From The Archives, To salute the movie THE GRACE CARD...We take a look back at our story from Actor, Comedian- Michael Joiner.
~In Life, Look For The Teachable Moments~ A Gentle Answer Ministries Online Magazine
On this weeks Teachable Moments, we are honored to have Actor Michael Joiner as our featured writer. Michael is possibly best known for his talent as a stand up comedian. Dubbed "God's Smart Aleck", Michael is one of the top Clean Comedians in the entertainment industry. Michael plays the leading role in the soon to be released movie The Grace Card. Although Michael is an actor, comedian, writer, filmmaker and producer, his favorite role is that of Christian, husband and father. We know you will be blessed by the story he shares this week on A G A M online magazine.
Faith In Action
by Michael Joiner
Mark 2: 1-5 (1)A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. (2)So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. (3)Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. (4)Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. (5)When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
The men who brought the paralyzed man to Jesus did ALL they could, even to the point of cutting a hole in the roof…and sure enough, Jesus respected their “faith in action” and healed their friend.
How many people are complaining, “I asked God to do this... or that... and he didn’t”? Yet, a closer look will usually show that they haven’t done a thing to MOVE toward what they HOPE God will do. God requires faith on our part. Time after time in Jesus’ ministry, after he would heal someone he would say, “YOUR faith has healed you.”
We often see that most of the time the person came to Jesus, they didn’t wait for Jesus to come to them. God is ready and willing to give you a break-through spiritually, mentally, physically, financially…but what “steps of faith” are YOU taking?
Do you pray over your troubled marriage, but in your heart and out loud call your mate negative words? Or complain that he “will never change.” How is that faith?
Over 20-something years ago, when Joel Osteen’s mother was told she had only weeks to live, she didn’t just sit around and “hope” God would heal her. She got up every day and confessed her healing scriptures and walked around and cried out to God. She didn’t watch some “doctor” on TV…she asked everyone she knew, to pray for her and with her. You can call it what you want, but she is alive and well today because God honored her faith.
When I moved my entire family to Hollywood in 2002, I was auditioning a lot and my career looked like it was slowly but surely on the rise. However, in April of 2009, when we had to sell our house and move back to Kansas City, MO (because of the bad economy) some may have thought just the opposite. I could have easily looked at my impossible circumstances and given up…and indeed a few times I almost did. But, if God has taught me anything it’s that HE can do ANYTHING, from ANYWHERE, at ANYTIME! I just knew in my heart that God had assured me that this was all in his plan, and that he was going to give me the desires of my heart as an actor.
So with that understanding and hope, I continued to “do all I can with what I have.” I studied my acting technique daily, as my L.A. acting teachers always told me to. I updated and sent out my picture and resume wherever I could. I networked on Facebook and other acting websites. I even signed up with a local Kansas City agency who landed me a few small, but well paying, commercial and print gigs. Above all, I prayed and read God’s Word daily and let God know I believed he could do anything, and that I was also willing to go wherever he wanted, and do whatever he called me to do.
Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart."
What happened soon after was simply a miracle. Not only did I land a lead role in a full-length feature film starring Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr. and a film crew that had worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, but I landed that role without so much as an audition. A friend (Producer/Director Kyle Prohaska) of the director David G. Evans told him to look at my acting reel online. He did, and decided right there that I was the only person for that role. To those of you not in the film industry, that type of thing is unheard of, even in low budget films. On top of that, I found out later that a few “name” actors were interested in taking my part. One big producer even called them foolish for getting a “no name” like me, instead of the star of their own movie.
In mid November we wrapped the film after 4-plus weeks of a heavy, yet wonderfully blessed, shooting schedule of...The Grace Card. (www.thegracecardmovie.com)
Since then God has opened even more doors for our movie. For example, SONY/PROVIDENT bought the film after only one viewing and agreed to distribute it in theaters (Opening date is 2/25/11). Three of the nation’s top Christian Music acts (Including Toby Mac and Third Day) signed up to have their #1 hits on the soundtrack. Test audiences across the nation are standing up and cheering (even as they wipe away tears) at the powerfully moving ending.
I can say for certain that regardless of how big the filmThe Grace Card becomes, I am confident that whoever watches will be positively affected. And I can also say for certain that whatever trial or hard time you are going through, God wants to prove himself faithful in your situation. God not only knows you have your back to the wall, but (if you are a Christian) he is the one who put you there!
Why? For the same reason God led the Israelites to the Red Sea as they were being chased by a relentless enemy. So he can show you who HE is and what HE can do. You see, God could’ve had some boats waiting for them when they got to the Red Sea. But how much would that have increased their faith in God? Not much. And no doubt many would have attributed something like that to “coincidence”. No, God led them to that impossible situation so that he could show them he is the GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE. And I can assure you that, the folks who were blessed the most when God parted the Red Sea, where the ones who never doubted him.
C.S. Lewis once gave us this quote which I believe is the secret to balancing out our part vs.God’s part in our faith walk:
He said, “Pray as if it all depends upon God, but act as if it all depends upon you.”
Do this in whatever impossible situation you find yourself, and I can say from experience, God WILL part the Red Sea… for you!
Ephesians 2:8 ~For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God~
Copyright © 2010-2020
Mark 2: 1-5 (1)A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. (2)So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. (3)Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. (4)Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. (5)When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
The men who brought the paralyzed man to Jesus did ALL they could, even to the point of cutting a hole in the roof…and sure enough, Jesus respected their “faith in action” and healed their friend.
How many people are complaining, “I asked God to do this... or that... and he didn’t”? Yet, a closer look will usually show that they haven’t done a thing to MOVE toward what they HOPE God will do. God requires faith on our part. Time after time in Jesus’ ministry, after he would heal someone he would say, “YOUR faith has healed you.”
We often see that most of the time the person came to Jesus, they didn’t wait for Jesus to come to them. God is ready and willing to give you a break-through spiritually, mentally, physically, financially…but what “steps of faith” are YOU taking?
Do you pray over your troubled marriage, but in your heart and out loud call your mate negative words? Or complain that he “will never change.” How is that faith?
Over 20-something years ago, when Joel Osteen’s mother was told she had only weeks to live, she didn’t just sit around and “hope” God would heal her. She got up every day and confessed her healing scriptures and walked around and cried out to God. She didn’t watch some “doctor” on TV…she asked everyone she knew, to pray for her and with her. You can call it what you want, but she is alive and well today because God honored her faith.
When I moved my entire family to Hollywood in 2002, I was auditioning a lot and my career looked like it was slowly but surely on the rise. However, in April of 2009, when we had to sell our house and move back to Kansas City, MO (because of the bad economy) some may have thought just the opposite. I could have easily looked at my impossible circumstances and given up…and indeed a few times I almost did. But, if God has taught me anything it’s that HE can do ANYTHING, from ANYWHERE, at ANYTIME! I just knew in my heart that God had assured me that this was all in his plan, and that he was going to give me the desires of my heart as an actor.
So with that understanding and hope, I continued to “do all I can with what I have.” I studied my acting technique daily, as my L.A. acting teachers always told me to. I updated and sent out my picture and resume wherever I could. I networked on Facebook and other acting websites. I even signed up with a local Kansas City agency who landed me a few small, but well paying, commercial and print gigs. Above all, I prayed and read God’s Word daily and let God know I believed he could do anything, and that I was also willing to go wherever he wanted, and do whatever he called me to do.
Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart."
What happened soon after was simply a miracle. Not only did I land a lead role in a full-length feature film starring Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr. and a film crew that had worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, but I landed that role without so much as an audition. A friend (Producer/Director Kyle Prohaska) of the director David G. Evans told him to look at my acting reel online. He did, and decided right there that I was the only person for that role. To those of you not in the film industry, that type of thing is unheard of, even in low budget films. On top of that, I found out later that a few “name” actors were interested in taking my part. One big producer even called them foolish for getting a “no name” like me, instead of the star of their own movie.
In mid November we wrapped the film after 4-plus weeks of a heavy, yet wonderfully blessed, shooting schedule of...The Grace Card. (www.thegracecardmovie.com)
Since then God has opened even more doors for our movie. For example, SONY/PROVIDENT bought the film after only one viewing and agreed to distribute it in theaters (Opening date is 2/25/11). Three of the nation’s top Christian Music acts (Including Toby Mac and Third Day) signed up to have their #1 hits on the soundtrack. Test audiences across the nation are standing up and cheering (even as they wipe away tears) at the powerfully moving ending.
I can say for certain that regardless of how big the filmThe Grace Card becomes, I am confident that whoever watches will be positively affected. And I can also say for certain that whatever trial or hard time you are going through, God wants to prove himself faithful in your situation. God not only knows you have your back to the wall, but (if you are a Christian) he is the one who put you there!
Why? For the same reason God led the Israelites to the Red Sea as they were being chased by a relentless enemy. So he can show you who HE is and what HE can do. You see, God could’ve had some boats waiting for them when they got to the Red Sea. But how much would that have increased their faith in God? Not much. And no doubt many would have attributed something like that to “coincidence”. No, God led them to that impossible situation so that he could show them he is the GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE. And I can assure you that, the folks who were blessed the most when God parted the Red Sea, where the ones who never doubted him.
C.S. Lewis once gave us this quote which I believe is the secret to balancing out our part vs.God’s part in our faith walk:
He said, “Pray as if it all depends upon God, but act as if it all depends upon you.”
Do this in whatever impossible situation you find yourself, and I can say from experience, God WILL part the Red Sea… for you!
Ephesians 2:8 ~For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God~
Copyright © 2010-2020
Learn More about The Grace Card by going to www.gracecardmovie.com
You can visit Michael Joiner's Fanpage on Facebook www.facebook.com/michaeljoiner and don't forget to check out his own website at www.michaeljoiner.com
