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Light + Truth

The Power of Small Faith

Light + Truth

Desiring God

Religion & Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality/christianity, Christianity

4.81.5K Ratings

🗓️ 24 September 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Why does Jesus compare faith to a mustard seed? In this episode of Light + Truth, John Piper opens Luke 17:1–10 to reveal how faith draws its strength from God.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Could it be that the Lord is saying to us,

0:08.0

the kind of faith that works is faith that has within it God,

0:15.0

like the mustard seed has within it a big thing much bigger than itself.

0:26.4

And it's not so much the littleness of the mustard seed, but that the mustard seed is oriented on its angling for, its potential is in something so much greater than itself.

0:33.8

Have you ever felt like your faith isn't enough?

0:38.3

I'm Dan Kruver.

0:40.3

In this episode of Light and Truth, like the previous one, I've kept as much of John

0:46.3

Piper's interaction with this church as possible without losing the flow, so we can follow

0:52.3

his thought as he opens chapter 17 of Luke's gospel

0:56.0

to remind us that even small faith can be powerful because it rests on a God who is anything but small.

1:06.0

This message was originally delivered at Bethlehem Baptist Church on Sunday evening, December 4th,

1:12.6

1983.

1:17.2

How do rebuking and forgiving accomplish putting no stumbling blocks in the way of a person?

1:25.9

Rebuking, I think, removes a stumbling block.

1:30.9

If the person's already sinning, your goal is to remove the thing they're stumbling over.

1:35.7

Whatever's causing them to sin.

1:37.4

You want to help them not stumble anymore, not sin anymore.

1:41.1

Forgiving, however, that's a little different. How does forgiving somebody who comes to you

1:47.8

saying, I repent, how does that fit with not putting a stumbling block in his way? Can you explain to me why?

1:59.4

If you didn't forgive, you'd be putting a stumbling block.

2:03.6

Referring to the passage in 2 Corinthians 7 where a brother has been disciplined by the church

2:08.9

is coming to repentance and sorrow, and Paul says, all right, receive him now. Don't bring him to

...

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