Strength For The Mountains

Second Corinthians 12 and 9 has just been in my spirit for, I don't know, more than a month, maybe six weeks now. I've preached about it already, just keep getting drawn back to that. And I'm gonna read this, and then focus us over to Mark 11. So if you, if you have your, your analog copy of scriptures there with you, if you want to go to, go to Second Corinthians 12 verse 9, but then go ahead and turn over to Mark 11. I'm going to read a length of your passage there, the Mark 12, excuse me. From Second Corinthians 12 and 9, says: "And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect and weakness." Things just don't seem to go together. You don't even typically put strength and weakness together, the opposite ends of the spectrum. We'll come back to that this morning.

In Mark 11, as we read this, it says, verse number 11: "And Jesus went into Jerusalem, into the temple. So that when he had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, he went out to Bethany with a 12." So he was checking some things out. Did you pick that up, that verse there? He shows up, where did he show up? At the temple. And he walked around, and he's evaluating. He's, he's kind of taking an inventory. He's assessing the situation. And then it tells us that the hour was late. It was getting late. It was, you know, it was getting time to be heading back home. So he returns back to Bethany. Verse 12: "Now the next day" — anybody confused where we are? We're at the next day — "when they had come out of Bethany, he was hungry." Anybody ever woke up hungry? Now, in this case, we make it say that he woke up hangry, because let's pay attention to what he does here. "And seeing a far a fig tree having leaves, he went to see if it perhaps would have found something on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for the figs." Now, here again, there's so much stuff in here to pick up on, and I really already know, I'm by — I don't have enough time to get this message fully out today. But, but if you think, what did he see when he seen the trees? He identified what on the tree? Please, yes, answer your question: leaves. What does that mean? There's life in the tree, okay. A dead tree doesn't have leaves on it, so it's alive. And he goes to the tree, desiring something from the living tree. But we know this also about the tree: it says it wasn't its season, right. You guys pick up on that. So it's alive, and it's not in season. He wants to find some things. "In response, Jesus said to it, let no one eat fruit from you ever again." That's why I said he may be a little angry here. I mean, the guy's hungry. He's going to get some figs from a fig tree, but it's not fig season. It's a live tree. Then Jesus is like, you know, I'm done with you. I'm so thankful he doesn't do that to us. Aren't you thankful? Yeah, some of you need to be real thankful. Yeah, I'm thankful for that. So the disciples heard it. I'm sure they're like, wow, man, he's might not give him some space today. Verse 15: "So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into temple, and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of money changers, and the seats of those who sold doves. And he would not allow anyone to carry any wares through the temple." In other words, you're not supposed to be having a marketplace here. Verse 17: "Then he taught the saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. But you have made it a den of thieves. And the scribes and the chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him, for they feared him, because all people were astonished at his teaching." Verse 19: "When evening had come, he went out of the city. Now in the morning, as they passed by" — so we're on the third day now. Everybody keeping up? It's the third day — "as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered away. So Jesus answered him, said, have faith in God. For assuredly I say to you, whosoever says to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things which he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatsoever for things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them."

Now, does anybody besides me feel bad for the fig tree? I do. Every time I read this, I'm like, man, that poor little tree. It was just minding its own business. It wasn't supposed to have figs, because it wasn't a fig season. It was alive. It had leaves that seemed to be healthy. But yet Jesus comes up, and just seems to check out for a minute, and, and say, look, from, from this moment on, nobody's going to eat from you. One day later, it's gone from the roots up. It's just simply, was — it was he just being cranky? Did he, did he really need some food? Should he have — I don't know what. We could think about a lot of stuff. But see, my focus for us today is, I don't know about you, but when I pray, I want mounting moving power. When I pray, does anybody else desire that? When you pray, I didn't write the word to be empty, but to have what he talks about here, have that mounting moving power. And, and I don't know everybody's story today in the room, but I do know this: whatever mountain you face, God still has the power to move mountains today. Do you believe that? Yeah, he does. So what we're going to do is, we're going to take a little adventure, and I want us to see all that this story has for us, because most people have no idea how much drama was really unfolding here in these few passages we read in Mark chapter 11.

So let me give you a little backdrop. Virtually every city in the world, especially those cities built in ancient times, were typically built beside one of two things. They were built beside a river, or some, some, some body of water. Or they were built beside some main trade route. That's what was, that's why they built the city. Nashville was built on the Cumberland River. Murfreesboro was built here, close to the Stones River. You can, you can go throughout. You can just search through cities, and, and I, I love history. I love reading about history. But, but by and large, the overwhelming majority of cities that were built, were built by, for, by one or two there. It was either a trade route, or it was, it was, it was a waterway that was there. Why? Because number one, you got to have water to live. So if you go out and build the middle of the desert, you're not going to live long. So they built by this. But what I bring this up is, it's interesting, because Jerusalem, this important city, was not built near water. It was not built near trade route. Yet it's a very important city, especially to the Jewish people. But it wasn't on a main road, and it wasn't near a main body of water. It seems to be a bit abnormal. What was the draw? What was it about Jerusalem? Because it was a, a quite a bit inaccessible, built on the hills and in the mountaintops. There's, there's one thing that made Jerusalem significant. One thing that made it important, and that one thing alone, was the temple. The temple was there. God had declared that that was where it was to be built. And there's way more history than I have time to get into, about all the things that took place there on that temple mount. A lot of significant history in there. But by law, every Jew who observed the law, they had to make pilgrimage a few times throughout the year. Every, every Israelite male was commanded to go to the temple on a, on a somewhat regular basis. During festivals, this, this place was, was, was sprawling with activity. It was popular when they would come in, because every man had to come in, and they had to go to temple. They had to bring their temple tax. They had to bring a sacrifice. During these holy days, it was very, very important. And because of that, guess what else took place in those cities? People trying to make a dollar. It become a marketplace. It's, it's kind of like festivities that we have in our modern world. If, if something big is going on, you know, if there's going to be a NASCAR race in a town, all of a sudden, all these little things pop up in that town, to try to take advantage of that. Here locally, I think the biggest thing that maybe we could compare to that, that happens from time to time, is not too far down I-24, they have a little event called Bonnaroo. I know probably not everybody here in the room goes to Bonnaroo. I've never been to Bonnaroo, but I've been impacted by Bonnaroo, yeah. And then they've had to make changes, because they've had people using — and I'm not making this up — they've had people using public fountains to bathe in. They've had people who have are selling pallets of water. Why? Because people are there, and, and, and, and when there's people, uh, attending something, there's always somebody who wants to make a dollar. That, there's nothing new to us. That's just not modern living. That, that was taking place in, in the Bible. That's what's going on when Jesus is here in this story. The temple was meant for a very specific purpose and place. And it wasn't just a place of worship. You got to understand, it's very important that we understand, the temple was the main place of commerce. It was the bank. It's where people would exchange money. In fact, if you had a lot of money, you would, you would take that money, and you would put it in the temple treasury for safe keeping. So it was the bank. It was also where, where, where the law was protected. It was, it was all of these things in one. It was a very important place. Pilgrims to come, everybody was there. It was, it was important politically, culturally, and economically, everything. It was like the White House, Wall Street, and the Bank of America in one place. So it was very powerful. That's why it was important and significant. Everybody understood what the temple meant. No one in their right mind would ever take on the temple. That's what's so interesting about the story that I just read to you in Mark chapter 11, of what Jesus does there. What's going on inside this story has huge implications. What's going on is, is there not just a few people are violating some zoning regulations, they're trying to make some money. But Jesus is upset. And in fact, in the middle of him overturning the money tables, in the middle of him cleansing the temple, in the middle of him taking a whip and driving people out, he sits down for a minute to teach. Did you pick that up? So in the middle of this spectacle that's taking place, he stops for a minute and says, "I got to tell you something." And he begins to quote Isaiah 56 and 7: "Even then will I'll bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer." "Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon my altar. For mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." So when Jesus says that, you've turned this place into something that it was never intended to be. You've turned his words into a den of thieves. Jesus is upset, because they have taken what was important. They were taken what was meant to be holy. They were taking what was meant to be a place where God could, could react and interact with them. And they've turned it into something that was polluted and perverted into, to, to, to something that was never intended to be. Everybody — Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free, rich and poor — everybody, God said, this is a house of prayer for all nations. But you've turned it into something it was never meant to be. If you went to the temple during Jesus's day, there would be several levels that were there. Each level was successive, and not only in height, and in what you could do, and, and, and your prestige, in, in how they viewed people. There was the, the first court, that was called the court of the Gentiles. And if you were a Gentile — and if you don't know what that means, most everybody in this room is a Gentile. We're not Jewish of dissent. We're, we're, we're, we're Gentile. That was the place where only we could go. And then past that, that would be up a level, and that would be the court of the, of the women. And that was just for the Jewish women to enter in, and being a part of that court. But if you a little bit further, there was another court. There'd be the court of the men that were there, and that's for all the Israelite men. And then, then up another level, that was the court of the priests. And eventually you'd make your way up to the holiest of holies. Each, each one was a different level. Each one was a separation. Each one was a barrier. Each one had specific of who could be there, and who could not be there. And by the time Jesus shows up, they had turned the place where people were supposed to go and meet God, into something that, that people were, were struggling and having a relationship, because there were so many restrictions that were being placed on them. And the result was division amongst division amongst division. And all of a sudden, God shows up, and Jesus walks in, and he begins to deal with what's going on. Jesus looks at all that's taking place, and how messed up everything is, and he wants to redeem it. He wants to, he wants to remind them that, "I said long ago, on this mountain, it was going to be my house. On this mountain was going to be an altar where people could sacrifice. On this mountain was going to be a place where I could commune with you." But you've turned it into something that was never meant to be. It was supposed to be a place of prayer. It was supposed to be a place of a relationship. But you've turned it into a place where people are being robbed. We'd never seen this behavior out of him before. We've never seen Jesus act like this before. More often than not, we read about him healing, and touching, and mending, and doing things, and no one had seen before. We've never seen an anger come out of him. We've never seen this side of him. And, and I don't know about you, but as you read this, this seems so different from his normal personality. Well, was it about this that, that caused this reaction for Jesus? He's not healing anybody here. He's not raising anybody from the dead. This is different. We see a side of him that we haven't seen up until now. But this is not the first time that God is upset. In fact, if you read through the Old Testament, you probably, at one point or another, ask yourself, why was God always so angry in the Old Testament? Anybody ever thought about that before? Am I the only one? Anybody willing to raise a hand and help pass her out for just a minute, make sure y'all still listening? Anybody ever read through the Old Testament like, man, he was just angry? Anybody thankful that you live in the dispensation of grace right now? Yeah, I am. I know I am. I wouldn't have lasted very long in the Old Testament. I'd have been a really short little passage there: "Kevin was born, and Kevin died. God was angry." That would have been the sum total of my, my soul story. I'm thankful for where I am. But you read in there — so I'm bringing you back to this now. We know that Jesus is God robed in flesh, right. We know John talks about that. First John 101 says it, says, "In the beginning of the word, the word was with God, and the Word was God." So, so what is the word? God. Yeah, you can't separate God from his word. You get down to verse 14 — this isn't a Oneness Bible study, but it's a great, real quick reminder, that 14 of John chapter 1, verse number 14, says, "And the Word was made flesh." So the word, which is God — God was made flesh in both among us. So we're seeing here, for the first time, that Jesus, God manifests in the flesh, is mad. But we shouldn't be surprised, because if we've read the Old Testament, we know that God got upset a lot. He sent his prophets. Interesting guys, prophets were just very interesting. I don't know if you've studied them out, but these guys, they, they, they had a, they had a different take on life. They, they, they did things that were just seemingly like, why would you do that way? But what you realize as you read about him, is they were being obedient to God. Prophets would act out divine messages, that were very symbolic, and very highly dramatic ways, that nobody can miss the point of the story. God had a prophet named Hosea, Mary a prostitute, just to show how unfaithful Israel has been. And, and to be at all, I don't know. I don't know if she was a looker, but her name was Gomer. Had a rough place to start. But that's what God asked the prophet to do. He had the prophet name Ezekiel go out on the street — listen to this — and lie on his side for 390 days in a row, to demonstrate the people's rebellion. You think your job is boring? You think your job is a monotonous? How have you had to get up for 390 days in a row, and go out to the main street out here, and lay on your side all day long? Prophets are crazy. Prophets were, they did some outlandish things. God had Isaiah take off his sackcloth and walk around, and, and, and to demonstrate there, that Israel had not been obedient. He's out there barefoot in his underwear for three years. I'm so thankful God doesn't make the pastors do these kind of things. As I said before, that I'm glad I'm in this dispensation of grace. I'm glad I'm a part of the New Testament church. Yes, I am. I'm very glad. So when, when Jesus picks up a whip, and goes into the temple, and he starts throwing over tables, and he starts running people out, and he starts proclaiming that they're doing stuff they're not supposed to be doing, we shouldn't be taken back from this, because God has always gotten upset when people went against his, his commands, and his law, and his desire. See, this is not just a story about the cleansing of the temple, but this was a story about destroying the system that was at hand. He doesn't do it quietly. In fact, I read to you in the verse number 11, and said he had initially showed up in, in Mark 11 11. He shows up, and begins to assess the situation, and leaves, and goes back. Comes back the next day. He wants to make sure people are present when he says and does what he's doing, because there's a point behind it. People had gotten to where church was not a big deal. Temple was not a big deal. It was just commonplace. It was to be treated no, no different than anything else out there than the world. And he shows up and says, "This isn't just a common place. This is a special place. This is the place where I want to interact with you, where I want to join you, where I want to know about you, and I want to know about your life. And I don't know what you're going through, but it's become something of a place of division, and separation, and segregation, and treated in a place that's not supposed to be. You got animals in here, and everything an animal brings. And you're trading money, and you're doing all this stuff, and you're taking advantage of people, all in my house. My house was not supposed to be that. My house is a place of prayer for all nations. But you've made it a place where people are robbed, not just of money, but of relationships." Jesus was reminding them that there was something better coming. That there was a day of ultimate sacrifice. There was a day coming when there's not going to be any more barriers, and no more exclusions, and no more divisions, and no more segregations, than anybody that wants to, Jew or Gentile, male or female, can walk right in and have a relationship with him. That the day was coming when there was not going to be a need for a temple anymore. No more pilgrimages. No more purchases. No more temple taxes. No more relics. No more poor people giving everything they have. Now God's going to be available anytime, anywhere, to anybody who wants. And it's all going to happen through him. That's what he was there trying to show them, that there's something better on its way.

Now that you understand this, why, verse 18 tells you that everybody who was in power was looking to destroy him, because he was disrupting their means of living. They were making money off of what God never intended for them to make money off of. Why were they trying to make money off of a relationship? That's what was going, that's, that's perversion. In the moment he picked up the whip, he became a marked man. In that moment he picked up, because it said they sought how they could destroy him, from that moment forward, because he was affecting their livelihood. Now, not giving you a little brief explanation for that, I'm actually going to start my sermon. Because I wanted to go back to the big, to the fig tree. Now, as we look at this fig tree, it's not just about Jesus's appetite. But the fig tree was an image of the fruitlessness, and the barrenness of the whole system. The thing that had left the people very confused, specifically spiritually confused and divided. Jesus is saying, it's done. The next morning, Peter comes along and sees that Jesus is right. See, understanding geography, and understanding the placement of where they were about you — but you ever thought to yourself, when he says that you can say to this mountain, what mountain was he pointing at? We'll see that we're going from Bethany to Jerusalem. They were going to the temple mount. It's this preacher's opinion that he points at the mouth, and says, "You can say to this mountain, be thou removed and cast into the sea." I feel like he was pointing, saying, this broken system that's here, this thing that has turned into something that was never meant to be, you can say to it, "You, you be gone. You'd be cast into the sea." Because it's broken. My desire for a relationship has always been there from the beginning. And I try to lay out specifics on how you can have a relationship with me . But it's broken. I'm here to do something new. I'm here to establish something new. I'm here to, to develop relationship for everybody, for all nations. And understanding that this has never happened before: God moved the mountain. Now here's the payoff in the passage, at least for me, and I feel like for you. Here's what Jesus is asking his people, you and I. He gathers them around, and they're looking at the mountain where the temple is. And Jesus says, "You see that? You see what's over there? You see what's taking place? Do you understand how broken it is? You've seen my passion. You've seen what I was doing. You see how I was, I was dealing with every issue that was wrong in that place." And he says, what's going to happen here, because you end up serving a mountain — I want to tell you, it's not about the mountain, it's about the God who can move the mountain. Some of you are facing some mountains in your life, and that mountain seems to be staring you down. And you're afraid of that mountain. You're, you're scared of that mountain. That mountain's intimidating you. That mountain is limiting you. That mountain is keeping you from, from accomplishing the things that you know you're supposed to be doing. I'm here to tell you, stop focusing on the mountain, and focus on the God who can move the mountain. Don't get caught up in the system of the day. Please listen to me. Please listen to me. Urgency in my spirit. Don't get caught up in the system of today, and where things are headed, and you get so overwhelmed, and allow all the anxiety, and oppressors, and stress of everything that's going on around us. This world's crazy. It's chaotic all the time. All the time, there's noise. All the time, there's stuff everywhere around us. There's all this stuff. And some of you are just not dealing well with it. Let's be honest. Some of you are just not in a good place right now. And I want you to know, you need to stop looking at the mountain, and start looking at the God who can move the mountain. Sometimes things seem like they're out of your control, and they're bigger than you can handle. And the reality, and the truth is this: they are bigger than you can handle. It is more than you can do by yourself. Quit staring at the mountain, and get into a relationship with the God who can move the mountain.

There's power in prayer, ladies and gentlemen. There's power in prayer. That's what Jesus is trying to tell him. You've misunderstood the assignment. The assignment was not about the sacrifices. It was about, you've taken and perverted, and you've made this a polluted area. And you've missed the point. The point was about prayer. The point was about prayer. The point was about a relationship. The poem is about being in relationship with the God who has the ability to take care of your problems, and handle the issues there to for you. Not to get so caught up that there's a mountain, when there's a God who has the ability to move the mountain in your life. Prayer. Say, when we say prayer, prayer changes circumstances. Prayer is the single most important thing you should be doing every day of your life. Prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer. You got to have a prayer life. I'm so thankful for those who, who committed some time this past week into our 24-hour prayer, saying, thank you for what you've done, because you made a difference in this service today. Thank you for those who show up on men's prayer on Thursday morning, and ladies' prayer on Tuesday morning. Who show up on Saturdays for that prayer group that comes in. Who's going to be at prayer tomorrow night? I'm here to tell you, prayer changes things. Thank you for every one of you, even if it's only for five minutes, you make it to pre-service prayer in room one-on-one. You helped change the atmosphere around here, because when you connect to prayer, you're connected in with God. And God can do anything. God can do anything. God can do anything. God can do anything. He's not limited in any way. Why would we not pray? I want to take you back to the opening scripture, please. I'm hoping I can get this to come together the way it's in my way, it's in my mind, and the way it's in my spirit. Second Corinthians 12 7: "Unless I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh." What was given to him? You see this? You got, you got to hang on the words, okay. Let me walk — you guys are going to stay with me for, for I don't know how long. Are you just gonna stay with me? I'm not going to give you a time. I want you mad at me. What was given? Did you, did you see in this moment — please, please stick with me, because I feel somebody needs this message today. This was not something he sought after. This wasn't something he did to himself. Please listen to me. Read his words. Look, it was given to me, a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me. Buff it, literal translation is, Satan was fighting me. Who's fighting him? Satan, the enemy. Something's happened to him, wasn't — it was beyond his control. Something's been, something's been given to him. And all, the only thing we have here is a thorn in the flesh. You can try to draw all the conclusions you want to draw. Some people say pride, given the nature of the whole chapter that is there. I don't know that I can disagree with you, that it was pride, but I don't know that I can agree with you, that it was pride. All we know is something was given to him. It was a thorn in the flesh. And the enemy is now fighting him. Why is the enemy fighting him? Because he sees a weakness. Are you listening to me? The enemy is always watching. He's seeing, he's observing what's going on there. And, and I'm going to take it a step further. Okay, let me just say this, I know what I just said, I'm gonna discount what I just said. When you preach, you get the ability to do that. So I'm gonna back up. Let's rewind. Some of you, that's all you're going to remember this whole message. That's all you'll remember. Where was the thorn at? Where was it at? The flesh, right, right. It was given to me in the flesh. Now I'm going to tell you right now, 99 of the time, you're not fighting the devil, you're fighting you. You're fighting you. He says, "I got to throw in the flesh." The enemy is now fighting me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing — next verse — Abba sought the Lord thrice, then it might depart from me. Paul, even in his struggle, to God is here, and he goes to prayer, because he understands the power of a, of a mountain moving God. And God moves mountains. God has moved mountains in my life. And I dare say, there are mountains that have been moved in this room by other people, as God moved a mountain before you. Anybody here saying, "God's moved a mountain in my life"? Look around the room. Keep your hand up. God is moving the mountain for you. He is a mountain moving God. But look at what he's dealing with here, in this moment. He's dealing with flesh, and a thorn in his flesh. And he's fighting the enemy. He is being punched in the face. Literal, the best translation I get is that he was fighting, and the enemy was hitting him in his face. You see, sometimes you pray, and the mountain moves. But sometimes the mountain stays, because God wants you to climb it. Yeah, okay. Now I want you to notice a few things here. He prays about this issue. Does God answer him, when he prays the first time? He prays a second time about the issue he's dealing with. Does God answer him the second time? Why was this included, that he prayed three times before God answered the prayer? To let you know that sometimes you're going to pray, and not hear anything. Well, somebody ought to be encouraged, because there's been many a time that I've prayed about something, and I hadn't gotten any answer. Now, you can throw into town and quit, and say, "God doesn't care about you." But that's simply not true. And then the third time he prays about it — what I find interesting here is, he didn't get the answer he was looking for. There will be times you're going to get beat up on that mountain. Paul did. But it changed his perspective, because that's what prayer can do. Prayer can change how you view things. Because there are going to be some stuff — and I'll tell you, you're going to pray for it, and just like he said, you'll pray, and God will answer. What, what blows me away is, oftentimes the things that I pray for, that God answers just right off the bat, I'm like, wow, man, that happened just like that. I just said, "God, do you need you to do this," and he just did it. Now, what would be awesome, if that happened all the time. But the problem with that is, that I would take advantage, and use it to my own gain. "God, I need that parking spot right in front of the coffee shop." Don't act like you wouldn't. Don't act like you wouldn't. Next time you were just trying to cross town, because Murfreesboro is an hour from Murfreesboro, you'd be like, "God, I just need to name it apart right now, Lord." And if it did it, do you tell me you'd only do it one time? Liar. Every time. See, there's reasons why. But there are instances when, God, I pray, and God does it. And there are other times when I pray, and nothing happens. Nothing happens. Just like this, like the heavens have been locked up. And, and I'm not, I'm not being, being, you know, in a bad way. I'm, I feel like I'm a relationship. But God is as good as it's ever been. And if any time God's going to answer prayer, surely he would answer me now, because I've been being really good. And again, nothing. Get nothing from heaven. But what, can I just quit? I'm not going to go in the corner and suck my thumb, and, "God doesn't love me anymore, because he's not talking to me right now." I mean, what kind of a relationship is that? That's treating God like Santa Claus. "I'm gonna go sit in your lap, and tell you what I want, and I better get it on Christmas morning." Some of your parents are nervous right now. I'm leaving that alone.

Verse number nine: "And he said to me, my grace is sufficient." Listen to that: "My grace, from my strength, is made perfect in weakness." But that doesn't make sense, God. That doesn't make sense. Let me tell you, is, is God stronger one minute than he is than other? No, because his word says he changes not. God's as strong as he's ever been, as strong as he ever will be. His strength doesn't change. But what's changing in this moment, what's going on, is he's letting him know, hey, there's something that will take place inside of you, that changes how the outcome is played. "Most gladly I will therefore rather in my infirmities glory, in my firmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities." What, has he lost his mind? "And it approaches, and necessities, and persecutives." What is this? What's policy? He's checking out right now. He's certainly, he's like, he's going crazy. Because nobody says that. Nobody, nobody says that. Nobody says that. You're not going to say — they don't act like you're going to say it. You would have wrote that, because nobody's like, "Hey, I want persecution. Sign me up. Infirmity, I want to be sick, man. Give me something. Give me something good. Give me a limp, cough, headache." No. But look what he says: "In reproaches, and necessities, and persecutions, and distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak — when I am weak — then I am strong." There is power in prayer, ladies and gentlemen. There is power to move mountains. There is power to climb mountains. There's power to get over stuff, when it won't move. There's the kind of power available to you, that you don't have to get any bigger, any stronger, any smarter than you are right now. I just want you to do one thing. I want you to learn how to pray. I want you to learn how to pray. Now today, this is our day. This is the day that the Lord has made. I'm going to rejoice in it. So there may be a mountain today, that you can look at and say, "Mountain, you're going to move, in Jesus' name." And that mountain a move. But in all likelihood, there's going to be a mountain you're going to look at, and you can say it in Jesus' name, until you can't speak anymore, and the mountains stay in. Because it's not meant to move. It's meant for you to climb. And what you need to pray is, "God, give me the strength. If you're not going to move it, then give me what I need to get over it." So I'm going to ask you, if God can move one mountain in your life, what's that mountain going to be? What mountain came to your mind right now? What is it? What mountain, what mountain is there? And then I want you to have enough faith to pray for it. Some of you don't have enough faith, because you ain't going to speak it out loud. "If I say it out loud to God, then it means I'm going to admitted that it's there." Well, I think if you're dealing with it, it's a real deal. Why are you — see, sometimes you just keep it inside yourself. You don't speak about it to anybody. And when you do, you, you, it maintains control over you. Sometimes you've got to get it out, speak it out. Now, I'm not trying to get anybody to confess anything right now, to embarrass anybody. But I'm gonna say, if you've got something you're dealing with right now, I wish there would be an overwhelming sense of faith rise up in you right now, that you're willing to at least whisper it out loud: "God, help me with whatever I'm dealing with." Speak to that mountain. Speak to that amount. That's what he said. Speak to that mountain, and tell it, "You're going to get out of my way." Some of you won't talk, and that's the reason it's not moving, is because you're afraid to speak it out loud. It's had too much control over you, for far too long. You need to start confessing some stuff out loud, and get his power off of you. Maybe it's a mountain of debt. Maybe it's a mountain of anxiety. Maybe it's a physical healing. Maybe you've lost your job. Maybe, maybe you need, maybe you need something special, that only God can do. I don't know. But here's what you need to hear this morning: God's still in the mountain moving business. And the way you speak to it is through prayer. That's one thing you got to know about this church. This is a place where people prayer. Nancy's not here today. Nancy Sharper, y'all know Nancy, unless everybody knows Nancy. She had to be out this weekend, because she's got a job situation. But Nancy's always down here in the front. Nancy's always worse. Michelle is praying. She's got her, she's got her little squad, the intercessory squad, that meets. If you're part of the intercessory squad, raise your hand. Right here, right here, right here. Look, we got him. All right. These are the gals that were shouting down the walls last Saturday, when I was trying to study in there. I'm like, what in the world's going on? I realize somebody's praying. I was like, all right. So Nancy, about a month or so ago, goes to the doctor. She's been having headaches, been having some stuff she's been dealing. She goes to the doctor. They do a CT scan. Owner, CT scan comes back. She's got a seven millimeter tumor in her brain. Seven millimeter tumor. And what I love about Nancy, she comes down here. I'm sitting around here, like normally after service, I'm right here. And Nancy comes up, she's going to say to me — she's, what she says: "Hey, Pastor's going to come tell you something. They found a seven millimeter tumor in my brain, but God's going to take care of it." And she just walked right off. I'm like, okay. You know, I'm gonna be honest with you, I probably would have been a little bit more emotional about a seven millimeter tumor in my brain. So the doctor scheduled some follow-up stuff. Well, in the meantime, between the one visit, the next visit, she gets the intercessor squad going. And she gets to Tuesday, Tuesday morning ladies' group going. She gets to Thursday, Thursday morning men's group going. She gets prayer going, because she's somebody who believes in prayer. So she shows back up at the doctor. They do the MRI, and they come in. She goes against the result. They end up checking her date of birth three times while she's in the office, because they can't find that tumor on any result anywhere else. It wasn't there. She said, "Pastor, the doctor said, are you sure you're Nancy's Harbor?" She said, "Yes, that's me." Well, because there's a God who can move mountains, when mountains need to be moved. Prayer still works. The mountains still move. It's not just what happened here. It's still taking place in 2023. I can go around this room today. There are many, you could talk just this year, what God's done in the miraculous way. You can talk about mountains in the mood in your life, because we serve a God that still moves mountains.

But here's what I also know. In this room today, there's still mountains standing in our way. Yeah, there's mountains still standing away. Anybody got a mountain in your way? It's all right. Anybody got a mountain in your way? Yeah, got something that's there. Look, some mountains we got to climb this morning. You may be focused on your mountain, but I want you, I want you to stop focusing on the mountain. Start focusing on the God they can move the mountain. If my attention is fixed on the mountain, my problem, my challenge, or my mind is, it's going to stay there, fixated on it, and I'm never going to get past it. I got to get my mind on something else. Stay on the problem. Because if I focus on the mountain, and I face the mountain — and you face mountains, we all do, I can feel it in my spirit — I end up getting overwhelmed. I get anxious. I get inadequate. And I can get preoccupied with myself, in my own little life. And it begins to choke out all the joy, and, and again to take out all the happiness away from me. And then before I know it, nothing in my life seemingly is right, all because of one mountain. Now, that may be a big mountain. It may be a big mountain. But that mountain doesn't have a right to dictate your life. It doesn't. That mountain didn't bring you into existence. That mountain has no right to define you. That mountain has no right to put a label on you. You have a God who created you. You have a God who made you. You have a God who named you. You have a God who died for you. You have a God who has the ability to give you everything you need. And if God doesn't move it, then that means God thinks enough of you to give you the ability to climb it. And some of you need to put your hiking boots on, and you need to fill your canteen, and you need to get down on your knees, and you need to pray, "God, if you're not going to move it, then give me what I need to get over it." It's not about how strong you are, how clever you are. It's about God. And my job is to turn to him. And either he's going to get it out of my way, or he's going to get me over it. I don't have any other options. There's not a third option. Either it's got to move, or I got to get over it, because I can't sit still. God didn't create me to sit still. He set me in motion. I got somewhere to go. If he chooses not to move your mountain, then pray to give you strength to climb to the top. What Jesus said in Matthew 19 26: "With men it's impossible." Did you catch that passing? "My mountain's too big. There's no way I could climb it. There's no way I could climb it." He might be true, by yourself. So you need to get a climbing buddy. You need to hook up with God, because with him, he makes it possible. He makes it possible. Look at him. Paul writes to Romans — I didn't give him this verse, so forgive them. I'm going to go, if you, if you quick on the drawback there, Debbie, I'm gonna go to Romans chapter 8 verse 35. Paul, mister enemy's punching me in my face, I got a thorn in my flesh. In fact, did you know that word thorn, if you go look at it, it actually has a spike. Sometimes I think we think of a splinter. Now, I'm going to be, I'm gonna be transparent with you. I don't like splinters, man. They just get right there, and that's just the worst, isn't it? And then, I'm married to a nurse, and she wants to, she dig that thing out. I mean, she goes at it with reckless abandonment. And then she caused my manhood into question when I'm crying. It's like, "Oh, you big baby." "I'm not a baby. You're trying to remove my phalanges." Paul, he says this in Romans 8 35: "Well, I shall separate us from the love of Christ?" I like that question. He asked a good question. I like people that ask good questions. I'm never intimidated by question. I don't always have the answers, but I like good questions. This is a good question. "Why shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or parallel, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors." She just said, I don't know. You ought to feel good around. Look at your neighbor, and I say, you need to feel good. He's saying, you are more than a winner. You are more than a winner. More than conquerors, through him who loved us. "For I am persuaded." I like this. This is a man who's convinced. Do I got anybody convinced in the room today? I'm fixing the end, like the musicians can come, because I feel like God wants to do some mountain moving in this place. And I feel like God wants to do some mountain equipping today in this place. Because here's a guy who's been through a lot. Here's a guy who, who was being buffeted by Satan. Here's a guy who's dealing with all these issues. He says, "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers of things present, in order to come, nor the height, nor heights, nor heights, nor heights, nor mountain — no mountain, no valley — no depth, nor any other created things, shall be able to separate us on love or God, which is in Christ Jesus." I want to know if there's anybody that needs a mountain moved in this place, willing to stand up and say, "I want to make a prayer before my God today. God, move the mountain." But I also want to know if there's anybody here today who says, "I've been making that prayer for a long time, and the mountain hadn't moved. But I'm willing to put my hiking boots on today, because God still has a mountain in front of me. And if he hasn't moved it yet, then honey, maybe he means for you to climb up that thing." Stay with me. Don't let the mountain win. Don't let the mountain win. Don't let the mountain win. Whatever you do, don't let the mountain win. Because we have a mountain moving God. Anybody here, that God can do all things, all think. He's not limited. He's not limited. He's not limited. Attaya shot. Oh, mountain moving God, we come before you today. Lord, I have delivered what you laid on my heart for this, your church. I pray, God, right now, that you would begin to give us that boldness inside of us to trust you. Lord, you said, speak to the mountain. You said, speak to the mountain. God, you said, speak to it, and it would move. It could be cast in the sea. And God, we're speaking right now. I'm speaking right now on every broken thing that is in this room. I'm speaking on every broken relationship. I'm speaking about every addiction. I'm speaking about every bit of fear and anxiety, every chain that is holding us back. In the name of Jesus, be gone, and cast into the sea. I'm speaking about every broken home, and every broken relationship. God, let those things be cast into the sea. But if you haven't moved that mountain, Lord, I pray, if your desire is for us to climb it, God, you give us a strength that we need. I pray that you would give us the courage that we need. I pray that you give us the sight that we need, so that we can see which next step we need to take. Oh God, in this place right now, I pray that there will be a release in your spirit, for the miraculous to take place. This faith would well up and rise in this room, because with you, God, all things are possible. Don't let us be limited by our own ability, for we are so short-sighted, God. But let us see, and understand, and know, Lord God, you can do all things. And I pray, God, during this altar time, you would do all things in this room. All things. I pray for an outpouring of your spirit in this room today. I pray, God, for them, for miracles in this room today. I pray for restoration in this room today. Oh, I'm looking for those men and women of faith. I'm looking for some mountain climbers to step out right now in faith. This altar's open. Come, if you need something from God. Come, if you need something for God. The mountain moving God is here today. The mountains and moving God is here today.