Series: God’s Terms And Conditions [#1]
MOVING MOUNTAINS
Matthew 17:20
Introduction:
We recently got new cellphones. It was time, Karen’s flip phone had finally died. We signed a new contract with Sprint in West Virginia while visiting Tyler and everything seemed perfect; until I received my bill. The company added a $35 fee per phone to activate the phones. As you can guess, I was very unhappy with this and so I contacted the company. The person that helped me asked if I had read the Terms and Conditions at the bottom of my paperwork and my answer was no. I do the same thing you do- I sign at the bottom without ever really reading the Terms and Conditions. It’s that fine print that seems to get me every time, even if the print isn’t that fine.
Not only does Sprint’s Terms and Conditions cause me problems; but God’s does too. I have been told many times that God is unconditional and that’s not true. Yes, God’s love, mercy, and grace are unconditional; but God has made many conditional statements in the Bible and that is what we are going to examine over the next couple of weeks.
Matthew 17:20 (NIV)
“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.”
The Disciples had encountered a man who had a son that was demon possessed; but they could not cast the demon out. The man went to Jesus and told Him what was going on and that Jesus needed to heal his son. Jesus healed the boy and later the Disciples came to Jesus to find out why they couldn’t cast this demon out of the boy. Our text is Jesus’ reply. I want us to look at this conditional statement of Jesus.
If…
1. You have the faith as small as a mustard seed.
The mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds. Jesus is saying that it takes just a tiny bit of faith. What is faith? Faith is believing in something that none of your senses can pick up on. It takes faith to accept Jesus as your Savior. You need just a little faith to receive the then.
Then…
2. You can tell a mountain to be moved and it will move.
Now we may not have a lot of mountains around here; but I couldn’t move a sand hill if I wanted to. The mountains that Jesus is talking about are things that are blocking us.
Mountains are things like:
Death.
Sickness.
Troubles.
Hardships.
Family crisis.
Unpaid bills.
Rebellious children.
Lying friends.
I could go on and on concerning mountains; but how do we move them?
Mountain moving faith comes from looking at God, not looking at the mountain.
Mountain moving faith only comes as we walk with God.
