Walking On A Bridge Of Faith

Walking on a Bridge of Faith

Matthew 17:15-21

“For assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here there’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” - Matthew 17:20

All of us have traveled across bridges. When we travel across a bridge, it usually means that two bodies of land have been separated by a challenge. There's either a water way, such as a lake or a river, that has to be crossed and we can't drive across. Therefore, they construct a bridge. Maybe there's one mountain range to another range or one large hill to another hill which is separated by a valley or low spot. You can't drive across because 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. We are trying to get from here to there, so they construct a bridge that we can cross over from where we are to where we need to be.

There is a bridge that God has constructed for everyone, so we can move from the natural to the supernatural. He has given us a bridge. We do not have to stay stuck where we are. We can literally move from where we are in the natural into the supernatural. But we have to cross the bridge. The bridge that God has constructed for us to move from the natural to the supernatural is called FAITH. It is the only bridge that He has constructed. So, we do not use this bridge, we cannot cross over. No matter how much we want to cross over or how much we need to cross over, without the bridge of faith, we cannot move from the natural into the supernatural.

Now, it's time for us to cross over because God has constructed the bridge. But a bridge unused becomes a useless bridge to those who need it the most. Many of us, whether in our lives or in the lives of others, know that what we need in our lives demands the supernatural. The reason we know our struggles demand the supernatural, is because the natural hasn't fixed it. The natural has not changed it, reversed it, or done anything substantial with it. Therefore, it's time to cross over into the supernatural. But there's only one bridge, and that's the bridge of faith.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, we need to know the power of unbelief because faith is the only bridge to heaven. Unbelief will keep us stuck where we are. Unbelief is a powerful tool the enemy uses against us. We can read in the gospel of Matthew chapter 13:58, “Now Jesus did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” Unbelief can stop God's many mighty works in our life. Unbelief is so powerful. It'll keep God at a distance. Unbelief is so powerful that you could spend the rest of your life stuck where you are and never cross over to see the supernatural.

Today let’s meditate on a story in Matthew chapter 17:14-15. “A man came to Jesus, keeling down to Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic” and sufferers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.” The boy was physically weakened due to his condition, but the scripture shows he has somebody in his life who cares, which naturally was his father. His father cared that he had an extremely sick son who needed to be delivered. Now we are here either we need deliverance for us or someone we know needs deliverance. The natural can't fix all our problems. And the father of the epileptic boy knew this. The father says in verse 16, “I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.” Look at the verse, in Matthew 10:1, “And when He called His 12 disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.” But the father came to Jesus and said, ‘I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.’ The disciples whom Jesus had given the full authority to cast out demons and illness, could not heal and cure this child.

I. Faithlessness Leads to Perversion

When he brought the boy to Jesus, Jesus said in Matthew 17:17, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to me” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. However, notice what Jesus says before He says to bring the child. In verse 17, “O faithless, unbelieving, and perverse generation. How long shall I be with you. How long shall I bear with you?” Why is Jesus upset? He says you are a generation that has upset me because you are unbelieving, and your unbelief has made you perverted. The word ‘perverse’ is used in this context to mean behave in a way that is unacceptable or alter from your original path. Faithlessness leads to perversion. Your unbelief has perverse your thinking, it has perverse how you operate, it has perverse how you look at God. And now God must remind you of His glory and make you have to go through the same stuff over and over and over again. Because faithlessness leads to Perversion. Faithlessness leads you to behave in a way that is unacceptable or alternate from your original path God has set for you. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.” In Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him.”