Mountains God Calls Us To Climb

MOUNTAINS GOD CALLS US TO CLIMB

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: CHATTER BOX

1. Have you ever known someone who talked non-stop? Like, they didn’t even seem to stop to take a breath?

2. A man named Sam had a wife like that. If you got on the phone it was at least an hour. She ended up injuring her jaw & had to go to the emergency room for an x-ray.

3. Her friend enquired, “Did they get a good x-ray of it?” Sam said, “They tried to but she talks so much that it ended up being a moving picture!”

B. THESIS

1. The term “mountain” designates an abrupt rise of the earth’s surface usually more than 2,000 feet. The Rocky Mountains frequently have heights of 13,000 feet or more.

2. Many people love to climb mountains for recreation. The taller the mountain, the more difficult the climb, and it requires more time, effort, and equipment to reach the summit.

3. The term “mountain” is also used as a descriptive word for challenges or troubles. Just like mountains seem gigantic and climbing them is a grueling process, so our trials and tests look huge and seem beyond our strength.

4. Each spiritual mountain is different, requiring new skills and approaches, and each summit has a different view than the others. At least 5 times in Scripture, God called His servants to climb a mountain.

5. Tonight we’re looking at 5 mountains peaks God wants us to climb; they are crucial milestones of spiritual growth in our lives.

6. These peaks aren’t about what we’ve done or what we’ll do, they’re about something far more important; these peaks are about what you are and who you are becoming. Let’s take a look at the “Mountains God calls us to Climb.”

I. MT. ARARAT: PRESERVATION IN TRIALS

A. FORGOTTEN BY GOD

1. Noah was the first one to have to make a journey to the top of a mountain. He got there by an unusual route. Gen 8:1-4 says “God remembered Noah…and on the 17th day of the 7th month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.” (height 16,854 feet)

2. Noah had been floating around for 5 months. This means that the rain had stopped 110 days before, but he seemed lost in a sea that had no end. Noah’s obedience to God had brought him into a place of isolation.

3. Noah felt forgotten. He heard nothing from heaven. God hadn’t told him how long he would be confined to the ark nor when or how he would be released.

4. Very good Christians have sometimes thought themselves forgotten by God. To Noah, the great flood lasted much longer than he thought it would. The only thing he had to hang on to was the promise God had given him.

B. GOD REMEMBERED NOAH

1. “But God remembered Noah.” In my own life these words have been a lifeline that sustained and enabled me to press on.

2. If God had called Noah into the ark and shut him in, then it would have to be God who would open the door and lead him out. The same thing happens to us in trials: we can’t get out of them – but in due time, God will bring us out.

3. Ararat was God’s safe Place, God’s preservation. Thank God He leads us beside the still waters and restores our souls, even in the midst of our trials!

II. MT. MORIAH

A. WHERE HEARTS ARE TESTED

1. In Gen. 22 God commanded Abraham to “take your son, your only son whom you love and go to the mountains of Moriah”.

2. Moriah is the mountain where we, as disciples of Jesus, willingly take all that is dear to us and offer it to God as a sacrifice, as a demonstration of our love.

3. Moriah is the place of personal sacrifice. It’s not a debate room; it’s a place of surrender. The Bible clearly tells us that, “you are not your own, you’ve been bought with a price.”

4. God’s purpose was to see if Abraham would be blindly obey. This is absolute trust. Moriah wasn’t a place of warm feelings; it was a place of dread, a place of tears. It wasn’t until Abraham raised the dagger to slay his son that God stepped in!

B. GIVING IT ALL

1. Sacrifice means that it costs us. When Jesus saw the widow give her two copper coins, He said of her, “she gave all that she had.” There are three kinds of giving:

2. A flint, when it’s struck against a hard surface, gives a spark. A sponge, when it is squeezed, when pressure is applied, disgorges its contents. But a flower that blossoms freely gives its perfumed odor.