LAUGHING AT THE IMPOSSIBLE
Sermon Preached on Day 3 of the Divine Intervention Ministration at Liberty Chapel, Windsor Mill, Maryland on July 24, 2011
By
John Ojewole
Memory Verse: (Heb 11:1 NIV) Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
PREAMBLE:
Proverbs 11:25
Text: (Mark 11:12-14, 20-24 HCSB )
12 The next day when they came out from Bethany, He was hungry. 13 After seeing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, He went to find out if there was anything on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples heard it….
20 Early in the morning, as they were passing by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. 21 Then Peter remembered and said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that You cursed is withered.”
22 Jesus replied to them, “Have faith in God. 23 I assure you: If anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown 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, all the things you pray and ask for —believe that you have received them, and you will have them.
INTRODUCTION:
(Gen 18:12 NIV) So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"
(Gen 18:14 NIV) Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."
NKJV | Je 32:17 ‘Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
The title of the write-up is: A Church with Parking Problems
There was a story about a church in the Great Smoky Mountains that built a sanctuary on a piece of land donated by a member. It turned out that the sanctuary was so large that the building inspector would not give the church a certificate of occupancy because they lacked sufficient parking. Evidently the new building took up all the available space. The only unused part of the property was a mountain adjacent to the sanctuary. The Sunday before the new sanctuary was to open, the pastor called for those who believed that God could still move mountains to come to a prayer meeting that night. Out of a congregation of 300, 24 people showed up. After they had prayed for 3 hours, the pastor said he believed that somehow God would remove the mountain and pave the area in the next seven days.
The next day a man knocked on the pastor’s door. He turned out to be a building contractor from a nearby county. They were building a shopping mall, he said, and needed some fill dirt in order to level the construction site. Could his company buy the mountain behind the church? He added that if they could have the mountain immediately, they would be glad to pay for paving and striping the new parking lot. The pastor readily agreed, and the new sanctuary opened on schedule the next Sunday. The person who wrote the story commented that there were far more members with “mountain-moving faith” that Sunday than there were the previous Sunday.
Je 32:27 | “I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
I. The Advisement
(Mark 11:22 NIV) "Have faith in God," Jesus answered.
Greek word pistis which means conviction, confidence, trust, belief, reliance, trustworthiness and persuasion
Faith
Abraham Genesis 15:6 (HCSB) 6 Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
Romans 3:28 (HCSB) 28 For we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
Romans 5:1–2 (HCSB) Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Romans 10:17 (HCSB)
17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.
Hebrews 11:6 (HCSB) 6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.
Romans 4:16-20 16 Because of this, it is by faith, in order that it may be according to grace, so that the promise may be secure to all the descendants, not only to those of the law, but also to those of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (just as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”) before God, in whom he believed, the one who makes the dead alive and who calls the things that are not as though they are, 18 who against hope believed in hope, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was said, “so will your descendants be.” 19 And not being weak in faith, he considered his own body as good as dead, because he* was approximately a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 And he did not waver in unbelief at the promise of God, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God
NKJV | 2 Co 8:1 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: 2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. 3 For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, 4 imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. 5 And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.
Lessons from the Macedonians’ mode of giving:
First, they gave liberally despite the fact that they were poor and they faced challenges. Verse 2
Second, They willingly and freely gave even beyond their ability. Verse 3.
(John 14:12 NIV) I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
NKJV | Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
NKJV | Pr 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
NLT | Jas 1:21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.
Virginia Whitman says: “Faith is the bucket of power lowered by the rope of prayer into the well of God's abundance. What we bring up depends upon what we let down. We have every encouragement to use a big bucket.”
II. The Analogy
(Mark 11:23 NIV) "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.
Greek word: amen, has a Hebrew origin. means properly firm, trustworthy, surely, assuredly, verily or so be it.
A mountain symbolizes an obstacle, hindrance or insurmountable problem.
To move your mountain, consider the following:
· First, we must be specific. Jesus says: this mountain.
· Second, we must speak to the mountain.
· Third, we must have an unshakable faith in God.
· Fourth, we must not entertain any doubt.
(James 1:5-7 NIV) If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. {6} But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. {7} That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;
(Zec 4:6-7 NIV) So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty. {7} "What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!'"
Phillip Yancey was quoted as saying: “Faith is believing in advance in something that will only seem logical when seen in reverse.”
Jesus says, (Luke 17:6 NIV) He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.
God says it. I believe it. And that settles it.
III. The Assurance
(Mark 11:24 NIV) Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
· First, the limitless promise: “Whatever you ask for.”
· Second, the requirement: “Believe that you have received it.”
· Third, the result: “It will be yours!”
The Bible says: (Psa 119:89 NIV) Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.
Note that the believing that we have received it is in the past tense. Why? Because the outcome of the prayer is a realized outcome.
NKJV | Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
(Isa 65:24 NIV) before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.
(1 John 5:14-15 NIV) This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. {15} And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.
(Luke 17:5 NIV) The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
Pastor Ray Pritchard shared this story in one of his writings. It goes this way: Many years ago during a drought in England, a pastor called his church to a special prayer meeting to ask God to send much-needed rain. It was a bright and cloudless day and Mary came with an umbrella. Why? “Since we’re praying for rain, I thought I should bring an umbrella.” Everyone chuckled and the minister laughed and patted her on the cheek. As they were praying, the winds rose, the clouds rolled in, and sure enough, the heavens opened, and down came a torrent of rain. Mary was dry while the congregation went home wet. Let us pray, believing not only that God may hear but that he does hear, and will give us what we ask, if it is best for us.
NKJV | Ac 12:5-16 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. 6 And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. 7 Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. 8 Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.” 9 So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. 11 And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.” 12 So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. 13 And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. 15 But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.” 16 Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.
(James 5:16 NIV) Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Final Charge:
1. If you pledge, make sure you fulfill it. The Bible says:
NKJV | Dt 23:21 “When you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you.
2. Do not give your seed offering grudgingly or out of compulsion.
NIV | 2 Co 9:7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
3. Sowing a seed to the religious assembly where you are fed with the word of God is biblical.
NIV | 1 Co 9:10-11 Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?
4. If you have the means and opportunity to do good and you ignore it, you have sinned.
NKJV | Jas 4:17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
