The One Thing We All Need To Do and Can Do.
I want to begin by asking you a question today. What is the one thing that we need to do and can do to see breakthrough in our lives, in our Church, in the Churches of Westport, in the community of Westport and the region of Buller and even in all New Zealand? What is the one thing we need to do and can do by which we will see revival, see an outbreak of the Holy Spirit, see people healed, see unbelievers come to follow Jesus Christ, see miracles and see material needs met? What would your answers be? More services that are easier for people to understand. More courses on healing prayer. Learning good evangelism techniques. More revival services. A longer praise and worship time. More Holy Spirit Conferences.
Let’s hear the answer to this question from Jesus. Matt. 21:18-22 p. 24.18Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.19And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it,“Let no fruit grow on you ever again.”Immediately the fig tree withered away.20And when the disciples sawit,they marvelled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?”
21So Jesus answered and said to them,“Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.22And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
From the very mouth of Jesus, our Lord, comes the answer to the question I posed, “What is the one thing that we need to do and can do that will bring breakthrough into our lives on every level?’ The answer is believing prayer. Not more prayer. Not more worship. Not more evangelism. Not more conferences. But, believing prayer. Prayer with belief.
Now, we know from Biblical scholarship, that this incident with the fig tree isn’t just as a result of Jesus getting out on the wrong side of the bed that morning. His action was parabolic. Israel is the fig tree that produced no fruit. As a result of its non-fruitbearing,judgment was coming upon it. The blessings that were originally given to Israel were going to be taken and given to another people- the non-Jews, the Gentiles. Jesus tells us this later in Matt Ch 21. vss33-45 in the parable of the wicked vinedressers on p.25.
33“Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.34Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.35And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.36Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.37Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’38But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’39So they took him and casthimout of the vineyard and killedhim.
40“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”
41They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and leasehisvineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”
42Jesus said to them,“Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was theLord’s doing,
And it is marvellous in our eyes’?
43“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.44And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”
45Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them.46But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.”
So Jesus never got up on the wrong side of the bed nor was he demonstrating that he was anti-Green, he was teaching about the fate of Israel. Jesus spoke the word and “Immediately, the fig tree withered away.” The disciples were amazed and asked, “How did this fig tree wither away so soon?” It wasn’t done by magic. It wasn’t done by supernatural power. It was done by something that the disciples and all of us have available to us- faith!” Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to this fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea, it will be done. And whatever things, you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
Now, when we read these verses and passages like this, about having the faith to cast a mountain into the sea, the mind goes blank: the mind goes blank because none of us ever believe that we could speak to a mountain and it could move 1 millimetre, let alone be cast into the sea. We gloss over these verses. They don’t register and we just move on.
However, the cursing of the fig tree is also recorded in Mark 11:20ff and in vss 22-24 on p.50, Jesus says this, “Have faith in God. 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. Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you will receive them and you will have them.”
Now, you probably have never heard of a story where a person has by faith cast a mountain into the sea. I must admit, I haven’t either. But maybe, there is a story out there that is close to that. Indeed, there is. It is not a story of a mountain being cast into the sea, but it is a near equivalent and it happened as a result of faith. It is a story I have heard told a few times- a true story that occurred in the Gold Coast hinterland of Queensland around the year 2005.
There was a young couple in ministry. They had a Church. But, they had their heart set on a block of land that they felt would be good for the next Church building they would build. It would be able to cater for all their congregation’s growing needs in the future. They felt led by the Lord to claim that ground for their new Church. So, everyday, for many weeks, many months, quite a long time, they would go everyday and pray over the land, pray a vision of the Church and claim the ground as belonging to the Lord. “This land belongs to the Lord. It is our inheritance in him. This land belongs to Jesus. We claim it for him.” They prayed in faith, sowing belief over that land.
However, the day came when they came to pray and that land had a “sold” sign on it. It had been bought by someone else. But, they still had a need, so they prayed about what to do with that need. They were led to buy another block of land in the same area, but further down the street. The land they acquired was low-lying land and it needed a lot of fill. They didn’t know how they were going to meet this need. They were going to have to buy in truckloads of soil and that was expensive. You need good quality soil upon which to build a building.
Out of the blue one day, it happened that they were contacted by a builder who asked them if they would like some good soil as landfill for their property and that he could send them truckload after truckload and he would do it for free. So, they jumped at the opportunity and made an agreement and soon after all this, truck after truck after truck came and dumped all of this top quality soil. They ended up with beautiful soil filling up their low lying block and making it perfect for building on.
The young couple were curious as to where the soil was coming from. So, they followed a truck back up the road(and you guessed it!), it came from the block of land that they had prayed over and claimed for the Lord. “This block is ours. It belongs to the Lord. We claim it in Jesus name.” They got the soil from the block. The person who had bought the block was building a huge building and so the foundations went down a long way. As a result, there was a lot of soil to get rid of. To offload it somewhere would have been expensive, so it was convenient to cart the soil down the road to the new Church block. So, this story is a kind of example of a mountain being moved by faith. That Jesus said when you pray in your heart by faith and do not doubt, that you will receive. The young couple received an answer to their believing prayer, although not in the way they intended.
In order to have miracles, see revivals, see healings, have physical needs met, we don’t need more prayer but believing prayer. Prayer is not powerful unless it is believing prayer. What is needed is some kind of process in us that is done not only while we pray but after we pray. We need to learn to pray with belief.
Why don’t we pray with belief? Well, I think there are a number of reasons. Firstly, we don’t believe that it could happen to us. God does it for everyone else but he will never do it for us. Other people pray and people are healed. Other people pray and revival comes and the Spirit is poured out. Other people pray and miracles occur. We say, “It could never happen to me. I haven’t got the faith of Billy Graham or Bill Johnson or Joyce Meyer. Why, I’m not even a minister. We don’t see our minister doing these things and if he doesn’t, I certainly can’t.” Not with that sort of attitude, you won’t!
Some Christians say, “Well, we pray and leave it up to God. “Thy will be done.” But, don't stop there. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” In other words, “thy will be done” is not pray and leave the words hanging on a skyhook. Pray the words and expect to see changes on earth. Expect to see heaven come to earth. There is no sickness in heaven so pray and expect sickness to be healed on earth. There is no lack in heaven, so pray and expect needs to be met on earth. Heaven is full of the Spirit of God so pray and expect the Spirit of God to be poured out in the Church and in the community. “Thy will be done,” doesn’t mean pray and leave it up to God if he does it or not, but pray and expect God to do it because he has shownus what his will is in Jesus Christ. Jesus did only what he saw his Father doing. For all who came to Him, Jesusgave healing in spirit, mind and body. No one ever left Jesus not healed, not helped, not made whole because that is the Father’s will.
Some Christians say, “Well, God is sovereign. We don’t tell him what to do. We leave it up to his sovereign will to decide what the best is.” Well, that means that you should never really bother to pray. When Jesus says, “Whatever things you ask for in prayer, believing, you will receive.” It mustn’t mean then that we can take our requests, our needs, our wants to God in prayer. These words and so anyother times when Jesus invites us to lean into our Sonship in prayer and accept what the Father invites us into, must just be pie in the sky- null and void. We better remove a large chuck of the Gospels if God is just sovereign and not our Father.
Do you use any of these excuses to justify unbelieving prayer in your life? I know I have. But I wonder why? I ask this because I want to ask you another question, “Do you believe you are going to go to heaven when you die?” Now, I would say that most of you here would unequivocally say, “Yes.” So, this is what that means. It means that when you expire, and you are buried and eventually end up as soil again or are cremated and end up as a few handfuls of grit, despite that, you believe that you will not cease to exist but be with the Lord forever in heaven and that one day, that spirit that is you, will have a new body and will never decay and that you will live in perfect bliss in heaven forever. It takes quite a lot of faith to believe that, doesn’t it?
So, we can believe God will do this for us, yet, we cannot believe that God can heal the sick, make the blind see, open the ears of the deaf, do miracles and fulfil human needs? Why can we believe with certainty that when we die, we will go to heaven but we cannot believe that when we pray for someone, by praying in faith, God will move? Surely, it is easier for God to heal the sick than raise the dead!
Next week, we will be having the thanksgiving service for Oasis and KidsnCoffee and giving that hopefully, there will be some visitors here, to continue this subject may be a bit heavy. The week after, we will have the synod sermon from Bishop Richard. So, on Sept. 10th,we will further unpack this subject of believing prayer by looking at certain texts in the gospels.. In the meantime, I want you to start prayingabout this, “What is the one thing that I could pray for in belief to have happen in our Church or in our community?” Amen.