The Miracles of Jesus: Part Three | God Speak

Devotional

Day 1: Speaking to Fig Trees: Declaring the Desired End

Jesus demonstrated kingdom authority by speaking to a fig tree, declaring its end despite natural circumstances. His words carried creative power, mirroring God’s command at creation. Just as Abraham’s name change aligned him with God’s promise, our words shape reality when rooted in faith. The fig tree’s withering reveals a principle: what we declare in alignment with God’s will carries divine authority. This isn’t positive thinking—it’s partnering with heaven’s language. [08:13]

“The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And his disciples heard him say it.”
(Mark 11:12–14, NKJV)

Reflection: What “fig tree” in your life—a situation seemingly bound by natural limitations—needs you to speak God’s desired outcome? How can you align your words with His promises today?

Day 2: Clearing the Temple: Preparing for Unhindered Prayer

Jesus violently cleansed the temple, rejecting systems that hindered raw communion with God. Merchants exploited worshippers, creating barriers between people and prayer. His zeal reveals a truth: clutter in our hearts—unconfessed sin, religious pretense—chokes authentic dialogue with God. Just as a purified temple became a “house of prayer,” internal cleansing positions us to hear and speak heaven’s language without static. [20:08]

“Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, ‘Is it not written: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”? But you have made it “a den of robbers.”’”
(Mark 11:15–17, NKJV)

Reflection: What “tables” need overturning in your heart—habits, mindsets, or compromises—that hinder bold, faith-filled prayer? What step will you take to clear that space today?

Day 3: Words as Containers: Faith or Fear in Every Syllable

Our words aren’t neutral—they’re containers carrying faith or fear, life or death. Like Adam naming creation, we shape realities through speech. The preacher’s dying pear tree illustrates this: casual declarations aligned with heaven or hell bear fruit. Proverbs 18:21 isn’t metaphor; it’s law. Every conversation, complaint, or prayer seeds a harvest. What we consistently say about our health, relationships, or purpose reveals what we truly believe. [12:17]

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
(Proverbs 18:21, NIV)

Reflection: Play back your most frequent words this week. Are they planting faith or fear? What one area of your life needs a deliberate shift in vocabulary to align with God’s truth?

Day 4: Repentance: Returning to the High Place Quickly

Repentance isn’t groveling—it’s swiftly returning to the “high place” of intimacy after missteps. Like a child resetting a strained relationship, God invites immediate course-correction without shame. The enemy uses condemnation to mute our faith, but cleansing restores boldness. Just as Jesus prioritized temple purity for unhindered prayer, regular repentance keeps our spiritual posture upright and our words potent. [30:11]

“Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
(James 4:8, NIV)

Reflection: Where have you allowed condemnation to silence your faith declarations? How can you practice “quick repentance” today to maintain clarity in hearing and speaking God’s language?

Day 5: Faith’s Language: Calling the Unseen into Being

Faith speaks to mountains before they move. Jesus framed reality by declaring the fig tree’s end, teaching disciples to “call those things that are not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). Like God speaking light into chaos, our words partnered with His promises create new narratives. This isn’t denial—it’s defiant agreement with heaven’s script over earthly circumstances. [44:03]

“As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’ He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”
(Romans 4:17, NIV)

Reflection: What “unseen” promise from God are you tempted to stop declaring? How can you boldly frame that situation with heaven’s language this week?

Sermon Summary

God Speak begins with the kingdom of God as God’s way of doing and being. The kingdom has a language, and that language does not run like the language of this world. Earthly mindedness keeps a person filtering heavenly truth through earthly experience, but the kingdom of heaven runs in direct contrast to the kingdom of this world. God’s goal is not just to get people to heaven, but to bring heaven into workplaces, homes, atmospheres, and ordinary places through people who know how heaven speaks.

Mark 11 places Jesus on the road to Jerusalem, hungry, seeing a fig tree with leaves but no fruit. The fig tree becomes the rolling classroom. Jesus speaks to it with authority and says, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” His word does not describe the situation. His word declares the desired end.

Genesis shows that God’s pattern has always been speaking. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Abraham’s new name made him speak in alignment with what God had promised before Isaac ever showed up. Adam’s assignment to name the animals showed that mankind was made in God’s image as a speaking spirit. The believer’s tongue still carries weight because words are faith-filled containers, or fear-filled containers. Words speak life or death, and Proverbs says the tongue brings a harvest like a farmer tending a garden.

The temple cleansing shows the same authority applied to God’s house. Religion had turned the house of prayer into a den of thieves by putting barriers, burdens, and highway robbery between people and the Father. Jesus cleanses the temple because God wants communion without all the mess and hoops. Prayer is speaking to God, but prayer also includes speaking in the name of the Lord to mountains that rise up in life.

The body is now the temple of the Holy Spirit, and sin tries to corrupt that temple. Righteousness is a gift, not a performance, so sin does not make a child of God unrighteous. The enemy uses sin to get the conscience condemned, because condemnation and faith cannot operate together. Cleansing restores peace in the conscience so prayer can rise in faith again.

Repentance is not a low place. Repentance means returning to the high place from the inside. Faith then speaks what God has already promised. God Speak calls the believer to hear God’s word, believe it, say it, and keep declaring it until the desired end lines up with heaven.

Key Takeaways

1. Words carry faith or fear [12:17] Words are not empty sounds drifting through the air. The tongue carries something, and what it carries shapes the atmosphere around a situation. Faith does not merely think differently, it speaks differently, because the heart eventually gives language to what it trusts. Fear also has a voice, so spiritual maturity learns when silence is wisdom and when declaration is obedience. [12:17]
2. Cleansing restores confident prayer [27:17] Cleansing does not earn righteousness, because righteousness has already been given through Jesus. Cleansing deals with the conscience, that inner place where guilt can choke confidence before God. Sin entangles the feet, but repentance untangles the heart so prayer can stand up again. The Father is not reluctant to receive the returning child, but the heart often needs cleansing to receive the Father’s nearness. [27:17]
3. Repentance returns to the high place [30:11] Repentance is not groveling in a religious low place. Repentance is a return, a change of heart and mind that moves the person back toward the Father’s elevation. The enemy wants delay because lingering condemnation makes faith heavy and prayer hesitant. Quick repentance is not casual about sin, it is serious about communion. [30:11]
4. Faith agrees with God’s promise [42:43] Faith is not trying to talk God into a personal agenda. Faith listens for what God has already spoken, then lines the heart and mouth up with that promise. The word of God feeds faith the way worry feeds fear, so the soul must choose its diet carefully. Confident prayer grows where God’s promise becomes louder than the circumstance. [42:43]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:10] - God Speak and the Miracles of Jesus
[00:53] - Learning the Language of the Kingdom
[02:32] - Earthly Mindedness Versus Heavenly Truth
[04:02] - Mark 11 and the Fig Tree
[06:52] - Authority, Cleansing, and Faith
[07:21] - Jesus Speaks With Authority
[09:18] - God Creates Through His Word
[12:17] - Words as Faith-Filled Containers
[14:46] - Faith Speaks and Fear Speaks
[20:08] - Jesus Cleanses the Temple
[22:39] - The Body as God’s Temple
[24:17] - Righteousness as a Gift
[27:17] - Cleansing Before Answered Prayer
[29:41] - Repentance as Returning Higher
[41:47] - Faith Comes by Hearing God’s Word
[43:44] - Speaking Until the Desired End

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Mark 11:12-24
“On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers." And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city. As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered." And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."” [04:16]

Genesis 1:3
“And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.” [09:20]

Proverbs 18:21
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

Observation questions

In Mark 11, what two public actions of Jesus are placed right next to each other, and what do those actions have in common? [06:52]
In the fig tree moment, what exactly did Jesus say, and how is that different from simply describing what he saw? [15:17]
According to Mark 11:20-24, what did the disciples notice the next day, and how did Jesus use that moment to start talking about faith and speaking? [06:01]
In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, what is said about the believer’s body, and how does that connect with the idea of the temple being cleansed for prayer? [22:56]

Interpretation questions

Jesus moves from speaking to a fig tree to cleansing the temple, and then to teaching about prayer and faith. What might that flow suggest about the connection between authority, cleansing, and confident prayer? [20:08]
Genesis 1:3 shows God creating by speaking, and Proverbs 18:21 says life and death are in the power of the tongue. What does that suggest about why words matter so much in the life of a believer? [12:17]
If righteousness is a gift, but sin still affects the conscience, how can that explain why a believer may know God loves them and still struggle to pray with confidence? [24:17]
Repentance is described as returning to the high place from the inside. How does that understanding change the way a person might view confession, conviction, and coming back to God after sin? [29:41]

Application questions

Many people naturally describe the situation in front of them instead of declaring God’s promise over it. In what area of life has the conversation been shaped more by frustration, fear, or negativity than by faith? What would it sound like to begin speaking differently there? [15:17]
Words carry either faith or fear. What kinds of phrases tend to come out most often in daily life when pressure rises at home, at work, or in private thoughts? Do those words bring life, or do they keep feeding fear? [12:17]
God wants his house to be a house of prayer, and the believer is now the temple of the Holy Spirit. Is there anything cluttering the inner life right now that makes prayer feel heavy, distant, or awkward? What would it look like to let the Lord cleanse that space? [22:39]
Condemnation and faith do not operate well together. Has there been a recent moment where guilt made someone pull back from prayer, worship, or obedience? What helped, or what needs to happen, for confidence before God to be restored? [27:17]
Repentance is a return, not a low place. When conviction comes, is the usual response to hide, delay, defend, or return quickly to the Father? What makes quick repentance hard sometimes? [30:50]
Faith agrees with what God has already promised. Is there a specific promise from God’s Word that needs to become louder than the current circumstance? What would it look like to keep saying that promise until the heart comes into agreement with it? [42:43]
God’s goal is not only to bring people to heaven, but to bring heaven into ordinary places through them. What setting this week most needs the language of heaven from a believer’s mouth: the home, the workplace, a strained relationship, or a personal struggle? What could be spoken there in faith? [03:29]

Sermon Clips

72s

“``We call those things that are not as though they were. You know one of the best ways to build up our faith, and I'm closing right here, Romans ten seventeen says this, Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. Faith is something that has to be fed by God's word. You know what fear requires feeding? And you know what feeds fear? Worry. Worry and doubt feeds fear over and over and over. You know what feeds our faith? God's word. When you have some doubts, when you just feel like you're having one of those days and we're going to have them. You don't feel your best, you don't have good energy, you just feel down, the enemy is throwing doubts at you. I get it, it happens, right? But how quick can you get into God's word and start reading and get quiet before him and let his words speak? And then when you hear him, you believe it, you apply it and you begin to say it for yourself. Faith isn't convincing God to do what I want. Faith is confidently agreeing with what God has already promised.”

42s

“Our words are faith filled containers. You really could say it this way, our words are containers and they carry in them they contain faith or they contain fear. We're typically speaking one of the two things. You're either speaking faith into a situation or you're speaking fear into a situation. Fear is what you don't want to happen. I've heard it said this way, if you don't want to see it, if you don't want it to happen, don't speak it. Don't say it. Don't declare it. Why? Because our words have power. We are made in the image of God and as his words have power, our words have power.”

58s

“Prayer can be speaking to God. It can be speaking to the Lord. We're talking to him. But listen prayer can also be talking in the name of the Lord. Like he's speaking to this tree. You speak to the mountain that's a part of your prayer. That's an extension of your prayer when you're speaking to a mountain. He references that in that story. The tree wasn't a mountain. What is he talking about? He's talking about things and obstacles that get in our way, things that arise in our lives at times. Maybe it's a doctor report or this or that that can happen in your life and come in out of nowhere. And and if you're not careful, it can you can feel overcome and overtaken. But God wants us to get our wits and our bearings about us and grab a hold of who we are in Christ, our authority, and begin to speak in faith. That's a prayer offered up to the Lord.”

42s

“Why is the adversary constantly coming after us to to sin? Regardless of what the sin may be. I mean, just regardless, I mean, there's all kinds of categories of sin and Paul lists them. He talks about, hey, when you're not walking in the spirit and you're walking in the flesh, these are the things that are a result of that. The whole point of sin is simply this: the devil knows that he can't affect our righteousness because we're children of the Most High God. We're sons and daughters of the Most High God. What he's trying to do is get us to sin so that our conscience condemns us. So that we're condemned.”

Ask a question about this sermon

Harbor Church This sermon · AI assistant

What is the kingdom of God defined as?

How do our words act as faith containers?

Why does cleansing precede answered prayer?

The Miracles of Jesus: Part Three | God Speak | Pastor Johnny Jones