Who Is This Guy? "He Is Your Everything"

And if everyone else would open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 17,

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

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.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

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,

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

Exodus 30 · chapter mention

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