VIDEO RECORDING OF THIS SERMON
AUDIO RECORDING OF THIS SERMON
You were saved by faith, Eph 2:8, you are to live by faith, Gal 2:20, and your faith is a shield to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, Eph 6:16. Therefore, it is essential that your faith “groweth exceedingly,” 2 Thes 1:3. We cannot be men and women of little faith. There are some things in your life that will reveal whether you are of little faith. If they reveal that you are of little faith, then ask the Lord to increase your faith so that these things don’t limit your faith. Whether you are of little faith is:
Revealed by your thoughts for your life – Matt 6:24-34 – thoughts about food, drink, raiment and other necessities that you obtain with “mammon.” Mammon is wealth. When you take “thought for your life,” you start thinking about how you’re going to supply your needs. And these thoughts will guide you in your decisions about work and the accumulation of wealth. When you live by faith, though, you recognize that God supplies your need, Phil 4:19. It is the Lord “that giveth thee power to get wealth,” Deut 8:18. The Macedonians experienced God’s power to get wealth when they gave money for the poor saints in Jerusalem, 2 Cor 8:3. There is no way that they could have come up with that gift if it had not been for God’s grace, provision and power.
When you are of great faith, you serve God and leave the provision and the wisdom to work within his provisions to him. Conversely, when you are of little faith, your thoughts turn to how you’re going to take care of your life, and you end up serving mammon, rather than God. You can serve mammon and be of little faith, or you can serve God and be of great faith. But you can’t do both.
Revealed by your fears from your sight – Matt 8:23-27 – when Jesus entered into a ship his disciples followed him. They were doing what Jesus had called them to do. He said, “Follow me,” Matt 4:19. That’s what we’re supposed to do. We are supposed to follow the Lord wherever he leads us, Eph 5:1. However, when the disciples saw the waves covering their ship, they woke Jesus and said, “Lord, save us: we perish.” Jesus asked them, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Their fear revealed that they were of little faith. The disciples weren’t going to perish. In Matt 14:30, when Peter “saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid.” And when he was afraid, he began to sink. His fear revealed that he was “of little faith,” Matt 14:31. We walk by faith, not by sight, 2 Cor 5:7. And when we fear, our fear reveals that we are of little faith. The way to get over the fear is to increase your faith in the Lord rather than in what you see. Ask the Lord to help you with this, Lk 17:5. When something gets rough in your life, you’re just going to have to trust God to get you through it. Keep your eyes on the Lord. Keep following the Lord. Keep believing God. Keep trusting God.
Revealed by your reasonings over God’s words – Matt 16:1-12 – when the Pharisees and Sadducees tempted Jesus to shew them a sign from heaven, he rebuked them for being able to discern the face of the sky but not the signs of the times. Their own reasonings prevented them from being able to discern that Jesus was their Messiah. Since they couldn’t come to a reasonable explanation, they wouldn’t believe him. Therefore, the only sign that Jesus gave that wicked generation was the sign of the prophet Jonas, which was his own resurrection.
When Jesus left the Pharisees, he told his disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Because his disciples had taken no bread, they reasoned that Jesus was talking about the leaven of bread. He reminded them about feeding the 5,000 and the 4,000 to help them understand that he wasn’t talking about bread. When they realized this, then they understood that he was talking about the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Their own reasonings caused them to misunderstand Jesus. Their own reasonings revealed that they were of little faith.
In Mk 2:1-12, four men of faith brought a man, sick of the palsy, to Jesus to be healed. Jesus forgave his sins. The scribes, reasoning in their hearts, believed that Jesus was speaking blasphemies. When Jesus healed the man, he immediately took up his bed and went forth from them. He believed, the four men who brought him believed, but the scribes, who reasoned within themselves, didn’t know what to think.
You don’t have to come up with a reasonable explanation for what God told you to believe. You can’t explain the Trinity, for instance, and you can’t explain creation. But you believe what God said. After Peter confessed by revelation that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, he rebuked Jesus for saying that he was going to suffer and die. Peter could never reason his way through the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. So, he refused to believe Jesus.
Likewise, you must be careful to not let your reasonings limit your faith. When you reason within yourself, you are demonstrating that you have little faith. Increase your faith, instead, by simply believing what God said and doing what he leads you to do. Follow Jesus; don’t sit and reason within yourself.
Conclusion: we may have found through this preaching that our faith is not as strong as we thought it was. Don’t fret. Acknowledge the little faith that you have, thank God that it only takes the faith of a mustard seed to move a mountain, Matt 17:20, and ask God to help you increase your faith.