God wants to give you Mountain Moving Faith
Mark 11:22-25
I have to confess this area of faith is sometimes difficult for me. Sometimes I seem to have a lot and other times it seems I have very little. I felt like we needed to set a date to get our new carpet and chairs, and so I said by last fall. But it didn’t happen. I was wrong, and it wasn’t God’s time. I knew we couldn’t afford to do it by then, but I wanted to stretch our faith by setting a goal. If God is in the goal you succeed and if not you don’t. But we haven’t given up, and it will happen in God’s time. Looking back I wonder if I really had faith for it, or just wanted it to happen. Do you ever struggle with faith like I do? God keeps bringing me back to the word when I need a faith lift. This is my favorite passage.
22 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. "
NIV
22 Jesus said to them, "Have faith in God! 23 I can guarantee this truth: This is what will be done for someone who doesn't doubt but believes what he says will happen: He can say to this mountain, 'Be uprooted and thrown into the sea,' and it will be done for him. 24 That's why I tell you to have faith that you have already received whatever you pray for, and it will be yours. 25 Whenever you pray, forgive anything you have against anyone. Then your Father in heaven will forgive your failures." God’s Word
1. He Gave You This Example to show you it is possible
A. He did it for the benefit of the disciples
B. He recorded it for us. 20 + years later
Transition: God wants to give you Mountain moving faith
2. He Gave You the Focus for this Faith (God)
-So often my lack of faith is because I’m looking at the problem and can’t even see a solution
-Or we look at our faith and say I don’t have it.
-or we look at our resources and say we can’t do it
Chorus
(E)Faith in God can move a mighty mountain,
(B7)Faith can calm the troubled (E)sea;
Faith can make a desert like a fountain,
(A)Faith can (F#m)bring the (B7)victo(E)ry.
Transition: God wants to give you Mountain moving faith
3. He Gave You a Promise to Claim
Transition: God wants to give you Mountain Moving Faith
4. He Gave You Authority to Speak for Him.
SPEAK to the mountain or problem/situation/circumstance and tell it to GO! We were created in the image of God with the ability to reason and speak. Use it. WHO CARES what other people think!
Several years ago I used to visit a nursing home near central El Paso. There was one ornery lady who would growl like a tiger. She was mean! It was clear that she was sick in her mind. Along with others, I would constantly pray for her deliverance. But she would push our hands away from her head as we prayed for her. Obviously she wasn't getting any better.
One warm afternoon--I'll never forget it--I sat across from her, separated by a long table, and this time I said to the demon bothering her, loudly enough so that she and the demon could hear but softly so as not to make a scene, "I command you, foul spirit, to come out of her."
She glared into my eyes, sulked...and said nothing! Before I walked away, I said, peering into her lifeless eyes, "Satan, this will be the last time that I will address you concerning this woman. I said that you had to leave, and you'll obey me. As far as I'm concerned, you're gone!" Then I left.
The following week as I was walking into the nursing home, the first person to catch my eye was this woman. Recognizing me, she lifted her hand high and said in Spanish, "I'm free! I'm totally free!"
Wow! We rejoiced in the Lord and had a wonderful time praising God. She stayed free and became one of the most active members of our group.
Tom Brown
SPEAK TO THE MOUNTAIN
1 From strength to strength we sometimes go, then again we're sinking low,
In the shadow of a mountain looming high above our heads.
We need not fear what lies ahead for the Word has clearly said,
That our faith would be sufficient to make the mountain disappear.
CHORUS:
Speak to the mountain, you'll not triumph over me.
Be thou removed from here to yonder disappear into the sea.
Speak to the mountain, speak with authority
And the mountain must move, and you shall claim victory.
2. In the midst of the battle, when the foe is gaining ground,
Look up and see the mighty hand of God reaching down.
Speak God's name, Satan trembles, speak God's word and watch him flee,
Once again our God delivers, the mountain crumbles at our feet. (Jeff and Sheri Easter)
Transition: God wants to give you Mountain Moving Faith.
5. He Gave you the Requirement - Believe and not Doubt
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" 20 So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:19-20
6. He Gave you the Launcher for Mountain Moving Faith -Prayer
7. He Gave Us a Warning about a Huge Hindrance -Unforgiveness
So do you think God wants to give you mountain moving faith? Still Unsure? Look at the alterative, do you think God wants us to Christians with weak, anemic faith unable to affect (change) our world for Him
So How does God want to give it to me.
1. Through His Word - Not automatic
-Miracles are not just for some by gone day in the past (What God used to do)
-Miracles are not for our entertainment
-Manual for Action John 14:12
2. Through Prayer - Listening
3. Testimonies of others - Read or Heard
4. Exercise it and speak it - Grows Gradually (David -lion - bear - Goliath -Saul -King)
-Faith always in Flux - Increasing or Decreasing -More we do the right things increasing
FAITH
A small congregation in the foothills of the Great Smokies built anew sanctuary on a piece of land willed to them by a church member.
Ten days before the new church was to open, the local building
inspector informed the pastor that the parking lot was inadequate for
the size of the building. Until the church doubled the size of the
parking lot, they would not be able to use the new sanctuary. Unfortunately,
the church with its undersized parking lot had used every inch of their
land except for the mountain against which it had been built. In order to
build more parking spaces, they would have to move the mountain out of
the back yard.
Undaunted, the pastor announced the next Sunday morning that
he would meet that evening with all members who had "mountain moving
faith."
They would hold a prayer session asking God to remove the
mountain from the back yard and to somehow provide enough money to have
it paved and painted before the scheduled opening dedication service the
following week. At the appointed time, 24 of the congregation's 300
members assembled for prayer. They prayed for nearly three hours. At
ten o'clock the pastor said the final "Amen."
"We'll open next Sunday as scheduled," he assured everyone.
"God has never let us down before, and I believe He will be faithful
this time too."
The next morning as he was working in his study there came a
loud knock at his door. When he called "come in," a rough looking
construction foreman appeared, removing his hard hat as he entered.
"Excuse me, Reverend. I'm from Acme Construction Company over
in the next county. We're building a huge new shopping mall over
there and we need some fill dirt. Would you be willing to sell us a
chunk of that mountain behind the church? We'll pay you for the
dirt we remove and pave all the exposed area free of charge, if we
can have it right away. We can't do anything else until we get the
dirt in and allow it to settle properly."
The little church was dedicated the next Sunday as originally
planned and there were far more members with "mountain moving faith" on
opening Sunday than there had been the previous week!
