Text: Matthew 17:1421

Topic: How faith and prayer bring miracles

• Illustration: Sunukjian draws an analogy between us wondering how God will answer our prayers for the miraculous and two boys wondering how Don will respond when they go to his house to sell fundraiser cookies.
• Why can't we ask God for the seemingly impossible and have it occur?
• How do we reconcile unanswered prayers for the miraculous with the Scriptures that call us to pray for the seemingly impossible?

• Matthew 17:1421
• The faith of a mustard seed is not a mental belief, but an attitude of the heart.
• What's lacking is pistos, a faithfulness in our relationship with God.

Luke 17:510

• We're still focused on our , the impression we make.
• Jesus says when our walk with God can get to the level of a mustard seed God will do the impossible through us.

• The ability to have God work the impossible through you comes to the man or woman who lingers in God's presence.
• The ability to do the impossible comes to the one who has such intimacy with God that God's will becomes known.

Illustration: Sunukjian recounts being close enough to God to know God would heal a man, but confesses being afraid to allow God to speak that healing through him.

Illustration: Sunukjian revisits the analogy of the boys selling cookies, explaining that all the boys in the neighborhood know Don well enough that they can count on Don to buy whatever they're selling.