#386 - Joby Martin // Mustard Seed Faith

A mustard seed is almost invisible in your hand, but Jesus says it can grow into something big enough for birds to nest in. That’s not a cute nature metaphor. It’s a reality check for anyone who feels like their faith is “too small,” their progress is “too slow,” or their past disqualifies them from meaningful spiritual growth.

We unpack the mustard seed parable and a core Christian truth: the object of your faith matters more than the amount of your faith. When even a small, shaky trust is placed in Jesus Christ, God works from the inside out, changing identity, desire, and direction long before the results look obvious in the mirror. We connect that to sanctification and the fruit of the Spirit, and we name why impatience and comparison can quietly crush real discipleship.

We also zoom out to the church itself. Christianity begins with one rabbi and twelve guys with no status and no resources, yet God turns that small start into a global movement. Then we bring it home to legacy. Mustard seed faith doesn’t just shape you. It can reshape your children, your grandchildren, and the story your family tells for generations. Philippians 1:6 anchors the hope: the God who begins the good work is faithful to complete it.

If you need steadiness, patience, and a clear next step, hit play, then share this with a friend and leave a five-star rating and review so more men get equipped for the fight. What’s one area where you need to trust God’s slow growth?

Transcript

Welcome And The Sword Of Spirit

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Jesus Tells The Mustard Seed Parable

SPEAKER_01 0:20

The next parable that Jesus shares is in verse 31. It says this. It says, And he put another parable before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown, it is larger than all the garden plants, and becomes a tree, so that birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. Then he shares another parable. Verse 33. He told them another parable.

Small Faith Grows Over Time

SPEAKER_01 0:58

This is coming right off of the parable of the wheat and the weeds. And basically what he's saying is it ain't how you start that matters, it's how you finish. And when you take the smallest little bit of faith, like a mustard seed-sized faith, and you give your faith, you put your faith in Jesus, he puts his spirit in you. And it may start small, but you have no idea what God holds in the future. You see, the object of your faith is more important than the amount of your faith. And over time, the more you trust God, regardless of the circumstances, and you exercise that faith, it's been my experience in the biblical testimony, that he gives you more and more and more faith. And so think about this. So a mustard seed is about the size of a grain of pepper. Like you could, you could barely even see it from four feet away. And yet that thing gets planted into the ground and it changes everything. It starts out slow, it starts out small. It takes several days before it even makes its way up past the topsoil. But eventually, not overnight, but over time, it becomes a tree larger than all the other garden plants, and it changes everything so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. And so this is true in your own life. That you may go to church, you hear the gospel, you put your faith in Jesus, and then two weeks later you look at yourself in the mirror and you be like, is anything different? Just let yourself off the mat for just a second. Everything's different. That God is producing from the inside out a changed life in you. That your identity has changed, your name has changed, your future has changed, everything about your life has changed. Sometimes it just takes a little while for the fruit to begin to develop. The fruit of the Spirit, like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And so just give it a time. This is this, by the way, if you look at yesterday's parable, is why we shouldn't be so judgy of everybody. Not everybody checks the sanctification boxes in the same order. And God may be working on an internal thing in them, and he's going to get to some of the external realities a little bit later. Just trust

From One Rabbi To Global Church

SPEAKER_01 3:13

God. It's also true in the life of the church. Do you realize this whole thing, this movement that we call Christianity, it started with one rabbi and 12 guys on a camping trip. They had nothing. They owned nothing. They had no power. They couldn't even afford to pay taxes. Jesus had to do miracles to get gold coins out of fish mouths so that they could pay the temple tax. And so that thing that started with just a few guys with a little bit of faith 2,000 years ago now has transformed the entire world. It's not just true for the church, it's true for you. You see, you have no idea what God holds in your future. I think a part of the reason he says that this little tiny seed becomes a tree so that birds of the air come and make nests in its branches is this man. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, it doesn't just change you. It'll change your children, it can change your grandchildren, it could change your family tree, your legacy forever and ever and ever. And that if they could, if there was like a 23 and me for your spiritual life, that one day your great grandchildren who could be raised in the gospel because you raised your kids in it and they raised their kids in it, and you had an entire family tree of faith that could trace it all the way back to when their great-great-granddad put his faith in Jesus Christ.

Legacy Parenting Hope And Final Charge

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Philippians 1 6 says it this way. You build that little kindling of faith around their hearts as much as you can. You raise them in the church, you pray over them, or you read Bible verses over them. And when you get to those moments, maybe those teenage years, and you look at any particular snapshot of their life and you think, oh, I'm a failure. Just hang in there, man. God is faithful. And if your kid puts their faith in Jesus, then you can be confident of this: that it is it is God who is at work. And he began the good work and he will bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus. Remember that.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Thank you for listening to today's episode. Before you go, if you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five star rating and review. Stay sharp.