"Little-Faiths" (The Disciples & the Epileptic Boy)

Matthew
Written By Steve Estes

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Matthew 17:14-20
March 26, 2023

Matthew 17:14-20: And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Sermon Outline

1. The awful situation

2. Who Matthew focuses on

  • Like other gospels, Matthew records Christ's frustration with an "unbelieving generation."

  • Unlike other gospels, Matthew focuses on Jesus' disciples in this regard.

3. Jesus' reply: "You of little faith"

  • Common theme in the gospels.

4. Lack of faith is no small matter

  • The disciples' unbelief caused Jesus frustration while he walked the earth.

  • Unbelief shows that one is affected by one's culture rather than by God's promises.

  • Unbelief hinders our usefulness in God's kingdom.

  • Thus, unbelief is perverse.

5. How Christ sought to stir their faith

  • Jesus taught how much can be accomplished when we believe.

  • Jesus taught how little faith it takes to move mountains

Steve Estes

Steve Estes has been senior pastor at Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, Pennsylvania, for over thirty-five years. 

Steve’s books and other writings began with his longtime friendship with Joni Eareckson Tada. As teenagers, they grappled with why God allowed Joni’s paralysis in a swimming accident in the Chesapeake Bay. Steve left for college . . . they kept in touch . . . she liked the style of his letters. When her 1976 autobiography Joni spawned thousands of reader responses, she asked Steve to join her in crafting a follow-up. The result was A Step Further in 1978.

Later, Wycliffe Bible Translators commissioned Steve to write the biography of former college friend Chet Bitterman, a Wycliffe linguist who was kidnapped and murdered by political terrorists in Colombia in 1981. Other books and articles followed, including When God Weeps (with Joni) and A Better December (a giveaway book for non-Christian friends at Christmas.)

Steve was educated at Westminster Theological Seminary, Columbia Bible College and Jerusalem University College in Israel. He has taught homiletics at Westminster and is a board member of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation.

But Steve would say his most significant life achievement was persuading college classmate Verna Stoltzfus to marry him in 1974.  They now have eight children and more grandchildren than can fit in a van.

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