The Limitless Power of Faith

Introduction:

Isn’t God amazing! Hallelujah let’s give Him some praise in the house this morning!

The Title of Today’s message is the limitless power of faith.

Matthew 17:14-21

Matthew 17:14–21 NLT

14 At the foot of the mountain, a large crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.” 17 Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy, and it left him. From that moment the boy was well. 19 Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?” 20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

Setting:

The setting of today’s narrative Caesarea Philippi.

Jesus and the Disciples had been there for six days when Jesus took Peter, James and John to a high mountain by themselves and was transfigured before them.

This is an immensely powerful portion of scripture and one of my favorite sections of Scripture as it blesses us with so much hope and information of what it will be like when we have our spiritual bodies.

Hallelujah! Aren’t you glad we serve a living God this morning somebody give Him praise!

Verses 9-13 tell that as they were walking down the mountain Jesus instructs Peter, James and John not to speak of this event until after His Resurrection and then clarifies that John the Baptist was the returning Elijah which preceded the Messiah but the world did not recognize him.

It is at this point that they return to the crowds and the other Disciples. Immediately a dad desperate for a healing for his demon possessed son approaches Jesus and falls to his knees pleading with Jesus to cast out the demon because the disciples were unable to do so.

Jesus then becomes frustrated with the people and calls them a faithless and twisted generation which is a reference to the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:20.

Jesus said this because the Hebrews are God’s chosen people and have seen Him and seen His miracles more times than any other people group and yet they still doubt or worse turn to the ways of the world.

Furthermore, the other Disciples that had not gone with Jesus, Peter and James had also been with Jesus who is God in the flesh and witnessed firsthand His miraculous signs yet still did not have enough faith to cast our the demon.

It is at this point that Jesus casts out the demon instantly healing the boy.

The crowds no doubt rejoiced as was correct to do so but later the Disciples privately asked Jesus why they could not cast out the demon. And Jesus states that it is because of their little faith and if they had only a small amount of faith like the size of a mustard seed nothing would be impossible for them.

Do You Have Faith?

So my question for each of you today is how much faith do you have?

Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Said differently do you believe that the things you are hoping for are really going to happen more over do you hold firmly to the truth they will happen even if you do not see the desired outcome at the moment?

You see brothers and sister while putting your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is by far the most important decision anyone can ever make being saved is the beginning of the New Birth or the new life in Christ. It is not intended to be the limit of your faith no more than the birth of a child is intended to be the limit or sum of their entire life. Rather being saved is the beginning of a lifelong journey which should include a deep trust and love relationship with Jesus.

I don’t know where you are on your journey today. Maybe you have heard about the mighty things the Lord has done for others yet don’t feel victory in you own life.

Or perhaps, you have seen God move in your life or in the life of others many times before but now you are in season of great need and while you love and trust the Lord you are struggling with doubt that God is moving or will move in this particular situation and may even start accepting that what you are praying for will not happen.

Or maybe you are are at a place where the work set before you seems to great and you are feeling overwhelmed.

Like it or not brothers and sisters these feeling stem from a lack of faith.

I am not saying this to condemn anyone because the truth is there will come a point in the life of all believers when it becomes difficult to hold on to the things we hope for when we do not see progress for an extended period of time. In the natural realm it can also be a challenge to hold on to what we hope for if we focus on the situation instead of focusing on the limitless power of the Lord.

We can see in today's Scripture that the dad of the possessed child has dealt with His suffering for quite some time. We can only imagine the pain he must have felt as he saw his beloved child suffer especially the times he fell in the fire or in the water.

The dad has been hoping and praying and finally hears of the man of God who heals blind eyes and performs many miracles. Yet when he brings his child to the Disciples they cannot heal his son. While the Bible does not say this we can only imagine that there must have been a point where the dad felt completely defeated and felt like giving up hope.

Fortunately he found Jesus and in a moment with just a word his son was miraculously healed.!

Aren’t you glad this morning that when no one or nothing can fix the problem that we can go to Jesus and know that He not only hears us but helps us. Can I get an amen this morning!

Align Our Hopes With His Word

The key first and foremost is to make sure what we hope for lines up with the word of God. Just as in today’s example the dad is hoping for a healing for his child.

Next, we are to pray that the Lord’s will be done and have peace knowing He hears us while at the same time not giving up and being persistent in our petitions.

The dad in this narrative did not give up even when the disciples couldn’t cast out the demon he did not leave but waited on the Lord and cast his cares at the feet of Jesus. His persistent faith that Jesus could heal his son when no one could was recognized and blessed by the Lord.

When we do hope for things that align with God’s word and are persistent in our prayers having confidence and peace that Jesus hears us then I can assure you that God will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Jesus tells us this very thing in

John 14:12–14 ESV

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Because Jesus is our Lord and Savior when we get saved the Holy Spirit comes to dwell inside of us. And one of the primary purposes of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is to make us more Christlike and also to equip us to continue His work until His return. Therefore the things we should be asking for should be Christlike meaning it lines up with God’s word.

It would be entirely inappropriate to ask the Lord for things that are not Biblical and then expect to get a yes answer to our prayers. I will tell you here and now it’s not going to happen.

My point here is simply that an important step in having faith is to take a spiritual inventory and make sure what we hope for aligns with the word of God. When we do that we can have the confidence that even if we don’t see the victory in our situation it is going to happen just as Jesus told us in John 14:12-14.

Faith Has Limitless Power

Once you have confirmed that what you are hoping for lines up with God’s word and God’s will there is no reason to ever doubt or put limits on what He can and will do for us. Jesus makes this point clear in verse 20 of today’s text.

Matthew 17:20 ESV

20 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.”

At times in our weakness we put limits on what the Lord can do in and through us but Jesus is telling the disciples that if they have faith the size of a mustard seed that mountains will move and nothing on earth will be impossible for them.

When Jesus tells the disciples that they only need faith like a grain of a mustard seed for mountains to move He is referring not only to the size of the seed but also to the great potential contained in the tiny seed.

You see a mustard tree reaches an average mature height of between 6 and 20 feet with a 20-foot spread, although exceptional plants can reach 30 feet tall under ideal conditions.

Jesus is teaching us that if even a small seed has that kind of potential than even a small amount of faith in the all powerful God is truly limitless.

In addition we must understand that Jesus wants more for our lives than just salvation.

He wants us to lead many people to Him so they too can be saved and have heaven as their home.

Jesus also wants us to live Spirit filled lives loving and serving others and growing together as the family of Christ in a deeper and more intimate relationship with God.

He does not want us focusing on our problems or our hurts but rather He wants us to keep our focus on Him. And yes it is right to cast our cares on Him and yes Jesus is closer than a friend and yes He will never leave us or forsake us.

But in any relationship if the focus becomes more on the problems than it does about the love there is less room left for joy or deeper intimacy to grow.

Listen all glory goes to God and He is the one with the power to do the miraculous but in many cases He chooses people to work through.

One of the primary gifts of the Holy Spirit is to equip us along with the word of God to do the things Jesus did in this world until He returns.

So while yes there are times we are hurting and yes there are times we get discouraged never forget that inside of every believer is the Holy Spirit of God and if we have the faith to believe for the impossible than we can do the impossible.

We are God’s image bearers in this world and we have been given authority over every thing in this world both natural and supernatural not by our power that we would boast but because God loves us and blesses us.

When we put our faith in Jesus Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit and the word of God giving all glory to our loving Father in heaven then there is absolutely no reason to ever doubt that any mountain can’t be moved or that anything is impossible for us.

If we can ever grasp the limitless power and potential that even a small amount of our Faith in Jesus Christ brings then as Jesus Himself declared nothing will be impossible for us! Amen!

And if we listen carefully Jesus didn’t way that we would move the mountains but He said we could declare to the mountain move and it will move. This means that you don’t have to be strong enough because God is still moving the mountain we are just declaring with confidence our faith in Him to do so! And in Jesus name every mountain must submit and move! Give God praise in the house this morning!!! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Closing

Can we have some soft music in the background for a moment please.

Brothers and sisters I am going to ask if everyone in the house would please make your way forward to the altar. Don’t be shy we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord. Please if you would make your way to the front this morning.

In a moment I am going to pray but first my question for you today is what are mountain do you need the Lord to move?

What situation are you dealing with that seems impossible in the natural?

What lost family member or friend does your heart break for?

What miracle healing do you need? What financial blessing do you need? What has the Lord called you to do but you see too many obstacles to get started?

What have you been waiting for but not seen?

What mountain do you need to move?

The Lord has sent me here today to tell you to trust and believe in Jesus! Trust and believe that He is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do!

If you believe that Jesus can move any mountain I want you to speak to your mountain with me and declare mountain move.

Mountain move! Mountain move! Mountain Move !

Prayer

Thank you so much for coming today and remember our joy is in Jesus!