Learning From Luke: Faith Enough

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Luke 17:1-10

The dimensions of the Mayflower was 113 feet by 26 feet. That little ship spent 67 days on the stormy North Atlantic filled beyond capacity with 120 passengers in 1620. If ever there is an illustration that size doesn’t mean quality, it’s the Mayflower.

How Much Faith Is Needed

* To Forgive Again ~ Luke 17:1-4

• 1 stumbling in sin inevitable
• 2 but intentionally tripping someone else up in their faith is much worse
• 3 “watch yourselves” in how you interact with OTHERS, not just your own sin
• 4 let’s be honest – we don’t always get things right the first time; forgive and forgive and forgive again for YOUR sake, not for other’s sake

* To Live In Faith ~ Luke 17:5-6

• 5 apostles are dismayed; they SEE the cost of faith, and they’re concerned that they don’t have **enough** faith
• 6 Jesus’ reply isn’t about the AMOUNT of faith – it’s allowing the PRESENCE of faith to make the difference

* To Humbly Serve ~ Luke 17:7-10

• 7/8 the point of service is to SERVE, not RECEIVE
• 9 recognition of service is nice, but not required; we’re not serving the Lord for tips
• 10 In many places in the Gospels, Jesus teaches His followers to stop holding on to STATUS, and give up trying to jockey for position

Think about it: can we **earn** God’s love? Can we do enough good things to take the place of God’s LIMITLESS grace? Of course not. We’re ADOPTED into God’s Kingdom – we are daughters and sons – but we still must remember that, like anyone in a family, we have CHORES TO DO. And God has gifted us enough faith to get started.