Today, Jesus teaches his disciples how to experience the power of God. His answer was “Have faith in God.” Engineers have faith in the technology and scientists have faith in the science. Now let me ask you, “Do you have faith in God?” “Do you really have faith in God?” I believe that you have faith in God. Jesus teaches his disciples what kind of faith they must have through today’s passage. At this time let’s pray that we may have the faith that Jesus wants us to have.

PART I. FAITH THAT MOVES MOUNTAINS (20-23)

Look at verse 20. “In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.” In the last passage, Jesus had cursed the fig tree to never eat fruit again, and according to the verse 14b, “And his disciples heard him say it.” In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered the event of Jesus cursing the fig tree (21). It was indeed a big surprise to Peter to see the fig tree Jesus had cursed withered from the roots overnight. To Peter it was a surprise, and it was a big surprise. This fig tree had been in beautiful foliage. How could it be that in the space of one night, the flourishing fig tree had dried up so wretchedly to the roots! Wow! It was a surprise. At the time, Peter probably thought, “Wasn’t it too ruthless to curse an innocent fig tree like that?” Until now, Peter had dreamed of an earthly messianic kingdom to be established by Jesus. But this dream was now falling apart since Jesus had battled the religious authorities at the temple. Jesus’ ministry had been so peaceful. Now Jesus brought disaster and Peter thought that Jesus had offended the religious leaders’ pride by clearing the temple (18). But what really surprised him was the authority of Jesus’ word. At a word of Jesus, the fig tree dried up completely from the roots. Usually, it takes several months for a tree to dry up completely from the roots. To wither overnight was impossible. But it happened. Last month the tornado uprooted a big tree near our center. After a month the root did not wither. The tree still has many green leaves. In his amazement, Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” At a word from Jesus, a fig tree in full leaf dried up from the roots. This power or authority was what Peter really wanted to have. Peter “really” wanted that. Peter wanted to be a powerful disciple like Jesus. But Peter was very weak. What was his problem? His problem was that he did not know how to become powerful. Simply speaking, he did not have faith in God but he had faith in the glory of the world. He was a man of many wows but did not know the source of power. Nothing happened to him because he did not pray and he did not have faith in God. He was just surprised at the outcome but did not know what had created such an amazing outcome. Jesus’ power came from his faith in God and his constant prayer. Peter wanted to have Jesus’ power but he did not have the power that comes from faith in God.

How did Jesus help him to have power and authority? Look at verse 22. “’Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered.” Jesus’ answer to Peter was clear. Jesus believed that Peter and the other disciples could have great power and authority if only they had faith in God. Though Peter was young and weak at this point, he had great potential to do mighty work of God if only he had faith in God. We must know what faith is. So, let’s examine the definition of faith first. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Again Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” Faith is to believe that God created the world by his word and that God will give us what we hope for in the future. In another word, faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible. What is faith? It is to see the invisible, it is to believe the incredible, and it is to receive the impossible. Most people had faith in money, or themselves, or something in the world. But after the World Trade Center bombing, people began to trust in God because they did not have anything else to trust. The World Trade Center was regarded as a marble of the modern architectural ingenuity. The History Channel was going to broadcast the marble of the WTC as a tribute. Now they said it became an obituary. We lost faith in the modern technology. We had faith in the stock market but the stock price is falling. Now we lost faith in Wall Street. Many people lost their jobs. Nothing is secure in the world. We question everything. We are fearful of anything. There is anthrax scare. Someone said, “America will never be the same after the 9-11 terrorist attacks.” In a sense it is true. We feel emptiness when we see the Manhattan sky line without the Twin Towers. We feel we lost a part of our life. Many Americans realized that we are not invincible. We cannot have faith in ourselves. We need to have faith in God. Why? Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” We can trust Jesus because he is the same yesterday and today and forever. Jesus will never change. He will be with us no matter what happens to us. Have faith in Jesus is the answer to all our problems. Do you trust in you or trust in God? May God bless your faith in God. 

What kind of faith did Jesus want them to have? Look at verse 23. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.” Jesus wanted them to have faith that moves mountains. Jesus helped them to have mountain-moving faith so that they might have the power of God. As we know, a mountain is characteristically immovable. In times past and present, many people have written with awesome respect about mountains because of their loftiness, solemnity and firmness. A mountain is too big to move. How much more difficult to throw a mountain into the sea will be! Yesterday YDJ team went to the hiking and they climbed one of the Appalachian mountain range. One of them shouted, “You mountain, throw yourself into the Atlantic Ocean.” What happened? The mountain did not move. Jesus did not mean literally that we could move the mountain into the sea. Here the mountain refers to our human limits. It refers to our impossible situations. Faith in God overcomes our human limits and impossible situations. Faith in God liberates us from human boundaries and enables us to enter into the world of faith. Faith in God equips us to do things we never imagined. Here Jesus is saying that anyone who believes in God can overcome any human obstacles and do great work of God. Faith challenges us to overcome our human limits. At that time the disciples were petty, worldly, unforgiving, selfish, and useless. They were locked in their own human limits. But Jesus had faith in God that in the future they would overcome their mountain-like human limits and go into all the world and preach the gospel of Jesus. Jesus would die soon on the cross and could not stay with them too long. The best thing Jesus could do for them was to plant faith in God to them. Jesus wanted them to become warriors of faith in the hostile world. That’s the reason why he gave them this word so that they could become men of faith. To have mountain-moving faith is the same as to have unlimited power in God. God’s people must overcome mountain-like obstacles to experience God’s unlimited power. Hebrews 11 is the record of heroes and heroines of faith. They overcame the world with mountain-moving faith. Hebrews 11:38a says, “The world was not worthy of them.” Hebrews 11:39a says, “These were all commended for their faith..” Abraham is regarded as an ancestor of faith for all Christians and the Jews alike. Why? He overcame his human limits and impossible human situations by faith. Abraham was 75 years old when God called him. He believed in God’s promise and left his home country by faith not knowing where he was going. When he faced material problem, he went to Egypt and got into deep trouble. God helped him out of the trouble. In spite of his faith in God, his problem of no son persisted. His life of faith was not that smooth. His patience ran out after 10 years of waiting. He got Ishamael. When he had faith in Ishmael, God asked him to send Ishmael away. When he was 99 years, God promised him that he would have a son. He overcame human limits by faith. Isaac was born as God promised. Abraham began to have faith in Isaac. God told him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. By faith he was ready to offer Isaac and God provided him a lamb instead. Abraham had many ups and downs in his spiritual life. But God trained Abraham until he had complete faith in him. Thus he became a father of faith. It took 25 years for him to become a man of faith. Apostle Paul commented about his faith in Romans 4:18 says, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’” Abraham overcame his mountain of age factor and became a father of numerous descendants like the stars in the sky. Abraham is a good example of how we can overcome human limits and experience the power of God. As we know, M. Sarah Chang was a woman of incredible human ambition. She really wanted to become a wife of UBF director in Pittsburgh with 120 flocks of God under his care. I saw her inner cry when she came here from Pittsburgh 13 years ago with S. Patrick and M. Moses and two sons. She despaired again when Moses Jr. went army. God took away all her hope in this world. She had no choice but to have faith in God. God suddenly lifted her up from her human limits when she had faith in God. When people in her age began to talk about retirement plan, she began to talk about 1:1 Bible studies. She overcame her mountain of age factor and became a fruitful Bible teacher. Now she became a spiritual mother for many children of God. She became a source of encouragement to many 5th grade missionaries. There is a story of another Chang. S. Belssie lost her father in China this year but she overcame her sorrow. But her sheep Amele was not an easy sheep. She was like a mountain to her. But by faith Belssie endured her and now Amele repented of her spiritual backsliding and decided to return to her first love for Jesus. God granted her a faithful new sheep, Jodi. Why did Jesus want his disciples to have the power which comes from faith? It is because they will confront many mountain-like human situations in order to become future gospel workers and future history makers. They have to conquer the whole world by the power of faith. When Jesus said, “Have faith in God,” his real meaning was far greater than his literal words. He meant that by faith they should depend on God who is almighty, and conquer the whole world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. S. Tinuke seems to have no time to take care of her school works. She has a job and 1:1 students like Tayo. Amy, Kemi. She is a Gamma team leader and commutes to school from Gaithersburg. In addition, she is planning to enter the Medical school. How can she do all things? Is she a super woman? No, she is not a super woman but a woman of faith. She got good grades too. S. Tinuke overcame the mountains of her human limits and experience the power of God. The world belongs to those who have faith in God. What is our mountain? Our mountain may be 300 1:1 Bible studies and pioneering 206 East Coast campuses. We reach our human limits many times and despair. But faith makes it possible. We can have 300 1:1 Bible studies and each of us can feed 5 students by faith in God. If we have faith in God, America can be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. We can raise 12 holy nation women this year. Everything is possible for him who believes. How did blind Bartimaeus overcome his human limit of blindness? Nobody was able to cure him. He reached his human limit. When he cried for Jesus’ mercy, the crowds told him, “Shut up.” He overcame his human limit by faith. Jesus did not say to Bartimaeus, “Your loud cry healed you.” But Jesus said, “Your faith has healed you.” One time the disciples worried about what to eat and what to drink. Jesus rebuked them, “O, you of little faith?” (Matt. 6:30,31) People worry because they do not have faith in God. Worry does not solve our problem. When we have faith in God absolutely, God gives us his divine power in our hearts. Our beautiful center is the product of faith that moves mountains. Nine years ago we had nothing. We did not have land, we did not have money, and we were small. We reached human limit. But when we had faith in God and prayed together and offered what we had, God blessed our faith more than we expected. The miracle happened. We received the impossible, our Bible center. 

 But there is one condition to have faith that moves mountains. It is faith that overcomes doubt(23b). Let’s read verse 23 again.  “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.” You know doubt is a strange thing. It is a faith spoiler. Doubt is like a poison that stops our heart. In Genesis 3 Eve and later Adam doubted God’s love in the paradise in a trivial matter. Then he lost the paradise. Who planted the doubt? It was the devil. We should not listen to anybody who plants doubts. In order to have faith that moves mountains, we must overcome our doubts moment by moment by depending on God’s words. When we live by faith, all kinds of doubts come into our hearts. It is because where there is faith in a person, doubt follows like shade follows a tree. It is easy to plant doubt in someone’s heart. Planting doubt in someone’s heart is like setting fire to a building. But to plant faith in Jesus in someone takes life-giving effort and sacrifice. Still, we have no guarantee. Therefore, we must know that success comes after overcoming Satan’s doubt. Peter was able to walk on the water when he looked at Jesus. But when he looked at the water and doubted he could walk, he began to sink. When Peter trusted in his human loyalty, he denied Jesus three times. He despaired in his failure. Later he said in 1 Peter 4:9, “Resist him, standing firm in the faith..” This is the way for us to overcome the doubt. One young man wanted to live a holy life. But he soon became shaky when Satan came and whispered, “Hey, you! What do you get if you study the Bible? Enjoy your sin a little bit. It is okay. Do it and you will feel great.” But mostly doubt is a deception of the devil. Doubt comes from two sources-external and internal. We can defeat the external source of doubt through fellowship among believers. But the internal doubt is harder to overcome because we must fight against ourselves. Doubt can arise in any moment. “Why should I live like this? How long should I sacrifice? What if my sheep runs away? What if I lose job?” Then we began to doubt God’s love and lose faith. At that time we must come to God and ask God’s help in humble heart. In order to have mountain-moving faith we must fight against the doubt in our hearts.  We must put down the fire of doubt in our hearts every day. Then God will give us the power of faith. 

PART II. FAITH THAT PRAYS (24)

Jesus promised that anyone who has faith in God can throw the mountain into the sea. They can do the impossible by faith. But can we actualize faith that overcomes human limits. It is faith that prays. Prayer makes things happen. Prayer makes our faith alive. Look at verse 24. “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” This verse teaches us that when we pray God hears our prayers, and our requests are granted. This is a great promise of God. We cannot do great things for God. But we must believe that when we pray God answers our prayers, and that we have received what we prayed for. At the beginning of this year we prayed, “May God send many new students and fill our center. God answered our prayer and now God is sending twenty new students each week and began to fill our center. We have prayed that God may make our center to be a student-centered ministry. Suddenly YDJ team is growing and they began to have servant attitudes to initiate God’s work. They are eager to serve God’s flocks. The singing team practices several hours every Thursday. They are very sacrificial. I see future hope in them because they pray. Many praying people pack our center Saturday and Sunday mornings. After the terrorist attacks more Americans kneel down to pray. Prayer is our expression of faith. We trust God and come to pray because we know he will give us what we ask for. Children come to their parents to ask what they want. They don’t go to the strangers. S. David Brogi prayed a lot during the last presidential election. He said that God answered his prayer. Here I realize that I don’t have to squeeze people to pray. Prayer is natural when we have faith in God. How God knows what I want. God cannot read my minds. I have to ask him what I want. Prayer makes us closer to God. We can have personal relationship with God through prayer.  Jesus said, “Believe that you have received it.” There is a story about one minister. He called his church members to pray for rain to release a long dry spell. The preacher looked severely at his flock and said: “Brothers and Sisters, you’ll knows why we are here. Now what I wants to know is—where is yo’ umbrellas?” They should have brought umbrellas because God would give them rain. Though they came to pray for rain, they did not believe it would rain. Faith grows as we pray more and more. We gain muscles as we exercise more and more. In the same way prayer is our spiritual exercise. The more we pray, the more we have faith, the more we experience the power of God. 

PART III. FAITH THAT FORGIVES (25)

Look at verse 25. “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” Until now, Jesus talked about faith that moves mountains and the power of prayer. Now, Jesus talks about faith that forgives. God is so powerful to answer all our prayers. Why is forgiveness necessary in our prayer? What will happen if we don’t forgive others? Our prayer will be very superficial. Grudge against others is not our relationship problem with others but it is our problem with God. Jesus said in Matthew 5:23, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” Grudge against others can hinder our prayer. Forgiveness comes when we receive God’s forgiveness. When we are sure of God’s forgiveness, we also receive God’s forgiveness. It might have been a very difficult problem for his disciples to forgive brothers. So, once Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times” (Mt 18:21,22). Wow! Seventy-seven times! Not to forgive is easy. But to forgive others who sin against us is not easy. When we read biographies of heroes, we learn that each was the product of the social and national milieu of his times. Each of them had courage to overcome impossible tasks. Each of them burned with the spirit of conquest and victory. But there was a common weakness in all of them: None of them could forgive others’ wrongdoings. They all died holding grudges in their hearts. They were nothing but fallen men. Of course, it is easy to hold grudge against some who wronged us. Let’s read verse 25. “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” Jesus wants us to have faith that forgives.  When we don’t forgive others’ sins, our Father in heaven does not forgive us our sins. Forgiving others might be a most difficult matter to fallen men. Rather, it is easy for us to keep the law of Moses, “A tooth for a tooth.” How can we forgive others? We must look at Jesus’ cross.  We are objects of God’s wrath and anger, living by our sinful natures.  But God nailed his one and only Son to the cross in order to forgive our sins. Through his Son’s ransom sacrifice, God gave us the grace of forgiveness. Our sins were forgiven, and we became the precious children of God. Therefore, we can forgive others’ sins as much as we remember God’s grace through his Son. Faith in God involves forgiveness of others. The chosen people Israel became bitter enemies of God. The chosen people Israel despised and rejected Jesus when he healed the sick and proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God. The Jews, who were God’s chosen people to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, crucified Jesus on the cross, saying, “Save yourself as you saved others.” But Jesus did not save himself. It was because he wanted to forgive all humankind. At the time of pain and sorrow, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23:34a). In other words, Jesus bore the cross in order to forgive all our iniquities and transgressions. Jesus’ forgiving others was very painful and difficult. A Roman soldier who might have been one of the executioners cried out, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” (15:39) To have faith in God involves forgiveness of sin. In this passage we learn that we must have faith in God so that we may have power and authority in our lives. Let’s read the key verse, verse 22, again. “’Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered.”