The King’s Authority and Worldly Opposition: Faith that Moves Mountains | Matthew 17:14–23

Main Text: Matthew 17:14–23 (ESV) 14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 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. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 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.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 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.” 22 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.Preaching Point: We must counter any lack of faith on our part by remembering that even the smallest measure of faith, empowered by God, is sufficient to accomplish anything He wants us to do!Teaching Points:Stop Downplaying Your Lack of Faith (vv. 14-18)Resolve to Act According to Your Faith in God’s Revealed Will (vv. 19-20)Pray for a Faith that Perseveres (vv. 22-23)If you notice, I did not dive into textual criticism as much during the podcast as I thought I would, but below you will find more content than you can intake that will be helpful for you through the weeks, months, and years to come! Dive in and enjoy!Resources on the reliability of scripture and textual criticism: Video Resources:Can I trust the Bible? - Dr Robert Plummer (6 min)Why do the footnotes in my Bible say, "Some manuscripts say..."? - Dr Robert P. (5 min)Is the Bible we have what the original authors even wrote? - Wes Huff (30 min)Video/Audio Lectures:Origins of the Bible - Dr. Mike Fabarez (12-part series)Books:Can We Trust the Gospels? by Peter J Williams (160 pages)Why I Trust the Bible: Answers to Real Questions and Doubts People Have about the Bible by William Mounce (280 pages)Myths and Mistakes in New Testament Textual Criticism edited by Elijah Hixon & Peter Gurry (400 pages)The Question of Canon: Challenging the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate by Michael Kruger (256 pages)The King James...