The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 11: Mustard Seed

Episode Date: July 2, 2017

A small amount of faith in an infinitely powerful God is infinitely more powerful than enormous faith in a powerless “god”.

Amen, amen. How we doing, Cheris, doing all right? Everybody's looking good. If you got your Bibles, I hope you do, grab them. We're going to be in Matthew chapter 13 is where we're going to start, and then we're going to go to Mark 6 and then probably back to Matthew 17. And if you listen fast enough, maybe First King 17. So Southern Baptist is going to feel really good.

Okay, so if you can't find all that, we also give you a set of notes that have all of those texts in it when you come in. And so I want to say, happy birthday to America on Tuesday, and happy 4th of July weekend to you. and most of all, if you have ever served or been married to somebody that serves or, you know, any veteran or current military people, thank you for our freedom. Amen, amen, amen. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. So we're finishing up this series. I think it's been 11 weeks called The Storyteller.

It's about the fact that Jesus taught him parables. Parable means to lay alongside of. He would take a complex theological idea like the kingdom of God, and he would lay it alongside of a common, a common everyday ordinary event so normal people like us could understand what he was talking about. And when we started 11 weeks ago, we started in Matthew chapter 13 because Jesus started out with what's called the parable of the solar. The solar, the farmer, goes out and he just throws seed everywhere. And the point of the parable was it was not the delivery of the seed, but the condition of the soil that determined whether something grew or not. And so my hope and prayer is over the last

11 weeks that some real gospel growth has happened in you as you have done the hard work of tilling up the soil of your own heart. And then right after that sort of gardening parable, Jesus shares two more gardening parables. And one is called the parable of the wheat and weeds. And it just means that basically the church is supposed to be for all people. So quit trying to kick out the people. You might kick out the wrong people. God will do the judging at the end. That's kind of what the second one is. Maybe we'll do a whole sermon on that one one one day. And then he gets to the one we're going to talk about, the parable of the mustard seed. And then after the parable of the mustard seed, there's a little commentary on the ministry of Jesus,

and it says this in Matthew 1334, all these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables. Indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. So he would tell all these stories. And these three parables that he tells are primarily about having faiths, about having faith in God. Now, we're going to talk about faith all day today. and faith is a word that we use almost to the point where it can be meaningless. We talk about somebody found their faith or lost their faith or this person has faith or it's a faith-based business or we've got to keep the faith. And when we hear the word faith, a lot of times in the scriptures it gets translated just believe, which that can be a little tough because the Bible also says even the demons believe, but they don't have faith.

It's hard to teach on because the Greek word for faith is Pistuo, is the root word in John 316. it's actually pissed off as the way it's in Greek, so you'll never forget that. And you can tell your grandma, hey, we learned about Greek today. And so, but it means more than just to believe that. It means maybe the best word I think is to trust, to trust. And so essentially what these parables are about are not, do you have faith? Because it's hard because we think of faith like a feeling. Like, how do you just have faith?

You know, you meet people and they're just like, well, I just have faith. and be like, well, I'm trying. I'm trying to, like, muster up some faith, but I can't do it. How do you just believe something? You haven't a hard time believing. And so, well, it's actually, it's actually deeper than that. It's about trusting. Do you actually trust that God is who he says he is, and he always keeps his promises? On Wednesday, I had a breakfast meeting with a guy, and here's the thing, man, I just had faith that he was going to show up. I got up and got ready and hopped on my vehicle and headed toward him, even though up to that point I had no evidence that he was actually going to be there, except that the last time we had a meeting, he showed up. And so based on that,

based on my previous experience with him, I just trusted. My activity looked like I trusted that he was going to actually be there. That's kind of what faith is. And the Bible talks a whole bunch about faith. In Hebrews 111, it says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Ephesians 2 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And it's not your own doing, It is a gift from God. That we're saved by grace, but the vehicle by which we receive grace is faith. Hebrews 116 says this, and without faith, it is impossible to please God. That faith is like the currency by which we relate to God,

and then maybe the most famous verse, John 316, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes or has faith or trust, the word is, again, Pistuo, in him should not perish but have eternal life. And so the whole foundation of Christianity is actually an event, a singular event in history that changed everything. That Jesus Christ was born on this earth, walked around, teaching and giving stories about who God is.

And then he claimed that he was God incarnate, that he showed up to take away the sins of the whole world. You know, that was not unique. A lot of crazy people who claimed crazy things. And then they killed him. He died on a cross. That's also happened to thousands of people. first century. But the unique thing about Jesus is, he said three days later he would be resurrected

from the grave, and he was. Three days after he was crucified and the whole town saw him, dead Jesus is now not dead anymore. He's walking around, having fish for breakfast and stuff on the sea of Galilee, and that changes everything. And all of Christianity is rooted in that event, and we are to have faith, not a feeling, not even to try to trust or not even to try to like make yourself believe this thing, but to trust that God is who he says he is and he always keeps his promise. And to trust or have faith that when Jesus was on the cross, that counted for you and me. And so faith is a real big deal. The real way to ask this is this. Do you trust God? Do you trust that he is who he says he is and he always keeps his promise? Specifically,

when Jesus was on the cross and says, it is finished. Do you trust him? That that counted for you. that you trust that God is a good dad, and he's always in control, even if it doesn't feel like it, he's a good dad, he's always in control, and he really loves you. And so faith, again, it is a big deal, and yet often, as Christians, if you're honest, and I know, listen, if you're new to church here, I know you're normally not honest in church, right? That's why you go. But if you're honest with yourself, a lot of times what we do, even those of us that call ourselves Christians, is that we kind of substitute our faith for worry.

And what worry is, worry is to internalize our fears. And the first guy, the first pastor that had ever hired me out of seminary, he used to say this all the time. He used to say, if you pray, why worry? And if you worry, then why pray? And I thought, uh-oh, what does that mean, boss? Because I think I'm in trouble. And he says that prayer is putting energy in times and word and emotion.

Prayer is putting energy, time, words, emotion towards your faith in God. and worry is putting time and energy and emotion towards the fears of your circumstances. And so even though we know if you're a believer that faith is a really big deal, there's a lot of times we trade our faith for worry. And there's a lot in this world to worry about. I mean, you've got bills to pay and test to pass and work projects with deadlines to meet and a spouse to communicate with or maybe not a family member with cancer or you with cancer or diabetes or chronic pain or depression or only.

God knows what, or the death of a loved one or debt, or should I move into a new city or a new house, or you're worried about your job, or getting a new job, or you don't have a job, or you have rebellious kids, or you're worried about getting into college, or you're worried, is he ever going to ask you to marry him, or you're worrying, should I break up with her because all she ever asks is what am I going to ask? Or you've got hurts from family, or you've got past hurts from family, or you're worried about what are you supposed to do with your life, and you're worried about conflict with coworkers, or conflict with family members or church members or neighbors or business partners,

and then there's income tax and business tax and employment tax and property tax and health care. We can't even figure out what that means. And medical insurance and dental insurance and vision and auto home and life and your house needs to be fixed all the time, along with your car and your lawnmower and pretty much everything else you own. Or all your stuff works, but you want to get some new stuff so you're worried about that. Or maybe you can't afford a house. Or you're struggling in your marriage or you're struggling that you're not married or you're struggling with a lack of sex or you're struggling with sex with the wrong person or people,

or you're struggling with your identity or lack of opportunity, or maybe you've got so much opportunity you can't make a decision, and then there's worldwide terrorism. And if that's not enough, the Gator has won another national championship. Give me a break. No, we'll talk about greed and pride some other time. Can I just get won for my team in a sport that actually counts. All right, so anyway.

So, if you find yourself on this faith journey, you say, you know what, man, I believe most of the time. Try to really hard. But then if you're honest about your faith, you just feel like you're on this kind of seesaw, faith than doubt, faith than worry, man. It just sort of oscillates up and down. Then guess what? You come to the right place, and I've got really, really good news for you. What Jesus says in his parables about what it means to have faith. Maybe the most encouraging thing you have ever heard about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. So Matthew chapter 13, in two verses, he gives this parable

about faith. He says this, verse 31. And Jesus put another parable before them saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed into its field. It's the smallest of all seeds. I wanted to hand out seeds to everybody, but it'd be a mess. We wouldn't even be able to keep up with him. You wouldn't even be able to see it from here. Like if I had one, I was like, see this.

You'd be like, now I can't see it. I'm like, yeah, that's the point because it's so small. So Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven is like the tini-bitty seed. You can barely even see it. I mean, it's tiny. It's the smallest of all seeds, but when it's grown, it's larger than all the garden plants, and it becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. Now, I think he's talking personally and corporately.

And so corporately, a part of what he's talking about is this particular movement that's happening right here. I mean, you want to talk about something that started from nothing. There are 13 men wandering around in the deserts of the Middle East. And the main guy, Jesus, I mean, I know he had some audacious claims, but just from a human perspective, man, he's just an old Jewish carpenter, a retired Jewish carpenter, that went homeless and just kind of wandered around telling stories. He never wrote a book. You know that? He scribbled in the sand one time, and we don't even know what he scribbled, okay?

People at Lifeway think it was one of those fish, and that's why they sell them. I don't think it was. He was homeless. He had no money. The other 12 guys, they were JV Team V Team Rejects. You know that? They had no power, no position, no authority, no leverage, nothing. And yet those, and one of them didn't he make it all the way, okay?

He hung himself in the field. It was not good. And God uses this little band of nobodies, and then it goes dormant for a minute, and then from that it is a worldwide movement, and regardless of what you believe about Jesus, you have to agree, he is the most influential human who has ever lived, ever lived, and it started out as nothing, which was the church. The church started as this. little idea that Jesus is who he says he is and he always keeps his promises.

And that little thing now, billions of people gather today around the world, around the world, to worship him as Lord and Savior. And not only that, it could be talking about our local expression of that worldwide movement. If you back up with me about eight years and if you were sitting at my kitchen table as we were talking about, hey, you know what, we've got an idea. Why don't we just start like a service at another church? When should we start? 1122, we can remember that name.

And people would know when to come out, you know, show up, although none of you bought into that. You come out 30 minutes late, but that's different. And this little thing that started with like four people, and an idea has now blossomed in mushroom, not just into multiple campuses, and we're adding more this year, but literally has impacted the entire world because this year, God took this little mustard seed of fate,

and it's grown into this thing, and we've planted 108 churches around the world in the last year and a half. That's a really, really big deal. And not only that, if you know anything about mustard plants, I don't know why you would, but if you did, do you know that the root system in a mustard tree is bigger than the tree itself? Which means if you were to go into the garden and you were to pluck the mustard tree out of the garden, the hole that it would leave would be enormous, which I think is commentary to the local church.

If somebody just came in and plucked all of our 1122s out of the neighborhood that they are in, if we are loving our neighbor the way Jesus commanded us too, there should be a big gaping hole in the neighborhood, and people will be going, uh-oh, we're going to be missing something because those Jesus people aren't here anymore. And then not only that, that this little seed that grows into the mustard plant is supposed to change the ecosystem so much that there are birds of the air and beasts of the field that can find shade and shelter there. You see, part of what Jesus was talking about was corporately.

starting this thing that looks really, really small at the beginning, but over time, it is going to grow into something enormous, this worldwide movement that we know as the church. But I also think he's talking personally, that if you individually have faith the size of a mustard seed, just itty-bitty little faith that you have no idea what God could do in and through you. And so flip over to Mark chapter 9. And what we're going to do is we're going to look at an event in Mark chapter 9, it might be my favorite event in the Gospels in regards to our faith. And then after we look at Mark 9, we're also going to look at Matthew 17. And the reason we're going to do this is these are two accounts of the same event.

And they share not competing details, but one, Mark just decides to write down one certain set of details, and Matthew another set of details. This doesn't mean that anything's conflicting. This would be like if you went to a Jags game and then you came home and you watched the event covered on two different news stations. Sometimes the different stations decide to just cover different details, even though all the events happen. That makes sense, right?

I mean, here, you won't forget this. So if you went to like a Trump rally and a lady sneezed and the president said, God bless you, Fox News come on, breaking news. Trump blesses America. And that's what they would say. CNN at the same time would come on and go breaking news, Trump infecting our people with colds. That's what would happen.

Okay? And you'd be like, where do I get news? I don't know. Okay, I don't know. But, so it's not exactly that way in the scripture because the Holy Spirit inspired everybody that wrote any part of the Bible. But all we're going to see here is if we look at the totality of these two accounts, describing this one event, we have a better understanding of what faith is.

Mark chapter 9. It says, and when they came to the disciples, the they is Matthew, Peter, James, and John, because they had been on the mountain of transfiguration. It's a really cool event. So when they came to the disciples, saw a great crowd around them and scribes arguing with them and immediately all the crowd when they saw him Jesus were greatly amazed and they ran up to him and they greeted him and he asked them what are you arguing about and someone from the crowd answered teacher I brought you my son or I brought my son to you

for he has a spirit that makes him mute some of your parents are like I've been praying for that spirit over my teenager for many years but it gets way worse you got to keep going verse 18 And when it seizes him, it throws him down and he foams and he grinds his teeth and he becomes rigid. And so I ask your disciples to cast it out and they were not able. Check this out. Verse 19. And Jesus answered them, oh, faithless generation. Now, he's not talking to the crowd.

He's talking to his disciples. So we're talking about faith here. He says, oh, faithless generation. How long am I to be with you. How long am I to bear with you. Bring him to me. So to say Jesus is frustrated, that is a little bit of an understatement, right? I mean, they are trying to cast out this demon, and the dad's like, can you help me out, man?

I tried. I brought him to you. You were up there on the mountain, and so I asked your disciples, and they couldn't do it. And he looks at him, old faithless generation. Now, he's obviously ticked off at his disciples. And maybe it's left over. Maybe he still ticked at Peter for what he did up on the mountain of Transfiguration. Because Peter screws up the whole event up there.

If you're not familiar with the mountain of transfiguration, here's how it goes. It's earlier in the chapter. Jesus goes up on the mountain to be with to visit the manifestation of God the Father. It's this amazing, miraculous event. And the Bible says that he takes up there Peter, James, and John. And I was always taught Peter, James, and John were his favorite. That's why he had him with him all the time. And I've told you this before.

I think it's actually different. I think Jesus looks at the disciples and says, look, boys, y'all stay here. and whatever you do, don't get in trouble. And he leaves and goes, wait, wait, wait, Peter, James, and John, come with me. That's what I think happens. So he gets to the top of the mountain, and God Almighty manifest himself in the presence of this cloud, very similar to the way he did with Moses when he gave the Ten Commandments, and he descends upon the mountain.

And then the Bible says that Jesus is transfigured in his glory. What does that mean? Matthew says that his face shines like lightning. And one of the other gospel writers says that his face shines like lightning. says that his face shines like the sun. Mark says that he's as bright as bleach. So it kind of makes me laugh because I think one day, you know, when they got to heaven, and they were like, you remember the mountain of transfiguration? Uh-huh. That was amazing, wasn't it? Yep. Matthew, what did you get? Oh, I said his face was like lightning. John, what about you? I said

it's shown like the sun. And Mark's like, I went with bleach. I think I undersold it a little bit, but it was real bright, okay? And so there's Jesus. Whatever that is, okay? Like his divinity is just bursting through his humanity. And there he is. And then there's Elijah and Moses. Y'all, they've been dead for hundreds of years. And the cloud, God the Father, talks out loud and says, behold my son in whom I am well pleased.

And then who opens their mouth? Peters, this is his big head in there and goes, it is very good that we are here. And literally the cloud goes away. Just note, okay, you want to jot this down. If you ever find yourself on top of a mountain and God the Father is speaking, and there's Eli and, and Mo and Jesus, face like lightning, it might not be about you.

Okay, and so I think maybe Jesus still got a little bit of that going on, and he's like, you faithless generation. Now, the one thing that kind of makes me wonder about this faithless thing, though, how could you call the disciples faithless when they dropped everything to follow after Jesus? He looks at him and says, you're faithless. And yet, if you look at what they've done, they're like, yeah, but we dropped everything to follow after you. And they're going to do all these other miracles. So why does he call them faithless?

Hang on to that question. Why does he call them faithless? We'll get back to it in about 18 minutes. Here we go. So verse 20, after he says, you faithless interaction. And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw Jesus, immediately it convulsed the boy. And he fell on the ground, and he wrote about foaming at the mouth.

And Jesus asked the father, how long has this been happening? And he said, from childhood. And it has often cast him into the fire and into water to destroy him. but if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. This daddy is in a point of utter desperation. Utter desperation. I mean, he is just, he doesn't know what to do. I don't know if you've ever had a sick kid,

but I don't know that there's a desperation like when something is wrong with your child. And you just want them to be okay. And you don't know what to do. and you're willing to do whatever you can do. Or there's something, you have a loved one, and this dad is just like, listen, if you can do anything, I mean, if you can just do anything, it is a place of utter desperation.

I was on a plane coming home from somewhere recently, and I get a phone call from a guy, and I normally would answer his phone, okay? He's a friend of mine. I love him. He loves the Lord, and he's got a lot of hunting land, and you put all that together, and I'm like, hey, buddy, I've been praying for you.

you what's up okay that's how that goes normally but I'm on the plane and they're doing they're like you know put your stuff away talk and so I just text him hey man I can't can't talk right now he text me back immediately just pray I'm taking my son to the ER his son's 12 weeks old and this was like life-threatening thing so I called him immediately hey man and I thought listen I'll talk and pray with you until they kick me off the phone here but what's going on and you could just hear in his voice utter desperation and so he didn't know what to do so he just called me hey can we praying so I'm on the I don't know if you ever pray with people on the phone it's kind of gets weird at first you know but I'm like here we go we're praying so I'm just and I kind of

got into it you know I kind of forgot I'm sitting in the plane I got a window seat and there's this guy next to me and I'm just and I don't know if you've picked up on this but when I get excited it goes up you know it goes up so I'm praying for the guy I'm just praying man I can hear him crying and I'm losing it man and all of a sudden I feel a hand on my shoulder and I think it's the flight attendant telling me to stop and I look over it versus the guy next to me he's just got his hand on him he's praying he's he's I'm like all right you're in let's go okay come on let's pray and so we're just praying for this brother of mine right just praying and praying and praying and then I got done and hung up and looked at him we didn't even talk I didn't even talk to him I was like

I work out you work out yeah all right me too see it see at the gym never talked to him but this dad is in a place of utter desperation and and with that, he comes to Jesus and says this, but if you can do something, I'm not even sure you can. I've heard you can. The rumors around town are that you can do stuff like this, but I'm not, I don't even know if I know. I don't even know if I really believe this or not, but I've tried everything else, and so here I am. And so if you can do something, would you please have compassion on us? There's a bunch of people in our churches today, and you are here on a big if, aren't you? you you I mean it's hurting man it's hurting you did not see it coming man life just feels like it fell

apart and you just don't know what to do and so here you are and the pain is palatable and you're here going listen if Jesus if you can do something I've heard you can I've seen you do it in other people's life I don't even know if it feels like I just don't even know where I am I am on this but if you can do any anything. And if that is you, you have come to the right place. If you find yourself an impossible situation, then you were perfectly teed up for God to do the miraculous, to do in you and through you what you never, ever, ever could imagine, what you never, ever could imagine. And so this dad, listen, Jesus, if you can. By the way, this brother, this dad, on the faith meter, where is he measuring right now? He ain't knocking it off a time.

10 on a scale of 1 to 10. He barely might have like just the itty-bitty little mustard seed of fate. But if there's anything you can do about this, would you? Please have compassion. And then Jesus answers him. And I don't think you like, it says if you can, exclamation point. I don't think Jesus is like, if you can. I don't think you what he's saying.

I think he has compassion on him. He says, if you can, all things are possible for one who Pestua, for one who believes, for one who, I may be. trust is a better way to translate that word. Not even trust that everything's going to work out, but trust that God is a good dad and he's still got the whole world in his hands. And immediately, here's what the dad cries out. Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said, I believe and helped my unbelief.

Anybody ever feel like that? Me and one guy on the back, faithless generation. Come on. you can be honest around here here's listen folks the fake you's doing just fine if you want to fake it probably ought to fake it somewhere else we're going to get on your nerves so bad you won't be able to stand it but a real jesus died for the real you and he can really make a difference in your life because i find myself like i'm supposed to be like the leader of this thing that's the biggest miraculous joke in my life and i consistently find myself in these areas where i say i believe

my unbelief i mean i've been in the room praying for people like crazy He got to heal them. And I've seen it do it sometimes, and then sometimes not. And I'm like, what? What? God, I believe. I want to believe. I trust.

But sometimes, help me overcome my unbelief. And how about this? When this dad says those words, the Spirit of God says, yeah, write that down. Mark, put that in the book. Make sure that line is forever recorded in the Holy Scriptures. I believe. Help my unbelief. You see, a bunch of people have been.

taught that if you get your faith meter up to a certain level, then you unleash God's blessings. Man, whose faith do you think this thing is built on? Yours or his faithfulness? This man cries out at best, a mustard seed of faith. I believe, help my unbelief. And Jesus said to him, that just won't cut it. For God helps those that help themselves. You just believe. And when you get your faith meter up as high as Joel Osteen, then I'll be able to bless you like I bless him because he's the happiest person I've ever seen. And did you know that if your faith that's big enough, I may not answer this prayer about your boy, but I will give you parking spots at crowded malls, and sometimes I will even manifest my presence in your life as goosebumps.

You'll call him God bumps. That is not what he says. So you should open your Bible when I tell you to. Make sure I'm not making stuff up. That's what people teach, and it is heresy. It is heresy from the pit of hell. This man, with his barely little hanging on, I'm not even sure. Here's what I believe.

I believe enough to show up here. That's about how much I believe right now. I believe, help me overcome my unbelief, and then Jesus does this in verse 25. And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, you mute and death spirit, I command you, come out of this boy and never enter him again. And so apparently the dad's little mustard seed of faith was enough for Jesus to heal this boy. And yet he looks at the disciples and says that they are faithless. but this dad who's barely got any belief at all

and he does a miracle for him and after crying out and convulsing him terribly it came out and the boy was like a corpse so that most of them said he's dead and Jesus took him by the hand and he lifted him up and he arose and when he entered the house the disciples asked him privately

hey boss why couldn't we cast it out right because the guy told on him and in this Jesus is going to answer answer their question. And his answer to the question also shows us why he says, you faithless generation. Now here's the answer to the question. So boss, why couldn't we cast it out? Verse 29. And he said to them, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. And the disciples go, prayer, which should be like Christianity 101. You see, so here's how we know that

Jesus, or here's how we know what Jesus meant when he caused him a faithless generation. We understand that really, I don't know that anybody is faithless. Everybody's got faith in something. But what the disciples did in this moment is they had misplaced faith. Because it's evidenced by the fact that when they saw this boy possessed by a demon, they said, hey, I got this. And what they did is instead of putting their faith in the one true God, they put their faith in their selves. And they say, under our own power, we can handle this.

I got this. And Jesus says, look, the gospel is evidence that, bro, you ain't got this. And so everybody's got faith in something. Everybody believes in something. There's only a few options. One is you can put your faith in yourself. This is what a whole lot of people do. It's what every legalistic Christian does.

It's what every religious person does. And it's what most of our society does. is that we put our faith in ourselves saying, I've got this. You know how I know? Go into any bookstore. What's the largest section? Self-help. How in the world do you think yourself can help you get out of the mess that you're self-created?

And so you hear these phrases like, we're just going to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Do you know that's an exercise and futility, right? I mean, literally, try it. Reach down, grab your bootstraps or your flip-flop strap or whatever you. you got on and try to pick yourself out of the chair. Try it, ready? Nobody moved. Faithless generation, I'm telling you.

You can't. You can't do it. You can hop for a second. You can crash me right back down. It is impossible. And when we put our faith in us, nothing happens. And then sometimes we have misplaced faith and we put our trust in everybody else. And we take the keys to our happiness, to our success, to our joy, to our future.

And we take those keys and we hand it. out to a bunch of people in our lives. And we put a messianic pressure on them that they can never stand up to. And here's basically what we say. I mean, we give it to a coach, teacher, boss, roommate, husband, wife, kids, whoever, preacher. And we hand out all of those keys of our life to everybody else. And they say, okay, when every single one of you perfectly and succinctly revolve your life around my world that I am in the middle of then and only then while I'll be fully and finally satisfied. That's because you get your faith in wrong people. That's why Paul says in Galatians 110, and am I still now trying to win the applause of man or of God? And then the third thing,

we misplace our faith. Some of us put our faith in this world system as if this world owes you anything. And we really believe that if I just study hard enough and keep my nose clean and make good choices, then the world will give me what's mine. Have you seen the world? You should watch like animal planet and see what this world will do to you. The moment you stumble, it will eat you and be glad to. You see, there's still an enemy that prowls around this world like a roaring lion. And he does have a mission statement about you. He wants to kill, steal, and destroy you.

And what our world does is our world system, man, you buy into it. You buy into it. You buy what the world says to buy, and then guess what they do? They will blame you for being in debt. the craziest thing I've ever seen. We live in a world that baits you down a road and then blames you for getting to the end of it. In relationships, in sex, and money, in everything. It baits you to walk down a road and that says, how dare you get to the end of that road?

This world system is not your friend. And so these disciples have misplaced faith. They have what I would call a practical atheism. Now, they believe in God. They just acted like there wasn't a God because when it came to this demon-possessed boy, They said, we got this. And the gospel says, bro, you ain't got this. So where have you been putting your trust?

I mean, no matter how big or small it is, have you been putting it in you, putting it in others, putting it in this world? Jesus says this kind can only be driven out by prayer because what he's saying is you better put your trust in faith in me. Now, flip over to Matthew chapter 17 because Matthew chapter 17 is the same event, but it gives a few different details. Matthew 17, 18, and 20. I'm not going to read the whole thing. Everything else, the same thing happens. Mountain of Transfiguration. He comes in contact with a boy and his dad, and we'll pick it up in verse 18.

It says, and Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. And the disciples came to Jesus privately, and they said, so why couldn't we cast it out? And he said to them, because of your little faith. So we know from Mark, if you put Matthew and Mark together, then what Jesus is quoting here, equating is that your lack of prayer, your lack of prayer was evidence of your misplaced faith. That instead of bringing this to me, the only one that could do something about it, instead of bringing this to the Lord, you thought you could handle it on your own. And then look what he says.

For truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of a mustard seed. Now, is that bigger little, man? It's tiny. It's the smallest seed. See, but Ken, a lot of us think that if you get your faith meter past, you know, varsity, then God owes you something. I think if that's what you think, you just have faith in you. And Jesus says, but if you have faith like an itty-bitty little teeny-weeny mustard seed, like you can barely see it. Like, are you sure that's faith?

But like, it's in there somewhere. You just got to be under just the right light. If you've got that little tiny bit of faith and you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. No thing will be impossible for you. Now does that mean that if you've got a little bit of faith and God always gives you what you want? Come on man you got to be real about life, don't you? Is that what it is? You see, because God's ultimate treasure is God. Not the results of our prayer, but who we're praying to. Because I'm telling you, there's multiple people in all of our churches for sure.

Some of them I see right now. They are faithful people. They love Jesus a bunch and they pray and pray and pray. And the outcome does not seem to be much different. And yet the crazy thing is from the outside as you look at them and they're like, okay, so explain this to me, how are you praying this almighty sovereign God? And yet your outcomes aren't any different. And yet your outlook on God keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

I don't understand. It's because you have faith in God, not in your circumstance. I mean, you really want to blow your mind. You meet some of the faithful people, men and women that are Jesus followers around here at 1122. And from the outside, it looks like the wheels of their world have fallen apart. I mean, I do not say this flippantly. They are going through a hell of a time. They feel like this feels like hell.

And yet, and yet, their faith in Almighty God grows bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And you're like, oh, my, it's like the faith. a mustard seed. It looks like nothing's happening in the ground for a little while. And then, maybe not overnight, but over time, man, there's this huge tree, this huge, like, well-rooted fate system in a God that didn't even give you exactly what you were asking for. How does that happen? And they will say, because the reward is not my circumstances. The reward is my sovereign savior. Now, that's a saving faith. Honestly, isn't that the kind of faith you want?

Are you still just trying to manipulate your circumstances to keep you happy every day? God offers something exponentially bigger than that. Romans 828 only makes sense in light of eternity. Romans 828 says, God works in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. So you've got some things that happen in this world and it doesn't look good at all. And you can either get focused on all things or the God works part. And what God through the scriptures lets us know is that if you are a follower of Jesus, than any pain that you endure,

any time you get what feels like an unanswered prayer, any time this world just kind of sideswipes your world, that the pain that we endure this side of eternity is working for you a particular glory that one day in his presence that will make sense. Because he is sovereign. He is in control. He is all powerful and he is good.

And even when our circumstances don't look that way, He says that God demonstrates his love for us and this, that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. What looked like the darkest day in history is actually the substance of our faith. You see, faith is not a feeling. Your feelings can go all over the place. C.S. Lewis says this about faith and feelings. He says, faith is the art of holding on to things your reason had once accepted in spite of your changing moods.

You see, so your moods go all over the place, right? But fate is hanging on or trusting that God is in control, that God is a good dad. That's just who he is. And God really does love you, regardless of what our circumstances feel like right now. That's what faith is. I have been faithfully married for 17 years. Do you know why Gretchen is still married to me? Because she is faithful.

She, like C.S. Lewis says, she has learned the art of holding on to things that her reason once accepted in spite of her changing moods. She's not in here, okay. A lot of moods change. There are moments in our marriage where she looks at me and she says, praise God from whom all blessings flow. I am a blessed woman. Then there are other times she looks at me.

Usually at night, middle of the night, she wakes up because I'm snoring my face off. I'm a mouse all open and I'm drooling and just like a freight train. And in those moments, she is not thinking, glory to God for this great gift. See, here's the point. Here's the point. A small amount of faith in an infinitely powerful God is infinitely more powerful than an enormous amount of faith in a powerless God. You know what a powerless God is?

You make a really crappy God. One, because you say stuff like crappy, I don't know if you're supposed to say that, okay? But you know what? You don't know nearly as much as you think you do about all of the universe. Secondly, you're not nearly as strong and powerful as you think. think you are, I know you think you're big and tough, you can't even lick your own elbow. There's spots on your back you can't reach. Are you kidding me? You're very limited on where you can be and what you can do about anything. You make a very, very terrible God. And when we take an

enormous amount of faith and we put it in us, or we take an enormous amount of faith that we put it in other people or a world system that wants to deceive you, I'm telling you, you were utterly powerless, but a tiny little bit of faith in an infinitely powerful God is infinitely, more powerful than an enormous amount of faith in a powerless God. So what mountain are you staring down right now? Maybe it's a financial one. Maybe you look at your bills and you look at your bank account and you think, uh-oh, I'm in trouble.

And your American reaction is typically, I got this. When are you going to learn, bro, you ain't got this. You got to bring this thing to the Lord. Lord, I need help. If you can do something, I need help. Or maybe it's a relationship. I mean, he promised. He promised.

And he left. And you forgave, and it looks like it's still going to die. And you've been to counseling, and you've read the book, and you've got the love languages, and you listen to the Song of Solomon sermon, and you did everything. And I'm for all those things. The one thing you forgot to do is the only way that thing gets fixed is by prayer. It's saying, God, first and foremost, I trust you. Or maybe it's a health thing.

it's a health thing and you got the diagnosis back and it scares you to death and what you have to do is every single day you got to trade in that fear for faith and so Lord I know that you can heal and I'm believing that you will but even if you don't you were the prize not my circumstances or maybe it's an addiction and you've been working it man you've been trying so hard but every day when you wake up the mountain of your addiction gets bigger and you went to the meetings and you're working the steps and I am for all of that. Please don't hear me say, just say a prayer and be lazy. Absolutely not. Man, you pray like crazy and you get to work. And you meet people in your meetings and they were like, well, I went to church once and just said a prayer.

And now I just wake up and just I just want to read my Bible instead of do drugs. And you're like, well, God bless your ministry because that's not the way mine's going. And Jesus would say the only way this one gets cast out is by prayer. So what mountain are you staring down? and you think, yeah, my pastor, I only got this little tiny bit of faith. If I had your kind of faith, oh, give me a break, man. Jesus says, if you got faith like itty-bitty, teeny-weeny faith like that, just barely enough, just enough faith to show up on a Sunday morning on 4th or July weekend when you've got a million other options, that much faith.

And you hooked that to the almighty, powerful God, no thing is impossible for you. Here's the way James, the brother of Jesus says it. James says this, and James, Chapman. chapter 5 he says the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working and you're like yeah well see that's the problem pastor i'm not a righteous person okay if you were in christ you are as righteous as christ because you have christ's righteousness imputed to you so the way he would say it i mean you could go the prayer of a christian the prayer of a jesus follower the prayer of a person that's got just enough faith to surrender their life to jesus the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working

Elijah, Elijah was like an Old Testament prophet hero guy. First King, 17, 18, 19 around there. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. You know what that means? Loose translation, dude, Elijah was just a dude like me and you. Just a regular guy. And he prayed fervently that it might not rain. And for three years and six months, it didn't rain on the earth.

And then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain. And the earth bore its fruit. And you're like, yeah, well see, pastor, I don't have. faith like he does. You know what? If you know anything about Elijah, man, his faith was all over the place. He had these moments of great faith, and then he had these moments of pure fear. He had these moments like my life, where you wake up one day and you're like, yeah, and then you wake up some days. I don't know, man. I mean, that's what Elijah does. You see, Elijah, in 1st, King's like 17, Elijah prays that it won't rain. It quits rain. It quits raining. And then God sends him to this brook.

so nobody's got water but Elijah's got water and he's just chilling by this brook and the Bible says that ravens these birds bring him meat and bread for breakfast any morning every morning the brother's got delivery chick-fil-a just chilling it's like man life is good one day the brook dries up and he's like and the ravens quit bringing his chick-fil-a he's like what I'm going to do now so he kind of goes wandering around bumps into this widow and there's a widow and her son and he's like hey listen my chick-fil-a ran out I need can you cook me some breakfast and she says I've only got I got enough in the pantry to make one piece of bread and I got some little oil to cook with me and me and I'll eat this and die it's all we got and he goes I'll tell you what by faith you cook for me we'll all eat together and you'll never run out and sure enough it's like an endless breadsticks okay So he goes from Chick-fil-Aid to like Olive Garden.

And he's just every day. She cooks, she's still got enough left over for one more meal. They do it over and over and over and over. And then out of nowhere, when everything seems to be going awesome, her son dies. The widow's son dies. And she's like, what did I do? And Elijah's like, you didn't do nothing. So he says, give me the boy, takes a boy upstairs, lays him down.

The Bible says he lays on the boy, nose to nose, mouth to mouth, hand to hand, foot to foot. Praise God, that's in the Old Testament, because I ain't laying on you to heal nobody. You understand? I ain't doing it. I do your funeral. I ain't laying up on you like that. get you in trouble. The boy comes back to life.

So now the miracles are starting to stack up for Elijah. He's feeling like a stud. So God tells him to go confront Ahab, this kind of evil king. And so he goes face to face with Ahab, calls him out. And so Ahab goes and tells this lady named Jezabelle. She's an evil lady. If you're pregnant with a daughter and you're looking for a biblical name, don't go Jezabel. Okay, we'll explain it later.

And so they send 850 prophets to come on and take. on Elijah. Elijah goes up to Mount Carmel and he draws the line in the sand and he calls out these prophets. There's like four or 450 prophets to bail and the remainder of prophets to Astra, these two false gods. And this is like WW Showdown, the Battle Royale, we're going to find

now who is the one true God in this world. And so he tells these 850 prophets, you build an altar to your God and then you sacrifice a bull and lay the bull on it and you call out to your God, do whatever you need to do and we'll see if your God shows up and then we'll build an altar over here on my side and

call out to the one true God and we'll see if he shows up. And sure enough, the Bible says that the false prophets, that's what they do. They build this altar. They lay the bull out there. And if you look at them, they have enormous faith. It's 850 people have faith. And they're crying out to their gods. And then they're dancing around. And the Bible says they begin to cut themselves and bleed on the sacrifice to try to stir up their God. And in 1st Kings chapter 18, Elijah starts talking schmack. He says this. He says, cry aloud, for he is a God. Either he is musing, or maybe he's relieving himself.

That's what the Bible says. That Elijah's like, maybe y'all need to be louder. Maybe he's in the bathroom, doing it number two, and you got to get him a minute. I told you you should read your Bible. It's in there. Or maybe he's asleep, and you've got to wake him up. So they keep on and keep on. They go all day long, past midday. And no one answered.

No one paid attention. Why? Because an enormous amount of faith in a powerless God is powerless. And so here's what Eli does. Eli just says, okay, let's get my altar. Boom, builds the altar. Sacrifices a bull, puts it on there. And then says, pour some water on it.

And they're like, hey, you know we're in a drought? He's like, I know I started it. So pour some water on it. Go ahead. When you dig a trench around the thing, fill it up with water. They use them the last little bit of water and they fill the thing up. And then he calls on the name of the one true God and fire from heaven comes and burns up the altar and cooks the steak. And while they're there, they go ahead and kill the 850 prophets of bail.

And then Elijah eats a steak cooked by God, medium rare, I'm pretty sure. And you're like, well, that does not sound like my, you know, the Bible says that Elijah was a man like me. I don't have that kind of faith. Because he's like, yeah, look at this. You build your altar, I'll build mine. Guess what happens right after that? Ahab, the evil king, goes and tells Jezebel, and Jezebel says, I'm going to kill Elijah. And coming right off like this big faith moment, you know what Elijah does?

The Bible says in 1st Kings 19, he was afraid and he arose and he ran for his life. And he asks, he gets under this tree and he asks God that he might die there. Now listen, man, I'm not trying to be sexist whatsoever, but Elijah just faces down, 850 prophets of bail and then you got this one chick with a bad name coming after him he's like run away he's all afraid it's on the same page in my bible this section right here lodge is awesome this section right here he ain't awesome you know what that looks like to me my calendar you ever have these moments you're in worship or something or you pray and god moves you're on a mission trip like glory to god then like the next day man you're looking everywhere for just a little mustard seed of

And so he runs and he hides and he goes and he hides in a cave because he's afraid. And guess what God does? God shows up and meets him in this cave in this place of utter desperation. When he literally, this prophet of God has suicide thoughts. That's how bad he thinks his life is. He is praying that God would just let him die there. And God shows up in that place and then this crazy wind comes blowing by and then Elijah sticks his head out of the cave when this tornado is going by,

and then the Bible says that God was not in that wind. And then there's an earthquake, and so Elijah comes up out of the cave, he picks his head out, and there's an earthquake, and the Bible says that God was not in the earthquake, and then there was a fireball, not the drink, just a ball of fire, and it just swims on by, okay? And then Elijah sticks his head out, and God was not in the fire. He wasn't in the big stuff. And then the Bible says that God met Elijah in that cave, and he spoke to him in a still small voice.

So if you could make a mustard seed audible, guess what it would be? It'd just be like a little still small voice. Not some kind of big, grandiose, stand on stage faith. But just this little, itty, bitty, I believe, and help me with my unbelief. So what mountain are you facing hell? What thing in your life seems impossible? impossible. If you're an impossible situation, you are perfectly set up for God to do his best work.

So whether it's health or finances or relationship, here's the thing, man, the Spirit is telling you what that mountain is. And he's saying, come on, just bring it to me. This kind can only be cast into the sea by prayer, by faith. So quit putting faith in yourself and quit putting faith in other people and quit putting faith in this world. and put faith in the one true God who still has the whole world in his hand. And the good news is even when you feel faithless that your salvation is based on his faithfulness. Some of you, the biggest mountain, is your salvation. There is this mountain of sin between you and a relationship with God. And for many of you, you've tried to put faith in yourself.

I'm going to be a better person. Quite honestly, how's that working out? And some of you have tried to put your faith in other people, or maybe you've put your faith in a religious system. You think if you take communion at the right time or say a prayer at the right time or do this thing, somehow then God will show up. And Jesus is saying, no, no, no, no, no, the only way this sin mountain can be moved is by faith in me. And so to live by faith, it starts by putting your faith in Jesus. By trusting. Simply this, by trusting. When he died on the cross and was resurrected on the third day, by trusting somehow.

even if it's hard to believe even if you say I want to believe but help me overcome my unbelief apparently according to Jesus that's enough that you want to believe that when he died on the cross and was resurrected on the third day somehow that counted for you

to make you right with God and so would you please close your eyes and bow your head and if today for the very first time you were ready to admit that you were a sinner in need of a Savior that you believe that when Christ died for you it counted for you and today you were ready to confess that you were putting your trust in the one true God through the person and work of Jesus.

If that's you, then you tell him where you are. And won't you lift your hand high in here and say, Father, here I am. I believe. And for the rest of your days, he will help you overcome your unbelief. If that's you, raise your hand, say, Father, I surrender. And if you would put your hands down, everybody else with their heads bowed and eyes closed, if you were here today and you are facing a mountain that seems impossible, it could be a, a mountain of just pain, of loss, an issue of health or finances or relationships, you know what

it is. And if you want to put your faith in Jesus and say, I believe and help me overcome my belief, would you raise your hand and say, that's me and I need prayer? I want to pray for you if that's you. Raise your hand, if that's you, if you're in a situation that you just need to cry out to Jesus. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, I thank you and I praise you for the folks with their hands up right now. They would come and say, God, I'm I feel like I am in an impossible situation. And God, we pray, we pray that we could put our faith, that we could put our trust in you, sovereign king of the universe, that we would not put our faith or our trust in our current situation.

God, we know that you are a good dad. We know that forever is a really long time. And we know that you are working all things for the good of those that love you and are called according to your purpose. And so, God, in the meantime, Lord, we put our faith, we put our trust. trust in you, in you alone, that even if you don't change our outcomes, God, our outlook of you would get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And we would know that your grace is more than enough to sustain us in what feels like unsustainable times.

And God, we love you. And we thank you for your faithfulness. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.