Gratitude Comes From Attitude

There is a story told of a small town in the USA in which there were no nightclubs. Eventually, however, a nightclub was built on the High Street.

One of the churches, in the area, was so disturbed that they conducted several all-night prayer meetings, and asked the Lord to burn down the nightclub.

One night, lightning struck the nightclub and it was completely destroyed by fire.The owner, knowing how the Christians had prayed, sued the church for the damages. His attorney claimed that their prayers had caused the lightning and fire. The church people, on the other hand, hired a lawyer and contested the charges.

During the trial the judge declared, “It’s the opinion of this court that the owner of the nightclub is the one who really believes in prayer while the church members do not!”I have just come back from the AEA Conference where we were told that if the decline in the Church of England continues at it present rate there will be no church in 2050!!

Danny De Vito in the film “Other people’s Money” said this:

You know you’re in trouble when you have a growing share of a declining market”

Does it worry you that Church attendance seems to be a declining market?The pace of life has changed so dramatically in the last few years that the traditional church is out of touch.

We are living in a post modern society and the Church is still in the age of modernity. Life is changing so quickly that we have lost touch with society out there.

People say to me “We are such an old congregation – I wish we could have more young people to take on the baton of the church from us”What can we do? Jesus in our Gospel reading today challenges us when he said:

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ’Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.The plant which Jesus referred to as the mustard seed was not literally the smallest seed – though it was pretty close to it. It had however become a byword in Jewish thought for small size (17:20; m. Niddah 5:2; Toharot 8:8). The small mustard seed was however amazing because it could yield a large shrub that for example commonly reached the height of eight to ten foot around the Lake of Galilee.

What Jesus is saying is “a little faith can go a long way”.

• Let’s look at the verse in its context. The disciples had asked Jesus to increase their faith and Jesus doesn’t appear to answer the question – or does he?
• I think he does. You see – any faith is good enough to release God’s power.It is not the QUANTITY of your faith that matters just the QUALITY however small.
• You see the small mustard seed has everything in it to enable growth. Do you remember the story in Mark 9 about the man who brought his demon possessed son to Jesus’ disciples but they weren’t able to help.
• He then went to Jesus with his problem. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him.
• But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” ’If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.

“Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ’Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.The plant which Jesus referred to as the mustard seed was not literally the smallest seed – though it was pretty close to it. It had however become a byword in Jewish thought for small size (17:20; m. Niddah 5:2; Toharot 8:8). The small mustard seed was however amazing because it could yield a large shrub that for example commonly reached the height of eight to ten foot around the Lake of Galilee.