And if everyone else would open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 17,
we're going to finish up this passage, this section,
and closing up in Matthew 17 today.
We're going to be looking at verses 14 through 27.
And for the last several weeks, chapters 14 through 17,
I've been asked the question, who is this guy?
And time and time again, it's this is the Christ,
the son of the living God. There's nobody like him.
And what does he do? He calls us to deny ourselves,
take up our cross, and follow him.
And to do that, you've got to believe him.
You've got to trust him. You've got to have faith in him.
We learn from Hebrews 11 that faith is being assured of things hoped for
and having conviction of what is unseen.
To trust.
And so, to be a follower of Jesus is to trust in something you can't see right now.
Someone you can't see right now.
And this morning, we're going to look at three distinct little passages
that are aimed to strengthen your faith in the Christ,
the son of the living God.
And so, we're going to look at a passage that Jesus exposes what he calls little faith,
not to be mistaken for mustard-sized faith that can move mountains.
And then Jesus is going to focus on himself,
the son of man, and what he has done on the cross.
And then Jesus, in an extraordinary little story,
he's going to encourage your faith this morning.
It's a story about a shekel in the mouth of a fish.
The call to follow Jesus starts with a call to trust Jesus.
And this morning, we're going to look at just that.
So, would you open up your Bibles, if you haven't already, to Matthew chapter 17.
I'm going to read verses 14 through 20.
And I'm going to kind of walk through that passage
and kind of bring it to bear on our lives today.
And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him, Jesus, came up to Jesus,
and kneeling before Jesus said,
Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic, and he suffers terribly.
For often he falls into the fire and often into the water.
And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.
And Jesus answered,
Oh, faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you?
How long am I to bear with you?
Bring him here to me.
And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him,
and the boy was healed instantly.
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said,
Why could we not cast it out?
He said to them,
Because of your little faith.
For truly, I say to you, if you had faith like a grain of mustard seed,
you would say to this mountain,
Move from here to there, and it will move.
And nothing will be impossible for you.
Who likes summer cookouts?
Raise your hand.
Oh yeah, I do.
And I'm a bit of a cookout connoisseur, informally, of course.
A good cookout has, when it comes to food, has at least three things.
It's got an appetizer, it's got the main dish, and then it's got dessert.
And for me, a good appetizer is just kind of like potato chips.
What it does is, it just really kind of stimulates your taste buds.
In this passage that we're looking at, it's kind of part of a three-part meal,
in which Jesus is going to build our faith,
but first, he's going to start with stimulating your faith buds.
And in order to do that, he's going to expose something in us.
So in verse 14, Jesus and his three disciples come down off the mountain,
which Jesus was transfigured.
They've just beheld him in his glory.
And as they're coming down the mountain, they walk into a crowd.
Do you see that in verse 14?
They came to the crowd, and a man came up to him,
and kneeling before him said, this man is a dad.
And he's a dad of a boy, a child.
And this man comes out of the crowd and meets Jesus before Jesus,
and his disciples get to the crowd.
His three disciples get to the crowd.
And he says, Lord, have mercy on my son,
for he's an epileptic, and he suffers terribly.
And so this dad comes to Jesus with a plea.
And he says, have mercy.
It's not a question mark.
It's a desperate plea.
He's saying, help us.
Help me.
And then he gives the reason.
For his son is an epileptic, and he suffers terribly.
And so whatever this condition was, we see it kind of elaborated,
this terrible suffering.
We see it elaborated, for often he falls into the fire,
and often into the water.
So whatever this condition is, this boy is falling into the fire,
often probably a fire within the home, probably water around,
something that is a constant threat to his kind of health and life.
So what this dad is coming to Jesus with is something pretty intense.
The life of his son.
And so his son has been suffering greatly.
Now, could you imagine being the dad or the mom of a boy who's suffering this way?
You would be on constant watch.
It would be vigilant.
It would be wearying.
And so this dad comes to Jesus,
and he drops on his knees just to show his desperation.
And he says, Lord, have mercy.
Help us.
My son is suffering terribly.
He's on the verge of death almost daily.
Help.
And if that wasn't bad enough, look at what he says in verse 16.
And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.
So the other nine disciples were down kind of doing the work,
while Jesus and his three disciples were up on the mountain.
And this dad brought his son to the other nine disciples,
and they were unable to heal him.
And so it's kind of like this.
Have you ever been talking in like in a store before,
and you're talking to the person behind kind of the counter,
and you're like, you know what?
I return this.
I just want to get my money back.
And they're like, I don't know what you're talking about.
We cannot help you.
And then you see the supervisor walk in.
You're like, oh, you're the guy I need to talk to.
And what this dad sees is the supervisor coming down off the mountain
and says, you're the guy I need to talk to about this.
You can do something about this.
These nine disciples can't.
And so what does Jesus do?
Look at verse 17.
Oh, faithless and twisted generation.
When you see that word, oh, that's an emotional response of Jesus.
Oh, faithless and twisted generation.
When Jesus says generation, he's talking about all the people.
He's talking about all the people of Israel, his disciples included.
And when he says faithless, it's not a compliment.
He's saying a lack of trust in God.
And twisted, that's distortion.
It's corrupted belief.
For those, there was a lack of trust.
And for some who trusted, it was a corrupted, distorted trust,
a misunderstanding trust.
And so he says, oh, faithless and twisted generation.
And then two rhetorical questions.
How long am I going to be with you?
The point is, I'm not going to be with you much longer.
And the second rhetorical question,
how long am I going to bear with you?
How long am I going to have to do what you seemingly can't do,
but should be able to do?
And then he says, bring them here to me.
Jesus is essentially saying, I'll take care of this.
In verse 18, we read that Jesus rebukes the demon.
Now, that should catch your attention.
Because up to this point, there's been no mention of a demon.
Apparently, maybe, perhaps, these disciples have been treating this boy.
They've been treating symptoms and not the actual cause.
They've been trying to heal this boy of his epilepsy,
not address the demon that's apparently the cause of this.
And so Jesus rebukes the demon,
and it comes out of the boy,
and we read that he was healed instantly.
And on a side note,
we see Jesus' authority exercised again.
He speaks, and demons obey him.
He has authority over the demonic world.
And by the way, this will be the last time in Matthew
Jesus casts out a demon.
So Jesus casts out the demon.
Now, I'm guessing that for some of you in the room,
you're asking yourself a question.
And it's a question that goes like this.
What is the relationship
between demonic influence
and physical illness?
So apparently here,
there was a demonic influence
that was the cause of this boy's epilepsy.
And Jesus casts out the demon,
and the boy was healed instantly.
So what's the relationship?
Now, we can make one of two mistakes.
Mistake number one is this,
that we think that behind every sneeze,
cold, and flu is a demon.
That's mistake number one.
And we know that's not the case,
because remember the woman
with 12 years of bleeding?
She came up to Jesus,
and what did Jesus do?
Did he cast her,
cast a demon out of her?
No.
He healed her of her bleeding.
So mistake number one
is thinking that demons
are the sole cause of every illness
that we experience today.
That's mistake number one.
The mistake number two
is on the other side.
And that is thinking that
there's no demonic influence
causing any kind of physical illness
in our day today.
That's mistake number two.
That's kind of writing off demonic influence
as kind of a bygone era.
And so we as a church recognize
we've got room to grow here,
but we also need to be paying attention
to what's the true cause
of what is happening in a person.
And so when you go back up the passage
and you see this little boy
who's being cast into a fire
and into water on a regular basis
who is seeking to be destroyed,
that should raise a question of
what's at work in this child
that would seemingly,
regularly try to destroy his life.
The MO of the demonic world
is to distort and destroy
image bearers of God.
And so we look at this passage,
it raises a question,
and we're going to move forward
saying as a church,
we're not going to overreact
or underreact,
but we're going to seek God
in the moment
and respond in faith.
But I need to let you know
that this passage isn't in your Bible
to answer that question.
This passage is here
to address the issue of a lack of faith.
Let's read on.
After Jesus rebukes this demon,
in verse 19,
the disciples come to Jesus privately
and they ask him,
why could we not cast it out?
And so one of the things
that we've learned about the disciples
is that they tend to forget quickly
and they tend to not exercise belief often.
They misunderstand.
Jesus is constantly kind of correcting
and rebuking them.
And so I think the question comes down to,
you know,
what's going on?
What's going on here?
Jesus,
they come to Jesus privately
and for that,
they show themselves
to doing something right.
They recognize something,
something is off
and they go to Jesus
for an explanation.
And they say,
what's wrong with us?
Why couldn't we cast this out?
Now,
I tend to think
that this question
that the disciples are asking
is a question
that many of us
as followers of Jesus,
we ask in a variety
of different forms.
Why isn't this happening?
Why isn't this good thing
that I imagine
that would bring honor to God
not happening?
And the disciples ask a question
that I think we can say is,
what's wrong with me?
What's wrong with us?
It kind of shows up
in things like this.
When I share the gospel
with somebody,
why aren't more people
coming to faith than Jesus?
What's wrong with me?
It's,
what am I not doing right?
What I'm trying to help
people change?
Why don't they change?
What's wrong with me?
Shows up in another
kind of set of questions
like this.
Why can't I stop
being a certain way?
Why can't I stop sinning?
Why can't I stop gossiping?
Why can't I stop
flying off the handle?
Why can't I stop
lusting after
these certain situations?
Why do I always seemingly
want something new
every month?
It's just kind of
a rotation of greed.
What's wrong with me?
The question is one of power.
A lack of ability.
A lack of power
to do something.
We expect change
and it doesn't happen.
And so we ask a question like,
what's wrong?
Now there's a variety
of different answers
in your Bible
to that question.
Jesus points to one answer
and it's in verse 20.
So the disciples ask,
why could we not
cast the demon out?
And Jesus says to them,
because of your little faith.
As soon as you read that,
when you read that word little,
you may be thinking
like quantity, size.
But we got to ask,
is that what Jesus really means?
Because in just a few more words,
he says this.
Truly I say to you,
if you have faith
like a grain of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain,
move from here to there
and it will move
and nothing will be impossible
for you.
So it seems like
there's a certain kind
of little faith
that is powerless.
And then there's this other
kind of little faith,
mustard seed sized faith,
that can move mountains.
that goes for the impossible.
What's the difference?
The difference
is in the object
of faith.
The difference is
who you're trusting in.
The difference is
who you're relying on.
When Jesus talks about
your little faith here,
it's not so much
a quantity of faith
he's talking about.
He's talking about
the quality of your faith
and very specifically
the object of your faith,
who you are trusting in.
Another way to say it is
Jesus is like
when he says
because of your little faith,
he's saying
because of your misplaced faith,
because of your weak faith,
because of your
kind of deluded faith.
So what Jesus is putting
his finger on
is a matter of
quality of faith.
Now,
this past week,
I did a little study
on that phrase,
little faith.
And it was really interesting.
I want to share with you
what was interesting about it.
That little phrase,
OU of little faith,
it shows up four times
in Matthew.
And the first time
is when Jesus
is talking about anxiety.
OU of little faith,
don't be anxious.
The next time it shows up
is when the disciples
are on the sea
and there's a raging storm
and he's asleep
and they wake him up
and he says,
OU of little faith,
why are you afraid?
The next time it shows up
is in Matthew 14, 31
and Jesus has just called Peter
to come to him on the water.
And Peter sees the waves
and he starts to sink.
He cries out.
Jesus delivers him
and says,
why do you doubt,
OU of little faith?
Doubt.
And then in Matthew 16,
Jesus is warning his disciples
about the leaven
of the Sadducees and Pharisees.
They think he's talking about
just kind of logistics
and food and stuff like that.
Total misunderstanding.
And he says,
why do you not understand,
OU of little faith?
And so when you look at
what Matthew says,
what's around little faith,
there's something competing
for one's heart.
Anxiety, fear, doubt,
misunderstanding.
These are the things
that vie for your heart
and will distract you
from trusting fully
in your great God.
Not even to mention pride,
which is our tendency
to rely on ourselves
instead of God.
So these are the things
that draw our heart's trust
off of our great God
and sets it on things
that cannot deliver,
that are impotent
and powerless.
And it shows up in questions
like,
why can't I do this?
What's happening?
What's wrong?
And so Jesus is pointing
his finger to this
weak, corrupt,
deluded, misplaced faith.
It's an impotent faith
because it's an imposter faith.
It's trusting in something
other than God.
faith.
And then he points us
to the real stuff.
Faith like the grain
of a mustard seed.
It's the size of a pinhead.
And it's small faith
in a great God
and it accomplishes much.
Our great God
is the God of the impossible.
He can do whatever He wants.
And when we trust Him
in the words of William Carey,
the father of modern day missions,
he says,
expect great things from God
and attempt great things from God.
That comes from a heart of faith
in the one true living God.
Not in something else.
The difference between
this little faith
that Jesus is rebuking
and this mustard,
seed-sized faith
is the object of the faith.
What you're trusting in.
It's either
something other than God
or God.
And what Jesus is commending us here
is trust God
and He will accomplish much.
So, hey,
this is the appetizer this morning.
This is to stimulate your faith buds.
In order to stimulate your faith buds,
we had to say,
hey,
this is what gets in the way
of your faith.
Things like anxiety,
things like fear,
things like misunderstanding
and pride.
And what we do
is we turn from those things
and trust in our God
over and over and over again.
That's what disciples do.
They trust in God,
in Jesus,
over and over again.
So, I hope this is stirring up
a desire in you
to trust God more.
And so now,
in light of that,
let's move
from this
kind of base of the mountain
and let's move
into Galilee
a little bit more
for the main course
this morning.
Jesus has exposed
little faith
in His disciples
and in us
and now
He's going to
focus us,
focus our faith
on Himself.
Notice,
in verses 22 and 23,
as they were gathering
in Galilee,
Jesus said to them,
the Son of Man
is about to be delivered
into the hands of men
and they will kill Him
and He will be raised
on the third day
and His disciples
were greatly distressed.
Jesus is focusing
His disciples forward
on His future work
on the cross
and resurrection
in Jerusalem.
And there's a reason
why He's doing it.
He's wanting them
to set their hearts
on what He's about to do.
This is the second
explicit prediction
Jesus makes
of His coming passion,
His suffering,
His death,
and His resurrection.
The first one
we saw in chapter 16, 21,
remember,
Peter says,
you are the Christ,
the Son of the living God.
And Jesus,
right soon thereafter,
He clarifies it.
He says,
guys,
just to be sure
you know what the Christ
is going to do,
I must go to Jerusalem.
I am going to suffer.
I am going to be killed.
I am going to be raised.
Jews of that time,
the disciples,
they were expecting
a political Messiah
who would deliver
ethnic Israel
from the tyranny of Rome
to be reestablished
in its former national glory.
And what Jesus is saying
with these passion predictions
is that's not what
this Christ has come to do.
The kingdom
that Jesus was establishing,
this saving reign of God,
it would be established
by His betrayal,
through His suffering,
through His crucifixion,
and His resurrection.
That is what would establish
His saving reign on earth.
The kingdom of God
is a kingdom
that delivers sinners
from their sins.
And so in the second
passion prediction,
Jesus is preparing
His disciples
for what will come.
We're looking at
maybe a month,
two months out,
and Jesus is saying
this is what's going to happen.
I'm going to be delivered.
They will kill me.
I'll be raised
on the third day.
Did you see the prediction
of His death?
Did you see the prediction
of His resurrection?
But there's something new
to this prediction.
It's that whole
the Son of Man
is about to be delivered
into the hands of men.
It's the first time
Jesus talked about
His betrayal.
It's going to happen.
And in verse 23,
notice how His disciples respond.
They were greatly distressed.
It's sinking into these guys
that they're going to Jerusalem
and it's not going to be pretty
that Jesus keeps on talking
about how He's going to die.
But now,
someone's going to betray Him?
Makes sense that they'd be distressed.
Let me ask you this question.
As a disciple living 2,000 years
after the fact,
when you read these words,
should you be distressed?
What Jesus was speaking of
in the future tense here
of what will come,
we speak of in the past tense
of what has happened.
Jesus is speaking about
what He would do
now in 2017.
We speak of what He's talking about
as what He's done.
He's talking about
what He will do
to accomplish our salvation.
today,
we declare
Christ's betrayal,
His suffering,
His death,
and His resurrection
as past historic events
that have happened.
And they're not distressing news.
It's good news.
It's gospel news.
His betrayal,
suffering,
death,
resurrection,
it was all necessary
to Him accomplishing
the salvation
that you so desperately
needed as a sinner.
That word gospel,
that word is used
in antiquity
to describe
a heralding
of a victorious event.
So just imagine this.
Kenosha County,
we become our own nation.
Lake County in Illinois
becomes their own nation.
They attack us.
We respond.
We send forces down.
We defeat them.
We're victorious.
Do you know what
we would do?
We would send a runner
to the public square
of this city.
And that runner
would herald forth,
Our army has proven victorious.
We have beaten
the army of Lake County.
Good news.
Or maybe you're a Cubs fan.
November 3rd, 2016,
Paul Sullivan,
Chicago Tribune,
at 12.30 a.m. writes,
Chicago Cubs win
World Series 8-7.
Good news.
God,
good news for those
under a curse.
It goes on to say
they did it.
The Cubs did it.
It's good news.
But that good news
in November 3rd, 2016
was temporary good news.
It was good news
for that season.
Not so much good news
for this season.
What the gospel
of Jesus Christ is,
it's good news.
It's heralding.
It's declaring an event
that has happened.
That Jesus,
the Christ,
was betrayed,
suffered,
died,
and was raised.
It took place.
And it's not temporary
good news.
It's forever good news.
It's a good news
of declaring
that Jesus' death
and resurrection
defeated sin
and death
forever.
It was a decisive act.
It happened.
So when we read
this second prediction
of Christ's coming
passion,
it's not distressing
news to us
living on this side
in 2017
looking back
on what Jesus did.
This is good news.
It's refocusing news.
It's refreshing news.
It's news that
should make you
want to rejoice.
That God in Christ
would do this
for you.
The Apostle Paul
talks about this
what Jesus
is talking about
in the future.
The Apostle Paul
talks about it
as being of
first importance.
That Christ died
according to the Scriptures.
He was buried
and on the third day
He was raised
according to the Scriptures.
First importance.
Jesus will repeatedly
speak of this.
His coming suffering,
His coming death,
His coming resurrection.
He repeats it
over and over again
for the balance
of the Gospel of Matthew
because it's so important.
It's of first importance.
And why is it?
It's what God did
to accomplish
our salvation
from sin.
The cross
is the hot spot
of God's
work of salvation
for the fullness of time.
it's there
that He won
our victory
over sin and death.
So this morning
as part of taking
this kind of
Gospel main course
realize that
what Jesus
is speaking of
in the future tense
we speak of
in the past tense.
It happened.
And it's through
His death
and resurrection
that secured
our justification
being made right
with God.
no more condemnation.
It secured
our adoption
our being brought
into God's family.
Now by the Spirit
we say Abba Father.
It secured
our redemption
being set free
from the power
of sin.
It secured
our reconciliation
being made
at peace
with God Himself.
It secured
our sanctification
being made holy
over time.
It secured
our glorification
that day
when we walk
into the very
presence of Jesus.
Terry Johnson
knows now
being walking
into the presence
of Jesus
without any
encumbrance
of sin.
What He did
2,000 years ago
on the cross
and His resurrection
secured all of it.
Our justification
our sanctification
our glorification
our entire
salvation
was accomplished
through His death
and resurrection.
And when His disciples
hear Him
talking about this
in the future
they're distressed.
When we hear this
this is music
to our ears.
This should remind you
of what your
great God
did for you
in order to
reconcile you
to Himself.
and this is
what we stand on.
This is what
we trust in.
This is what
we believe.
This is what
we hold true.
This is what
we build our lives on.
This is what
defines us.
It's the main dish
and it never gets old.
So what Jesus
does here
He's pointing
His disciples
to something future
but for us
who live
in 2017
we're reminded
of what He did
in the past.
He accomplished
our salvation.
So we've
looked at
His exposing
of our faith
and now He's
focused us
on what
He would do
what He's done
at the cross
and now
very briefly
24-27
Jesus
He encourages
our faith.
I'll just read
that for you.
When they came
to Capernaum
the collectors
of the two
drachma tax
went up to Peter
and said
does your teacher
not pay the tax?
And Peter said
yes
and when Peter
came into the house
Jesus spoke to him
first.
Jesus was anticipating
something.
What do you think
Simon?
from whom
do kings
of the earth
take toll
or tax
from their sons
or from others?
And when He said
from others
Jesus said to him
then the sons
are free.
However
not to give
offense to them
go to the sea
and cast a hook
and take the first
fish that comes up
and when you open
its mouth
you will find
a shekel.
Take that
and give it to them
for me
and for yourself.
So now
we're at
Capernaum
which is
kind of
Jesus'
base of operations
for His ministry
in Galilee.
And Jesus
and Peter
are together
and they're
approached
by two
Jewish
tax collectors
and they're
collecting
a Jewish tax
and it's
based out
of Exodus
chapter 30
when men
over 21
had to pay
a half
a shekel tax
and that tax
would go to
the temple
upkeep
in Jerusalem
and not only
that
this tax
was taken
about a month
before Passover
and so
very nimbly
Matthew
is putting
in front of us
Jerusalem
and Passover
are on the horizon
and so
these tax
collectors
are kind of
reminding Peter
hey is your
rabbi
is your teacher
going to pay
this tax
and Peter
says
oh yeah
he's planning
on it
now I just
want to remind
you now
that
remember back
in Luke 2
when Jesus
was a boy
he was
he went back
to Jerusalem
and when his
parents caught
up with him
and they say
hey what were
you doing
he said
don't you
realize I'd
be in my
father's house
having said
that
verse 25
Peter says
yes he's
going to pay
it
and then
Peter's
going to go
into the house
and he's
going to raise
this issue
with Jesus
Jesus what
about this
two drachma
tax
knowing that
Jesus anticipates
it and he
says this very
interesting thing
to Peter
what do you
think Simon
from whom
do kings
on the earth
take toll
or tax
from their
sons
or from
others
another way
to say
it is
this
royalty
Peter
if you're
in the
royal family
are you
going to
tax people
in the
royal family
or are you
going to
tax those
outside of
the royal
family
and Peter
says
well those
outside of
the royal
family
to which
Peter
Jesus
says
then the
sons are
free
do you
know what
Jesus is
saying
I don't
need to
pay this
tax
I'm a
son of
the living
God
this is
my father's
house
I don't
need to
pay this
tax
and neither
do you
Peter
because you're
with me
and then
he goes
on to
say
however
not to
give offense
to them
and what
Jesus is
saying
there is
hey
I'm not
going to
claim this
right
I've got
other more
important
business I
need to
do in
Jerusalem
and so
we're going
to pay
this tax
and here's
how we're
going to
pay it
and he
goes on
to sell
Peter
he says
go to
the sea
cast in
the hook
take up
the first
fish that
comes
and when
you open
its mouth
take out
the shekel
and give
it to
the tax
collectors
and then
what happens
we don't
know what
happens
Matthew
doesn't tell
us what
happens
we're left
guessing
but you know
what a solid
guess would
be
it happened
so check
this out
imagine if
you're
Peter
and your
your faith
needs some
building up
your savior
just told
you to go
to the sea
of Galilee
throw in
a hook
you go down
throw in
a hook
you're like
all right
I'll do
this for
Jesus
there's a
tug on the
line
you pull
up the
first fish
that comes
what's going
on in your
heart right
now
if you're
Peter
huh
I wonder
you pull
the fish
up
you open
its mouth
and when
your eyes
fall on
silver
what is
going on
in your
heart
in that
moment
joy
delight
you're saying
things like
I can't
believe this
it's really
true
and you
reach into
that fish's
mouth
and you
pull out
that
Greek
stutter
that's what
it was
and you're
feeling it
in your
hands
and you're
thinking
how did
he know
that
and you're
walking
this
Greek
stutter
worth
four
drachma
so this
covers all
the tax
and you're
bringing it
to the tax
collectors
and you're
thinking
the whole
time
how did
he know
that
who is
this guy
he is
stinking
amazing
and you
put it
into the
hand of
that tax
collector
you know
what you're
thinking
man this
is just
enough
just on
time
and just
for
me
you see
how encouraging
that would
be
now
if for the
sake of the
gospel
Jesus is able
to provide
for his
own like
this
he's going
to provide
for us
too
he's going
to meet
all of
our needs
out of
nowhere
here at
this church
out of
nowhere
people will
send us
money
and it
comes in
at just
the right
time
do you
know how
we make
sense
of it
our
Jesus
is looking
out for
us
he knows
our needs
it's like
silver in a
fish mouth
encourages
our faith
so think
about it
this way
if our
God is
able to
provide
for everyday
needs
in
unimaginable
ways
he's not
limited
if you
provided
Jesus
for our
greatest
need
he's going
to provide
for all
of our
other needs
as we
seek to
follow
him
it
stirs up
that
William
Carey
quote
again
expect
great
things
from
God
attempt
great
things
from
God
and
we're
going
to
trust
he's
going
to
encourage
us
with
what
we
need
right
at
just
of the
right
time
at
just
enough
and
just
for
us
he's
that
kind
of
God
so
who
is
this
guy
he's
the
Christ
he's
the
son
of
the
living
God
he
calls
us
to
follow
him
to
deny
ourselves
take
up
our
crosses
and
follow
him
and
he
is
worthy
of
all
of
our
trust
we've
had
a
little
appetizer
got
our
faith
exposed
so
we
turn
from
those
things
and
turn
to
Jesus
and
then
he
focused
our
faith
on
what
he
has
done
the
main
thing
the
cross
and
his
resurrection
we
set
our
hearts
on
that
and
then
he
encourages
us
along
the
way
we're
going
to
trust
that
he's
going
to
just
provide
what
we
need
at
just
the
right
time
just
for
us
he's
the
one
he's
the
one
we're
going
to
follow
if
you
haven't
started
to
follow
Jesus
you
can
trust
him
and
if
you
are
following
Jesus
but
you've
wavered
oh
you
can
trust
him
all
the
more
he's
everything
you
need
let's
pray
God
in
heaven
would
you
just
use
these
words
these
words
of
Jesus
to
stir
faith
to
strengthen
faith
to
purify
faith
we
pray
father
that
you
would
make
us
more
and
more
confident
in
our
Lord
Jesus
day
by
day
God
it's
our
desire
to
follow
you
day
by
day
help
us
in
Jesus
name
amen