Ask The Pastor
March 2007
Is faith evident through works, or only believing? If by believing, then why does the church do works?
Faith is evident through works only. James 2:14-20 says:
“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? [15] If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, [16] And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? [17] Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. [18] Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. [19] Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. [20] But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?”
When one believes, he or she will act on what they believe. Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
My husband is not exactly excited about Word of Faith teaching. He lets me go to meetings and get CDs, but this year he didn't let me come to hear Jesse. He wouldn't give a reason. I told my friend to go without me, that I wasn't going to get into strife over a meeting. We're not paddling in the same direction. Do you have any help for me?
Number one, talk to your husband and discuss the questions and differences you have between you. Be kind, and realize that this conversation may lead to strife, so be aware of and honor his feelings. You may not agree with him, but it is only through communication that we can help others and work with them, because communication stops friction.
Your husband may have been offended at the teaching you refer to because he did not understand in context what he heard before. Maybe the way something was said just did not sit right with him. The only way you can help him understand is to help him put aside the bad information and walk in the good, and you can only do that if you sit down to talk to one another and work it through.
If God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are three in one, how can you become saved and not have the Holy Spirit there to guide you if you still need to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
Jesus is our example, and it is a mystery, but we know the Word of God is absolute. This is why we need to live by faith, for we know in part until Jesus comes to take us to Heaven. (See I Corinthians 13:9-10.)
Luke 3:21-22 says of Jesus: “Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” Jesus was God’s Son, and yet here we see that He received the Holy Ghost.
The trinity is spoken of in Genesis 1:1-3, where it says: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
We also see the trinity in I John 5:6-9, which says: “This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.”
Notice verse seven says: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” The Word is Jesus.
When we get saved, we receive Jesus, also known as the Spirit of God’s Son, or the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry “Abba Father.” Galatians 4:4-7 bears this out: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
When we get saved, we receive the Spirit of adoption, making God our Father, but we don’t receive the Spirit of the Father. Our salvation makes us candidates to receive the Holy Spirit, according to Jesus in Luke 11:11-13: “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”
How do you get from the point of lack, to be being blessed?
There are many ways. First, you can study what the Bible has to say about prosperity, blessing, giving and tithing. Remember, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word. (See Romans 10:17.)
Then, you can also sow seed. II Corinthians 9:7-11 says:
“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. [8] And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: [9] (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. [10] Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) [11] Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.”
Next, you get there by confession, Romans 4:17 says, “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.”
You also get there by consistency. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
All of these are acts of faith. And finally, be a saver. Remember the ant and always put something aside for the future. (See Proverbs 6:6.)
If we die, does our soul remain in the grave until the second coming of Christ, or do we go immediately to heaven?
The Bible does not teach what so many would call “soul sleep”. II Corinthians 5:8 says, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” Here we see that when we die, immediately we will be with Jesus.
Philippians 1:21-24 says:
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. [22] But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. [23] For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: [24] Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.”
Again, we see to die in Christ is to go immediately to be with Christ. I Corinthians 15:42-54 also touches on what happens after we die.
The Bible never says that the soul is changed or must be put off, only the body. This leaves us with the revelation that the spirit and soul are inseparable. Wherever your spirit goes, your soul goes.
Genesis 2:7-8 says, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. [8] And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.”
The spirit + the soul = life in the body.
James 2:26 says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Once the spirit leaves a body, that body is dead. Notice it does not mention the soul, because the spirit and the soul are inseparable.
In Luke 17:5-10, when the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith", and Jesus said that if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can command the mulberry tree to be replanted into the sea, and then it goes on with a parable about tending sheep, how does this relate to the mulberry tree? I've been thinking about this a lot for awhile now. As if faith is a servant? There are so many faith statements in the Bible and what faith does and the requirement of faith to please God that to understand how to wield faith in a way to actually command what we have domain over. How does one obtain a million faith dollars, so to speak, to go out and see the faith miracles Jesus/Paul/Peter etc.. performed, to have the boldness to step into faith? I guess what I'm trying to get at is what was Jesus meaning here with the parable?
In Luke 17, Jesus is directing His focus on the use of one’s faith, or how it is to be used, but not on the actual size of it. In other words, the point of the parable is, “if you had, you could use…”
Little faith or great faith can both be useless if not put to work. Jesus wanted them to use what they had, and He wants us to do the same, to use what we have so that it can grow into what we will live by and need in the future.