“The Oars of Faith”

“The Oars of Faith”

Have you ever gone out on a canoe and or a rowboat?
I have gone on many in my younger days. I gone with the teen group from church and also with my scout group, it was always a blast.
Tipping people over, racing, and showing off, only to look stupid!! I recall two canoe trips that turn out to be a really bad nightmare...
One was at church camp. We were going on a half hour trip and at end was super, and a service. We were to go until we saw the sign. Well it took us over 4 hours to find it!! OUCH!! At this point it was getting dark! Some people were lost for 8 plus hour!
The second one was in scouts. We had canoed into a remote spot with all the camping stuff. We set up tents and had a fun. In the early morning hours, my friend and I went and let lose of the canoes. Theyou all floated way!!
By sunrise not one canoe remained.
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How many oars do you need when taking out a rowboat and or a canoe?
Well today I would like to show you how faith and a rowboat, and or a canoe work together.
To have faith you need a second part, just like a rowboat needs two oars,
just like grass needs rain to grow,
like we need water to be healthy
like Pastor Don needs Coca-Cola, and so on.
You need to do something for Christ besides come to church on Sundays.
To have Faith in Christ you must be “Active, Believing, and Visible” 7 days a week…

James 2:14-26

Faith without deeds is like a rowboat. James the author asks us “what good is it if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?”

In this passage it tells us that faith has 3 characteristics:
Faith is… Active (verse 17) what does that word mean? According to Mister Webster it means... process of doing. like me typing this devotion, I am active

Do you recall Nehemiah...( 3 )
He was obedient with God yet he did not rebuild the walls by himself everyone got active and did his or her part in the rebuilding of the walls...
Noah put his faith in action when building the boat!!
The disciples put their faith in action by starting the church...(Acts)
Jesus Himself put His faith in action when he walked up the hill of Calvary to die on the cross for you and I.

Faith is... Believing (verse 18) what does that word mean? According to Mister Webster it means...regarded as true, trust in and according to the Bible dictionary it means...considers to be true, trust
The blind man believed, and reach out in Faith and was healed, a woman who had been dealing with bleeding her whole life cried out in faith, believing if she only could touch Him. Her faith now moved into action, which then healed her.
The great story of Abraham and his son Isaac, Abraham had faith and believed that God would provide a lamb. And God provided the lamb after Isaac asked, “Dad where is the lamb that is to be sacrifice?” Just then a ram rustled in the bush.
Christ believed that He would rise from the dead in three days because His Father had told Him so.
When was the last time you just simply believed because Christ told you so?

Faith is… Visible verse (20-22) and once again what does this word mean? According to the dictionary it means, that it can be seen, Obvious to the eye. Like look at this blog it is visible right? Or is it?
Have you ever gone into a really dark cave and turn the lights out? The inside the cave goes from visible to invisible right? But we know there are walls around us because we just saw them before turning the lights out right? So turn the lights back on, and everything becomes visible again.
Like taking a brand new soda can, you can’t see what really is inside until you open it!! Well your life won’t be visible for Christ until you open it up to Him and allow Him to shine in you and through you. So that your life is like a lamp on a hill bright and shinning for all to see!


Christ must be visible in all you do, all you think, and in all your decisions, all your thoughts, your actions, reactions

Does this all make since?

Faith and Deeds MUST work together!!

A deed is an act…when you do something with what you have

Faith without deeds is like being in a rowboat (canoe) but only having one oar, not using the second oar. Where do you go? You go in a circle! Deeds without Faith are the same. You will only go in a circle using only one oar. However, when you use the oar of Faith and the oar of Deeds together, then you go somewhere. The challenge for you is to grasp this idea now, so you can use it the rest of your life. Now is the time to go and do something for the Lord and allow your Faith and Deeds to work together so that you can be active, believing, and visible for Christ. Because faith without action (deeds) is dead and faith alone won’t get you into heaven. And just like faith, deeds done without faith is dead, deeds alone won’t get you into heaven. But when you mix the two together and allow Christ to use you, He can and will do great things through you and your life.