Prayers that Move Mountains

We are jumping into a new series this morning. Well, maybe I should put it this way. We are finishing up a book study that we started last year of the Gospel of Mark. Now some of you were probably hoping that I had forgotten about this study, but I haven’t. And before we dive in let me just say a few quick words about studying the Bible verse-by-verse.

First of all when when a pastor or teacher preaches verse-by-verse through books of the Bible it is called expositional preaching or teaching, and unfortunately it is a dying art form. Most preachers today do sermons on topics like, “how to have a better marriage” or “how to be a better parent”. And when a they do topical sermons on these subjects they pluck a verse from here and they pluck a verse from there. But I want us to realize something this morning. Plucking a verse from here and there is the most dangerous way to study the Bible.

You see, when you start ripping verses out of context, there is a real danger that you will make the Bible say something God never intended it to say. Let me introduce you to a well known saying among serious Bible students.

A verse without its context becomes a pretext.

Well, what is a pretext? A pretext is basically an excuse. A pretext uses a Bible verse the wrong way to back up something we already believe. Instead of letting God’s Word speak for itself, we twist it to say what we want it to say. Let me put it this way. A pretext happens when someone lifts a verse out of its context and turns it into a proof to support their own opinion. It’s not letting the Bible lead us; it’s dragging the Bible along to support our agenda. And when that happens, the authority shifts from Scripture to the speaker. The preacher becomes the source, not the text.

And church, that is how error creeps in. That is how entire doctrines get twisted. That is how people end up believing things that sound biblical but are not actually taught in the Bible. When we treat Scripture like a collection of inspirational quotes instead of the living, unified Word of God, we lose the depth, the power, and the clarity that God intended for us to have.

But when we study the Bible the way it was written—verse by verse, line by line, in its proper context—we allow God to set the agenda. We hear what He wants to say, not what we want Him to say. Expositional study protects us, grounds us, and grows us. It keeps us anchored in truth in a world full of deception.

Here is a slide that summarizes what I’m saying.

Expositional study helps us hear what God actually says, not what we wish He said.

We must guard against the temptation to jump all over the Bible trying to get it to say what we want it to say. We need to study the word of God as a whole and let the text speak for itself.

One final word on this and I’m going to move on. Over the years, I have received criticism for approaching the word of God expositionally or verse-by-verse. And the argument usually goes something like this, “hey man, don’t you think would get more people here on Sunday mornings if we didn’t always go verse-by-verse through books of the Bible.” Or, “man, I just think people get bogged down and lose interest if you spend all this time going verse-by-verse.”

And you know what, we might get more people here on Sunday’s morning’s if I spent every Sunday doing topical studies on relevant issues like marriage, parenting, or managing your finances. But let me give you some reasons why I can’t do that. I want you to look at a couple of verses with me.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Boy these are some powerful verses. Let’s start by looking at the phrase, “is given by inspiration of God”. Now, what is interesting about this phrase is that it translates a single word in the Greek.

Lexham Research Lexicon of the Greek New Testament θεόπνευστος

θεόπνευστος— God-breathed,

Every time I study this, it absolutely amazes me. The book we’re holding in our laps contains the very words of God. Let that sink in. God breathed out His Word onto the pages of Scripture. What we are studying is not human opinion, or just ancient religious philosophy. No, it is the very breath of the living God preserved for us.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

And look what the beginning of the verse says. It says, “All Scripture”. Did you catch that? Let me say it again. It says, “All Scripture”. Do you know what the word all means in the Greek? This is going to blow you away. It means all. It means every bit of Scripture is God breathed. And do you know what that means for us? It means that every part of this book is worth studying. You see, what we grown accustomed to in Sermons is getting a few verses here and there, and the rest is made up of entertaining stories. And what ends up happening is that people are entertained, and people get inspired, but they leave week after week with never really learning the word of God. And here is the danger of this. You can spend 20 years under that kind of teaching and still really have no idea what the word of God says.

Legacy, I love you too much to let that happen. I cannot and will not get up here and tell stories and sprinkle in a verse every once and awhile. I won’t give you 5 minutes of the word of God and thirty minutes of stories, politics, or gimmicks that are designed to provoke an emotional response. That is not what we are here to do. We are here to learn the word of God so that we can be transformed into the image of Christ.

In fact, we are in the middle of redoing our website and smack dab in the middle of our new homepage, we are going to highlight our mission statement. A mission statement is why we exist. And here is Legacy Baptist Church’s mission statement.

Our mission is to help people grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, by being continually transformed into His likeness through the study of the Word of God.

Now believe it or not. This statement has been years in the making, and many hours of thought, prayer, and meditation has gone into this one sentence. And of course, this mission statement is built upon Bible verses that I’ve studied for years. But this is what we need to buy into. This is what all of us as a body of believers are working towards. When people walk through these doors our mission is to help them grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. And the way people grow in the Lord is through the study of the word of God.

And here is the best part. The holy Spirit uses the word of God to transform us into the image of Christ. And if this process is taking place inside an individual, if an individual is being transformed into the image of Christ, then everything else will take care of itself. You see, if a person is undergoing this process of transformation it will not only transform them, but it will impact the world around them. And if you have a church full of people undergoing this process then God will use that church to turn the world around them upside down.

And here is why am I so passionate about this statement. I’m passionate about this mission statement because I’ve lived it. I have lived a life so mired in sin and darkness that I wasn’t far from physical death, and the word of God transformed me from the inside out. And if God pulled me out of that fire and has given me the opportunity to do this, then I want everyone in this room to experience what I have.

And what transformed my life, what gave me the best results, it wasn’t a verse here and a verse there kind of studying. No it was expositional study. In other words, what transformed my life was going verse-by-verse, line-by-line, and book by book. There is no short cut. You have to be a devoted student of the word of God. But if you will follow me down this path as we follow Jesus. If you will buy into studying the word of God diligently, God will use you in ways you never thought possible. And if we all do this together God will use this church to transform the community around us. But it all starts and it all ends with being “transformed into HIs likeness through the study of the Word of God”.

Ok, let me say one more quick thing about about the verses that we are looking at and we will jump into Mark.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So, we tackled the first part of this verse. All scripture. All of it, Old Testament and New Testament is God breathed, and then Paul goes on to say that it is profitable for doctrine (teaching), for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” And now pay special attention to verse 17, “that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work”. This feeds right into our mission statement. We want people coming into this church hearing the word of God taught so that they are “thoroughly equipped for every good work”.

That is the mission. That is why we are so serious about studying the word of God verse-by-verse. Because it thoroughly equips us for every good work, and it transforms us into the image of our Master Jesus Christ.

Ok, with all of that being said I think we are ready to jump back into our study of Mark’s Gospel. But before we do. Let’s ask God to give us understanding. Let’s pray.

Let’s begin with the title of the series. I’m calling this series, “The Final Week”. And the reason for that is obvious, we are going to study the chapters of Mark’s gospel that detail the events surrounding the final week of Christ’s life on earth.

Now since its been two or three months since we’ve been in Mark, let’s spend a few minutes doing a basic overview of what we covered last year.

What is interesting about the Gospel of Mark is that it ends in a similar fashion to the way it begins. Last year we studied the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, and it is focuses on Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, Galilee if you remember is the Northern region of Israel. And in the beginning of Mark’s account Jesus comes offering the kingdom to the nation of Israel, but He is fiercely opposed and rejected by the religious authorities. In fact, chapter 2 and part of chapter 3 record five major conflicts Jesus has with the scribes and the Pharisees.

Well, eventually their opposition to Him gets so intense that Jesus leaves Galilee and spends some time up north in Gentile dominated areas. This is good news for most of us here today, because Jesus demonstrates during this trip that Gentiles would be included in His Kingdom as well. Then after Jesus finishes His trip in Gentile country He comes back to Galilee one final time, but the minute He steps off the boat here come the Pharisees again opposing and harassing Him. In fact, let’s read a few of these verses as a bit of review.

Mark 8:11–12 NKJV

11 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. 12 But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation.”

And look at what verse 13 says.

Mark 8:13 NKJV

13 And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.

Boy oh boy, those words, “And He left them” are heavy, heavy words. You see, this encounter records the last time Jesus would ever be in Galilee. In other words, Jesus left them for good. Their Messiah had come offering the kingdom to them, and they rejected Him. So, when Mark records that “He left them”. This means He left them for good.

Well, after Jesus leaves Galilee for the final time He begins His journey south to the cross. And during this journey to the cross Jesus focuses mainly on teaching His disciples and preparing them for the rough road that lies ahead. You see, it is on this final trip to Jerusalem that Jesus begins teaching His disciples that He was going to be killed and on the third day rise again.

Finally, when we get to chapter 11 Jesus arrives at Jerusalem, and the beginning of chapter 11 records what is know as the triumphal entry. Now, I’m going to skip the triumphal entry because I want to cover those verses on Easter week. So, we are picking up after the triumphal entry. In other words, Jesus is in Jerusalem during the final week of His life. And remember what I said a moment ago. Mark Gospel ends similar to the way it begins. The beginning of the Mark’s Gospel records 5 conflicts with the religious authorities. Now in the final week Mark records five more conflicts with the religious authorities. Which as we know will conclude with the Lord being crucified.

Ok, let’s begin. Picking up at verse 20 of Mark chapter 11.

Mark 11:20–21 NKJV

20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”

Ok, let’s spend a minute talking about the fig tree. The day before Jesus had come up on a fig tree and He was hungry. So, Jesus and His disciples approach the fig tree looking for something to eat, but they find no fruit on it. Well, when Jesus finds no fruit on the fig tree He gets angry and curses it. If fact, listen to what Jesus says to the fig tree.

Mark 11:14 NKJV

14 In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it.

So, Jesus curses the fig tree, and then He and the disciples go on to the temple. Well, when He gets to the temple Jesus isn’t happy with what He finds there. He discovers people selling animals for sacrifices and money changers overcharging people for swap out Roman coins for temple shekels. And Jesus says, My house is supposed to be called a house of prayer for all nations. But you’ve made it a den of thieves.

So, Jesus finds no good fruit on the fig tree, and Jesus finds no good fruit in the temple either.

Here is the point. When Jesus inspects the fig tree He realizes that the tree was never going to bear fruit. When Jesus, the Messiah, comes to the nation of Israel and inspects the temple, he realizes it was never going to bear fruit. Simply put, the fig tree symbolizes the temple. The temple was the heart and soul of the Jewish nation. When Jesus inspects the fig tree and finds no fruit, he judges it and destroyed it. The same fate is in store for the temple, and the Nation of Israel. Jesus is teaching His disciples that the temple is going to be destroyed, and the nation of Israel would face severe judgment. And that is exactly what happens. The Romans eventually destroy the temple, along with the city, and the Jewish people were scattered all over the world.

Ok, got it. The fig tree is a symbol of the temple and the nation of Israel. The Messiah has come and He doesn’t find any of the spiritual fruit he is looking for. So, when Jesus speaks to the fig tree and says “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again”. He’s really talking about the temple. It was a foreshadowing of things to come.

Mark 11:20–21 NKJV

20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”

And listen to Jesus’ response to Peter.

Mark 11:22–23 NKJV

22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

Here we have another head scratcher. I mean Peter says, “Lord look at the fig tree you cursed it’s dead, and the Lord’s response is “Have faith in God”. At first glance, this seems so out of place, but it isn’t. And the solution to understanding what Jesus is talking about is found is verse 23. Jesus says, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says”. Now I don’t know about you guys, but this is another verse that stumped me for years. We go from cursing figs trees to talking about casting mountains into the sea. What is this all about?

Let me see if I can break it down for you. First, moving mountains is a figure of speech. Jesus isn’t talking about giving us superpowers that will allow us to move literally mountains. Just as the fig tree was a symbol of the Temple and the Nation of Israel producing no spiritual fruit, the same is true of the mountain. The mountain is a symbol for something. What does the mountain symbolize? The mountain represents an obstacle that can’t be moved by human means. In short, moving a mountain simply means to do the impossible. (Yates, pg. 424)

Moving a mountain means to do the impossible

Think about this for a second. The disciples were getting ready to face impossible circumstances. The religious leaders were going to crucify the Messiah. After that, the same religious leaders were going to persecute the disciples themselves. But not only that, the disciples were going to be opposed by the full might of the Roman Empire. The temple, the center of their religious life, was going to be destroyed. The kingdom that they thought was coming was going to be delayed, and their Messiah was going to be crucified.

Simply put, the disciples were going to face mountains. That is what Jesus is teaching them. He is teaching them to have faith because God would supply the power to move these mountains. He is teaching them that God would see them through the seemingly impossible circumstances that lay ahead. And the key components to moving the mountains were faith and prayer.

Mark 11:22–23 NKJV

22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

Let’s talk quickly about faith and prayer. In the beginning of verse 22 Jesus says, “Have faith in God”. Now I want you to understand what Jesus is saying here. He isn’t telling these men to “get saved”. No, Jesus is calling on these men to have discipleship faith. You see, when we first come to faith we believe in Jesus for eternal life, and we know that we are saved simply by believing. After that, as we “grow in the faith” we begin to believe many different things about God. When we grow in the faith, we begin to understand and believe more things about God than we did in the past.

You see, we need to understand that the pathway of discipleship is hard. Following Christ is difficult. The disciple will be faced with many challenges. Let me put it this way, on the pathway of discipleship we will face mountains. So, in this passage Jesus is calling on His disciples to believe that God would empower them to do the impossible. Simply put, Jesus is telling these disciples to have faith that if they needed to move a mountain, if they faced an impossible circumstance, if they believed God would do it, then God would do it. This is discipleship faith. It is the faith that God will do whatever we ask, even the impossible as we operate in His will.

Now let me make an important point here. This doesn’t mean God is going to do everything we ask. This doesn’t mean that God is going to give us everything our little hearts desire. If you keep these verses in their context, we realize this has to do with moving mountains as we serve God. Remember we started out talking about keeping verses in their proper context. Well, the context here is Jesus’ disciples getting ready to face impossible circumstances as they lay the foundation of the church. Jesus certainly isn’t telling these men that they can simply speak good things into existence for themselves.

But some teachers take these verses out of context and teach them that way today. They take Jesus’ words, “say to this mountain,” and turn them into a universal principle for speaking prosperity into our lives. In their view, these verses mean you can speak money, promotion, and success into existence if you just have enough faith.

But that is not what these verses mean. God’s Word does not teach that we can speak success, healing, promotions, or prosperity into our lives.

Remember what we said at the beginning.

A verse without its context becomes a pretext.

Right. If you rip verses out of context then they become an excuse to make the word of God say what you want it to say. This is a great example of that. Jesus isn’t telling these men to speak prosperity into their lives. On the way to the cross He told them the exact opposite. Listen to what He says in chapter 8

Mark 8:34 NKJV

34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

The entire way to the cross Jesus is telling these men that they were going to have to give up their lives to remain faithful to Him. He says, “let him deny himself”. This means the complete opposite of speaking prosperity into theirs lives. It meant giving up their hopes, dreams, their comfort, and even their very lives. He says, “take up his cross and follow Me”. The disciples knew what a cross was. It was an instrument of suffering and death. He is telling them that if they wanted to follow Him, they had to give it all up, even their very lives. Church, this is the anti-prosperity message. Jesus didn’t contradict himself in chapter 11 when He told His disciples to speak to mountains. Again, a verse without its context becomes a pretext.

You see, I want you to move past the mindset of thinking these verses has something to do we getting everything our heart desires. Now, this has to do with facing impossible circumstances as we follow the Lord Jesus Christ. This has to do with believing that as we follow the Lord Jesus Christ no matter what we face, the Lord will see us through it. He will provide a supernatural solution to the mountain we face. And the key to operating in the Lord’s power is believing God’s promises. It is believing what He said in verses 22 and 23. And of course, it is about prayer. Let’s close with verse 24.

24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

The Lord will provide you with His power as you serve Him. God supplied the disciples with power from on high to face mountains we can only dream of. Here is my challenge to you. Follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Put down whatever is distracting you and follow after Him. Your life won’t look anything like you thought it would. You may suffer, you may face mountains, but you will be on a mission for the King of Kings and He will give you whatever you need to see you through as long as you ask according to His will.

Prayers that Move Mountains

Praying in the will of God are the prayers that move mountains. Amen.

Let’s pray.