Faith, Prayer and Forgiveness
Notes
Transcript
Good Morning
I want to get one of those alexa devices, but I am worried about people listening to what is going on in the house. I heard they were coming out with a male version, it doesn’t listen to anything!
We need to remember all the flood victims and the ODR as they are out working and witnessing to the people.
We have a search committee meeting tomorrow at 9 am. It was supposed to be Wednesday, but with all the rain, we had to move it. Please keep us in your prayers. We have received several applications already.
I want to thank all those who were able to come and help at the work day.
Today we are going to be in Mark 11:22-25.
Last we talked about hypocrisy. Jesus cursed the fig tree that had signs of fruit, but had none and he cleansed the temple of the robbers. The temple was a place that was supposed to be for the people of God to come and worship and make sacrifices to Him, but the religious leaders had allowed thieves to set up shop in the courtyard. The worshippers where being taken advantage of in the one place that should have been a safe place.
Once again Jesus is teaching that what is on the inside is more important than the outside. A person can fake the outside, but not what is on the inside. If we don’t do what we say, then we are hypocrites. We must do the things that we talk about. We must be obedient even when no one is watching. If we can’t choose what is right when we are alone, we will never chose what is right when it we are under pressure and everyone is watching. The light of Jesus reveals what is in the darkness. A true believer will never be happy living in sin.
Today we are going to look at Jesus’ response to Peter’s remembering the cursed tree as they walked by the next morning. Peter was amazed at the power that he witnessed. The tree that Jesus had cursed was already withered and dead to the roots! This is something that Jesus had never done before. All the miracles that Jesus had done, this is the only one that took life away. All the others restored life and health. All those who were following Jesus were amazed at this power.
We are going to see Jesus teach them about faith, prayer and forgiveness. This is not new to use, prayer is our only way we can communicate with God. They had Jesus. They got to live life for 3 and half years with the Messiah. If they had a question, they just went to Jesus. They did pray, but they could just go to Jesus. But a time is coming soon that they will not have that option, Jesus will not be with them much longer, so Jesus is teaching them about faith, prayer and forgiveness. He is preparing them for when He is gone. We are going to read some of these verses and it may seem like we are going bapticotal! We are not, some of these verses have been taken out of context and theologies have been developed around one or two verses ignoring all the other verses on prayer and faith.
Please stand as we read God’s word.
22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
First Jesus tells them to have faith in God! Another way of saying it is to trust in God. Trust in who God says He is. Trust in what the Bible says about God. Trust in knowing all the He has done for you in your life. He is not telling them that their faith is what has the power. All the power is in God! If we look back scripture, we can see that we are told that if we have faith like the size of a mustard seed we could move a mountain. Matthew 17:20
20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Peter had little faith and was able to walk on water! He walked on water while his faith was focused on Jesus.
It is not how much faith we have, it is the object of our faith. God has all the power, our faith and prayer that is a conduit that God uses to reveal His power.
Jesus next tells them that if they believe when they tell this mountain to be taken up and cast into the sea, it will be granted to him.
This expression was related to a common metaphor of that day, “rooter up of mountains,” was used in Jewish literature of great rabbis and spiritual leaders who could solve difficult problems and seemingly do the impossible. We do the same thing today. We say that a strong person is as strong as an ox. Or we say someone is as smart as a whip.
None of the disciples would have taken Jesus literally about moving a mountain. If Jesus was being literal, map makers would be working nonstop. People would be moving things all around on the planet. They would have to constantly be changing the maps!
Our words do not have power! It is the object of our words that have the power, God. If we could actually name it and claim it, this world would be a disaster, worse than it already is. Can you imagine if what we spoke, if we truly believed it would happen what things would be like. If we got mad at someone and wished they were dead and truly believed it? How many times have we wished someone would get in a wreck because of the way they were driving? We are not God, we can not cause things just because we speak it. God has the power, it is through our words that God sometimes chooses to reveal His power. When someone is healed through prayer, it is not the words that did the healing, it is God. When we receive something we prayed for, it is not the words that provided it, it is God. God has all the power.
Verse 24 is really taken out of context! Jesus tells them that all things that they pray and ask for, that when you believe that you have received them, you will. We can not take this one verse about pray and build theology on it. If this was the only verse on prayer, then yes we could do that, but it is not. God is not a genie! James 4:3
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
God’s will is being unfolded through all of redemptive history, by means of the prayers of His people. When our prayers are in line with His will, God moves. The prayers of a true mature believer will be in line and in tune with God and His will.
We have to take all the verses on prayer and study them and put them together to form our theology on prayer. We can never take one verse out of the Bible and try to make it mean something that it was never meant to.
I don’t know why some prayers God answers and some He doesn’t. I just know He is sovereign and He knows better than I do. He is a good God. He is my good Father. I trust Him to answer the prayers that will glorify Him and reveal Him to this world. I can’t see the whole picture when I pray. God always see everything. He knows what is best and I trust Him totally. That doesn’t make it easy when prayers aren’t answered. God does answer prayers today! I 100% believe that! I just don’t know a magic formula to getting all prayers answered. Paul didn’t get all his prayers answered either. He asked at least 3 times to have the thorn in his side removed and it wasn’t. We need to continue to pray to God and trust His judgement. He is God, not us!
Next Jesus tells them that when they pray, if they have anything against anyone to forgive it so that God will forgive us! This is an all inclusive statement. We are to forgive the sins that are done to us but also the simple dislikes we have between us. The word any, includes both believers and unbelievers. It doesn’t matter if they deserve to be forgiven or not, God forgives us even though we don’t deserve it. Jesus did suffer and die on the cross so we could get forgiveness and not pass it on to others.
23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
We must not be like this servant. He was forgiven an unpayable debt, but would not forgive his fellow servant a small debt. Forgiveness is a sign of a true believer. If anyone has the right to not forgive it is Jesus for the way He was treated and murdered, but He died for us, so that our sins could be forgiven. The Bible is very clear on forgiveness. If we don’t forgive, we will not be forgiven. I promise you there is nothing that someone can or has done to you that is worse than what you have done to God, and He will forgive you if you ask, if you repent and believe in His Son, you will be forgiven. We need to forgive so that when they come to ask for forgiveness, we can honestly say, I forgive you and love them like nothing happened. As a believer, we have to forgive! PERIOD! If we want forgiveness from God, we have to forgive those who wrong and sin against us!
We have to have these 3 things in our lives!!
Faith (trust) in God!
It isn’t the size or amount of faith or trust that matters. I can trust that I will have a million dollars in my bank account Monday morning, it is not going to happen! There is no power in the size or amount of my faith. All the power is in God. When my prayers are in line with His will, then He moves. God still answers prayers! Amen! His goodness is not effected by whether or not He answers my prayers or your prayers. He is good because He is God! No is an answer by the way!
Prayer!
We must pray to God! If we don’t pray to God, how can we get to know Him? How can we learn to trust Him? God wants us to talk to Him! Yes He already knows what we are going to say and do, but He still wants us to talk to Him. He wants to have a personal relationship with each one of us! He is not a God that is unapproachable! He sent His son to come and live with us and to die for our sins! He loves us and wants to talk to us. Prayer is vital to the believer. It is food for the soul. When we talk to God, our spirit is refreshed. We are told to pray without ceasing! That is how important it is! When you think you have prayed enough, pray!
Forgiveness!
This is so crucial to us! If we want to be forgiven, we have to forgive, no strings attached! I have seen so many relationships ended over stupid stuff! I have lost friendships over things I can’t even remember why! That is how stupid it is. I can’t even remember why I was mad at the person! It doesn’t even matter! I need to forgive no matter what they did or didn’t do! My forgiveness is on the line! If I want to be forgiven, I have to forgive. That is what Jesus taught, that is what I must do. That is what we must do. Forgiveness! That is going to be my word of the year! I know it is May!!!
Liberty, if we focus on these 3 things, we will grow as believers. We will mature in our faith. Let’s focus on our faith, our prayer life and forgiving others! I love all of you!
Let’s pray
