Have Faith in God - Mark 11:22-26
Have Faith in God - Mark 11:22-26
By Pastor Lee Hemen
October 24, 2010 AM
We find that what many people believe about their spirituality is often influenced in unorthodox ways. Sadly, in the movie “Hereafter”, we find one such view concerning life, death, and the afterlife. It centers on three people touched by death: a reluctant physic who supposedly communicates with dead people, a woman who has a near death experience with a tsunami, and a London schoolboy who loses his twin brother in a freak accident. People often wonder what happens to them after they die it is one of life’s ultimate questions. People also long to communicate in some way with deceased loved ones. While mourning is different for each person, and thinking we can communicate with the dead can help some folks cope with loss, these misconceptions often allow folks to consider anything as valid. It has also created a lot of false teaching concerning faith. Christians have allowed the world to define faith for them. So much so in fact, that there is a sense that anything goes when it comes to defining faith. Christianity needs to take back defining what true faith means.
The disciples, just as we are, were products of their culture. There was a lot of misconception in Jesus’ day concerning faith. A lot of superstitions had crept into Hebraic thought and the religious of Jesus’ day were satisfied with keeping evil at bay by displaying their good works. Faith became more of custom for some and in so doing it became mundane and a requirement of life instead of what it should have been. Faith in God was replaced with ritual. Then Jesus came along and shook everything up concerning faith. Here in this passage of Mark we find Jesus teaching his disciples what it meant to have faith in God. Let’s look at what he told them…
READ: Mark 11:22-26
Far too often Christians live a weak shallow faith. They meekly come to God pleading that he might -- if it be his will -- hear their prayer. And then we are disappointed when our halfhearted mutterings are not brought to fruition. What is the problem? I believe it is a faith issue and evidently so did Jesus. We discover that…
I. Faith in God is mountain moving! (Vv. 22-23)
1. Motivation packaged in a person’s faith in Christ can do anything! Paul said it best when he reiterated this Scriptural truth by telling the Philippians “I can do everything through him (Jesus) who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) When Israel began to put more faith in human reasoning, education, or financial gain – they lost their ability to see the miracles that faith can produce and achieve. We may be guilty of doing the same. There are many who want to claim verse 23 without first realizing the important role that verse 22 plays. Jesus succinctly states, “Have faith in God.” You can live a good life, you can say you are a Christian, but until you “Have faith in God,” you are just bluffing. When Jesus proclaimed this truth, he meant having faith in Who God is what God could and can do, and his eternal purpose. This is why prophetically the fig tree and thereby Israel itself had withered. It is the faith that completely heals a person. A woman had been bleeding for 12 years and she fearfully reaches out to touch Jesus’ hem when he passes by her. He turns, finds her, and tells her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” (Mark 5:34) Her faith moved the mountain of doubt and fear in her life. This is why Jesus tells the disciples, “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.” Fears, pain, addiction, and sins can be moved and drowned in the sea with faith. “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27) Faith in God is mountain moving!
EXAMPLE: The little church had suffered from poor stewardship, inconsistent prayer, and faulty doctrine. They hardly knew what they believed or why. The new pastor was inexperienced but spent time in prayer believing that God desired to do more with the church than anyone could imagine. He encouraged his small flock to pray in faith, knowing that God desired to do a miracle. Early one morning he was woke up by a phone call from a larger church from down South. They desired to come to the Northwest and do a ministry and missions trip. Did his small church need any remodeling? As the pastor began to realize this call was real, he shared they needed the church painted. “No,” was the reply. “We are not interested in just painting a building, we want to come and remodel, we will send two men your way by the end of this week, can you pick them up from the airport?” Later in the week, as the pastor and the two men walked around the church, they began to discuss with him that their church would come, bring a complete building team, buy all the materials needed for the remodel, bring an outreach team and a worship team. They would do Backyard Bible Clubs, go door-to-door, work on the building and do a revival in the evenings. The tiny church received all new lighting in every room, two new bathrooms, new walls for their preschool, and reached new people for Christ. Within a month, they received a grant for new children and preschool furniture, new fellowship tables, chairs, and they painted the outside and inside of their building. Do you think mountains were moved?
It is time for “mountain moving faith” to be displayed in Christian churches again! But if you think, it is found through motivational 20-minute sermons, Holy Ghost aerobics, or three easy steps you are continually going to be disappointed. Looking for another spiritual high or an easy fix is not the answer. Faith that moves mountains is found through deliberate intimate prayer. Faith in God is always begins with prayer. Jesus teaches us that…
II. Faith in God is based in prayer! (V. 24)
1. One comes to Christ in prayer and one continues in Christ in prayer! A praying faith is not found in a repetitious mantra or in losing oneself through self-induced introspection. A Christian’s faith is found in a person not a concept. There are not three easy steps to faith through prayer. Prayer is not wishful thinking, persistent pleading, or repetitive spiritual resuscitation. Rather, prayer is the intentional conversation the servant has with his Lord. It is the deliberate trust one has in the power of God through his Son to accomplish what is humanly impossible. In an intimate faith walk the Christian is supposed to develop with his Master, you intrinsically believe that “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” How is this possible? It begins with your complete trust in Christ as your Savior and Lord. Paul would write, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) Paul had come to realize for himself that “it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:10) It is the complete trust of the individual willing to come to God in prayer knowing that whatever they ask for will be done. They know it because they have already had an intimate relationship with Jesus. With your mouth, you show your trust through prayer. This is why Jesus told his disciples, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” (John 15:7) Faith in God is based in prayer!
EXAMPLE: You hear people say, “Prayer changes things.” But is it prayer or God that changes things? I believe it is God. We forget that prayer is not our source of power, but rather God is. When we have faith in God, we can say to a mountain “be uprooted” and it will. The problem is that too many Christians have forgotten where their true source of power is. He was known at the time as a “stoner,” the contemptuous tag given to those who lived in a constant haze of marijuana and drugs. He lived each waking moment for his next toke. Then one afternoon while sitting waiting for the county bus he found someone had left a small Bible. A marker had been placed in the third chapter of the gospel of John. Having nothing better to read or do until his bus came, he began to read. Unaware that his bus had stopped waited for him, but left when he did not move to get on. His heart was broken by the words he read: “I tell you the truth; no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3:3) He sat there, looked around, bowed his head and prayed. He had not prayed since he was a little child, but now the words flowed freely as his tears. He gave his life to Christ. From that moment on, he was changed. A “stoner” came to the stone the builders rejected. He never looked back and now serves the Lord. Later, he learned that several of his friends had been in prayer for him at the very moment he had bowed his head in prayer. He would openly confess to you that faith in God is based in prayer!
Faith that is based on works is no faith at all. In fact, it will result in the individual always wondering if they have done enough good things. God does not work that way. We have read it and heard it from the first pages of Scripture to the last pages: the truth that God is love. If God is love then we also know that in his love he forgives. His forgiveness was and is expressed in Jesus. Faith finds its expression in forgiveness. This is why…
III. Faith in God is found in forgiveness! (Vv. 25-26)
1. Love, acceptance, and forgiveness are the three foundational truths of Christian faith! Contrast these to a world where the focus has shifted to Islamic fanaticism, hatred, and anger. More than ever, Christians need to turn the world’s attention back to the basic precept of Christ: forgiveness. No other major world religion has this as one of its core principles. The practice of prayer is simply reduced to the mutterings of the insecure unless your prayers are sincere. Prayer can only be sincere as it is filtered through the heart that is given over to Jesus Christ. The “heart” being what makes up the entire person. Forgiveness goes hand in hand with prayer, but the catalyst is found in faith. When a person dares come before the throne of grace to ask the King of Glory to hear his intense whispers, he had better be right. Many a prayer never gets passed the roof unless you have a forgiving heart toward others. This is why Jesus tells his followers that “when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” How can the Lord of Heaven forgive you when you ask if you are unwilling to forgive others? Brokenness is where a person first meets the Lord and it is in brokenness where we discover the power of prayer. Forgiveness comes from brokenness. Verse 26 is not found in most manuscripts, especially the earliest ones. In fact, it was probably placed there by those who originally did the KJV. However, it does reinforce Jesus’ words. “Divine forgiveness toward a believer and a believer’s forgiveness toward others are inseparably linked because a bond has been established between the divine Forgiver and the forgiven believer.” We would do well to remember that when the Lord returns, we may be asked, “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” (Matthew 18:33) This is why Paul reminds believers to “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32) Faith in God is found in forgiveness!
EXAMPLE: She was mad because she felt others within the church judged her because of the poor choices she had continually made in her life. The deacons were frustrated because they felt like the pastor was too old and not doing his job. The pastor was torn about whether he should stay or leave thinking that the congregation could do better. The youth had lost sight of reaching their peers for Christ. The church was in complete disarray. No one had walked the isle to receive Christ or join the church in years. Then a young couple came, looking to be used of God. The very day they arrived one of the church’s own, while in the midst of going through a sticky divorce, was brutally shot to death that afternoon by her Christian husband. The new couple found themselves in the midst of a crisis, but began to pray with and encourage the hurting congregation. Shocked into realizing that they had not taken the time to forgive one another, many began to do so that evening. Prayer groups were formed. People wept for their loss and forgave one another. A spirit of brokenness was evident. Within weeks several young people gave themselves to Christ, the church began to grow, and the church strongly supported the pastor. A church of a few dozen grew to over 75 within several months. They discovered that faith in God is found in forgiveness!
Conclusion:
Each of the examples I gave this morning happened here or in churches, I have served. Jesus taught his disciples that day that 1) Faith in God is mountain moving! 2) Faith in God is based in prayer! And 3) Faith in God is found in forgiveness! Do you have faith in God?
----
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2010 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
October 24, 2010 AM
We find that what many people believe about their spirituality is often influenced in unorthodox ways. Sadly, in the movie “Hereafter”, we find one such view concerning life, death, and the afterlife. It centers on three people touched by death: a reluctant physic who supposedly communicates with dead people, a woman who has a near death experience with a tsunami, and a London schoolboy who loses his twin brother in a freak accident. People often wonder what happens to them after they die it is one of life’s ultimate questions. People also long to communicate in some way with deceased loved ones. While mourning is different for each person, and thinking we can communicate with the dead can help some folks cope with loss, these misconceptions often allow folks to consider anything as valid. It has also created a lot of false teaching concerning faith. Christians have allowed the world to define faith for them. So much so in fact, that there is a sense that anything goes when it comes to defining faith. Christianity needs to take back defining what true faith means.
The disciples, just as we are, were products of their culture. There was a lot of misconception in Jesus’ day concerning faith. A lot of superstitions had crept into Hebraic thought and the religious of Jesus’ day were satisfied with keeping evil at bay by displaying their good works. Faith became more of custom for some and in so doing it became mundane and a requirement of life instead of what it should have been. Faith in God was replaced with ritual. Then Jesus came along and shook everything up concerning faith. Here in this passage of Mark we find Jesus teaching his disciples what it meant to have faith in God. Let’s look at what he told them…
READ: Mark 11:22-26
Far too often Christians live a weak shallow faith. They meekly come to God pleading that he might -- if it be his will -- hear their prayer. And then we are disappointed when our halfhearted mutterings are not brought to fruition. What is the problem? I believe it is a faith issue and evidently so did Jesus. We discover that…
I. Faith in God is mountain moving! (Vv. 22-23)
1. Motivation packaged in a person’s faith in Christ can do anything! Paul said it best when he reiterated this Scriptural truth by telling the Philippians “I can do everything through him (Jesus) who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) When Israel began to put more faith in human reasoning, education, or financial gain – they lost their ability to see the miracles that faith can produce and achieve. We may be guilty of doing the same. There are many who want to claim verse 23 without first realizing the important role that verse 22 plays. Jesus succinctly states, “Have faith in God.” You can live a good life, you can say you are a Christian, but until you “Have faith in God,” you are just bluffing. When Jesus proclaimed this truth, he meant having faith in Who God is what God could and can do, and his eternal purpose. This is why prophetically the fig tree and thereby Israel itself had withered. It is the faith that completely heals a person. A woman had been bleeding for 12 years and she fearfully reaches out to touch Jesus’ hem when he passes by her. He turns, finds her, and tells her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” (Mark 5:34) Her faith moved the mountain of doubt and fear in her life. This is why Jesus tells the disciples, “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.” Fears, pain, addiction, and sins can be moved and drowned in the sea with faith. “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27) Faith in God is mountain moving!
EXAMPLE: The little church had suffered from poor stewardship, inconsistent prayer, and faulty doctrine. They hardly knew what they believed or why. The new pastor was inexperienced but spent time in prayer believing that God desired to do more with the church than anyone could imagine. He encouraged his small flock to pray in faith, knowing that God desired to do a miracle. Early one morning he was woke up by a phone call from a larger church from down South. They desired to come to the Northwest and do a ministry and missions trip. Did his small church need any remodeling? As the pastor began to realize this call was real, he shared they needed the church painted. “No,” was the reply. “We are not interested in just painting a building, we want to come and remodel, we will send two men your way by the end of this week, can you pick them up from the airport?” Later in the week, as the pastor and the two men walked around the church, they began to discuss with him that their church would come, bring a complete building team, buy all the materials needed for the remodel, bring an outreach team and a worship team. They would do Backyard Bible Clubs, go door-to-door, work on the building and do a revival in the evenings. The tiny church received all new lighting in every room, two new bathrooms, new walls for their preschool, and reached new people for Christ. Within a month, they received a grant for new children and preschool furniture, new fellowship tables, chairs, and they painted the outside and inside of their building. Do you think mountains were moved?
It is time for “mountain moving faith” to be displayed in Christian churches again! But if you think, it is found through motivational 20-minute sermons, Holy Ghost aerobics, or three easy steps you are continually going to be disappointed. Looking for another spiritual high or an easy fix is not the answer. Faith that moves mountains is found through deliberate intimate prayer. Faith in God is always begins with prayer. Jesus teaches us that…
II. Faith in God is based in prayer! (V. 24)
1. One comes to Christ in prayer and one continues in Christ in prayer! A praying faith is not found in a repetitious mantra or in losing oneself through self-induced introspection. A Christian’s faith is found in a person not a concept. There are not three easy steps to faith through prayer. Prayer is not wishful thinking, persistent pleading, or repetitive spiritual resuscitation. Rather, prayer is the intentional conversation the servant has with his Lord. It is the deliberate trust one has in the power of God through his Son to accomplish what is humanly impossible. In an intimate faith walk the Christian is supposed to develop with his Master, you intrinsically believe that “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” How is this possible? It begins with your complete trust in Christ as your Savior and Lord. Paul would write, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) Paul had come to realize for himself that “it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:10) It is the complete trust of the individual willing to come to God in prayer knowing that whatever they ask for will be done. They know it because they have already had an intimate relationship with Jesus. With your mouth, you show your trust through prayer. This is why Jesus told his disciples, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” (John 15:7) Faith in God is based in prayer!
EXAMPLE: You hear people say, “Prayer changes things.” But is it prayer or God that changes things? I believe it is God. We forget that prayer is not our source of power, but rather God is. When we have faith in God, we can say to a mountain “be uprooted” and it will. The problem is that too many Christians have forgotten where their true source of power is. He was known at the time as a “stoner,” the contemptuous tag given to those who lived in a constant haze of marijuana and drugs. He lived each waking moment for his next toke. Then one afternoon while sitting waiting for the county bus he found someone had left a small Bible. A marker had been placed in the third chapter of the gospel of John. Having nothing better to read or do until his bus came, he began to read. Unaware that his bus had stopped waited for him, but left when he did not move to get on. His heart was broken by the words he read: “I tell you the truth; no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3:3) He sat there, looked around, bowed his head and prayed. He had not prayed since he was a little child, but now the words flowed freely as his tears. He gave his life to Christ. From that moment on, he was changed. A “stoner” came to the stone the builders rejected. He never looked back and now serves the Lord. Later, he learned that several of his friends had been in prayer for him at the very moment he had bowed his head in prayer. He would openly confess to you that faith in God is based in prayer!
Faith that is based on works is no faith at all. In fact, it will result in the individual always wondering if they have done enough good things. God does not work that way. We have read it and heard it from the first pages of Scripture to the last pages: the truth that God is love. If God is love then we also know that in his love he forgives. His forgiveness was and is expressed in Jesus. Faith finds its expression in forgiveness. This is why…
III. Faith in God is found in forgiveness! (Vv. 25-26)
1. Love, acceptance, and forgiveness are the three foundational truths of Christian faith! Contrast these to a world where the focus has shifted to Islamic fanaticism, hatred, and anger. More than ever, Christians need to turn the world’s attention back to the basic precept of Christ: forgiveness. No other major world religion has this as one of its core principles. The practice of prayer is simply reduced to the mutterings of the insecure unless your prayers are sincere. Prayer can only be sincere as it is filtered through the heart that is given over to Jesus Christ. The “heart” being what makes up the entire person. Forgiveness goes hand in hand with prayer, but the catalyst is found in faith. When a person dares come before the throne of grace to ask the King of Glory to hear his intense whispers, he had better be right. Many a prayer never gets passed the roof unless you have a forgiving heart toward others. This is why Jesus tells his followers that “when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” How can the Lord of Heaven forgive you when you ask if you are unwilling to forgive others? Brokenness is where a person first meets the Lord and it is in brokenness where we discover the power of prayer. Forgiveness comes from brokenness. Verse 26 is not found in most manuscripts, especially the earliest ones. In fact, it was probably placed there by those who originally did the KJV. However, it does reinforce Jesus’ words. “Divine forgiveness toward a believer and a believer’s forgiveness toward others are inseparably linked because a bond has been established between the divine Forgiver and the forgiven believer.” We would do well to remember that when the Lord returns, we may be asked, “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” (Matthew 18:33) This is why Paul reminds believers to “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32) Faith in God is found in forgiveness!
EXAMPLE: She was mad because she felt others within the church judged her because of the poor choices she had continually made in her life. The deacons were frustrated because they felt like the pastor was too old and not doing his job. The pastor was torn about whether he should stay or leave thinking that the congregation could do better. The youth had lost sight of reaching their peers for Christ. The church was in complete disarray. No one had walked the isle to receive Christ or join the church in years. Then a young couple came, looking to be used of God. The very day they arrived one of the church’s own, while in the midst of going through a sticky divorce, was brutally shot to death that afternoon by her Christian husband. The new couple found themselves in the midst of a crisis, but began to pray with and encourage the hurting congregation. Shocked into realizing that they had not taken the time to forgive one another, many began to do so that evening. Prayer groups were formed. People wept for their loss and forgave one another. A spirit of brokenness was evident. Within weeks several young people gave themselves to Christ, the church began to grow, and the church strongly supported the pastor. A church of a few dozen grew to over 75 within several months. They discovered that faith in God is found in forgiveness!
Conclusion:
Each of the examples I gave this morning happened here or in churches, I have served. Jesus taught his disciples that day that 1) Faith in God is mountain moving! 2) Faith in God is based in prayer! And 3) Faith in God is found in forgiveness! Do you have faith in God?
----
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2010 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
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