========================================================================
  FORGIVENESS CAN MOVE A MOUNTAIN
  by Carter Conlon
========================================================================

Summary: This sermon emphasizes the power of faith in God to move
mountains and the importance of forgiveness as the foundation for
effective prayer. It highlights the significance of believing in God's
promises, the need to forgive others, and the transformative impact of
receiving and extending forgiveness. The speaker delves into the story
of a miraculous healing tied to forgiveness and the essential role
forgiveness plays in our relationship with God and others.

Topics: "Faith to Move Mountains", "The Power of Forgiveness"
Scripture References: Mark 11:22, Mark 11:23, Mark 11:24, Mark 11:25, Matthew 6:14, Matthew 18:21, Luke 17:3, 1 John 1:9, Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:13

------------------------------------------------------------------------
DESCRIPTION
------------------------------------------------------------------------

This sermon emphasizes the power of faith in God to move mountains and
the importance of forgiveness as the foundation for effective prayer. It
highlights the significance of believing in God's promises, the need to
forgive others, and the transformative impact of receiving and extending
forgiveness. The speaker delves into the story of a miraculous healing
tied to forgiveness and the essential role forgiveness plays in our
relationship with God and others.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark chapter 11 verse 22. It says so Jesus answered and said to them
have faith in God For assuredly I say to you whoever says to this
mountain Be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his
heart, but believes that those things he says will be done He will have
whatever he says Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when
you pray believe that you receive them and That you and you will have
them. So just these two verses of scripture.

Can you imagine if we actually believe this? The prayer meeting would
not be something you had to beg people to attend on Wednesday night or
whatever night I mean the people would be abandoning everything to come
to the prayer meeting They would abandon the business of their day to go
into the prayer closet and talk with God if we really really believe
this You see what Jesus spoke is actually true. We do have this faith
promised of God to move these mountains and I'm going to talk about the
mountains in just a moment and Cause them to lose their their
strongholds cause them to lose their influence to be cast into a place
other than where they are and This incredible promise Whatever things
you ask when you pray believe that you receive them and you will have
them now that's in the context of James chapter 4 in verse 3 Remember
James the Apostle who said you ask and you receive not because you ask
amiss That you may consume it upon your lusts So in other words, you're
if we're asking for something just because we want to consume it upon
ourselves That's an asking amiss and we may not receive what we ask for
But when our our motivation is the advancement of the kingdom of God
when our motivation is to live a life That's going to bring glory to his
name and and perhaps live in a way that That we can be of some effect
and pushing back the darkness That is trying to swallow the lives of our
families and our friends and so many around us Then whatever we ask for
we shall receive isn't that amazing when our motives are right when our
lives are in order when we're moving Towards God's plan for our life not
our own plan, but God's plan we can ask and we will receive now in the
in Before he comes to this This point he's talking about He had just
come back from entering into Jerusalem and he had approached a fig tree
that That gave the appearance at least of covering gave the appearance
of bearing fruit he walked up to the fig tree and I've always believed
it was a type of Adam because you remember in Genesis chapter 3 when
When the Lord came down into the garden and Adam had lost Adam I believe
in Eve were covered with the glory of God That's why they didn't know
they were naked just like Moses when he when he went into the presence
of God He came out and his face was glowing I do believe because they
spent time with the Living God that the reflective glory of God was upon
them That's why they didn't need clothing and they were unaware of
nakedness at this point But when they sinned against God when they when
they bit into the theology that they could be godly without God They
suddenly lost the glory of God and they became aware of their nakedness
their bankruptcy And so what did they do? They went to the fig tree,
which is has kind of a broad flat green leaf and they made skirts
probably hats and The food exchange the glory of God for fig leaves Can
you just imagine that how? Ridiculous Adam must have looked like it must
have looked like he had a lampshade on his head And he had a grass skirt
with fig leaves to cover himself and he exchanged the glory of God for
this ridiculous Costume and it represents in a sense man's attempt to be
godly in himself to cover his his struggles to cover his failings to
cover his sin and ultimately it represents the Belief that we can be
godly without God because that was the theological fruit that Adam and
Eve actually bit into that they could become judges know as God is
knowing that good in other words creating their own good and creating
their own evil and the scripture says that Jesus was coming out of
Bethany and going back up into Jerusalem and he was hungry and and I
Honestly believe he was hungry for that the fellowship Not with Adam,
but all of Adam's descendants. He was hungry.

He saw you into the future He saw me and there was at the hunger in the
heart of God. Now. I know that God is complete in himself That's not
even debatable.

He doesn't need anything. He's God He's fully complete just in being
God, but he can also allow himself to have a need in other words Like
for example, God can't forget anything, but he said through the prophet
Isaiah. I will remember your sins no more In other words, God says I
will cause myself to forget your sins.

Isn't that amazing? Although he's not capable of forgetting he can cause
himself to forget although he could exist alone fully Existent in
himself. He chose to create Adam and Eve. He chose to create us in in in
his image Because he wanted fellowship.

I don't I don't fully understand that mystery The Bible does say that
it's a mystery that the angels desire to look into With all of the
perfection in heaven with all the created beings around him Moving in
unison with his will worshipping him not needing to be redeemed yet. His
affection is on us and The angels see that and they they don't fully
understand it. We must look so incredibly flawed And yet in the midst of
it the the heart and affection of God is upon us and So coming is on his
way to the final mission that his father had sent him to bring us back
And he's hungry for that fellowship when he would come down in the
garden and he would bring animals to Adam and say Adam What are we going
to call this? I don't fully get that God knew what they were But yet he
let Adam name them in the scripture says what Adam called them They're
still called that today and he was hungry and seeing a fig tree afar off
in verse 13 It says having leaves he he went to see if perhaps he could
find something on it And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves
for it was not the season of figs now The the writer is writing from the
perspective of either himself or somebody else just observing Jesus
doing this assuming that he's physically hungry Assuming that he's
coming to the tree and the omniscient That means the all-knowing God
doesn't know if there's any fruit on this tree I want to suggest that
this is just an observation of his behavior, but he knew there was
nothing on this tree It was not even the season of figs and so the Son
of God with all of his power comes to this fig tree and And when he sees
there's nothing on it He curses it in a sense and says let no one ever
eat fruit from you again And his disciples heard it now if we take this
at face value It makes the Son of God look exceedingly petty in other
words.

He's approaching a tree. It's not the season for fruit He finds nothing
on it, and then he curses it It's just a vain display of power in a
sense unless he's teaching us something in this I believe honestly he's
looking at this this foe covering as it is that that Humanity has tried
to place upon themselves to in the in the sheer force of human will to
get to get back into Relationship with God and to be godly by a human
effort and it has its coverings you remember in Jerusalem The the
Pharisees had these these fine coverings and these wonderful garments
that they had concocted for themselves But on close examination there
was no fruit It was all just a covering and when you got close you found
envy you found pride there you found dead men's bones behind incredibly
whitewashed exteriors and And so he said no one eat fruit from you ever
again and In the morning when they passed by verse 20 It says they saw
the fig tree dried up from the roots and Peter remembering said to him
rabbi Look the fig tree which you cursed has withered away, and this is
when he speaks to them have faith in God For assuredly I say to you
whoever says to this mountain now the only mountain in the area is
Jerusalem Now the fig tree is is kind of emblematic of the whole system
of religion That's represented by Jerusalem of that time the system that
had covered itself in its own religious fig Fig leaves as it is this
this this mountain of deception It's not just the it's not just the
deception of the the one fig tree, but it's the whole system that
offered a deceptive Relationship with God it was just a an exterior
covering that had no real reality to it And it was absolutely incapable
of bearing the fruit that only God can bear in a person's life praise be
to God and so Think that's a nice little fellow over there God bless you
People don't usually cry when I preach anymore, so it's good to hear
that So he says You can not only say this to the fig tree, but to the
mountain not only not only Pray for anything deceptive in your own life
anything that is offering covering That is is is not real. Yeah, you see
we have power to say God This thing must be taken away from my life.

Don't let this thing deceive me any longer Don't let this this
substance. That's falsely offering me comfort. Don't let it deceive me
anymore.

I Have the power now to stand against this thing not just in my own
personal life But in the lives of my family members, you know we see
family members that are falling into certain patterns of even religion
that doesn't really offer a covering and We can we have the power to
stand and say Let no one eat fruit from you ever again our friends all
around us that that are falling into traps of Addiction or whatever
their behaviors are we have have power We have authority to stand
against these things and say lose your ability to deceive them Did you
ever know you could pray like that? You could pray for somebody that's
fallen into a trap and you say in the name of Jesus I stand against this
deception and and let my brother let my sister let my friend no longer
eat No longer eat from this tree of deception any longer and then he
takes it even farther It's not just the tree but the mountain It's it's
a type of you and I coming here tonight and looking out on these prayer
tablets at the mountain of despair That's all around us that the
mountains of deception that have been trapped people though The
mountains of failed marriages where one of the partners has somehow
fallen into the lie of believing that that somebody else other than my
marriage Partner is going to satisfy the desire of my life or the desire
of my heart This is a mountain that's in our society today and Jesus
said not just the fig tree, but the mountain The mountain of course was
Jerusalem that he was pointing at and you and I know that in 1870 the
mountain was removed and cast into the sea all over the world and we
know that and So he wasn't just speaking something idly said there's
going to be a victory on the cross and and this victory I'm imparting
this victory to you and I'm telling you if you have faith in God you can
speak to this deception You can have authority in your prayers You can
stand against the darkness if we don't believe this I think we're a
people to be pitied in our generation I happen to believe that these are
the words of the Son of God who cannot lie. He does not exaggerate He
doesn't put a carrot on the stick in front of us that we can never
attain we can it's always a foot in front Of it us we can't reach it No,
it is truth. It is absolute truth But not just to the fig trees of
deception these fruitless coverings that that are sent to deceive But
the whole mountain and we're living in a in a generation where there
there are there is a mountain of deception in this generation People are
looking everywhere But to God trying to be God in their own strength
trying to establish rules of good and evil and right and wrong apart
from God Trying to be virtuous without the virtuous one abiding in their
inward parts and Jesus said you I I'm going to give you the power if you
have faith in God to say to the mountain Be removed and be cast into the
sea.

However This kind of authority and prayer stands on the foundation stone
of forgiveness Listen to this. He said therefore I say what to you
whatever things you ask in prayer when you pray believe that you receive
them and you will have them and verse 25 and Whenever you stand praying
if you have anything against anyone forgive him That your father in
heaven may also forgive your trespasses, but if you do not forgive
neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses You know, we
ask ourselves how important is it's funny Like he this incredible
promise of cursing fig trees and moving mountains and then he just puts
it all on the cornerstone of forgiveness because we are Ambassadors of a
kingdom that is all about forgiveness father Forgive them as he's being
he was beaten. He was betrayed.

He was lied about he was spit on he was mocked He was crucified and yet
in the midst of all his pain. He says father forgive them. They don't
know what they do this is a kingdom of forgiveness that you and I have
been invited into as Ambassadors and so he puts the this power to pray
on this cornerstone of forgiveness It's an amazing thing when you you
begin to realize it, you know, and in Luke Not Luke, but in Matthew
chapter 17 18 rather You know Peter came to the Lord Jesus Christ and he
said to him Lord How often shall I my brother sin against me and I
forgive him up to seven times now Peter was a fisherman.

He was a tough fisherman. I have no doubt about I have no doubt. He had
a bad temper I've no doubt if you crossed him once you might get away
with it If you crossed him twice your teeth what you're eating your
supper with your gums that night.

I have no doubt about it And so he kind of he wants to please the Lord
He wants to appear spiritual and she says how often shall I forgive my
brother and he's Concocting this this thing is like seven times. I mean
that's to Peter. That's way beyond reasonable That's the only God can do
that seven times.

I mean, he just thinks nobody would ever get away with with Playing
games with me seven times and Jesus said to him I did not say to you up
to seven times but up to seventy times seven He's probably doing the
math at this point. That's 490 times it's impossible with man It's only
possible with God And he goes on to say therefore the kingdom of heaven
is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants
When he had begun to settle accounts one was brought to him I owed him
ten thousand talents But as he was not able to pay his master Commanded
to be sold and his wife and his children and all that he had and that
the payment be made and the servant therefore Fell down before him
saying master have patience with me and I will pay you all Then the
master of that servant was moved with compassion released him and
forgave him the debt But that servant went out and found one of his
fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii In other words what
anybody owes us in comparison to what we owed God is so insignificant
It's almost not worth writing it down But he laid hands on him and took
him by the throat saying pay me what you owe You wonder how many people
how many people have been forgiven by God in the body of Christ? But we
still have somebody else by the throat Somebody in our past that abused
us somebody that let us down somebody that wasn't there when we needed
us somebody that spoke ill about us somebody that Maybe stiffed us for
money, whatever it was We take him by the throat even though we've been
forgiven such an incredible debt We are refusing to forgive those who
have hurt us pay me what you owe So the fellow servant fell down at his
feet and begged him saying have patience with me And I will pay you all
and he would not but went and threw him into prison until he should pay
the debt So when his fellow servants saw what had been done They were
very grieved and came and told their master all that had been done Then
his master after he'd called him said to him you wicked servant. I
forgave you all that debt because you begged me Should you not also have
had compassion on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you and His
master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay
all that was due to him.

So my heavenly father Also will do to you each of you if you from your
heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses Now I want you to
think about that. This is one of the harder portions of Scripture We'd
rather gloss it over and not have to deal with it But I can't help but
wonder because we have about almost 1,900 prayer requests tonight that
have come in throughout the day in The last little while and when I look
at it, I can't tell you how many people are tormented And you can't help
but wonder Is there unforgiveness in the background? Is there somebody
they have they've come for forgiveness to God because a lot of these
people claim to be Christians But they're refusing to forgive somebody
else along the way and Jesus did say if you're forgiven a great debt But
you refuse to forgive somebody who has wronged you The end result is
that you deliver to torment I think of all the all the people in
marriages that are looking outside the relationship and and half the
times There's there are problems in the past before even coming into the
marriage There's unforgiveness there somewhere and they've refused to
let it go now. I'm not suggesting that forgiveness Implies that what the
person did to you was right? It's just a law in the kingdom of God we
are built on this foundation of forgiveness Forgiveness is a command
Trust is earned.

You don't have to trust somebody because you've forgiven them but You
have to forgive them. That's the command of God When years and years ago
I was I was transferred into the public relations department in the
police Force where I worked and in the in the public relations
department. There was a man called Tom He was about 35 years of age at
the time and he had a fatal disease It was only a matter of time and he
was going to lose his life and there was no cure for what he had and he
had been transferred in just to answer the phone in the office until he
was incapacitated and Then at at a certain point then he would have to
go on Disability and then he was going to die and his prognosis was not
very good.

He only really had a few years left to live. I Got to know Tom and and
one day I'm passing through the office and he said Carter He said I just
see something and I hear something in you and I'm not quite sure what it
is What is it that I'm seeing I was able to share with him my testimony
I was able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and and in the office
that day I led him to Christ as his Lord and Savior and we rejoiced
together and it was just an awesome moment and Then I was only a few
weeks later. Tom came in the office one day says man.

You're not gonna believe this You're not gonna believe this. He's just
beside himself I've been to the doctor and my disease is gone. It's
absolutely Gone, there's no trace of it.

And the doctor said a secular doctor said to me Tom you have had a
miracle He said this disease you have does not go away on its own. There
is no known treatment for it. It is gone There's not a trace of it in
your body.

You are cured. You are healed and he said Tom I have no explanation for
what has happened to you, but I'm telling you you've had a miracle
Secular doctor told Tom he did a miracle and you know, the funny thing
is we never prayed for his healing Not if I could never even occurred to
me at that point to pray for his healing We I talked to him about
Christ. He opened his heart.

He received the forgiveness of God and I said Tom How do you think the
healing we're just talking one day? I said, how do you think the healing
in your in your life happened? Now, this is a brand new Christian. He
doesn't have a whole lot of theology in his life But here's what he told
me he said Carter when I was a boy my father was an evil man my father
would stand me in a bathtub of ice-cold water take his belt off and beat
me on the back and on my legs And on my buttocks until waltz broke out
on my body. I Hated that man and he said I I lived to see him die in
agony His father was still alive and he said I just lived to see him on
his deathbed So they could walk in and just point my finger and gloat at
him and saying you're finally getting what you deserve And he said the
interesting thing is when I opened my heart and gave my life to Jesus I
went home one night and I said God if you have forgiven me after all I
have done I no longer have the right to hold this grievance against my
father and he said the words I Forgive my father and he told me he said
when the bitterness left my life the disease went with it As that's
Tom's story and he had a miracle healing to back up his testimony So how
important is forgiveness and why why would Jesus set this this mountain
moving miracle power on this foundation of forgiveness? You see the the
reasons are fairly obvious We are ambassadors of this incredible kingdom
of forgiveness and we are completely unjustified to hold on to old
grievances No matter what was done to us because surely nothing worse
than that Which was done to Christ has been done to you or me We've all
had people have let us down.

We've all had things that have been said We've all had people who
weren't there when we needed them I get all of that but if we have
received the forgiveness of Christ and We are willing to let go the
debts the throats of others that owe us something even if they owe we
feel at least they Owe us an apology if nothing else God says no take
your hands off their neck and let them go and the promise that I make to
you is that I'm going to Give you faith To see people around you set
free. I'm going to give you faith to make a difference in your society
I'm going to I'm going to move you into something of My spirit of my
life that can only come from the presence of God inside of your life And
so you asked me now the question who should I forgive first? Well before
you even start thinking about anybody else It's so important that you
receive the forgiveness of God as we always say at Times Square Church
It's as easy as ABC just admit that you're a sinner and you need a
Savior. Don't make it difficult say God I can't save myself.

I'm done with the false coverings in my own life I'm done trying to be
good in my own strength because I can't and so Lord I recognize that you
went to a cross and paid the price for my sin And so tonight I invite
you into my life to be my my Lord and my Savior believe that God sent
his son to die on the cross To take your place the punishment you
deserve Jesus Christ took that punishment. Don't make it complicated You
were guilty an innocent man took your place Suffered the punishment of
the separation from God that you deserved and I deserved and he did it
because he loves you He did it because he had he was hungry for
fellowship with you Remember Jesus approached the tree because he was
hungry. He was hungry to have a living relationship with you That's why
he came to this world not to condemn you.

He came to get you He came to pay the price so you could be restored to
God and begin to confess with your mouth Jesus Christ as your Lord and
your Savior firstly, you need to receive the forgiveness of God and
Secondly, you need to forgive yourself Because you might have been the
abuser You might have been the one that wasn't there when people needed
you You might be the one That needs you see when you when you do come to
Christ as your Savior you get kicked off the throne Of your own life.
You're no longer the king or the queen anymore You're kicked off the
throne Jesus Christ sits on that throne and he starts calling you his
own and he calls you clean and he calls you forgiven matter of Fact in
the Bible. He says you are as clean as God is through Jesus Christ the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus that's the way the Bible says it
that means I'm as clean as God is through Jesus Christ He said to Peter
one day when he was speaking with Peter the Lord said to him whatever I
have cleansed Don't you call it common or unclean anymore? You have to
learn to forgive yourself Because we've all made mistakes We've all
fallen short of the glory of God We've all done things that we regret
doing and sometimes people can receive the forgiveness of God, but they
can't forgive themselves For what they have done.

You have to accept God's forgiveness and then forgive yourself And once
you're operating it from that perspective, then you let go the debt that
somebody else owes you Forgive and sometimes you have to trust God to
forgive you have to ask him for the strength because we just can't do it
in our own strength Ask God for the grace. I've been there folks. I know
what I'm talking about I've been there.

I know what it's like to be living on the edge of not just
unforgiveness, but actually hating somebody I know what it's like to
need God to get me through that valley of the shadow of death and Bring
me to a place where I can actually obey him and let go the debt It's
take my hands off somebody's neck spiritually speaking and let them go
and release them from the debt that that they owe me so I want to
encourage you tonight to Accept the forgiveness of God those that are
online and then forgive yourself and then forgive others Let it just let
it go Let it go It's not worth hanging on to any longer You know that
there's a story about a bear Coming up to a campfire and he finds a
cauldron that's on the fire and he picks it up with his big paws and
holds it then it starts to burn his chest and As it burns his chest he
responds with instinct He doesn't he doesn't know enough to let it go so
he holds it tighter And he doesn't know that the tighter he holds it the
more it's going to burn his heart right out of his body It's going to
kill him actually and we're like that with unforgiveness. We we grab
something and we hold it and we feel Justified is even though it's
hurting us. We don't want to let it go when God's Word tells us clearly
if we will let it go I say to you Whoever says to this mountain be
removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart But
believes that those things he says will be done.

He will have whatever he says This is the promise of God to you if you
will receive his forgiveness tonight forgive yourself and forgive others
a whole new realm begins to open to you a whole new way of living an
Understanding of the power of God a release of his life within yours To
pull down strongholds and everything that exalts itself against the
knowledge of God To reclaim your family reclaim your sanity Reclaim your
purpose in life

========================================================================
Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/s2H-MhVMZH4.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/carter-conlon/forgiveness-can-move-a-mountain/
========================================================================