The Apostolic Connection (09/21/14-09/27/14)

the gospel of Mark chap 11 begin reading at verse number 12 and on the tomorrow when they were come from Bethany and he Jesus was hungry seeing a fig tree of far off having leaves he came if happily or by chance he might find anything there on and when he came to it he found nothing but leaves for the time of the figs was not yet and Jesus answered and said unto it no man eat fruit of thee Hereafter forever and his disciples heard it and they come to Jerusalem Jesus went into the temple and began to cast out them that saw sold and bought in the temple and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple and he taught saying unto them is it not written my house shall be called of all Nations the House of Prayer but ye have made it a den of Thieves verse 20 and in the morning as they passed by they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him Master behold the Fig Tree which thou curseth is withered away Jesus answering sayth unto them have faith in God verily I say unto to you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain be thou removed be thou cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass he shall have whatsoever he saith therefore I say unto you what things soever you desire when ye pray believe that you receive the them and ye shall have them you may be seated God bless you for standing in honor of the reading of the word of God for just a few moments today I want to take you on a little journey that happened in the life of Jesus Christ I do believe that the Fig Tree the prayerless temple and the mountain all go together the Bible says that as Jesus was on his his way to Jerusalem that he in the man Humanity part of himself he was hungry and seeing a fig tree AAR off or it was off the beaten path as we would say it was not on the side of the road it was a far off seeing a fig tree with leaves he came if by chance he would find something the leaves the foliage spoke to him of the possibility of fruit we know as he left the path to Jerusalem and went to the fig tree that when he got there it was a fruitless fig tree he was very disappointed he was was flesh and hungry and he became disappointed to the to the level that he spoke and cursed the Fig Tree he spoke to the fig tree that day and he said that no man would ever eat any fruit of thee forever he cursed the Fig Tree he made his way to the temple he made his way to that house of worship that should be a House of Prayer it should be a house where people had gathered together to seek the face of God for their problems in their lives a place of Prayer of communing with their God and he finds that they have changed the purpose for the house of God it is no longer a place men and women come and seek God through prayer it has become a place of exchanging of currency it has become a place of buying doves and buying sacrifices it has become a place it went from a place of prayer to a place of Commerce a place of merchandise we know that when Jesus entered the temple that he acted out of character because he began to turn turn tables over he began to take a whip and drive animals and man out of the temple and he gave a strong rebuke that this house should be called The House of Prayer but you have made it now notice he didn't say a place of merchandise he said you have made it a den of Thieves you have made it a place that thieves in inhabit and uh the Bible says that he taught them he left that evening and the next day as they were making their way back they passed by the Fig Tree and as they passed by the Fig Tree Peter I believe it was pays close attention to the fig tree that 24 hours previous was green with foliage and life but fruitless and Peter looks and says Master look at the fig tree for it had dried up and withered away from its root by its roots I can see a tree no longer standing erect I see a tree laying on the ground dried up from the roots Jesus in giving them an explanation said you just simply need to have faith in God what you cannot understand you need to Simply turn it over to me you need to have faith in God and then he be to speak about mountains he said that if you had faith that you could say to a mountain be removed and it would be cast into to the Sea and then he went into the subject of prayer he said whatsoever you ask prayer believing you're going to receive and I read all of this and I believe in my heart that there is a connection between the fruitless fig tree the prayerless Tabernacle and the mountain that is in the way I believe today that we have fruitless unproductive unjoy unsatisfying lives because simply we have lost the art of prayer we have a prayerless Tabernacle in your body is called a tabernacle and anytime there is prayerlessness in the Tabernacle there will be fruitlessness in your life you will be in as a matter of fact of all the people that you and I could want to please of all the people people Church those of you watching by television and the worldwide web of all the people in this world we would want to please at the top of the list must be Jesus we have got to live lives that are pleasing to Jesus Christ I want my life to be pleasing to him now when he came to the fruitless fig tree he is very much displeased because this tree is a distraction and he curses the Fig Tree and he gets to Jerusalem and he finds the prayerless Tabernacle and he he he drives out of the Tabernacle the den of Thieves this place that he said it's a den a hiding place for thieves do you know that when you and I do not believe in nor trust God enough to pray we are the losers I don't care what busy schedules we got and what chores we think have to be completed anytime we rob anytime we neglect the prayer that should be prayed in our body we become a thief of the blessings of almighty God oh my my my I look around here today and I see men and women who are living far beneath their joy and privileges in God because you have allowed other things to Rob what God God wanted to pour on you in a great abundance prayerlessness is a thief and then Jesus when he had cursed that fig tree and the disciples said Master we can't explain it how can one thing be green one day and withered by the roots and 24 hours he said you just simply need to have faith in God can I tell you today that God is the only one that can work very fast quickly in your lives many of you are faced with fruitless things you're faced with disappointment in your life but if we could turn our lives to God in the next few moments God is able to do a 24hour turnaround for you and I in 24 short hours there was a distraction there that kept Jesus from his Trek to Jerusalem and 24 short hours later that distraction was withered by The Roots I've got good news that I want to share with this congregation today and TV audience if we can learn how to pray God will go to work for us very quickly if we can learn to turn our tabernacle into places of prayer it's possible to wake up with a weight on your shoulder and go to bed with a praise on your lips because if we can turn it over to God In Prayer just have faith in God how am I going to get my joy renewed have faith in God how things going to re be restored in my life just have faith in God he said I say to you this mountain and I I wouldn't ask you to raise your hand today but how many men and women in this place have mountains in your life that you just seem can't you can't get over it and you can't get around it and you can't get under it you just got mountains in your life you know why there's mountains there that can't be moved is because there's a prayerless tabernacle and anytime there's a prayerless tabernacle there's a mountain in your life that can't be moved and every marital problem financial problem every family problem that you'll ever have friend can all be traced back to a prayerless tabernacle every disappoint we've ever been given to God every every time we've ever disappointed God it's pointed back to the Tabernacle got prayerless every Mountain that we Face everything that consumes us every that mountain that woke some of you up no no no no let me back up that mountain that put some of you all to bed last night that mountain that some of you got up in the middle of the night and thought about that mountain that mountain that you thought about the first thing when you got up this morning and several times during the day that mountain will never never be removed by all the fretting and all the worrying and all the talking and all the friends that mountain will never be removed until you put prayer back in your Tabernacle and when you get prayer back in your Tabernacle you're able to stand and look at that mountain and say Mountain be thou removed and be thou cast into the Sea Mountain you've ruled my life you've ruled my joy you've ruled my marriage you've ruled my children you've ruled my life but Mountain I am putting prayer back in my Tabernacle