A Big Faith in a Big God

When Jesus was here, in his earthly ministry, he spoke of different levels of faith. He would reprove those who lacked faith. He'd say, ye of no faith, or he'd say, where is your faith? When he was sleeping in the hull of a boat and his disciples woke him in a storm, he reprimanded them because of their unbelief.

He said to them, not because they awoke him, but because of their lack of faith, he said, why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith? But Jesus took delight when he encountered someone with a big faith. A few who come to mind are blind Bartimaeus, who received his sight, and the woman with the issue of blood, who was healed when she touched the hem of his garment. To them he compliments, saying, go in peace, your faith has made thee whole.

This message I want to give you today, friends, is a message on faith. Vance Havner once said, if we serve such a dynamite God, then how come so many of us are living firecracker lives? I think that statement merits a genuine answer. If God is all-seeing, all-powerful, if he is omnipresent and omnipotent, as his followers should in our lives read like a page from the book of Acts, why is it we can read accounts of those individuals whom God has used in remarkable ways, men like Whitefield and Wesley, Finney and Moody, Sam Jones and Mordecai Hamm, men whose powerful preaching upended the normal business of a town and made religion the main topic of conversation in every secular place of business? How could an uneducated D.L. Moody hold the attention of ten thousand people at a time for a month on end in major metropolises like London and Edinburgh? What kind of power did he have over his crowds? How could George Whitefield stand on Boston Common and preach to twenty thousand people in the snow and the rain, and they'd stand there spellbound, and this at six in the morning? How could Charles Finney transform the secular business of Rochester, New York, turning the entire city into one big prayer meeting where you'd go down the street and see men in their business suits kneeling on the sidewalk, groaning in prayer? How could a Mordecai Hamm put up a gospel tent in the red-light district of a town in the South known for its vice and crime, and after a couple of weeks of holding meetings, the brothels had to shut down because all the girls working there became Christians? How could Sam Jones, a former drunkard, hold revival meetings in Nashville, Tennessee, where the average attendance was ten thousand people at a time, and several thousand had to be turned away because the city was turned upside down for God and revival, and many of the taverns had to close for lack of business? Were these men angels sent to earth from heaven above, or were they mere mortals who had a faith as big as their God? If we serve such a dynamite God, then how come so many of us are living firecracker lives? Let me ask you, friend, how would you answer that? Do you believe in a dynamite God? Do you believe that his word is true? Do you believe that he is true to his word? Do you believe that with God all things are possible? Do you believe that all things are possible to him who believes? I never wanted to settle for an ordinary ministry.

I could have chosen the popular route to success and been in big demand. God gave me the package to do that, but instead I chose to bury myself in a revival ministry that called the modern church to repentance. I chose to preach searching sermons that actually disturbed folks.

It made a lot of people mad. I lost all my support. Very few people want to listen to pointed preaching that probes and cuts like a surgeon's scalpel.

They'd rather just be entertained. That's why many big churches have entertainers in their pulpits instead of prophets. But I've seen God move in the midst of his people.

I've seen churches turned upside down in revival. I've seen an entire church brought to the very verge of eternity. I've seen a room full of pastors get so gripped by the power of God that their faces became altered with looks of astonishment as God dealt with them one by one and stretched them.

God is looking right now for the rare individual who is willing to get serious with him. 2 Chronicles 16.9 declares, For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show themselves strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Listen friend, you get serious with God and God will get serious with you.

Years ago, I got serious with God and I made a vow to him. I wanted more of God. I wanted more of his power.

But to get more of God means God must have more of you. That's where the rubber meets the road. God is looking for the one who will get serious with him, like Moody did and like Finney did.

One day, I was reading in my Bible, Matthew 16.25, For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. I prayed that day that God would honor that verse and make it a reality in my life, no matter the cost. I wrote in the flyleaf of my Bible the following words, What is my life that I should keep it selfishly for me? I choose to lose it so completely and have it found in thee.

I cannot tell you, friends, the Job-like losses I've experienced or the many trials I've passed through since that time, but I can tell you this. God honored that prayer and he made that verse a reality in my life. God wants us to experience more of him, but to do that, he must first reduce us.

He will get out his divine pruning knife on us. He will heat it in the fire of his spirit and cut deep into the recesses of our life, cutting out all that stands and blocks the way, that blocks him, that hinders him. He must have complete access to us.

He must have a clean and clear channel so he can flow through with his power. The men I've known who've had power with God, may have had power with God. Men like Adrian Rogers and Stephen Alford, they were men consecrated to God in lives of holiness.

God wants to build faith in us, friends, but he needs our cooperation. We must desire a deeper walk with him. He wants us to challenge him by going out on a limb for him.

When we get to the place in our life where we are entirely cast upon God, that's when he can do his deepest work in us. I want to close this message, friends, with an example out of the life of the apostle Peter. Peter was a big guy with a big mouth and he wore his emotions on his sleeve and he was constantly putting his foot in his mouth and making a mess of things.

But Jesus saw something in Peter what others could not see. Jesus saw the man Peter could become. Jesus saw a man with a big faith.

Jesus could see the Peter of Pentecost standing boldly before a hostile crowd preaching in the power of heaven's spirit. I will give you an instance where Peter was willing to go out on a limb for God because Peter had a big faith in a big God. Look at this passage of scripture, friends, found in Matthew's gospel in chapter 14.

We are all familiar with it, but let's go over it now beginning in verses 26 and following. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit! And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid.

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.

I will stop there. The boisterous storm had turned these veteran seamen into crybabies, for it brought them to the end of their emotional tether. But through the dark, stormy night, one of the disciples sees Jesus on a different level of faith than the rest, and he wants to come up to that level by faith.

So Peter steps out on faith, onto the churning waves, and he has a supernatural encounter with God. He defies gravity for several brief, glorious moments. He is a man who has conquered the elements.

He is walking on the water to Jesus. So many ministers when preaching this passage put all the emphasis on the last part of the passage, and began to sink, and their sermons built around the precept that we need to keep our eyes on Jesus. And that's true, friends.

We do need to keep our eyes on Jesus as we live for Him. But we also need the faith to get out of the boat for Him, so He can use us more, so we can bring glory to the Father. Well, I'm going to tell you a story about how I hope this little message on a big faith has helped you, friend.

God wants to do something truly extraordinary in your life. I really believe that. And I'll close my message today with the following story.

I heard about Duncan Campbell, who was so mightily used to God in the Lewis Revival in the Scottish Hebrides. I knew a Scottish minister who'd made a known Duncan Campbell, and I asked him to describe, if he would, Duncan Campbell to me in one sentence, if he could. After a paused reflection, he said the following.

He said, Duncan Campbell was an ordinary man who had had an extraordinary experience with God. Listen, friend, I believe God is a dynamite God. I really believe that.

And I believe, friend, also, He can enable us to live a dynamite life for Him. I truly believe that. I'd go to my grave believing that.

Lives that impact eternity can happen if you really believe in that dynamite God, if you're willing to go out on a limb for Him. The question remains, and it's a personal one, how badly do you want more of Him?