# Mustard Seed

Key Passage: Matthew 17:20
Date: June 7, 2024

The Christian life—when I find the Christian life is not sweet, I often find I’m not focusing on Jesus. And that’s really the key to that song: “The longer I serve Him, the sweeter key, Jesus grows.” When I’m just sometimes flustered or weak or mad or lacking of faith, I’ve not got my eyes on Jesus. And the longer I serve Him, that’s the key, the sweeter He grows. Matthew chapter 17. We were here last week. We’re going to go back here, I think just this Sunday morning. I think it will be different next Sunday morning. But we want to go back to this thing: Mountain Moving Faith.

This morning, I want to focus on a mustard seed, a mustard seed. In fact, that’d be the title: simply “Mustard Seed.” I… you know, in the springtime they get all the seeds out, and I should have bought a bunch of mustard seed, but I did not. I looked at my wife’s kitchen this week, and she does have mustard seed spice, but it’s all ground up.

And so I thought, just this morning, I thought, well, I’ve got some BBs here back in my closet, and they’re not near as small as it, but I can get some BBs. I thought about handing BBs out to every one of you. And I thought somebody going to put in their BB gun and shoot something and blame me for it, you know. In fact, the real problem was I did not have any BBs. I got some pellets, but no BBs, you know. Anybody can see that pellet right there? I didn’t think so, but I got it there, believe it or not, it’s there. Some of these young folks that can see good, they can see it right there, that pellet. Maybe I’ll put it that way, somebody can see it. That’s bigger than a mustard seed is. And just for a bit, mustard seed, we want to focus on that. I think the Lord would have us focus on that in Matthew chapter 17. Not to be redundant, but let me just back up for a moment here and rehearse, as we did last week.

Jesus and three of us apostles—Peter, James, and John—were up on a mount. We typically call it the Mount of Transfiguration. We don’t know, but we think that’s Mount Tabor. They were up there. Jesus was praying, and He was transfigured into His heavenly body, being in the glow and glistening white, whiter than ever was. And Peter, James, John, like, “Whoa!” Peter’s always a guy that speaks up what he should, and he began to, and whatnot. Moses and Elijah showed up. It’s a wonderful time there on the Mount of Transfiguration. Now, while that is going on up on the mountaintop here, down below, there’s a man that brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus.

That demon would cast him into the water, probably try to drown him. Demons like to destroy the body they occupy. Or it would cast him into the fire; he’d get burned up. I mentioned this last week, a lot of this cutting and everything that’s going on destroying bodies. And I mentioned talking with a young lady this week, and she thinks demons are doing things to her, and that’s a different subject. But that happens, and demons are real. Jesus, of course, is much more powerful than any demon. But this dad brought his son to his other apostles—three of them were up there, so what, nine of them, the other nine apostles. So, “Would you cast the demon out of this boy?” He’s a lunatic. They call him a lunatic.

By the way, it would be amazing if we somehow could go to the mental hospitals and find out how many. I’m not saying all. I’m not saying that at all. But how many are demon-possessed? It’s very real. And it happens very often. My wife sometimes works in the psych ward, in the ER, in the hospital. And we often talk about this person brought to the psych ward: Is that demons or just mentally messed up? And probably it’s hard to know the difference; probably they work hand in hand. But anyway, I’m getting off the subject here. So they could not cast the demon out. The apostles couldn’t do it. Can you imagine this dad that had his hope so high? Well, this Jesus, His apostles, they’ve been casting out demons, and well, maybe they can do something for his son. And they could not.

About that time, Jesus and the inner three came down off the mount, and the dad sees there’s Jesus. And he goes to Jesus, he says, “Hey, Jesus, my son, he’s demon-possessed, and he’s often in the water, cast into the water, trying to drive him, or in fire, and he’s a—everybody calls him a lunatic—and your disciples, apostles, could not cast him out.” And Jesus said, “O faithless and perverse generation.” And Jesus, He said, “Go get that boy, bring him over here.” And they brought the boy to Jesus, and Jesus cast the demon out. Now the other apostles were like, “Whoa! Wow, that’s power right there.” I think it’s interesting when they got apart, when they got away from everybody, maybe just to save face a little bit, they began to ask Jesus, “Hey Jesus, why could You cast him out and we could not?” And this is the answer that Jesus gives them. We’re going to start in verse number 20, Matthew 17 and verse number 20 of God’s word this morning. Would you, if you’re able to, would you please stand? We like to show the Word of God all the respect we can; it’s worthy of it. And so look at verse number 20 right there.

And the Bible there says, “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief. For verily, I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain”—notice that, as a grain. Doesn’t say as a handful, doesn’t say as a whole pack, as a grain. Much smaller than this one little bitty pellet that you can’t even see anyway. Much smaller than that. “If you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed.” Wow. Mustard seed, maybe one of the smallest seeds. How many of you have ever seen a seed of mustard? I mean, have you ever seen a mustard seed? How many say, “I’ve never even seen mustard before,” you know, not the yellow stuff, but a mustard plant, you know, the greens, you know? This tiny, a little bit of seed. “If you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, ‘Remove hence to yonder place,’ and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Would you pray with me that God would maybe show us the mountain in your life that He would like for you to put your faith and your trust in God moving, and that God would kind of give you the road to that mountain being moved? Would you pray that? Lord, would You clearly and specifically lead us to the mountains, the thing that just seems impossible, uncrossable to us? Would You show us the one specifically in our lives that we are to, by faith, ask You to remove? Lord, Father, I pray that it would be more than just a great verse, story, truth. Lord, would You make it real and practical to every one of us, Father? Thank You this week. You show me a mountain I’m to be praying about and removed. Father, do that to all of us and show us how to get to the point where You’ll move it. And bless our people in these few minutes, Father, please. Well, thank you for what You do. Lord, if one here is not saved, Father, I ask, would You convict and draw? I pray that we say before it’s all over today. Well, thank you for what You do, Lord. We ask for this in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

Mustard seed. Why? Why mustard seed? That word “mustard seed” is mentioned five times in the Bible, four other times than this. One of those, it is speaking of a different subject, but He is mentioning mustard seed, and He listed this way. We’ve got to look over Mark 4; keep your finger in Matthew 17. Look over Mark 4, and I just kind of want to just see. He’s talking about a parable here about heaven and whatnot. And I want you to see what He says about a mustard seed in Mark 4 and verse number 31. I’ve already alluded to it. Mark 4:31, the Bible there says, “It is like a grain of a mustard seed.” Mentioned five times. We’ve already looked at two of those. It’s like a grain of a mustard seed, which when it is sown in the earth is less than all the seeds that be in the earth. So the emphasis here is just on the smallness. How tiny it is, how little it is. Why did God mention the mustard seed? Because He’s talking about little tiny, itsy-bitsy, if you will. We’re not talking about the itsy-bitsy spider, all right. We’re not talking about that. But little bit tiny mustard seed, just a grain of a mustard seed.

Now, it’s amazing. He said, “If you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain.” Now, we think it was Mount Tabor that they just came off of. So can you imagine Jesus kind of saying, “You can say to this mountain”—that mountain right there that they just came off of? Now, let me just say a word about Mount Tabor. It is 1,886 feet tall. We’re not talking about a little bit of your old anthill over there. We’re not talking about a little hill. We’re talking about a mountain. And Jesus is saying, if you have just this tiny little bitty faith, you can say to this mountain right here, 1,886 feet tall, “Be removed,” and it shall be removed. Can you just kind of try to comprehend the ratio there? I mean, how less—probably less than one-tenth of an ounce and all the metric tonnage of that mountain? Just think about that. How powerful—I want you to think—how powerful your little bitty faith is when it’s in the right thing. It’s amazing. And I want you to know something else about this thing. I want you to look back there; you’re in Mark 4. Look at verse number 31. I want you to know something about it. He says, “It is like a grain of a mustard seed.” And later on, the last part of that verse, he says, “less than all the seeds that be in there.” But I want you to know what’s an excellent line here: “which when it is sown in the earth.”

I had for years some seeds in my shed. Let me give you the history of my gardening. I used to have a garden for years and years, and when my kids were at home, amen. And to make them learn how to get blisters and work, we had an old tiller at that time. We got a new one now. And I had an old tiller. It was just about as old as the hills, you know. And it had a replacement muffler on it that came back right towards, kind of towards the person using it. And my son used it more often than anybody because I made him, amen. He didn’t say, “Dad, I don’t have any brain cells left because you made me use that tiller right there,” you know. So I never passed anything, amen, you know. I’m joking, of course. But so, you know, the kids were grown, and Brother Frank came along for years. And he did a wonderful job of growing a garden and bringing in the harvest for the church. So I got smaller. I said, “Well, praise my brother Frank doing all the work. He does a better job. I don’t eat a garden anymore,” amen, out there. Fooey on that garden, you know. And so I left some seeds in my shed for years. And lo and behold, I went to the shed and there was a great big garden inside the shed, right? No, it did not do a bit of good. Those—they were the good seeds. You know what I mean? If you’re going to grow a garden, you’ve got to check through and get good seed. I try to have good seed, but they didn’t do a bit. It didn’t literally grow a hill of beans because it was not in the ground. That’s the way your faith is if you and I—if you and I—we say, “Well, I’ve got a little bit of faith,” but we never put it in the ground. It’s no good.

Now here’s what happens. I promise you, here’s what happens in the Christian life. Satan—what does the Bible say? Satan is what kind of a lion? He is a roaring lion. And lions roar, intimidate, and put fear in its pride and its domain. And Satan goes about and he roars, and this is one of the things He’ll roar to you about: that thing, that mountain in your life. By the way, let me ask: Is there anybody out there—and I’m being honest—that you have a situation, a thing in your life that it’s a mountain you just seem like you can’t get past that? Anybody have something like that in their life? I do. I have several of those specifically that I’m praying for. God has added something, something very needed, I didn’t see before this week in my life. But this mountain in your life, typically it is something that seems impossible. I think that’s the reason why Jesus put in that Matthew 17:20, “Nothing shall be impossible.” Because you and I, we think that mountain—maybe it might be overcoming drugs. I think of a man that years ago was in our church, and he had been on heroin, a very strong drug. For many, it’s impossible to get off that. Now he’s been through a lot of different things years later, and he’s off of it. But for many, they say it’s impossible to get off that. Maybe it’s a financial thing. You say, “Man, that financial problem or debt or whatever it might be, that’s just impossible.” Maybe it’s a health situation. Maybe it’s a loved one you’d like to see saved. You say, “Pastor, they’re so hard-hearted and so stubborn, so prideful. Nobody can even talk to them. It’s impossible for them to get saved.” That’s the mountain in your life. Now, here’s the thing that happens. We have this impossible thing in our life that we can’t get past. Maybe it’s your marriage. Maybe it’s a relationship. I talked to someone recently, and they said, “I have not talked to my son.” He will not talk to me—I think it’s for nine years, for a year, I think it was. Every day I text him or try to call, and nothing." It’s just something impossible for you. So whatever may be in your life, this mountain there, and it’s huge—it’s 1,886 feet tall, it’s thousands of megatons of weight—and you say, “Wait a second, wait a second here. My little bitty, tiny, itsy-bitsy faith?”

And that huge. I think about my Uncle Johnny Frank getting saved—my mom and dad, my mom’s brother. Pray, Lord, eventually my mom and dad led him to the Lord. But I remember how hard-hearted he was. And just, just hard. His son almost got saved one time, and he turned on his son and shook his head, “No.” And his son said, “No matter of one thing to do with it because of uncle.” That’s how hard-hearted he was. And these things, it’s impossible, and you say, here’s what happened: you say, “I don’t have much faith there.” And by the way, I can relate to that. But Jesus—we mentioned it last Sunday—He’ll give you faith through His Word, to the Spirit of God, through past experience, He’ll give you a little bit of faith. And so you’ve got a little bit of faith because of God’s Word right there, maybe it’s Matthew 17:20, you know.

But here’s what happens. The devil comes along and begins to roar, and he says, “You think God is going to answer your prayer when you don’t have much?” You doubt all the time. By the way, we read last week over there in Matthew a little bit later on where it talks about “doubt not.” It’s a different situation. This one here, and elsewhere, everyone talks about moving a mountain; it doesn’t say that. These here, though, when it talks about a grain of a mustard seed, it doesn’t say that, all right? Realize the difference there. So Satan comes along, and it begins to just intimidate you that you don’t have the faith you need. And it’ll just kind of belittle your faith and your little bit of prayer if you even do that. And it’ll just kind of downplay what faith you have. And he’ll say, “You’re the worst Christian in the world.” You know, he’ll make you feel like that. Am I right about what I’m talking about out there? You haven’t read your Bible and prayed like you ought to, and you haven’t won a soul to the Lord, and you haven’t passed out a gospel tract, and you know I’m for all these things, but he’ll just do anything he can to intimidate your faith. “Well, you don’t have faith like the preacher.” You don’t—by the way, if you knew me, you’d say you wouldn’t think that—but you don’t have faith like the preacher. You don’t have faith like William Booth back in the day. You don’t have faith like these great Christians. Your faith is so small, and he’ll continually pump these messages into your mind. And his goal is you’ll say, “Well, I’m kind of embarrassed by my little bitty tiny faith. Let me put that up. I don’t want anybody to see my little bitty faith.” “You’re right, devil. I mean, I’m not the Christian I ought to be. I slept in last week,” you know what I mean? “I haven’t been in church.” And he’ll get you dwelling on that. And his whole purpose is for you not to use that little bit of faith you have. Boy, he knows if he can get you to put that little bit of faith up, he’s got the victory. And Jesus and God’s Word says if you have faith, just as a grain of a mustard seed—your little bitty, tiny faith—put that in the ground. Use that. As long as the seed is in the shed, it’s not going to grow a great garden, but take that little bit of faith you have, however small it is. Truth being known, we all don’t have a whole lot of great faith; it’s a great God we serve, not us. But take our little bit of faith and put it in the ground.

Now, you say, what does that look like in practical terms? It looks like verse number 21. Verse number 20 right there. He says, “Howbeit this kind cometh not forth by anything, but by prayer and fasting.” Now, can I emphasize—and we emphasized it last week—prayer is not talking about it to someone else. I’m not saying that’s wrong, but that’s not prayer. Unfortunately, sometimes we’ll talk about something for three—well, we’ll just say 30 minutes—and pray about it for 30 seconds. I’ve heard other preachers talk about, “Man, haven’t I come pray? You’ve got to have a meal or something to get them to come there,” you know, and that’s sad sometimes, but true. But I’m not even talking about as a group, but I’m just talking about us as individuals. It’s not contemplating about it; it’s praying about it. It’s not worrying about it. It’s not complaining about it. That is the way we take our little bitty, tiny, itsy-bitsy seed of faith, as a grain of a mustard seed. That’s the way we put it in the ground: prayer, and yes, yes, I hate to say it because I like to eat, amen. By the way, it might not be eating. You may fast from something else. But I emphasized it last week, and we emphasized it again. Faith sometimes we went, “Well, I’m going to fast for three days.” If you can do that, praise the Lord for you. But it may be just one meal. It may be God leads you to fast in the afternoon when you get off work. I’m not going to do any electronics. It may be that you say, “I’m not going to—I have to work a little bit. Besides that, I’m just going to put my phone up.” Oh, my goodness. Wow, that’s worse than not eating, right? You know? I don’t know what it means for you, but sometimes we think fasting is just this. And by the way, can I say this? Be careful of this all-or-nothing mentality. If you have an all-or-nothing mentality, it’s probably going to be nothing because nobody’s perfect besides Jesus. Be careful. Satan will get you on that sometime. Just start somewhere. It may be you don’t eat for a few—you eat 30 minutes later than typical. Maybe that’s the beginning of your fast. I don’t know. But He does say this seed, and in verse 21, “Hey, it comes by what? Prayer and fasting.” And the key is don’t let that seed stay in your pocket. Don’t let Satan intimidate you. However little it is, Jesus is saying, “That’s all right. Don’t get cold off the car with that.” Just take that little bit of faith you have, and you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed. You say to this mountain, “Remove hence to yonder place,” and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you. That’s amazing, friend.

Now, let’s go on another fault here from this thing. Don’t focus. Here’s another trap: Don’t focus on the faith; focus on Jesus. Look over in John, chapter 14. John chapter number 14, Jesus here speaking to His disciples. John 14, would you look in verse number 12? John 14, verse number 12 here. Notice what Jesus says to them. He’s about to die and go to the cross. He’ll come back one day. In verse number 12 right here, Jesus says, “Verily, verily, truly, truly, if you will. Verily, verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on”—how much faith he has? “He that believeth on Me.” Who’s the “Me” there? Jesus. “He that believeth on Jesus,” if you will. “The works that I do,” Jesus does, “shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto My Father.” Now here’s the thing: It’s always a mistake if my focus gets on my faith. “Do I have enough faith for this prayer to get answered or not?” Friend, you’ve got your focus on the wrong thing. That’s going to lead to two things. It’s either going to lead to pride, because I’ve got great big faith. And what happens when you put faith in your faith that leads to pride? It’s going to lead to you—next thing, you’re going to fall. Because pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Or it’s going to lead you to pity, which means, “I don’t have much faith. Like Brother Eddie’s got a lot of faith, but I wasn’t raised like Brother Eddie. I’m just not born—I’m not wild like Brother—I don’t have much faith.” Anybody ever do that? Yeah. Why? Because our focus sometimes has gotten on—you see, the power is not in us putting our focus in the faith. The power comes in our focus being on what the faith is on: Jesus Christ.

You’ve heard about the fellas. They wanted to go out fishing, ice fishing. And they went out in the early winter. They said, “Well, we’ve had some cold nights. That ice is probably a foot deep. No problem at all.” They went out. They had great faith. “Let’s go fishing.” Man, they marched out there and cut a hole. They were just happy. And they fell through, amen. Ice broke. Boom. They were soaked. They had a lot of great big faith, but in the wrong thing, you know. Later on in the winter, they were scared to death, and they just had a little bit of faith. But the ice was solid. I mean, it was so solid you’d probably drive a Mack truck on it. And they went out there. They had a little bit. “Well, we’re going to try it. We’ve been watching it now. We’ve got a better eye on it now.” And they were scared out to death. They had a little bit. They went down on the ice. Well, they were fine. You see, it isn’t always how much faith you have, but it’s what you have your faith in. And Satan loves to get you focused on how much faith you do or don’t have when your eyes ought to be on Jesus. That’s a good motive: “I want to have enough faith to move that mountain.” Oh, be very careful. Get your eyes—don’t get your eyes—don’t get your eyes on how much faith you do or not have. You say, “Well, I probably have enough faith as a grain of a mustard seed.” So I’m just going to use that faith, and then get your eyes on Jesus. Remember what Jesus said? He said, “Hey, all power is given to Me in heaven and earth.” He’s able for it. Look up at the sky at nighttime and see those stars and say, “Hey, Jesus, He is the Word of God. He just spoke, and bang, it was there.” He is the Creator. John 1 says if it wasn’t for Him, there would not be anything that’s made. Hey, He’s the Creator of the universe. He’s the one that shed His blood for you. He’s the one that conquered death for you. He’s got all power. Hey, praise God, I get my eyes on Jesus. He’s the one that’s going to answer. He’s the main key, not how much faith I have. Jesus is the main key. That’s why they’re just saying, “The longer I serve Him,” He’s the key. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Satan will try to get you focused on how much faith you do or not have in that, because that always leads to failure. Have you ever seen someone trying to lead them to the Lord, to ask Jesus Christ to put the faith in Jesus Christ? And they said, “Well, I don’t have enough faith.” And no, no, you have enough faith. You just got to exercise that faith in Jesus Christ. That’s always the way. He’s given you the faith. In fact, we’ll talk about that here in just a minute. You see, it’s not a matter of how much faith you have. It’s a matter of you using the little bit of faith you have and keeping your focus on Jesus. You heard about the lady. She was known. Everybody knew her. She was a lady of great faith. When someone came to her one time, said, “Hey, are you the lady of great faith?” She said, “No, I’m the lady of a little bit of faith, been in a great God.” Big difference. Big difference.

Now, here’s the thing. Very quickly we want to go through. Look over, if you will, in Romans chapter number 12. Romans chapter number 12 in God’s Word. Romans chapter 12, and I want you to look down in verse number three, and we’re going to emphasize just the last part of that verse. Romans 12 and verse number three, and I want you to notice what He says there. In Romans 12 and verse number three: “For I say unto you through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly according”—here’s what we’re trying to get—“according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” So every man—excuse me—every man has got some faith. He’s given the measure of faith. Maybe you don’t have what so-and-so has; that’s all right. He’s giving you faith. Everybody starts off with faith. I think this is an interesting verse. I’ll read it for you: John 1:9. “That was a true light, that’s Jesus Christ, that was a true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” Did you notice that? Jesus. You know how wicked and sinful this world will be in so many different ways? One reason is because Jesus lights the heart of every man, now according to what they do with it. But every man’s got the measure of faith. He’s lit in the heart of every man, Jesus Christ, is what the Bible says. Every man. And so we all start out with the measure of faith. Now here’s the thing: If I put my faith in man, that leads to doubt, even if that man is yourself. Let’s apply it to salvation. Hey, how do you believe to go to heaven? Well, you treat your neighbor like you want to be treated. You do these five rituals. You never lie. You commit—you can commit a little bitty sins, but not these big cardinal sins, you know, whatever it may be. And that’s based on man and what we do. And that always leads to this right here: I always try to say, “Well, are you good enough then? Have you done those?” And it always leads to, “Well, I’m not sure. I’m working on it.” They’re never fully sure because faith in man leads to doubt. Faith in yourself, speaking of salvation: How good are you? Good enough to go to heaven? Well, I don’t know. I’m trying to get there. It always leads down. But when you put faith in Jesus—the right thing, in Jesus Christ—it always leads to more faith.

Martin Luther was a great example of that. Martin Luther, we mentioned him recently, the great German reformer who started in many ways the Reformation. Martin Luther tried everything to be good enough. He was trying to put his faith in himself. He became a monk. He said, “Well, if I get away from everybody, everything, then I can become righteous and clean before God.” And the more he got away from everybody else, the more everyone else was in his heart. “Oh, well, I’m doomed there.” He began to fast. He would fast long—probably much more than I’ve ever fasted all my life. He would fast for long periods of time, and he realized I’m still sinful. He would confess everything. He would spend hours confessing his sin. He had read this phrase, it’s found in 2 Corinthians 5:21, that we might be made the righteousness of God. And just that little phrase, “the righteousness of God,” he was trying everything to be the righteousness of God. But the more he tried, the Holy Spirit pointed out his hand. He just could not be in it; it led to more doubt. Finally, one day he read Romans 1:17: “The just shall live by faith.” And it began to dawn on him: What if I put my faith not in what I’m doing, but in what Jesus did? And praise the Lord, he got saved. Now let me tell you what happened when he got saved: He got more faith. Because putting your faith in Jesus gives more faith. In fact, Martin Luther grew to the point and began to proclaim to the church—Catholic Church, the Baptist Church, whatever—that works don’t save you; only Jesus Christ saves you. And he nailed these 95 theses on the Catholic door. “Hey, all your sacraments and works won’t save you; Jesus is the only thing that saves.” Well, the Catholic Church went after him. He went after the hymn of the vengeance, and at one point, the Pope sent a cardinal to him and said, “We want to buy you with gold.” And the cardinal wrote back to the Pope, he said, “The fool doesn’t love gold?” And the Cardinal told Luther, he said, “What do you think the Pope cares for the opinion of a poor German?” And the Pope’s little—he said, “The Pope’s little finger is stronger than all of Germany. Do you expect your princes to take up arms to defend you?” He said, “You’re a wretched worm like you. I tell you no. And where would you be then?” And Luther said this: He said, “I will be where I am now: in the hands of Almighty God.” Now I say that, his little bit of faith, when he put it in Jesus Christ, began to grow. That’s the way it always works.

Look over in 1 John chapter 5. We use this verse a lot when we’re out soul-winning and trying to win somebody to God, Jesus Christ. And they may say, “Well, I hope I’m going to heaven. I want to go to heaven,” or they might say, “Can anybody know?” And I remember my dad often responding this way: “Well, I know. I know.” And this is a verse typically we’ll show them: 1 John 5 and verse number 13. 1 John 5:13. Oh, you can know. The Bible says you can know that you have eternal life. There’s a wonderful verse, great verse, but I want you to see something. Maybe you’ve never noticed. Maybe you have, in it. 1 John 5 and verse number 13. When you’re there, would you say amen? Good. Look at verse number 13. First John 5:13: “These things have I written unto you”—the Bible, particularly specifically 1 John—“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.” So they believed on the name of the Son of God, “that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” You can know it without a doubt that ye may know. He’s written who to those that believe. Now watch this, watch this: “that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” And watch this: “And that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” Now what’s He saying? Look. You put your belief in Jesus, and then you know you have eternal life? What does that mean? It means you put more belief in Jesus. Your faith grows. See, putting your faith in Jesus means you get more faith. See? We start off with faith God gives you. He gives you at least faith as great as a mustard seed. But you put that faith in Jesus, and what happens? That faith—you believe more in it. It grows. Faith in man leads to doubt. Faith in God, Jesus, leads to more faith. You can move mountains.

Now, it can grow to this point. Look over in Galatians 2. Galatians 2. And look in verse number 20. We’re using our Bible a little bit more than the typical Sunday morning. That’s all right. We’re in church, amen. Look in Galatians chapter number 2. Ephesians, Philippians, Galatians. Galatians chapter 2. Another familiar verse. I want you to notice a little phrase in the Bible. It’s amazing all the little phrases in God’s Word. This is Apostle Paul. God used him to pen these words, a great, great Christian of faith. And I want you to notice what he says. Not 1 John. Galatians 2. Galatians 2 and verse number 20 of God’s Word. Galatians 2:20. You’re there? Amen. Amen. Good. Watch what he says here. Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Watch this: “And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” You can grow to the point that your little bit of faith is in Jesus Christ, not in how great your faith is, but in Jesus Christ, to the point your little bit of faith is in His great big faith. Kind of like to the point, “I don’t have the faith to see that mountain move, but Jesus, I believe You have the faith to have that mountain move, and I don’t want to live by my own faith. I want to live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” And you get—by the way, the more you grow in the Christian life, the less you rely on yourself and the more you rely on Jesus Christ. And you grow to the point like Paul there under inspiration of God. He says, “I’m not even living by my faith.” It’s not “I’ve got a great big faith.” I’ve got a little bit of faith, but it’s in a great big God and Jesus Christ that has a whole lot of faith, and I believe He has the faith to accomplish moving this mountain. And He does, by the way. That’s what He meant over there in John 14: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth in Me…” It’s all Jesus for him. The Christian life is Jesus Christ.

The longer I serve Him. I have an old muzzleloader. Someone gave it to me years ago. Now, these new—they have these new black powder guns, whatever they call them, muzzleloaders. They have these new ones that are called in-line. That means it’s new, souped up, ready to go, black powder gun. I mean, it’s ready to go. And everything’s in one line. I have this old muzzleloader—it’s not the flintlock one, okay, you see, and I’m not that old, okay, you know. But it is one that on the side, it has a little—you cock back the trigger on the side, and you put a little cap on top of that. And you put that little cap, and you could take a hammer and hit that little cap, and it will blow up a little bit, just a little bit, but not very much. But if you had that gun clean and dry, the powder properly packed in, it’s ready to go. And you cock that trigger, you put a little cap on there, and then you pull the trigger. Boom, it hits that little bit of cap. Then a little bit of spark goes into the inner chamber where there’s a whole lot of gunpowder. And man, it hits that thing. It takes just—you got to hold it steady. Don’t move when you pull the trigger. You got to hold it steady for just a split second. And then that little spark goes into the big chamber thing. And boom, man, it blows up, blows your shoulder off. Amen. I was hunting for deer years ago. Last time I used that deer hunting, it was a little drizzly. Some of you guys would know where I’m going already. And I had a deer real close shot on that deer, and because of a little wet, I pulled that trigger, and that little thing—it was just a little wet—it won’t go off. Those old ones won’t go off. I didn’t go off. And it didn’t fire off. And that deer just seemed like that deer poked his tongue out at me. It ran off. Last time I hunted with that gun, amen, you know? Hey, that’s kind of the way it is. Our little bitty mustard seed of faith, we put it in Jesus’ great big faith, and boom, mountains are moved. Friend, the start of it all is you taking your little bit of faith and using it.

It could be someone you’ve never put your faith in Jesus Christ. You say, “I’m waiting for Him to hit me over the head.” He’ll never do it. He’s already given you a little bit of faith. But you take that little bit of faith. You put it in Jesus. And once you do that, He’ll give you more faith. And the more you put that—how big your faith is getting? Oh, no, that’ll lead to disaster. But you keep your faith in Jesus, your focus, your emphasis on Jesus. The more you do that—that’s why He said, “Grow in grace.” Well, as you’re learning the knowledge and truth of Jesus Christ, first view. But the more you put your faith in Jesus, it leads to greater faith. And Jesus has a faith to move mountains. The apostles couldn’t do it, but Jesus could. You might not have the faith to move that mountain, but Jesus does. So you take your little bit of faith and say, “Jesus, I’m going to put it in Your great big faith,” and He can move mountains.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? You say, “Preacher, I’ve let Satan intimidate me. He’s somehow, he’s just kind of got me so down on my faith and how little purity it is, but I’ve not used it.” Whatever it may look like for you. You said, “Preacher, I’m going to get that faith out, that little bit of half, and I’ll put it in the ground. I’m going to pray. I might even fast, however it is.” I’m not asking you to fast, just however the Lord leads, but it might be very small. But I’m going to use my faith. I’m going to get it out of the shed, if you will, and I’m going to start using it. Lord, this situation, my uncle gets saved, my relationship, my finances, whatever it may be, overcoming that sin, growing, whatever it may be. I’m going to start—I’m going to start putting that seed in the ground, and I’m going to start praying, and in some form, if God leads, fasting also." God spoke to my heart about, “I’m going to start applying that seed in my life.” That’s you this morning. You slip in the preacher, “I’m going to start applying. I’m going to start.” God bless you. Oh, that’s key. That’s key. Friend, don’t let Satan—he’ll try to intimidate it with your little bit of faith. How Jesus said, “Just as a grain of a mustard seed.” Maybe there’s somebody else. You say, “I need to start praying about my mom, my dad, my son, my grandson, get and say, whatever may be, I need to start putting that seed in the ground.” Maybe one more person: “I’m going to start using my seed. I need to start praying about something.” God bless you. God bless you. That’s good. That’s good. God bless you. That’s key. Satan will do all he can to keep you from using your little bitty grain of a mustard seed because he knows the power.

Maybe you hear this morning and say, “Preacher, I’m going to get my eyes off of how great my faith is or how little my faith is and get my eyes on how great Jesus is. I just—I want to refocus. And I want to spend my days, my years, my life focused on how mighty Jesus, how loving, how compassionate, how merciful. I want to focus on Jesus.” God spoke to my heart. I just kind of maybe slyly got my eyes off on my faith instead of on Jesus and how mighty He is. God spoke to my heart about that. That’s you this morning. You lift your hand, preacher. “That’s me. I want to get my eyes on how mighty, how wonderful, how powerful Jesus is.” Oh, Jesus! You look to Jesus, your faith will grow. It’s not how great your faith is; it’s how mighty Jesus that your faith is in. That’s the key.

Maybe here this morning—thank you so much—maybe here this morning you say, “You know, preacher, I’ve never taken my faith and placed it in Jesus. I know it’s so little; I’ve got doubt involved in all the rest of that, and you’ve not put your faith in Jesus to pay for your sins to save you.” You say this morning, “And I need to take, however big or little of my faith is, I need to take my faith as far as me getting into heaven, and I need to place it on Jesus Christ. I need to trust Jesus as my Savior.” If that’s you this morning, just lift your hand up. “Preacher, I need to place my faith in Jesus Christ. I don’t have a great amount of faith, but I’m going to take my little bit of faith and place it in Jesus Christ.” That mountain of you trying to work your way to heaven, you’ll never move it. It’s bigger than you or I, anybody, but not bigger than Jesus. And you take that little bit of faith and say, “Jesus, I’m going to…” Look, you have enough faith to call on Jesus. I was a boy, riding home from Sunday night or Wednesday night church—I don’t know which one—sitting back through that car, and God spoke in my heart. And I knew if I called, He said, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” I didn’t have much faith, but I had enough faith that God, You said that. I knew that verse. I said, “Lord, You said if I call, You’ll save me. I’m calling. You’ve got to save me.” Now, as a little boy with a little bit of faith, I put my little bit of faith in Jesus Christ, and I got saved that night. Oh, if you’re not saved, He’d love for you to call on Him. Maybe right there where you sit, right there where you sat, will you take your little bit of faith to Jesus? Would you go to Him right now? Say, “Jesus, now You said if I call, You’ll save me. And Jesus, my little bit of faith, I’m placing—as far as me getting to heaven, I’m taking my little bit of faith, but all of it now—I’m taking my little bit of faith and I’m placing on You, Jesus. Would You pay for my sins? Would You save me?” Oh, you do that, friend, and it’ll equal more faith, assurance, more faith. Putting your faith in Jesus leads to more faith.

Would you stand? Would you stand right there where you sit? Would you stand? We’re going to have a word of prayer as soon as I say, “Amen.” Would you come down an old-fashioned altar? Would you say, “Lord, I’m going to start praying and fasting. I’m going to start putting the seed in the ground”? Let Him know. Now, “Lord, I’m going to get my eyes on You, Jesus. Help me to keep my eyes on You all the time. No matter how big the problem, I won’t get my eyes too much on the problem.” Let Him know that. Let Him know that. If you’re not saved or you just ask Jesus to save you, would you come forward and let the man standing down front or in the back? Would you let him know about that? Father, thank You that You don’t leave us stranded when it comes to these mountains. You really give us the faith, then You give us the one to put our faith in Jesus. Lord, help us to do so. Help us to get the seed out of the shed and in the ground. Lord, help us to keep our eyes on Jesus. Lord, there’s one not saved; I pray that gets saved and settled up this morning. Let him tell someone about it. And Father, well, thank You for what You do. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. If God spoke to your heart, would you be obedient? If He told, would you come? As your answers played, no way for anybody else. That’s right. Would you come? Take your little bitty seed of faith. Put it in the ground. Let’s pray. You do it there. You’re standing. You’re doing it on your knees. Have the Lord lead you. Just be obedient.

I’m honest with you, I’m like, “Lord, I don’t think I have that much faith. My faith is so little.” And you can almost hear Jesus whisper, “That’s all right. I’ve got the faith. You put my little bit of faith—your little bitty, tiny seed—and you put it in My great big faith, and I’ve got the faith all you need.” So just—just take your little seed to Him today and say, “Hey, I don’t have the faith for this mountain, but I believe You do, Jesus,” and you put your little bit of faith in His great big faith. And boy, that black powder gun will go off and blow your shoulder off, amen. And it’s awesome to see the Lord Jesus Christ.

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Mustard Seed - Sunday AM 01142023