Time for Faith

After chapter 16 of Matthew the mood of the gospels change. No longer do you have this great following and joyous throng around Jesus. Only the strong in the Lord that will remain.

We still have wonderful things of joy and healing but the atmosphere around those passages has changed.

Matthew 17:14–23 CSB

14 When they reached the crowd, a man approached and knelt down before him. 15 “Lord,” he said, “have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.” 17 Jesus replied, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and from that moment the boy was healed. 19 Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 20 “Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” 22 As they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men. 23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised up.” And they were deeply distressed.

Pray

Once again we see Jesus implored to heal. This is nothing New. One of Jesus primary ministries is healing. It is a ministry that still exist today, But has been taken advantage of by far too many because it draws so many. The reality is that most of the people Jesus came in contact with will not be healed even though they ask for it. Only a few will be

This time we learn that Jesus has been sending out his disciples to do some of this work, And it is right that he does this. This is how rabbi’s teach. The disciples learn and then go and teach themselves. The disciples have Jesus blessing to go and continue his ministry further than any one person can

But when it comes to this boy who was demon possessed and given epileptic symptoms. Some will just say there was no demon and he was just epileptic and some will say that all epilepsy is caused by demons. The truth like most things is somewhere in the middle

This boy was given these symptoms by a demon. But not all epilepsy is caused by demons nor do all demons cause these symptoms. And Jesus cast the demon out and cured him. But the disciples want to know why couldn’t they do that. They knew what the problem was. They knew the procedures. They had even done stuff like this before.

And Jesus reply’s ( I believe with sadness in his voice). You don’t have enough faith. If you have a mustard seed of faith you can move mountains nothing is impossible. And then there is a procedural note that isn’t in all the versions of the old copies of the bible. In the oldest copies it isn’t in there but in the more well established copies it is

Matthew 17:21 NASB95

21 “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Many versions put twenty one in parenthesis. Prayer and fasting are important part of life as we want to strengthen our faith with God. I put it to you that you that if you are feeling out of touch with the HS. It might be that you need to Prayer and Fast. I don’t want to put too much theology on what very well could be an editorial note

And while they are there Jesus explains why he is irritated and saddened by their little faith.

The time is coming when they won’t have him around any more. He is going to be handed over to die and be raised on the third day. Jesus has come, died, and raised and has left us with an amazing gift. The gift of the HS, God living within us, if we ABC.

But the call is the same

We can’t stay here in the church forever

As some point we have to leave and do the things that God has called us to do

I am not about works I am about faith and relationship myself

But the reality of those two words is they bring about actions

And we have the ability in God with faith to move mountains

So why don’t we?

Our lives are filled with mountains. Struggles that we face and they seem insurmountable like climbing mountains But with faith we can say move

Why don’t we

Lack of faith

Sometimes we don’t realize that faith also means if you want that mountain to move you have to pick up a shovel

But with faith all things are possible and we can what does

Philippians (4:13) tell us, With faith we can do all thing through Christ who strengthens me

How big is your faith?

Is it the size of a mustard seed or bigger?

The reality of our God and the imagination of our God often don’t match up. Sometimes we intellectually say God is all sovereign, loving and can move mountains. but the reality is we don’t trust Him.

Do you trust God to lead you through

To give you power to do what he has called you to do

To be with you Called you to tithe would you tithe (already has) Called you to pray

Called you to read

Called you to spend time with him

Called you not to sin

Not to worship false gods

Do you have the faith to do what he has called you to do

pray