These days, we hear a lot about the power of personal belief. What we don’t hear a lot of is the power of one’s own unbelief. But as Tony Evans explains, the littleness of one’s faith can still have profound repercussions.
your eyes a gift from God
hard to imagine life without them but
you can’t always trust what you see life
is full of things that can’t be seen
with the naked eye that’s where God
comes in we see a problem he sees a
solution we see weakness he sees
strength as you’re looking for answers
keep one thing in mind you’ll need more
than eyes to see the things that matter
believing is seeing
all of us have travelled across bridges
when we travel across a bridge it
typically means that two bodies of land
have been separated by a challenge
there’s either a water way a lake or a
river that has to be crossed that we
can’t drive across so they construct a
bridge or perhaps there’s one mountain
range to another range one large hill to
another hill separated by a valley a low
spot that you can’t drive across or it’s
too big so they construct a bridge this
bridge is designed to take you from
where you are to where you are trying to
go you’re trying to get from here to
there so they make a construct they
construct a bridge that you can cross
over from where you are to where you
need to be there is a bridge that God
has constructed for everyone to move
from the natural to the supernatural he
has given you a bridge you do not have
to stay stuck where you are you can
literally move from where you are the
natural into the supernatural but you
gotta cross the bridge the bridge that
God has constructed for you to move from
the natural to the supernatural is the
bridge called faith it is the only
bridge that he has constructed so if you
don’t use that bridge you don’t cross
over no matter how bad you want to cross
over no matter how much you need to
cross over without the faith bridge you
cannot move from the natural into the
supernatural now that we have
constructed the bridge it’s time to
cross over cuz you can have a bridge
that folk don’t use
but a bridge unused becomes a useless
rich to those who need it most and trust
me what many of us need either in our
lives or in the lives of folk we know
demands the supernatural and the reason
you know it demands the supernatural is
the natural hadn’t fixed it the natural
hadn’t changed it reversed it tweak bit
it had done anything substantial with it
and so it’s time to cross over but
there’s only one bridge and that’s the
faith bridge now what you need to know
is the power of unbelief because faith
if it’s the only bridge and you don’t
have it
unbelief will keep you stuck where you
are unbelief is so powerful we read in
chapter 13 that Jesus limited what he
would do because of unbelief unbelief is
so powerful it’ll stop God’s work in
your life
unbelief is so powerful it’ll keep God
at a distance unbelief is so powerful
that you can spend the rest of your life
stuck where you are and never cross over
to see the supernatural so here we are
we’re going to start off with a story
story here in chapter 17 we have a
father whose son is crazy it’s more
crazy he’s called a Looney tune it’s
called a lunatic he’s mentally unstable
he’s off not only that but he’s ill it
says he’s lunatic and he’s ill so he’s
got mental problems and he’s got he
physical problems she’s physically
impaired this boy had something wrong
with him and
we have somebody in his life who cared
his father
natural for father to care about a son
his father cared that he had a suicidal
very sick epileptic son who was mentally
off at some way who needed to be
delivered and everybody in here either
has something from which they need to be
delivered or know someone who has
something from which they need help that
the natural can’t fix so what does daddy
do verse 16 I brought him to your
disciples and they could not cure him
first verse of chapter 10 of Matthew
says Jesus summoned his twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean
spirits to cast them out and to heal
every kind of disease and every kind of
sickness he then goes and tells Jesus I
went to the folk you told me to go to I
went to the folk you authorized me to go
to and your people couldn’t help me he
brings the boy to Jesus stay with me
when he brings the boy to Jesus Jesus
said and verse 17 bring him here to me
Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out
and the boy was cured at once now notice
what Jesus says before he says bring the
boy to me you unbelieving and perverted
generation how long shall I be with you
how long shall I put up with you doesn’t
it sound like Jesus say y’all gettin on
my nerves huh
okay why why is Jesus upset
he says you you are a generation that
have upset me because what’s this
you are unbelieving and your unbelief
has
you perverted whoa faithlessness leads
to perversion your unbelief has
perverted your thinking it has perverted
how you operate it has perverted how you
look at me and you making me have to go
through the same stuff over and over and
over and over again because
faithlessness leads to perversion he
says you are perverted the generation is
perverted bring him to me
now it says when he brings the boy to
Jesus Jesus speaks to the demon and the
boy is cured at once hmm
interesting the boys got a mental
problems got a physical problem he’s got
medical issues he’s got all this but
behind all this is a demon if you don’t
see the demon and you don’t understand
the demon then you just gonna be dealing
with mental problems and physical
problems and circumstances Jesus went to
the source
cuz the source of his problem was
spiritual the mental problems the
physical problems the jumping in the
fire and jumping in the water was fruit
of another root but if you aren’t
spiritual enough to see it or if you’re
spiritual enough to see it but not
spiritual enough to address it then what
you do is stay crazy now let me take a
step back every problem doesn’t exist
because there is a spiritual negative
reason in other words you can have a
headache just because something is wrong
physically it’s not a demon
we’ve got the problem that we don’t
bother to go deeper to find out if it is
deeper we become satisfied with the
surface which fundamentally as you’ll
see in a moment is unbelief here’s where
some of you will see a supernatural
where as we go through this process this
law it says when Jesus spoke to the
demon the demon came out at once here’s
when you know you’ve hit the
supernatural when you’ve been dealing
with stuff for years you get your faith
life right and it disappears overnight
because see that’s the supernatural you
know that’s not natural cuz you’ve been
dealing with this addiction you’ve been
dealing with this problem you were
dealing with this mindset you’ve been
dealing with this circumstance and
you’ve tried this and tried that try
this drive that tried this nut it hasn’t
worked and all of a sudden you get you
cross this bridge of faith and bam God
comes out of nowhere and takes away what
was owning you for an extended period of
time
it says when Jesus showed up he sucked
that thing up because it was spiritual
and Jesus addressed it spiritually it
got addressed quickly
it didn’t take forever
okay so Jesus cures the boy ah now it
gets interesting because verse 19 then
the disciples came to Jesus privately we
tried and not like we didn’t try we
tried and it didn’t work I bet you right
now there are some folks sitting under
the sound of my voice and you’re afraid
this I’m trying I’m trying I’m trying
I’ve been trying for years I’m trying to
go to church I read my Bible
I’m trying in fact there’s some folk
here who in your private conversation
with Jesus are saying
it doesn’t work this religious thing
this Christian thing it doesn’t work
that’s what the disciples are saying
it’s not working I’m not getting victory
I’m not being delivered I’m not I’m not
I’m not working and they want to know
why so they want to know why
so Jesus answers that question verse 20
he said to them because of the
littleness of your faith the reason you
failed was the power of unbelief your
faith was so tiny that you didn’t cross
the bridge into the supernatural that
you just saw me do because your faith
was missing so what’s the point your
faith will determine your experience or
lack thereof of the supernatural
he didn’t say there was no faith that’s
interesting he said your faith was too
small you you your faith was watch this
insufficient for the problem you had
enough faith to go to church you had
enough faith to be religious you may
even had enough faith to pick up your
Bible but what you had and what you
needed didn’t match now he tells them
the problem that problem is our problem
because it’s a generational problem he
says he didn’t do many miracles because
of their unbelief chapter 13 says now he
now wants to teach them so I’m going to
try in this verse to explain a
phenomenal principle of us entering into
the supernatural he says I say to you
he’s talking to his disciples we’re his
disciples if you have faith the size 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
he says number one you need mustard seed
faith to deal with mountain size
problems stay with me now he says you
need mustard seed faith to deal with
mountain size problem mountains in the
Bible are in movable circumstances
things you can’t change it too big in
order to move a mountain he says you
need a mustard
watch this stay with me you got this
huge problem this huge addiction this
huge crisis this huge issue it’s big
it’s been there for years you’ve tried
everything you know it won’t budge what
it looks like it’s budging and then it
still doesn’t budge he said what’s
missing is mustard a mustard seed faith
little seed you complain to have a
little faith but the little seed can
move a big number let me tell you a
little something about that mustard seed
inside that seed when planted is a 15
foot mustard tree see the seed is tiny
watch this but the life inside of it is
big you would think it’s a small seed
would big life well I could use
something else an acorn an acorn isn’t
oak waiting to happen you see how big
oak trees get and all of that is in that
acorn so what made their faith little
was the lack of life inside of it okay
it was a life issue not a size issue
because this a mustard seed was used to
refer to the smallest kind of seed you
could ever have and you see how small it
is
the issue was
living faith versus lifeless thing so
what makes your face small is the
absence of spiritual life inside of it
if it’s void of spiritual lights James –
calls it dead faith it’s the faith
without life
our problem is a lack of life so we come
up with big things big programs big
activities big expectations with no life
so it won’t grow it won’t grow see if
something doesn’t have life it can’t
grow he says if you have a mustard seed
kind of faith that is a light pulsating
with life even though it’s tiny what you
will see this thing produced will blow
your mind
because it’s full of life so it’s the
nature of the faith that produces the
power of the supernatural
Jesus says it’ll move mountains and what
looks like something key that can’t be
fixed
he says when you’ve got mustard seed a
living faith you will tell the mountain
what it must do you will not simply
recite what it can do you will say
please notice a mouse you will have a
conversation with the problem notice who
he’s talking to not talking to other
Christians not talking to other
disciples not talking other people you
will say to this mountain the mountain
is the obstacle the mountain is the
problem you and the mountain don’t have
a conversation and you don’t say
addiction you gonna say situation you’re
gonna speak to it and it must back off
why must it back off because of the life
you confronted it with you confronted it
with living faith and the the cement was
not able to handle the growth of the
life wouldn’t
be something supernatural if you could
speak to your stuff and your stuff would
move he says it has to do with faith but
it has to do with the living nature of
the faith and so he tells them that this
is the basis of seeing what appears to
be impossible of course within the will
of God become possible but this is not
the kind of faith most Christians have
okay when you accepted Jesus Christ as
your Savior you have crossed over from
death to life from Hell to heaven you
had a supernatural experience because
you were given eternal life that was a
supernatural act when you accepted Jesus
Christ as your Savior the problem is
that the faith we use to get saved that
took us to a supernatural location in
heaven in our eternal destiny we skip
when it comes to living in history so
many of us are going to have to wait
till we get to heaven to see heaven
because we did not live by faith on
earth so that heaven could visit us
except in Christ takes you to heaven
living by faith brings heaven to you so
the problem today is that there are too
many unbelieving believers unbelieving
believers people who are unbelievers who
believers but they live unbelievingly
now he says in closing
but this kind does not go out except by
prayer and fasting
but this kind what kind
he’s talking of a certain kind of kind
because he says this guy he’s talking
about a kind where demons are behind it
in other words this is deep this is not
ordinary this is this thing goes deep so
when a spring key fixes you better go to
the doctor when you realize that your
will can’t fix it that the folk you know
can’t fix it that the other Christians
you hanging out with can’t fix it that
means this thing is so deep spiritually
that you must dig deeper spiritually
this kind only comes out by prayer and
fasting what he was saying that him guys
this boy’s problem was so spiritually
deep you should have gone deeper
spiritual leave what y’all were doing
was not going people spiritually and
that’s what most Christians run from I
don’t want to do that I don’t want to go
deeper and faster than prayer I don’t
want to go deeper and get in wrestling
with God I don’t want to go deeper if
that thing been with you for years and
you can’t control it and it controls you
you better go deeper because there may
be a demon keeping them up on you and
you don’t handle demons by wishing them
away you don’t handle demons by taking
pills you don’t handle demons you handle
demons by going deeper with God because
only God can handle Eretz Angels since
you got to go deeper if you want a bus
and your bus get stuck in a hole and you
trying to get the bus out of the hole
and you got 10 guys there other guys on
their own there busting their big strong
guys to win this ditch guys let’s get
off and let’s push the bus out throw you
in a hole and ten guys are pushing and
pushing and pushing and pushing and it
won’t move but you’re trying you’re
trying you’re trying and these guys are
built that’s strong they weight lifters
and you’re pushing but the hole is too
deep but you’re sweating and you’re
doing everything you can and you got to
get out of this hole I got to get out of
this hole I got to get somebody else out
of this hole all these people in this
box in this hole let me suggest
something if you find out
that Clark Kent is on the bus you
discover what man knows man Clark Kent
is on the bus that should change your
strategy cuz your whole you’re trying to
push out of the hole but somebody says
ken is on the bus you spend more time
with Kent then you do trying to push it
because Kent has the power you see the
reason why Kent has the power is hearing
from him
Kent is from a place called Krypton he’s
from a place out there but as Clark Kent
he lives down here possessing the power
from a veil and when here buttons and
takes off his shirt and unhooks his pie
and you see that big s on his chest now
it is clear the power you need for the
hole you’re in is really in the person
you just talked to so you don’t have to
kill yourself to get out of the hole
with the power from the supernatural
person can push you out without breaking
a sweat
the disciples broke a sweat was not able
to solve the problem because they missed
Jesus the reason why the man got the
problem solved is he skipped the
weightlifters and went straight to Jesus
and Jesus fixed overnight with the sweat
and disciples were not able to push out
of a hole so when it’s that deep you go
deeper spiritually which means you need
to know somebody have somebody who knows
how to go there take you there and lift
you out of there let me just close with
a thought in mark’s version mark chapter
9 daddy had a problem Matthew doesn’t
tell you this mark
daddy got a problem daddy says Jesus
Jesus asked daddy do you believe I can
heal yourself they mark na do you
believe it
in other words faith now and the man
says something astounding he says I
believe help my unbelief he says I
believe but I’m shaky I believe but I’m
scared will you give me what I lack so I
can go deep enough to bleed so that you
can lift me up out of this hole and the
Bible says when he asks for help to even
help his faith so that he could have the
faith for Jesus to do the miracle Jesus
gave him the faith he needed to both her
up the faith he had for the seriousness
of the situation and healed his son so
even if your faith is weak you got a
faith helper so get ready for your
miracle as long as you cross the bridge
because here it is my closing line
without him you cannot but without you
he will not
[Applause]
[Applause]
[Music]
a lot of people are confused about faith
believing comes before seeing in order
to see what God wills to do wants to do
and will accomplish in your life you
must believe before you can see the
Matthew 17 Jesus makes the complaint
that people do not understand and refuse
to exercise faith in fact it gets
frustrated even how long do I have to do
what I’ve done before you will take me
at my word in fact if you won’t exercise
biblical faith if you will take God at
His Word and act in light of what he
says you will see more if you’re waiting
to see it before you believe it you may
be waiting a long time but if you will
believe it and act in light of it then
you will get to see some things that
will blow your mind in fact Jesus makes
the statement you’ll be able to speak to
the mountain the mountain is whatever in
your life is seemingly unaware come
about too big for you to get around
you’ll be able to speak to the problem
the situation and it will have to
respond so let’s start putting our
belief before our sight so that our
sight will reflect ugly
for most Christians acting on your faith
can be scary because it means trusting
something your eyes can’t always see
Tony Evans reminds us that what we see
with our eyes is not as reliable as what
God reveals through this spirit today’s
message is part of an eight part
teaching series both believing is saved
and you can obtain your copy
by making a donation of any amount Tony
Evans Lord today
you