A sales manager of a large real estate firm interviewed one young man for an opening. "Why have you chosen this career?" "I dream of making a million dollars in real estate, like my own father." Impressed, the manager echoed, "Your father made a million dollars in real estate?" "No," replied the young man, "but he always dreamed of it."

Those disciples could have been us. They seemed to beg, "Increase our faith!" Ever ask God to do that? Lord, if you only would give me a little bit more faith in You, I would do a little bit more for You! We really don’t want more faith. Too many of us want God to do for us what we are unwilling to do for ourselves. "God, do some magic for me! I really don’t want to do anything myself." Like the "wanna-be" millionaire, dreams are great, but they must be lived out. Jesus seems to be saying, JUST DO IT!!

Some of you may recall the great humor of Bill Cosby playing Noah and complaining to God about getting the animals in the ark. "Noah, you have two male hippos. Take one and exchange it for a female." When Cosby playing Noah complains too much, God asks, "Noah, how long can you tread water?"

In the New Testament very little is mentioned about dreams, but a whole book is devoted to the Acts of the Apostles! Recall the Nike commercials. They show our great athletes with Nike shoes - buy Nikes and JUST DO IT! One of those ads shows men and women in wheelchairs playing hard. Those people could just "drop it." Instead, they challenge us: JUST DO IT! Exactly what Jesus seems to be saying to them and us!

Jesus had just warned them with the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Ignore the hurting and homeless, the desperate and the destitute, and you will never know what it means to experience the love and power of God. "Hey, disciples, look at this world through My eyes! Face it! You are going to be dealing with a lot of people like that rich man. You will have more than your share of people like Lazarus. What you do about them IN MY NAME will make a difference in this world FOR ME!"

Hurting? - bring My healing! (That means Time). Homeless? - give My shelter (That means investing)! Desperate? - be My promise coming (That means believing for them in prayer). Destitute? - be My immediate satisfaction! (Always have $10 ready to give). You see, only as you and I act on what we believe will we know Him and the power of His love! There are too many so-called believers who never do anything to make their faith grow. They have a lot of faith, but contribute little, like dead Jeremy Bentham.

A very wealthy man, he gave a lot of his estate to a hospital in London. He was on its board of directors, and had a love for the work. He had only one string attached to his gift. In order for the hospital to keep his gift, he had to be present at every meeting of the board. So, when he died, his ashes were placed in a container, then brought to each meeting. The minutes read: Jeremy Bentham, present, but not voting.

Like too many church members - present but not voting. Good intentions to serve the Lord too often are left right here until the following Sunday. Don’t be a dysfunctional Christian. One-half of almost every local church will not even roll out of bed on Sunday morning for worship. Not more faith, please! Just simple obedience! How about a test?

Have you increased your financial giving to your church - or do you give what you gave as a child? Do you visit someone who is sick and pray with them - or do expect someone else to do that? Do you really forgive the one who offended you? I’ll venture to say you know the time, the place, the feelings you had against that person. Obey the Lord and FORGIVE. (The message of forgiveness comes back all the time in church)! Want to know how you know that you forgave? Don’t try to get even - ANYMORE! You give up that right when you forgive!

Today we install Barbara Fuller as Deacon and Paulette Binkley as Elder to active service for our church. They served before...and they step up again, ready to go! They cannot do this on their own. You are asked to stand with them and to help them. Wow! We can practice our faith today! We place them into active service. We break bread and share one cup with them. Then, we agree to help them just do it, in the name of Christ!

Are you ready? Jesus says,