The Power Of Faith - Frank Brancato

I want to talk about a subject this morning that's extremely

important to every child of God. I want to talk about the power

of Faith. But from the narrative that is

before us, I want to talk about the kind of faith that can

change your life. There's a difference between

little faith and great faith. And what do we do?

If we have little faith and we want to have great faith.

What do we do? We're going to talk about these

things in detail in just a few minutes as we go through, but as

a text as an introductory. Text in Matthew chapter 17.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

Beginning in verse 18. And Jesus rebuked the demon and

it came out of him and the child was cured from that very hour,

then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, why could we

not cast it out? So Jesus said to them because of

your unbelief for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as

a mustard seed, you will say, to this mountain move from here to

there, and it will move and nothing would be impossible for

you. However, this kind does Don't go

out except by prayer and fasting.

You know, in these passages Jesus says the most incredible

thing about faith. He says, first of all, you got

to have faith as a mustard seed. By the way, we'll talk about

what all this means. But Jesus said, if you could

have the faith of a mustard seed, you can do the following.

You could actually move mountains and nothing would be

impossible for you. Now, obviously, these are, these

are statements It's that must be clarified and qualified and we

will do so in just a little bit but understand, Jesus says, if

you have faith as a mustard seed, you can move mountains and

nothing would be impossible for you.

Let me say these introductory remarks though about faith.

Faith accomplishes. Great things in life as evidence

throughout the pages of divine inspiration.

For example, it was the faith in God's power that caused Caleb to

look to the land of Canaan. With its Giants and say, let us

go up at once and possess it for.

We are well able to overcome it. That was faith in God's power.

It was faith in God's care that enabled job to say in the very

midst of personal disaster, though.

He slay me yet. Will I trust him?

It was faith in God's protection that enabled, Shadrach Meshach

and Abednego to And on the edge of the fiery furnace and say our

God, whom we serve is able to Deliver Us From The Burning

fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand,

okay? It was faith in God's word that

enabled, Daniel to survive the Lions Den that enabled able to

offer a better sacrifice than Cain that caused Enoch to be

translated to heaven without death.

That allowed Noah to build a great Arc and preach

righteousness. Des, and many, many others.

And we read about all of those, great Heroes of Faith.

Terry's been preaching on those things, great Heroes of Faith

that are cataloged in the eleventh chapter of the book of

Hebrews, but as the writer of Hebrews leads into the great

opening of the 12th chapter, he said, wherefore seeing we also

are compassed about with so great, a cloud of witnesses.

Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily,

beset us, And let us run with patience, the race that is set

before us looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our

faith. Who for the joy that was set

before him, endured the cross despising, the shame and is set

down at the right hand of the Throne of God, all of these very

encouraging powerful truths found in God's word.

What about the setting though? That is before us?

You know, I love the setting that happened just prior to the

event that Jesus speaks of here. And that we read about in the

gospels, you remember that right before this, Jesus was on the

Mount of transfiguration, and he was there with three of his

disciples. He was there with Peter, James,

and John, and the Bible says that Jesus was transfigured and

his face did Shine Like the Sun, many of these things.

I have said in the past and you've heard me say them, these

are incredibly encouraging things.

First of all, we understand this that when to visitors Showed up

there that day, it was Moses. And Elijah.

Now, why were they there? I think they were there for two

reasons. Number one, show that Jesus

Christ in the fact that he was transfigured, was greater than

Moses and Elijah. That's number one.

And number two, Moses represented the law and Elijah

represented the prophets. So Jesus being transfigured in

the face of Peter, James and John.

It was proof that Jesus Christ is the Fulfillment of both the

law and the prophets, Matthew Chapter 5 and verse 17.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Jesus said, think not that I have come to destroy the law or

the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but

to fulfill Now, we know what happens.

We know that Peter gets very impulsive as Peter often did,

and Peter said, let's build three Tabernacles one naturally

for you, Jesus, but let's build one for Moses.

Let's build one for Elijah and then the booming voice from

Heaven. I don't know what it sounded

like, but I know one thing. It's scared, Peter, James, and

John out of their mind. The Bible says, they fell down

on their faces. And the voice from Heaven said,

this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well, Pleased here, him.

When they looked up Moses and Elijah were gone and it was just

Jesus. But one final thing about

encouraging, some encouraging things about this.

You've heard me say this before you ever stopped to consider the

very fact that Peter James and John had never met Moses in life

and they never met Elijah in life and yet they knew exactly

who they were. I'm sure.

Moses wasn't wearing a name tag says, hello.

I'm Moses or Elijah doing the same.

I think there's a beautiful picture here and please be

encouraged by this. We're talking about men that had

died hundreds of years before this event and Peter James and

John had never seen them in life and they knew exactly who they

were. I think there's a wonderful

encouragement. Encouraging picture that we're

going to know each other in heaven.

I think we're going to know as we were known and I think we're

going to be able one day to know exactly who we were.

I find great encouragement by that that we're going to know

each other in heaven. So all of a sudden Jesus comes

down with Peter James, and John, and it leads us back to verse

14. And when they had come to the

multitude, a man came kneeling to him.

Now, the other gospel writers, tell us a little bit more about

the crowd. In fact, marks account says that

the nine other disciples that did not go to the Mount of

transfiguration with Jesus, they were there.

We also find the scribes were there.

And incidentally, you might remember in our series, On the

last week in the life of Jesus. We made the statement and we

proved that. Oftentimes the scribes were

among the people that were opposed to Jesus.

They were part of the religious leaders.

They were part of that sect or that division, that was against

Jesus. They're there to, and they're

about to witness something in the presence of all and our

Story begins. The great multitude is present.

And here comes a man, and the Bible says he Came to him and he

kneeled to him. I don't know.

All that. This man knew about Jesus, I

really don't, but clearly he knew that Jesus was a man of

authority. In fact, he spoke things that no

man had ever spoke in the great Sermon on the Mount.

It says that very thing, he spoke with authority, and he

spoke in such a way, no, man had spoke like that.

Nobody could preach like, Jesus. But he did other things, too.

He healed their sick. He caused blind eyes to see he

fed the hungry. He did many things, by way of

Miracles, when he walked on the face of the earth.

And the Bible says that many other things, truly did Jesus,

in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this

book, but these things are written that, you might believe

he did, many wonderful things. So this man, obviously knew

there was something special about Jesus, and he comes, and

he kneels down to him. And notice what happens in verse

15. He said, Lord have mercy on my

son. Now this word Lord doesn't mean

Lord and Savior, this word Lord means it's the word, d-des

Kalos. It's a term of respect and it's

translated in three different. English words, it's translated

as Master, it's translated as teacher and is translated as

Lord. So this man was not necessarily

calling him Lord and Savior, but when he said, Lord, he was

giving him a term of respect and he said, this have mercy On my

son. You know, the word actually

means the Greek word there. A Leo actually means to show

compassion for And, you know, sometimes you can show

compassion for someone and this word can be used in the tensor,

in the way of showing compassion, over a period of

time, kind of an ongoing thing. You know, I might do that in my

life, I might show compassion towards someone a little out of

time or progressively or ongoing, but that's not this

word In this passage, though, the tents of this word, In this

passage means an instantaneous once and for all demonstration

of Compassion healing his son. He said, have mercy on my son

was that he's an epileptic. The new King James says

epileptic, you know, what's interesting about this word, It

actually comes from a word that means this Moonstruck.

You ever stopped to consider about that.

What people thought back in those days.

We know so many things about medicine.

Today, we know about epilepsy, we know about that stuff.

What about back then? They didn't have any idea about

all the things that we know about medically, okay?

So if somebody had a nervous disorder or they had a seizure

condition or if they were what we would consider today, an

epileptic, you know what they said?

Oh, he's Moonstruck because that was a pagan approach. and don't,

they believe they believed that people reacted like that and

behave like that because they were influenced negatively by

the moon It's in the Moonstruck and by the way, there's an

English word for that too. And it's in the King James.

And it means lunatic and it's in the King James.

He's a lunatic. He's Moonstruck.

And this man is pouring his heart out to Jesus in great

desperation. He's a lunatic and it's not a

mild case. By the way, it's very serious.

He's Afflicted greatly. And then he says this often

times he suffered severely and he falls into the fire and into

the water now back then they had opened pools of water and they

also had open Flames that burned all the time.

So here's this young man and he and his father is pouring, his

heart out to Jesus, and he said, here's the problem.

He's got this terrible. Condition.

He suffers severely, it's not a mild case.

And often times when he goes into these fits, he falls into

the fire. Often times, almost burning to

death or into the water. Almost drowning to death. the

other gospel writers tell us more Mark's account, says, he

was demon-possessed Luke's account.

Said this, that when the demon would overtake this young man,

he would literally pick him up and slam him to the ground and

thrash. His body looks account, says

that when that happened, he would be foaming at the mouth.

And you can just imagine how pitiful this site was.

You got this? Poor young, man, demon-possessed

got all this stuff, but there's more marks account, says he

Deaf, he could not hear it. Also says he was Dumb and that

he could not speak. This poor fellow had a bad.

Had all these terrible things, and no doubt his father with

tears streaming down, his face, comes to the father.

Jesus asks in Mark, chapter 9 and verse 21.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

He asks, how long has he been like this?

And he said, since his childhood I don't know how old this young

man was but since his childhood he had these terrible things.

You know, I thought about I thought about what you would do,

if there's something wrong with one of your kids, if something

happens to one of your kids and there's nothing, there's nothing

you can do. How helpless that hips?

That's really true. If there's something wrong with

one of your kids and there's something you can do about it.

Then you focus on the solution and you go take care of the

solution and it might be a doctor that you might see.

It might be medicine that they would take.

But the whole idea is you would just exhaust what you would be

able to do in order to solve the problem.

What if you were like this man? And there was nothing.

You can do nothing at all. You've exhausted everything.

In fact I'm going to tell you how far he had exhausted it in

verse 16. He said I brought him to your

disciples but they could not cure him now.

This Greek word therapy. Low is the word that is always

used in the New Testament when somebody is being healed of

something. And by the way, that's where we

get the word therapy or therapeutic.

Okay? It's always the word that

describes, a healing. So what is he saying?

He said, I tried to do everything I needed to do, I've

exhausted everything. I even brought him to your

disciples but they could not cure him.

Now, you know, it doesn't really make sense.

Let's go back, let's go back because it doesn't make sense

that they were not able to cure this young, man.

Let me show you in Matthew chapter 10.

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

And when he had called his twelve disciples to him, he gave

them power over unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal,

all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

So notice they were given the power to do it.

They have the power in Matthew 10 and verse 1, but there's more

in verses 7 and 8. They were given the commission

to do this watch. And as you go preach saying, the

Kingdom of Heaven is at hand heal, the sick, cleanse the

lepers, raise the Dead cast out demons freely.

You have received freely give so it doesn't Square.

Well then make any sense they couldn't do it.

The man said I took him to your disciples they couldn't do.

It doesn't make sense. Jesus gave him A power and he

gave him the commission to do it.

One more thing, you know, they already had been doing it.

In marks account, in Mark, chapter 6, and verse 13.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

And, and they cast out many demons and Anointed with oil,

many who were sick and healed them.

We're going to notice what was different, though.

A little bit later on, we're going to notice what they were

lacking this particular time, but let's just move on.

So, all of this is being said, they could not utilize the

power. He said, I brought him to your

disciples and they could not cure him and notice what Jesus

says next. Jesus answered and said, o

faithless and perverse generation.

How long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?

And then he said, bring him here to me.

Now, first of all, I got to say that the phraseology, their of

faithless and perverse generation.

Obviously is a general term. Okay?

Because he says generation. But specifically, in the

context, he's talking about his disciples, we're getting a view

Into the Heart of Jesus. They couldn't do it.

And Jesus said, o faithless and perverse generation and notice

he said, how long am I going to be with you?

How long am I going to say the same things to you over and over

and over again? Listen, I know people like that,

it's don't get it. And a lot of times people don't

get it because they choose not to get it, they really do.

I'm going to tell you that happens sometimes, okay?

He said, how long am I going to be with you and tell you the

same stuff over and over? Now we have to notice what

perverse means what does that, actually mean?

It actually means Twisted, crooked and distorted.

And by the way, it's a word used for a Craftsman.

For example, maybe he was a sculptor or Carpenter.

And when his work was shoddy, there's a number of people here

that are in the trades or have experience in the Building

Trades. Carpentry trade, painting

trades. It was a word that was used to

describe somebody that did poor work.

When his work was shoddy and was not what it should be.

It was called perverse and it means Twisted, crooked and

distorted. That's what he called the

faithless generation. And by the way, when we say this

in a general standpoint in a general way or general sense, we

obviously are talking about people that fall into that

category of being faithless. In fact, Member this even the

father comes to Jesus. Now picture this in your mind's

eye, the father had already exhausted the disciples to no

avail and he comes to Jesus and one of the Gospel accounts said

that the father said this, he said, Lord I believe, but then

he said, help my unbelief. Do you see that?

He believed a little But not enough and he recognized his

faith was not what it should be. So he said, help my unbelief.

Help my unbelief, all right? And Jesus finally says, bring

him here to me, you know, marks account says, what happened?

The demon saw Jesus. All they were, they knew who

Jesus was. The demon new Jesus.

And Jesus comes on the scene and you know, he does the devil

overtakes this young man and he begins to convulse.

He is slammed to the ground. He's foaming at the mouth.

But the devil is not any match for the Lord, he's no match at

all. The demon was no match at all.

And then he said this in verse 18 and Jesus rebuked the demon

and it came out of him. And the child was, there's that

word again once and for all extending Mercy once and for all

and therap. You, oh, curing him from that

very hour. Now, I gotta tell you all of

that, is the narrative behind what we're going to talk about.

Out. Just for a few minutes just for

a few minutes. And if the story ends right

there, you don't we have. We've got a very, very

unfortunate circumstance that happened to a young man.

That ended well and that's it. But that's not the reason it's

in the Bible. The reason that this story is in

the Bible is because it's teaching time, for Jesus, it's

time for Jesus to start preaching, and notice what

happens. Then the disciples came to Jesus

privately and said, why could we not cast it out?

In other words, it doesn't Square.

Well, you told us back in Matthew chapter 10.

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

We can do it. You gave us the commission to do

it and by the way, we were already doing it according to

Mark, 6 and 13, right? What was different number one?

This was the first time in all of the New Testament that I can

find. It was the first time that the

disciples had to perform a miracle like this by themself

without Jesus, that's number one, number two, I don't know

how else to put it. I heard a guy say what time is

it real doozy of a demon? I don't know how else to put it.

Because the Bible says this kind does not go out by except by

prayer and fasting. So, whatever this thing was it

was pretty powerful. Okay, it's pretty powerful and

they want to know why couldn't we do it?

Why couldn't we cast out this demon?

And notice what Jesus said? So Jesus said to them because of

your unbelief now, please, understand in the original.

It doesn't say that in the original.

It doesn't say because of your unbelief in the original, it

says, because of your little faith.

In other words, Jesus wasn't saying, you don't believe it at

all. He's saying you didn't believe

enough. He didn't say, you had no faith,

he said, you had little faith. In fact, in the original

literally says because of your little faith.

How many times were the disciples indicted for that very

thing? Remember in Matthew, chapter 6

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

and verse 30 in the great Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, now if

God so clothes the grass of the field which today is and

tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more

clothe you? Oh you of little faith.

In other words, they weren't worried with what they had.

They worried about what they didn't have.

God said, I'll take care of it and God said, don't worry about

it, but they worried about it. And Jesus says, oh you of little

faith. Remember Matthew chapter 8 when

Matthew 8 · chapter mention

Jesus was on the ship and he's in the hind, her parts of the

ship, and he's asleep on a pillow and his disciples look

out and they see this terrible storm and they're scared out of

their mind and they go looking for Jesus.

Remember that song we used to sing peace?

Be still master. The Tempest is Raging, and all

of that, and when they came to Jesus in the song and said

carest, thou not that. We perish how canst thou lie

asleep. So, what the song said, that's

what they did. They went to Jesus and they

said, how can you sleep? Beep, aren't you concerned?

You know what Jesus said? The Bible says they took him

even as he was in the ship Heroes.

And he said this, he rebuked the wind, he rebuked the sea and he

said, peace be still. And the Bible says, there was a

great piece and there was a great calm.

And Jesus says, oh, you of little faith.

What about the time when Peter was?

Called by Jesus to Walk on Water.

Jesus waited the disciples go on.

It's dark. And they're out there in the

middle of the Sea of Galilee and they look up and they see Jesus

walking on water and they're scared.

They're afraid because they think they see it ghost.

And Jesus says, Be not Afraid for it.

Is, I And Peter said, if it's really you bid that I would come

out unto thee and Jesus says, come on, make no mistake about

it. Peter walked on water to for a

little bit. He did.

Jesus said it was by the power of the Lord Jesus said, come on

out and he does and he's walking on water.

But Peter loses something that sometimes we can lose and I'm

going to tell you right now. If you lose this, you you will

lose your faith. Peter lost his Focus.

Peter took his eyes off Jesus. He lost his focus on Jesus and

he began to look at all the peripheral issues.

He looked at the waves, he looked at the wind, he got

scared. And you know what he did?

He lost his Focus, therefore he lost his faith.

And the faith was that he could do exactly what the Lord said he

could do. That's kind of sometimes, right?

He gets scared to death, he starts to sink the Lord reaches

out. And he grabs him and saves him

and he says o you of little faith, Peter, why did you doubt

why did out, do you know that when Faith stops it leads to

despair? And despair leads to worry.

And worry leads to doubt. Have you ever stopped to

consider the progression of that?

When you stop believing it leads to despair.

It leads to worry and you know what happens?

Then it leads to doubt. And then you start doubting

whether or not it's taken care of whether the Lord really is in

charge of your life in both Time and Eternity.

One man said that faith is the ability to believe and trust God

when there are no Human Resources, that's a fact and I'm

going to tell you something right now.

There's a big difference between little faith in great faith.

We tell you what little faith is, okay, give you an example a

little faith. Little faith is trusting and

believing God because you see what he has already done.

For example, I have food on my table.

I got faith. Lord provides.

I got food in the cupboard. I got faith.

Lord provides. I have a job that provides for

me. Therefore I got faith.

The Lord provides I have a house over my head.

I have a means of transportation.

I have a car. I've got all this.

Oh yes I believe the Lord provides Big deal.

That's little faith. Great faith.

Is trusting God when you've got nothing in your hand.

That's great, faith. And sometimes faith will make

you do this. You have to sometimes there's no

human resources at all. You don't know what you're going

to do. And all you can do is jump into

the waiting arms of a father that you cannot see and you put

your life In Time and Eternity in his hands.

That's great faith. There's a story told one time

the family late at night. House caught on fire.

The man very hurriedly woke up. He rounded up all of his kids

and his wife and he got him out to the front lawn and he was

doing a little headcount, he had a large family and as he was

doing a little head County, realize that the youngest son

was not there. And he was afraid and he did

what any father would do, we would all do this run retina run

right in the flame for the kid. We all do that.

And you're going to do it and he goes to do that and before he

gets to the entry of the house, he hears a little sound of a

little voice. And he looks up and it was his

son standing on the roof and his son was unharmed, but he was

very afraid. He says, Daddy, I'm so scared.

And the man stood under the eve of that roof and he said,

everything is okay. All you got to do is jump.

But the little boy looked down and all he could see his flames

and black smoke. And he said, but Daddy.

I'm afraid. And his father said son, if you

don't jump now, you're going to die.

You have to trust me. and the little boy said, But Daddy, I'm

afraid because I can't see you. The father said, but I can see

you. And that's all that matters.

And with those words, the little boy jumped into the waiting arms

of a father he couldn't see. That's faith.

That's great, faith. Then Jesus is going to do a

little preaching. I love this.

He's gonna do a little preaching, he says, because of

your little faith. Now, what does he mean?

He said, if you had the faith of a mustard seed, what does that

actually mean? Now, I'm going to tell you what

I used to think years ago, that this meant because the mustard

seed is very small, that Jesus was just saying you don't have

any faith. So if you just had a little, can

go a long ways that true? Nope, that's not true.

I was wrong. So what that means, Faith of a

mustard seed. All we got to do is go back and

look at the words of Jesus. In Matthew 13, he gives the

explanation and another Parable he put forth to them saying the

Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took

and sowed in the field which is indeed the least of all seeds.

When it's grown it is greater than all the herbs and becomes a

tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its

branches. That's the principle of the

Mustard Seed, not that it's small, its that it starts off

very small, but it grows to Greatness.

You know, what? He was telling those disciples.

He said here's your problem with your faith.

It didn't grow. It died small, that's what he

said. It died, small.

Their faith died. Small.

They bailed out. Jesus said this if you could

only have faith of a mustard seed, you could also move

mountains. He said.

And by the way, I got to tell you we talked about moving

mountains. You know, it's very interesting

about that. This does not mean literal

mountains. I got to tell you one time when

I was having Chemo, one day fella said to me, he said he's

over there with his wife and she had stage four cancer and she

was very sick. I don't know what happened to

her after that, but she was having chemo and I was having

chemo and when you're all having chemo, you're all in the club

and encouraging one another. And the man yells across to me

said, hey son and that doesn't bother me.

I was raised like that. Yes sir, he said, Son.

Do you believe in God? I said well yeah, as a matter of

fact, I do kind of smiled, he said well if you have enough

faith, God will move even literal mountains.

And he took this passage of scripture out of context.

God can actually move literal mountains.

Now, God can do anything, he wants to do, but that's not what

we're talking about. We're talking about what is

actually stated here. He said you can do that and God

will perform a miracle and you can be healed of your cancer.

And I said, Sir, with all due respect I said, do you believe

that he said? Yes, I do.

And I said, sir, if you believe that, why are you here?

And that's when I said I'm going to pray, like it all.

Depends on God. I'm a fight.

Like it all depends on me. And I'm going to the doctor for

the drugs. I'm going to the doctor for the

medicine. God uses means this is not

literal. Do you know what this means?

Do, you know what moved mountains actually means?

It is a Jewish colloquial phrase, that literally means it

means, it means mountains of difficulty.

Now, this was exclusive to the age of Miracles, but you know

what? It even applies today to if you

have the faith of a mustard seed and other words that grows to

Greatness. You can do things like that.

To you can move mountains of difficulty in your life also and

nothing would be impossible for you.

Clarify, that thought just a minute.

But notice what he says, he said, however, this kind does

not go out except by prayer and fasting, so please understand.

The antidote for little faith is prayer.

So if you're having a hard time and you're struggling with your

faith, Talk to God. You still don't feel a little

bit better talk to him. Again, you still kind of coming

around you still depth talk to him again and pray about that

and tell God about it and open your heart up to God and say, I

am struggling in my faith, helped my faith.

Pray about that the antidote for little weak faith is prayer.

You know what else he says? He says, prayer and fasting.

So however, this kind was where this demon was Jesus said, he

ain't going out unless it's by prayer and fasting.

Fasting. Okay.

One little quick thing about fasting, you heard my little

two-part series on fasting. Do you remember in the Old

Testament? What they were required to do?

When God did require fasting and a particular day?

One of the reasons for fasting was to afflict the soul.

Now, what does that mean? Afflict the soul.

Afflicting, the soul meant humbling, the soul, it is a

matter of humility. So what's he saying?

If you're struggling with your little faith watch this.

All you got to do you have to Humble yourselves and you have

to pray about it? And keep doing that, keep doing

that. Now what kind of Prayer by the

way, what kind of Prayer? I think persistent prayer, don't

you? I've been saying this for eight

years. I've been, I've been healthy

from cancer four years and I say it all the time.

I don't care me. Say again, I'm so thankful for

the people that prayed for me. Over and over and over, and over

and over again. Is that a vain repetition?

No, that's persistent prayer. There's a difference between a

vain repetition and a persistent prayer.

A vain repetition, is just the Babbling on of words with no

meaning. You just say words, you repeat

words over and over and over and over and over.

There's no meaning there. That's not, that is a vain

repetition, okay? That's not persistent prayer.

Jesus did talk about persistent prayer when he gave the parable

of the friend at midnight. He said, let me illustrate

prayer like this to you, it's midnight and you're in bed, or

this, this guy, your neighbors in bed, your friends, in bed,

and the kids are in bed and then all of a sudden you go over

there and you knock on the door and say, hey I got somebody just

stopped in kind of three loaves of bread.

Your friend, who may even be your buddy, you might even be

really close, he's gonna say, no, get lost.

We're in bed and now it's too late.

Go away. Don't bother me with this.

Jesus said that friend will end up giving you the bread.

Not because of your friendship, but because of your persistence,

We pray persistently. Want to get rid of little faith.

Want to strengthen your faith. You want.

Great faith, prayer. And you know what, if you're

really having a hard time fast fast It, humbles the spirit, it,

humbles the soul. so, what have we learned today about faith?

We learned that a growing faith will get you through mountains

of difficulty. And I got to tell you something,

folks, not one passage in this in the Bible that I can read

about says that if you become a Christian, your life is easy.

But what we do know about faith is this that a growing faith

will get us through mountains of difficulty.

Great. Faith is knowing that God is

still there. He still there, even if the

answer is no, Great. Faith is trusting that God will

deliver you from it. He'll get you through it.

That's great faith. In other words, a growing Faith

or change your life, it will it'll change your life.

We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on by the

Church of Christ at 22:15 plans. Road in Bakersfield, if you

would like any additional information or you would like to

receive a free Bible correspondence, course by mail.

Please email us at info at True Church of Christ

Bakersfield.com. Our service times are on Sundays

at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.

Please make plans to join us. We would love for you to be our

honored guest.