“Faith in the Triune God, the Holy Trinity”

            Matthew 28:16–20 ¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. ¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

            Notice the holy word of God says His eleven disciples and not eleven apostles.  True Jesus is speaking to His eleven apostles but He addresses them as disciples. Jesus addresses them as disciples because they are still studying and learning every word that our Christ has said to them and every word they have written down for the book of Torah.  Torah is the Old Testament of which they have all been brought up on.  Jesus’ word that the apostles and all the other disciples heard was the New Testament for them as Jesus is our New Testament we also have the New Testament written down for us. We should be brought up then in both the Old Testament and New Testament.  It is the dependence on faith that drove the apostles and other disciples to continue what was given them by our Lord Jesus Christ to do and start the most fantastic growth a true belief could ever have.

            The disciples of Jesus Christ had no legal document of man, or a wealthy person in their group to finance their endeavor to spread God’s word.  The disciples, upon faith worked in the confines of God and succeeded as God’s tools to build His Church.  God took care of the disciples needs in a fashion that they gave the due credit to God for everything that was accomplished through them.  When driven by faith in God more can be accomplished then depending solely on our own abilities, but it does take listening to God’s word and studying His word to hear it.  The problem is that we were not raised like the disciples, and I’m not talking about the way the disciples parents raised them.  Rather the disciples were raised by Jesus Himself.  You might think that they had an advantage that we cannot have, on the contrary, we have the words of Jesus, and we just need to be better disciples of His word.  I tell you the truth being a disciple is more exciting every time you hear His words through the Holy Scripture then it is hearing it from a pastor.

            Matthew 19:26 ²⁶ But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

            By faith and listening to God Joshua fought and won many battles, but to learn faith Joshua had to succumb to God’s directions at the walls of Jericho.  How many of us would march around a city seven times having priests blow seven horns, and then shout to the top of your lungs and expect the walls of the city to fall down.  Yet, Joshua and those who followed God did, and the walls of the city fell down.  How much more do you think God will do for us if we obey His authority?   “Go therefore and make disciples of all people.”  Do you think God will fail through us or that God will succeed through us?

            With man this is impossible, it is not putting faith in ourselves that makes us successful doing what God has asked us to do; rather it is putting our faith in God that He will work through us.  Putting it all together one cannot by any law do what is needed, but through the grace of God one can be worked through to accomplish great things.  With God all things are possible.  So why do we insist that we should listen to ourselves and not listen to God?  It is our sinful nature to think that we know better than God.

            Israel listened to their desires and were defeated in the city of Ai, because they did not listen to God instead of their desires.  Afterward when Joshua listened to God, God gave the city of Ai over to the Israelites and God defeated Ai through them. 

            Mark 9:28-29 ²⁸ And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁹ And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

            I tell you the truth I have great faith in prayer to God, my faith is secure in that God will answer my prayer and your prayers too.  Praying in the will of God is easier than you think, and pleasing to God.

            Matthew 17:19-20 ¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁰ He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

            By faith in God and in our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit all things are possible.  I tell you the truth we are with God and with God we can overcome all obstacles and God can accomplish great things through us.  In fact with God we can have faith that He has done what we cannot and that is just in our salvation and His creation.

            Ephesians 2:8-10 ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

            God commissioned all of His disciples to go out to all peoples; this is a commission of good works which God has prepared beforehand for we His workmanship to do.  However our works are for the use of God for Him to build up His Kingdom through us.  For God has saved us through Christ.  Our works play no part in our salvation as it is through the grace of God that we are saved.  We are reborn in Christ and given the gift of salvation through His works on the cross.  Therefore let us rejoice in this gift and know it is from our Lord Jesus Christ who secured it for us on the cross giving us forgiveness and freedom from the clutches of eternal death.  For it is our Lord Jesus Christ’s works that come first as God loves us first.  In this love of God we can feel secure and have great faith in that He has perfected through gifting us with salvation an everlasting love, life and relationship He planned for us to have with Him our God.  Faith and amen, amen in the name of our Triune God, God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  Amen.