come out of this pulpit this year and how many of them I have put into practice. If you hear a message, and there’s something in that message that you’re not doing, that you’re not putting into practice, then you have itching ears ladies and gentlemen. It’s time to stop having itching ears. We need to put into practice what we know. If we don’t, then we don’t love Jesus.
Now, let’s look at the third reason we not be seeing the Word of God manifesting in our lives, that we don’t see the Bible as being true.
Hebrews 10:38 – “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back [draws back from not living by faith, draws back from loving Jesus], my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”
Look in chapter 12 verse one. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doeth easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”
Look at Luke 8:15. “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, [having heard the word, keep it; having heard the word keep it – the person who loves Jesus] and bring forth truth with patience.”
Look in James 1. We’ve heard the word patience over and over.
(1) James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
(2) My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
(3) Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
(4) But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
A third possible reason why we are not fully persuaded that the Bible is truth: Could it be that God is limited in His ability to move in our lives because we are not as far along spiritually as we believe we are? [I read that a second time.]
So how do we change this? How do we get rid of whatever it is that’s keeping us from fully manifesting all that God has for us? Romans 10:17. How do we build our faith?
We know from Mark 4:14 that the sower sows the word. So the question is: How do we sow the Word? Let’s look at four passages fairly quickly.
Jeremiah 15:16 – “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart; for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.”
How many of you ate lunch today? When you finished, was the food still on the plate or inside of you? It was inside of you. The food became a part of you. This is what Jeremiah is saying. God’s Word must become a part of you.
What is Jeremiah telling us? We have to search the word and then when we find it we must eat it, we must make it a part of who we are.
Turn to Revelation 10. We’re going to read verses 8 and 9.
(8) And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
(9) And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up, [I held up my Bible as I repeated “Take it and eat it up.”] and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
The last one. Job 23:12 – “Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips: I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.”
All of the verses we just read – when it comes to eating God’s Word, “fat is where it’s at!” God wants you to be huge when it comes to eating His Word.
I know that this message has been somewhat of a challenge. None of us want to stand before the mirror and see that we still have work to do. We don’t want to stand before the mirror and see that there are things in scripture that we’re not doing. And there is nothing wrong with that as long as you acknowledge that you are not there yet. There’s nothing wrong with being on a “full Word diet!”
