Loyal
Matt 17:20; And He *said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.
Matt 21:21; And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly 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 even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will happen.
Now I don't know about you. But I can't move a mountain. I can't even move a house. But I believe God can.
But that doesn't necessarily mean God will. There are a few reasons for this.
1. God simply doesn't want that mountain moved. (at least not right now)
2. You're trying to move it in your power, not His.
3. You're not doing anything at all, you're simply waiting for God to do it all.
4. You're asking God to do it with wrong selfish motives.
That isn't a complete list, but it'll do for now.
I have a two ton piece of metal I need to move. I go over and I try to pick it up. Maybe I even use
a prybar. It doesn't move. It doesn't even budge an inch.
There is a forklift across the room from the metal. But so far I haven't tried to use it.
I'm trying to do this in my own power.
So then I wait, I wait and I wait for someone else to come along and help me.
But even the two of us together can't move this on our own.
So I wait and I wait for someone to come along and get in the forklift.
I know how to drive the forklift and the boss has given me the authority to use the forklift.
But for whatever reason, I don't use it.
Jesus has given us authority and power. We have the authority of His name.
But still sometimes we try to do it on our own.
So finally I get in the forklift. I go over to the piece of metal and I use the forklift to move it.
The forklift was sitting there the whole time. All I had to do was use it.
I can't lift 4,000 lbs. But I can push a lever on the forklift, that takes maybe a half of pound
of effort on my part. Of course there are multiple levers and brakes and I have to push the
right ones in the right order.
When the Israelites were fleeing the Egyptians, they ran into the Red Sea.
They were stuck in a bad place. Ever been stuck in a bad place?
And God tells Moses...
Exod 14:16; "As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.
The sea didn't divide until Moses stretched forth his hand. Now of course, it wasn't the power of Moses
that parted the sea. It was God. But God was waiting for Moses to "push the lever" on the forklift.
A similar thing happened when Joshua was leading the people into Caanan.
Josh 3:13; "It shall come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, and the waters which are flowing down from above will stand in one heap."
But the water didn't stop flowing until the feet of the priests were in the water.
Sometimes we wait for the sea to part on it's own. Sometimes we wait for the river to stop flowing
before we put our feet in the water. God wants to see your faith.
Now having said all that, God isn't your Genie for you to command. Just because you have a forklift there
doesn't mean you can do whatever you want with it. God doesn't just do whatever we ask if it's not
within His will. He isn't our puppet. He is God. (I think some Christians forget this sometimes).
The thing in all of these examples is, it took some effort on the peoples part.
Moses had to stretch forth his hands. The priests had to step into the water. The Israelites
had to march around Caanan seven times before the walls fell down. There are dozens more examples.
God doesn't do it all for us. We have to make an effort. Now maybe He does 99.9% and we only do 0.1%.
But still, He waits for us to "push the lever". He waits for us to step into the river.
Now whether I ever push that lever or not. The forklift is still there, just sitting there not being used.
Whether we ever do what God tells us to do or not... God is still God.
His sovereignty doesn't depend on what we do or don't do. He is still God.
Yes God has the power to make people do things (and sometimes does) but He doesn't force us
to be obedient to Him. He may punish us if we aren't. He may use circumstances to get us to do things.
But most of the time, He just wants to see if we're willing to do it.
He will help us, encourage us, persuade us, guide us, and more. He can do things we cannot do.
But we still have to be obedient and go "push the lever". God doesn't do it for us.
It's this way in all obedience to God. We aren't slaves or robots that God forces to do things.
If that was the case, everyone would be saved and after they were saved they would never sin.
But no we have freedom of choice. We can choose to obey or not to. It's up to us.
When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, did God quit being God? When Solomon turned to other Gods, did God quit
being God? When Peter denied Jesus three times, did God quit being God?
Just because we don't always do what He tells us to do doesn't make Him any less sosovereign or any less
God. In fact He is so sovereign, He is God no matter what I do.
God has the power to overcome sin. We can't do it on our own. But we have to make the choice.
We have to push the lever. He will do the rest, but He doesn't do it all for us. We have to do our 0.1%.
Matt 21:21; And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly 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 even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will happen.
Now I don't know about you. But I can't move a mountain. I can't even move a house. But I believe God can.
But that doesn't necessarily mean God will. There are a few reasons for this.
1. God simply doesn't want that mountain moved. (at least not right now)
2. You're trying to move it in your power, not His.
3. You're not doing anything at all, you're simply waiting for God to do it all.
4. You're asking God to do it with wrong selfish motives.
That isn't a complete list, but it'll do for now.
I have a two ton piece of metal I need to move. I go over and I try to pick it up. Maybe I even use
a prybar. It doesn't move. It doesn't even budge an inch.
There is a forklift across the room from the metal. But so far I haven't tried to use it.
I'm trying to do this in my own power.
So then I wait, I wait and I wait for someone else to come along and help me.
But even the two of us together can't move this on our own.
So I wait and I wait for someone to come along and get in the forklift.
I know how to drive the forklift and the boss has given me the authority to use the forklift.
But for whatever reason, I don't use it.
Jesus has given us authority and power. We have the authority of His name.
But still sometimes we try to do it on our own.
So finally I get in the forklift. I go over to the piece of metal and I use the forklift to move it.
The forklift was sitting there the whole time. All I had to do was use it.
I can't lift 4,000 lbs. But I can push a lever on the forklift, that takes maybe a half of pound
of effort on my part. Of course there are multiple levers and brakes and I have to push the
right ones in the right order.
When the Israelites were fleeing the Egyptians, they ran into the Red Sea.
They were stuck in a bad place. Ever been stuck in a bad place?
And God tells Moses...
Exod 14:16; "As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.
The sea didn't divide until Moses stretched forth his hand. Now of course, it wasn't the power of Moses
that parted the sea. It was God. But God was waiting for Moses to "push the lever" on the forklift.
A similar thing happened when Joshua was leading the people into Caanan.
Josh 3:13; "It shall come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, and the waters which are flowing down from above will stand in one heap."
But the water didn't stop flowing until the feet of the priests were in the water.
Sometimes we wait for the sea to part on it's own. Sometimes we wait for the river to stop flowing
before we put our feet in the water. God wants to see your faith.
Now having said all that, God isn't your Genie for you to command. Just because you have a forklift there
doesn't mean you can do whatever you want with it. God doesn't just do whatever we ask if it's not
within His will. He isn't our puppet. He is God. (I think some Christians forget this sometimes).
The thing in all of these examples is, it took some effort on the peoples part.
Moses had to stretch forth his hands. The priests had to step into the water. The Israelites
had to march around Caanan seven times before the walls fell down. There are dozens more examples.
God doesn't do it all for us. We have to make an effort. Now maybe He does 99.9% and we only do 0.1%.
But still, He waits for us to "push the lever". He waits for us to step into the river.
Now whether I ever push that lever or not. The forklift is still there, just sitting there not being used.
Whether we ever do what God tells us to do or not... God is still God.
His sovereignty doesn't depend on what we do or don't do. He is still God.
Yes God has the power to make people do things (and sometimes does) but He doesn't force us
to be obedient to Him. He may punish us if we aren't. He may use circumstances to get us to do things.
But most of the time, He just wants to see if we're willing to do it.
He will help us, encourage us, persuade us, guide us, and more. He can do things we cannot do.
But we still have to be obedient and go "push the lever". God doesn't do it for us.
It's this way in all obedience to God. We aren't slaves or robots that God forces to do things.
If that was the case, everyone would be saved and after they were saved they would never sin.
But no we have freedom of choice. We can choose to obey or not to. It's up to us.
When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, did God quit being God? When Solomon turned to other Gods, did God quit
being God? When Peter denied Jesus three times, did God quit being God?
Just because we don't always do what He tells us to do doesn't make Him any less sosovereign or any less
God. In fact He is so sovereign, He is God no matter what I do.
God has the power to overcome sin. We can't do it on our own. But we have to make the choice.
We have to push the lever. He will do the rest, but He doesn't do it all for us. We have to do our 0.1%.
