Lord Increase our Faith part 1 of the series

Unknown Speaker (0:01): Wake up. It's time to kick start your day. You are listening to Scripture Link's daily dose of inspiration. Let's go.

Unknown Speaker (0:14): Good morning, and welcome to this brand new day. It's a brand new week too. Welcome to the description links daily dose of inspiration for Monday, 05/11/2026. And today is national eat what you want day. That's right.

Unknown Speaker (0:35): The diet is out the window today. Anything goes, have at it. I don't know. Maybe that's not such a good thing, but anyway, today is eat what you want today, so take it for what it is. Just don't don't come back and blame me if you break your diet.

Unknown Speaker (0:53): Alright? Our scripture5
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?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ten. The gospel of John chapters nine and ten. And today, we're starting a brand new series this week. It's titled simply, Lord, and it's five honest cries that reveal a real faith.

Unknown Speaker (1:22): In the gospels of Luke and Mark and John, some of the most powerful moments begin with the single word, lord. Not polished prayers, not religious speeches, just raw, honest cries from people who knew exactly where to turn. That's what we're gonna be talking about this week. So I hope you'll you'll make plans to join me. The easiest way to do that is make sure you subscribe to this podcast wherever it is that you get it, whether it's on a a Podbean or Podchaser or or Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, wherever it is, Subscribe, make sure you get this podcast.

Speaker 1 (2:08): You're not gonna wanna miss this series. Trust me. Speaking of series, don't forget we just finished a 12 part series through the book of second Peter that talks about how to equip ourselves to live in the end times to make sure that we don't lose our faith. I encourage you go back, listen to that. We'll make that available as a Bible study complete with questions and devotional readings and all the stuff that you can use in your small group or in your adult Sunday school classes, even youth Sunday school class.

Unknown Speaker (2:43): So that'll be coming up here probably sometime in the summer as soon as I can get it done. But today, we're gonna be in the gospel of Luke chapter number 17. And I read this verse quite a while ago, and it's been gnawing on my mind ever since. We're gonna look here at Luke chapter 17, and we're gonna start here at let's see. We're gonna start here at verse number one of Luke chapter 17, and we're gonna go down through verse number six.

Speaker 1 (3:21): The scripture says, then he said unto the disciples, it is impossible, but that offenses will come, but woe unto him through whom they come. It is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the sea than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent, forgive him.

Speaker 1 (3:51): And if he trespasses against against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day, turn again to thee saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive them. And the apostle said unto unto the unto the Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, if ye had faith faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamore sycamore tree, be thou plucked up by the root and be thou planted into the sea, and it should obey you. Alright. Let's break this these verses down.

Speaker 1 (4:31): Verse number five is the core verse. This is what I want us to focus on. And the apostle said, Lord, increase our faith. That's what I wanna look at. Lord, increase our faith.

Speaker 1 (4:44): Verses one and two talk about or in verses one through four rather, Jesus is talking about forgiveness. Verses one and two warn about being a stumbling block or being a cause of sin that hinders a person's spiritual walk. That's where offenses come. Stumbling blocks are gonna come. We live in a fallen world.

Speaker 1 (5:09): We live in a world that's controlled by the devil, and offenses, stumbling blocks are gonna come. But Jesus gives a warning, a stark warning saying, but woe unto him of whom the offenses come. In other words, don't set yourself up to be a stumbling block to someone else, a stumbling block causing somebody else to sin. And he's leading that into forgiveness because a lot of times we look at forgiveness as as forgive and forget. And I think sometimes we have a misconception about forgiveness.

Speaker 1 (5:55): And I remember one time I was I was I think I was listening to a a preacher on the radio. This was several, several, several years ago. I was still living in Florida at the time and was working for Chick fil A Incorporated. I remember being out on a delivery, a catering delivery. And every time I go out on a catering delivery, listened to this one radio station in town that would have preaching and Christian programming on.

Unknown Speaker (6:27): And I remember a pastor talking about forgiveness one time and he had made the statement that forgiveness, asking for forgiveness isn't an admission of guilt. And it kinda struck me as being odd. And shortly thereafter shortly thereafter, I was I was back at the store and some some friends from the church that I had had attended at the time, they came to the counter and I hadn't seen them in church for quite some time. I knew that there was a little bit of a falling out, but I didn't really know the entire story. And truthfully, I didn't really care to know the entire story.

Speaker 1 (7:12): But I remember we were talking a little bit and finally I just said, well, you know what? I'm sorry for whatever happened. And you could about see their whole countenance change. It's like some weights fell off of them. And at that moment, even though I had done nothing wrong to these people, it was like we were reconciled again.

Speaker 1 (7:39): And and we don't wanna be the one that causes somebody to sin, but we need to make sure that we're the one to offer that forgiveness to people when they need it. That's kind of the warning that Jesus starts here in verses three and four when he said, take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. If he repent, forgive him. In other words, a brother sins against you, rebuke him, confront him about his his sin.

Speaker 1 (8:16): If he asks for forgiveness, forgive him. Verse number four, and if he trespassed against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn against saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. That seems to be a pretty tough pill to swallow right there, isn't it? And the disciples said to the Lord, increase our faith. In Matthew chapter 18 verses twenty and twenty one, the story goes that Peter had said to the Lord, Lord, how many times should I forgive my enemy?

Speaker 1 (8:56): He says seven times and Jesus replies, no, 70 times seven. And Jesus is not telling us that we need to keep note when they get to the 490 time that they they offended us, that they did harm to us, that we could finally say, four ninety one, I don't have to forgive you no more. You know, sadly, know people that would actually keep a record of how many times they've forgiven you. That way, when they hit that four hundred and ninety first time, they can withhold that forgiveness. But Jesus didn't give them that seven times 70 to say four ninety one is the magical number.

Speaker 1 (9:40): He's saying, no, you shouldn't be keeping track of that stuff. I mean, imagine how many times I have to go to the Lord and ask for forgiveness for the sins that I've done against him. And if you're honest with yourself, you have to do the same thing. Not a day goes by that I don't have to ask for forgiveness. You know, whether I get upset about something as I'm loading the truck at work or something, or if I get upset in traffic and the traffic lights, which seems like we have more traffic lights here in East Tennessee than anywhere I've ever been, or even the heavy traffic.

Speaker 1 (10:16): You know, sometimes know, even though we're forgiven, we're still human and we're still gonna think things and say things that we probably shouldn't. And and if if God's not gonna keep a record of how many times he's forgiven Gary Snyder for whatever sins I've done, then we shouldn't be keeping a record for somebody else either. And the the apostle said, Lord, said unto the Lord, increase our faith. And it made me wonder when I looked at that verse and what was gnawing on my mind for the past couple of weeks after seeing that verse, I was thinking, you know, these guys have seen miracles that's not recorded in this book, miracles that we've never heard about. They've seen healings.

Speaker 1 (11:06): They heard the teachings of Jesus. They've seen the miracles that's recorded here in the gospels. They've seen all these things and not one time did they utter that phrase until Jesus started teaching about forgiveness. And all of a sudden, Lord, this is a little too much for me, Lord. You gotta increase my faith.

Unknown Speaker (11:33): In other words, their faith in Jesus wasn't strong enough wasn't strong enough for forgiveness. That's deep right there, that's hard. Their faith in Jesus wasn't secure enough to forgive others. We like to hold grudges. There was a post I saw today, this afternoon, as I was scrolling through threads, And somebody had posted on there that she had contacted her mother for the first time in ten years, and they went out and they're starting their relationship over again.

Speaker 1 (12:19): They've forgiven one another for whatever it was they had done. Ten years that relationship suffered. Ten years until somebody reached out and offered forgiveness. Friends, we like to hold grudges. We like to to think, you know, we it seems in our world today, everybody needs to be the victim.

Speaker 1 (12:46): Jesus said forgive. And he went on in verse number six and said, if ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say unto the sycamine tree, be thou plucked up by the root and be thou planted in the sea and it should obey you. Jesus said, if you have even the tiniest amount of faith, the mustard seed, one of the tiniest seeds. If you have just a tiny grain of seed, you can say to this tree, be moved, plucked up by the root and planted in the sea. You know, down in Florida, one of the biggest trees I've ever seen was one that they called a Banyan tree.

Speaker 1 (13:34): Man, it's an enormous tree and roads go in amongst the branches of this tree. And I couldn't imagine looking at that tree and say, Banyan tree, go and plant yourself in the Gulf Of Mexico because we don't have enough faith. But what if Jesus is trying to teach us something a little deeper than that? What if that sycamine tree that he's talking to the disciples about here, what does that represents? Their lack of forgiveness.

Speaker 1 (14:16): And he says, hey, take your forgiveness, your lack of forgiveness, and toss it out and let me come in there so that you can forgive others the way you should. Where do you need let me finish it up today by asking you this question. Where do you need an increase of faith? What part of your life do you need an increase in faith? These these disciples, these apostles knew that they didn't have enough faith to forgive the way Jesus expected them to forgive.

Unknown Speaker (14:59): And so instead of wallowing around about it, they went to the source and said, Lord, we need more faith. We need more faith if we're gonna forgive the way we need to forgive. Lord, we're gonna need more faith if we're gonna love the way we should love. Lord, we're gonna need more faith if we're gonna if we're gonna do the things you called us to do. What is it that you need a faith increase with?

Speaker 1 (15:28): Why not call out to God? Say, God, increase my faith. Think about that as you go through this day. And remember, get into God's word and allow God's word to get into you. Then share that word with someone today.

Speaker 1 (15:46): Have a blessed day.

Unknown Speaker (15:49): Welcome to the game show for heaven's sake. Today's contestants will compete to see whose sin is unforgivable. Our contestants are Frank and Alex. Okay, Frank. Tell us your sin.

Speaker 1 (16:01): I told my wife I lost my wedding ring, but actually, I hawked it at a pawnshop to pay off my gambling debts. Oh.

Unknown Speaker (16:10): Wow. The judges rate that unforgivable. Alex, it's now your turn.

Speaker 1 (16:15): Well, some coworkers and I made fun of this guy, and we beat him up. And then we killed him even though we didn't deserve it.

Unknown Speaker (16:22): Alex, that's something no one would forgive.

Speaker 1 (16:25): Actually, one person did forgive us. The guy we killed said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

Speaker 1 (16:31): Have you done something that you think God will not forgive? Even when Jesus was being crucified, he forgave those doing the killing. God's love is greater than our sins. Have you accepted his forgiveness? Another message from Lifeline Productions located on the web at lifelinepro.

Speaker 1 (16:48): Lifelinepro.com.