Lift Up Your Eyes // Having Faith that Moves Mountains, Part 1

<p>Things get tough sometimes. And at those times, We all know that we need faith. We all want to have faith. Yet all too often, right when we need it, it eludes us. we become downcast and afraid.</p> <h4><span style="color: #ff9900;">Starting At The End</span></h4> <p>You know something? I’m really excited today because today on the programme we are kicking off a four-week series on faith. I’ve called it <em>Having Faith that Moves Mountains</em>. Jesus once said to His disciples:</p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but you believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours</em>. (Mark 11: 22-24).</p> <p>Now, if you take Him at His Word and I am one of those crazies who absolutely does, then this is an outrageous statement, right? Does He really mean that for you and for me? I mean, I for one have believed until I burst, for something and I didn’t get it. And I have seen people who take this whole ‘faith’ thing way too far, believing for outrageously selfish things. And yet this God who sent us His Son, He talks a lot about faith and the only sort of faith He seems to talk about is the sort of faith that moves mountains. I have spent a lot of time thinking about that, so if you are up for it, let’s kick off a few weeks, just chatting and exploring and let’s see what that comes up with.</p> <p>I visited an elderly man recently who is in the last few weeks of his life. He was dying of cancer. I’d spoken to him on the phone a few weeks before and this is what he said. "Well, I have believed in Jesus almost all of my life but I’m not sure where I am going when I die." Well, what an amazing time that was. I frankly felt a little uncertain about visiting him – this whole pastoral thing isn’t really my strong point. I was telling myself that as I pressed t