Little Faith

Please turn your Bible to Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6. We're not going to preach from there. We're not going to spend time there. I just want to read the scripture and move on fast to my subject. We're next going to go to Matthew chapter 6. And I'm going to spend a bit of time in various chapters of Matthew and then to the book of Luke last of all. But I just want to read this if we can together. My message and we've been dealing with the little things of scripture. The first night I laid the foundation. The second night we dealt with the little foxes. The third night, last week, I laid out from scripture that it's a principle. We're laying out principles. And that's what I love about this weekend with my brother. You know, it's the principles. And I go, here's a pastor who has discovered the principles of scripture. And to me, they're obvious. And I'm laughing. I've listened to a few of his messages and I'm laughing because I go, I still believe this, but nobody preaches it. And I've always believed this. And this is what I preach. And everyone knows that. But I'm laughing at this preacher because he's coming out with his most elementary things. But I'm going, there's principles. Why is it all the other pastors and preachers aren't dealing with these things when they're so obvious? And so with all of these little things, this is a principle of scripture. Last week, we dealt with that God chooses little things. It's a principle. It's his character. If you learn this, you know the ways of God. You know how God operates. You'll think differently just because you're small or little or insignificant or powerless or unable or don't have a reputation or no contacts. You'll say that's got nothing to do with it. It's about being in a place of prayer. Here are my fourth message here tonight. And this is my title. It's a biblical statement made specifically by Christ. Little faith. Just earlier, I said to Candice, I said to Pastor Dennis as well earlier, I'm preaching to myself tonight more than any other person. This has kept me sane this afternoon. I want to tell you that. This message is for me because it'll deal with my heart, keep my mind right to walk through a trial. I need this message. I don't know how it's going to come out. I said if anyone else was preaching it, I may not come to the meeting, but I need this. It deals with me more than anyone else sitting here. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6, it says, but without faith, the essential nature of faith, but without faith, it is impossible to please him or please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, that he exists and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word tonight. God, we come with this faith, knowing it's impossible to please you tonight without faith, a faith that believes that you are, you are the eternal God. You are the God of the Bible. You are here right now. We believe this, so God, we could not please you tonight if we did not believe that you are, but more than that, that you're a rewarder to those that diligently seek you. And my God, our faith is manifest tonight. Even in weakness, even in littleness, my God, our faith is manifest because we know you reward those that diligently seek you in prayer. I know that you reward those that seek your faith, and Lord God, bless your word tonight in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. My message, little faith, we're dealing with all of these littles, and these are tumbling over me, I want to tell you. I'm having to pray, Lord, when do I preach what? But I want to preach tonight on little faith, a statement made in Matthew 6, verse 30, by the Lord Jesus Christ. He mentions little faith. As you study the Bible, you're going to find that little terms defining or describing faith are mentioned, and so we have a description of faith being little. There's a thing called little faith. Also in Matthew chapter 15, verse 28, there's a thing called great faith, and in fact, Jesus spoke about the Canaanite woman who came to him. She's a pagan, she's a Gentile, she's outside the covenant of God, and she's a Canaanite woman who comes to Jesus, and it says that her daughter was grievously, that means badly, vexed with a devil, a demonic power that was not natural. Her daughter's life is being destroyed. What does she do? She comes to Jesus, and she says, please heal my daughter. You know what Jesus calls her? A dog. You know what he's doing? He's looking at her heart. Oh, to have someone who's going to seek after me. Does she have faith to seek after me and know I'm a rewarder? Well, you know the story. I'm not going into it, but it says that as her faith persisted, the Lord, I can see him laughing. In no other place do I see the Lord Jesus laughing, but I can hear going, man, this woman, I'm going to answer her prayer. She is so determined. Well, even dogs get crumbs off the table. He goes, how can I deny such faith? That faith is called great faith. Then remember as well in Matthew 8, verse 10, the Roman centurion at Capernaum. Remember how he wouldn't even let Jesus come under his roof. He said, just send the word. I understand these principles of authority and submission. I know how they work. Send the word. My servant's going to get healed. What did Jesus say again? I haven't found such great faith, such unusual faith, mega faith, larger than life faith anywhere in Israel. I have to go to a Roman centurion of an invading army. This little lady, she had great faith. So we have little faith. We have great faith. Then in Romans chapter 4, verse 9, there's two things mentioned in relation to Abraham. It says concerning Abraham being not weak in faith. So you can have faith, but it's weak. It's very fragile. You could blow it over. You can push it over with a finger. So faith can be little. It can be great. It can be weak. Then in Romans chapter 4, 20, it says concerning Abraham, he staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. So not only little faith, great faith, weak faith, we have strong faith. And what is strong faith? It does not stagger at the promises of God. Now the Bible says two very interesting opposite things about faith in the Bible. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and 2, it says all men do not have faith. They don't. Don't let anyone tell you that everyone generally has a portion of faith. They don't. Sinners do not. And that's what it said. Unreasonable and wicked men, deliver me from them. Pray for me. Why? Because all men do not have faith. If they're acting like this, it's because they do not have faith. So all men do not have faith. It's not a natural commodity that everyone has. It's only real Christians. But in Romans chapter 12, verse 3, it says that God has dealt or given or ministered to every man the measure of faith. Now there's no contradiction to say that all men do not have faith. And then on the other hand, to say that God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. There's no contradiction. What's he saying? All sinners do not have faith. All Christians do. Every single born again Christian, God shares out a measure of faith. And it's not always the same size. And it's not always for the same thing. You see, if you try to believe maybe for the things God's given me faith for, you're going to have trouble to do ministry in a certain way. What if God hasn't called you to ministry? And you say, I don't have any ministry or any faith for that. Well, I wonder why. I wonder why. You see, God gives a measure or a portion of faith to every single born again believer. So when you come to the New Testament, you see, every real Christian has real faith. Real faith. Even if it's little, even if it's weak, even if it's great, even if it's strong, every real Christian has a portion of faith. If you say, I've got no faith, then you're not born again. You're lost. You're going to hell. If you have at least little faith, you're saved. You're on your way to heaven. Now look at this statement, little faith. Little faith is mentioned four times by Jesus in the book of Matthew. It's mentioned once in the book of Luke by Jesus. So five times we have the Lord talking about little faith. And this is what I'm concentrating on tonight. Our message, little faith. And so we see that Jesus, He points the finger at little faith. When He says the thing five times, little faith, little faith, He's making a point. He exposes it. He rebukes it. He identifies it. He puts a finger on it. He sets it out and He preaches concerning it. Do you know what little faith means? It means in the Greek, puny faith, lacking confidence. It is a Christian and I'm dealing with a believer. It is someone lacking confidence, full persuasion or having a strong foundation. To have little faith doesn't mean that you have no faith. It means your faith is so little you can hardly see it or notice it. Your persuasion and confidence in God is so weak that I go, aren't they trusting God? And so this is what defines little faith. And I've got three points for you here tonight. I'm just preaching on the text that the Holy Spirit has given me these messages. That's why I love just discovering, finding the messages that He's preached. So I'm a postal boy. I'm not giving opinions. I'm not designing messages. I don't have good insight. I'm just giving you the word of God. My first point, little faith and financial provision. Little faith and financial provision. Going to Matthew chapter 6 and 30, you can listen. You don't need to look, but you can follow if you so desire. Matthew chapter 6, verse 30. It says, wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you? Then what does he say? O ye of little faith. That's why I call this first point, little faith and financial provision. He says a bit earlier and beginning in verse 25 of Matthew 6. This is part of the message. Let me give you the context. Matthew chapter 6, verse 25 is the beginning of this portion on little faith and financial provision. So this statement, when he calls someone, O ye of little faith, or you bunch of little faith, he's speaking to a certain clear group of people about a certain subject. What is the subject he's dealing with? Well, look at verse 25. If you want to know what is this little faith connected to, go to verse 25. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body more than raiment or clothes? So the context of this statement, O you of little faith, is in the context of worrying about the basics of life, about your clothes, about the house over your head, about your food, about providing for all that you need. This is the context. And as he deals with these things, what does he say? Take no thought. He uses this term thought all through these verses in the context of you of little faith. What's wrong with you that you have little faith? Do you know the word thought here, what it means? It doesn't mean just thinking about these things or planning ahead or saying, no, what am I going to do in making sure money comes in in the week ahead? The word thought doesn't mean that here. The word thought means to be anxious, burdened down with worry and frustration, deeply concerned. In other words, very anxious. Have you ever known a worrier? That's what it's talking about. It means to wring your hands fretting about worrying, staying up all night with these cares. You see, worry strangles faith. Do you hear me? Worrying about the basics of life and house and finance and home and money. And you know, we're getting those emails from New Zealand and Australia and Canada of good, genuine believers who love the Lord. They're losing jobs and finance and business and home and they're worrying. Do you know what? In this hour, we need to hear about little faith. It's not good to have little faith. It's not good to have little faith. Do you know what it's saying here? Something strangled your faith. If your faith is little, believing in financial provision and how you're going to be taking care, you've got little faith. If your faith is being strangled by worry and fears, it's a bad thing. You're commanded not to do that. You shouldn't be strangling your faith. Do you see how when you're a worrier and you're anxious and you're getting ulcers in your stomach because you're worrying, do you realize you have little faith? Oh, I'm a born again Christian. I know that. Begin to act like it. And so you get this Christian of little faith. He has strangled the faith. And look what the Lord says to him. This is not an easy message. And there's a message from me. I told you more than for you. This is for me. Keeps my mind and my heart midst trials that this message, I've got to hear what the Lord says. You see, there's a danger of little faith coming in, in every area of life. And so Jesus deals with it. He exposes it. He said, if you're, you cannot say that you've got great faith and yet you're worrying about food for the coming year. You see, you can go from great faith to little faith. And it's not a good thing. He's rebuking it. Every time he mentions it, it's a bad thing. He's rebuking it. He's saying this isn't good. This should not be. Stop worrying. Do you hear me? Stop worrying about the basics of life. You know, most things you worry about never happen. And yet there's lots of things which we ought to worry about. Sometimes we don't worry about. What does Jesus say? Verse 26, behold the fowls of the air. And so he's dealing with little faith. What does he point to? A little animal, the fowls, the birds of the air. For they sow not, neither do they reap, nor do they gather in the barns. Anyone seen a bird build in a barn recently? I don't think so. Yet your heavenly father feedeth them. Do you realize God the father cares about birds? You may not care about the birds. You may not provide for the birds. But if only you seen this tonight, you go, are you more important than the birds of the air? Do you think your personal basic needs in your home are more important than the bird flying about the sky? Yet this Jesus teaching about his heavenly father, he says, my heavenly father provides for the birds. It's not just nature. It's not just circumstance. It's not just that they find something or the nice guy down the road leaves out bird food during winter. He says, my heavenly father looks after the birds. You know what he's trying to deal with? Little faith. You have killed faith. You brought faith down to almost you can hardly see it. It isn't operating. When it comes to issues like this, where is your faith? Don't you know your heavenly father loves you and cares about you? Especially when you stand for righteousness. Verse 27, what of you? Which of you by taking thought, being anxious, worrying, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Have you ever tried growing? I know when we're young, we're probably like, oh, our dumb things, try to pull ourselves up and stretch ourselves, just wanting to grow a little bit. But you know what? Did it work? No, absolutely not. You cannot with worrying make your body grow. And he says, neither are you going to get raiment or clothed by worrying. That is not the way. I tell you what, faith will do that. Faith will produce something. Faith will provide for you. What if in the coming year, your boss rings you up and says, you've just lost your job. You've got your mortgage. You've got your house. You've got your children. You've got your bills. What are you going to do? You look this message up and go, where did that message go on little faith? I need it. Do you know also he says, listen to this. He says, consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin and work to get their clothing and their beautiful colors. Yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed or clothed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is here and tomorrow's cast in the oven, shall he not much more clothes you? Oh, you of little faith. Are you getting the message tonight? This is the first thing about little faith, little faith and financial provision. Are you not going to put your trust in your heavenly father? Christ is teaching little faith is an enemy to your faith in the provision of your heavenly father. God, the father says he looks after the sparrow. He looks after the birds of the air. He looks after the lilies, all the different lilies of the field. Don't you know? Don't you believe that he'll, or does your faith not stretch that far? You see, little faith is marked by you cannot believe that your heavenly father is concerned about those things, about work and house and job and clothes and food. You think he doesn't care, but he does care. Look at the verses following the statement. Oh, you have little faith. Verse 31, therefore take no thought. It's a command. It's a teaching of Jesus. Do not worry. Do not be anxious. Now I'm telling you, if you're stupid with your money, if you squander it and waste it and destroy it, you better worry because you've got a principle in your life that's negligent on what you sow, you're going to reap. If you abuse what God gives you, if you don't give to him first, you're in trouble. So you better give thought to that. But he's talking about those worrying about basic needs saying, what shall we eat? Do you know it could be a bigger curse to you to have all your needs met and you've never, have you ever been put in a situation where you've got no finance and you don't open up your mouth to make it known and you're going to be in a crisis point? I've been there many times, not tonight, not now, just so no one thinks it's lovely to say it when there's nothing going on. But I can give you numerous testimonies of being in a place if that doesn't come right now. I've driven to the ferry before, early in the morning and I don't have the money, I pack my car, say goodbye to everyone, I'm going to the ferry, I make one stop at a permitting and I get an envelope and it's the exact amount for the ferry, not more, not less, the exact amount and I get into Scotland and I go, what am I going to do for fuel? And the devil starts to burden. You see, if you haven't been put in that situation, you don't know what you do in that situation yet. You could say, I trust the Lord, I believe, okay, let's remove all the provision. Go to a place where you go, I don't know what I'm going to eat tomorrow. I've been in that situation. I don't know how we're going to pay the next bills. And you're going to find out, do you have little faith? Listen to me, I'm talking about real situations. All your resources removed, what is your faith going to look like? You're not going to know until this happens. And don't experiment with it and don't play games with it. You don't want this unless God is in it. But if it happens because you're walking with God, then you can say, you know what? In Matthew chapter 6, he warned me not to be of little faith, not to worry. Heavenly Father, I've got nowhere else to go. I've got no provision. I've got no one to meet my needs. You're the only one who knows my needs. The Bible says, he will provide. It says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. Do you believe it? If you don't seek first the kingdom of God, these won't be added. If that has not been the habit of your life of sin, God first, not money, not house, not family. God first, seeking righteousness first. If you do that, you'll never have to worry about food. Do you hear me tonight? I'm telling you a radical statement. If you seek first the kingdom of God, you'll never have to worry about food, or clothes, or water, or a roof over your head. Never, never. All these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for tomorrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Don't carry the burdens of other days. Just deal with today. Don't be worrying about things in a year's time, or five years time, or what's going to happen next. Just walk today. That's my first point. Little faith in financial provision. Christ points out that little faith could be a great enemy when you're tested financially and in your possessions. Number two, little faith in the crises of life. The impossibilities, the sudden troubles, sickness, persecution. When things happen you've never seen coming and never imagined, and you've got no way to handle with them. Little faith in the crises of life. You see, often crises show up what your faith looks like. You think you're strong in faith. You think you have great faith. You think you have remarkable faith. I can believe for anything. I can believe for God to heal the sick. Okay, wait till you get sick, or your wife gets sick, and now let's see where you are. When you're in that situation, we are going to find out what kind of faith. It's okay to say something. Hey, if Jesus told me to walk in the water, I could do it. If he told me, Master, if you say, I could do that. Well, none of us know until it happens, do we? You could talk about it. I could preach about it, but until that comes, no one knows. You could say, I know. No, you don't. You think, but you do not know until that day. You've got to step out of the boat. You do not know. So little faith in the crises of life. Matthew 8, verse 26. And he, that is Jesus, said unto them, the disciples. They're in a boat. Why are ye so fearful? What? Oh, ye of little faith. Why? Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm instantly. What's the context of him saying, ye of little faith? Talking to his disciples, the 12, his chosen, his closest, his best, his preachers, his apostles. He's now accusing the 12 apostles of having little faith. Your faith isn't great. It's not strong. It's little, puny, tiny. Do you know, at times when I've read the Bible, I have cringed with how he's spoken to the disciples. I go, you know, people say, I wish I would have lived in that day. Really? You would want Christ publicly saying exactly what your faith is like in front of everyone else, pinpointing and saying, do you know what you've just done? Oh, you, why are you scared? Why are you afraid? Sometimes I've almost wanted to duck as I've read the Bible in the morning. I've wanted to go down. I went, Lord, you didn't spare those disciples. I mean, you're rough on those men. You really deal with them and expose them. Boy, and so he says, you of little faith. Where were they previous to this in verse 24? It says, they got into the boat and there arose a great tempest, a great storm in the sea. And so much that the ship was covered with waves. Look at this in your mind's eye. The ship is literally covered. The waves are so high, they cover the boat. Have you ever been in a boat like that? I've never been in a boat to that extent. Rocked about in a storm, but waves literally covering it. That was the situation. But where was Jesus? He is asleep. He's fast asleep. Do you think he knew about this? Yes. Do you think he knows what's going on? Yes. But he's fast asleep in the boat. Little faith in the crisis of life. And so the disciples are in a boat. Jesus is in their boat, thank God. But he's asleep in their boat. That's what the message here, asleep in Christ. The disciples have little faith because Christ is asleep. They are fully convinced. I mean, look at it. He is asleep. He's in their boat, but that's not a big issue to them. They are saying, he is sleeping and there's a storm going on. And we're actually going to die here. In verse 25, it says, they awoke him saying, Lord, save us. We perish. Over in Luke, it says about this. Christ turns and says, where is your faith? Where is it? Mark in chapter 4, verse 40 says, why are you so fearful? Why? How is it that you have no faith? But here in Matthew 8, he says, oh ye of little faith. So he's looking at them in the storm. Christ is asleep. And they think they're justified. They're terrified. They're scared of dying. He's asleep. And they go, why are you asleep in the boat when we're in such trouble? Do you know how little faith manifests? You look at Christ and you go, you are asleep when I'm in the storm. Have you ever done it in a trial and trouble? And you, Lord, you're not speaking to me. You're not communing. Your eyes aren't open. Do you even know what I'm going through? Christ is asleep. Oh, I know I'm born again, but Christ must be asleep. Do you know what that's a sign of and a symptom of? We so easily do it to go, where's God? Do you know what he's revealing here? He's actually exposing little faith, what it looks like, how it acts. It's terrified in the storm. I know this isn't easy for any one of us. If you get terrified in the storm, yet you know Christ is in the boat and that he is real and you're saved, then it reveals something. Why are you terrified? You go, it's natural and human. I know, I know. Would I have acted differently here? I don't think so. Maybe you have great faith. But I think my little faith would have been exposed in the storm. You see, little here is being defined. You can't see it. When Luke says, where is your faith? I can't see it. Oh, I know you're born again. I know you have faith because it's little faith. It's minute faith. It's small faith. But do you know what? That little faith is not operating. There is no sign of it. It's not being expressed. It's not being used. It's terrible to have muscles and not use them. Legs and you don't use them. You lounge about all day long. You've got two legs. Why not use them? You've got a voice. Why not sing? People singing quiet in church. Yous have got beautiful voices in this church. Use them. A day may come when you can't. Not using it. Not exercising it. Do you know what this tells me about the disciples? They could only trust or have faith in Christ when they heard his voice and seen him active and seen him acting and seen him rebuking the wind. Until they hear that, him asleep in the boat isn't sufficient. To have seen what he'd done before isn't sufficient. To know his promises isn't sufficient. They've got to see him actually speaking, stopping the storm before they have faith. You know what that is? That is little faith. Here in this situation, the wind was going to affect their bodies. They were going to die. But it affected much more than that. It affected their minds. It affected their hearts. This situation, the crisis of life, made their faith to dissolve. You see, faith can often dissolve under pressure. You could go from great faith before you stepped on the boat. But as soon as that storm hits, now you've got little faith. The storm, the crisis, actually pressurizes your faith. You could move from great faith to little faith because of circumstance. Christ hasn't changed. You're still the same person. The Word of God's still the same. But because of the change in your circumstance, the crises of life. You see this in life. People are faced with this situation. It's like their God died. And you say, but of course. I mean, look, these are real. I know, I know. Hey, I'm just telling you what Christ said. I'm being dealt with tonight, so don't you stone the preacher tonight. What about Matthew? Here's another incidence of Christ using little faith. Matthew 14, 31. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Do you know who he's speaking to? Peter, who's just started to sink into the water. And think about it. He doesn't wait to get in the boat. He hasn't even pulled him right about. He's actually in the midst of the water, amidst the trial, amidst the sinking. He's saying, O you of little faith, talk about rubbing salt in the wound. You say, don't mention it. The Lord would never discourage me or condemn me or point him out. What Jesus do you talk about? What Bible are you reading? He does love you. He does care about you. But I'm telling you, little faith in your life is not a friend. It really isn't. And so he exposes it. What do we see here in these verses? We see Peter from the boat till that point. We see a fluctuating faith. If you think your faith as a Christian is the same in every situation all the time, year in, year out, you know nothing of this walk of faith. And looking at Peter in the same situation with the same Christ, with the same surroundings, same period of time, I see his faith fluctuate, change moment by moment. Do you know what it said just before this? Remember when he was in the boat, he said, Lord, if it'd be you. Do you see faith wasn't sure, could not identify Christ. It looks like Christ. It seems to be Christ, but I'm not sure. That is an issue of faith. Is the Lord in the storm or is he not? Is he here or is he not? Then he goes further and he says unto the Lord, if it is you, bid me come walk in the water. Now faith is moving in a direction. It's not obscure going, is this the Lord? No, it's very definite saying, if that is you, then bid me to come. I want you to actually ask. I need your word for it. I can't be stupid or presumptuous or do something brave, but I want you. You see how faith is operating here, fluctuating faith. His faith, his move and saying, if this is the Lord, there's nothing impossible. He can actually call me to walk in the water, to come to him. I can do it. That is a stirring of faith within his very heart. It's a remarkable thing. You see, initially his faith was fine. In the boat, his faith looked good. It sounded good. Master, call me to come. That is faith. This is real faith and Christ doesn't rebuke him. He never condemns the faith in the boat because it's real faith. It's strong faith. It's great faith. It's real faith. It's a faith in the word of Christ. It was a faith that got him to step out of the boat. It was a faith that actually got him to ask Christ, to ask him to come under water. That is real faith. That wasn't weak faith. That is impunity faith. That is remarkable faith and a miracle came out of it. A really unusual testimony arises out of this. Christ didn't rebuke that faith because it was strong faith. It was good faith. It was right faith, not presumptuous. And it was not just a faith that got you out of the boat. It was a faith that got you to walk upon the water. He actually walked. He didn't just drown. He didn't just sink. He actually walked. He got as far as Christ. He walked upon that water. That is strong faith. But you know that faith didn't maintain. It's the same Christ, the same word, the same person. And yet within moments, minutes, seconds, you see that this faith moves to little puny faith. Can you be in the midst of a trial? Could you be a super apostle like Peter? Could you be a man who's seen many miracles? And yet in the midst of trial, suddenly your faith becomes little faith. Of course, of course you can. And look at it. We're told that he began to sink in the water. He was afraid. Do you know why he was afraid? Verse 30, but when he saw the wind, should have kept your eyes on Jesus. As soon as you look at the wind, go, I can't do this. Do you know how many things that God called you to do? He actually called you. Lord, if ministry is your will, if you're calling me to preach, then call me to come out there. And you get out there and go, what have I just done? Where's he brought me? I can't do this. I can't live like, I can't preach week in, week out. Oh God, help me. What am I gonna do? Start getting your eyes on the storm. Some of you respond and obey God and then go, oh boy, look at the trials, the cost, the price, the decisions I have to make. Keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. When Peter, this great apostle, got his eyes upon the Lord, when he began to look at the wind, he was afraid and naturally so. And he began to sink. He cried saying, Lord, save me. Do you see the fluctuation of this faith? Here he is, he still has faith, but it's little faith and he begins to sink and it's looking at the storm. Do you know how I know when you have little faith? Your eyes are on the storm and you're sinking. You're beginning to sink and you get afraid. You're scared about your spiritual life going, I can't walk with God. I can't do this. I'm really worried here. You've got little faith. I've got no faith. Rubbish, you've got little faith. It doesn't look like you've got faith, but you do have faith. You're saving faith. How do I know he had faith? Because as soon as he began to drown, to go under the water, as soon as that began to happen, what did he do? He cried unto the Lord, save me. How do I know Peter had faith? Even at the lowest point, when his faith was little and Christ was rebuking him, how do I know he had faith? Because he cried out to the Lord. He still looks to Jesus. He does not stop in his pursuit of the task. But you know what? Little faith does not, and this is so important. You've got to hear this tonight. Little faith does not hinder Christ from immediately acting. Some people in the church, you'd think when our faith is small or weak, Christ is inactive. And you've tied his hands that he can never operate. And it's true. Unbelief can hinder him from healing the sick. It's true. It's a fact of scripture. But listen, Peter is there saying, I've only got a little faith, but master, save me. Do you think he denies him because it's a little faith and a puny faith and a small faith? No, immediately he intervenes. This is a small faith now, a little faith, a faith that is challenged and rebuked and exposed as not being good enough. But it was still a faith that cried on the Lord and got the Lord to act immediately, and it saved him from drowning. You see, Peter, all of this shows that Peter started, but he couldn't finish. He had a faith to start and do extraordinary things, but he did not have the faith to maintain that through to the end. He thought his faith in the boat was sufficient to go through any storm. Do you know sometimes you think you're able until you get in the storm, until you're walking in the water, until you've obeyed God, and you go, what am I doing way out here? See, Peter didn't know what his faith would be like in the boat out there. He's standing on the boat and goes, when I get there, I'll still have the same faith. But your faith can fluctuate. And at his lowest point, Jesus turns to him. Immediately, Jesus stretched forth his hand. Thank God for that hand. Little faith can lay hold of that hand, grasp it, and caught him and said unto him, don't miss this, he saved him, but he's going to deal with the problem here. O thou of little faith, why did you doubt me? Another one here before we move to point three, the last. Matthew 16 verse eight, which when Jesus perceived, he said unto him, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves? Because ye have brought no bread. Here's the situation where speaking to the disciples again, they're in a situation and he's saying to them, O you of little faith. Why did he say it? They're standing around, Matthew, Peter, John, and the rest. They're standing reasoning. Do you understand why I so hate reasoning in the church? I believe this book. I believe what it teaches. I believe what it says about the church. I don't bother reasoning about it. Do you know reasoning? These apostles are reasoning about things and it puts them in a place where Jesus says, you are of little faith, all of you. Do you realize you could reason and talk and discuss things and you could be damaging faith? When you bring your natural reasoning going, this is impossible, what are we gonna do? We don't have the provision. We can't do this. We can't reach a city or a nation or do the will of God. Do you know what you've done? You've just killed faith. You need to be very careful who you speak to, what you say, who you listen to. You can sit with someone and they'll undermine the word of God. Listen to them carefully. As they're telling you, oh, I'm a Christian. I'm an apostle, I'm a preacher. I'm a mature Christian and you listen and their reasoning, their thoughts and opinions undermine faith and leave you with little faith. You walk away from them. Here I have this from some of the most anointed, unctionized, faith-inspired Christians. You know, I very quickly learned, keep your mouth shut. Tell Americans what God's told you he's gonna do in your life because they all say, amen, he will. But tell someone in the UK or in Ireland, what do you think God's gonna do with it? Well, you know, I just feel, no, never happened. I had mature Christians say that. I went, Keith Malcolmson, shut up, keep your mouth, don't even share, don't cast your pearls before swine because they'll trudge it into the mud like this. They'll do that. They're envious, they're covetous, they're filled with unbelief and all of that reasoning says, God would never use you like that. God couldn't do that through you. You're dreaming, no revival's gonna come. You're a dreamer. Where did you get those ideas? You need to be very careful about reasoning. Jesus then goes on, what does he say next? In verse nine, do you not yet, yet understand? There's a past here. Neither remember the five loaves. Why reason you, sorry, the five loaves of the 5,000 and how many baskets you took up. See, they're in a third situation here of having people around them in ministry and they've got no food, no water, no provisions. It's a third time it's happened. What does Jesus do? Jesus, don't you remember? Don't you remember? I've got to remind you of a massive miracle. Do you realize little faith can experience hundreds of miracles and as soon as you get in a trial, it means nothing and doesn't help you. You don't even believe. God can do miracle after miracle and provide and bring you through and now you're in a new trial and you're gonna, what am I gonna do? Do you know what Jesus says? Remember, not just what I've done for others, what about your own? Do you think you would have made it this far? You're worried that you can't keep walking with God. Sure you wouldn't have made it this far. Oh, you of little faith. And so he says unto them, remember the five loaves and 5,000, how many baskets after feeding them all you took up by your own hands. Now this is chapter 16. He's talking about what happened in chapter 14 with five loaves and two fishes. Then the next verse, he says in verse 10, neither the seven loaves of the 4,000 and how many baskets you took up with your hands. That was chapter 15. So chapter 14, he's done it. Chapter 15, he's done it. And now we're in chapter 16, the same trial, the same situation, it's utterly impossible and the reasoning among themselves. And he says, oh, you have little faith. What am I dealing with here? Remember past dealings of God. You wonder how he's gonna bring you through the next temptation. Has he brought you through so far? How many times did you get in a trial and thought, I'm not gonna make it through this. Not gonna be able to stand. Not sure I've got the faith. Not sure I can do this again, Lord. Are you still here this morning, this evening? Yes, you are. Do you know what you need to remember? He brought me out of the pit. That's why I'm as weak as water. I'm as unable as anything. I'm as foolish as anything. But you know what? I do know this, Lord. I go, he uses weak things. He uses little things. Third and finally, mustard seed faith. Haven't I told you so far about Jesus saying, oh, you have little faith. It's condemning. It's exposing. It's rebuking. It's negative. It's because of a lack of faith. Little faith is that you've killed it with anxiety, worrying about what about the food and the meals and the children? You've killed faith with your worrying. And then with these other testimonies, through your unbelief, through all of your talk, through forgetting, you've killed faith. You don't have faith to operate. Oh, you're a Christian. You do have faith, but it's little. It's not functioning. I can't see it. Because it's not active in this situation. The next trial, are you going to exert faith? Third and finally, mustard seed faith. All of that was negative. Now we're moving to the positive. How can you have little faith that is rebuked? Then suddenly on this last point, suddenly small tiny faith is held up as remarkable faith. So in all those situations, little faith, he rebukes it. But now he's going to turn to say, don't you know what a little bit of faith, the smallest amount of faith, what it can accomplish? So let's finish on this note. Because I'd hate for you to leave convicted. Not really. That's not true. Luke chapter 17 verse five. And the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith. What a prayer. This is a prayer to the Lord Jesus. It means enlarge our faith. Add to it. Build it up. Make it greater. Make it more powerful. Make it more dynamic. Like a spindly young guy going in the gym and he's spindly, no muscles on him. He goes into the gym master and says, make me muscle bound. How do I get from here to there? There's a process you've got to go through. Increase our faith. Do you know faith can be increased? You've got faith if you're born again, but do you know that faith can grow? It can increase. Listen to what it says in 2 Thessalonians chapter one and three. Paul writing to the church at Thessalonica. And he starts saying, I am bound. I am forced. I can't help myself. Thanking God always for you as a church. Why? Because your faith groweth exceedingly. Now here's a church, only two years, the oldest ones are saved. It's a young church. And yet he's saying, your faith is growing. Do you know faith can grow? And here it says your faith is growing exceedingly. And it can be known and it can be seen. And it's going to be evident. And it can happen in an entire church. An entire church could be known for their faith. Not just for having faith. I'd be glad for that. If God said this church is known by its faith and love, I'd be a happy man. But you know, there was churches in the New Testament and the Lord speaking about them said, your faith is growing. It's exceeding. It's moving forward. It's not staying the same. Can I ask you tonight? Is your faith growing? Do you have a faith? Have you gone back? Have you lost ground? Did you used to pray and believe for things and do things? And now you don't have the faith to do that. Do you know what's happened? Your faith has maybe gone to little faith and that's bad. But here the apostles are saying increase our faith. They are praying, requesting. They're not satisfied. Are you satisfied tonight? They weren't satisfied. We want faith that is going to grow. Notice that word growth. Faith groweth. What grows? Trees grow. Plants grow. And so that is natural. Faith has a natural innate quality to grow. If you have faith, it wants to grow. It's its nature to grow. It's normal to grow. In the course of life, your faith should be growing. It's within faith to have faith and nothing happens with it. Maybe your faith's dead. Remember James said, if your faith doesn't produce works or holiness or obedience, chances are it's dead. You don't have any. What you're calling faith is not faith. If it doesn't affect the life you live, all the things around you. If I can't see it, if I'm searching going, do they really believe in Christ? There's something terribly wrong. And so we see faith groweth. Now look at this. They asked Jesus in verse 5, increase our faith. The next verse, verse 6, Jesus responded to them. And the Lord said, if ye had faith, we want our faith to grow. We want great faith. We want large faith. Lord, will you help us? We're looking at you. Will you help our faith to grow like that? How does Jesus respond? If, if, if ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say unto the sycamine tree, be thou plucked up by the roots and be planted in the sea, and it should obey you. Do you think Jesus is playing games here? What's a mustard seed? If you had faith as or like a mustard seed. A mustard seed in the Middle East and Israel was the smallest seed of any seed in the entire country. No seed of any plant was smaller than this. It was minute. Minute. If it's on your hand, you can hardly feel it. You can't feel it. You wouldn't even know it's there. You wouldn't feel the weight of it. It's not heavy enough for you to feel it. Neither can you hardly see it. With my eyes now, with the passing of years, maybe 10 years ago, I could have, now I'd be going, Candice, what is that in my hand? It's a seed. It's a mustard seed. It's about one to two millimeters in size. It was a common saying in the time of Jesus to talk about something being small or little or very insignificant, like a mustard seed. Like a mustard seed. In other words, you can hardly see it. It's very tiny, very small, utterly unnoticed. And Jesus connects the mustard seed to faith. He connects it in this message. And he compares this tiny seed to a large mountain, a large, massive, dominating mountain. Do you know what? If you've got faith the size of this little mustard seed, this large mountain, all you need is a little tiny bit of real, genuine faith. Saints, how much faith do you have? If you have faith as tiny as a mustard seed, you can remove mountains. Do you know that? You know what we think in our mind? We do not believe that as a church. I struggle to believe this, that the smallest amount of faith could remove mountains. You think you need great faith, miraculous faith, George Mueller's faith, Smith Wigglesworth's faith in order to move a mountain. You go, man, I'll be years in the pipeline. I'm going to have to work hard. How will I get this supernatural faith to move mountains? Jesus dispels all that. And he says, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could speak to mountains. But look at verse six. He actually says, you might say unto the sycamore tree. A little later, he says, you can speak to mountains. What's a sycamore tree? It was a tree with very deep roots, very unusual tree, not a sycamore tree, a sycamore. We taught a whole message upon this. And it says, if you speak to the sycamore tree, it'll be plucked up by the roots. You know why he said that? Because its roots go so deep. And the thing about a sycamore tree, if you cut it down, its roots still keep growing, and it springs up everywhere again. It's unbelievable. But Jesus says, you could get rid of that terrible, they're as bad as those willows in my back garden. I'm looking at it, it almost depressed me over winter, going, man, if I don't kill them before March, I have a serious problem. They're taking over everything. They'll almost wake up in the middle of the night dreaming about them. You know what? This sycamore tree had these deep roots. Jesus said, if you speak on it, if you have small faith, you can speak on to it, and you can command it to be uprooted. Listen to this for a second. What is he talking about here? Do you know what the context of Luke 17 is? Where he says, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed. Do you know what the context is? You go back to Luke 17 verse one. Then he said to the disciples, it is impossible that offenses will come. He's talking about you Christians getting offended by other people. It's utterly impossible that you'd be in the church and not get offended. Rightfully or wrongfully, you will get offended. He then goes on talking about this. Verse three, if thy brother trespass or sin against you, rebuke him. If he repent, forgive him. I'm talking about a sycamore tree. You say, what has mustard seed faith got to do with the sycamore tree, being offended and forgiving your brother? What's this all got to do with each other? Everything, because unforgiveness, being offended with your brother is like the sycamore tree. That sycamore tree, if it begins to grow in your heart and life and mind, its roots go down like bitterness. Unforgiveness is like this. They go down. You chop it down. The roots begin to grow. They go deep. They're established. Do you know how deep unforgiveness goes in your heart and life and can be in you? Do you know what Jesus is saying? There's the context of mustard seed faith, not to do great miracles. The first thing he says is to get rid of unforgiveness in your heart. Someone hurts you and offends you and does something to you and it burns. You better operate in faith to get that out of your heart. It'll destroy you. But what does Paul say? Bitterness springing up in your heart, it defiles many because you don't keep it to yourself. You'll share it with someone, always guaranteed. And so here we see mustard seed faith and moving mountains, but also moving sycamore trees. It is remarkable. Jesus says about the mustard seed in Matthew 13, it is the least of all seeds, the very least, the smallest, the most unlikely. Yet that faith can remove bitterness, unforgiveness from the heart. You won't be destroyed by it. Faith is a remarkable, resilient thing. It can overcome. True faith is always challenged by mountains, bitterness, chance, and possibilities. Sickness of bodies, your loved ones unsaved, financial problems or sin in your own life. These are the mountains. These are the sycamore trees. And Jesus says, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can speak to this mountain and say, be cast into the sea. You can say to the sycamore tree, be plucked up. And it will, it'll be absolutely removed. And so when you see the disciples say, increase our faith, they've said it after this. They're hearing this message about sycamore trees and bitterness in the heart and the mountains of impossibility. And they said, oh God, increase our faith. We're gonna need mega faith to deal with mountains and sycamore trees. Jesus said, no, no, no, no, no. All you need is faith the size of a mustard seed. Our two first points. Little faith was rebuked. Here, and it's not a contradiction, it's just a parallel. If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can do anything. And you know what? If you have the tiniest amount of faith, all of you have it if you're born again. You may say, I've got no faith. Rubbish, rubbish. You've got faith in your heart to move a mountain. You may not use it, operating it. Be active in it. Sewn in the earth. Saints of God, I'm telling you something. Something that is overwhelming, daunting, seemingly impossible. The mountain represents those things that only God can overcome. And you feel overwhelmed by. Faith is the key issue in forgiving others. Did you know that? Behind forgiving someone, faith is the issue. Nothing else. And even if it's small, you can do it. A living faith, even if new or small, will forgive others. If someone does not forgive, cannot forgive, and it burns within them, and it begins to affect them, it's because their faith is an issue. It's lack of faith, smallness of faith. They don't have big faith. They actually have very small faith because they can't release it. It's a terrible thing. It destroys hearts. Such wrongs test the quality of our faith. Real faith will win the victory over the old nature. And this is why Christ at various times and various scriptures talks about mustard seed faith. Saints of God, I hope tonight that as we look at little faith, it's a thing to be run from and yet something to be embraced. I don't want little faith. I don't want my faith to be found little in the trials of life. And yet I know that the smallest, tiniest amount of faith can accomplish the most remarkable things. You do have faith if you're saved, if you're a Christian. You can believe God for the impossible. And as a little boy, I'd lie in my bed with God giving me dreams. And in these dreams, I'd be there. Couldn't speak to an adult. Couldn't put two words together. Couldn't spell or write properly. But in these dreams, the Lord would show me standing, preaching sermons to multitudes of people. Couldn't see their faces. They were just massive darkness. And I'd be standing preaching to them. And I'm 12, 11, 13, dreaming. And you know what? I was preaching things I never heard anyone preach. My dad didn't preach it. My pastor wasn't preaching it. Nobody around me was preaching it. And that's what shocked me. And as I listened, I went, I'm preaching things I've never heard taught yet in my lifetime. And you know what? I went, I believe it. I don't have faith in me. I don't think I can do that. But Lord, if you say it, I believe it. Do you realise that's why I'm standing here? It's an act of faith of a little boy lying on his bed to say, if you say it, God, I believe you. I believe you because I can't do it. I can't even speak to one adult. But if you say it in this re-you, you will do it. Let's pray here tonight. Father, I thank you, God, for, Lord God, just this walk that you take us through concerning little faith. Lord God, you know us even before we go in the fire, before we face the trial, before we stand before the mountain, before we get sick in our body, before we lose our job. You actually know everything about us, not just our present condition of faith, but you know what faith is going to look like as soon as we step out in the water. You know what our faith is going to be like when fears and doubts arise, when issues arise in our hearts, when people hurt us or things happen to us. You know all of those things. You're not surprised by it. And you're very quick to point out little faith that cannot deal with things that will not trust you or believe that you're a faithful heavenly father. My father tonight, I pray tonight, even with our friends, oh God, that watch these videos in other countries. Lord God, will you help them, oh God? Will you give them the assurance of financial provision? Will you encourage them that it's a sin, oh God, to be of little faith and to rest in their heavenly father? Lord God, will you show us, oh God, that it's a terrible thing not to trust you in this hour, amidst the storms, amidst the trials, amidst the troubles. My God, I do pray that you encourage us in this church that we would have the seed, Lord God, the faith of a mustard seed that can remove mountains, that we would literally speak to the mountains and say, be you cast. Lord God, I pray, stir up. Lord God, we do not need our faith to grow for that. We do not need great faith for that. But oh God, we need to operate in the mustard seed faith. So small, so small, we can hardly feel it. So small, we can hardly perceive it or see it. And yet it can move an entire mountain. Lord God, I pray, strengthen my friends to have faith this week, to operate in faith, to walk in faith, to pray in faith. Lord God, not to be overcome by thoughts saying, you don't have faith, you cannot accomplish. But Lord God, stir up faith within their hearts to believe you in Jesus' mighty name.