“how To Build A Faith That Moves Mountains”

“How to Build a Faith that Moves Mountains”

May 15, 2016

Hebrews 11:1-3, 6, 8-10, 13

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.”

Faith is so awesome! Have you ever had anyone have faith in you? Have you ever had anyone believe in you when no one else did? I have. My Mom and my wife are two people that I can think of right of the top of my head who have had faith in me. When someone has faith in you – it does something to you. It changes you! It strengthens you! It gives you courage to try what you may have thought impossible at one time.

That is how God wants us to live! He want us to live faithful and courageous lives. By the way, it takes courage to live by faith. But God expects it of us. He demands it of us. Did you catch that truth spoken in our Scripture? “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

The question we each need to ask ourselves is, “Am I living a life that pleases God?” Before we answer that question – I want to talk about the power of faith. Do you know you can move mountains with faith? Listen to these Scriptures.

“The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” Luke 17:5-6

“When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:14-20

Did you hear Jesus telling us we could move a mountain with just a little faith? We could uproot a tree and toss it into the ocean! We could cast out demons and heal the sick and give sight to the blind. There is power in the name of Jesus! There is power in faith in Jesus. Mark 10:51-52

I don’t know about you – but I WANT it! I want more of it! But what is “IT”? What is faith? When Jesus came to the disciples and asked for more faith – listen to what He said.

“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” Luke 17:7-10

Doesn’t that just bless your heart? That is Jesus’ answer to the disciples asking for more faith. Like so many of the deep spiritual truths – you have to seek before you find. You have to think and pray and ask for answers and knock until God reveals the truth to you personally. What Jesus is saying, I think, is when God reveals His will to you, you have to just obey. It doesn’t matter how you feel about it. It doesn’t matter if you ‘want’ to or not. It doesn’t matter if you think it is ‘fair’ or not, ‘right’ or not or whether you have important personal needs to take care of. He is the Master. We are unworthy servants. He speaks and we obey. End of story. We don’t obey out of love or because it is the right thing or any other reason. We obey because HE is God – and we are not! And when we do faith grows.