I want the mountain God has promised me
Illus.
A small congregation in the foothills of the Great Smokies built a new 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.
MOUNTAIN-MOVING FAITH
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 the pastor's 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!
Jeremiah 32:17 KJV
Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, [and] there is nothing too hard for thee.
Sometimes we try to make things hard for God to do, because with our limited thinking, we think there too hard to do. But as TBS "Nothing is to hard for God!"
Jesus came so we could experience the abundant life, Jesus came so we could all experience the promised land God has prepared for His Children!
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So if God has promised us the mountain, why do so many choose to live in the foothills? Instead of living on the mountain, with all the promises and benefits that God has already chosen to provide for us?
Psalms 68:19,20 NKJ
19 Blessed be the Lord,
Who daily loads us with benefits,
The God of our salvation! Selah
20 Our God is the God of salvation;
And to GOD the Lord belong escapes from death.
What exactly are the benefits that God makes available to us, each and everyday?
Because of our salvation experience and our relationship we have with God, we are not limited to a certain number of benefits. We are entitled to all of the benefits God has thought of, or created! Amen!
Kind of gives new meaning to Jeremiah 29:11 NRSV
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope!
The word Surely, defined as used in the scripture: used to emphasize the speaker's firm belief that what they are saying is true and often their surprise that there is any doubt of this. Long story short, God means what He says and expects us to take Him at His word!
There are some 1,500 promises in the Bible!
To name a few, God has promised us;
Love,
Grace,
Eternal Life,
Forgiveness,
Our Health,
Sound mind,
Favor,
Our needs to be met,
To give us the desires of our hearts,
The power to obtain wealth,
The measure of Faith to be able to believe all the good things He has created for and wants us to have and walk in!
All of the promises of God are summed up, in the two words Jesus came for and to deliver to us! ABUNDANT LIFE!!
John 10:10 NKJ
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
So why aren't more believers living the abundant life? Why aren't more believers experiencing the daily benefits that God is delivering to them everyday?
Its because their focusing more on themselves and the circumstances that are going on around them! The stealing, the killing and the destroying of the fruition of Gods promises and benefits from becoming real and tangible in their lives! Then they are the one who wants to be the changer of them
Numbers 13: 1,2,21,26-28, 30,31
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”
21 So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near the entrance of Hamath
26 Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there
30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.
The children of Israel found out like a lot of believers find out in their lives. Obtaining God's promises and walking into is promised land isn't always as easy as it might appear to be! However we're the ones who make it hard, not God!
But that doesn't make God's promises any less true, or believable, or obtainable! Because God's promises are yes and amen, concerning us!
The thing you have to remember concerning His promises is, that Gods promises are dependent on God. Not only supplying them to us, but also delivering them to us. Our part is to only believe that He will do what He says and promises He can and wants to do for us!
If they were only dependent on us being able to supply and deliver them, they wouldn't require any faith at all in God, only us.
Gods ways are greater than our ways, Gods thoughts are greater than our thoughts!
And we should thankful that they are and the fact that we are included in Gods thought process at all!
Let alone on the receiving end of them, if we can only have enough faith to believe we can be!! And we know we can, because God has already given us enough overcoming faith, for every situation we will ever come up against!
1st Kings 19:11,12 MSG
11-12 Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.”
A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.
Elijah, had been a part of and witnessed so many incredible things God had done. But Elijah had gotten sidetracked by his circumstances, like a lot of Believers get sidetracked by their circumstances.
The thing circumstances will do is take your focus off of the one who controls all circumstances and makes all things become possible!
Circumstances like to talk loud,
Circumstances like to dictate the outcome of the events that are happening right in front of you!
Circumstances like to think make you think, they are in control of every situation!
But behind the scenes it's a different story altogether, God is constantly saying you can do this! You have My overcoming DNA flowing through your blood, your muscles, every fiber of your being, your body soul and your mind!
You are wonderfully made, you are my workmanship, my pride and joy!
I have prepared this event for you and have well-equipped you to walk right in and seize the moment!
You may have been beaten down, kicked around and left by the wayside of life. But God says today is a brand-new day. Today is the day to start walking in the plans that I have created for you! To start enjoying the promises I have ready for you to walk into!
Text Illustration:
A pilot is flying over a mountainous terrain, and as he's flying, he looks down to see two vehicles driving down the highway.
The first vehicle is a semi-trailer, pulling his load up and down that ol' highway. The second vehicle is a sports car driven by a guy who's got better things to do than be stuck behind a semi that can't always maintain the speed limit up the mountain grades.
Well, what the pilot can see that the drivers can't is that there is no traffic coming the other way. The car could easily pass the truck with no danger.
The problem is that neither the truck nor the car driver can see that. They can only see what's immediately in front of them.
They can't see the big picture.
You see, we can only see things from our perspective. We don't see the big picture. Only God does. What we need to do is, look through our eyes of faith and trust what God sees, as if we see it ourselves!
Today is you're day to lay ahold of the mountain that has been promised unto you!
Isaiah 54:11-17 MSG
Afflicted city, storm-battered, unpitied:
I’m about to rebuild you with stones of turquoise,
Lay your foundations with sapphires,
construct your towers with rubies,
Your gates with jewels,
and all your walls with precious stones.
All your children will have God for their teacher—
what a mentor for your children!
You’ll be built solid, grounded in righteousness,
far from any trouble—nothing to fear!
far from terror—it won’t even come close!
If anyone attacks you,
don’t for a moment suppose that I sent them,
And if any should attack,
nothing will come of it.
I create the blacksmith
who fires up his forge
and makes a weapon designed to kill.
I also create the destroyer—
but no weapon that can hurt you has ever been forged.
Any accuser who takes you to court
will be dismissed as a liar.
This is what God’s servants can expect.
I’ll see to it that everything works out for the best.”
God’s Decree.
Just like in the illustration I shared with you at the beginning of the sermon. When the believers went to prayer and ask God to move the mountain and He answered their request in a miraculous way!
What will God do for you, when you pray and ask in faith to give you your mountain that's been promised to you?
Remember his ways are not your ways, his thoughts are not your thoughts, his methods are not your methods!
He is not limited by your understanding, so therefore you should not let your requests be limited by your understanding either!
With the measure of faith that God has given you, you can say to this mountain jump from here to there! The only thing you have to do is decide how high you want it to jump!
To say God is good God is an understatement! God is a great and fantastic God and deserves all our praise! Amen? Amen!
Let's pray!
