Sermon Cloud

May 18, 2008

Garfield Community Church

Faith of a Mustard Seed

Matthew 17:14-21

14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”
17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”
20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Have you ever wished you had the faith of Abraham who took his only son, whom God had promised to him, up the mountain to sacrifice, knowing that God would provide a sacrifice?

Have you ever wished you had the faith of Moses when he led the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea?

Have you ever wished you had the faith of Peter and John when they healed the paralytic outside the Gate Beautiful?

I was reading not too long ago about the miracles that are occurring all around the world. People are being healed, people are being raised from the dead. Lives are changing. I noticed something though as I read these accounts. Almost none of these things happen in industrialized Europe or North America. Almost all of these take place in the jungles and mountains of Africa, Indonesia, South America, and Asia. This is not to say that miracles do not happen right here in the United States or Canada. This is not to say that miracles do not happen in the UK or France or Italy. However, for the most part, you don't here of a woman being raised from the dead in Indianapolis. Why is that?

I believe there are a couple reasons that we do not see these things here today. Jesus points out the first one I want to talk about in verse 20. Jesus says, “Because of your unbelief.” Because of there unbelief. Now don't lose sight of the picture here. This is the disciples asking why they couldn't heal this boy. These are the same ones that later in the book of Acts are doing this very work in Jesus' name. But at this point, they still had unbelief, or doubt.

What is doubt? Well, it's a good thing if you find yourself wrongly accused and you're sitting in a court room and the jury has doubt about the case that is being presented. Doubt is defined as:

Jesus was saying to the disciples that were gathered, that they were questioning the power, that they were hesitant about their belief. You almost wonder if they said, “Well, here goes nothing, let's pray” when the father brought the boy to them.

Doubt is also distrust the definition tells us. That means we are not trusting God fully. Or worst yet, we are believing the lies the devil is telling us more than what God is telling us.

Jesus tells us that when we are saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, we have power. We have power over this world in Jesus' name. I have a nephew that believes this. He is 13 years old. He has been praying for people in his church. Everyone he has prayed for has been healed. He has the faith of a mustard seed. He is believing God for miracles and miracles are happening. There is no doubt in that boy. He believes. He has faith.

The second reason I think we don't see miracles like these any longer are our own fear. That's right our own fear. I think we are afraid that God may not come through. Our faith is weaker and that leads to, “What if God doesn't heal this guy. What if God doesn't raise this person from the dead? I'll look like a fool, an idiot.” We are afraid of what people will think about this if we fail. I've got a message for you folks. It's not about us. It's about the person who hasn't walked in 15 years getting up out of their wheelchair. It's not about whether you look like a fool or not. It's whether or not we want to see that person walk again. It's whether or not we want to see that person wake up again.

We're also afraid of rejection sometimes. You walk up to someone and say, “I'd like to pray for you, or I'd like to pray for your child so they can be healed of whatever malady ails them.” We're afraid that people will look at us cockeyed and turn around and walk away muttering something about that crazy Jesus freak. You know what? That's there problem, not ours. On Wednesday nights we have been studying the Master's Plan of Evangelism. Just last week we talked about when Jesus sent out the 12 and then later the 70 to do ministry. He gave them some instructions. One of the first things they were to do when they entered a town was to find a friendly person to stay with and work with as they spread the good news through out the town. If they were not accepted, they were to shake the dust from their feet as they left. Jesus went on to say that it would be better for Sodom and Gomorrah come judgement day than it would be for that town. Jesus has your back! You are not the one being judged, He is. You are not the one being rejected, He is.

You know it's kind of fun when people reject me or ignore me now. I kind of get a little obnoxious about it. Not in a bad way. I guess you could call it a holy obnoxious. I make it so they can't ignore me. It can be fun, and I do it in the name of Christ with nothing but love. You know, I've never gotten a bad reaction. Usually most people end up smiling and talking. They find out I'm not as crazy as they thought I was and I love to have fun and laugh.

Did you know that the Bible has the phrase “Fear Not” in it 9 times. In each of these instances, God, or His represenatative is telling whomever he's talking to to fear not, don't worry, I've got it all under control.

Hebrews 12:1-2 says:

Have faith folks. It is found in Jesus Christ and we have it through Jesus Christ. We have to believe in things not seen, we have to believe that Jesus Christ has given us power to speak in His name here on this earth. He said that whatever we bind on earth, it will be bound in heaven and whatever we loose on earth it will be loosed in heaven.

Folks, let's bind up the works of Satan in this world and let loose the power the God in this world. That is what is going to change this world. That is what is going to speed up Christ's return, that glorious hope.