An old preacher once said Jesus never taught his disciples how
to preach, but how to pray. He did not speak much of what
was needed to preach well, but much of praying well.
To know how to speak to God is more than knowing how to speak
to man. Not power with men, but power
with God is the first thing Jesus loves to teach his
disciples how to pray, and that is true.
The Lord Jesus did teach his disciples how to pray, and he
instructed his disciples in the area of prayer on more than one
occasion. Such lessons are found
throughout his ministry. And even near the end of it.
And it may be striking to us to discover yet another set of
instructions on prayer at a site and during a time that is
presented before us in our text today.
And at first glance it may seem out of place.
And so I invite you to turn with with me to Mark 11 beginning in
verse 20, to consider these things further, Mark 11, verse
20. Father, from the bottom of our
hearts, we ask for your help in this message.
Our Lord, just inspire us to obey it and to believe it.
We need your help for this and we believe that it is for us.
At this time, as a church in Jesus name, we pray.
Amen. Mark 11/20 As they pass by in
the morning they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots
and Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree
that you cursed has withered and Jesus answered them.
Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever
says to this mountain be taken up and thrown into the sea, and
does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will
come to pass. It will be done for him.
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that
you have received it, and it will be yours, and whenever you
stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone.
Let me repeat that if you have anything against anyone, so that
your Father also, who is in heaven, may forgive you your
trespasses. This scene takes place the day
after Jesus entered into Jerusalem to cleanse the Temple,
and we learned that last. Week and we also.
Saw that after Jesus with his priestly purification completed
that cleansing, he retreated to another place, exiting the city
for another evening, most likely to Bethany again to be with his
friends. And as verse 20 informs us in
the morning, the day after they make their way, Jesus in the
12th back to Jerusalem, and they traveled on the same path that
they did when they saw the fig tree originally.
But as they journeyed, the disciple disciples made a
shocking discovery. The fig tree, that very same fig
tree that Jesus spoke to, has now shriveled up from its roots
up. And Peter was the one who
vocalized his wonder, and he sought the Lord's attention on
the matter. Rabbi, look, the fig tree that
you cursed. It has withered and
interestingly, after the disciples pointed to this object
of judgment, the Lord begins and elaborates on this teaching
about prayer as though the fig tree was the object lesson for
this truth, this mysterious yet powerful thing known as prayer.
Now if someone were to ask you, based on what we learned in the
past couple of weeks, what does the message of the miracle of
Jesus cursing the fig tree point to?
Your answer should be that the fig tree symbolized Israel's
religious hypocrisy and Christ's displeasure over her inexcusable
fruitlessness, ultimately resulting in judgment.
That's what that miracle was about, was pointing to a
fruitless religious system in the temple.
When you saw the temple, you saw a religious building, but when
you went into the temple you saw no fruit.
You would be right if that is your explanation.
You would be correct in your interpretation of this miracle.
Yet at the same time, Jesus seems to draw a different set of
truths from what we have concluded about it.
How do we make sense of this? The answer is found in Matthew's
explanation of the very same story.
So turn to Matthew chapter 21 and look at verse 20.
Just one verse and it'll make all the difference for us.
In Matthew 21 verse 20, Matthew writes when the disciples saw
it, they marveled saying how did the fig tree wither at once.
So Matthew expands on the story and the disciples here not only
marveled at the site that in such a short amount of time this
tree was put to death, they desired an explanation for it.
So what the fig tree symbolized is still Israel, but how it was
able to decay in such a way, according to the words of Jesus,
is the consequence of a power that was accessed through
prayer. But why teach on prayer now you
know, why wouldn't Jesus, just in a breath or two explain it
while they were making their way towards Jerusalem?
There are other pressing matters at hand.
Did we forget that what this conversation is and where it
happened and when it happened was just a few days, a few days
before Jesus would be betrayed, tortured, and put to death?
Is a message on prayer really necessary at this time?
Is it relevant Christ is about to complete his mission this
very same week? The answer to the relevance of
prayer at this time, and it being necessary, is a resounding
yes. Christ takes his time now to
build the faith of his disciples in the area of prayer for that
very same reason. He's about to physically depart
from them. All these disciples knew in
their relationship with Christ for years, Intimacy with Christ,
ministry for Christ was in the context of having Christ with
them all the time. And all of that was now ready to
change. So knowing that the Lord is
ready to now transition from being with them to being with
the Father and glory, he's preparing his servants.
He wants to prepare His friends on how they can access His
presence, enjoy His fellowship, and draw from His power, His
provision, His protection through prayer.
You know what this tells me right at the outset of our
message? Prayer is the means by which you
and I come closest to the Savior.
Prayer is the means by which you and I walk the closest with the
master. The disciples are now ready to
enter into an experience that you are very familiar with, that
you've only known your whole Christian life, namely walking
with Jesus without actually physically walking with Jesus.
And what the? Disciples were provided, has
been provided to you and I. This gift, this ever present
channel known as prayer, that at any time, at any place invites
his personal care and power into any situation that requires it.
And the disciples believed it. The disciples believed in this
thing called prayer the moment Jesus left them.
You remember where Jesus ascended.
We don't talk much about the ascension of Jesus, do we not?
We talk about what? His death?
Yes, his life, his burial, his resurrection, But his ascension?
That's for another message, for another time.
When Jesus bodily ascended into heaven and Acts 111, what do you
read in the next verses in Acts 112 to 14 that the disciples
returned to Jerusalem? They were rejoicing, and they
put themselves together in an upper room and in one accord
devoted themselves to prayer. The moment Jesus leaves, you
know what they do. They run to what He has given
them so that they can know His presence and access His divine
power. Prayer, Prayer.
As comforting, as exciting as that truth may be, Christ here
in our text clarifies that there are conditions to knowing the
full potential of this reality. Prerequisites, if you will, to
knowing prayer with answers. And that's precisely what I want
to speak to you about today. I want to base on this text from
the words of Jesus. Draw out for us three
requirements, three conditions, not just for prayers being
heard, not just for prayers being answered, but for prayers
to move mountains. And so we come back to our text
and we look at the first thing. What does Christ demand of me to
pray in such a way where mountains can move?
Saying what do you mean by mountains?
We'll just stay awake for the midpoint of the message and
you'll know what I'm speaking about with mountains.
Jesus tells us in verse 22 of the first thing as he teaches on
prayer that is needed of us to see things happen in our lives.
And Jesus answered them have. Faith in God.
Have faith in God. That seems very simple.
Let me give you a heads up. The three points are very
simple. And guess what?
I'm happy it's simple. I'm happy It's not some
elaborate exercise to try to get God's hand to move in my life.
Here's step number one for you and I have.
Faith in God. For Jesus to say this right from
the beginning indicates that the disciples and making the comment
about the fig tree demonstrate it's a symptom of a lack of
faith in the full potential of God's power.
Rabbi, look, the fig tree withered the one that you
cursed. Matthew says how did you do
this? Now if you're coming up near the
end of Jesus ministry, you're you're reaching there the
three-year mark. You would think that the
disciples have settled in their minds and their hearts, that
Christ and his word has all power and authority over
everything, not just over demons, not just over sickness,
but over creation itself. You would think that they would
have determined that. But here we find them
struggling, trying to comprehend how this came to be.
And we can be a little bit lenient here and understanding
because this is a unique miracle.
Jesus determining and deciding an object with his power to be
judged directly. Very uncommon as we learned.
So the disciples asked and Jesus here is gently teaching them and
reminding them that this was possible.
Disciples, this was possible because of God.
Now how does that tie into prayer?
Very simple. When you have a limited view of
God's power, character will it will ultimately limit how you
pray. Notice that Jesus did not say
have faith in. Prayer.
Is that what he said? Have faith in prayer?
No, he said. Have faith in God.
God is the object of your trust, even in the area of prayer.
Have faith in God. At the end of the day, how you
pray is determined by what you know and what you believe about
the Lord. And This is why having faith in
God is the bedrock for mountain moving prayer and it's mentioned
as the first thing for a reason. Can I ask you something?
What do you know about God? What do you know about his
character? What do you know about his
nature? What do you know about what he
has done throughout history? And what you know about that is
one thing, but believing he did it is another.
You see, growing in your knowledge of God in His Word and
thriving in prayer go hand in hand because as your knowledge
of God grows, so does your confidence in His ability and
willingness to intervene on your behalf.
And I think about Paul's words about the whole Bible, yes, but
specifically the Hebrew scriptures, where he says in
Romans 15 verse four that these things have been given to us for
our encouragement. Not just to stuff your head with
knowledge. No, no.
You can read the Old Testament and be filled with encouragement
and surely encouraged in how God has moved and worked in the
lives of others through and in His people.
Defending them, providing for them.
You can be encouraged. You know, some people treat the
Bible as a museum. They just look at it and see
history and say, oh, isn't that nice?
It's not just a museum. It's not just a testimony of
what he's done, But if who he is today, And I'm thinking and
meditating on this, have faith in God, how does my knowledge of
God fuel my faith in God so that I can express it in prayer to
God? And one guy came to mind.
He's not referenced much. But oh, he's mentioned in the
Bible. Nehemiah.
Go to Nehemiah chapter 2 to see how knowledge of God can help
you relate to God. In the area of communion with
God, Nehemiah 2 one and Two. Before Nehemiah 2, there's
Nehemiah one. How about that?
In Nehemiah chapter one, we learned that Nehemiah while in
exile serving the king, a Pagan king.
Was informed by some of his brethren that traveled to
Jerusalem, of the desolation of the city, the holy city.
The walls are down. They're defenseless, they're
vulnerable. They're an object of scorn and
mockery. Nehemiah is so overcome by this
that he begins to weep and set apart time for fasting and
prayer. And when you read there in the
beginning of Nehemiah one, you were told the day that he begins
to do that. And then you come to Nehemiah 2
and you see another date not meant to be glanced over, but to
consider the significance of Nehemiah's devotion in the month
of Nissan and the 20th year of kings Artaxerxes.
You know what that means. When you compare Nehemiah 2/1
with Nehemiah one the first few verses, you learn that Nehemiah
has been praying and has been weeping and has been seeking God
for months. Months when wine was before him
because he was a cup bearer. When wine was before him, I took
up the wine and gave it to the king.
Now I had not been sad in his presence and the king said to
me, why is your face sad? Seeing you are not sick?
This is nothing but sadness of the heart.
Then I was very much afraid. So Nehemiah here is doing what
you were supposed to do when you served.
Monarchs and kings of ancient times show that you are enjoying
what you are doing for the king. And then he learns because this
Pagan king, yes, though a Pagan was discerning why is your face
down? And it's not because you're not
feeling well. I can tell that it's because
your heart is heavy. And we're told that Nehemiah was
afraid when this man made that observation.
Because you also know this about ancient royalty, that it didn't
take very much for them to make rash and severe verdicts
whenever they were not pleased with someone or something.
And so now Nehemiah is not only sorrowful for what's happening
to his people, now he is concerned about his own
well-being. And so he musters up the courage
to say something in verse three. I said to the king, let the king
live forever. Why should not my face be sad
when the city, the place of my father's graves, lies in ruins
and its gates have been destroyed by fire?
Then the king said to me, what are you requesting?
And here it is. So I prayed to the God of
Heaven. You know what that doesn't mean?
So I pray to the God of Heaven. It doesn't mean that Nehemiah
asked to retreat to his room for a few days.
And to seek God so that he can have a more refined answer.
Now this was an opportunity of a lifetime.
This was a window that was open, and it could be shut in the very
same moment. And so Nehemiah knew that he had
to take advantage of. This and so right there as he
stood before the king, surprised by his somewhat compassionate,
probing praise. He prays right there and then,
and we see here that within the mixture of fear and excitement,
Nehemiah speaks to the king of kings as he stands before this
king and we're not told what he prayed.
I can make a safe guess that it's somewhere along the lines
of courage, somewhere in the ballpark of wisdom, so he can
give the right answer to this man and not blow this chance.
You see you. Look at this and you think to
yourself, why is this mentioned here?
Is it important? Yes, it's important.
He gave it to us in our Bibles for a reason.
Not to just see what he has done, but who he is now, what
he's able to do today. You know what the sacred snippet
of the Bible teaches me, at least, that wherever I am,
whoever I stand before, no matter what I am feeling, I can.
Spontaneously. I can internally.
I can even briefly lift my request before the God of heaven
and earth. And he'll hear me.
You look at Nehemiah chapter one and you see a man who spent days
and time alone crying out to the Lord, and we even get a long
description of what his prayer look like.
And then the next chapter you have this Just a little breath,
a whisper of prayer, and both are just as recognizable by God.
So this this man in this very moment, I'm just giving you an
example of how this can feed your faith in God, to trust in
God. The God of Nehemiah, who heard
Nehemiah is my God, is my God. So before I step into that
office, before I step into that room, before I make this
confrontation, before I hear this news, I can pray to my God
right there and then. And God will hear it.
He will turn his ear, yes, even from his throne above.
And I have his full attention. So now my view of prayer based
on that, just because I decide to have my devotions in the book
of Nehemiah. Now my view of God has expanded
the ability of God. The ever loving presence of God
and knowledge of God is now equipped in my faith, furnishing
in my trust. Have faith in God.
What do you know about him? What do you believe about him?
Are you able to look at situations that related to
things in the word of God? If you don't have faith in God
then you won't be able to do the next thing.
The next thing for mountain moving prayer to be a reality is
to identify and express your need.
Look at verse 23 again of Mark 11.
Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain be taken
up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but
believes that what he says will come to pass.
It will be. Done for Him.
Now, before we get into the practicality of this, let's
clarify what Jesus is speaking about.
I can assure you that He's not giving you a secret to tapping
into some kind of ability to shift nature or to move
geographical boundaries. That's not what the Lord is
getting at here, because prayer does not promise us to tap into
something, to perform pointless stunts.
What Jesus is saying here is a figure of speech that was common
in his day and is common in the scriptures.
Most of us know this verse I'm going to.
I'm going to ask you to complete it, not by might nor by power,
but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.
That's Zechariah 46. But do you know what comes after
Zechariah 4/6? Because it'll give us insight
into what Jesus is saying here. Not by might nor by power, but
by my spirit, says the Lord of Hosts.
We'll go to Zechariah 47 to see the rest of it.
Let me read verse 6 to connect it.
Then he said to me, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel
of Zechariah 46. Not by might nor by power, but
by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.
Who are you? O Great Mountain, before
Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain, and he shall bring
forward the top stone amid shouts of grace, grace to it.
What is this great mountain that the Lord personifies?
And what does it mean for this great mountain to be made a
plain? Well, there's a hint in verse
seven that gives us an idea of the context.
He says in the latter part, and he, being Zerubbabel, shall
bring forward the top stone amid shouts of grace, grace to it.
Now, when you build a structure from the base level up, at that
foundational level, there is a cornerstone.
Christ is our cornerstone, right?
We believe that, and that's in the scriptures as well.
But when that building comes to its completion, and when it's
ready to be finished, you can place a top stone, and that
indicates that it is in fact completed.
And this is what he's speaking about, that Zerubbabel is going
to take a top stone and place it.
We're talking about a building here.
We're talking about an actual structure, as we're about to
discover in the next two verses. So what building are we talking
about here? What the wider context is,
indicating that it's the temple. Zerubabel was a man among the
Exiles that left Babylon and came back to Jerusalem, and not
only was he in exile that returned back to the holy city,
he was a leader. He was a leader who supervised
the reviving of the temple structure.
In fact, Haggai tells us that he was one of the governors.
He was a governor in Judah, and so Zerubbabel here played an
instrumental role in seeing this thing come back to life.
But that plan, that project, saw many great obstacles.
All you have to do is read the book of Ezra to see most of it.
There was legal issues. There was political interference
that put a pause on the project. On top of that, you had gentile
persecution, verbal accusations and slanders and actual physical
threats. And more than that, you read
Haggai and you had internal problems.
You had the people of God who got lazy and distracted.
And So what happens? They start beautifying their own
homes and neglecting the House of God.
And Haggai has to come and say, hey, what are you guys doing?
Get back to what matters the most.
So you have all these things, all these problems that became
insurmountable. No human effort can be
implemented to overcome this problem, these series of
problems that piled up on each other.
And that's what the Lord is alluding to when he's speaking
about this great mountain, this great mountain that's facing
Zerubba as a leader who's trying to honor God with this house,
with the people who have vacillating commitment, with
outsiders who don't want to see God's house built, with even
leaders who with one letter, one word can stop your construction
project, this great mountain. And the Lord says Zerubbabel,
I'm going to make it a plain, I'm going to, I'm going to add
grace and ease to this. Where there was such difficulty
and hindrance, I'm going to make it disappear.
That's confirmed in verse eight and nine.
Look, Zechariah 4/8 and 9:00. Then the word of the Lord came
to me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the
foundation of this house. His hands shall also complete
it. Then you will know that the Lord
of hosts has sent me to you. I bring this to your attention
to say that the imagery of a great mountain was used by the
Spirit to speak of a major barrier, A towering hindrance
that stood in the way of the will of God being expanded and
advanced. And this is a good reason to
believe that when Jesus spoke of uprooting mountains, he was
Speaking of prayer, having the ability to flatten any
intimidation, any overwhelming difficulty that tried to block
you and I from enjoying God's purposes.
So we're not talking about physical hills here, We're
talking about real life, almost impossible to deal with problems
with. That being said, the Lord
translate. It's that hyperbolic statement
in verse 23, right? Whoever says to this mountain be
thrown into the sea. He translates that analogy to
real life application. And what's the application?
Look at verse 24 of Mark 11. Therefore meaning based on what
you just heard about speaking to mountains and seeing them moved
into the sea, tossing to the side.
Therefore, based on that, here's what I'm about to say this say
to you about this. Therefore I tell you whatever
you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will
be yours. That's how you apply this.
To see mountains moved to be brought down, to be moved to the
side is through prayer. And that's our second
application to seeing God do that in our lives.
Mountain Moving Prayer. Means you actually have to pray
about it. That's almost silly to say as a
point, right? A message on prayer.
One of your points is pray. Not very profound, but you and I
are aware that human nature is capable of being so shaken, so
disturbed, so drained, when troubles arise that to actually
bring it and to place it at the feet of the Lord is sometimes
and oftentimes an afterthought. And even with some no thought at
all. Whatever you ask in prayer, let
me remind you that moving mountains, any impossibility
that drops into your ministry, any mountain that is stretching
higher and wider in your marriage, any mountain that's
meddling with your children, anything that's trying to
frustrate your business, or any other category Jesus says,
Whatever you ask in prayer will not be moved unless you ask,
Will not move an inch unless you ask.
Mountains don't move when you complain about the mountains.
Mountains don't move when you stay up all night tossing back
and forth about the mountain. Mountains don't move when you
torchingly return to the drawing bar board.
Try to find a different solution in your own strength and human
wisdom. Mountains are moved according to
Christ. When you open your heart before
the Lord and spill out your needs and your concerns, and you
say, Lord, you have to do something about this.
And like I said, we can get so caught up in our thinking, so
caught up in talking to others about it, that we have no energy
left to say, You know what? This Wednesday night, I know
Church has a prayer meeting. I'm going to show up, get with
brothers and sisters, kneel on this carpet and ask God to do
something. That's not to say that you don't
plan. That's not to say that you don't
invite the council of people. But listen to this.
There are some situations in life where your plans or the
plans of others can't do a thing about it.
That's what Jesus is speaking about here.
Can you imagine moving a mountain?
How silly would that look? Placing your bare little hands
on the east side of that hill and trying to move it.
He's giving this hyper relief for for a reason.
There are things in life that are like, that's like you can't
go anywhere. I'm standing before this thing
and I'm living in its shadow. What am I to do?
Ask the God who made the mountain.
Ask the God who has power over the mountain.
Ask well, God is sovereign and truly, if he desires to do
something in my life for his will to be accomplished that I
don't see the need to ask. That's not how the economy of
faith works in God's Kingdom, God has His will, and God will
do things with His common grace in our lives.
But there are some things that can only be unlocked.
When you hit the. Floor with your knees.
Figure that out in your theology if you will.
I take the words of Jesus literally and seriously.
I'm reminded of 6 words. 6 words that Hezekiah, another king,
heard from the prophet Isaiah when he was visited by
skyscraper situation where you could not look to anything else,
outnumbered by the armies of Assyria.
Intimidated, fearful, pushed in the corner and here's this is
precious. I mean this is wonderful.
Isaiah 37, verse 21. When I was looking at this
point, it was these 6 words that rang through my heart.
And Isaiah 3721. Then Isaiah the son of Amos sent
to Hezekiah saying, Thus says the Lord of God of Israel.
Hear the words because you have prayed to me concerning Seneca,
king of Assyria. You see that because you have
prayed to me, implying what if he had not prayed?
There wouldn't have been an answer.
Did God see the trouble? Did God see his city being
surrounded? Did God see that they were going
to be absolutely swallowed by foreign enemy?
You better believe it. But it wasn't until he heard the
voice of a man saying, God, these are the threats of the
king of Assyria. I'm concerned about your glory.
What are you going to do? Lord, you need to do something
about this. And the prophet comes with a
pure true word from the Lord. Hezekiah, because you have
prayed to me. Watch me now.
Do you know how freeing that is? Do you know how freeing that is
in so many ways? What if God doesn't answer?
Well, I did my part because you have prayed.
Because you have prayed. I'm not willing to live my life
thinking, what if I had prayed? I'm going to pray about it.
I'm going to bring it before God.
And stand back and see if you'll give me instruction about it, or
if you'll tell me to just stay there, be quiet, and watch me
move. We come back to what Jesus says
here in our text in verse 24. Therefore I tell you whatever
you. Ask in prayer.
Believe that you have received it and it will be yours.
So not just to pray about it, but to pray about it in a
certain way, with expectation, with expectation.
I'm believing that if I pray about this, God is going to give
it. Some of us are offended by that,
but God invites us into that. And you're saying, well, are you
saying that if I pray hard enough and long enough and
passionately enough and desperately enough that God will
give me whatever I want? No, prayers of faith will never
fulfill desires of the flesh? Do you see who Jesus is speaking
to when he gives these instructions as you speak, on a
mountaintop with thousands of people there with questionable
motives? Yes, this is applied to us, and
yes, this is applied to readers of the Bible.
But it's to these disciples who have sold everything to follow
Christ, who have determined that their future will be framed by
one aim, advancing the gospel even unto death, who have said
no to the world and yes to the Messiah.
When you have that as your life, when your heart has determined
that in your relationship with Christ, that's going to
formulate how you pray, so this isn't a blank check for just
anybody. This is for those who, like the
disciples, have decided to follow Jesus, make their life
about Jesus, and live to please Jesus.
When? When that's there, then this
applies to you because you're going to pray differently than
the person who's half in with Jesus.
Not going to happen. Whatever you ask my followers
who are living to serve me, who when I leave will truly take
this to heart. I'm going to be behind it.
Pray with expectation, Pray with longing.
Come to the place like Nehemiah where your reflex when trouble
visits you when you were surprised by something.
Go Lord, you got to do something here.
Oh Lord, help me. Oh, what a wonderful thing it
would be if. And I believe it is here.
If every home here had that mom and dad know.
Kids get around, we got to pray. We have some troubles here with
our finances. Nothing to worry about, but
let's bring it to the Lord when that report comes in over the
phone. And it's a.
Tragedy to your family when the church When the church needs
something, we need something, do we not?
You were here for the announcements, right?
I forgot what it was. What do we do, God?
You see us where? Are we going to go in this
market? What are we going to do at this
time? We have no idea.
Good ask. Come to me.
Bring it to me. I think this message is
providential. I don't know about you.
I was floating since I've been studying it all week.
Yes, OK. Lord, this great mountain will
be made a plain, not by your might, not by your power, but by
my spirit, says the Lord. Well, if you want to see the
Spirit work, you got to partner with the Spirit.
And so we see here that the Lord gives this very simple
condition, but one that we often miss.
Whatever you ask, you got to ask.
Take that thing, whatever that mountain is called, and bring it
to him. Say, Lord, this.
I've read about you. I've heard things about you.
I've listened to enough sermons. I've read church history.
I've studied revivals. Now here's my own mountain.
Here's what's happening. Lord, do something.
And I believe with all my heart, because I have studied you, that
this is nothing to you. That's the kind of prayer that
moves mountains. Not half hearted, not
distracted. Not all.
You know, it's the right thing to do to pray.
Not when somebody asks you to pray.
You're like, yeah, how am I going to say no?
What kind of Christian. Yeah.
Let's pray about it.
Thank you, Lord. OK.
Thanks, buddy. All right.
Yeah. That doesn't move.
Nothing. Desperate, humble, broken, fully
convinced, kind of praying. I believe God can do something
about it. Well, does it have to be big for
God to do something about it? Not necessarily, whatever you
ask in prayer. Whatever you ask in prayer, as
one writer said, let. Everything in your life come
under the care of prayer. Just smother it all, Submerge it
all. You got to buy a new car, pray
about it. Why not?
Think about where to move? Pray about it.
Why not? Kids being bullied, pray about
it. Why not?
You're invited to pray for whatever.
Pray. Pray in the moment.
Take time to pray about it like Nehemiah.
Just pray and watch God move. I can take the next 10 minutes
to tell you about stories, stories, personal stories.
How God has shown himself true. Everything from new boots.
As some of you heard that story, I won't bore you with it again.
New boots. To new cities, new locations.
From little problems that I need for the day to be solved, to big
problems where I don't know where I'm going to be for the
rest of my life If this is not solved, whatever you ask in
prayer invite. Me into it.
But we have one more step, one more condition for mountain
moving prayer. The first was to have faith.
Not in prayer, not in your devotion.
In God, grow in your knowledge of God and watch your strength
and your confidence and prayer also grow, but from there to
also identify and express your need with expectancy.
Lastly, live repentedly. Before God, verse 25 of Mark 11
And whenever you stand praying, that was a common posture,
praying of that time forgive if you have anything against
anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven, may forgive
you your trespasses. This final condition here is so
important having. Faith in God is foundational.
Identifying and expressing your need to God is essential, but
without recognizing this you will not be able to move A.
Pebble Unless we take heed to what the Lord is saying.
The Lord essentially in a general way, is saying if you
are willing to justify holding on to sin, then you forfeit your
access to miraculous problem solving.
Mountain moving prayer, that's what you forfeit.
And that's that's a threat throughout the Bible.
Even in First Peter 3 when we're told about husbands and how they
should relate to their wives, you know what the threat was for
husbands. They don't live in an
understanding way with their wives.
Your prayers won't be heard. I had a friend who told me he
was recently getting married. So are you excited to get
married? He's like, yeah.
I'm kind of nervous too. So why?
I was expecting difference And he says remember that passage
and. And Peter, because, look, I'm
becoming one with somebody else, and I've never obviously done
this before, and I'm just, I just want to make sure that God
gives me the strength so that my prayers are not hindered based
on how I treat my wife. Wow.
You know what that tells me about that man, about the Bible
declares about prayer. That prayer should be so
valuable to you, that threat should be legitimate.
Huh. Do you feel that when you read
that? Passage.
The way you treat your spouse will determine how God will hear
you. Does that cause you to be like,
hey honey, can we talk? Some people have such a low view
of prayer they can read past that and not be moved an inch.
You have not experienced what prayer can do.
You have not tasted His presence in the secret place.
You've not. Seen it for you not to feel
something like that. And so Jesus now comes and his
final condition. And he says, if you're willing
to hold on to sin, you're willing to let go of this gift,
not your salvation, but this gift, your experience of God
through this life. But what He has specifically in
view here is the issue of unforgiveness.
And what the Lord essentially is getting at is if we are
determined to withhold mercy and grace from another, you should
not be surprised when God withholds His blessing from you.
I love the Book of Job for many reasons.
It's such a unique book. But what moves me about the Book
of Job is how it ends. Because if you want one word to
describe the ending of Job, it's this restoration, restoration,
restoration. And it's multifaceted.
Turn with me to Job as we close this service.
Job, Job 42 and verse 7. After the Lord had spoken these
words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Timonite.
My anger burns against you and against your two friends.
For you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job
has now therefore take seven bulls and seven Rams and go to
my servant Job and OfferUp a burnt offering for yourselves.
And my servant Job shall pray for you.
For I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to
your folly. For you have not spoken of me
what is right, as my servant Job has.
In these verses God refers to Job as my servant 4 times.
My servant, my servant, my servant, my servant.
He speaks to these three friends.
Interestingly, he doesn't bring up Eli.
Who the the youngest one out of them.
We can talk about that another time.
But these three friends, and he tells them you're wrong, and I'm
going to vindicate the innocence of my servant.
And the way I'm going to do that is have you humble yourself to
come before him and to seek his pardon, His forgiveness
expressed through prayer. And when you do that, then I
will hear you and I will answer you.
In other words, what the Lord is teaching these people here is
that to be reconciled with Job is necessary before you seek to
worship and receive anything from Me.
And so they went, and they did so.
And as much as Job's prayer was a condition for these men to
experience renewal, right it's it's pretty clear plain this is
the part that moves me Job praying for His friends was
necessary for him to know renewal.
Him praying was not just for his friends to experience
restoration with God. Him willing to pray for them was
also necessary. For him to know the fullness of
restoration, prove it. Look at verse 10.
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had
prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as
much as he had before. It's clear Job's fortunes were
not restored until until he prayed for his friends.
So God was not willing to move on behalf of these friends.
And God was not willing to move into the life of Job to the
fullest extent until they reconciled.
You have to go and acknowledge my my servant Job was innocent,
you were wrong and accusing him. And you read about all those
accusations throughout Job and Job.
My servant, before I restore to you anything, forgive them.
This man was not just blistered with actual sores, but was
harassed by the railing slander of these friends.
Cough. It up job.
You can't experience all this without being a Sinner in
secret. What did you do?
Did you sleep with somebody else's wife?
Did you rip off the poor? But you?
Blasphemy. God.
Cough it up, man. Imagine your friends doing that.
The Council of Job's friends was best when they were silent for
several days. Problems arose when they began
to speak up. Imagine all of this.
Imagine the bitterness, the resentment, the anger.
I spent all those chapters telling you that I, my
conscience, am innocent and you didn't believe me.
Now you want me to pray for you on top of it?
You know, prayer is one of the strongest indications that you
have forgiven somebody. Prayer for that person is one of
the strongest marks that you have moved from resentment to
relief. You know what?
This truth makes me wonder? How much blessing is being kept
from those because they have not yet prayed for others who have
hurt them? Personally, I stepped back and
thought, Lord, far be it from me that if in my heart I'm holding
something against someone and that resulting in you holding
back something from me, you know that might be true of you today.
Be a Christian long enough and you will know pain and hurt.
Even if you're not a Christian, if you do not let go, God will
not be able to open the floodgates.
If you cannot stand in prayer and forgive, then God will not
give you the solution to that mountain.
That can all change today, though.
You know why? Because this lesson on prayer
with the withered fig tree immediately follows Jesus
cleansing the temple. And you know what Jesus said
when he cleanse the temple, my house shall be called what?
A House of prayer. How fitting.
My house shall be called the House of prayer.
Now let me teach you about prayer.
And here you are in the new covenant in the House of God.
I'm going to challenge you to do something today.
Instead of just wrapping this up, having two songs and going
our merry way, I'm going to ask you if you want this kind of
heavenly favor over your life, to forgive, to forgive people
who have. Said things about you who have
done things to you who have stolen from you, who have tried
to kill you and. Say, Lord, I want to be free.
I want to be free. And that might be for some of
you, but you know what was going to be for all of us, because
there's going to be a two-part response to this message.
The first one is for all of us to to sit still and to get right
with the Lord in this area. I refuse to live my life with
blockage vertically because I'm not willing to let go
horizontally. And we can go in the next 30
minutes about what forgiveness looks like.
Let me tell you what forgiveness isn't.
It isn't you not feeling pain, even if it's been years since
you've been hurt. It's not you forgetting what
happened either. Forgiveness is you saying.
I refuse to entertain, to wallow, to enjoy the thought and
even to plan revenge. That's I'm done.
It's not. It's not up to me.
I refuse. And one of the ways in which you
know you're free from that. Because sometimes unforgiveness
is empowering. That's why we hold on to it.
We think about and we play these things in our minds, and we
almost wish harm upon those who have hurt us.
And that thing needs to be broken.
And the way one of the ways in which there is light now and
there is freedom is that you could say Lord, so and so.
I'm asking that you have mercy on them genuinely from my heart.
And one of the motivators for that is how many times have I
failed you? And you've extended mercy to me,
over and over and over. And if you feel like that is not
even enough motivation to forgive another person, revisit
the absolute holiness of God and realize just how heinous and
evil even the smallest offences are to him.
And realize he takes you back every time.
Every time he doesn't put you in a penalty box for a few days,
they prove yourself and then we can go back at this thing.
The moment you say forgive me goes I've forgiven you.
Let. Fuel your forgiveness in that
place. Say, Lord, forgive.
Forgive them. Bless them, not bless them while
they remain in their sin. Lord, be kind to them.
And instead of extending judgment to them, would you so
overwhelm them with your mercy that their hearts melt and
they're restored to you? Do that for them, please.
That's the type of prayer of a person who is forgiven.
That's the first part. Second part is this church.
Aren't you excited that we have a great mountain before us in
this next year? We do.
And don't think that we just started off this campaign with a
lengthy announcement and we're just going to revisit it once or
twice. No, we got to.
Pray. And we got to say, Lord, here we
are, NBC and here's a mountain. Do something, Lord do.
If you don't come through, we're finished here, we don't come
through. We're going to get a lot of
tickets on our cars. Lord, you need to come through.
Lord, we're. Grateful for the space.
But look, it's been 3 weeks in a row and people are still back
there. Lord, you got to come through.
We're going to do that. So here's what we're going to
do, OK? We're not in a rush, right?
It's the Lord's there, right? Good.
I'm. Going to ask.
For one or two of the musicians to play gently, just for the
sake of limiting distraction. I'm going to ask every single
one of you before we move that second part as a church crying
out to the Lord for you to think about that last part.
Having faith in God and and identifying and expressing your
need to God won't go anywhere unless you first forgiven.
Let your heart be set free today with that truth.
Give them to the Lord. Bless them, Pray for your
enemies. Our Jesus said, what do you pray
for? Lord?
I'm praying for my enemies. No, pray for them and then we'll
transition and say here we are. Lord, our hearts are clean.
We've released this and now we come and we say, please help us
with this mountain. Make this great mountain into a
plain. Oh God, I'm so excited to do
this today. Come ahead, Miss Houston's.
Yes, and just do that. Don't distract anybody.
Let them be with the Lord in this.
And in a few moments, I'll come back up here and give us
instructions on how we'll close out the service.
Spend time with God. Well we put these names before
your throne. It might have been parents,
might have been siblings, might have been church people, might
have been a pastor, an elder, a Deacon, a Co worker, a boss.
Lord, well, we just bring them to you now.
We say, God, we forgive them, and we want you to bless them.
We want you to have mercy on them.
We want them to be overcome by your love.
Lord, we ask that they would not remain in their sin, that they
would no longer justify the things that they've not even
done to us, but that Lord, in your kindness you would lead
them to repentance. We do not wish for judgment upon
them, but for your mercy to triumph instead.
Lord, let this be the defining moment for some, perhaps to know
a freedom that they've never experienced before.
We will not steal from you, Lord.
You said vengeance is mine, says the Lord, and I will repay.
We give that right to you. We don't even want that to be in
our imagination, never mind scheming and hoping.
Lord, we don't want to murder their reputation.
We don't want to continue speaking about the hurt that
they've done to us. Lord.
If there's going to be any energy spent on those people who
have hurt us is to pray. Help us do that, That in every
complaint that comes from our heart and every remembrance that
only strengthens our bitterness, we would say, Lord, please heal
me and heal them. Bring us to that place, Lord, a
freedom, and help us believe that you've set a principle with
Job's life that fortunes are released when we have that
release. We don't want anything to get in
the way. Lord, between you for giving us,
you answering us, us having your full pleasure reigning over our
lives. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Church, would you stand with me?
We're going to now get into the second part of this and as the
precinct comes up, as we're ready to.
Sing and closing. I want us to.
I want us to really pray. Pray with expectation.
God owns everything. And you read the story of Ezra
and Nehemiah and even Hagai. You realize that God is
sovereign over the kings of Persia, the kings of Babylon,
over every politician, and in our context, every village.
This is not just a time for us to see how God will come through
with resources. This is a time, I believe with
all my heart designated to see what God will do with prayer,
what God will do with prayer when the church prays.
And so I'm just asking you now with full attention, just to
engage in this act of faith, to pray.
And so give your complete focus with me now as we turn to the
Lord. This isn't showmanship.
This isn't just the emotional way of ending a service, really,
to pray. My house shall be called the
House of Prayer. God longs to hear our voices
this Sunday afternoon. Lord, we look to you with
absolute trust in you. We have read of you and we have
heard of you. You are the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. You are the God of Joseph.
You are the God of Daniel. You are the God of Isaiah.
Jeremiah Ezekiel, you are the God who has heard many prayers,
the prayers of individuals, the prayers of your people, Israel
and Lord. You are the same God today who
now in the New Covenant has given us the access to you.
The access that's not limited to a temple, the access that's not
gained through several sacrifices, but through the
blood of your son, the once and for all sacrifice.
We have boldness and confidence to come before your throne.
Lord, you know our hearts. You know that we love the
gospel. We love your word.
We want to be holy. We want to please you.
And, Lord, we have a need. We have a need today.
Lord, we thank you for the growth in this church.
We thank you for the people that you're changing.
We thank you for the maturity that's being realized in our
faith as we gather week after week.
But, Lord, we are limited today. We're being strained today,
Lord. We have great hopes and dreams
and desires for your will, O God, and for your name's sake.
So, Lord, we ask that you make this great mountain into a
plain. And we pray, Lord, from the
bottom of our hearts, that we would see a miracle of
provision. And that, Lord, you would
highlight and make known a place that you have designated for
Maranatha Bible Church. Lord, we will not fear nor fret.
Help us remember that as we advance your Kingdom, Satan will
not sit idly by. He will seek to frustrate and
divide. And agitate.
Our own hearts and the hearts of the people here gathered.
So Lord, help us be equipped, equipped with the full armor of
God, mindful that although this is a nice desire to ask for,
this is war with the Kingdom of darkness.
And so we pray for protection over our minds, our hearts, our
unity, our love against persecution that would try to
hinder us meeting here peaceably.
And we pray, Lord, that you would come through in a way
that's undeniable. Let there be no confusion that
when this does happen that you're the one who did it.
This is our desire, Lord, that in 2024, leading into 2025,
there would be an amazing testimony in the Chicagoland
area. And that Lord, when you do bring
us through and people ask when did you come here and how did
you come here? We'd be able to say, listen to
what God has done. This is our yearning and our
plea, Lord, And we ask, believing that you will provide.
For this church, for every person's need here in their
family, with their jobs, with, with any struggle.
Lord, move those mountains. Today help us graduate in prayer
for your glory and we say thanks to you together in Jesus name.
Amen. Let's sink to the Lord together.