Mountains and Mustard Seeds - Pastor Jeff Schreve - From His Heart Ministries

what do you do when your mountain won't move today on from his heart pastor Jeff Shrieve is in his new series called believe and see helping us learn to believe in the promises of God and see him do great and mighty things the lesson today is called mountains and mustard seeds [Music] [Music] I heard a story about a man he was at a bar he was sitting there on his barstool he looked very sad and forlorn and there was a drink in front of him in a shot glass and he was staring at that drink for 30 minutes finally another guy had been watching him none of a burly guy he walked up he saw this guy and he looked and looked at the situation and finally just walked up to the guy stared at him for a minute grabbed his drink and downed it and then put the glass down on the counter and the man burst into tears and the big burly guy said hey man I didn't mean to make you cry can't stand to see a man cry I'll buy you another drink and the guy said ah it's not that you don't understand he said today has been a terrible day it's been the worst day of my life he said I got up late my alarm didn't go off and I got up late and I missed a very important meeting and my boss had told me if I got up I was late again because I had been late I was late again he was going to let me go and I was late and he fired me he said I cleared out my desk I went to my car to drive home and my car had been towed away I had to park as in a hurry and I parked in the no-parking zone and they towed my car away and so he said I had to get a cab to go to the tow truck place and get the car out and pay some money and then he said I I got home and he said when I got home there was a note on the kitchen table my wife said I can't take it anymore I'm out of here I'm done see you and he said everything was falling apart and I come here to the bar and I am seriously contemplating killing myself and you show up and drink my poison life is filled with problems sometimes their little problems we can all relate to problems you know when you when you talk about problems everybody's in because as it says in the book of Job man who is born of woman is short lived and full of trouble and we all have trouble and some of the trouble some of the problems some of the trials are small they're just irritations they're just a little molehill type problems you know I mean you stub your toe in the middle of the night you have a cold that just is lingering maybe you have computer problems or maybe you have car problems or it's just those things that happen in life like crud you know this this just makes things harder but they're just kind of molehill problems you know they they come and go and you don't remember them a few weeks past the time but then there are other problems that are not molehill problems they are mountainous problems they are big big problems that hit your life that hit my life everybody deals with the irritations in life the molehill problems and then everyone faces that big problem or those big problems in life maybe you're here and you're single and you don't want to be single and you you so want to be married but there's nobody on the horizon there's nobody on the radar screen and you start thinking man is this ever going to happen and that becomes a big mountain in your life or maybe you're married and you're like this isn't what I signed up for either this isn't anything like what I thought it was going to be this is so hard you think I had liked it a lot better when I was single you know because they're worse things than being single and that's being in a bad marriage that's not any fun at all is one lady who was in a bad marriage told her friend who was single she said you got the way I look at it you can be single and be lonely all your life or you can be married like me and wish you were dead I mean it's just one of those things where sits on and so that can be a big Mountain you know marriage problems family prominence of other people have physical disabilities that are a mountain in their lives but I think for the majority of us when we talk about big big problems in the Christian life it's a mountain that's a stronghold of sin and when you face a situation in life maybe it's lust or maybe it's greed or maybe it's bitterness or maybe it's insecurity or maybe it's constantly comparing yourself to other people and you can never really enjoy other people because you're constantly sizing them up am I better than them or are they better than I am and you just all the time in comparison mode competition mode and that becomes this mountain in your life it becomes a stronghold of sin and when we deal with mountains that are strongholds of sin we say well I'm going to pray about this and we pray about it and you know what the mountain doesn't move and then we say well I'm gonna I'm going to memorize some scripture about this particular issue and we memorize scripture about it and we quote scripture about it and you know what the mountain doesn't move well I'm going to take authority in Jesus name and we take authority in Jesus name and you know what the mountain doesn't move we say what's the deal god why is this so hard why is this mountain not moving Lord didn't you say that if I had faith as a mustard seed that I could say to this mountain be moved and it would be moved and that nothing would be impossible for me then why is this mountain not moving I think every Christian you may not have verbalized that as a believer but we've all wondered about that because there are certain things in the Christian life when I think back to my Christian life I first became a Christian and certain things that dropped off really quickly I used to like to drink and get drunk well the Lord began to deal with me as a young Christian that Jeff that's not what I have for you and so I quit doing that I quit partying during and then it was now Jeff we're going to work on your x-rated mouth and so the Lord began to work on my my filthy language and then he started to clean that up and so it's like okay Laura this is no I got this whipped and we whipped this in the power of the Holy Spirit and I whipped this area in the power of Holy Spirit then you then you hit another area and for me is like so many other guys there's lust I was like ah Lord that doesn't that doesn't go out as easily those other ones were kind of mole hills we we mowed them over but then I hit a mountain Dam and the mountain wasn't moving what gives God well there's a situation in the Bible it's the backdrop for Jesus talking about mustard seed faith moving mountains it's found in matthew chapter 17 verse 14 and the scripture says this and when they came to the multitude they is Jesus and Peter and James and John they had been up on the Mount of Transfiguration where Jesus had revealed his glory to those guys and Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus he pulled back the veil of his humanity and let them see the glory of his deity and his face the scripture says began to shine like the Sun and his garments became as white as light and they heard the voice of the father saying this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased listen to him and Peter and James and John were scared to death as they heard the voice of God it was so holy it was so majestic and so they were up on the mountain for some time we don't know how long but it took him a little bit of time and they spent time up there and then they come down and they came to the multitude a large multitude a large crowd and a man came up to Jesus falling on his knees before him and saying lord have mercy on my son for he is a lunatic he is moonstruck and is very ill for he often falls into the fire and often into the water and I brought him to your disciples and they could not cure him and jesus answered and said o unbelieving and perverted generation how long shall I be with you how long shall I put up with you bring him here to me and Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him and the boy was cured at once then the disciples came to Jesus privately the other nine guys the nine guys the only three Peter James and John who were up on the Mount of Transfiguration the other nine were left behind and the other nine came to him privately and said why why could we not cast it out and he said to them because of the littleness of your faith for truly I say to you if you have faith as a mustard seed you shall say to this mountain move from here to there and it shall move and nothing shall be impossible to you but this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting the nine guys didn't understand why the mountain wouldn't move they didn't understand why they couldn't cast out the demon see because in Matthew chapter 10 verse 1 we read these words and having summoned his twelve disciples he gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every kind of disease in every kind of sickness and so when Jesus is up on the mountain with Peter James and John this father who has a son who's been since childhood terrorized and possessed by a demon caused him to go into convulsions the scripture says it often threw him into the fire and threw him into the water this demon was trying to kill this boy and the father was heartsick didn't know what to do but he knew and heard hey Jesus can heal and Jesus can cast out demons so he goes to where he thought Jesus was but Jesus wasn't Jesus wasn't there but the disciples were there the other nine now one of them was a loser that was Judas but the eight weren't in the eight had real faith and and the eight come to pray over this kid and to cast out the demon and it didn't go and they didn't understand and the scripture says that described came and the scribes began to argue with the disciples of the Lord and they began to no doubt make fun of them because all you guys are supposed to have all this power but Jesus isn't here and now you guys don't have jack squat you can't do anything and so it's a big issue and it was a big need and there was no power hey what do you do when the mountain won't move what do you do when something that you know that you have from the Lord power that you've been given from the Lord doesn't seem to work to move the mountain before you the three areas that you need to check when the mountain is not moving area number one check your faith check your faith they asked point-blank why could we not cast it out and Jesus said in verse 20 because of the littleness of your faith because of the pew ninis of your faith the smallness of your faith you know it takes faith to please God without faith as the scripture says in Hebrews 11 verse 6 without faith it's impossible to please God it takes faith to please God it takes faith to know God it takes faith to move mountains why could we not cast it up because of the littleness of your faith you say Jeff what exactly is faith well Hebrews 11:1 gives us the definition of faith and I love it in the amplified it says this now faith is the assurance the title deed the confirmation of things hoped for things that have been divinely guaranteed and the evidence of things not seen it's the conviction of their reality faith comprehends this fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses that's faith faith is something God says and then you say okay lord I don't see it but I believe it because you said it and I'm stepping out on what you said that is faith okay so here's the mountain for these guys it was this boy who had a demon and they had been given authority to cast out demons they had the power to do that from the Lord but it didn't go and so it's like what gives Lord you got to check your faith when the mountain won't move three questions to ask yourself first of all is your faith true or false you have real and genuine faith or do you have false faith they say what is false faith well the multitude is there that the huge crowd is there and in the huge crowd you had people who said they believed in God but they didn't have faith in Jesus just like in church you have people come to church and they they would call themselves Christians but but you know what when you really pin them down what are they trusting in to get to heaven trusting in themselves yes good average guy on the street hey do you think you're going to go to heaven when you die well I don't know maybe I could possibly I think so feel like I have a pretty good chance why do you think you're gonna get to heaven because I'm a good person and I've been baptized and I go to church at least twice a year and I and I give some money every now and again and I and I have never killed anybody and I've never done any hard time and they come up with lists of things that they've done what are they trusting in to get to heaven themselves themselves trusting in their good works which aren't very good but that's what they're trusting in that's false faith describes the religious leaders had a false faith they were trusting in themselves that they were righteous jesus said and they viewed others with contempt so as your faith true or false true faith is you put your complete trust in Jesus and Jesus alone for salvation it's by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as the song says in my hands no price I bring but simply to that cross I cling so the first question you ask yourself when the mountain won't move do I have genuine true faith am i really trusting in Jesus do I really know him have I been born again second question is your faith growing or diminishing now Jesus said in verse 20 if you have faith as a mustard seed you shall say to this mountain move from here to there and it shall move faith as a mustard seed now the thing about a mustard seed is the mustard seed was the smallest of seeds that the people knew about I have a picture of a mustard seed to show you how small this is it's about as big as a flea is the mustard seed and so people have said you know all you have to have is little faith just little bitty faith and you can move mountains I don't think that's what he's saying because he's already chided them on the fact that they're littleness of their faith prevented them from casting out the demon the thing about a mustard seed is it's the smallest of seeds that becomes the biggest of the garden plants I have a picture of that's a mustard seed plant so it starts out really really small and then it grows to the tallest of the garden plants and what the Lord is saying is listen I want you to have a growing faith a growing faith so you ask yourself the question is my faith growing or is it diminishing at man up last Thursday Mack Reynolds preached and taught on Abraham and his faith and Matt talked about faith is faith is on the move to believe God you have to have movement and God called Abraham and said go and Abraham said where God said I'll show you when you get there and so Abraham he just picked up as a man in his 70s picked up with his wife and left or the counties to go to a land even know where is going and that made this statement I thought was so good he said faith is either moving toward God or it's going away from God but it never stays stationary because listen we have a force against us as Christians those who say they love God and want to walk with God we have a force the world of flesh and the devil that comes against us that's why the scripture says don't let the world squeeze you into its mold there's pressure coming against you and coming against me and if we just say well I'm just going to coast for a while I'm just going to stand still you're not you're going to start going backward we need to constantly be growing and moving forward your faith will either grow and glow or it will dry and die but it will not stay the same and is your faith the question to ask is my faith growing because jesus said it was the littleness of their faith that caused them to not be able to cast out the demon and then the third question is your faith persistent or is it fragile persistent faith or fragile faith now these guys Jesus doesn't say to the disciples when they say why could we not cast it out he said well because you don't have any faith he didn't say that he said because of the littleness of your faith the pew ninis of your faith you've regressed in your faith in the time I was on the Mount of Transfiguration and you guys were by yourself you've regressed and you didn't have the faith that you needed to be able to move the mountain so this is how I see it in my mind father brings the demon-possessed boy and he's terribly demon-possessed brings them to the disciples well they knew Jesus had given them authority to cast out demons they knew they could do it they can heal all kinds of sicknesses and this this kid had serious sicknesses associated with demon possession so he had both of those and so they say well we we cast you out demon nothing happened you need to leave here demon leave this boy demon nothing happened they put their hands on them now for emphasis begone demon nothing they raise their voice begone demon in Jesus name nothing they tried two times three times four times five times nothing's happening and they quit they quit it's not working it's not working it worked before but it's not working now and so they stopped trying hey is your faith persistent or is it fragile I mean if something doesn't go right and you try a couple times and it doesn't work do you just say well forget it I quit I can't do this it doesn't work and it says on the Bible that it works it doesn't work hey the Lord values persistence and persistence is an indicator of the fact that you really believe God when Elijah was told by God in first Kings chapter 18 that it was going to rain hadn't rained for three years and six months and he was told it was going to rain remember he he knelt down to pray and he sent his servant he goes go look at the clouds he said do you see anything set now it's clear to go again you see anything no it's clear go again go again go again go again kept sending them back and finally guys so I see a cloud it's about as big as a man's fist and Elijah said that's the rain cloud that's the rain cloud let's tell a hab that is getting ready to pour well he wasn't going to quit just because he didn't see the cloud on the first time second time third time he knew that God had promised and he had faith to see it through I love what Jerry Falwell said from this pulpit some years ago about a year and a half before he died it's always too early to quit it's always too early to quit let's say that together it's always too early to quit I love the model of the French Foreign Legion says this if I stumble push me on if I falter pick me up if I retreat shoot me there is no retreat I'm not quitting then I'm in this for the long haul so if I stumble push me on if I falter pick me up but if I retreat shoot me it's always too early to quit the first area you check check your faith second area check your connection your connection with God when I was in college I had a 1970 Camaro which sounds really really old but it's been a long time ago since I was in college so I'm in college in the early 80s and my Camaro was it had a lot of miles on it it is just it had been worn out when I got it from my dad and one of the problems with the Camaro was the battery cables didn't connect very well the battery was good I had changed the battery but the cables had a short in it and so periodically my car wouldn't start so I'd have to go out pop the hood I have to get like a wrench and start tightening down the terminals and beating on the battery and beating on the terminals trying to get it to somehow connect and then it would finally start working well that's okay until you're on a date and I'm on a date and I'm driving down MLK in Austin and I'm at a red light and also my car I used to have to kind of put it in neutral a lot and keep the gas on it so wouldn't die but it died and so the cars behind me I'm popping the hood I'm beating on the battery terminal telling the date hey turn the key see if it'll work she was impressed what was the problem the problem oh no it's the power source the battery the problem was with the connection problem with the connection hey when the mountains not moving check your connection am i connected well to God I think it's interesting how Jesus is away from these guys when they have the power failure he's up on the mountain they're down in the valley he's he's up on the mountain experiencing the glory of the Father and showing his glory and they're down in the valley dealing with the nastiness of a demon-possessed boy and the broken heartedness of his dad they're down in that nasty now and now and Jesus has to come back into that and he he's just divine frustration Oh unbelieving generation Oh perverted generation how long shall I put up with you how long shall I be with you bring him here to me but here's the thing the nine guys are separated from the Lord and when they're separated from the Lord they start to lose connection with him check your connection are you abiding in the Lord were you abiding in him Jesus said I am the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and I in him he bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing nothing maybe these guys thought hey Jesus isn't here but we have we have what we need he gave us the authority he gave us the power and so they just think that they can handle it on their own reminds me of Samson in the Bible Samson the Israeli strongman that God had given such strength - this man Sampson and you remember that he hadn't cut his hair I was part of his Nazarite vow don't cut your hair three strands to the knives right vow he had broken two of them his last strand of the Nazarite vow was you don't cut your hair and so it Delilah's trying to extract the secret what makes you so strong and he wouldn't tell her and finally he told her it's because of my hair if you cut off my hair then I'll be a weak as any man and so he fell asleep on her knees and she cut off the seven locks of his hair and she said Samson the Philistines are upon you and Samson said this I will go out as at other times and shake myself free and he did not know that the Lord had left him and he was on his own and apart from me the Lord says you can do nothing zip zilch nada and they got ahold of Samson and they bound him and they pushed on his eyes till his eyes popped that's what it means to gouge out somebody's eyes and they let him away in Chains and he became a grinder in the mill all that because he thought he could do it on his own you can't do it on your own I can't do it on my own the nine disciples couldn't do it on their own you have to stay connected to the Lord are you abiding in the Lord are you growing in your prayer life because Jesus said this kind this kind of demon that you know their hierarchies of demons the the most powerful of demons is Satan Lucifer he was the most powerful of angels until he fell and Lucifer became the father of the night known as Satan so there's hierarchy and somehow this was a very powerful demon and Jesus said this kind does not go out except by prayer he says that in Mark's Gospel here in Matthew he says except by prayer and fasting so we know that prayer is involved and so the question when you check your connection how's your prayer life are you growing in your prayer life because your prayer life is a reflection on your face see when we realize I can do nothing apart from him then I stay connected to him I abide in him like that's the devine into the branch and I talked to him a lot and I grow in my prayer life and listen I'm not talking about growing in your canned prayers I'm not talking about memorizing prayers and then before you go to sleep you say now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep if I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take that's what when I was a kid that's what we taught my parents taught me that's what a lot of parents teach their kids are frightening prayer six years old I might die and hey man what's the deal I thought I was healthy but I'm praying right now that this could be it this could be my last Dean I'm getting ready to take a dirt nap and I'm damn sick well listen I'm not talking about those kind of memorized can prayers I'm talking about praying praying from your heart my daughter Amy when she was a little girl my middle daughter she used to say when sermons weren't connecting and we were in church and I'd say Amy what was a sermon about she said ah blah blah blah just blah blah blah there's always when someone else was preaching I was good nothing really bad if it was dead bla bla bla but that's the way some of us pray it's blah blah blah God says cut out the blah blah blah cut out the memorized up talk to me from your heart tell me what's going on this kind is not go out except by prayer prayer is so critical prayer links our nothingness with God's almighty Ness and we need to pray we meet every Saturday night in our church we have for years and years and years to pray just to pray for Sunday listen I'm not trying to guilt anybody out but they're not very many people to come just a few we have a prayer room it's open 24/7 not trying to guilt anybody out but that there not a lot of people that come and pray but we need to pray and we need to grow in prayer and listen you're having trouble in your marriage let me tell you a little marriage tip something that will help your marriage and guys this is what you do with your wife you grab it by the hand especially at night and you pray together it doesn't have to be long doesn't have to even be out loud Furguson told me that Rick when he first started praying with her and over her and for her he would just pray silently and when he was done he would squeeze her hand to let her know I just finished praying for you it made a world of difference in their marriage prayer check your prayer life are you growing in your prayer life and then are you growing in personal discipline this kind only comes out by prayer and fasting fasting is a discipline prayer as a discipline Bible study is a discipline the disciples said in Acts chapter 6 verse 4 it's not good for us to spend our time waiting tables we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the Ministry of the word those two things are critical and so spiritual disciplines in your life how are you doing with that the Bible says in 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 7 discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness the word for discipline interesting word in the Greek do not go so where we get our English word gymnasium from discipline it means to train vigorously and literally literally what it means ganado it means to Train naked because that's how those guys did that back then I'm glad I live now the day they would do that I'd never go to the gym if that's what they did back then but they they would be and what that means in the spiritual sense is you train and you're open before the Lord you're not holding on to secrets you have everything exposed to the Lord he sees it all anyway he knows everything about you and everything about me he knows all your failures he knows all your secrets but there's something about bearing those to the Lord there's something about opening your heart up to the Lord that makes such a difference in your life and in my life to draw us near to him discipline yourself train yourself for the purpose of godliness hey if you're going to be a professional athlete you've got to train yourself when we had Chad Hedrick here some years ago The Olympian he's won five medals one gold to silver to bronze and speed skating he had been in the Olympics and training for the Olympics since he was 15 he had been in three different Olympics I remember asking him it was the last one when he was here he had come back I think he won a bronze medal and he was so glad he was retiring from the Olympics I said why he said because since the time I was 15 I have been on the ice for six hours a day six days a week pretty much every week of my life training to be an Olympic athlete you know it's not just any old Jake leg that can be an Olympic speed skater so I go ahead I've gone to the Galleria I'm saying I can do this now you can't I mean you got to really work at it if you're going to be the top in any kind of field it doesn't come by you being lazy I will so suffer hardship is a good soldier of Christ Jesus a good soldier trains himself discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness hey check your connection on am i abiding in the Lord am i growing in my prayer life am i disciplining myself for the purpose of godliness and then lastly check the will of God the will of God it says in verse 20 if you have faith as a mustard seed you shall say to this mountain move from here to there and it shall move and nothing shall be impossible to you nothing shall be impossible to you does that nothing mean nothing like I can do anything like I can run a two-minute mile because nothing is impossible to me and I can broad jump the Grand Canyon that I can go and play golf and break ninety might mean that but does it mean nothing no it means nothing in the will of God is impossible to you see the scripture says this first John chapter five and this is the confidence which we had before him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and if we know that he hears us and whatever we ask we know so that we have the request which we have asked from him but it's according to his will is asking according to his will ok the mountains not moving now in the case of the disciples with this demon-possessed boy who's that the will of God to cast out the demon yes yes no question about it does God want people to be possessed by demons no and so that was the right thing that was the will of God that's we know it's the will of God because when Jesus came on the scene he cast out the demon so you ask yourself is this the will of God how is my faith how is my connection and is this am i operating and the will of God is this a mountain that he wants me to move that he wants to move through me let me give you an example of some things that aren't mountains certain physical situations we don't know from Scripture if that's a mountain or if that's a thorn in the flesh Paul had some kind of ailment that he didn't want but it wasn't a mountain that the Lord wanted to move it was the thorn in the flesh that was given to him to keep him from exalting himself and when he prayed three times Lord take this from me the Lord says Paul my grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected in weakness this situation is being used in your life to keep you humble to keep you connected to keep you a man of faith to keep you trusting so now I'm not going to I'm not going to remove that you got to find out in this situation what is this is this a mountain God wants to remove and he's looking at me to to continue on in faith or is this something he wants to use in my life in a different way check the will of God what has God promised what's he promised because if you can find a promise in the Word of God then you cling to that promise and say God has promised this now we started off this message by talking about the issue for most Christians has to do with sin the mountain for so many Christians has to do with sin whether it's selfishness whether it's anger whether it's addiction drugs alcohol pornography whatever it might be see whether it's bitterness they can get us tentacles around your heart and start to squeeze the life out of you whatever it might add some ount in' that God wants removed and so that's where you pray according to his will and say god I know what your will that this is not in my life I know it's your will that I walk in victory in this area in this situation in my life I'm claiming your promise here Peter said in acts 239 for the promises to you and to your children and all who are far off as many as the Lord our God shall call to himself 2nd Corinthians 1:20 says for as many as may be the promises of God in him they are yes in Jesus there yes the promises of God yes Jesus says to those promise that's for you wherefore also by him as our Amen to the glory of God through us we say amen to the promises of God we say that's right Lord I'm claiming that promise now you hear sometimes in in Christian circles about name it and claimant name it and claimant doesn't exist that is not biblical that is not scriptural you can't name things and claim things God has to name it in order for you and for me to claim it and when God names it when there's a promise to be claimed then we claim it and God has named victory for the life of the Christian and you and I can claim that even though that mountain is slow to move we claim victory in Jesus name what is God promised and then the second question what does God want what does God want because we have issues that we don't know if God wants this suppose you're here and you're a single girl and you're in your 20s or in your 30s and you so want to be married and you want to have a family your biological clock is ticking and there's nobody on the radar screen I mean you got the radar screen up and there's no planes flying overhead there's nothing and you're like God what's the deal Lord don't you want this for me and there's not a verse of scripture that says that yeah that's God's going to have a spouse for you there's nothing like that so what do you do I tell girls and guys this who struggle with that because when I was in my early 20s I wanted to get married too I wanted to have a family I want to have children I I didn't know if God was going to provide that for me but that's what I wanted Psalm 37:4 delights yourself from the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart delight yourself in the Lord he'll give you the desires of your heart the light means to make yourself soft and pliable in the hands of the Lord it's soft clay in the hands of the Potter if you'll make yourself soft clay in the hands of the Potter you can claim the promise that God will give you the desires of your heart because he'll make your heart like his and so when you have something that you're not sure does God want this for me I don't know but I'm going to delight myself in the Lord and I'm going to trust that he's going to give me the desires of my heart and this mountain that I'm facing Lord I'm trusting you with it I'm trusting you to move the mountain I'll close with this story man had a dream he lived in a little cabin house out in the forest had a dream one night the Lord came to him in his dream and said to him son I have an assignment for you I want you to push against the rock that's in the back part of your house that big massive rock that's in the back part of your house I want you to push against that rock the man awakened and the next morning he said God wants me to move this rock and so he began to push against the rock and he pushed against the rock and pushed against the rock and pushed against the rock and rock masses Rock didn't move and so next day he went out there early in the morning till evening pushing against the rock Rock didn't move he did a third they did it fourth they did it a fifth day did it for two weeks did it for four weeks did it for six weeks did it for three months pushed against this rock Rock didn't move an inch the devil moved in the devil began to whisper to him and say what a fool you are why are you spending your time pushing against this rock look and see how much the rock is hadn't moved at all you are a total loser you have wasted all this time you have wasted all this energy nothing is happening you need to quit and the man believed because that's how he felt he was so discouraged she said yeah I need to quit he said but before I quit when I asked the Lord so he went before the Lord he said lord I don't understand you asked me to push against this rock and I've been pushing against this rock and and I had to move the rock at all it hadn't moved a millimeter Lord and I'm a failure and I need to quit and the Lord said to him son he said I called you to push the rock not to move the rock I said push against the rock not move the rock and you said they hadn't done any good look at your arms son look how much stronger your arms are because you've been spending time pushing against the rock look how strong your back is look how mighty your legs are because you've been pushing against that rock he said you've been faithful and obedient to me and now I in my timing I'm going to move the rock hey you remember as you face the mountain P you sh pray until something happens push and push and push and trust God and believe God and keep praising and keep praying and keep worshiping and keep reading and keep meditating and keep memorizing and keep giving and keep thrusting into God who can do anything hey you don't just pray and quit you keep going and going and going and God will give the victory we've been talking today about faith and sight we believe God and then we see him do great things in our lives and listen the most important kind of faith is saving faith it's the faith that comes when you put your complete trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior lots of people know about the Lord in their mind but they've never really trusted him in their heart and that's what makes all the difference in the world so if you're not sure about your relationship with Jesus I want you to pray with me today this simple prayer or Jesus I need you I know that I'm a sinner and I'm lost and I can't save myself but Jesus I believe you are God in the flesh I believe you died on the cross for my sins and you rose again from the dead on the third day and Lord right now I open the door of my heart to you forgive me of all my sins come and live inside of me be my Lord and my Savior I surrender my all to you Jesus and I promise to follow you all the days of my life my friend if you'll pray that kind of prayer and mean that kind of prayer from your heart the Lord will come in and your life will never be the same I would love to hear from you to know that you're watching to know that God is using this broadcast to make a difference in your life to know that you just prayed that prayer to receive Christ as your Savior and Lord please take the time to call that toll-free number write me email me let me know what's going on and how we can pray for you you really are important to God and you're important to us and we're here for you from his heart is the viewer supported broadcast ministry of dr. Jeff Shrieve who believes that no matter how badly you may have messed up in life God still loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life find out more about that just go to from his heart o RG [Music] you [Music]

Channel: From His Heart Ministries

Views: 5,138

Rating: 4.8431373 out of 5

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Id: qRSCUP6cOgI

Length: 44min 48sec (2688 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 29 2017