From Fear to Faith [Part 1]

Pastor, author and Bible teacher Alan Wright. If you have a little faith is the little things you and this anything is possible. Alan light come to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light by Daniel Britt excited for you to hear the teaching debate in the series life of Peter is presented in an old church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire broadcast how to make sure you know how to get our special resource.

Right now he can be yours for your donation this month. Alan Wright industries so as you listen to today's message deeper as we send you this special offer available today. Contact us at pastoralan.org that's pastor out.org or call 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program but now let's get started with today's teaching here is Alan Wright you. If you have a little faith just a little faith. It's real faith and therefore anything is possible to turn into a beautiful story story that I have this week fall in love with more than ever in my life for seeing it in a new way as in Matthew chapter 14 verse 22 comes after the famous story of the feeding of the 5000 with the loaves and fishes, and as we continue in this study of the life of Peter.

This man who is such an enigma. Such mixture. At times this seems so strong a time so unstable. He is one who is like shifting sand. But Jesus calls a Moroccan.

There may be no other story that typifies this strange mixture and who Peter isn't. In fact the matter how most of us are in this story in Matthew chapter 14 verse 22. Immediately, he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed crowds and after you dismiss the crowds and went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way away long way from the land beaten by waves of the wind was against them and in the fourth watch the night was so probably three, four, 5 AM, he came to them walking on the sea when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said is a ghost. I cried out in fear, but immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, take car it is. I do not be afraid, Peter answered him, Lord, if it's you, command me to come to you on the water and he said, so Peter got out of the boat and walk on the water and came to Jesus when he saw the wind, he was afraid and began beginning to sink he cried out, Lord save me Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him saying to him, oh you of little faith, why did you doubt when they got to the boat, the wind ceased and those in the boat worshiped him, saying, truly you are the son of God, is the question about the story. What you think of Peter, is it a story in which you read it and you say look at Peter he's such a failure immediately started doubting start sinking down the water and how do you hear Jesus talking to is Jesus saying Peter tsk tsk. Shame on you. You got so little faith, why would you have to doubt everywhere I turn. People are now playing and Peter hangs his head in shame comes back to the boat or do you read the story as more on the positive side, I was this dude walked on the water for a few steps. On the other disciples did and I will know very mild in history. Other injuries as a walk on the water for at least little bit. This is pretty amazing and I think that Jesus was probably fairly impressed with this, even though Peter's faith grew small and he sank look and he still won't want to know how to read this the storytelling people read it in different ways and started to understand how it is that Jesus is really responding to Peter and so this story is troubled me for a lot of years because we're in a series on the life of Peter in which emphasizing how when Peter confessed Christ as the son of the living God, that Jesus told this unstable man euro rocket on this rock I will build my church and we talk so much about the importance and the power of blessing because in the beginning God blessed Adam and Eve and he said be fruitful and multiply heat. He blessed them before they were productive and he called Abraham was an old man, childless, old man. Beyond his wife and young child bearing years and he called him a father of a nation before he ever had a child. He called David that anointed king while he was just a shepherd in the fields of Bethlehem and Jesus, when he came he blessed the little children in the taught about blessing and he blessed Peter and this is where you see a positive vision over someone's life and you speak over their life, not what they are in that limited frame of mind or place of life where they are right now. But you see what they can be and you call it out over the life that's the way Jesus said so. The stories were troubled me because why is Jesus saying these things that doesn't like a blessing at all you little faith. Roger doubt doesn't seem encouraging. It doesn't seem very Christlike. I will show you today a whole new way of looking at this story and what caused the change in my thinking was a great sermon from a man who was called prince of preachers in the 19th century. Charles Spurgeon, who wrote a sermon preached at about 1860. It was called history of little faith, and it was so good as half inclined to just preach it in today's language, but instead I just let my soul be impacted by the message and I bring you this message with much much indebted to the inside of Charles Spurgeon.

Okay, first thing to say about this text is that is very important know that when Jesus says oh you of little faith in this isn't the only place sometimes. He says that in the plural to his disciples, but here he says it to Peter Nguyen understand. In the Greek language is one word it's one word here, and it literally should be translated little faith. One, in fact, more pointedly, it's really like a name is like. He calls him little faith okay so that's what it really says little faith, and in fact Jesus would sometimes use this like a pet term for Peter or for his disciples. Sometimes it was Peter your little faith to other times it just because disciples will face and that's that's odd thing for him to say because it first.

It sounds like it's some epithet you know some some derogatory nickname that is given to them. Try to encourage you to look at this from a different angle. Today, as we as we go forward.

And sometimes there's a phrase like this that actually has in it affection and you I think you have to see it this way and I sorta hope to prove to you today from from this text so before Christmas back in December we got a conference in Alabama were coming back through the wife after coming back through Atlanta spent the night went shopping in Atlanta at the beginning towards her first week of December and were in the Macy's at Lenox Mall and I've been up in the men's shoe section which is right next to the men's underwear section and I actually was. I had to take a phone call so I'm standing there in between the shoe section in the underwear section and I see a man come in who looks oddly familiar to me and I'm talking on phone and I start to lose concentrations of looking as busy. I think that might be guy. I grew up next door to Pinetop Rd. in Greensboro that could be Freddie's assignment. He was my middle brother's one of his dearest friends.

But I I hung out with him to he he wow often, Neil played with my brothers friends to. I was always often the guy that was like that and and I love Freddie I had seen in a long long time and you know I'm looking at. I'm going to hand you guys got gray hair.

Yummy. Looks like too old to be that you know God but anyway I'm to sit are going to violate in later and related reflection. I thought this probably wasn't the best way to do this, you probably don't go up to a man in the underwear section at Macy's and Atlanta and say this but I went out and said you look familiar to me. Later, I thought that that was probably not what I should have said at that moment. Thankfully, he just looked right at me and he said well I'm Freddie Simon and I said Freddie look real closely at me and see.

Do you do you recognize me and he leaned in and they say we've been 45 minutes thought about playing kick the can, all the old door is rotten in his old wildcat.

It would break down every time you get in it. They live believe it is okay way down the little lab out here in the Macy's and not aware of things that are called my why they come here in about a GoToMeeting ready for Mdm. for plywood this week is reminiscent of the old old times and when he said all it really wasn't it. It wasn't a negative it was that was reminded me of my childhood when I spent so much time playing with my two older brothers were always bigger and all their friends who are always bigger and and and so when he said that there was a lot of affection and that night and it just just brought all that wonder in Jesus is speaking to Peter more like that. And these light little faith and he grabs him and takes him about water challenge right will have more teaching moment. Today's important series pressures always find hard to say nowhere, he that shall disappoint someone one thing in any relationship in paradise. They were naked and felt no shame entered the world they became anxious and driven nine question like painting. There is only one solution. The grace of God that lifts our shame seeks me out and exposing shame and share is an individual or in a small pre-series is sure to bring healing and hope are ministries. This man is in study. Thanks for your partnership in a world separate time to let God's grace to shame Misty Banks from Allen Wright ministries, 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website past Rowan.org today's teaching now continues here once again is there is something here in Jesus is calling him a little faith. One that is oddly affirming because in the first place he's acknowledging that there is faith that there we talk often about the contrast of fear and faith because fear is the perversion of faith and faith is according to Hebrews 11 the substance of things hoped for, the conviction, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is not merely an ascent to truth with your mind, but it is an expression of action that demonstrates quite spontaneously in many cases what you actually believe if you step into a room and you turn the light switch on you don't stop and think that was an act of faith, but it was because all of these things you had to believe believe electricity actually exists even though you can't see it, and that light switches can activated and the lightbulb can turn on you just don't think about it, you just do it.

It's a it's an act of faith. You believe in something that you a positive thing to happen then and so you act upon it. Fear is a perversion of faith. It is also a form of belief, but it believes in a negative outcome for the Scripture says in Romans that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ, so faith is born out of the word of Christ and in this case you see it vividly. Peter has begun to learn as we saw in last week's message that if you really want a miracle. What you need from God is a word and in every command of Christ is the promise of Christ.

So, if Christ says to a man with an arthritic condition in his hand, stretch forth your hand. Then there's healing that's going to come and if he says to Lazarus in his tomb, how to, then the dead man comes to life and so Peter here says to Jesus as he's walking in the midst of this great storm on the water tell me to come and Jesus when he says come. There is the birth of Peter's faith to come.

He wouldn't have had any faith to go to Jesus except Jesus had said, and so it is that you see it vividly. The. The word gives birth to faith. And when you act on something that is the word of Christ then is going to come to pass, but what faith is not is you dreaming up your own word and acting according to your own word. If someone were to go up to the 10th floor and go out in the balcony and a man stand there and say I believe I can fly I believe I can fly I can believe I can fly and he really believed it, and he jumped off the balcony. It would be a tragedy and we wouldn't call that faith we call it foolishness because though he believed it. It wasn't the word of Christ. There's all kinds of foolishness that goes on in the so-called name of Christ that wasn't ever a word of Christ.

You could probably go this morning and find somewhere in remote part of the Appalachian Mountains. Some church where people are dancing into a frenzy and at some point picking up copperheads or rattlesnakes and they think they're demonstrating their faith, but in fact the matter. Some of those people over will be bitten and some of the people have died because there was no word of Christ telling them to go to church and pick up rattlesnakes though. There's a text that talks about training on scorpions and serpents, but it's a picture of our spiritual authority in the spiritual battle and we have authority over the demonic, there's no word from the Lord about picking up rattlesnakes and so so people who mean well don't have a word faith is generated by the word of Christ. If he says to Peter, then there is reason for faith and the faith comes forth and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ, then fear probably comes by hearing, but hearing by the word of the anti-Christ, whatever is not Christ, whatever is not the gospel.

Whatever is not the word of God.

Whatever originates and help. Whatever deception it is leads into our fear. If you want to get your fear. I suggest you get the lie in the deception that gave it birth in the first place because faith comes by hearing the word of God and fear is exact perversion of it is a form of belief that is rooted not in what God has said, but what the enemy has said and so it is that fear and faith are in this way similar but absolutely opposite. There also similar in this way that both fear and faith lead towards the object of their belief. That's just the way it works is when God set up his world and it shows up, not just in the profound spiritual things like it shows up in every arena of life. I mean, you know, we need to generate some prayer requests right right now that Carolina will come another shooting slump.

They've been in a in a shooting stop and I'm sure that everybody liked put on the prayer list, and especially for Marcus. Page who are point guard is struck been struggling a bit better last game. But before that he was to have 28 from the field and just as something like that.

He's he's been struggling and that things like a Gallic visitor shooting slump right will ask as Coach Williams or what would have you bring only makes everything practice watching before the game. I sent her watcher wanted want to warm up you make every three-pointer shoots just make up no problem with the game buying buying the start of the season. One of the best shooters in the in the nation, and then also missed him so is nothing changed in the wake that he shoots the ball. What's changed a little thing in the right will know that the more that he believes that he won't make it, the more likely it is, he will make the more you believe that he believes he will make it more likely he will make it. This is the Finkel confidence. We watched in sports watch in life reluctant every arena of life. Fear and faith are similar in this way. They lead us towards the thing that we as all of this is pictured in this in this beautiful beautiful story when Jesus says to Peter, little faith what he saying can be seen in two ways. It can be seen as all you don't have great faith or it can be seen as him saying you do have some faith where my favorite lines in any movie was in the Pirates of the Caribbean in one of the early scenes Jack sparrow Parrett is coming he's gonna try to steal the ship, he doesn't really have about five kisses gloriously soft as he comes into the harbor and he's standing there on on the dock with a naval officer named James northern son who's looking at this rather rather pitiful looking pirate Jack sparrow and he says to sparrow, you are without a doubt the worst pirate I've ever heard of an Jack sparrow said but you have heard of me, but I think Peter's guy like that theater lady was called a little faith want and think Peter went back to the boat and said the man, Jesus got little faith. I went back about his life. Did you see that I walked on water and you hear Jesus he said I got some faith, I do have some faith really think that's the way Jesus wants you to hear that this morning. If you feel like all you got to little faith then it means you got some faith. Spurgeon put it this way you will observe the Savior did not say oh you ofor oh you have pretended faith but oh you of little faith. There are times when we would give all that we have it. We could only hear our masters assurance that we have even a little faith. If he does not acknowledge that it is faith in the root of the matter is in us and celebrate that today it's teaching from fear to faith in the life of Peter and stay with us. Alan is back in a moment with additional insight on this for your life, and a final word pressures always find it hard to say no way that shall disappoint someone one relationship in paradise.

They were naked and felt no shame entered the world they became anxious and within nine question like this painting.

There is only one solution. The grace of God that lifts our shame in six-week master class. Pastor Alan exposes the shame and shows the individual or in a snobbery series is sure to bring healing and hope our night ministries this month digital master class but is instead a way of saying thanks for your partnership in a world separate shame. It's time to let God's grace to shame.

We missed our night ministries, 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website Pastor our and data work. I love what you said, they usually drawn from the life of Peter, are we celebrating small victories. Hearing well I was just read the story of Peter's sinks down in the water in the Jesus. Oh you of little faith, and I so I feel well boy yeah that's me about this got no faith Noah, right, and Spurgeon's comments and other meditation on this text I just ignited this whole different view of this, that what if Jesus wasn't saying this in a condemning way yeah so what if that little seed of faith is like a mustard seed, and if you have just a mustard seed and mountains can move and so I guess was a the listeners maybe read this story with some fresh eyes and maybe hear God even though you might hear him say your little faith want he saying you have some real faith and God can use that.

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