Ridiculously Awesome Faith: Quality vs Quantity
Matthew 17:20 ESV
He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
Mark 11:22-23 NLT
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.
Luke 17:5-6 NIV
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
1st True faith is not the same as believing
Matthew 17:19-20 ESV
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 have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
Charles S. Price, The Real Faith for Healing
The mistake with many is that they confuse Christ’s imparted faith with their mental ability to believe. To sit down and repeat, “I am healed—I am healed—I am healed,” is not only unscriptural but spiritually dangerous. I admit that such a spiritually unsound method might help a few neurotics, but it would never remove the mountain that the Master said faith would. Isn’t it evident that when we have prayed what we thought was the prayer of faith and nothing happened, it must be that what we thought was faith was not faith at all? Did Jesus say that “faith as a grain of mustard seed” would work sometimes and not at others? Read the text again. His declaration was plain and specific. There was nothing ambiguous about it. It was a clear statement of fact from the lips of the eternal God Himself—and who can speak with greater authority than He can? Whenever and wherever this faith is active, we won’t be standing around poor, sick folks hour after hour, rebuking, commanding, struggling, and pleading as in the past. When Christ’s faith is imparted, the storm dies down and there’s peace in the soul. The only sound is the voice of thanksgiving and praise. That’s when we realize that it wasn’t our ability to believe that made the sickness go, but that Christ’s faith was given. Then it will be morning, glorious morning in our souls.
2nd True faith is not complicated
Luke 17:5-6 NIV
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
3rd True faith is from God
Mark 11:22 NLT
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God.
Greek Text: “Have you faith of God.”
Romans 10:17 NKJV
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 12:3 NLT
Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.
Romans 12:6 NLT
In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.
1 Corinthians 12:7-9 NIV
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit,
4th True faith doesn’t rely on a form, a pattern or a previous work of God
Matthew 17:16 ESV
And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him."
5th True faith is not about you
Luke 17:10 NIV
“So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
