Ep 27 – Five Faith Killers, Part 3

thomas Mahairas with. It’s all greek to me. I want you to come and enter into the discussion with Vicki and I thank you so much for coming back and listening to. It’s all greek to me so that we could go deeper in the original language. Today we’re looking at least a little faith. Let’s follow the discussion as Vicki and I really get into it. Hi there tom and Vicky maris with it’s all greek to me and I hope you’ve been enjoying our messages on Hollywood christos. We’ve been doing a series. We are now in the 3rd and 4th word. These are five different places in Matthew’s Gospel where jesus christ identifies specific enemies to our faith. And uh, we want to look at them. Uh the word, the main word is a legal pistol which comes from little and faith. So it’s a legal is little and peace. This is faith allegro presto. And the Lord wants us to have more faith. Uh he wants us to have great faith and we are in this program helping you to accomplish that and to realize that there are attacks on your faith. The words that we looked at so far have been distraction and dread or fear, worry, anxiety, fear, you know, crumbling down and being paralyzed by the things in our life that really keep us from seeing jesus christ from reading the word of God, from praying from trusting God from having fellowship with other believers. We want to encourage you and there are people that are listening that you don’t even believe the bible. You don’t even believe in God, but God believes in you and God loves you and today I hope you hear that coming out from our story and also from what we’re sharing with you. Today we’re gonna look at doubt. There are two stories here concerning the disciples, Peter, one of the most incredible ones. We’re gonna look at uh in a moment. But let’s look at these other 23 things, doubt dialogue And demonic forces that create this olive pesto in our life. This passage of scripture, we want to look at right now is taken from Matthew 14 22 through 31. So Vicky, would you please read it, it’s about jesus walking on the water. And immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side where he sent the multitudes away and after he had sent the multitudes away he went up to the mountain by himself to pray and when it was evening he was there alone. But the boat was already many stadia away from the land battered by the waves, for the wind was contrary and in about the fourth watch of the night which is between three and six a.m. He came to them walking on the sea and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were frightened saying it’s a ghost and they cried out for fear. But immediately jesus spoke to them saying, take courage, it is, I do not be afraid, but Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it is, you command me to come to you on the water. That’s a lot of faith right there. And he said come and Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became afraid and beginning to sink, he cried out saying, Lord save me. And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him and said to him, Oh you of little faith, that’s our words, Oligopoly stows. Why did you doubt? You know? There’s an interesting story, I mean, think about what it says that jesus christ made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away. So here he says, okay guys, you go that way and the multitudes, you gotta go home, you got to go away, and after that he sent the multitudes away, he went up to the mountain by himself to pray and when it was evening he was there alone. So he sent the disciples that way he sent the crowds that way and he goes up to the top of the mountain to pray and spent alone time in God’s word and with his father, why are you smiling? I’m laughing because he wanted to get a loan from the crowds and the disciples to have time to pray and alone and be alone, He needed that himself and he knew he was going to have to walk on the water. I mean it’s a miracle that somebody said come apart before you come apart. That’s a great quote. Yeah. So what were you saying some more now? No, he, he’s telling them about their doubt. I actually looked up the word doubt in the english language this morning when I was studying it says to be uncertain to consider something questionable. You hesitate to believe it. You actually could distrust the person or regard that person or the reading that you’re reading with suspicion and in the old english it was literally fear to be very apprehensive about something. Look at what the definition of our word is here and and its faithful protection here. Okay. So it’s immediately jesus reached out with his hand and took hold of him and said to him, you of little faith, why did you doubt now the word for doubt like you said is the stars. Oh, which means there there’s two video and stasis is, is to stand between two places that you’re going. Why did you doubt? It’s also interesting in the story that I don’t know if you notice that that it was Peter who actually said to the Lord Lord, if it’s you, he says, why don’t you command me to come to you on the, on the water now. Come on. What’s that all about? Peter who’s never walked on the water. He sees jesus, He said, okay, he’s out there. Well maybe he can get me out there too. I mean really nobody else ever had that kind of faith to walk on water, but Peter did and he got and there’s a book about you know, getting out of the boat and so if you want to walk on water, you gotta get out of the boat. But before you do that, you have to see the Lord out there walking on the boat and know that he loves you. And if he can do it, you figure home, maybe I can do it. And so Lord Mhm. Call me to come and walk out on the boat and that’s what happened here. This was an amazing story. But then the bible says that he started looking at the wind and he was looking at the waves because you can’t really see the wind, but you can see what the wind is doing. The water must have been incredible. And he started saying, I shouldn’t be down here, I shouldn’t be doing this. And so here we have an incredible insight again from that word Aperol, which is to focus on jesus to fix our eyes on jesus Hebrews 12. The conclusion of the faith, chapter 11, chapter 12 Hebrews 12 2, fixing our eyes on jesus And for all, Tamati Bustani shoe on, jesus christ himself because he’s the author. And jesus is the finisher of our faith. And so this is a living walking on water. This is uh living faith in a dimension that we’ve never done this before. It’s fabulous. And but he was between two places. Am I gonna listen to the winds? Look at the winds, look at the waves, look at the hear the sound all that was going, or am I gonna, AM I gonna listen to the voice of Jesus? That’s what Peter was going through right here on the water. It’s an amazing thought. There’s another place that uses this word and it’s in Matthew 28 verse 17 when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted now this is this is right before the great commission. One of the reasons why I think we have the great commission Vicky is because when Jesus told him to go to the mountain, the father had told him to go there it says, and there we have jesus christ Uh you know, they see him and uh in the context of Matthew 28 is so incredible Not just take a moment to look at it verse 16, the 11 disciples proceeded the Galley to the mountain which Jesus had designated when they saw him, they worshiped him. Uh you know, literally they knelt down and started like a dog licks a master’s hand, you know, this is, this was the posture. Uh but some were doubtful and that is the word? They were between, you know, they didn’t or should I do this, should I not do this? Can you imagine after three years of still having these kinds of doubts of who jesus christ is, that he is God in the flesh. You just saw him not only raised Lazarus and feed thousands and opened the eyes of the blind and all the things Vicki that that he had done, but here is this passage that deals with the great commission and this is why I think he out of that came the incredible promise of his presence that he’s gonna be with them wherever they go. So that that is, That is an incredible passage of scripture is also in verse 18, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth and I’m giving it to you today, I’m giving you my authority that we, you know, I’ve never had to cast out a demon or or uh speak to a what we actually, we did one night remember we had a demon in our bedroom, It was a terrible experience when we were just married and the house that we rented was from someone who obviously was into a demonic worship. Yeah, that was the first time we came to new york city to start preaching on the streets. We felt, we both got up in the middle of the night and said, someone else is in the room with us and we both fell on our knees and cried out Lord, this is way back in 1971 we just got married, we have an apartment. We wake up simultaneously at three in the morning, four in the morning. And and I asked her do you feel that? And she says, oh, oh, oh yeah, I feel that it was horrible and we felt this evil presence in the room and I said, well I’m a child of God, you’re a child of God, we love the Lord, we’re gonna sing some hymns, we’re gonna get on our face before God worship him and the demons. If they want to be punished and stick around, they can stick around here. But we’re gonna praise the name of jesus christ and then we did that for about 15 minutes and then we commanded those spirits to leave in the name of jesus christ. And what happened? They left, they were God, they were God. And that is the power of prayer, the power of the word of God, claiming our authority and claiming our authorities, God’s authority in our life that we belong to him. Uh so I want to get back to this uh incredible uh passage of scripture concerning being in two places, you know, and jesus christ will allow us to do impossible things when we only pay attention to him and not worry about the wind, not worry about the waves, not start, you know being fearful and and and and the sinking into our own uh circumstance, but focusing in on jesus christ and as soon as Peter said, Lord save me, he was saved. Now. This other word is the word that we’re talking about is um for dialogue, it’s found in the next passage of scripture that I want us to look at. We’re gonna go to chapter 16 and read the 1st 12 verses of Matthew’s Gospel chapter 16 and this is the fourth word that we’re dealing with concerning Allegro presto In Matthew 16 and verse one, the Pharisees and the sad uses came up testing him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven. But he answered and said to them when it is evening you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red and in the morning there will be a storm today for the sky is red and threatening. Do you not know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and a sign will not be given to it except the sign of Jonah, which is the, that he was swallowed for three days and three nights and then he was spit up which is the death burial resurrection. That’s a picture of the resurrection and he left them and he went away and the disciples came to the other side and had forgotten to take bread And Jesus said to them, watch out and beware of the 11 of the Pharisees and the saddest days and they began to discuss amongst themselves. It is because we took no bread. Now you have to understand there was a concern consecutive uh, chapters that he, he actually turned the little loaves of bread into many. And uh, and they thought he was rebuking them because they didn’t take any bread. No, he was actually talking about the teaching and we know this from the text and they began to discuss amongst themselves. It is because we took no bread and jesus aware of this said you, men of little faith, why do you discuss? And that’s the word we’re looking at. Uh, you know, the fact that the geology and the alloys. Um, faithful perception is the word that we’re looking at this discussion amongst yourselves that you have no bread. Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the 5000 and how many baskets you took up? Or the seven loaves of the 4000? And how many large baskets you took up? How is it that you do not understand that? I did not speak to you concerning bread, but beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. And the sad uses Then they understood that he did not say to be, to be aware of the 11 of the bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and of the Securities. Now here our Lord is giving us another little faith. Christo’s And he’s identifying discuss. Now discussion is wonderful. I mean, you know, counseling sessions, you’re talking to people. That’s not what he’s talking about. He has already identified certain things in his word. But this kind of discussion leads people away from the word of God and into strange teaching. And that’s why at the very end in verse 12, They understood that he did not say to be aware of the 11 of the bread talking about the physical bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the sad juices. And so there is no discussion when God’s word is clear about something and we have today so much discussion. You know, what’s wrong with, uh, you know, uh, certain things, sexually. So we have all kinds of ideas that people have. Are you a man? Are you a woman? Are you transgender? People are asking all kinds of questions when God has already spoken on certain things you don’t have to ask? Is there something else? And when you do that? This is the teaching of the Pharisees and the sad juices. Listen, God’s word is clear. You’re not gonna be able to change God’s word, Jesus said in Matthew’s Gospel. Chapter five, not a jot, not a tittle from this book. Not the smallest letter of the law will be done away with until all of it is fulfilled. So I am not advocating anything other than this word right now. We want Christos, which means that we need to have a stronger faith in what God’s teaching and God’s word is all about. What did jesus say? What did the apostles teach? What was written in the old testament? What is written in the new testament? I’ll give you a for instance, today we have christians that are going to court with one another, christians who name the name of christ, who will accuse one another in civil suits and lawsuits and go before a secular judge, a secular judge, jury and sue one another for damages. When God’s word in first Corinthians six makes it crystal clear not to take your brother to court, but to go to pastors to go to a church is and have them be able to go into God’s word and tell people what to do. Now there is an appropriate time and place for legal courts and and things to do. But what was going on back there in Corinth was exactly what’s going on here today. And when the believers don’t even go to the pastors, they don’t even go to the scriptures and to find out what God says when a husband and a wife, when Children and parents, when bosses who are christians and have employees, we need to find out what God says about things and that’s the teaching of jesus christ God, the father, God the son, God, the Holy Spirit, the prophets, the apostles in the new testament. This is so very important. That’s what he’s talking about the allergy dialogue, the allergies on me that we are not to go ahead and uh challenge the word of God because of our own opinions or because of our own philosophies. Let’s move on to a little bit more on this word Vicki, it intensifies the term implies a confused mind interacting with others confused minds each further reinforcing the original confusion. Here’s some illustrations that we could look at. Uh we saw the one from Matthew 16 11 through 12 but how about you take the other one from human uh reasoning versus divine revelation with with Adam and Eve. I believe God gave adam any specific directions on what to do and they Adam listened to his wife Eve and she was the one who caused him to doubt and to dialogue with the devil himself. Yeah. So you know God told them both, I mean they’re both responsible. She did it but he did it. He didn’t have to do what she told him. Hey let’s eat from the knowledge of good and evil. But God had already clearly stated what they should or shouldn’t do and satan challenged it remember with, with human reasoning did God say you shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good, you know and then she added or touch it and so you know there is human reasoning, there is human reasoning every day in our life. How do we, how do we then uh keep ourselves straight and grow in our faith Vicky how do we do it? The principles of discipleship listening to God’s word, praying Uh submitting ourselves, joining a good local congregation. If you have the ability to go somewhere on this planet into a church and and unite yourself and fellowship and get true from the Bible every week, that would really be important. And then in first kings 1821 the verse says, how long will you hesitate between two opinions? We need God’s word rather than our own opinions or other people’s opinions on what God has to say. We need God to be clear and we need to be obedient and follow. We’ve been talking about the word vistas o which is to Stances between two places. A stand between two places. That literally is what it’s talking about faith for protection. I’m gonna call this notice what it says in Matthew 14 31. Immediately jesus reached out with his hand and took hold of him and said to him, you of little faith, why did you doubt now? What was the two places? Well peter, I was trying to walk on the water and jesus was walking on the water and Peter began to follow jesus looking at jesus listening to jesus but then he took his eyes off and put his eyes on, he heard with his ears the winds he saw with his eyes the waves and he was totally mm hmm gone. And that’s what happens in life when we are we our minds is between two ways. It’s doubt. You’re not certain, you’re not sure, you’re not confident, you’re not going strong, you’re not certain. And this is what we’re gonna be looking at right now. One place right here in Matthew 14 and the other place is in Matthew 28, I love the Matthew 28 passage uh and I’d like us to just look at that Matthew 28 passage uh uh in the scriptures, let me just read it to you. I think it’s amazing that the disciples, the apostles of jesus. After three years of studying God’s word with jesus christ, the living word watching jesus listening to jesus seeing the miracles they saw him raise Lazarus from the dead, they saw him feed multitudes, they listened to him. I mean this is now after the resurrection, he died on the cross, everything he told them was fulfilled, he was beaten up, he was crucified, he died on the cross, he was buried, he arose again from the dead. Now he’s getting ready to leave and go back to heaven physically alive. And the bible says in verse 16, Matthew 28 and verse 16 and and this is really amazing to me because from this comes the Great Commission listen to it It says but the 11 disciples proceeded the Galati to the mountain where Jesus had designated and when they saw him they worshiped him, huh? Prosky now literally towards uh like a dog licking hanky knows the warty noses a dog and like a dog licking the hand. That’s where Prosky now or worship or fall down to revere comes from the idea of licking the hand and so they worshiped him. But notice what the next thing says, but some were doubtful, this is the world we’re looking at, some were doubtful, this word right here, huh, this Tasso! So you’re going to worship him? I better not well what’s going on here in the bible? Out of this, Out of this confusion, there’s two ways to go to worship him because he’s got not to worship him because I am I doing the right thing, still having confusion and concern and the bible out of that, the bible says, jesus came up and spoke to them saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth, go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and lo I am with you always, even to the very end, notice the power, all authority, excuse to this is delegated authority power that he has it in heaven on earth, under the earth, he has it all. And then the plan go into all the world and make what disciples preach the gospel and tell people that that God loves them that jesus christ died, was buried and rose again. And then he says that the plan is to make a disciple of Matisse a learner who is going to continue to learn all that I have commanded you. It’s not just a trivial thing. Now you have to fully mature that person till he understands the whole plan of God and who jesus really is and then he gives us this beautiful promise I am with you always even to the very end now my friend, you know you’ve heard this before, but how beautiful that you get rid of your doubts, Get rid of this confusion to be between two ways and fix your eyes on jesus christ who is the author and the finisher of our faith and embrace him as jesus, the the god of the universe, the king of kings, the Lord of Lords and say to his heavenly father, Father God, please forgive me of my sins, Jesus come into my life and forgive me. Save me. I believe that you died for me that you were buried, that you arose again and then take him with all of his promises, all of his plan, all of his word and go with him into all of the world that share that with your family with your friends, with your neighbors and preach the gospel. Everyone you can and guess what his promise I am with you always even to the very end. So here you have the promise of his presence and Mark, you have the promise of the plan that he has and the protection that he has. And john you have the plan of his of his piece and in the book of acts, all all power dynamics is given to us. May God bless you and may you continue going deeper in God’s word with. It’s all greek to me.