#98 Mountain Moving Faith - Part 1 (12/10/03)

By: Robert A. Schuller

My father and I are starting a new series of messages entitled, "Mountain Moving Faith." I don't know about you, but I like the idea of moving mountains with faith. It comes right out of the Bible. Jesus said it very distinctly:

"If you say to the mountain 'move,' it will move and nothing will be impossible to you." (Matthew 17:20)

That's the kind of faith that we talk about here at the Crystal Cathedral and on the Hour of Power because we are convinced that as we continue to build up the faith of God's people, that their mountain moving faith will transform their homes, their families and their communities. Then, as this mountain moving faith grows, it will become contagious and other people will realize that there is a power they never realized before, and it makes a difference. I can't begin to tell you how I've seen the power of God in this way! And I'm going to give you four simple words to emphasize what I want to say:

"How-Now-Wow-Pow"

When you say them together, they really sound funny. But these are the four points of my message:

Mountain moving faith:
(1) How (2) Now (3) Wow (4) Pow

Mountain moving faith begins by asking the possibility-thinking question, How? How do we respond to these words of Jesus Christ, "You can say to that mountain 'move' and it will move."? The negative thinkers say, "Okay, move, mountain!" Then they just stand there and say, "See, I told you it wouldn't move!" But the Possibility Thinkers say, "Well, let me show you how it is done." "How" means that when you see an impossible situation you ask the question: How is it possible?

Mountain Moving Faith:
(1) HOW - Is it possible?

What needs to take place in society ... and in the world to make it possible to move this mountain? When you look at the history of the world in the last century we can see numerous examples of mountain moving faith ... the flight to the moon ... the development of the Internet ...cellular technology and communications. Things that only a few decades ago were totally and completely impossible are possible today. Human beings on planet earth a hundred years ago would not believe that it is possible to step foot on the moon. Today we see that the impossible is possible.

"All things are possible if we believe." (Matthew 19:26)

That doesn't mean that we have all the answers. So when we see an impossible situation, we see this incredible mountain before us, we have to be humble enough to say, "I don't know how, but there is a way.

Mountain moving faith begins by asking the question - How!

There was a church that had been given a piece of property in the Smokey Mountains and they decided that they were going to build a new church on it, so they did. And when it was finished, and they were planning to have their grand opening the next week, they called for their final inspection. The inspector came and said, "You have a problem. You do not have adequate parking to qualify as a church. You cannot hold services in your new church until you have the adequate parking." They had already made the announcement. The papers were all advertising the ribbon cutting ceremony the next Sunday. And there they were -- faced with a mountain, an impossible situation.

Well, they also had addition land behind their new church, but it was literally a mountain. That was the only possible place they could put a parking lot. But how in the world could they possibly raise the money to make a parking lot out of that mountain? It was impossible. So the pastor decided that all he could do was simply call a prayer meeting. He called his congregation to come to the prayer meeting and pray that somehow, some way, God was going to move their mountain.

The pastor's message was simple as he said, "I want people who have mountain moving faith to join me for prayer and we're going to pray about this mountain, because until that mountain is moved, we're not going to be able to hold services in our new church. We've built the church, but the doors remain locked until we move this mountain. We don't know "how," but we know the one thing we can do and that is to pray."

Mountain Moving Faith:
(2) NOW - What can I do?

The "how" does turn into "now" when we ask, "Now - what can I do? There surely must be something I can do to move this mountain in my life."

Dr. John Vawter, a well-known pastor and seminary president, was faced with an impossible mountain. He received a telephone call and was told that his daughter, attending college in Denver, was a heroine addict. John's first reaction was, "How could this possibly happen?" But from there his mountain moving faith moved to the "Now there is something we must do." And they immediately traveled to Denver, surprising their daughter and confronting her, unveiling her lies and the secrecy of her addiction. They began to move the impossible mountains. "How?" "Now!"

"Now" takes the next step where we begin to unveil the possibility that there always is a way! We will not be defeated! God moves mountains! The impossibles do become possible! What can we do now? The church in the Smokey Mountains prayed. Dr. and Mrs. John Vawter decided to go and confront their daughter.

You have your own mountains you face ... mountains that are enormous ... and seem impossible to overcome. Some of you worked your way through school ... got a good job ... been a great employee ... now all of a sudden you're given the notice that the company is downsizing and you're let go.

Or others of you lived a good life, put your kids through school, paid your taxes, paid off your house, now you are ready to enjoy the golden years and the doctors say, "It's malignant."
We all face our mountains and they come in different packages and in different ways. We can't determine what our future is going to be. We cannot guide God, but we can follow His lead. Start by asking "how." Then face the "now"... What can I do?

Mountain Moving Faith:
(3) WOW - Discover the wow!

This past summer Ken Behring, founder of the Wheelchair Foundation, invited me to go with him on a trip to Africa to deliver wheelchairs to give to those who could never afford a wheelchair. My family joined me on this trip around Africa and we delivered wheelchairs to different places. One was the Democratic Republic of the Congo, commonly known as the DRC. We went to a very impoverished community, where no one would ever be able to afford a wheelchair; they can only dream of that. To them, that's such a big mountain that it would be impossible to ever move. That requires a faith beyond hope.

We walked through the jungles of the Congo for about a mile and a half until we finally got to a particular house and there we saw a boy, badly deformed. The calluses on his knees and hands were thicker than the calluses on the bottom of my feet, and I go barefoot a lot. When he saw this wheelchair, he climbed into it ... his face beaming. It was the most exciting day in his entire life! To receive a wheelchair was an impossible dream. His mountain had been moved.
On the front of his little house I saw some words that were written in French, the language in the Congo, and I thought I recognized a couple of words, so I took a picture. I was curious to find out what the sign meant and get it translated.

Now, one month later, my father and I were flying to Toronto, Canada. On the flight I was showing him the pictures on my laptop that we had taken, and all of a sudden we came to this picture of the sign on the front of this house of the boy to whom we gave the wheelchair. As I was showing this picture to my father, the flight attendant made an announcement in French. Ah-ha! I called the flight attendant over and I said, "Can you translate this sign?"

He said, "Oh, it's not very good grammar."

I replied, "But do you know what it says?"

And he said, "It says something ... yes, this is what it says, 'Nothing is impossible with God' ... that's what it says."

I said to him, "Wow! Thank you."

Here is this family in the heart of the jungle of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and above the doorway of their tiny, one-room home they see these words, "Nothing is impossible with God," every time they enter their house. Then, in the corner of that room they see their little son who doesn't get to go anywhere because he lives his life on his hands and knees. And they recite those words over and over, "Nothing is impossible with God." NOW ... suddenly, out of the jungle, out of nowhere comes a wheelchair for their boy. They sang and they were clapping and praising God for this tremendous miracle that had taken place.

God is in the business of moving mountains!

When you see those kinds of mountains move you just have to say, "WOW!" We do that here, you know ... and all God's people say ... " WOW!"

Mountain Moving Faith:
(4) POW - God has the power!

In conclusion, I complete the two true stories I began with. The Vawter's daughter is now drug-free, you can read their powerful story in Dr. Vawter's book: Hit by a Ton of Bricks*. The little church in the Smokey Mountains had an unbelievable problem. We can all agree with that. But the pastor announced, "We're still going to hold services next Sunday. Somehow, some way, God is going to move that mountain." The following morning, after the prayer meeting, there was a knock on the door of the pastor's home. A contractor was introducing himself, saying, "You know we're building a shopping center up the way and we need some fill dirt. We wanted to know if you would be willing to sell some of your dirt from the mountain behind your new church. This is what we would like to do ... we'll not only move the dirt, but we'll level out enough land and pave it for a parking lot ... AND we'll even pay you for the dirt!"

The pastor paused and then asked, "Well, how much are you willing to pay?" He didn't want to be too anxious. The contractor said, "Well, we need the dirt immediately. I know that may disturb your plans, but we need it so quickly that we're willing to pay you about 50 cents a cubic yard."
The pastor replied, "Well, how about 60?"

"Okay, I'll pay you 60 cents a cubic yard as long as you allow us to take our trucks in and start moving the dirt today!"

They shook hands, and by the following Sunday the parking lot was in and the church was open for the first worship service in their new building. Now that's a POW! God has the power!

The power of God is so dramatic and so unbelievable that you just have to stand in awe and say, "Thank you, God, for the miracles in my life." You can't explain it any other way. You know the word "power" comes from a Greek word called "dunamus." From that we have the word "dynamite." And that dynamic power of God is explosive. It just happens. You don't understand how it happens, but to experience the tremendous power of God you see the most incredible things in the whole world.

Mountain Moving Faith

(1) HOW - Is it possible?
(2) NOW - What can I do?
(3) WOW - Discover the wow!
(4) POW - God has the power!

HOW ... NOW ... WOW ... POW. It works. It's how God moves mountains. We don't have all the answers. We have to be humble and say, "I don't know how, God, but You do." But each of us has to say, "Right now, all I can do is pray." So we fall to our knees and we say, "Okay, Lord, we leave it up to You. You know the mountain that needs to be moved. You have the ability to do it. Wow me, Lord, with Your presence."

It is then that we feel the Holy Spirit surround us and we realize that with just a little bit of faith we can see and experience the power of God. How ... Now ... Wow ... Pow. That's how we experience the faith to move mountains.

Dear God, We thank You that You are real, that no matter where we go, You are there. If we go into the jungles of Africa, You are there. If we go to the top of the high-rise buildings of Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles or Chicago, You are there. If we go into the closets in the suburbs of all of the cities of America, You are there. If we go to the farms, the marinas, and all of the other points of civilization on Planet Earth, You are there. There is nowhere we can go where Your presence cannot be felt, for You are the God who created all. You are in all and through all and are everywhere. And as we pray, we open our hearts and our minds to Your presence. Give us that tiny bit of faith to say, "how" ... "now" ... to witness the "wow" and the "pow" of Your goodness. We thank You, Lord, and we praise Your name. Amen.