HCC Monthly Harvest Seed

Matthew 8:5-10 - Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, ⁶ saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” ⁷ And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸ The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” ¹⁰ When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!

~ Smith Wigglesworth – Often called the Apostle of faith – “Great faith is the product of great fights. Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests. Great triumphs can only come out of great trials.”

All faith starts out small and then it grows. Just like a seed.

All of us have been given a measure of faith in our lives.

That measure is enough to cause us to be able to receive the Word of God and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 12:3 - For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

Each of us have been given enough grace (God’s unearned and undeserved favor) to have enough faith to be saved and begin our journey with God humbly.

Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Throughout the Bible and in Jesus teaching we discover that there is a progression of faith.

It goes like this… Little faith, Mustard Seed Faith, More Faith, Much Faith, and Great Faith.

We are not going to spend time on all of these, but the level of our faith is important.

Luke 9:29 - Then He (Jesus) touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.”

One moment Peter was getting out of the boat and walking on water and the next he took his eyes off of Jesus and was sinking.

One moment Peter was full of boldness cutting off the ear of a servant and within hours was denying Christ.

There are people and places that do not see God do many miracles because their unbelief is stronger than the willingness to receive the Word that is given to them.

Matthew 13:58 (AMP) - And He did not do many miracles there [in Nazareth] because of their unbelief.

A little bit of faith is the substance of big things. This is the entire concept behind Mustard Seed Faith.

Luke 17:6 - So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

The opposite of faith is not fear, it is unbelief.

A little bit of unbelief in God and His Word is a big hinderance.

A little bit of faith in God and His Word and nothing will be impossible for us.

All you need is a little Word, and you have the substance of big things.  It is interesting that Jesus often told people that they had little faith.

This means that they didn’t even have enough of His Word in them to contain the substance of a mustard seed. 

Before we can know what Great Faith looks life we need to understand – “Little Faith”.

Little faith is faith that is LESS THAN a mustard seed.

Little faith does not understand the basic concept that God loves us and that because He loves us, He will take care of us. Little faith does not understand the concept of covenant love.

Matthew 6:30-34 - 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, O you of little faith? ³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Peter started out with great faith. He took Jesus up on His Word to “Come”. Then doubt crept in. The reality was in the midst of the storm he walked on water but then Peter looked at the other part of reality and doubt came in.

Doubt is different than unbelief. It believes but it doesn’t believe. It becomes unsure.  Little faith is faith that wavers.

There are only two places in the Bible that talks about great faith.

Twice Jesus commends people for their Great Faith. One is a man, and one is a woman.

The interesting thing is that neither of them were Jewish nor Christians.

The first one:

Matthew 8:5-10 - Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, ⁶ saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” ⁷ And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸ The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” ¹⁰ When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! 

Great faith takes Christ at his word. – The centurion said only speak the word and my servant will be healed. – Just say the word.  Your word is good enough for me. I don’t need anything else.

Those with Great faith understand the authority of Jesus.

For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

The centurion understood how authority works. He was a man under authority. He was submitted to authority himself. When he was given orders, he obeyed.

 And He was a man of authority. He understood that when a command was given by him, he expected it to be carried out.

Matthew 28:18 (AMP) - Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

When Jesus spoke – worlds were created from nothing.  That’s authority.

At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father.

Those who have great faith don’t walk around giving orders to God. They understand that Jesus is Lord of Heaven and Earth, and His will is done.

Those who walk by faith understand the authority of Jesus.

This month we are going to unpack what it means to have great faith. In this months Harvest Seed we have only looked at a few of the many things that God has revealed to us in His Word concerning the levels of faith.

I am excited about where God is leading us this year as we live – By Faith!

You are loved by God and you have a place here at HCC!
Pastor Marvin & Dawn

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay