{"id":1613,"date":"2016-10-20T09:45:25","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T14:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/?p=1613"},"modified":"2016-10-20T09:45:25","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T14:45:25","slug":"moving-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/20\/moving-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning I was reading a post by Max Lucado<\/a>. \u00a0It began me thinking a little more about what Jesus said can be done with faith. \u00a0Here is a portion of what Max wrote: \u00a0“Jesus spilled his blood for you.\u00a0You can spill your heart before God.\u00a0Jesus said if you have faith, you can tell a mountain to go and jump into the sea\u00a0(Mark 11:23).”<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

“What is your mountain?\u00a0Call out to God for help\u2026today! Will he do what you want?\u00a0I cannot say, but this I can. He will do what is best!”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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The last year has been a difficult time for my family. \u00a0It has been a difficult time for the congregation that I previously served. \u00a0We all came with expectations but no one, including myself, seemed to clearly define the expectations. \u00a0Then when expectations were not met, instead of talking about it in helpful ways, other avenues were sought.<\/p>\n

At times, it seemed as if I was in a living hell. \u00a0At times it seemed to be that God must not be present. \u00a0Of course, I knew that was not true, but you know the old saying, “It’s hard to see the forest through the trees”. \u00a0My mountain that I attempted to move, was to overcome all the adversity we were experiencing. \u00a0Not only against myself and family, but the congregation, parsonage, community and so on.<\/p>\n

I failed to rely enough on God, in faith, to move the mountain. \u00a0It was when I sunk to my deepest moment, that through my wife, the Holy Spirit reached out and shook me. \u00a0It was then, that my focus began to change. \u00a0It was then that help came to me from fellow pastors, the bishop, a clergy life coach, and later on \u00a0friends inside the congregation.<\/p>\n

Faith, belief and trust \u00a0in the promises of God, is what moves mountains. \u00a0Faith that God put certain people in my life to assist me. \u00a0Faith that God was on the scene in the Holy Spirit. \u00a0Faith that Jesus Christ suffered so I did not have to. \u00a0It was Faith, that moved the mountain. \u00a0It was faith that grew in the face of adversity. \u00a0It was faith that brought me to a new call. \u00a0It is faith that will heal the previous congregation. \u00a0It is faith that will move the mountains that we will face at my new congregation.<\/p>\n

We always have mountains to face. \u00a0No matter “how great” life may seem, there will be obstacles\u00a0(mountains) in the way. \u00a0The key is to keep our hearts, minds, ears, eyes and our very being, tuned to the Holy Spirit. \u00a0It is then that we can toss the mountain (through faith) into the ocean. \u00a0It is then, that nothing can stand in our ways and nothing can crush us.<\/p>\n

As Max says below: \u00a0“Jesus spilled his blood for you.\u00a0You can spill your heart before God.\u00a0Jesus said if you have faith, you can tell a mountain to go and jump into the sea\u00a0(Mark 11:23).”<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

“What is your mountain?\u00a0Call out to God for help\u2026today! Will he do what you want?\u00a0I cannot say, but this I can. He will do what is best!”<\/span><\/p>\n

Let us together, as church, walking in faith, go move\u00a0our mountains!<\/p>\n

\"Moving<\/a>

Moving our mountains through faith.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning I was reading a post by Max Lucado. \u00a0It began me thinking a little more about what Jesus said can be done with faith. \u00a0Here is a portion of what Max wrote: \u00a0“Jesus spilled his blood for you.\u00a0You can spill your heart before God.\u00a0Jesus said if you have faith, you can tell a … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[87,29,106,119,93,21,102,78,42,68,4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-dougd","4":"post-1613","6":"format-standard","7":"category-christ","8":"category-community","9":"category-conflict","10":"category-disappointment","11":"category-doubt","12":"category-faith","13":"category-god","14":"category-gospel","15":"category-healing","16":"category-hope","17":"category-spirit"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2m6h5-q1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":825,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/03\/05\/transfiguration-transformation-faith-to-discipleship\/","url_meta":{"origin":1613,"position":0},"title":"Transfiguration, Transformation faith to Discipleship","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"March 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Link to Audio of Sermon Video Link to Sermon Exodus 24:12-18 Psalm 2:1-11 2 Peter 1:16-21 Matthew 17:1-9 We hear today of two \u201cmountain top experiences\u201d both unique but also have common threads to each other and to us today.\u00a0 Both not just for the humans directly involved but for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Discipleship"","block_context":{"text":"Discipleship","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/discipleship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1333,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2015\/06\/11\/faith-hope-and-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":1613,"position":1},"title":"Faith Hope and Holy Spirit","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"June 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"http:\/\/youtu.be\/_tuYjxiir28 Audio Version Sunday, May 24th, 2015 Day of Pentecost Romans 8:22\u201327 John 15:26\u201327, 16:4b\u201315[1] \u00a0 Welcome to Pentecost! 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