Why Didn’t My Mountain Move Pt. 3 Series

Why Didn’t My Mountain Move pt. 3

Commanding Mountains

Intro: Part 3 of a series of messages on:

WHY DIDN’T MY MOUNTAIN MOVE?

This series was birthed on a question a woman asked her pastor, when her sick child died... "Why didn’t my mountain move? I prayed, I believed, I spoke to the mountain, but my child died." The pastor she asked, replied:

SOME MOUNTAINS IN LIFE ARE TO BE CLIMBED.

SOME MOUNTAINS IN LIFE ARE TO BE CONQUERED.

SOME MOUNTAINS IN LIFE ARE TO BE COMMANDED.

SOME MOUNTAINS IN LIFE ARE CORDONED OFF. (My addition to his reply)

Text: Mt 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this [which is done] to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

Regardless of how so called faith preachers have twisted this verse as a means to short circuit the sovereignty of God, (you can have what you say) the fact remains that Jesus did teach we could command some mountains into the sea. This verse is not a blank check to fulfill all our carnal wishes, but an insight into the way God sometimes wants things to be done. I am not an advocate of name it claim it, and yet:

SOMETIMES CHRISTIANS ACT LIKE LAWYERS TRYING TO EXPLAIN WHY GOD DIDN’T MEAN WHAT HE PLAINLY SAID!

The seven sons of Sceva found out that power is not in words but relationship:

Ac 19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

Ac 19:16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Some Mt.’s in life you will command into the sea. (Today’s topic). Some Mt.’s in life you will have to go in and with hand to hand combat conquer it. (A future message). Some Mt.’s in life you won’t be able to command into the sea, or conquer in a fight, but you have to climb them, and hike up them, in order to receive benefit from them. (Pt 2 already filed on Sermon Central). Finally there are some Mt.’s you can’t command, conquer, or climb, they are cordoned off. God has placed in front of them an access denied sign. If it’s an opportunity you can’t climb it. If it is an obstacle you can’t conquer it. If it is a hardship you can’t command it out of you life. Knowing what kind of Mt.. you are facing is paramount to how you must respond to it.

Commanding Mountains, today’s topic

We may not be able to command every mountain into the sea, but we can command some of them, and for some of them that is the only means God wants us to use.

In truth, there are some mountains that He forbids us do anything but speak to them, and that is a lot harder than many people imagine.

As I said earlier: Sometimes Christians act like lawyers trying to explain why God didn’t mean what He plainly said.

I’m not going to do that today.

I believe you can command some mountains to fall into the sea and they will.

Story: John Robb of World Vision’s Mission Advanced Research Center writes, "The adults of Ethiopia’s Awash River area, two hours north of Addis Ababa were suffering through famines. In their suffering the people looked to a giant tree for help. They worshiped the towering giant tree, believing a spirit had given it divine powers. Adults would kiss its great trunk as they passed by. They spoke of the tree in hushed, reverential tones and the children said, "This tree saved us... One morning as the World Vision staff prayed together, one of Jesus’ promises struck them from Matthew 21:21,22. "If you have faith, you can say to this tree, Be taken up and removed and it will obey you." Soon the whole community knew that the Christians were praying about the tree. Six months later, the tree began to dry up. Its leafy foliage disappeared, and finally it collapsed like a stricken giant into the river. The people were astonished, "Your God has done this!" they said. Within a few weeks, about a hundred villagers received Jesus Christ because they had seen His power displayed in the spectacular answer to Christians’ prayer." (Perspectives, p. 145, John D. Robb) (Note the actual verse they probably were thinking of was Luke 17:6, not Matthew 21:21-22)

I have seen fevers leave, dead cars start, troubles end, money come in, sick bodies made well. By doing nothing other than commanding it to do so in the name of Jesus. Many people feel weird about commanding things, they would rather, "pray" about them. If you are one of those people, you need to pay especial attention to this message, because unless you do things God’s way, you won’t get God’s results. As I have said repeatedly in this series different mountains require a different strategy to deal with them. For me personally, a mountain that needs commanding is the hardest I have to deal with. I am not alone.