This morning before services as I made my typical rounds to try to speak to some of you before services started, I went and spoke to Becky and everybody on her row, including her mother, Evelyn. And Becky said to me, she said, Mom said this morning on the way here, she said, I wonder why everybody just doesn't like to come to services. That was the gist of it. That wasn't verbatim what she said. But her point was, Evelyn said, you know, I don't know why everybody just doesn't want to come. And I get that. I feel the same way. Coming and being with you, and coming and doing things that we're going to do this morning and that we've already done strengthens me, and it helps me. And I hope that you feel the same way. We're very, very glad to have you with us this morning. As Mitch mentioned, as we began this morning, some of you have been gone, and you've returned safely. And we're glad for that as well. And as Mitch also said, if you're watching our live stream broadcast, thank you for joining us. And if you can come and be with us, we'd love to have you. We begin in earnest this afternoon, our vacation Bible school, and I look forward to that. And I hope you will make your plans to be here, as well.
What I had intended to preach on this morning has been prepared for about two weeks. And Friday, I sat in my office and I thought for a minute and I said you know what? I've been seeing this phrase about everywhere I've walk in this building: faith can move mountains. And I said, I think I'm gonna change what I'm talking about. And I knew it was an omen when I got home a day or two ago, and I folded a shirt and it said, Faith can move mountains. So I thought, well, there it is, I'm gonna need to talk about that today. So, I want to talk to you this morning about this idea of faith can move mountains. I put down there in the subtitle, it's kind of a VBS sermon, and I guess it is. But I think it's important for us to think about this idea. Maybe a little bit more, from an adult point of view this morning. And then we'll talk about it, of course over the course of the next several days in our VBS classes. Hebrews 11 talks about faith. It talks about by faith, all of these people lived their lives. And I think that that alone makes it important. There's no other, there's no other statement, there's no other stretch, if you will, of Scripture, in anywhere in either the Old or New Testament, like Hebrews 11. It just enumerates. And a lot of those statements begin with: by faith. We're gonna look at just a few of them in just a minute. But by faith. And I want you to think with me this morning, just of the magnitude of that idea, Iand I want us to talk about it just a minute.
When I ask you what faith is, what do you think, what do you think the answer to that is? Well, we can give a definition, even the Hebrew writer gives a definition. But I think what faith is and I think this is shared with, not just what the Hebrew writer says, but in every facet, that the idea of faith, as discussed in the Bible is most often described as a positive response to God. And it's more of a, it's not just a specific idea. It's not just like the mental act of believing what one is told. It's not just someone saying, Do you believe this? And you say, Yes, I acknowledge that and I believe that. There is a sense in which that's faith, but that's not the way the Bible typically uses it. The way the Bible typically uses it is most often, as I said, describe it's just a positive response to God. And it's more complete. It involves a complete package of the things that create a positive response to God. It's not just "I believe". It's that my heart is involved and my mind is involved and my will and my emotions. And even as Randy prayed this morning, I hope you listened carefully to that prayer. He mentioned the words faith and obedience. That's what faith involves. It's clear that faith involves obedience. It involves commitment. It involves loyalty. And you cannot read Hebrews 11, not seeing all of that from all of those people. It's not just I believe. I believe, God, what you told me. It's not just that Abraham said, I believe. It's that Abraham did what God wanted him to do. Faith is generic. It's, it's very involved. It's very multifaceted. So when the Hebrew writer talks about the faith of these men and women, he simply means that they respond to God in the right ways. And I would even suggest in all the right ways, I'm not saying all the right ways, to say they're perfect, but they knew how to respond. It wasn't just I believe in you. It was, I believe in what you said, and not just I believe in what you say, but I'm willing to do that. I'm willing to do that. And he wants us to read their stories. I've read those stories about Noah all my life. I can remember reading them and sitting in a little classroom at the Holly Grove Church building. With about three or four other kids. I'm sure I was young, probably even three, four or five years old. I remember sitting there. And I can remember Catherine Overstreet teaching me about Noah, and the flood and the ark. And I remember hearing about the faith that he had, he was divinely warned of things he had not yet seen the passage in Hebrews 11:7 tells us. I'm almost convinced, I won't say it fully, but I'm almost convinced that Noah hadn't seen rain until it began to rain. There's some question in my mind about that. But I think that's part of what he meant when he says he's been divinely one of the things you've not seen. And yet he believed God, but he doesn't just believe God, he did something about that. And that's why that's important, I think, for us. It's not just that he believed God, but he did something about what he was told.
And the same is true of Abraham. I cannot cannot imagine being told. "go kill your son Kenny". I don't think it was that flippant. I think God was testing. He was testing Abraham, he said, You know, I want you to offer up Isaac. And we all know that story. That's a - it's not an unbelievable story, but it's unbelievable in the sense that the magnitude of it, that's what makes it hard to believe that it happened. But yet Abraham did what God wanted him to do.
Or this story. God parted the Red Sea, and allowed the children of Israel to walk across, to flee the Egyptians and walk across on dry land. Just think about that on dry land. And they did that by faith. I mentioned several months ago in a lesson I had talked about this particular story. Imagine the first person to go .They're all looking at the Egyptians being held up by the fire. And Moses says go across and the first person steps out into the sea. And then others follow and then the whole congregation follows. There's a lot of faith. It makes sense for us too that we respond to God that way. And that's what he wants. So that's, I want to talk to you about that in just a minute a little bit further.
There was something else thats hinted, I believe, in Hebrews 11. There's 40 verses in Hebrews 11. And the first 29 verses are about people of faith who had faith before the Exodus. I want you to think about that. The first 29 verses are about people who had faith before the Exodus. And then the author even pauses in that list to comment on that faith from the earliest patriarchs. He stops. It's almost as if he stops midstream and says this, "These all died in faith not having received the promises. But having seen them from afar off, they were assured of them, embrace them and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland." He goes on a couple more verses and shares the same idea. But I don't think it's happenstance that he stops. And he talks about those he had just mentioned, matter of fact, he stops midstream. He's talking about Abraham and Sarah, he says that verses 13 through 16, and he picks back up with Abraham, it's almost like I want to tell you something about all of them. And just how deep their faith was. The hint is that Israel's earliest history reveals a prototypical faith. But it seems to reveal a faith that the later generations didn't have. There seems to be, and this is speculation, that there seems to be an unspoken flow in Hebrews 11. It says, they started out so well, and they continued to have it, but those early patriarchs. I want you thinkto about it. Think about what Noah didn't have, that we have. Think about what Abraham didn't have, that we have, think about what Moses had or didn't have, that we have. And yet they're the ones whose faith is given to us to say, look at and share. The Hebrews 11 list is heavy with early Israel, people having that kind of faith. There may be something to that. But he wants us to have it.
So let's go for a moment, then this morning to this main idea. But let's go to this business of faith can move mountains. You know, we like mountains. You mentione the word mountain to my wife and she just goes into a whole, its like the world is great. She loves to go with the mountains. I do too. Many of you too. There's something majestic. There's something beautiful. And we're talking about mountains. And the Bible talks about mountains a lot. And we're going to talk about it in VBS. And it's kind of a neat topic because you can make such good decorations. Did you walk through the lobby today? Man they're all over. The mountains are out in the lobby. And I think I know Laura did a lot of that cutting and painting and whatever else you did. But when you walk through there, you kind of get a sense of all because we like mountains, we like majestic things.
Mountains are big. Nothing else like mountains. I mean, we can drive the highways around here. And you don't get the same aesthetic reaction that you do if you go to the Rockies. Or that you do if you go to the Alps, you just don't get it. Or even the Smokies I'll throw it in there. You just don't get it. But when you go to those places, the magnificence and the bigness of those things are important. And they give us a sense of all. They do. They do me. I think they probably do you as well. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about moving mountains. Move mountains. Faith can move mountains. Have you ever heard of a more ridiculous statement in your life? Can you believe that the Bible talks about a faith that moves mountains. That sounds unreasonable. And we're going to teach our kids in VBS for four days about something that sounds ridiculous. It's impossible. Literally, it's impossible. Faith is not identified as someone with power. Faith is powerful. But faith is not someone or something that can move mountains. Not literally. The reality is no mountain can be moved. Yet Jesus clearly says that faith can move mountains. Isn't that interesting? Faith can, look at that! Faith can move mountains. What's he talking about? Well, I'll tell you why this is important. I'll tell you why it's important for us to talk about it this week in VBS. There's an answer that and we're gonna look at that in just a moment. But here's why it's important. Because we walk by faith. Everything, everything we do really is we walk by faith. We were promised things that we not seen, yet. We walk by faith, not by sight. Now there will come a time, when I think we will walk by sight. When faith will no longer even be needed. But that's not now. We walk by faith, Paul says, and the Hebrew writer also said But without faith, without faith, it's impossible please him for you comes to God must believe that He is. And that is rewarder of those who diligently seek him. You can't you can't live to please God without having this kind of faith. This complete faith. I'm not talking about "I believe in God", that's not going to cut it. That's not what he's talking about. Now that has to be a part of the equation, but it's not that I believe in God. It's not that. It's a deeper kind of faith. The point of Hebrews 11 is they did that, and you can do that. I can do that. But it takes a complete kind of faith.
So let's let's talk for a moment about this mountain movement business. I want to let you look at three passages. First passage is found in Matthew 17. "When they come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he's an epileptic. And he suffers severely for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to me. Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him. And the child was cured from that very hour, then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, Why could we not cast it out? Jesus said them because of your unbelief. For surely I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain move from here to there, and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you." That is some strong, that's a strong statement. That's a strong statement. Lord, why couldn't we do that? You don't have faith. You didn't have the kind of faith that's needed. If you had the kind of faith that was needed, your faith that you need to have, it can move a mountain. That's what Jesus said. In Mark 11, He said this beginning verse 20, "Now in the morning, 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 and said them Have faith in God. For surely 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. Therefore I say to you, whoever, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you received them, and you will have them." We're talking about moving mountains again, faith that moves mountains. And then this passage in Luke 17. It's not moving a mountain but it's similar. The apostles said to the Lord increase our faith, you see that they want what he telling them they can have. Increase our faith. "The Lord said, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you." Now we're talking about not just moving mountains we're talking about, if you had faith, you could uproot a tree, tell the tree where to go and the tree would go there. Same idea, same ludicrous, literally, same ludicrous statement. But Jesus said it. And Jesus said to them, that's how you increase your faith. You have the kind of faith that believes that that kind of thing will be done. Each of these stories have their particular context and nuances. And they were written about adults for adults.
Now, these teachers and these classes over the next four days in our VBS classes, I get it. I think one of the challenges and I'm saying this not really ever having taught, at least not for a long time, having taught a children's class. But how do you get the point across to a six year old, that faith can move mountains? How does that happen? Six year olds know, they've never seen a mountain move. How do you get that point across to them, that this faith can move mountains? The point Jesus makes is that faith, even small faith, can grow into big faith. That that mustard seed faith, I think what Jesus is saying there is not that we ought to have small faith. I think what Jesus is saying is it can start there. Because that mustard seed, you see turns into a tree, a strong, big, large tree. I think that's what he's saying. That that's how faith works. But if you have that so that it grows, you can have that kind of faith. And he says, if you have that, here's the point. Not that the mountains literally move, but the mountainous obstacles in our lives can be changed. Isn't that the lesson for us? It's pretty simple, really. That's what I think that our teachers are going to be teaching our kids and our grandkids in these classes. But it's not just for them. I mean, you have to help a six year old, I'm gonna talk about this in just a moment, but you have to help a younger mind say, This is what God means. This is what Jesus meant when he said what he said. The disciples wanting more faith in Jesus said they needed more faith. And I want more faith. I want more faith. And Jesus said to me, Kenny you can have more faith.
Let's go back and just go back to one of the passages I referred to just a moment ago. Let's go back to Mark 11 wvrse 12, "the next day when they'd come out from Beth and he was hungry," referring to Jesus "and seeing from afar, a fig tree having leaves he went to see if perhaps he would find something knowing that when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves for it was not the season for figs. And so in response", verse 14 says, "Jesus said to let no one eat from you ever again." And his disciples heard it. He cursed the fig tree. He said, What I'm saying to you fig tree is that nobody's going to ever eat from your, from this tree again. There's going to be no fruit from this tree again. And then that's when you get diverse 20. "Now in the morning, the next day they passed by and they saw the fruit tree dried out from the roots. And Peter remembering said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed, has withered away. And Jesus answered, send to him Have faith in God. For surely I say to you whoever says to this mountain be removed and be cast in 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." And that's the passage that we read earlier. Have faith in God. Let me say this practically: every one of us struggles with faith from time to time, we struggle with faith.
If you're sitting in that pew this morning and say I never struggle. Not to be ugly, but I don't believe you. I'm not saying that you lose faith. But I am saying that I do think all of us struggle with faith from time to time and the Lord knows that we all needed these lessons. I think he understood you need to hear about a faith that moves mountains. The hyperbole is to strengthen us to say "no you can overcome that." Whatever I put in your way, you can overcome that. And you do that by faith. And it's as if you can move a mountain with the faith that you have. That's the point. That's not hard to understand. It's not hard. It's not hard to preach. It's not hard to theoretically understand, but it is hard practically to do. Because none of us can move mountains. Here's the point. None of us can. God can. I tell you why God can move them because He created them. That's why he can move them because He created them. Hebrews 11 And verse three says, that's part of what these kids are going to understand, that God created the universe. The power that created the universe is the power that give us faith. And God wants us to fully believe in him and what he can do and that's just one of the evidences. That tells us that your faith can be what it ought to be. It can be that strong.
Okay, so I want to take a final few minutes of this lesson from the passage that was read by Joseph a little bit earlier. I want to go to this event that's found in John two. You may not see John two as a faith passage, but I do and I want to share with you why I do. Let's read the full context. "On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. And Jesus said to her woman, what is your concern have to do with me, My hour has not yet come. And his mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you do it. Now there were set there six waterpots, in the manner of purification of the Jews containing 20, or 30 gallons apiece, and Jesus said fill the waterpots with water, and they fill them to the brim. And he said to them, draw some water out now take it to the master of the feast, and they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water that was made wine and did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew, master of the feast called the bridegroom, and he said to him, every man at the beginning sets out the good wine. And when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. Have you kept the good wine until now?" We see the point of that, I think. But I want you to look at Mary's example. Look at Mary's example. And let me just make, offer three quick conclusions about having faith that moves mountains.
First of all, we need to be direct in taking needs to God. When we don't have the kind of faith that we need just ask God to help us have it. I love this exchange. This is, let me share this with you. "When they ran out of wine. The mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. And Jesus said to her woman, what is your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." That's such a disconnected exchange to me. They ran out of wine, the mother Jesus knows, she said to Jesus, I don't have any wine. And Jesus basically said, Why are you telling me this? What does, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. I mean, it was, there was a lot in what Jesus said, but it really didn't have anything to do with what she asked. But she just got right to it. We don't need to overcomplicate or overthink faith. I think that's, as I said, I think that's a very interesting exchange. Mary saw the problem and she saw the only answer. She saw the only answer. There's no wine. What are we gonna do? There's one answer. Mary knew the answer was Jesus. And she was confident in his ability to do what she wanted him to do. Although at this point, he doesn't seem overly interested in that.
So you get to verse five which brings me to the second point, and that is to be confident in his ability to answer. See, because after Jesus said, What does that have to do with me, her next statement is, whatever he says to you do it. It wasn't an exchange with Jesus. It wasn't listen, I'm your mother, I made this request, can you not help me. It wasn't that at all. The statement was, his mother didn't speak to him, she spoke to the servants and she said, Whatever he says to do do it. Let me tell you what that is, that's faith that moves mountains. That's faith that moves mountains. Whatever he says, do it. How's that for a faith statement? Think about the simplicity of that statement for just a moment. Whatever he says do it. I'm going to work up a series of lessons called whatever he says do it. Come straight from the bible. I love that. See, that's how we think, you know. When when I hear things like that I'm thinking sermon titles, sermon series. That's a great title. Whatever he says, do it. Faith that is complete leaves the problem solving to the one with the answers.
I would ask you this morning. Can you just simply be this and can I? Can we just simply be willing to say to God, when we question things, can we just simply be willing to say, Whatever you say, Lord, I'm gonna do that. Whatever you say. Back to Randy's prayer this morning, you remember him talking about some things that had to do with we may not understand everything. We might not understand always the why of what you say, that doesn't matter. That doesn't matter. We need to trust his power that the faith that he asked us to have will accomplish His will in our lives.
Want you think about something else. And this, and I'm not, I can't verify this. But from a miracle standpoint, the miracle of John two that we just read, that's the first miracle that we know, right? Mary had never seen Jesus perform a miracle to our knowledge, until then. Seems to me. Help me if I don't see that right. Help me. But her confidence in Jesus action preceded the request. That's faith that moves mountains.
And then, thirdly, let me suggest that we don't allow doubt to enter our mind. This verse, I've put this verse in because to me, there's a sequence here, in my mind, anyway. Verse 11, of that same chapter says this, "beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifest His glory and His disciples believed in him." I don't think they; they had doubt, occasionally, but I think it began, as he did the signs, every sign he did, they think began to strengthen him. That's what this passage says and manifested His glory. And his disciples believed in him. I think it's the idea of the more he did, the more their faith was developed.
Now, let me say one, get one final thought maybe. I just want you to leave here this morning with the idea that faith can move mountains, I don't want that to become a VBS theme. I want you to really think about that. Faith can move mountains, and if that's what we're saying to our children, then that better be what's happening in our lives. If we're going to say to our kids over the next four days, you know, Faith can move mountains, I'm gonna tell you what better had, better be happening. It better be moving mountains in your life. Don't you expect these VBS teachers to come in and teach that to your children, if it's not doing the same thing for you. That's too much to ask of them. Your children, my children, your grandchildren, my grandson, those over him you have influence. They need to see a faith in you that moves mountains. What we're saying is that faith in God is the right answer to that. This is not just some, let's get through the next four days, and let's have wonderful decorations. And let's be impressed with the songs we sing and the ideas that we share. And then we walk away here not helped by it. No. No. If that's all that happens, then let's just shut it down now. Let's don't even deal with it. If it doesn't manifest itself in our lives, and in the lives of our children as they mature, and as they get older, that says, You know what, I see what you're talking about. I see that level of faith. I see a faith in my father, I see a faith in my mother, my grandfather, my grandmother or I see a faith in these folks that surround me. I see that faith and I know that he's not talking about literally moving mountains, but he's saying that whatever happens in life, I can overcome it because I have that kind of faith. That's what we're talking about. That's what we're talking about.
So may I make a practical observation and may I make a practical suggestion? When you leave from VBS and you have your children in the car with you or your grandchildren. And you're talking about Abraham and you're talking about Noah and you're talking about Moses and Rahab, and the Israelites who marched around the walls of Jericho. When you're sitting there, and when you're driving somewhere, when you in your house, ask them, What does that mean? What does that mean? It's not just that Noah built an ark. It's not just that Abraham was told to sacrifice his son. It's not just that Moses through God's help parted the waters and the Israelites went across. It's not just that. That's, matter of fact, that's a shallow way to look at it. The statement needs to be that's the kind of faith that we have to have. Faith that can move mountains. Lots of folks don't know where to turn to have that kind of faith. I think it's sad. I, frankly, think it's sad that so many people are confused. So many people have no hope. They have no peace. They only have a concept as to really where to go. And we need to be people who show them we have faith that can move mountains. I pray that we will.
I wish, I think about this, I think about when I get to this part of the service. And when I get to this part of my sermon, I honestly, I tell you, I give a lot of thought to what am I gonna say? Well, what can I say to move people? Because it appears as though at least from a public standpoint, it appears as though there's rarely much movement. But I don't look at it like that as much anymore. I think all of us need to be reminded of what Jesus can do for us and what faith can do for us whether we see some outward response or not. I think all of us need to be impressed. By coming together and by hearing these kinds of things. And by thinking about this kind of faith, I hope all of us continue to be impressed with the fact that we all have to have that. We all need that. So if you're here this morning, and first of all, let me just say it this way, if all the lesson's done is just cause you to say you know what I need to have, I need to have a deeper, stronger, more solid faith. If it's done that then that's great. That's that's what I intended. And maybe, maybe you're sitting there and you're going, I need to have that kind of faith all the way through, and I need to start that walk. Then you need to obey God. It's not just believe in God, it's believe what he says. And what he says to you is his Son can save you from your sins, if you'd be willing to come to him. I say that all the time. I don't know any better way to say it. You just got to come to Jesus, and come on his terms. Isn't that right? It's what you got to do. Commit to him, commit to having the faith that can move mountains. We would love to help you. It may be that you need to obey the gospel. You need to be baptized into Christ for the remission of your sins. We can help you with that this morning. It may simply mean, be this morning, that you need to come and that you need to acknowledge to this group of people that you need their help. You've already asked God to forgive you things you've done, but you need, you need the prayers of these people. Then let us know that. But if you have a need, if you have a need this morning to come to God and get right with God and have that kind of faith. We'd love to help you. If you'd let us know by coming forward as we stand and as we sing.
