by Rev. Gina Johnson
Sometimes I go through my week looking for the little things that are going to help me in preparation for my sermon. And I don't know if maybe I just didn't look hard enough throughout the week that, because, Sunday morning there were a lot of technical difficulties and finding out we needed to reschedule our upcoming big event and it was like we decided, “Oh, what do you mean when you say you have faith?” It's really interesting how we forget how important our faith is. We actually use our faith every single day in some of the little things we do that maybe it becomes routine and we don't realize how powerful or how necessary it is to have faith. But the one thing that we have to remember is it doesn't take this huge amount of faith.
I know a while back I gave a message probably just in the first several months that I was here that, you know, faith is like a substance. It's a power. It's something you have within you. And if you tap into it, you can, as Jesus would say, tell a mountain to get up and move and it would move. And what does he say when he says this is the requirement of faith that you need to move that mountain? He says faith like a mustard seed.
And so we are going to be talking about what it's like to have faith like a mustard seed and relying on the scriptures to give us clarity and direction as we want to have that faith like a mustard seed. We want that mustard seed to grow into that powerful bush, that place where birds can nest and seek shelter, where it can provide food and provision for others. And it all started with just a tiny little seed.
When I was younger, my dad gave me a little pin and it was just small. Inside of it was that mustard seed. It came with a little card with that exact Bible verse on it. I never realized how instrumental that pin would be in my life. It was a constant reminder that I had everything I needed within me. And on those days where it seemed like faith was a hard thing to hang on to, I just needed to come up with this much and that would be enough to move the mountains.
Let's go ahead and take a look at our scripture today, Matthew 17:20.
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
So the other day I had to go in and see my dentist, Phil. I started clenching my teeth at random times. I don't know why I'm doing it. His advice, which I want to give to everyone in life, is hakuna matata.
Hakuna matata, what a wonderful phrase. Hakuna matata, it ain't no passing craze. Do we know what it means? It means no worries for the rest of your days. It's our problem-free philosophy. Hakuna matata.
And Phil is such a great, gentle, kind, wise soul. He's just amazing. So my phone rings later that evening. And I'm having a tough evening. And I'm going to be so transparent.
I'm having a tough evening because I get word that one of our very wonderful families has decided to move on. And I run through all these scenarios in my head. And in that moment, I'm allowing that critical voice to be the strongest. The voice that says, “This is your fault. This is why this happened.” And it's interesting, because what ends up happening in that moment is I reach out to someone within the church and we have a conversation. And it reminds me of my faith. It reminds me that we are in this together. If we all bring faith like a mustard seed, we can see the harvest.
So the day when Phil had worked on my teeth, that evening, he called me. Called me just to say, “Hey, how's it felt all day? How has it been going?” And I said, “It's good. You know, at some point, though, I would love to take a drive, because there's so many things going on. I would love just to listen to you and talk to you as one of the elders of this church.” And he says, “Well, you know what? I'm about to go out to the hangar and take the plane up.”
And I'm like, “Okay, well, I will be right there.”
And I go out there. And it's so funny, because it's the most interesting lesson in faith. I've only known Phil since January of 2023. All right? And guys, don't hold this against me, but he is older. And he tells me that he only has this certain kind of limited certification that only allows him to do this. And when we get started, he's like messing with the throttle like three or four times before it gets going. And I'm like, “Where is George Michael when I need him? Because I got to have faith right now.”
But no, that's not even true. From the moment he said, I'm about to go to the hangar, I'm like, I'm in. Because I didn't need to see his certification. I didn't need to check over the plane. I didn't need to get testimonies from everyone he's given a flight to. I just knew.
I knew that the foundation of that man was solid. I knew all that he has cultivated and developed, and it is evident in the way he carries himself. I knew that I could put my faith in Phil. That I would be safely returned.
But even bigger than that, because he can't control the weather. He can't predict what's going to happen. I had to put my faith in that foundation that I build my life upon. And that is Christ Jesus and his teachings, his word, and his truth.
It's interesting because you can say, “You know, Gina, did you really think like that in that moment? Did you really go through that process?” No, absolutely not. Because when you build your faith on a foundation as solid as the teachings of Christ, it just becomes second nature. It just becomes something that is there, a part of you.
There are going to be some things that try to get in the way of it, but Jesus is emphasizing here that even with a small amount of genuine faith, that you can achieve remarkable results. That tiny mustard seed grows into a substantial bush. In this scripture he's encouraging his followers.
He's encouraging those who have ears to hear that when you trust in God's power, in God's potential, the size of your faith does not matter. It's what you are doing with that faith. So, for just a moment, I want to look at one aspect of what it means to have a solid faith. And that aspect is the foundation of your faith. So we're going to look at a scripture from Matthew 7:24-27. And this is after Jesus has given the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes. And he says:
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
What are you building your house upon? Where is the foundation of your faith? Jesus is teaching about the importance of acting on his words. As I said, he just finished going through the Sermon on the Mount.
And if you remember the Beatitudes, what exactly are those? You know, I always like to say they're Be-attitudes. They're the attitudes of how we should be. That whole Sermon on the Mount is a foundation and a message of life instructions, a message of encouragement, a message that says to you that day to day, you need to love your enemies. You need to forgive. You need to care for the poor, the orphans, and the widows. You need to practice humility.
You need to hakuna matata, not worry. There are enough worries for today that you do not need to worry about tomorrow. He tells us that we need to not focus on outward appearances but turn inward where the true kingdom of heaven lies.
So when Jesus is talking to his disciples and all those who are gathered, because at this point he is in a boat while there are people all over the mountainside. I mean, right after this, we go into that, “Hey, Jesus, you attracted this huge crowd and they're hungry. What are we going to do?” After he just gave that message, after he just said, if you build your house on this solid rock, these foundational teachings, then you will not have to worry. And they still go back to, “Man, there's a lot of hungry people here, Jesus. What do we do with this?”
Isn't it interesting how quickly we can lose sight of our faith? And some of the things that Jesus is saying in this time, he's talking about the hearing and the doing. He's emphasizing the importance of not just hearing his teachings, but putting them into practice, not just passive listening. How many of you have someone in your life that is an expert at passive listening? I think if you have raised children, have been married, have been a child yourself, which is everyone, then you know about passive listening. If you haven't encountered it, you've done it yourself.
Jesus is talking about the rock and the sand. We have to know that the rock represents a solid foundation. And that solid foundation is the teachings of Jesus. He was the master teacher. He was out there telling us and reminding us all the time through his words of what it takes. And you know, you could say, “Gosh, it's a lot of teachings to remember.” Well, then get in the Word, write them on your heart. But if you can't remember them individually, they boil down to two. And that's love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. That is the rock, those foundational teachings.
Or you could choose to build on sand. And when you're building on sand, you're building on the world. And what do we say over and over again? We are in the world, but we are not of the world. We can't let human wisdom and worldly values govern the way we live our life. We can't let that dictate how we're going to build our house.
We have to trust in the foundation that Christ gave us. As he continues in telling the story, this parable, he talks about the storms of life. How many of us are familiar with the storms of life? Sometimes they creep in in small ways, like a problem with a microphone during a Sunday morning service.
But other times they creep in with an illness, with loss of a loved one, with a relationship falling apart that you weren't expecting. But again, when the storms come, the rains, the floods, the wind, if you have built your house on the rock that is Jesus Christ, then you're gonna make it through those storms. I know you all have heard me say that one over and over again.
The house that's been built on the rock withstands the storms, while the other one collapses. There's wisdom and there's foolishness, and we all have that choice. Are we going to continue to build and to live on wisdom, or are we going to practice those things that give in to duality, to separation, to hiding ourselves from our true selves? It's very important that when we're making decisions in life, we pause for just a moment and recognize what is going to be the consequence of this action.
I have a mentor who shared that with me when we were talking about wisdom. He said, as you are considering an action you're about to take, wisdom is knowing what the consequence is going to be, and then choosing your action. Believe it or not, we all can predict to some degree the consequences of our actions based on what motivated us to take that action. Maybe you don't know exactly how it's going to turn out, detail for detail, but if your motivation is love and truth, compassion, if your motivation is kindness and generosity, then your actions, wisdom knows that they will produce a bountiful harvest from your actions. As you sow love, you will reap love. As you sow kindness, you will reap kindness. As you sow seeds, you will bear fruit.
What kind of foundation is your faith built on? Where do you build your house? Are you building your house on the rock, or are you building it on the sand?
And for a moment, I want to go to what really prompted this message series in my heart, and it's looking at the community I’m serving, and this can apply to anyone. What built this community? Was it a group of people who believed in the teachings of Jesus Christ? A group of people who were ready to spread the Word? Who were ready to let love motivate their decisions? Or was it a group of people who were governed by fear? Who looked at what they saw with their eyes and let that determine everything that they were going to do? Once upon a time, the church pews were filled. Once upon a time, we didn't have to worry that there were only two pots of chili signed up for our chili dinner. Once upon a time, we didn't have to have furrowed brows, or scowls on our faces, or even tears in our eyes, because we weren't sure how it was all going to come together.
I'm not saying back then that there weren't the same curiosities and sometimes concerns, but there was something that said, we don't have to be stuck in this. We can hold on to our faith. We can recognize that this community was built with love, by love, for love, and with that, that's how it's going to stay. That it was built on this rock that we know as Christ Jesus and his teachings. And so here we are in a much different time than where we were 25, 30, 40, 50 years ago. Here we are in a time where we have to compete with things of this world.
Here we are at a time where not just this church, but churches all across our country are looking more and more empty. And we can make a list of all the reasons it got this way. We could spend every Sunday talking about what was, and what happened, and who went where, or we can look at what is, or we can put our faith into where we're going.
We can recognize that we did build this church on the rock of Christ Jesus. That we are building our lives on the rock of Christ Jesus. And with that, we can stand against even the storm that we are in right now.
Not the storm that's coming, the storm that we're in right now. And as the rain is coming down, and as the wind is blowing, I want to encourage you to dance, and to sing, and know that when the storm passes, the rainbows come. When the storm passes, you recognize the refreshment that was much needed.
And sometimes a storm is going to clear some things away, and in the moment we're going to wring our hands, and we're not going to know what to do. And then we see on the other side that it was exactly what needed to happen.
A dear friend of mine lost his job. And it was interesting as I was processing through that, the reasoning behind it, and how it all went about, how he became aware that he was going to lose his job, all those sort of things. And at the end of the day, I sent him a little voice message, just to encourage him. Because, you know, when things are tough, we don't always want a pep talk, you know, and I'm just so me.
I even said, “You know, right now you're listening to this pep talk, you probably want to like stab pencils in your ears, or never speak to me again, so I'm not going to give too much of a pep talk.” But what I took the time to say to him in that message, is sometimes things like this happen because they're necessary. Sometimes the door needs to be closed, and maybe it gets slammed closed as someone's walking away on the other side of it, but it's necessary.
You know, you hear that little old saying, well when a door closes, God opens a window. Awesome, if that speaks to you, let it speak to you. But think, how many times in your own life has a door closed, has something crumbled or collapsed, has something unexpected come your way, but you were able to get through it? And you know you're able to get through it, because you're here now, or you're sitting at home listening.
And what did you use to get through it? Was it faith like a mustard seed? I bet it was, but you just don't realize it. That little bit of faith that you had in that moment, and maybe it was faith that got you out of bed when you realized that your spouse of all these years is no longer beside you. Maybe it's that faith that as you lost your job, you went to a little job service, or you went online and you started filling out applications, you started sending out resumes, because you knew “My family's not going to starve. I'm not going to miss all my bills. I'm going to market myself because I'm extraordinary, and with just a little bit of faith I'm going to get through this.”
Was it faith that when you got that phone call that something unexpected was happening, and you hung up the phone, and you fell, and you cried, and you were angry, and you said those choice words, but then you stood up and were like, “Okay now I'm done with that, because I know that my house is built on the rock, so I'm going to continue on.” Faith is so important, so I want to go through a checklist with you, and if you're a note taker, take notes, if you're a mental note taker, then definitely get these down there, because this is what it's about. What kind of things do I need to be doing to keep my faith solid?
There is a part of you that believes in what you are doing. You have the faith, so nurture it, cultivate it, let it grow, so that it can spill out unto others. Allow your cup to overflow with the faith, because you don't give from your cup, you give from the overflow, so do these things.
Number one, nurture your faith.
That means read, that means study, that means attend church, listen to the things that are going to remind you who you are, that are going to remind you of those teachings of Jesus, that are going to remind you to focus on love, focus on restoration, focus on doing the things you need to do to live the way that Jesus taught you to live.
Number two, consistency.
You need to avoid an idle mind. You know, I was talking to my son the other day, and I said, “What do you do when you miss someone so bad that you just don't want to do anything else?” And he said, “I go surround myself with people so I can take my mind off it, or I do other things.” I'm paraphrasing a little bit there, but he says he keeps himself busy, so he can just keep pushing through.
Sometimes we might miss a friend or a loved one. Sometimes we might be overwhelmed by our workload. Sometimes we might be overwhelmed by the lack thereof, because we're still buying into that idea that we are not as abundant as we are. In those moments, if you just sit there dwelling on that, sitting back doing nothing else, be prepared, because the moment you dwell or you allow yourself to become idle, you are just a playground, not for the devil with the pitchfork and the horns. You're a playground for your very own devil, the one that you allow to beat you down and to hold you captive.
Number three, gratitude.
Make sure that you're constantly cultivating gratitude. Make sure that you're focusing on the blessings and recognize that no matter how small the blessing is, it is a blessing and it should be celebrated. Recognize that in every challenge, every adversity, every unexpected circumstance, that there is a lesson and there is a blessing in everything.
Number four is prayers, affirmations, and denials.
Make sure that you are praying. And remember, sometimes praying is silence. Sometimes praying is more about listening and discerning and trusting the Spirit to speak to you, more than it's saying, God, where is this and where is that, and I need this, and will you heal this, and will you do that, will you bring me that. Instead, prayer can just be, I trust in you, Almighty God, for you have never failed me, you have never let me down, and you have empowered me with your Spirit, so I trust in you. Thank you.
Believe it or not, that's a prayer. I didn't ask for a thing. I just claimed the fullness of who I am and the God that I serve.
When you practice affirmations, it's getting up each day, you guys know this one, I say it all the time, and looking in that mirror and affirming yourself. You are children of God. If God is the Sun and you are a sunbeam, then that means you possess all that He has. Jesus says again, right, repetition, you will do greater things than I. Affirm yourself, know who you are.
And the denials, you need to deny the things that try to come into your mind, that come into your life, that tell you anything less than the truth. You need to deny those things that say, you're getting older, you never completed that, why would you complete it now? You need to deny those voices that try to set you off track and affirm the ones that bring you closer to the remembrance of you.
Number five, I call them sentries.
You know, sentries are those little guards that watch over everything. All of us have a beautiful, brilliant, powerful mind that can manifest and create just abundance and abundance.
And we might say, well, if we all have that genome, why doesn't it happen? Because sometimes we don't have our sentries there, guarding us and protecting us from what the world is going to try to throw at us, from what people are going to try to say to us. So put those sentries there. Who are they?
For me, it's some of my closest friends. It's some members of my congregation. It's some of the teachings I've heard. Not only is it Jesus, it's the Holy Spirit. It's some of the authors I've read. They're my sentries. And when I start to feel like I'm coming under attack from the inside, or when I'm coming under attack from the outside, I trust that those sentries are there and they're going to protect me.
If that's too hard to imagine, then write some things down on a notepad. Put your sentries down on paper and put them in your pocket. So the minute you get discouraged, the minute you start to see those clouds rolling in and those waves rising, you pull them out and you read them and you remember who you are and you move forward.
Number six, release separation.
If there is anything in your life that is causing you to be separate from the fullness of who you are, release it. So that means let go of resentment. Let go of assumptions. Let go of judgment. Practice forgiveness. Let go of anything that is un-serving and toxic. Release separation because you are with God and God is with you.
And then this one you guys all know. Number seven, Ask, seek, and knock.
Don't be afraid in your prayer time, in your meditation time, in your conversations with some spiritual friends who you consider to be guides in your life to ask questions. Question everything. Question it within yourself. But as you're questioning it, be open for the answers. Because sometimes you're going to put a question out to the Spirit and you're going to receive an answer that you're going to be like, yeah, that wasn't the answer that I was thinking.
Never mind. Sometimes it's that answer that we didn't expect. It's that answer that challenges us. It's that answer that puts us in discomfort where we grow the most. It's hard to grow when you're comfortable. You know, when my kids were little, how did I know that their feet were growing? Because trying to put their shoes on was becoming harder and harder. And so they were getting discomfort. “My shoes are too tight.” They didn’t fit good because they were growing. You need that discomfort so you can grow.
Last but not least, it's about surrender.
You need to make sure that you are yielding to divine guidance. You need to make sure that you remember that you need to do nothing but really practice being present. And sometimes people think, what do you mean I need to do nothing? It means you don't need to strive. You don't need to look for the miracle formula or the miracle answer because it's all within you.
And when you truly anchor yourself in a space of presence, in a place of stillness, then everything will flow effortlessly. I guarantee you if every day you wake up and you say, “I am abundant. I am without limitation. There is nothing that I cannot have in this life of mine,” then generosity, service to others, kindness will flow effortlessly. Because when you take ownership of who you are, when you take ownership of who you are through Christ Jesus, then everything else will flow effortlessly.
Remember from Hebrews 11:1, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Like a mustard seed, a small faith can grow into an immense strength.
It's important to remember it's not the size that matters when it comes to your faith, that it requires nurturing. I gave you all a list and I hope that you all will start to put some of those things into practice. We have to recognize that just like the kingdom of God, it started small and look how large it expanded.
We are the kingdom of God. This is the kingdom of God. So look at where you are and then really recognize the faith and the power that's within you. You may look small now, but just get excited. Dream and envision and say, well, I have faith like a mustard seed. Hey, look out world, you ain't seen me yet. You ain't seen me yet.
Please pray with me. Our most gracious and loving God, we give you thanks.
We give you thanks because sometimes God, we forget that all it takes is that mustard seed, that all it takes is that tiny bit of hope, that tiny bit of determination, but most of all, that tiny bit of remembrance that we are your children created perfect in your image. And there is nothing that can stand against us with you beside us. So God, I just pray that whatever was meant to be heard, that it was heard today and that we will continue to lean into your spirit, that we will continue to take ownership of all that you've empowered us with, and that we'll continue to live it out in the fullness of our lives as we go forward representing our master teacher, our way shower, Jesus Christ.
It's in that beautiful name we pray. Amen.
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