Well, if you wouldn't mind taking your Bibles with me tonight to Psalm 121. Why did God make mountains? Did you ever wonder? Maybe he made them to help us understand how small we are. Or maybe he made them to show us how great he is. God is the maker of mountains. I was gonna be traveling as a neighborhood Bible time evangelist. I flew into Boulder College, to Denver, drove up to Boulder on a cloudy day, kind of like today, it looked like that. And I remember waking up the next morning and looking outside to the little, it was a church building that they would do the training for the evangelists in the summers, about 50 college age guys. I remember looking outside and seeing, wow, the Rocky Mountains are not just somewhere, they're like there. and they were massive. I grew up in the Midwest. We had driven south in the past, but I had never seen the Rocky Mountains. They were massive. I realized how small I am. Mountains certainly show us how great God is because he is the maker of the mountains, right? Throughout most of world history, people did not mountaineer. Ancient peoples were not mountain climbers. Maybe for some obvious reasons. Maybe for some not so obvious reasons. They were superstitious. They felt like the forces of darkness congregated on the tops of mountains and they wanted nothing to do with it. Also, they didn't have the technology. It was not really until like the 1800s that it really got going. There are a few people here or there, some heroes of mountaineers who did some things very early on, but it really wasn't until there was the invention of this little tool, these things you put on your feet called crampons, and they're spikes that you put around the outside of your boots, but that really helped mountaineering take off, and all of a sudden, there was a world of mountains to conquer and to discover. When you think about it, mountains, mountains signify strength, endurance. One of the names of God we find throughout the Bible is the name rock, or high tower, and you can think visually in a way like God is like some characteristics similar to a mountain. I mean, people use the symbol of a mountain. Prudential, life insurance, get a piece of the rock, right? It's got that big mountain picture there. I think Paramount Pictures, they use a big mountain for their logo. Patagonia. North Face, I think, on the North Face logo, it's got these things that swoop down, and I'm pretty sure that's actually a picture of a mountain. So they're like pictures, a symbol of achievement and success and conquering. William Blake wrote a poem. He had written a lot of God-focused poems, religious poems, but he wrote one that was really man-centered, but he said it this way. Great things are done when men and mountains meet. This is not done by jostling in the street. In other words, there's a man and there's a mountain that needs to be conquered, right? Great things happen, that's what he said. You don't just do that by, you know, dinking around in the streets. You go conquer the mountains. Mountains inspire awe. Look with me at Psalm 121 and verse one and two. Psalmist looked up, and what did he see? I will lift up mine eyes into the hills. From whence cometh my help? You could put a question mark at the end of that, because here's the answer, verse two. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth, and you could maybe put your own little bracket there and say, and mountains. I'm looking to the mountains, but I'm actually looking beyond the mountains. I'm looking to the maker of heaven and earth. I'm looking to the maker of mountains. That's where my confidence is. I'm gonna give you three real simple points tonight. Number one, God makes mountains. Turn with me to the book of Amos. I'll give you an extra minute to find it, because I know it's not a familiar one. I have a bookmark in it in my Bible, because that's where I've been in my devotions. So I've gotta cheat here. I'm gonna beat you there. Amos chapter four, in verse 13, God's describing himself to his people Israel who had been wayward. They had been away from God. And he'll use this description to help them understand their accountability to him and his power over them. says verse 13 of Amos 4. For lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name. God makes mountains. The first reference we have in our Bible is just after the flood came. Noah and his family found grace in the eyes of the Lord, but God sent a worldwide flood to destroy the world and its inhabitants. And we find the first reference of a mountain is that the waters were above them. They'd gone above the mountains. And then two chapters later, we find that the ark rested as the water succeeded. The ark rested in the mountains of Ararat. Throughout the Bible, we find a number of significant events that take place on mountains. God met men on mountains. God made them. Did he make them to show us how small we are, how great he is? Did he make them to meet man at? I think I remember watching a Little House on the Prairie episode as a child where Laura climbed to the top of a mountain because she wanted to be close to God. Do you remember that one? I'm not sure if you ever watched that episode. Does it actually make us physically closer to God? No, but sometimes people have gone away. to meet with God. There are people who are not believers who do to this day believe that there are spiritual forces that are in the place of mountains. And I'm not just talking about like some remote location somewhere, you know. in Asia or the Middle East. I'm talking about the United States of America. When we lived in Colorado, there were certain parts of the state that people congregated to because there was a spiritual aura, spiritual forces at work. In fact, Anton LaVey, the man who wrote the Satanic Bible, had a house in Evergreen, Colorado. You could see it as he drove by on the highway. It's kind of a sharp, pointy thing. But there are people who are looking for a God. and they gathered to the mountains. But remember, it is God who made the mountains. In Amos, he was reminding his people, I who made the mountains made you, and you are accountable to me. God makes mountains in my life and your life. God allows some things in our lives that are difficult. There are some challenges that God in his sovereignty may allow you to experience, some hardships. Like you're between a rock and a hard place, right? You're finding life hard. Number two tonight, I want you to notice that God moves mountains. It's a familiar verse to us, Matthew chapter 17 verse 20. God can move mountains. Not only does he make them, he can move them. The mountain we discover here, Matthew chapter 17, is actually a demon. A demon that's possessing a child that the disciples could not, Remove. Matthew chapter 17. Jesus had just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter and James and John, and he was approached. Verse 14, and when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he's a lunatic, he's demon possessed. And he sore vexed, and oft times he falleth into the fire, and oft times into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. And as Josiah shared in his testimony tonight, the value of your own child, and nothing is more painful, is there, for a parent than for your children to be in pain, especially when there's a hope of relief, when they're sick, and when they're hurt. Boy, there were just pulls and tugs at the heart, This father had found hope. Jesus in Matthew 10 had promised to give the disciples the power to remove demons, to cleanse people from unclean spirits. But they couldn't do it. Verse 16, I brought him to the disciples and they could not cure him. And Jesus, verse 17, answered and said, oh, faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked. the devil, and he departed from him, departed of him, the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and they said, why could we not cast him out? And here is the mountain, here's the mountain moving, and Jesus gives an answer. It's because you were faithless, you didn't have any faith. Jesus said unto them, verse 20, because of your unbelief, For verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Not only does God make the mountains, God can move the mountains. God allowed this child to be possessed by a demon. But the Lord Jesus Christ has the power He had the power to remove this demon from this child, the boy who was harming himself, throwing himself into the fire, called a lunatic here. It was sore, vexed. It was an agonizing experience for this dad and for this son. And immediately, the disciple's response would be what ours may be. Lord, I've prayed about this. Why haven't you answered my prayer? Why didn't he come out? And Jesus' answer is, you didn't have any faith. And you say, well, how do you know that they didn't have any? Because what he suggests to them to have faith is a grain of a mustard seed bush, you know, just a tiny little seed. He wasn't telling them you have to have great faith. They needed to have a little faith in a great God, and the mountains could be moved. God gave a message to the wayward Israelites, but he also here gives a message to those who are weak in faith. If the disciples who lived with Jesus, walked with Jesus, saw Jesus perform miracles, could be weak in faith, how much more we, right? Who we do not see it. We do not see him. We've not seen him perform these kinds of miracles with our own eyes in this way. But what do we have? We have, the Bible tells us, a more sure word of prophecy. We have the scriptures. We have God's very word on the subject. And so we can have great faith in God. How do we increase our faith? By the word. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing the word of God. It's allowing God's word to get into you, but not just hearing it once a week, but meditating on it, thinking about, writing, journaling, memorizing, praying it, letting God's word saturate your soul, and faith will grow. God makes mountains, and God can move mountains. Do you have any mountains in your life today that you need God to move? And as Jesus asked his disciples, where's your faith? Can you trust me? And again, it's not a matter of us having great faith, it's us having a little bit of faith in a great God. So God moves mountains. Number three, God rules mountains, Isaiah chapter 40. We're gonna go back to Israel, Isaiah chapter 40. And it begins with comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God. Verse two, speak ye comfortably. They had been in affliction. They were waiting for deliverance. They had grown despondent and discouraged. And Isaiah the prophet is gonna give God's people hope. He's gonna give them words of comfort. Look with me at verse four. In fact, let's look at verse three. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the desert, a highway for our God. We know that speaking of the one who will come and prepare the way, John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus. Verse four, every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. Then look down with me at verse 12. Describing the great power of God, he says, who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in the balance. Make no mistake, God rules the mountains. He has authority over your mountains, right? The ones that you are experiencing today. God has the authority over them. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. God rules them. And this is a message that God gives through Isaiah to the weary, to the worn out. This is about that time of year. Winter's already feeling long. I saw about 12 birds fly past the car window today and I thought, I hope they're staying around. Maybe spring will come, I know, I know. Today is Groundhog Day, right? And he didn't see a shadow. 100 more weeks of winter, something like that is coming. But in weary times, in discouraging times, when it's been long, when it's been hard, you can go to a God who holds the mountains in his hands, who weighs them, and the balance. So he rules the mountains. That's a message for the weary. You know, sometimes we have mountains that are just challenges of life, hard times, difficulties. We also sometimes have mountains that are spiritual in nature, strongholds. In 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse three, Tells us that God has the authority, he has the power, he has the ability to give you and I victory over personal mountains, personal struggles. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse three. For though we walk after the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. There are spiritual attacks on spiritual people. We have physical bodies, as a child of God, right? You have the Holy Spirit indwelling you, and there are battles that you and I will face that are not physical. There are gonna be battles that you and I face that are spiritual in nature. Maybe we have opened some doors to darkness in our life. We have allowed sin to take up residence, to find a home, to take a corner, to move into the backside of your basement. And what do we do? What hope do we have? As Christians, not only can we see God move those difficulties and trials, we can trust God to answer prayer, move those mountains. We can also trust him through the power of the cross to give us victory over spiritual mountains. He says, the weapons of our warfare, verse four, are not carnal or fleshly, but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. casting down imaginations and every high thing, that it exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Notice that key word there, verse three, imaginations. That's where it starts, in the heart. When we open our heart, we allow temptation to take up a place, and then followed by sin. And then after sin, strongholds. It's like the youth group illustration I remember used to give where you have a teenager put their hand out and you wrap a string around a couple of times and say, pull your hand apart, big teen boy. And then you wrap it around 30, 40 times. I said, pull it apart. This kid could break a phone book in half. Some of the young people don't know, a phone book is actually a book that used to have phone numbers in it. And if you didn't know somebody's phone number, you couldn't search it, because there was no internet. You had to look in, anyway. So, you know, he's got this 40 wrapped around him, and you're like, ah! And that's a great illustration of what sin does, right? It binds. And sin once, sin twice, sin three times, sin 30, 40 times, well, you've got a stronghold, right? and you're living defeated. But praise God for His grace, praise Him for the victory on the cross and the ability, right? If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us, cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He will forgive if we confess. And then we forsake. We get up and we go, God, I don't want to be bound again. I don't want to live in chains. I wanna be free in Jesus Christ. This passage gives us the reminder that there are forces of darkness, spiritual forces. You may not see them, but they are at work in the world, and they're at work around, amongst, even Christians. I don't believe they're inside Christians, but we can expose ourself, we can allow, and we can give host to them. Maybe bitterness of heart. indulgence of the flesh. There are a lot of different ways that people have found that they could allow these doors to darkness to be opened in their life. What do you find? There's a stronghold, there's a mountain that wasn't there before, and here you are, you're trapped by it. God wants to give you victory, casting down those imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. We humble ourself. We seek to live a holy and pure life. We go to the word which cleanses us, washes our minds and our hearts and our mouths. And we find freedom, we find deliverance. Could not the Lord Jesus who conquered Mount Calvary, could not he give you victory? Sure he can, yeah. He has defeated the enemy, right? He has defeated the mountain of sin. to the cross. There's gonna be some mountains of challenge. Some opportunities I love. Joshua chapter 14 and verse 11. Our Sunday school contest two years ago, the prime time of class was called Caleb's Geezers. It's a great name. And this is why. Because at age 85, Joshua chapter 14, verse 11, Caleb saw not only that there was a mountain that needed conquered, he had all the faith that God would allow him to conquer it. Joshua 14, verse 11. He said, as yet I am strong this day, as I was in the day that Moses sent me, as my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, both to go out and to come in. Now therefore, verse 12, give me this mountain whereof the Lord spake in that day. For thou heardest that day how the Deannachims were there. and that their cities were great and fenced, and if so, be the Lord will with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. He's gonna take God at his word, and he said, save me that one, I'm gonna take that mountain for God. He was 85, and he still had a vision for the work of God. Oh, that we would continue all our lives. Young people, you need to have a vision. God is trying to do some things in the world today, and he's looking for people just like you to shake this world for Jesus Christ. If you're not so young, God wants to use you to shake this world for Jesus Christ. While we're living, while we're breathing, God has a plan for you, God has a purpose for you, and there is a world to reach, there's a gospel to give, there are opportunities all around us, great, great needs. We often hear it. Sometimes we'll get emails to the church. Sometimes people will stop in and say, God is at work in me. I have a need. God is at work in Lima, Ohio. Maybe we need to be reminded. Open your eyes, look around. There are people who are in conviction of sin, understanding they're lost, and they have no idea how to be forgiven. No idea how to be saved. How shall they hear without a preacher? We go to them, we share the gospel. What mountain do you see today? Psalm chapter 23, we're comforted, aren't we, by the shepherd who leads us through the valley. I'm grateful that some valleys you may be going through today may feel like you are going through the valley of the shadow of death. But I wanna encourage you tonight to look up from the valley. Where there's a valley, there's a mountain. Look up from the valley and look with me at chapter 24. It says, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. For he that founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods, who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? Who is it? He that hath clean hands. and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul into vanity nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive, verse five, the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, verse nine. O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. While we have a gentle shepherd in chapter 23, we find Elion in chapter 24, the general of the hosts of God. And there is a great and needy work in the world to do today, and God is looking for those who will follow him, who will obey him, who will take the mountain for him. James was, College student, he loved mountains. He was attending college in London and he enjoyed traveling to the Alps and climbing them. As he was preparing to graduate with an engineering degree, he read a pamphlet. And he didn't expect this little booklet to change his life. His life was mapped out. He was a concert pianist. He was an excellent engineering student. And as he prepared to graduate, he read a booklet one day in the library that challenged him to consider the untold millions in the world. James was a Christian. And the booklet pointed out the fact that there is a mission that we have that the angels cannot accomplish. And it challenged young people in particular to think about giving their lives to reach the untold millions with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Two years later, James was on site in China, and this mountain-loving young man had been selected. He'd completed his language training. He had been part of the Overseas Missionary Fellowship, which used to be called the China Inland Mission. And He was selected from his language instructor to be one who would go to Western China, to the mountains of Western China, to take the gospel to this remote, difficult place. And he went. One day as he was walking in a market, he came across a person from a different people group, one that he was not familiar with. Physical features were a little different than the other people in that region. They wore very brightly colored clothes. And he was curious. He felt like God was tugging at his heart about these people. He knew nothing about them. It was not long later that he found three of these same people. And they were in the market, and he had what he called the gospel hut, where he would share the gospel with people. And he brought these men in, though he didn't speak their language. In fact, there was no written language. Nobody had recorded their language. Nobody could speak their language but the Lisu people. And James O. Frazier brought those people in, tried to communicate with them, not very successful, but God had confirmed in his heart, these are a people who need my gospel. And so James, got permission to begin attempting to reach these people. He had been invited to a wedding, made some connections with the people, and eventually would move in amongst them. He was burdened to reach them. They're in the mountains of Western China. He grew very discouraged. as he learned the language, and actually he put their language into writing, and it's still used to this day, the same writing that he put together in 1807, eight, nine, something like that. He learned to communicate with them, he shared the gospel with them. He even had some who made professions of faith. But the Lisu people were ones who worshiped evil spirits, they worshiped their ancestors, and for them it was accepting Jesus was just adding another God to their shelf. And eventually those who made professions of faith, he felt fell back into their old ways. He didn't know if they were ever really truly born again. He was discouraged and he received a letter from his mom back in London. She said, I've organized a group of people and we're gonna call it the prayer circle. And we want to pray for you and the Lisu people. And they began to pray. He would pass on prayer requests to them, and they began to see, you know, some things happened, they thought, but then he was discouraged again. There's a season of about two years where he just felt an incredible spiritual attack. A magazine had come in the mail, he read it, and it encouraged him to stand against the devil, to withstand him. And he did. And he claimed that as a promise from God's word, and he withstood Satan, and it left. But after six years of serving there, of living amongst these people, he had relatively no fruit. His mother's prayer circle was continuing to pray, but he found his own faith was waning. He wondered if God would even hear his own prayer, if God would answer his prayer. He was reading one day in James chapter four, Verses, or excuse me, James 5, 14. And he was given a promise. Let me look it up here. It says in verse 15, that the prayer of faith shall save the sick. and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, pray for one another that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. He was convinced, not only do I need to pray, I need to pray with active faith. Not just that God will hear me and will someday answer me, but claiming it as if God has heard me and God is already answering my prayer. He had prepared to resign, prepared to find a new field he knew of many that were looking for helpers. But he said, okay, Lord, I don't have the faith to pray for thousands of converts, but I have the faith to pray for 100. He sent a letter back to England and asked his mother's growing prayer circle, pray for me, pray for the Leesu people, and pray for 100 families to come to faith in Christ. You know what? Breakthrough. Souls began to be saved. Some, who he didn't even have a relationship with those people, but some had told others, and they were coming to faith in Christ. Before long, 600 families had come to Christ. Here was a man who was ready to leave, ready to quit, Here he was in a dream location for him, in the mountains, serving God with remote people. He had written a language for them. But now they were more than just a people to reach. They were his brothers and sisters in Christ. To this day, not only do they use his written language, but to this day, there is a gospel presence of people in western China amongst the Lisu people because of one man who saw a mountain And he said, by grace I'm gonna conquer it. He certainly had some valleys he went through. But God used James O. Frazier to bring the gospel to that place. Isaiah chapter 52 verse seven is a prophecy about Jesus. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. God's looking for people today who are willing to tackle mountains. Charles Cowman was also a missionary. He said this, God has guided the heroes and the saints of all ages to do the things which were ordinarily regarded by the community as radical and mad. And many asked, have you taken any risks for God? There are mountains who are waiting for you and I. There are people who need the gospel. There are opportunities abounding. And sometimes it's an immediate response. God uses a verse, God uses a portion of a verse or a passage. And you say, God, here I am. If you want to use me, I'll go, I'll follow you. God is the one who makes the mountains, and he is the one who moves mountains, but he's also the one who rules the mountains. So where can't we go for God? What can't we do for him? If you're overcome, if you're overwhelmed, you find yourself struggling tonight, hey, trust God, he can move the mountains, he made them. If you're saying, hey, I wanna be used of God, I want him to use my life for him in some way, for his glory, this week, Hey, God rules the mountains. Claim them for him. Claim his word, claim his promises and follow him. Great things are done when men and mountains meet. Oh, I don't know if that's so right. Great things happen when God and mountains meet. Father, thank you for your word tonight. Thank you for the subject of the mountains of the Bible. There's so much more that could be said. But I ask tonight that we would take to heart that you are a great God. Before the mountains we feel so small, but you, next to the mountains, you are so, so great. Help us to trust you with our own mountains and help us to look ahead to mountains that we can conquer for Jesus' sake. In his name, amen.