The Value of the Mountain Top

This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. I hope you will as well.



I am very excited about 2009. The theme for our church, and for me personally is to "Overcome the Status Quo in 2009" It is so easy to get into a rut and just coast through life. I don't believe that it is what God intended for our lives.

Listen to what Jesus says to Nathanael in John 1:50:

John 1:49-50 Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" (50) Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these."


Nathanael was very impressed that Jesus saw him when he was under the fig tree and was able to tell him about it. Jesus told him, if that impresses you, just wait and watch what you are about to see. Then He said, "You will see GREATER things than these." This is 0ur theme verse for 2009. I believe that we will see even "greater things" than what we have ever seen in our relationship with Jesus, as we overcome the status quo.

As we seek the Lord, we will find the Lord teaching us and showing us things that we have never seen before. This happened to Peter, James and John in Matthew 17:

When Christ's disciples came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, they were faced with an epileptic boy who kept falling into fire and water. His heartbroken father told Christ, "I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not heal him" (Matthew 17:16 NIV). Immediately, "Jesus rebuked the demon; and it came out of the boy" (Matthew 17:18 NIV).

Notice:

(1) Mountain-top experiences are to equip us for our next encounter with the enemy. If you don't understand that, you won't be prepared for the challenges ahead.

(2) We're called to minister to people who keep falling into situations that hurt them. And it's going to take more than personality and religious platitudes to set them free. Christ's disciples were powerless because they were prayerless. Jesus said: "This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting" (Matthew 17:21 NKJV). If we keep doing the 'same old, same old', we'll keep getting the same old results. Remember the definition of insanity, "Doing the same things you have always done and expecting different results." Persistent, prevailing prayer is what we need in order to walk in God's power.

(3) We must rise above the attitudes around us. Jesus confronted the core problem: "O faithless… generation" (Matthew 17:17 NKJV). We're fighting the faithlessness of a generation molded by secular media and Godless values. If we let it, it will pull us down and wear us out. But we can prevail. That day Jesus said, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move'… and it will move" (Matthew 17:20-21 NIV).

Observe two more things: (a) "If you have faith." Everybody around you doesn't have to have faith in order for you to see results. (b) You don't have to be a Spiritual giant. Just use your tiny, mustard-seed-size faith and God will move the mountain. Blessings!

Pastor Rusty