Biblical Mountain Moving Faith

In the sermon “The Way to Mountain Moving Faith,” pastor Robert Hooker of Huber Heights First Baptist Church (https://firstbaptistchurchhuberh.subspla.sh/c7d) expounds upon the passage in Mark 11:20-33. In this narrative Jesus curses the fig tree while on His way to Jerusalem during the passion week and His disciples later confirm that the tree had in fact died immediately. Jesus then gives His remark about having mountain moving faith. In this message Pastor Hooker highlights the scriptural principles that, 1. Mountain moving faith gives the believer direct access to the power of God to do the impossible for His kingdom and glory, 2. Mountain moving faith is grounded in who God is according to the word of God, that He is kind and gracious, more than willing to do what is good and right for the supplicant, 3. It involves an asking faith, a petitioning prayer to God in firm belief in who He is and all His promises to us**, 4. This faith is meant for the ordinary Christian in the same way as God honored Elijah’s requests for the miraculous, 5. It involves confidence in any request that is intentionally made in accordance with His will—not from selfish, worldly motives, 6. It is grounded on a submitting faith, that of the believer whose heart is in submission to God, then God’s sovereignty is the only limiting factor of His answers to prayers of faith, and 7. The antithesis of faith is found in things like pragmatism where people depend more on man’s ability and on other things than on God or in living in disobedience to God and violation of His moral principles.

The cursed fig tree represents the religious order in the nation of Israel that had an outward appearance of spiritual health that seemed to promise the presence of fruit, but in reality was fruitless and thus useless to God. Rather than pruning non-productive branches (John 15), the Lord kills the entire tree with a mere pronouncement, in the exercise of His own perfect faith! This signified God’s rejection and discarding of the apostate Jewish religious institutions, including its political apparatus, that were rife with hypocrisy to the point of rejecting Christ, in favor of the new order of the Spirit to be instituted through the New Covenant by Christ Jesus, to bring in His kingdom as prophesied in the Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel, etc., in place of the political nation of Israel. Thus there is a rich compound of applications in this bible passage for the believer to gain wisdom from. And there is much more in this exposition, so check out the contemporary message of this vital lesson from the scriptures that is greatly needed today.

**Note: The Lord’s statement in verses 22 and 23 indicates a believer can command things to happen by faith, including that which is impossible for humans, which would emulate how the Lord addressed the fig tree. Thus, believers should exercise faith in both prayers to God and in commanding something to be done (or not done). Also see Matthew 17:20; 21:21, 22.