well I have good news for you the devil is defeated regardless of what it seems like what it looks like what you might be tempted to believe the devil is defeated God is exalted and Jesus is Lord it's a thrill to be back and share the Word of God with you tonight and I don't know maybe you never thought that you'd hear me stand up here and preach on doubt and unbelief but that's what we're going to talk about tonight doubt and unbelief but we're going to talk about the cure to it also is that Alright y'all still out there it'll all turn out alright I'm sure Ray's God open your Bibles with me tonight to Matthew the 17th chapter while you're turning there let me say that it's always the thrill to be at word of faith and to see what God is doing here and Bob and Marty have really been a blessing to us and we appreciate their ministry and what they're doing for the body of Christ Matthew chapter 17 let's begin reading with verse 14 when they were come to the multitude there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying lord have mercy on my son for he is lunatic sore vexed for all times he falleth into the fire and ofttimes into the water and I brought him unto thy disciples that they and they could not cure him then jesus answered and said old faithless and perverse generation how long shall I be with you how long shall I suffer you bring him hither to me I want to call you attention to the fact that Jesus has just been transfigured before John and the other disciples he comes down from the mountain he is met by a multitude and he wants to know what's going on they said well this we brought this boy to your disciples and they could not cast the demon out of him now listen what Jesus said Jesus rebuked the devil he departed out of the man the child was cured from that very hour then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said if why could not we cast him out and jesus said unto them because of your unbelief for verily I say unto you if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed ye shall say unto this mountain remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you now father we thank you for the word of God tonight and for the anointing that shall flow forth in this place unhindered and that your words shall have free course in the hearts and lives of every person under the sound of my voice that you'll minister light to them we call upon the revelation of God in the Holy Spirit to reveal the Word of God the direction of God's emphasis concerning this matter to the hearts of the people we give you praise and honor and glory for it for it shall bring life and health and healing spiritually physically and financially in Jesus name we thank you for they meant praise God now I want you to notice something here that the disciples the Bible says the man said concerning the disciples that they could not cure him now wrote in my Bible they could but they didn't now there's been some question about what was the real truth concerning this demon that had this boy bound and causing this problem because in verse 21 Jesus said how it be this kind goeth out not but by prayer and fasting but I believe that the the major emphasis that Jesus is putting here is the fact the reason the disciples could not cast out the demon was because of their unbelief I believe he said that first things first and he said it was because of their unbelief now see sometimes unbelief is caused by what you believe you don't to let that hang there a little bit because sometimes we believe some things that are wrong and because we believe that it causes unbelief now as we study this subject tonight and go into the scriptural journey we're going to find out some things that I believe will be very interesting to you and I know that many of you've read these scriptures and maybe have already had insight too but the fact that these disciples had the ability to cast out the demon but they didn't do it now let's go to another passage of scripture to Matthew the twenty-first chapter and let's notice again let's read from verse 21 Jesus has just cursed the fig tree he spoken negative to it and now Jesus said in verse 21 after Peter had said - how soon the fig tree has withered Jesus answering said unto them verily I say unto you if you have faith and doubt not you shall not only do this which is done unto the fig tree but also if you shall say unto this mountain be thou removed be thou cast into the sea it shall be done and all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing you shall receive now that's a strong statement all things how many things whatsoever you ask in prayer believing you shall receive now someone might say well now brother Capps I know that believed and I believe God for this but it didn't happen well now you might have thought you believed you might even believed you bleed but you didn't believe the way the Bible said believe or you would have received now somebody said well you're just trying to say that it's because that we didn't have faith that such-and-such didn't happen no I'm not trying to say that at all I'm just telling you what Jesus said now it's important that we understand what Jesus is saying if you have faith go back to verse 21 if you have faith and doubt not now what would Jesus say if you have faith and doubt not now see we've equated faith without with not having doubt but Jesus didn't do that he didn't separate and say now if you have faith you don't have any doubt if you have doubt you don't have any faith evidently from what jesus said you can have doubt and faith but jesus said if you have faith and you doubt not you shall say unto this problem to this mountain to this situation that you face in life now Jesus not talking about removing the Rocky Mountains or Mount Everest how many of you know that he's talking about problem areas that you face in everyday life in the seventeenth chapter Matthew he's talking about the Dayman situation specifically that was the mountain that was before them he said if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed you shall say but you see they didn't have faith as a seed at that point how many of you know your faith don't stay at the same level all time there's times that your word level is not the same level you get low on your word level and you're gonna have a little faith so when you have little faith you have a little word in you jesus said if he abided me in the words that I didn't you ask what you will and shall be done then here he says all things whatsoever you ask in prayer believing you shall receive all things all things all things somebody said that couldn't be true because somebody would ask for there wasn't God's will and God's not gonna give them something that wasn't his will well you you didn't perceive the whole thought that Jesus said there if all things whatever you ask in prayer believing see where is the ability coming from to believe where is the faith that it takes to believe that all things that I ask in Jesus name will come to pass the ability to believe that comes only from the Word of God that's the only place it could come from that's the only place it says that and most of the illusions will tell you it's not true but let me tell you something you don't have to defend the Word of God God's Word has stood through the ages and they'll be standing when daisies are growing on their grave I'll tell you some accusations are so foolish they don't deserve an insert but you see God's Word will stand the test now jesus said all things whatsoever you ask in prayer believing the only way that you can believe and how faith and doubt not is because you have God's word for it you have that word so indelibly impressed within your spirit until they couldn't beat it out of you with a ball bat it becomes a part of you jesus said if you abide in me and the words abide in you know what happens is that many people when when trials and troubles and problems come their way they cast the word out and believe the circumstance they believe the situation they have more faith in the ability of the devil to hinder them they do in God to remove the mountain or the problem before them they have faith all right they have faith that God is able but they doubt that he will so you can have great faith in God great faith in God's ability but still doubt that God will do it for you you can even have faith that God and do it for me and not have any faith that he'll do it for you so you can be full of faith and full of doubt at the same time you can also have doubt in your head and faith in your heart and you still move them see Jesus said in mark 11:23 who serves shall say to this mountain be thou removed be cast in the sea shall not doubt in his heart so here again he says if he shall doubt not in his heart believe and doubt not in his heart what's he saying he said don't have doubt in your heart when you have faith there you can but he said don't doubt not in his heart but shall believe what's he gonna believe believe that those things those things which he saith shall come to pass he shall have what's he gonna have he's gonna have whatsoever he saith and believe and doubts not in his heart now if he saith all those things that agree with the Word of God and he says there everything that brother Copeland said and everything that brother Bob Chilton said and everything that Charles kept said and does everything just perfect but he has doubt in his heart then he's not going to work for you can say right things and have doubt in your heart now jesus said all things whatsoever you ask in prayer believing you shall receive somebody said that's not true because somebody asked for nine million orwell's well they couldn't believe for it see the only way that you could believe you'd have to have scripture for it I'm talking about Bible faith now you understand what I'm saying see you can believe some things with your head that are not true you can believe things that are wrong just you could be you could have great faith in error and that's not gonna make it true just because you believe it but you see the only way that you can believe God's Word is to know what he said somebody said I'm trusting God well what are you trusting about God well you know somebody said well I'm what scripture you basing this on well nothing in particular that's probably what you don't get nothing in particular the faith to believe what God says comes from the Word of God that's the only place you can get it you can't get it anywhere else it comes from God's promise if you don't have the promise for it then you can't have Bible faith in that are you listening to now it is impossible now listen to what I'm saying here it is impossible for you to pray the prayer of faith when you don't know what God's will is now see that's why Jesus statement there is so strong all things whatever you ask in prayer believing you shall receive then you see if you pray concerning something that the word tells you what God's will is and you pray about and say Lord just whatever your will is I believe that it'll come to pass there is no faith in that none absolutely nil void of faith fine because faith cometh by hearing the word of God if you don't know what God's will is you have not heard what God said about so how could you have Bible faith concerning it you might have mental assent to it but you could not have Bible faith you could not believe the way Jesus said to believe if the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up then it seems to me the prayer of doubt would destroy the city so if somebody's going to come pray for me and say Lord if it be thy will heal him forget it take me on to the doctor please he has more faith than that guy does now I'm not be living that the individual if he doesn't know any better but you see you cannot pray the prayer of faith if you don't know what God's will is because the only way you can have faith the Bible kind of faith is to know what God said about so if you don't know what God said about it then you can't pray the prayer of faith you can't believe heart and you know there's always people that think that we're teaching people how to bankrupt God my faith let me tell you something you cannot abuse the law of faith it's an impossibility because John from Hearst John 3:20 and 21 says beloved if our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence toward God whatsoever we ask of him we receive of him because we keep his Commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight now what does he say he's saying that if you do what is pleasing in God's sight then you'll have confidence in God why because the mystery of faith is in a pure conscience you want to know why a lot of people's faith won't work many people are sipping whiskey drinking committing adultery and wondering why the faith won't work I'll tell you why they're having a spiritual heart attack John said they would they don't have confidence in God because they're not keeping his Commandments you've got to be a doer of the word of God if you're going to be a winner in life you got to do what God's Word says we you've got to live it man it's not just a matter of confessing some things and saying a few things it's a matter of living what the Word of God says now it's important that we understand that the Bible kind of faith comes only by hearing what God said about it so if you don't know what God said about it then it's impossible for you to have the faith that Jesus talked about when he said all things whatsoever you ask in prayer believing you shall receive now let's back up here at verse 21 again verily I say unto you in Matthew twenty first chapter verily I say unto you if you have faith and doubt not if you have faith and doubt not now let's let's analyze what the disciple said there we read in the 17th chapter of Matthew here's what they said or here's what Jesus said about or what the man said about them he said I brought this young child to them that they would cast this demon out and they couldn't but according to what the scripture says he brought this and the boy to him and they didn't cast him out you go with me to Matthew the tenth chapter let me prove it to you from the Word of God Matthew chapter T and when he speaking of Jesus had called unto him his twelve disciples he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease did you see what it said he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease and I ask you did they have the ability to do they were anointed to do it they were commissioned to do it they were all deigned to do it and he gave them the power to do it but they didn't do it go to the to the Luke the ninth chapter Luke chapter 9 verse one and after these things the Lord appointed other seventy and sent them out two and two before his face every city whether he went now I want you to notice something here in verse nine wait a minute I'm in the wrong chapter no wonder that didn't read right back up once then he called his twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over devils over all devils notice that underline it over all Devils and to cure diseases and he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick now this is God's Word concerning that matter so see when Jesus said to them o ye of little faith and wherefore didst thou doubt there's something involved here that we need to get a hold of and that is that Jesus fully expected them to do what he commissioned them to do but there was doubt there was doubt that they could do it there was doubt that it would be done and therefore it didn't get done now that one of the other Gospels I think it's mark records the same instant and here's what it says in mark says that Jesus came down and and when they brought the boy to him the devil began to tear him and he fell to the ground wallowing and foaming and see Jesus said if you have faith and doubt not then Jesus started conversation with him said how long has this been happening and he talked with him along and then he said come out of him thou unclean spirit he cast him out and you know what happened the boy fell to the ground as one dead now I'm convinced this is what happened when the disciples tried to cast him out and when he fell to the ground and began to throw a little fit John said you tried Peter didn't work when I did it what happened he had faith and he doubted he had faith and he doubted you know who I doubted because he took more he observed circumstances more than he did the words of Jesus jesus said you have power over all Devils to cast them out when he commanded it no doubt when he commanded to come out he got worse I've seen it happen many a time in fact most of the time and if you get over an unbelief then the devil win the battle but you see Jesus didn't pay any attention to it he knew what he knew and he knew what he knew he had faith and he doubted not in his heart then he just took the board by the hand and got him up well I'll tell you when a fella falls down and he seemed like he's dead if you don't have God's Word and your fear will come he that has faith and doubts not now this not only applies to demon situations what I want to do is get this over in everyday life situation you businessmen you face situations in your business that it seems like all hell broke loose and the authority that Jesus gave you and the Word of God gave to you and all the faith and the power of the Word of God it seemed like it's not working don't let the devil con you it is working and a business deal of this fall on the floor and act like it's dead then you'll go to prophesy on over well I knew the devil's gonna throw a monkey wrench in this deal you had faith but you doubted when some of you facing some situation right now I know but the Spirit of God it's already happened that way and if you stand over that thing you'll have a resurrection you observe the circumstances that put more faith in the circumstances than you do God's Word that's having faith and doubting see you have faith it's a great faith that God has the ability to but you don't believe he's doing it because it looks like it's not working I Got News for You God's Word is working if you have faith and doubt not jesus said as you have believed shall so shall it be well the devil knows the only chance he's got is to get you to disbelieve get you over in unbelief now doubt and unbelief are not the same thing and I think this is where we've made a major problem in the body of Christ doctor I looked up the word doubt and it means doubt means to hesitate to content to differ to stagger to waver now doubt is when you just simply don't know let's put it in good ol Arkansas English now this one you just don't know I mean somebody tells me well it's going to cometh under storm tomorrow well I don't know whether it's right or not I kind of doubt that the way it looked like I mean you know there's sunshine and I kind of doubt it I don't know what the weatherman said so if I don't really know anything about the situation then I'd have reasonable doubts wouldn't it but now unbelief means to separate thoroughly the Greek word that's translated unbelief withdraw from the idea is to oppose so now let's just a good everyday translation on on this doubt is when you just simply don't know and unbelief is when you know but I've made a decision not to believe it so doubt is not always wrong and so what you doubt if you don't know you don't not fall for everything comes down the road are you listening to me and we all you hear a lot of people criticizing doubting Thomas well now you can learn some things out of that scripture alright but let me tell you something about doubting Thomas he's probably was probably one of the strongest faith men that the head after he knew that Jesus had risen from the dead I mean somebody come up and told you that a friend you've known for several years and died three days ago is walking down the street wouldn't you have some doubts I mean that if you're gonna believe that I'm gonna try to say you the Empire State Building or the Washington Bridge or something you know I mean you better have some proof of something like that now Jesus appeared seed Thomas wasn't with him he wasn't with him when they Jesus appeared to him now he said I won't believe it unless I see the prints of the nails in his hand and put my finger into the holes in his head and thrust my hand into his side then a few days later Jesus appeared in the room with him and he said to Thomas Thomas stretch forth your hand and put him in the prints of the nails and thrust your hand into my side and be not faithless but believing and he says my Lord and my god see when he knew the truth he believed Volante y'all not believe everything just because somebody said it now here's a man that knows for sure what he believes now he knows why he believes it and it's danger sometimes just believe something because somebody said you have no right to believe the things that I even the things I teach you if the Word of God doesn't back it up so it's not wrong to have some doubts sometimes but when you find out what God's Word said when you find out the truth then you make a decision not to believe it that is unbelief and it's it's actually disobedience it really is DISA meanings and when you when you understand that it kind of helps you separate the two here is he we're not just talking about doubt and unbelief as being the same thing Jesus in his own hometown in mark the sixth chapter he went in there in his own hometown and they got offended at him you know why they got offended at him because they said here's the carpenter why he's the carpenter's son he couldn't be anointed of God you know people think that if buddies anointed of God there's some kind of strange cat there's nothing they think he walks funny or something no Jesus was a carpenter they said we saw him building a barn well he couldn't be anointed of God and Jesus marveled at their unbelief now listen to these are people that heard Jesus they heard Jesus stand up in the synagogue read from the Word of God and said the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's are not at me to preach the gospel to the poor to heal the brokenhearted they had seen the works that he had done they said how is it that he does all these things but the laying on of hands they knew what he did they saw proof of it they saw proof in the scripture but they had determined not to believe him they knew the truth and they deliberately would not receive the truth Jesus marveled at their unbelief now back in Arkansas where I live there there was on my father-in-law's place there was a family lived there several years ago and my wife's telling me about it they had some children and they were religious people and they their kids would go to school and you know in Arkansas now we didn't call playing marbles we said marbles I didn't hear marbles till I got 40 years old again we called it playing marbles you know and everybody school played marbles well these kids could not play marbles because their parents read in the Bible where Jesus said Marvel not [Applause] so they had very severe doubts about Marvel's but you see they were not disobedient when they believed it you know so you see the thing that we need to realize is that faith and doubt could be in the same heart and that doubt and unbelief are not the same thing not heard Kenneth they can say this several years ago helped me tremendously he said you can have faith in your heart and doubt in your head and it still work for you but you can't have doubt in your heart and faith in your head and get it to work that'll give you a headache you must have faith and doubt not what are you gonna have faith in you have faith in God's Word God's Word is where we place our faith we don't place our faith on on just anything but the ability to believe comes from the Word of God I'm so not liable feeding them see the ability to believe era comes from the era itself but if you go by the Word of God that the faith force the divine I call it the divine energy of God to cause the manifestation of any promise in the New Covenant in your life comes from the Word of God itself because the seed is in itself so if you have that word in you you have the faith in you you develop that faith and it grows within you by confessing and saying what God said about now let me show you a point here Jesus marveled at their unbelief and then he went about teaching see he could there do no mighty work some Bible said he tried one translation said he tried to but he couldn't now can you imagine Jesus going into a place in his own hometown where they knew him and he could do no mighty works except he laid his hands on a few sick Lee folks wasn't much wrong with no mining miracles happen there but he went about teaching now why did he do that because faith cometh by hearing faith cometh by hearing so he just taught him the word of God and it tells you another thing there you can get more people healed by the laying on of hands when faith is low than any other method that's the method Jesus always used when faithless love now when faith was high he'd speak the word and they'd get heat now go with me to mark the first chapter we've talked about the problem I don't want to leave you with the problem mark chapter 1 let's begin reading with verse 39 and he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee cast out devils and there came a leper to him now listen to this there came a leper to him beseeching him and kneeling down to him and saying unto him if thou will thou canst make me clean and here's the fella that has faith and doubt he says Jesus I know you can there is no doubt I know you can make me clean but I don't know whether you will or not now remember what Jesus said if you have faith and doubt not this man had no record there was no record to this point of any leper being healed so don't say well you know I I don't know either so that's the way I pray Lord if it be thy will do you realize this guy could not read Mark Luke and John and all the new covenant teachings of Paul and that faith cometh by hearing he had reasonable doubt that Jesus would he'll heal the leper because he knew that jesus healed people by the laying on of hands and he didn't know whether Jesus would touch a leper or not nobody else would so he comes to Jesus said Lord if you will I know you can't thou canst make me clean if thou wilt if yeah now listen to what Jesus said Jesus look at what he did first Jesus moved with compassion put forth his hand and touched him now can you imagine this leper standing there he can hardly believe what his eyes he's seeing that Jesus laying his hands on the leper now listen Jesus is anointed with the Holy Ghost in healing power I mean the power of God is upon him spirit of Lourdes upon him because he's anointed him but when he lay his hands on this leper nothing happens absolutely nothing I see a bunch of you looking at your Bible that's exactly what happened when he laid hands on nothing no power float no healing came until Jesus answer this question until Jesus gave him knowledge of the truth you know what Jesus said if you continue in my word then you shall be my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free it's not just truth that makes you free it is the knowledge of truth see if you have a Bible you have the truth didn't make you free just because you have a Bible well that is truth all right but you have to have the knowledge of it now here's a man standing before Jesus a hopeless leper but yet he did have hope because he knew Jesus could heal him Jesus anointed with the Holy Ghost laid hands on no power float no healing came until Jesus said I will be thou clean and as soon as he had spoken now marks all on the records this notice the phrase in verse 42 as soon as he had spoken immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed now here's a man that had faith and doubt in his heart had great faith that Jesus is able to do it but he didn't know whether he would or not now that was a legitimate doubt a legitimate doubt he knew he could but he didn't know whether they would he had no precedent for he didn't know some of the other scriptures that we know he couldn't read over here first Peter 2:24 but when Jesus settled the doubt instantly received his healing I've had people time and time again to come in the ministry line for prayer for healing and I'd say to him when I lay hands on you will you be healed they'd say I know God's able see they have a great faith that God's able to do it but you know the devil knows that God is able and he's not going to get he so what you have most of the time is faith and doubt they believe God's able but they don't know whether he'll do it for them and they don't know whether he'll do it now or whether he's going to do it four months from now or four years from now so they have faith in the doubt but Jesus says if you have faith and you doubt not okay this is the problem having faith and doubting what was the cure for this man's doubt the cure for this man's doubt was to hear what Jesus said about it now I'm convinced to this see there's two things there Jesus said I will be thou clean somebody said well it was when he said be thou clean that he got healed but the Bible says as soon as he had spoken you see people don't just get healed just because Jesus said something about it the little woman with that came to Jesus one time and she has all been over and Jesus sent her woman you are loosed from your infirmity but she wasn't she just a crippled as she ever was 13th chapter Luke she was just as crippled as she ever was and then Jesus laid his hands on her and immediately she has made straight now what happened she did not get healed when Jesus spoke and said be thou loosed you are loosed from your infirmity you know why because she believed in the laying on of hands makes a difference when you believe in the laying on of hands then again there was a Centurion who came to Jesus a chapter Matthew and he said you don't have to come to my house my servants sick of the palsy grievously tormented but he said you don't have to come to my house speak the word only my beep Jesus just stopped and preached him sermons its greatest faith I've ever found in all of Israel never found this kind of faith even among covenant people but here's a man that released his faith in the words of Jesus and it's important to learn to do that now Thomas we've already talked about that John the 20th chapter he knew having seen now here's the cure see the cure for the man that was lepers was to hear the will of God concerning his situation that cured him he was willing to believe it well I'll tell you when I heard the faith message for the first time they didn't have to pound it into me and to convince me and to argue with me brother I mean the situation I was in I was willing to receive it it was what I needed I knew that I knew and I knew what I knew that this was it well this leper knew brother if he says yes I am healed Thomas said if I see and know so the knowledge of the fact or the truth was the cure for it unless see that's the cure for doubt now what would have happened if this leper walked up to Jesus and said all that and Jesus said I will be that clean he said oh I doubt it I just don't know you don't know how bad I've been Jesus was there done no mighty works but brother let me tell you something this leper made a decision if he says yes I'm going to get he and he got his healing because he had faith and he doubted but the knowledge of the truth and his decision to believe it removed all doubt and he received his healing go with me to Matthew the 14th chapter Matthew chapter 14 verse 31 let's back up a few verses Jesus is walking on the water verse 25 and in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them walking on the sea when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were troubled saying it is a spirit and they cried out for fear but straightway Jesus spake unto them saying be of good cheer and I be not afraid Peter answered and said said lord if it be thou bid me to come to thee on the water and Jesus said come now get this Jesus only spoke one word I asked the Lord one time said Lord why did you call Peter out of the boat when he wasn't ready for water water walking faith it's been a lot of people jumped out of the boat when they were not ready to walk on water and the Lord said something that astounded me he said I didn't do it well I said I know you did I hid it in the Bible I read what you said he said read it again I turned to it read it I said see there you said God he said well let me point out to you something he said look what Peter said he said if it's you bid me come he said what was I gonna say no Peter it's not me he said all I did was answer his question and he said some of you she says you've been doing the same thing and some of you been doing the same thing painting the Lord in the corner said lord if it be thy will for this me to do this well let this happen and it was God's will for you to do that but wasn't God's will for this to happen let's just let that hang there while but a fleece before the law I did that one time and I got fleeced God's got a better way they as many as led by the Spirit of God they're the sons of God those that are led by fleeces get fleeced now Peter jumps out of the boat he's walking on the water going to Jesus and what happens he sees the wind boisterous the waves are great and fearing he begins to sink he had faith and he doubted great faith great faith I don't know anybody else he walked on water well yeah I did I did last winter I walked on the water there's hard water all right just when it's cold yeah deer hunting I just walk right across the slough but now here's Peter walking on the water go under Jesus great faith but he doubt it would the doubt come from he began to observe circumstances boy it looked like the bigger storm than I ever thought I'd be able to walk on the water in let me show you how foolish the things that put you down in life and caused you to fail how foolish they are what did the wind have to do with walking on the walk are not walking on the water I mean could you walk on your swimming pool if the winds not blow it the logical thing would have been for Peter to say hey this is it I never thought of it that way I never saw anybody try to walk on the water when the wind was blowing and the storm was on and when the waves are high that's the secret to it you can only do it when it's stormy that should have been his logical explanation because nobody else walked on the water nobody ever tried it when it was storming but Peter so he's walking on the water and the Bible says fearing he began to sink that shows you that faith leaves by degrees just because you're a faith person or have great faith in God's power God's ability and God's willingness to sustain you doesn't mean that 30 days from now or tomorrow afternoon you'll still have that same faith unless you keep the Word of God in you Jonah said they that observe lying vanity forsake their own mercy Peter observed lying vanity he observed it to the degree that it was hired to him than a word of God of the word that Jesus but that was enough faith in that one word that Jesus spoke enough spiritual power in that word to cause him to be able to walk on the water and all Jesus was doing was answering his question even if Jesus hadn't said nothing he would have lied about it because Jesus said if it's you bid me come so if it's Jesus he's got to say come but he's walking on the water have you ever seen anybody step off in the swimming pool and you said look at him he's he's to his ankles now he's beginning to sink now it's down to his knees now he's up to his waist now to his shoulders no he stepped in the pool he went you but he lost his faith by degrees to the degree that he observed and believed in the circumstances is the degree to which he began to sink now pull out out of that situation and put it in your financial situation put it over in your business situation and you've got a everyday application to this to the degree that you observe the circumstances and allow your faith to be drawn or your attention to be drawn to them above what the word says concerning your situation is the degree to which you are going to sink now see these things are practical how many of you know God's words practical there's not just a spiritual application to these things there is a natural physical application in our everyday lives see some things are not practical you see some Christians that they're just not practical it's like you know you go into a hotel have you never tried to get in a hotel bed go in there they have tucked those sheets down the sides all the way to the top it takes an act of Congress almost to get in there oh it makes a neat bed all right but it's not practical for use that's the way some Christians are they're very neat all right but it's not practical because everything's spiritual never applies to their situation in life they only believe that when in church they'll still out there do you go home God's words practical Peter began to sing well Jesus caught him and they walked back to the to the boat and I believe they walked back on the water and Jesus said to him now listen what Jesus said verse 31 immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand called him and said unto Him o thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt so here's a man that had faith little faith but he doesn't do you get that you walk on the water for just a little bit of faith that's good news you oughta shouted at that verse just a little bit of faith and you can be an overcomer in life if you don't doubt it doesn't take great faith just a little bit of faith he said he shall call he oh ye of little faith didn't take a lot of faith just a little faith where does the faith come from the Word of God if you don't have any faith you don't have any wording well let's get rid of the doubt and get the Word of God in us look at Romans the fourth chapter Romans chapter 4 here you find one of the classics concerning faith verse 17 Paul is speaking of a Old Testament scripture where God talked to Abram says that is written I have made their father many nations before whom him whom he believed even God who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken so shall thy seed be being not weak in faith he considered not his own body and I did when he was about a hundred years old neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb he would not consider the things that seemed to say that it won't work did you get that he wouldn't put the accent on that when there was no hope what did he do he believed in hope how do you believe in something when there's not any there was no natural hope some of you in situation where the your counter said there's no hope for you financially some of you medical doctors told you to no hope for you medically well go to the Word of God and get you some hope what God's Word says would give you hope so when there was no hope he made a decision to believe what God said he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but he was strong in faith he was strong in faith giving glory to God he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief you know why he didn't get an unbelief he made a decision to believe God some have you been thinking you're gonna have lightning strike in you some morning you'll just start believing God folks you don't just wake up some morning wanting to believe God you make a decision to believe what God said Abraham did that being fully persuaded what he had promised he was able also to perform you have to be fully persuaded now how did Abraham become fully persuaded very simple for 24 years the promise didn't come to pass when God talked to him first of all concerning the promised child 24 years went by and nothing happened the promised hour got no closer seemingly and abraham believed God and he doubted you hadn't heard a sermon like that but abraham believed God and he doubted I know he doubted because Sarah talked him in to taking their made and to get the child that way so he doubted that God was going to be able to perform what he had said for the time but then you know what happened God came on the scene when he is 99 years old now remember he said in define when God first talked to him but now he's 99 years old and God said I'm gonna change your name Abram to Abraham so he had to go around and tell everybody that I'm the father of nations 99 years old this was the cure for his his doubt saying what God said will cure your doubts folks I'm telling you it'll cure it if you say what God said somebody said it sounds like a lie I don't care if it does sound like a lie God and said it's I'm gonna say it you said he told people he was the father nations father nations and do you know less than ten months after he started saying that the promised child was born and it been 24 years and nothing happened because he had faith and he doubted now here it says he staggered not he didn't stagger after God changed his name you know what made him strong in faith God said his own law in motion and he forced him actually forced him into saying what God said about him changed his name where he'd have to tell everybody he was the father many nation and it came to pass exactly like he said the children of Israel the Bible says the reason they could not many of them didn't enter into the promised land that God promised him was because they wouldn't mix any faith with what God said the cure for doubt is to mix faith with what God said the cure for unbelief is to find now what God said and make a decision to believe it now if you hear what God said and don't believe it you've got over in unbelief doubt feeds on ignorance you'll write that down doubt feeds on ignorance the cure is the knowledge of the truth that'll cure doubt unbelief feeds on hardness of heart and disobedience Pharoah heart was hardened the cure for unbelief is to make a decision to know the truth and then be obedient to the truth Pharaoh's heart was hardened the Bible says you know if you believe sometimes you get the idea that God hardened his heart well what it's saying is that God send all these signs in because of the signs that came and the the tribulation that came to him he was hard-hearted because of the signs it was the signs that made him hard-hearted it wasn't God's intention to make him hard-hearted he hardened his heart he got against God so the cure for doubt is to find out the truth the cure for unbelief is to find it and make a decision to do it and be obedient to what God's Word said can you say amen to that hallelujah blessed be God God's were powerful quicken anointed will deliver you from every situation that you face whatever mountain you face in life whatever problem you face in life there is a principle of the Word of God that applies in your life make a decision to know what the truth is make a decision to believe the truth when you find it make a decision to say what God said about your situation regardless of who all is thinking around you them I said yeah but I know brother so-and-so and he went down the - he went bankrupt well the Bible said a thousand may fall but I sighed in 10,000 at my right hand but it shall not come nigh thee so if you tell me 9999 that failed give me their names and addresses and I check them all out and they are all there just exactly that I'm gonna say but it won't come nigh me because of the Word of God because of what God said hallelu you