Mustard Seed Faith-Mountain Move-2

We complete Mustard Seed Faith-Mountain Move, a sermon lesson that teaches us about real faith.

Mustard Seed Faith-Mountain Move-2

Continued from Mustard Seed Faith-Mountain Move

2. Believing Unbeliever: The guy says, 'Jesus, if you can help…' Jesus says, 'if? All things are possible if you believe. Do you believe?' The desperate father says yes, then admits he doesn't. How cool is that? The man was honest about not having faith, but in his confession, showed greater faith than the disciples. He asked Jesus, "Help me overcome my unbelief." In other words, I can't believe by myself but I believe You, Jesus, can give me the faith I need. He had faith in the source of faith. How much more faith do we need? To drive the point home, Jesus healed his son. Many teach about the ability of faith to move mountains, that nothing would be impossible. Jesus said it. It must be true…and it is. But faith isn't entirely within our control. The Bible says each of us gets a measure of it, enough for us, any more is a Spiritual gift that some get and others don't. For someone to pride themselves on their faith is foolish. To treat others as if they're Spiritually deficient in some way because a family member isn't healed or they don't have a new car every year is absurd, almost criminal. If you have the gift of faith, do you think God gave it to you to rub people's noses in it? Maybe it's your job to heal their family member. Oh, you can't? Maybe you don't have all the faith you think you do. The man who doesn't even know he has faith, but knows God can give it to him, there's the one who can move mountains. He has faith in God, not faith in faith.

3. Conditions For Belief: People who teach that faith alone, can move mountains are like a car salesman telling you your new car never needs fuel. You may go for a couple miles, but then you're gonna' run out of gas. There are conditions God has given us. Jesus mentions one in our story. The disciples ask how to cast the demon out, Jesus says, only by prayer. If it were faith alone, He wouldn't have said that. If it were faith alone, He wouldn't have said, a few paragraphs later, it takes 2 or more to agree on what they ask for before God will grant it. If it were faith alone, He wouldn't have said we have to be in Him and have Him in us (Jn 15) before God would give us what we wish. You get the picture. There are conditions for belief. Do these false teachers actually believe if they just had enough faith, God would oppose his own will? Would you give Osama Bin Laden a nuclear missile? Faith comes from God. He won't give it to his enemies. There are conditions.

The most important condition to having faith is knowing who God is. The false faith teachers say we can use our faith to tell God what to do. If that's true He isn't God. Yet, for some reason, it's easy for us to forget which one of us is God. We have no problem until we disagree with Him. Let a war happen or a relative die and all-of-a-sudden we're judging God, believing He doesn't exist or doesn't care. If we think we can judge those things better than Him, we must think we're God. Most of the time, God just doesn't make sense to us humans. Maybe…all the time.

If God's small enough for us to understand, He isn't big enough to help us.

Jesus didn't want to be tortured and die on the cross. The only time we think about that is Easter, but let's consider that in the context of faith for a moment. There has never been a human with more faith than Jesus, yet, His Father didn't give Him what He asked for. He asked to be spared the agony and indignity of crucifixion, yet He was crucified. Jesus prayed this prayer three times the night before they killed Him:

"Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."

Faith isn't measured by God doing what we ask, but by us doing what He asks.

What will we think of God when things don't go our way, when we have more problems than we thought, when someone close to us dies? Will we fall away because He didn't live up to our expectations? Such a person never believed in God in the first place. No! Our prayer of faith is the same as the one Jesus prayed, 'Not my will, but yours, God.' Then expect all kinds of miracles! Because "All things are possible to him who believes." …to him who believes God is God.

Dear Jesus, Help us get it. Help us understand that you are God. Let us obediently bring all our concerns and desires to you and leave them with you. Give us the faith to believe you are God, and can judge what to do far better than we can. When we're hurting over something we wanted that you withheld, help us to stay in you and humbly say, "not my will, but yours."

Mustard Seed Faith-Mountain Move-2

I'm honored that you've allowed me to be a part of your Christian life. Please return often for fellowship, study and prayer. Thank you very much for visiting.

Love & Hugs,
Glen

We complete Mustard Seed Faith-Mountain Move, a sermon lesson that teaches us about real faith.