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ARE YOU READY TO SPEAK TO YOUR MOUNTAIN?

Luke 17:5-10 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.5 6

 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might sayunto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou

planted in the sea; and it should obey you. But which of you, having a7

servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he iscome from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say8

unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serveme, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?

thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him?9

I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things10

which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we havedone that which was our duty to do.

Praise the Lord! What a blessing it is to be gifted with the privilege and honor of serving

the Lord! It is a particular delight of mine to mine the Scriptures for truths undiscoveredby me. I love Bible study and I have been recently blessed to have the subject of faithon my radar over the past few months.

The research I have done and continue to do suits itself to a particular study method Iemploy, especially when word studies form a part of my academic digging. That methodis applied to the preparation for this message. I use a formula for word studies thatallows me, my students or audience to easily grasp the word defined. This also permitsfor an easier application of the lessons derived from the word study. I call it, boiling thedefinition down to its most common denominator or the "Baseline Method."

What then is faith? According to Strong's Greek Lexicon, and the reference we read in

Luke 17:5, the word faith is derived from the Greek word pistis or pisti. Either worddenotes our fidelity, which means loyalty or just the word faith. Because my studyconcerned itself with the meaning of the word faith, I then searched Dictionary.com for that word's meaning so that I could understand its scope and context. According to our English Dictionary, faith means:

. Confidence of trust in a person or thing 

. Belief that is not based on proof  

. Belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion 

.

Belief in anything, such as a code of ethics, standards of merit, a promise or aninvention 

. A system of religious belief like Christianity or Judaism 

. Fidelity or the obligation of loyalty to a person, a promise or an engagement  

. The observance of such an obligation 

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. Trust in God and his promises, as made through Jesus Christ, by which men aresaved

I just gave you eight meanings for one word, but what is the baseline meaning? Uponwhat are the sum of the definitions for that word based? Summed up and boiled down,

faith means this: faith is informed or intelligent confidence. Faith is spoken of in theseterms in Scripture:

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,22

Heb 10:22 (KJV)

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering;23

Heb 10:23 (KJV)

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of 35

reward. 36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Heb 10:35-36 (KJV)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.1

Heb 11:1 (KJV)

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must6

believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Heb 11:6 (KJV)

In its most basic form then, faith, our informed and/or intelligent confidence is neutral. Itis not always expressed as a religious device used to persuade men to believe in asupreme being or deity. Faith is used to believe in unproven, scientific claims such asEvolution, the Big Bang Theory or the Black Hole. Faith is expressed sometimes as thebelief in another person's devotion or claims of such by a girlfriend, husband, wife, alawyer, politician or friend. Sometimes faith is given over to a human invention like anairplane, a space craft, a hot air balloon or even a parachute. Faith is not exclusive toreligion, so, because it is neutral, it must be directed toward someone or some thing.The choice is ours to make.

Let me briefly state that the understanding of faith's neutrality is essential to obey God,for he is a God of process as much as he is the God of unprecedented results. Thoughneutral, faith can also be dsitinguished as being either relative or absolute in itscharacter. For example, it is true that public transit or the bus is designed to carry tensof passengers to their destinations simultaneously. It is also true that the bus has alimited range and that it is highly likely that one may have to walk some distance tocomplete his or her journey. So while one may trust the bus, its driver and its wheels toget from point A to point B, they must also trust their own legs to finish the journey thatthey started on wheels. This is relative faith, confidently exercized in the process of 

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travel from one place to another. Yet, Phillip used absolute faith to travel from hisbaptismal oasis to Azotus supernaturally (Acts 8:36-40). His initial journey fromJerusalem was to the South, towards Gaza, the ancient Philistine city of Goliath, some45 miles away. He did this by walking or by using some other conventional mode of travel. His supernatural journey from the desert took him to Caesarea which was close

to 70 miles north of Gaza. He did this soley by the power of God, and he did it soley onhis absolute confidence in Jesus Christ.

It was this faith, the disciples desired to have increased, not their relative confidence inhuman or carnal elements, but the absolute, irrevocable, unswerving, immovable andunshakeable, informed and intelligent confidence in God. Christ's reply was immediate:if you had faith as substantial, yet as minute as a grain of mustard seed, you might sayor command this sycamine tree, to be plucked up by its roots, and be planted in the seaand it should obey you.

How many times have we ended the conversation or the lesson there, even thoughJesus was not through? How many times have we deemed the rest of this text as

insignificant or failed to see the relevance of what he was saying? Let me say this inyour hearing, this is not insignificant. In fact, this IS the answer to his disciples' demand:"Lord, increase our faith." His first remarks about the size of their faith were simplyinspirational. It was Jesus' attempt to show them what they could do with such a small,elemental amount of their informed and intelligent confidence in him.

However, the content of his reply, contained in verse seven through ten, has theanswer, and the answer is rooted in getting ready to speak to the tree, or the mountainor the job, or the depression or the grief, or the loss or the emptiness of the lack of employment, or the disease or whatever it is that limits your passage or acces to your destiny. Are you prepared?

Christ's answer discloses how you increase your faith. The process by which thisincrease is derived, preapres you to move the mountain by that same process. Enoughsuspense already! What is the answer? How do we prepare to move a mountain?

But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him7

by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will8

not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, andserve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? 9

thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trownot. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are10

commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which

was our duty to do. Luke 17:7-10 (KJV)

First of all, faith is not increased by prayer and fasting. It is not increased by attendingsuperbly hyped conventions and massive crusades. It is not increased with thesaturation of one's mind with religious broadcasting. It is increased by humble, servitudeor subjective obedience to God's commands. Simply do what he says you are to do andyour faith will increase. It is that simple.

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Servants do what they are told and it is not considerd a big deal when they obey,because that is what they are supposed to do. Disciples of Jesus Christ should notconsider it a big deal when they obey God because that is what disciples of JesusChrist are supposed to do! Period!!! Once this process of obedience is in play, anindividual is prepared to speak to a mountain and it should obey you. Why? Becuase

you were obedient to the God of the mountain. Why should God move his mountain,that he placed in your way for you, when you would not be obedient to him, the Creator of the mountain, Creator of the valley, Creator of the abuser, the Creator of the blessor,the Creator of the heavens and the Creator of the Earth? Permission must be grantedfor his creation to be moved out of its place to suit your need and his kingdompurposes. Such permission is granted to those who obey him.

Examples abound but we do not have all night, so let me stick to one example of theprinciple:

And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a5

centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of 6

the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal7

him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou8

shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall behealed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to9

this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to myservant, Do this, and he doeth it . When Jesus heard it , he marvelled, and said10

to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no,not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and11

west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness:12

there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the13

centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. Andhis servant was healed in the selfsame hour. Matt 8:5-13

The kingdom of God has room in it for the convinced and those who act on their convictions. They are called, the obedient. There are those who assume they willgain access to the kingdom because of their birthright, their religious ties or traditions, but Jesus declares that his kingdom is open to anyone who will obeyhim according to the intelligent information he provides. That information can besummarized like this: repent of your sins, ask Jesus to come into your heart andbe your personal Lord and Saviour. Be baptized in his name for the absoluteremission of your past life, past mistakes, past transgressions and past sins.

Renounce any intent to return to the lifestyle you lived by in the past. Allow himto unconditionally pardon you and set you free from your past. Seek for and befilled with the Holy Spirit by which you receive supernatural power to be calledGod's child. With this power you can defeat your habits, overcome your fears,live a fruitful and productive life as a member of your community and make apositive, eternal difference in the lives of your family and friends.

To the church I say, and to this ministry I say, get ready to obey God. Get ready

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to do whatever he tells you to do, and no, it does not matter what he tells you todo, just do it. Get ready for an increase in your faith. Get ready, get ready, getready. When God points out your mountain and you command it to move, beassured that as you have obeyed God and respected his authority, so will your mountain be obliged to obey you and respect your authority. Are you ready to

speak to your mountain?