You don't need to manufacture a massive amount of faith to see God move; you simply need to trust in the specific measure He has already assigned to you. Stop striving for perfection and instead line up with the faith that is already available through the Holy Spirit. Today, invite God to embolden your belief so you can walk confidently in the impossible things He has called you to do.
Amen. Well, am excited to bring the word today. God has given me a word and I believe that it is for our congregation. Today, I wanna talk about faith. So Gabe spoke about faith a couple of weeks ago, and and it was powerful.
And and I came up to him and I was just laughing. I was like, that's exactly what I'm gonna talk about is faith. And that's just like our God, that he kinda interweaves things in our church. The title of this message is "Faith Like a Mustard Seed". And the scripture reference that we're using here is in Matthew-17, and I wanna set the stage for you.
It starts with Jesus ascending this mountain, and he brings his inner core disciples, James, John, and Peter. And they ascend this mountain, and Jesus is transfigured into his **glorious radiance**. I mean, this beautiful shining light that the disciples get to see. Revelation talks about how in heaven and in the new Jerusalem, there is no night, and there is no need for a sun because the son of God will be our light. It kinda brings another layer to the Jesus is the light of the world saying, doesn't it?
Yeah. So as he's up there, he is joined with Moses and Elijah. So Moses represents the law, and Elijah represents the prophets. So that is the Old Testament. You have the Old Covenant.
So we see the Old Testament, and we see the new covenant, the new testament in Jesus, the blood covenant. And Moses and Elijah disappear, and father God looks down and he says, this is my son. He declares his sonship just like he did with John the Baptist when he was baptized. This is my son. I'm giving him to you.
Listen to him, he tells the disciples. This word is Jesus. Jesus is the word. So we are commissioned to listen to him. Listen to this word.
Amen? Amen. Amen. So it's this beautiful moment. The disciples are obviously just terrified and they just sink into the floor, which is what I'm gonna do when I get to heaven 1 day.
I'm just gonna sink into the streets of gold as I sit in front of the throne of God. I don't think I'm gonna have any words to say. But today, God has given me some words to say. Amen? Amen.
Amen. So they descend down from this mountain, that inner 3, this beautiful moment known as the transfiguration. And they come to this large crowd, to this group. And this is where we pick it up. In Matthew-17 starting in verse 14, it says, and when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and kneeling before him said, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly, for often he falls into the fire and often into the water.
And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him. And Jesus answered, oh faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me. And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, why could we not cast it out? Everybody stand with me, please. I want everybody to read this out loud together, starting in verse 20. Matthew-17, starting in verse 20. Let's go.
He said to them, because of your little faith, for truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "move from here to there", and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. Let's pray. Oh, God, thank you for this beautiful word that you've given us, these revelations that come from it, are you, you, Lord, because this word is living and active. It's breathing. It's sharper than any 2 edged sword.
It is right now cutting to the division of soul and spirit. *God*, cut soul away and let spirit remain. God, I pray that you would be all over this word. I pray that you would use my words to touch your saints in this place to be forever changed in Jesus' name. Amen.
You may be seated. Thank you. So notice that the father declares the lordship and authority of Jesus before he even says a word. He kneels before him. You kneel before kings.
And so this father kneels before the king of kings, and the first word that comes out of his mouth is capital l, Lord. Lord. This is a name reserved for God alone. It's Adonai. It's it's God.
So he calls Jesus God. And he says, have mercy on my son. So this is a man full of faith. As a matter of fact, he actually came to the disciples first and asked them to heal his boy, and they couldn't. And yet, he still has faith in Jesus' lordship, and he goes to him and calls him Lord.
How many times have you come up here for prayer looking for healing and you don't receive it? Do you go back to Jesus and still call him Lord? Yeah. Right away? Right?
This is the faith that we see in this man. It's beautiful faith. And Jesus' response, I mean, the first thing he does is rebuke his disciples. Before he even rebukes the demon, he rebukes his disciples. Oh faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you?
*Jesus* is is obviously frustrated with the disciples. And then, he goes on to rebuke the demon. He doesn't talk to the demon or wrestle with the demon. There's no struggle here. Jesus speaks to the demon in authority, and the demon leaves instantly.
He doesn't need to pray in tongues for an hour. He doesn't need to muster up some faith and fast and try real hard. He just does it in authority. It's the faith of Jesus. Jesus is so faithful.
So, I mean, the disciples had to have been embarrassed. Right? I mean, they tried, they couldn't. Here comes Jesus. They're probably like, listen, I know you already gave us the power to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons, but we tried everything we did before and this 1 just is not coming out.
You'll see. Bam. Jesus does it instantly. I mean, they they are embarrassed. Enough so that they pull Jesus to the side and ask him in private, why couldn't we cast this demon out?
We did everything you told us to do. Is there some like special prayer that we're supposed to pray that you didn't tell us? Did we not tithe enough? Did did we not do the back to the basics series? I mean, what did we not do that we couldn't cast this demon out?
And *Jesus* hits him with a gut punch. He says, because of your little faith, that's gotta hurt. Because of your little faith. And Jesus' response reveals the reason for his frustration. Right?
Because we know Hebrews-11:6 says, without faith, it's impossible to please God. So, God is not pleased here. He doesn't say they have no faith. He just says, they have really little faith. And he actually puts it into embarrassing context and says, if you had faith just the size of a grain of mustard seed, it was known as like 1 of the smallest seeds in the region at that time, like of what they would have known.
Like, this is 1 of the smallest elements. And Jesus is saying, if you just had this, you could literally "move mountains". Nothing would be impossible. Some people see this and they're encouraged. They're like, yeah, I don't need a lot of faith.
I just need a little bit. Thank God. Like, I can move mountains with just this little bit of faith, but I see that, and I'm like, man, they didn't even have like the tiniest amount of faith. Like, Jesus is like, your faith is microscopic. I can't even see it.
And they've been with him for quite some time now, and yet, I mean, think about the inner circle. They just saw the transfiguration, and yet they don't have this faith. And Jesus can't understand it. Jesus doesn't understand unbelief. Do you do you understand it?
It's foreign to him. He doesn't get it. In Mark-6, we hear about Jesus going to his hometown of Nazareth. It says that he couldn't do many miracles there because of the unbelief of the people. And there's this amazing statement that the Bible says there in Mark-6.
It says, Jesus marveled because of their unbelief. He marveled, like, wow. Like, the way you and I marvel at the supernatural, like miracles and healings, like like, out of this world kind of stuff, like, we can't believe it, we're in awe and amazement. That's how Jesus was with unbelief. It is so foreign to him.
Wow. Like, that's the kind of faith I want. Amen? To where, like, the supernatural is the normal, and I can't even understand unbelief. Like, wow, you guys really don't believe this?
Like like like that level of faith, that's what Jesus is looking for. Jesus, like I said, it's in his nature, it's his character, he can't lack faith. The bible says in *2 Timothy-2* that even when we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. It's who he is. He is faith.
Yeah. That is his nature. Paul says in Romans-14 that anything apart from faith is sin, and and Gabe spoke on this. We know Jesus never sinned, so Jesus was never apart from faith. He never made any decisions apart from faith.
Everything was faith for Jesus. And and that's what he's looking for. Luke-18:8 says, when the son of man comes, will he find faith? Jesus is looking for faith. He's looking for faith filled people.
He loves it. Actually, in Mark's gospel version of this story, the father, it goes into some more detail of of the father's conversation with Jesus. And, when he comes to Jesus at first, he says, if you can, please help. And, Jesus' response is, if you can, anything is possible for 1 who believes. And, the father's response is like 1 of the most powerful statements that I've ever heard in the New Testament.
He says, I believe. **"Help my unbelief"**. I believe. Help my unbelief. Like, do you hear the weightiness of that statement?
Like, this is a man really at war in his mind between, you know, the spiritual and the flesh. The belief in unbelief. *Faith* in doubt. He is wrestling with this, and everything around him is saying that his boy cannot be healed. That his miracle's not going to happen.
That he already went to the disciples and they couldn't do it. That he's not gonna get his breakthrough. But there's something about *Jesus* that rises up in his *spirit* and says, this man can help me. Help me. I believe.
Help my unbelief. It's it's such an incredible moment there. And when Jesus says that, you know, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith? I wanna be able to say, yes, I have faith, Lord. But we have to actually have faith.
And even when we don't say, I believe, help me, God. Help me have faith. Yeah. We're gonna get into that in a little bit. But Jesus didn't even wanna be around unbelief.
Like we talked about in the hometown, how he couldn't do a lot of miracles there because of the unbelief. He, you know, like he told his disciples, if you preach the word in a city and and they don't receive it, wipe the dust off your feet and keep going. Like, we don't have time for that. We don't have time to be around unbelief. When we go out and do evangelism, we're looking for ripe fruit.
We're not looking to sit there and argue with people and twist their arms and and debate them and and coerce them and brainwash them into something. We're looking for ripe fruit. That's what Jesus is looking for. And so, there's a story about this guy named Jairus, and it's found in Mark-5. Love this story.
And it it goes along the lines of what I'm saying here. This guy Jairus, he has a daughter who is sick. She's upstairs back at home, and Jairus goes and finds Jesus and says, you know, I I know you're a healer. Can you come heal my daughter? And Jesus is gonna come with him, but on the way, his daughter dies.
News comes to him that his daughter has died, yet Jairus still brings Jesus to his daughter. He doesn't think it's too late. Some of you are thinking it's too late. Don't give up yet. Jesus does exceedingly abundantly above, and nothing is impossible for 1 who believes.
So *Jesus* comes into the house and there are all these people weeping and wailing. Right? They're crying over the death of Jairus' daughter. And Jesus says, get out. Every 1 of you, get out.
I don't want any of that unbelief around me. I want faith. And so he takes his inner circle. He takes James, John, and Peter, and he takes Jairus and Jairus' wife, and he goes upstairs. So he's got so we got Jesus, Jairus, Jairus' wife, James, John and Peter.
6. This is the number of man because Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day. It's the number of incompletion or imperfection. And as Jesus goes up there, he tells Jairus' daughter to rise, and she does. He raises her from the dead.
And they go downstairs as 7. Yeah. The number of God. Yeah. The number of completion.
The number of perfection. And in this moment, Jairus' faith is completed in the work of Christ. It's really a beautiful kind of picture or real example of Hebrews-12:2 that says, Jesus is the **founder and perfecter** of our faith. Their faith is perfected in Jesus. So, going back to Matthew-17, when Jesus is explaining to the disciples, you know, when they're embarrassingly, sheepishly taking him to the side and asking him, like, why couldn't we do this?
Some manuscripts add Jesus saying this kind comes by prayer and fasting. We've talked about this before in this church. This kind comes by prayer and fasting. But Jesus didn't pray and fast as the demon possessed boy approached, did he? The bible doesn't say that he did.
So what Jesus just told them is what he didn't do himself. Is Jesus contradicting? Of course not. Eric's shaking his head no. Eric knows.
Jesus is talking about a lifestyle. Like prayer and fasting is a lifestyle. Faith doesn't come when the giant's right in front of your face. If you wait until the giant is right in front of your face to muster up faith, if that mountain is right in front of your face and that's when you try to muster it up, you are too late. You are ill prepared and ill equipped to go to war against dark powers and principalities.
You are too late. **This is a lifestyle**. This is a daily in and out thing that we do. Jesus, the Bible talks about all the time, he would get alone by himself and seek his father. He would pray to his father.
He would commune with his father. Like, this was a lifestyle. Okay? You think the altar ministry team that comes up here and prays for you doesn't pray all week and then they just come up here and think that something's going to happen? No.
They are praying for prophetic words and wisdom and healing and salvation and faith. They are praying, they are warring in the spirit. We have a group of people that are here praying before service, warring for the service, for our county, for the nation. Friday nights, boiler room, there are people here praying on their face, praying for everything. This is a constant thing that's happening.
This is not something you just do when you're faced with something. And as you approach the 1 whose faith never fails, your faith is built up. Your faith is built up and it overflows into action. Right? We say around here, "faith is completed by obedience".
Right? There is an action, we can't help it, it overflows. Like, let me give you an example. So, I believe in gravity. Okay?
Let's say for this example that I have faith in gravity. I have so much faith in gravity that I will never walk off of a bridge or a building in my entire life. I will never veer away from that every single day. Anybody who knows me or comes in contact with me or has observed my life knows that I have faith in gravity. It's no secret.
That'll preach. Good work. It's no secret. Now, if I said I have faith in gravity, but I actually walk off of a building, my life doesn't really line up with what I say I have faith in, does it? And my life is over.
In the same way, like, this is a really easy practical understanding of faith and works. Like, it's not faith plus works. It's faith that produces works. Works are a testament to the faith. Works are an outward sign of the inward belief.
It overflows. It has to it has to line up. James talks about this in James-2:21. So, James-2 is is up for a lot of debate between different people on works, you know, based religion, and and we certainly have to be careful about that. And I wanna make sure I get these words right, so I'm gonna flip myself to James-2.
James-2:21 says, was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? So James says that Abraham is justified by works, but Paul says in Romans-4 that Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness. That Abraham was righteous before circumcision, before the law, before he offered his son Isaac. So are Paul and James in contradiction on the doctrine of faith? Of course not.
When when James says that Abraham was justified by his works, the word that's being used there is the Greek word, which, yes, it means to make right, but it also means to vindicate or show to be right. To be the outward display of the right. Abraham was right when he believed. And then he testified to his faith, to his *righteousness* by his works. This is what we're talking about here.
Like, and you didn't think I could get through a whole sermon without giving you a Greek word. Right? You knew that that was coming. But I think that's gonna be the only 1. We'll see what else God wants to do.
But it can be either causal or non causal. In this case, it's non causal. Right? It's not the root. It's the fruit.
And we've talked about this before. Faith is the root and works are the fruit. That Greek word is used the same way in Matthew-11:19. Jesus says that wisdom is justified by her children. That wouldn't make sense to say wisdom is made right by her children.
It's wisdom is shown to be right, a right way of living by those who live it. Amen? So, we have to really understand that faith and works thing because like the faith has to produce something. In this example in Matthew-17, like the faith of Jesus produced the casting out of a demon. Right?
Like, it it's not that because Jesus casted out the demon, he has faith. It's not at all. Jesus has faith, and the fruit of that is casting out the demon. We don't do to become. We we do because we are.
There is a root of faith within us. Amen? Yes. So, you know, show me show me your faith without works and I'll show you my faith by my works. And and these works are evident.
They're on display for all to see, just like my belief in gravity. So we know that, you know, if we pray, we believe, we have faith, there should be works, there should be fruit that grows from that. But we also know that it has to be in line with Jesus' word. Right? I mean, 1 John-5:14 through 15 talks about how we have to we have to ask for things that are within his will.
Right? You can't just, you know, wish for things. Jesus is not Santa Claus. I mean, it has to be within his will. And and sometimes a lot of our prayers look like a prayer to Santa Claus or a wish list.
Right? We're putting things together and we're asking for things. 1 sign of maturity in a Christian is going from pleading and petitioning to thanksgiving and gratefulness. That's a sign of maturity. So if we're in communion with him, we know his will and we're praying for things, then we should always get what we think we should.
Right? That's not how it really works out. I mean, let's get real for a second. Sometimes it doesn't happen. Sometimes we pray for someone to come to God and they don't.
Sometimes we pray for healing and it never comes. I've sat by several hospital beds and prayed fervently and believing in faith that this person will be healed and it doesn't happen. Other times it does. *Jesus* said that we could raise the dead. I'm not ashamed to say I've sat by several coffins and and dead bodies in hospitals and prayed that that person would rise from the dead and believed.
And it didn't happen. So what does that mean? Is God not good? Is God not powerful enough? Is God not in authority?
Is is does God not care? I think there's a really good example for us to learn from. It's actually in the Old Testament. It's 2 Samuel-12. And in this story, King David is praying and fasting.
He's doing what Jesus said to do. K. He he took a man's wife, committed adultery with her, had the man killed, impregnated this woman and has a child with her. And this baby boy is is now suffering. He is dying.
And David is here praying for this child. We could look at that and say, wow, I can't believe that he would ask God to do this after he just did all these terrible things. But how many times do we commit spiritual adultery against Jesus, birth something outside of God, and then that thing is starting to fall apart, and we're asking God to bless it or save it. Come on, Daniel. Soldier happened.
Good work. I mean, before we step up on our soap boxes, let's make sure. Let's take a look. Look in that mirror. So King David is weeping.
He's on his face for 7 days. He's praying and fasting and asking God to save this child. And it doesn't happen. The child dies. The servants are actually afraid to tell him.
They're like, if this was his response while the child was alive, like, what's he going do when he finds out that the child died? Like, is he going to hurt himself? They're worried about their king. And David's response is beautiful. He takes a bath, he changes clothes, he gets something to eat, and he goes into the temple of the Lord and worships God.
Wow. David says, I don't know why God didn't save the child, but I'm gonna worship him anyway. I'm gonna have faith anyway. God is still good. God is still on the throne.
I might not know why on this side of heaven why some of these things happen and some of them don't, but I'm going to stand in faith like David. When I when Jesus told us that we can cast out demons and we can heal the sick and raise the dead, and when I pray for that and it doesn't happen, I still believe that God is good. That's what we are called to do. We're called to a life of faith. We're called to "walk by faith" and not by sight, Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians-5:7.
So, how do we walk by faith? We talked about faith being the root and works being the fruit. What is the root of the root? Where does our faith come from? It doesn't come from us.
Be careful with that. Be careful with thinking that it's up to you to muster up your faith. You are sneaking works based religion into your faith. That's a slippery slope. That's that's dangerous.
That's how you're gonna get burnt out. That's how you're gonna leave the church. That's that's how you're going to distrust God. God is the root. Remember we said that Hebrews-12:2 says that Jesus is the founder, the beginning, the source, and perfecter of our faith.
So we all come to Jesus by faith. Right? Ephesians-2:8 through 9, for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not of yourselves, but is a gift of God, not by works so that no 1 may boast. It's not you. Jesus is the founder, the justification, you coming to faith, that's Jesus.
And he's also the perfecter. That's sanctification. That's you growing in Christ. He's responsible for both of them, not you. Look at what Paul says in Romans-12.
Romans-12:3. For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. God has assigned each and every 1 of us a specific measure of faith. Now, as Christians, we've all been given salvific faith. We've all been given given saving faith, right, coming to Jesus.
But beyond that, there is a measure of faith. And I would pose that that word measure is not only amount, but also kind. The kind of faith. Some of us need more faith in finances, some more in health, some more in, you know, whatever. Everybody's in different situations, and God has given you a specific measure of faith for your life and your circumstances, and he calls you to walk in it.
Amen? Amen. A specific measure. The good news is he's given it to you. It's assigned to you.
You don't have to work for this. And don't sit there and try to figure out what it is exactly. Trust in God. By faith, we understand. You don't need to know everything.
This is all about faith. We see a story pertaining to a measure of faith when Jesus is praying for Peter. He prays for Peter's measure of faith. He knows that Peter's gonna deny him 3 times, and yet he prays for Peter's faith. And this is found in Luke-22.
Luke-22:31. Says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Peter said to him, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. *Jesus* said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny me 3 times or deny 3 times that you know me.
*Jesus* knows Peter's measure of faith, and he's praying for that measure. He knows that that measure does not include Peter faithfully declaring Jesus those 3 times. It does not include that. But it does include that when he turns back, when he comes back to the faith, that he strengthens his brothers, that he preaches on the day of Pentecost, that he sees 3,000 saved added to the faith by grace through faith. Amen?
Build my church. That's what he's praying for. He knows Peter's measure of faith. He knows Peter's going to get out of the boat and walk on water. He also knows that Peter's going to drown, and he's going to have to help him when Peter looks at the storm instead of Jesus.
Some of you are sinking because your eyes are on the storm instead of Jesus. Turn your eyes back. He knows that Peter's measure of faith includes declaring him as the Christ, as the son of God, and he knows that his measure of faith includes turning back to strengthen his brothers, enough that he would eventually give his life for Jesus. He knows Peter's measure of faith and he knows your measure of faith. He knows my measure of faith.
And he's praying for that faith. Like, can I encourage you? Romans-8 says that both Jesus and Holy Spirit are interceding on our behalf to Father God. They are both praying for our faith. And, the root of that faith, the power of that faith is Holy Spirit.
*Galatians-5 talks about the fruit of the spirit. 1 of those fruit is faithfulness*. The fruit, the the the faithfulness that we have, the fruit that we experience in our lives comes from God. It's not fruit of you or fruit of me. It's not fruit of the flesh.
It's fruit of the spirit. Amen? Amen. So will you live in faith? Will you *believe* and line up with the measure of faith that God has assigned to you?
Will your life reflect it just as much as your life reflects your belief in gravity? I'll leave you with a story here. So brother Jerry Hunter and I were out evangelizing a couple weeks ago, and we ran into this Buddhist guy outside of a Publix, and we're talking to him. And the conversation's really turning more into apologetics. It's like defending the faith.
Like, he's trying to poke holes at the faith, we're kinda defending it. And I'm thinking to myself, like, this is kinda fruitless. I wanna just be able to pray for this guy and move on. Because like we said before, right, we're looking for ripe fruit. But he says something that just like rises up in my spirit.
He irks my spirit. So I had to respond. He says, like, the Bible is corrupt. You know, like, it has changed over centuries so many times. Like, things have been added, things have been taken away, like, it's not what it once was.
Like, and he's justifying this stance cause he has a friend that's a Christian pastor that shares this stance and he explains that the Christian pastor doesn't like push his faith onto him and and I just stop him and I look him dead in his face and I say, I don't believe that. I don't believe that. And he looks at me like I'm an idiot. Know, he's like, really? Really?
You don't believe that it's changed at all over all the centuries? I said, no. I believe that that's the very word of God, every single letter. Amen. And heaven and earth will pass away, but his word will never pass away because the word is Jesus, and Jesus is faithful and true.
Amen? Amen. This word says if we have faith like a mustard seed, we can move mountains, like literally cast them into the sea. I'm not talking figuratively figuratively here. I'm talking literally cast mountains into the sea.
And it says nothing will be impossible for us. Do you believe this? Yes. I believe. God help my unbelief.
Guys, I wanna I wanna invite the altar ministry team up here. I just feel like we need to pray like, for our faith to be emboldened. I want, like, militant faith in this church, like, where we just step out in crazy ways. Like, if you need to come up here to get prayed for that, *God*, reveal, like, the next step for me in my faith journey. Like, help me to walk by faith.
Like, whatever that looks like. If you're facing a particular circumstance, *God, build up my faith* and help me to start a regimen, a life of faith, praying and fasting, so that I can walk in the things that you've called me to, so that you could throw more circumstances my way, more challenges my way, and I can walk in them. And then, of course, I I spoke about, like, all the Christians having salvific faith. If you don't have salvific faith, if you haven't been saved, if you haven't declared *Jesus* like this father did as *Lord* and savior, then come up and get prayer. If you feel Holy Spirit calling you, if you feel something rising up in your spirit, I do not let this moment pass by.
Today is the "day of salvation". Today is the day of salvation. Amen.