In episode 42 of the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, host Greg Ryan continues his series on the power of the spoken word. He begins by recalling John 1:1, emphasizing that the Word is God and became flesh, establishing the biblical basis for speaking with divine authority. He then delves into the Mark 11:12‑14, 20‑24 fig‑tree episode, explaining the cultural context of fig trees, why Jesus’ curse was purposeful, and how the tree’s leaves “spoke” to Him. Greg argues that Jesus’ spoken curse, not a physical act, caused the tree to wither, illustrating that spoken faith can affect reality. He extends the illustration to modern “mountains” such as a low‑balance checkbook, urging listeners to speak faith‑filled commands (e.g., “mountain, be cast into the sea”) to bring change. Greg stresses that the Holy Spirit, promised in John 16:7, is the present‑day Comforter who empowers believers to use their words effectively. He concludes by encouraging listeners to subscribe and apply spoken faith with the Spirit’s help.
Welcome to episode 42. I want to take you to the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 1.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Spending time in the Word of God is the best way to spend time with God. Welcome to No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast. Where we will encourage, inspire, and empower you to live your best life in Christ. Here's Greg.
Welcome to episode 42. I want to continue this study on the power of your spoken word, and I'm going to go back into Mark chapter 11. Now the next day, when he had come out of Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps he would find something on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response, Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again!" And his disciples heard it. Now, I've taught in a previous episode that the fig tree produced figs and leaves at the same time. So Jesus knew the season. Jesus knew that it was not the season for figs. But he looked afar off, and he, you know, it was too far away to see if it had figs on it, but he saw— he could see the leaves. So he knew, because God created everything. God created the fig tree in Israel, and I'm told that the fig trees in Israel push out leaves at the same time they're pushing out figs. So if it had leaves on it, it was supposed to have figs on it. So that's an important distinction, and I, you know, it's not as important for this story, but I just want to get it in context as we talking about— because Jesus cursed the fig tree, and you hear people, you know, and I don't want you to think that God was just mad and so just randomly he got mad and upset, kind of like I do when I'm driving in traffic. I'm, I'm working on it. He random— he did not randomly curse this fig tree. He walked over to this fig tree and he was looking— he was hungry, he was looking for something to eat. And when he got to the fig tree had leaves on it, he saw that there were no figs on it. So in response, it says, in response, Jesus said to it. And remember yesterday in the, in the episode I talked about, yes, yesterday is that your mountain, that you shall say unto the mountain. And some of you probably said, yeah, my mountain don't talk. Well, your mountain does talk because this fig tree was talking to Jesus. This fig tree was communicating. And I don't mean he was talking like you and I talk. This fig tree was communicating to Jesus. He said to Jesus, "Hey, I've got figs because I've got leaves." So Jesus walked over. If he wouldn't have seen leaves on this fig tree, he'd have known it was a fig tree, but if he didn't see any leaves, he wouldn't have bothered himself to walk over there to try to get figs. He'd know it didn't have any figs. It's a fig tree. I see that it's a fig tree, but it has no leaves, so it has no figs. Well, this tree was showing leaves, so it was speaking to Jesus. It was saying, "Hey, I've got figs." So Jesus walked himself over there, and when he got there, it didn't have any figs on it. So Jesus, in response to what the tree was saying to him, he said, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again." And his disciples heard it. So Jesus spoke out loud. He didn't touch the fig tree, he didn't shake it, he didn't do anything like that. He spoke to the fig tree and he said, 'Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.' So he cursed the fig tree, and he cursed it because the fig tree was out of order. Now, this is Gregology, but I believe it's pretty close, that he cursed this fig tree because this fig tree was out of order. And he did not want it reproducing. Remember, a seed— back in previous episodes where we were— gee, where God said, let every seed according to its kind. So that was why I kind of talked on the seed. You got to kind of have a little bit of a background on the seed. So this seed that this, that this fig tree was producing, if, if one of these figs— if it even produced figs— if it fell on the ground, it was going to produce to its kind, which was, in my opinion and other teachers that I've heard, this was a hypocrite. If you ever wondered what a hypocrite looks like, it's this fig tree. This fig tree was saying one thing but producing something else. And that's why nobody likes a hypocrite, 'cause it says one thing and then it actually in life is something else. But that, again, that's another rabbit that I'm not gonna chase. I'm gonna fight the urge to run after that rabbit And I'm gonna continue to talk about this fig tree. It was speaking to Jesus, so Jesus spoke to it. And that's where I want you thinking about, like, what's talking to you? Is your checkbook talking to you? Is it saying, "Hey, you don't have money to pay those bills"? Well, I would call that a mountain. You could define that as your mountain. And you could tell that checkbook, that empty balance or that low balance checkbook, to depart from you and jump into the sea. Go jump in the lake. Remember, you hear— I don't know if you ever heard that expression. I may be showing my gray hairs right now, but it, you know, you, you people used to say, go jump in a lake. And then this is kind of— I think that's where this analogy came from, to where you push this, this mountain into the sea. When you speak to your checkbook, you're telling your checkbook, you're out of order. And so you curse that low balance and you speak blessing. You know, your Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Father God has, he does not have any shortage. Father God owns everything. He gave us dominion over it, but Father God is the owner of this earth. He can do whatever he wants with this earth, and he's chosen to give man dominion. He, man screwed it up, and I'm not going to go back to all these other episodes because I really only got 10 minutes to to make my point. But God gave man dominion, and he, he did that by using the spoken word. So my whole point in this episode is to have you see that the spoken word is powerful. And it's not just because Jesus spoke it, but he was teaching a lesson. And then And then after Mark 14— 11:14, he goes and cleanses the temple. And then he comes back in Mark 11:20. And then now in the morning— so it was a whole nother day if you go from when he cursed the fig tree to where he comes back the next day. And they're walking past, they're going back into town. And in the morning, as they passed by, 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 that's where we pick up where Jesus responded and then said, Jesus answered and said to them, have faith in God, for assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and 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. So if you've listened to these podcasts before, you'll know that Peter is my number one favorite disciple because he's more like me, I guess, or I'm more like him than any of the other disciples. Peter just kind of blurts out the obvious: Hey Rabbi, look, that fig tree you cursed is dead. And that's where Jesus teaches the lesson because Peter blurts it out, but all the other disciples, now they're looking at it and go, oh yeah, look at there, that fig tree is dead, and it's dead from the roots. I don't know if you've ever seen a tree that has gone dead from the roots, but all of the leaves brown up. I've, I've had— I've seen some pine trees that have gone, you know, if they get some pine beetles or whatever, the, the tree starts— you can tell that it's, it's dead from the roots because all of the all of the leaves are brown. But the point that I want to make, and then I'm going to sign off on this episode, is that Jesus did not touch the fig tree. I want you to see, I want you to go back into Mark 11:12-14 and then come back the next day and go to Mark 11:20-24. Jesus never touched the fig tree. And yet the fig tree died from the roots up. So we see that Jesus' words had power, and no one would argue, oh yeah, well, Jesus, it was God, so what he said went. But you know, I want to take you back, and I think in a previous episode— again, I've got to tell you, I'm not, I'm not perfect, I screw up— I think I said John 16:9 was the scripture, and it was actually John 16:7, where Jesus told his disciples, "Hey, it's better if I leave. It's better for you if I go." And so I just want you to understand that Jesus is not here, so we can't ask Jesus, we can't beg Jesus to do something for us. But the cool thing and the wonderfully good news is he sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and he is everywhere. He is right there where you are. He is right here where I am. He is everywhere on this earth all the time. I don't say I understand it, but I am so thankful that he is here. He said he'd never leave you nor forsake you, so he is right there with you. And so we have the Holy Spirit with us, and so we're going to dive into the power of our words And the only way we can do that is through the help of the Holy Spirit. So that's enough for this episode. I want to thank you for being a part of this. And if you hadn't hit the subscribe button, go ahead and do it right now. And I'll see you on the next episode.
Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.
