SPEAKER_00: Hi, my name is Michelle Steele.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Phillip and I want to thank you for listening to this message from Life of Faith First.
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SPEAKER_01: Let's go to Hebrews 11 today.
SPEAKER_01: And we've been looking at this uh over the last few weeks.
SPEAKER_01: Well, this will be the 13th week of this.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, the core values of the believer.
SPEAKER_01: And uh when I was uh I was on a trip and and I was at Brother Moore's church in Branson and there and uh the Lord during that service gave me these core values of the believer, seven core values of the believer.
SPEAKER_01: And uh we've dealt with them uh three of them in depth.
SPEAKER_01: The core values of the believer put the word first place, determined to walk by faith, refuse to be critical, determined to be thankful, determined to walk in love, determined to be led by the Spirit through the inner man, and refused to be double-minded.
SPEAKER_01: And we've dealt extensively with putting the word first place and determining to walk in love, and now we've centered up on determining to walk by faith.
SPEAKER_01: Determining to walk by faith.
SPEAKER_01: There's so much that that we could say about faith.
SPEAKER_01: But number one, it's important, especially for a church like us, that we preach and teach faith consistently because that's the vision.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the Lord told us to minister.
SPEAKER_01: Uh he said in the summer of 1996, he said to me when he said, Turn to Hebrews 11, 3.
SPEAKER_01: And it says, Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which uh were created did not come from things which do appear.
SPEAKER_01: He said, The vision for your life and ministry is to build people's faith and frame their world by the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And uh he said to me, uh, this this was a number of years ago, uh, when what they called the seeker-friendly movement was was really beginning, it was really gaining traction.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I was seeking the Lord, not about if I was doing the right thing, but you know, there were things that we should change.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to miss out on anything God's doing.
SPEAKER_01: And uh I went to the Lord and asked him what we should be doing, and he said to me, He said, You preach the pure word of faith in the manner that you learned it.
SPEAKER_01: That's what you do, and so that's what we've uh uh uh endeavored to do, that's what we'll continue to do.
SPEAKER_01: And uh so it's it's it's crucial.
SPEAKER_01: We we made the statement Wednesday night, you know, faith is not something that you can afford to be caught dead without.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Because the Bible says in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, these all died in faith.
SPEAKER_01: They all died in faith.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Faith is not something I can do without.
SPEAKER_01: Faith, uh, my pastor said it this way faith is not nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Faith is not nothing, it's something.
SPEAKER_01: And that's important.
SPEAKER_01: But in so many churches that you go to, people say, well, you got to walk by faith.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what they think walking by faith is walking blindly, bumping into a lot of stuff, and somehow, some way, God's gonna get you through it by faith.
SPEAKER_01: But nothing could be further from the truth.
SPEAKER_01: Because the Bible says, the Bible says you live by faith, and that word means that you order your life by faith, and that you walk by faith, and that you see by faith.
SPEAKER_01: So seeing with the eyes of faith is not being blind and not knowing where you're going, it's seeing things, seeing, everybody say seeing, seeing through the eyes of faith.
SPEAKER_01: And then the other idea of faith is that faith is just waiting.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is just hanging on.
SPEAKER_01: Tie a knot and hang on.
SPEAKER_01: That's not faith.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is a bridge.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is a foundation, faith is a standing on, not hanging on.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in faith, you're not hanging on, you're making progress.
SPEAKER_01: You can't be stationary doing something that, by its very definition in the English language, is a verb, an action word.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in faith, you're doing something.
SPEAKER_01: You're moving forward.
SPEAKER_01: It may not be as fast as you want, but it's moving forward.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is never static.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is never at a standstill.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is always achieving, faith is always possessing, faith is always taking.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: The only time the children of Israel got in trouble is when they would start complaining and stop.
SPEAKER_01: Every time a person stops, faith becomes inactive.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And so the religious idea that a lot of people have about faith, well, we're just going to hang on till the going on comes on.
SPEAKER_01: Hang on to what?
SPEAKER_01: What are we hanging on to?
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's a lot of religious colloquialisms that people quote, and it has nothing to do with the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: It's actually detrimental to your faith.
SPEAKER_01: You know, my grandmother, my father's mother, she used to make this statement all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, it's like the Bible says cleanliness is next to godliness.
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: I like being around clean folk.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing it doesn't say cleanliness is next to godliness.
SPEAKER_01: That's not a scripture.
SPEAKER_01: I was talking to a guy, uh a gentleman the other day, a friend of mine, and this is not a criticism.
SPEAKER_01: He's a friend of mine, and we were talking about things.
SPEAKER_01: And I made the statement to him.
SPEAKER_01: I said, you know, I believe like you that just a schedule, every human being needs a schedule.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: They they need a schedule to tell them what to do.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that.
SPEAKER_01: And and he said, Well, yeah, you know, it's like the Bible said, I don't mind is the devil's workshop.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible doesn't say that.
SPEAKER_01: It's true, but the Bible doesn't say it.
SPEAKER_01: It's just a religious colloquialism.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You follow me?
SPEAKER_01: And so they take it over and they take that to faith as well.
SPEAKER_01: And you'll see people they'll say, I'm in faith, and you say, Well, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: I'm waiting on God.
SPEAKER_01: That's not faith.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is not waiting on God.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is taking what God said is already yours.
SPEAKER_01: That's faith.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Now, are there times that you're waiting in faith?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, there are times that you're patiently waiting in faith, but your faith is working.
SPEAKER_01: While you sleep tonight, your faith is working.
SPEAKER_01: While you work tomorrow and your job, your faith is working.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's what we want to look at today.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh We've dealt with the Abel being the sacrifice of faith, Enoch, the walk of faith.
SPEAKER_01: We dealt with that Wednesday.
SPEAKER_01: And this time around, we're going to deal with the work of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Noah, the work of faith.
SPEAKER_01: In Hebrews 11 1, notice what it says.
SPEAKER_01: It says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence, the proof of things not seen.
SPEAKER_01: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
SPEAKER_01: Now notice this that it does not say that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things that do not exist.
SPEAKER_01: It says it's the evidence of things that you don't see yet.
SPEAKER_01: Not that they don't exist.
SPEAKER_01: See, to understand how faith works and to understand how God thinks and how the Word of God works, you have to understand that everything that God has for you was completed from the inception of the world.
SPEAKER_01: It's already been done.
SPEAKER_01: Already been done.
SPEAKER_01: So what you need exists.
SPEAKER_01: God doesn't have to create it.
SPEAKER_01: God does not have to create your finances, they already exist.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't have to create your healing, it already exists.
SPEAKER_01: He does not have to create a way for you.
SPEAKER_01: I know we use that sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the Lord will make a way.
SPEAKER_01: He's already made a way.
SPEAKER_01: It's up to me to find it.
SPEAKER_01: The way's already been made.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: But we sang songs in the church over the years.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord will make a way somehow.
SPEAKER_01: What you mean, somehow?
SPEAKER_01: The how was Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's how he made a way.
SPEAKER_01: He made a way when Jesus went to the cross.
SPEAKER_01: I know those things sound emotional.
SPEAKER_01: They make us emotional.
SPEAKER_01: They make us shout.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, the Lord will do it somehow.
SPEAKER_01: What you mean, somehow?
SPEAKER_01: We got to take that somehow out of it.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: The Lord's already done it.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So he said those things already exist.
SPEAKER_01: Say it out loud.
SPEAKER_01: What I have need of already exists.
SPEAKER_01: It's mine by faith.
SPEAKER_01: See, faith is maybe I can't see it yet, but it's there.
SPEAKER_01: See, to be convinced of something, it already has to be there.
SPEAKER_01: To be convinced, it already has to be there.
SPEAKER_01: That's how the Holy Spirit cannot convince you that something is yours if what He's convincing you is yours doesn't exist.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I've heard people say, you just use your faith, and by the time you get there, God will have already created it.
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is taking you into what God's already created.
SPEAKER_01: If you're here and you need a better job, you need a better paying job, it's already there.
SPEAKER_01: It already exists.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody wants to hire you.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to walk into that by faith.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to step into it by faith.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01: If there's things that you need in your family, it's already there.
SPEAKER_01: The door's already open.
SPEAKER_01: The things are already being made ready.
SPEAKER_01: We just got to step into it.
SPEAKER_01: I don't see it yet.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So it doesn't say it's the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things that do not exist.
SPEAKER_01: It says you don't see them yet.
SPEAKER_01: That's why it's a walk of faith.
SPEAKER_01: That's why faith has to be a lifestyle.
SPEAKER_01: You can't pick and choose what you use your faith on.
SPEAKER_01: You got to live by faith.
SPEAKER_01: Everything you do is by faith.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that you do.
SPEAKER_01: Paul said in 2 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, he made this statement.
SPEAKER_01: He said, We're passing our time in faith.
SPEAKER_01: He said, we don't yet see those things that are going to be.
SPEAKER_01: But we what do we do?
SPEAKER_01: With patience, we wait for it.
SPEAKER_01: And then he said, What in parentheses?
SPEAKER_01: For we walk by faith, not by sight.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So I don't see all those things that are laid up for me, but they're there.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I've got to be a spiritual man that can receive those things.
SPEAKER_01: How do I receive them?
SPEAKER_01: By faith.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So faith is that spiritual force that contacts God.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is not a message, it's not a camp, it's not a house, a car.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is a lifestyle.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And don't get me wrong, I like my company, my company of faith.
SPEAKER_01: But faith is not just a company.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just a camp.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a message, it's a lifestyle.
SPEAKER_01: I've had people say to me, Well, you're one of those faith guys.
SPEAKER_01: Guilty, absolutely guilty, but it's not those faith guys.
SPEAKER_01: It's faith as a lifestyle.
SPEAKER_01: Every person is supposed to live their life by faith, every believer.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: Faith is that spiritual force that deals with the spiritual.
SPEAKER_01: It deals with the spiritual.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Just as our five senses deal with the natural world, faith is that spiritual organ, that spiritual hand that we contact the spiritual world with.
SPEAKER_01: That's why 2 Corinthians 5.7, we quoted it earlier.
SPEAKER_01: It says, for we walk by faith.
SPEAKER_01: One translation says, through faith, we're ordering our manner of life, not by something seen.
SPEAKER_01: So I conduct my life by faith, not by what I see.
SPEAKER_01: Now that doesn't mean I ignore what I see and deny what I see.
SPEAKER_01: It means I don't order my life by what I see.
SPEAKER_01: To put it very simply, if I go to the doctor and the doctor says you have a potentially deadly disease, I don't leave the doctor's office and plan my funeral.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: I'm walking by faith.
SPEAKER_01: I'm ordering my life by faith, not by something seen.
SPEAKER_01: So I don't deny that.
SPEAKER_01: They found it, it's there, but I'm not planning on going anywhere.
SPEAKER_01: I'm planning to live.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because the handbook of faith says, I will not die, but I will live.
SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
SPEAKER_01: And so that might be how you have to answer people.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what'd the doctor say?
SPEAKER_01: I'll not die but live.
SPEAKER_01: Well, no, the doctor didn't say that, but I'm saying it.
SPEAKER_01: See, I'm not I'm not ordering my manner of life by what I can see.
SPEAKER_01: I don't deny what I can see.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just not ordering my life by it.
SPEAKER_01: That's why denial hurts people's faith.
SPEAKER_01: It hurts their walk of faith and their walk in the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Because if the doctor says you have this and you say I don't have it, what's there to operate your faith on?
SPEAKER_01: See, you don't have anywhere to go.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I was helping a person one time and they went to the doctor and they got they got the diagnosis that there was cancer throughout their body.
SPEAKER_01: And they and they told the the doctor that was giving them the report.
SPEAKER_01: They said, Oh, I don't have that.
SPEAKER_01: See, they thought that was faith.
SPEAKER_01: That wasn't faith, that was denial, that was mental assent.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the well, they don't want to agree with the report.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, you don't have to agree with it, but you can't deny it.
SPEAKER_01: I will not agree that that will take my life.
SPEAKER_01: I will not die but live.
SPEAKER_01: But I can't disagree that it's there.
SPEAKER_01: Faith responds to what is seen, it doesn't deny what is seen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Say it out loud.
SPEAKER_01: My faith is not intimidated by my circumstance.
SPEAKER_01: See, you don't have to treat faith with kit gloves.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to treat faith like something out of shatter if you drop it.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is the workhorse of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: It's the work truck of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: It can haul whatever you put on it with no trouble at all.
SPEAKER_01: You just, you right?
SPEAKER_01: Charles Caps, you say you've got to have faith in your faith.
SPEAKER_01: Remember he went, he went to Lystra and him and Barnabas, and they were ministering there in Lystra, and it says there was a man there that was a crippled from his mother's womb, had never walked.
SPEAKER_01: The same heard Paul speak, and Paul, steadfastly beholding him and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Rise up on your feet and walk.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And he rose up in front of all of them and walked.
SPEAKER_01: And Charles Caps would say, It seemed like the man didn't have faith in his faith.
SPEAKER_01: Didn't have faith in the faith he had.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Said out loud, I've got faith.
SPEAKER_01: My faith works, my faith is working.
SPEAKER_01: My faith will always work in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And so whatever comes, faith answers the door.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever comes, you meet it with faith on the front end.
SPEAKER_01: You don't wait to get in faith.
SPEAKER_01: You're in faith and you let faith answer the door.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Am I helping you?
SPEAKER_01: That's how you that's how you uh order your manner of life is through faith.
SPEAKER_01: That's how you order your manner of life.
SPEAKER_01: People that walk and live by faith don't wait until things are overcoming them to try to work their faith.
SPEAKER_01: They may be too far behind.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not exercising your faith every day, let's use the subject for health, where health is concerned.
SPEAKER_01: Getting the word out into the air, putting those scriptures out in the air, declaring that over your body.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not doing that every day, and then you get a bad report, and now you need a miracle.
SPEAKER_01: My faith has not been built to keep my healing, to keep myself strong.
SPEAKER_01: Now I need a miracle.
SPEAKER_01: Do I have faith for a miracle?
SPEAKER_01: If I'm ordering my manner of life by faith, I'll be in a position to answer that situation.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01: See, you learn a few things over the years.
SPEAKER_01: And I've watched people, and this is not a criticism, they don't regularly exercise their faith where these things are concerned, and then they need a miracle and they need it now, and they don't have the faith to get it done.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, if I'm ordering my manner of life by faith, see, I gotta know how faith works.
SPEAKER_01: Many believers don't understand how faith works.
SPEAKER_01: Look at look at John chapter 16.
SPEAKER_01: John chapter 16.
SPEAKER_01: And while you're going to John 16, let me let me help you with this.
SPEAKER_01: Don't ever try to convince somebody else that you have faith.
SPEAKER_01: Your faith is personal.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter if somebody else thinks you have faith or not.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not declaring the word for anybody else to hear it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm declaring the word for me to hear it.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: When somebody comes up to me and says, How you doing, I say, healed doing fine.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that so they can think what a faith giant I am.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I believe.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I guess you could answer like Zig Ziggler used to.
SPEAKER_01: How you doing, Zig?
SPEAKER_01: Super good, but I'll get better.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: See, this is important.
SPEAKER_01: So when you say to somebody, I'm healed, I'm well, I'm whole in Jesus' name, if that's what you say, you're not saying it for them.
SPEAKER_01: You're saying that because you really believe that.
SPEAKER_01: I really believe I'm healed and whole and well.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So, so so whether somebody else thinks I have faith or not is irrelevant.
SPEAKER_01: It's what I believe, because my faith is personal to me.
SPEAKER_01: John 16, verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, speaking about the Holy Spirit, said, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away.
SPEAKER_01: For if I do not go away, the comforter, the helper, the advocate, will not come unto you, but if I depart, I'll send him unto you.
SPEAKER_01: And when he has come, he will reprove.
SPEAKER_01: That word reprove is convince.
SPEAKER_01: He will convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
SPEAKER_01: Now you may say, what's that got to do with faith?
SPEAKER_01: Because it's telling us how the Holy Spirit operates.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit comes and begins to convince people of things.
SPEAKER_01: You know, when you were born again, we talk about I was convicted of my sins.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: It means this simply that you were convinced that you were a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: You might have known it before, but you weren't convinced.
SPEAKER_01: And sitting in that service or talking to that person or watching that broadcast, listening to that radio program, whatever it was, however it was when you got born again, here's what happened: the Holy Spirit convinced you that you were a sinner that needed Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And what did you do?
SPEAKER_01: You believed in your heart and confessed with your mouth that Jesus was Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So what was the next step that you took after the Holy Spirit convinced you?
SPEAKER_01: A step of faith.
SPEAKER_01: You took it by faith.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know about you.
SPEAKER_01: When I got born again, there were no trumpets, there were no fireworks, there was no heavenly choir.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, none of that.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: But boy, I took it by faith that I'm saved.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Now listen, if you had one of them run and jumping conniption fits, praise God.
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
SPEAKER_01: I am Pentecostal.
SPEAKER_01: We're known to run.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: Got to keep your running shoes on.
SPEAKER_01: But you take it by faith, whether you run or not, you take it by faith.
SPEAKER_01: See, if I asked for a show of hands, how many felt saved when you got up this morning?
SPEAKER_01: There might be some people that would raise their hand because they had a special feeling.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean you were saved, because you had a feeling.
SPEAKER_01: You might have got up this morning and when your feet hit the floor, your head followed and hit right between your legs, right?
SPEAKER_01: You didn't necessarily feel saved.
SPEAKER_01: But you didn't just give up.
SPEAKER_01: Decide, I'm not going to go to church.
SPEAKER_01: I don't feel saved.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm going to get dressed and go to church because I am saved.
SPEAKER_01: See, this is how faith works.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit will convince you of something.
SPEAKER_01: And once he convinces you, then you have a witness that something's true.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit will convince you of something.
SPEAKER_01: And once he convinces you of something, now you have a witness.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And it said by doing that, he obtained witness that he was righteous.
SPEAKER_01: He had a witness that he was righteous.
SPEAKER_01: I have a witness that I'm righteous.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: The blood of Jesus is a witness in the heavenly holy of holies that I'm righteous.
SPEAKER_01: It's bearing witness that I'm the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Don't ask any old religious know at all if you're righteous or not.
SPEAKER_01: Go to God and ask him if you're righteous.
SPEAKER_01: And the blood of Jesus will answer that.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: And it will convince you of that.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Romans 9:1.
SPEAKER_01: So when the Holy Spirit will convince you of something, and once he convinces you, then you have a witness that that something is true.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I always think about my pastor's testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And you know his testimony.
SPEAKER_01: When he got saved, he was uh in the wholesale liquor business.
SPEAKER_01: And by his own testimony, he said I was my best customer.
SPEAKER_01: And he would always say, you know, I was the most dangerous kind of alcoholic because I didn't lose my job and beat my wife and spack my kids, you know, right?
SPEAKER_01: But here was the thing.
SPEAKER_01: You know, he got saved, and of course he went home immediately and poured all that liquor out and got rid of it.
SPEAKER_01: It was gone.
SPEAKER_01: And then he began to ask the Lord, you know, now, Lord, what do I do?
SPEAKER_01: He said, I sell liquor.
SPEAKER_01: What do I need to do?
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord said, No, don't keep quit your job yet.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I don't have anybody going into them places.
SPEAKER_01: And so he kept going into those places, right?
SPEAKER_01: Liquor stores and bars and all these places.
SPEAKER_01: And he told the story of going to a convention that he went to every year.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I went to that convention and I'm saved, and I'm filled with the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I'd go to the meetings that I had to go to, and then I'd just spend my time in my room reading the Bible and praying.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody else would be out drinking.
SPEAKER_01: How do you do that?
SPEAKER_01: How could he possibly do that?
SPEAKER_01: He had witness that he was righteous.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why did God do that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, he couldn't just walk off his job and just quit, had to make preparation.
SPEAKER_01: But he had witness that he was born again.
SPEAKER_01: And so all that other was not a temptation.
SPEAKER_01: Once the Holy Spirit convinces you of something, nobody can push you away from it.
SPEAKER_01: One of the keys to faith is this if the devil can push you away, he will.
SPEAKER_01: But once you're convinced, there's no running off.
SPEAKER_01: He can't do it because I'm convinced.
SPEAKER_01: I say, I'm convinced.
SPEAKER_01: A person told my wife one time, they said, Well, well, a pastor said this, and she said, No, he didn't.
SPEAKER_01: And they said, Well, you weren't there.
SPEAKER_01: She said, I don't have to be there.
SPEAKER_01: I know him.
SPEAKER_01: He wouldn't say that.
SPEAKER_01: And sure enough, I wouldn't.
SPEAKER_01: They were lying.
SPEAKER_01: Well, she was how could she answer so quick?
SPEAKER_01: She was convinced.
SPEAKER_01: See, whether a person is convinced or not, you you can tell by what's coming out of their mouth.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not just words, that's not just words.
SPEAKER_01: It's what you're convinced of.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Well, how are things going, brother?
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: They're not convinced.
SPEAKER_01: How are you doing, brother?
SPEAKER_01: Blessed, praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Everything's going my way.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: They may not have two nickels to rub together.
SPEAKER_01: They may be like me when I first got a hold of the word, reach in my pocket and feel my leg.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: But but they're saying every need is supplied.
SPEAKER_01: What are they doing?
SPEAKER_01: It's not just a good confession, they're ordering their manner of life by faith.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, this is so important.
SPEAKER_01: So, Romans 9:1, notice what it says.
SPEAKER_01: Paul said, I say the truth in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I do not lie.
SPEAKER_01: My conscience bears me witness.
SPEAKER_01: Now there's that phrase again, bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Conscience is the voice of your spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Conscience is not a cricket that follows a puppet around.
SPEAKER_01: Conscience is the voice of your spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Reason is the voice of your mind.
SPEAKER_01: And feeling is the voice of your flesh.
SPEAKER_01: Conscience is the voice of your spirit.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we have to be proficient in listening to our conscience.
SPEAKER_01: Because your conscience is the voice of your spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Reason and feelings are enemies of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Because they're trying to convince you too.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you can reason yourself, a person can reason themselves out of walking by faith.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's times, depending on what you're walking through, that it seems like it'd be easier than doing it by faith.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's easier on the flesh, but you won't get it the results.
SPEAKER_01: I heard Gloria Copeland say one time, she said, it might take you longer by faith, but when you get done, it's yours.
SPEAKER_01: This is so true.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You might be in the stand of faith right now.
SPEAKER_01: Or just stay there and don't give up because the end result is going to be exactly what you're believing for.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: We have to be proficient in that, listening to our conscience.
SPEAKER_01: Because my conscience does what?
SPEAKER_01: It convicts me or convinces me of a truth.
SPEAKER_01: I told you the story.
SPEAKER_01: The first time I just made the decision, the word of God says in Psalm 103, it says that the Lord sent his word and healed them.
SPEAKER_01: And I just made that decision.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you sent your word to heal me.
SPEAKER_01: Now the word's gonna heal me.
SPEAKER_01: And I came home from work, they sent me home from work, I wasn't feeling well, they sent me home from work, and I made the decision driving home.
SPEAKER_01: I made the decision.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna go home and get in bed, I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna get healed by the word.
SPEAKER_01: Now see, I didn't have the full revelation I was already healed, but that was my decision.
SPEAKER_01: And I sat down there in that chair in our living room, and it took me six hours, six solid hours of declaring Isaiah 53 and 5.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not giving you a formula.
SPEAKER_01: That's just how it worked for me.
SPEAKER_01: I made that decision.
SPEAKER_01: At the end of that six hours, I was convinced that Jesus had shed his blood to heal me.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Now, does that mean I haven't faced physical challenges since?
SPEAKER_01: Nope, doesn't mean that at all.
SPEAKER_01: It means I've got the answer.
SPEAKER_01: I'm convinced.
SPEAKER_01: And no matter what comes up, no matter how I feel, no matter what report I get, I'm convinced I'm healed.
SPEAKER_01: Say it out loud.
SPEAKER_01: My faith is working for me right now.
SPEAKER_01: I'm convinced in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01: When you're convinced, you just don't see things the way other people see them.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't say a lot what what other people say, but you know, there are people that will, you know, they'll they'll talk about our ministry and and you know, whatever you think of the scope of our ministry, it really doesn't matter to me one way or the other.
SPEAKER_01: But you know, there are people that will will say things.
SPEAKER_01: And I I had one person one time they said, well, you know, uh, they said, you know, I thought I thought your ministry would be bigger.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I just kind of looked at them like, well, it's not.
SPEAKER_01: Because this is not what I see.
SPEAKER_01: It it gets me how people have no vision and they have no faith.
SPEAKER_01: That that they that they see what they see, and they're not seeing what faith is seeing.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: If you're gonna achieve anything for God, you've got to see what faith is seeing.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I was rejoicing with some this morning over one of our children that's that's making some right choices.
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's nothing more heart-wrenching than a child making a wrong choice.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And you're just standing in faith.
SPEAKER_01: And this particular child, the Lord told me about them.
SPEAKER_01: They said, they said, whenever somebody brings that child up and they say, How are they doing?
SPEAKER_01: Here's your response.
SPEAKER_01: They are following the plan of God for their life.
SPEAKER_01: Now, again, I'm not telling you a formula, that's what the Lord told me.
SPEAKER_01: And so somebody'd say, How's that child?
SPEAKER_01: I'd say, they're following the plan of God for their life.
SPEAKER_01: And they'd be waiting for more, not getting no more.
SPEAKER_01: That's all, that's all that faith tells me to say.
SPEAKER_01: And I've had people come and say, Well, I saw them, and they were doing this and they were doing that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm glad they're following God's plan for their life.
SPEAKER_01: And so we were at a family gathering.
SPEAKER_01: And a family member came up to me.
SPEAKER_01: They said, You know, how's so-and-so, this child?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, they're following the plan of God for their life.
SPEAKER_01: They kind of backed off, you know, like religious people will do.
SPEAKER_01: And they said, Now, I know that you believe in watching what you say.
SPEAKER_01: I know that you believe in calling things that be not, and I understand, but tell me, they, you know, they they got, but tell me, really, tell me, how are things really?
SPEAKER_01: I have to admit I did this.
SPEAKER_01: I did it.
SPEAKER_01: I just backed off and I shook my head.
SPEAKER_01: I said, well, you want me to tell you really?
SPEAKER_01: They said, yeah, tell me really.
SPEAKER_01: I said, well, they are really following God's plan for their life.
SPEAKER_01: Or they got mad at me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm con I'm convinced.
SPEAKER_01: Faith doesn't look and say, well, it's been five years that they've been believing that.
SPEAKER_01: That's not how faith operates.
SPEAKER_01: When you get convinced, faith sees it done.
SPEAKER_01: My natural body, my natural circumstance will maybe have to catch up to what faith says is already done.
SPEAKER_01: But it will.
SPEAKER_01: It will catch up.
SPEAKER_01: I just have to keep ordering my life, my manner of life through faith.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I was believing I was healed, but no, there's no but.
SPEAKER_01: If you're convinced you're healed, it might take a few months for your physical body to catch up to what you're convinced of, but it'll do it.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because we're convinced.
SPEAKER_01: Tell your neighbor, I'm convinced.
SPEAKER_01: Tell him, I'm convinced I'm healed.
SPEAKER_01: I'm convinced I'm well, I'm convinced I'm strong.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I remember when Brother Hagin, you know, Kenneth E.
SPEAKER_01: Hagin, when he he told the story, you know, he was bedfast beginning when he was about 16 years of age.
SPEAKER_01: And uh uh organic heart condition, blood disease.
SPEAKER_01: The doctor came to him and he asked him, what chance is there?
SPEAKER_01: And the doctor looked at him and said, son, I'm gonna be honest with you.
SPEAKER_01: He said, There's not a chance in a million of you living.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, we've discussed your case in medical conventions.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, to our medical knowledge, nobody, nobody that has what you're dealing with has lived past the age of 17.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, sure enough, at the age of 17, I started going downhill.
SPEAKER_01: And he did die.
SPEAKER_01: On that bed, he did die, went to hell.
SPEAKER_01: God spared him.
SPEAKER_01: He came back to life, got saved.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Died two more times after he got saved.
SPEAKER_01: So it was going that way.
SPEAKER_01: But you know, when you hear him tell the story, he said, but I'm so glad.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: I got a hold of Mark 11, 23 and 24 on the sick bed of affliction.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that wonderful?
SPEAKER_01: I'm so glad.
SPEAKER_01: But he made a statement one time I was listening to that.
SPEAKER_01: And he made a statement.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I became so convinced that I was healed that you could not have beaten it out of me with a baseball bat.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I was absolutely convinced that I was healed.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: Understand this.
SPEAKER_01: He saw it in the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: It took a period of months for the Word of God to renew his mind.
SPEAKER_01: But as the Word of God renewed his mind, he became absolutely convinced I'm healed.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I made the statement.
SPEAKER_01: If this is true and I believe it is true, then I'm coming off this bed.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And you remember the day.
SPEAKER_01: He was laying there in bed and he was thanking the Lord for his healing.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord said, You believe you're healed?
SPEAKER_01: He said, I believe I'm healed.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Well, men are out of bed at 10 o'clock in the morning.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Now, watch, there was no evidence.
SPEAKER_01: He's still paralyzed from the chest down, still can't feel anything.
SPEAKER_01: But he said, I rose up in that bed and I pushed my legs off onto the floor.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I flopped over there and grabbed a hold of the bedpost and was hanging there.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I said, I want to make an announcement to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit and to every devil in hell and every demon that's listening.
SPEAKER_01: I'm healed in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: He said, That's when I felt that power of God come into my body.
SPEAKER_01: And he talks about felt like a million needles in his legs.
SPEAKER_01: He said, It hurts the bad I couldn't stand it, but it hurts so good I wanted it to keep going.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm not just telling you a story.
SPEAKER_01: You see, he had to learn with no feeling, no ability to move, still, still feeling those symptoms.
SPEAKER_01: He said he would have four or five, six heart attacks every night.
SPEAKER_01: Seventeen years of age.
SPEAKER_01: Before he got a hold of the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I would, that those attacks would come and I would reach back and grab the headboard.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I wore the varnish off that headboard, just trying to keep myself here.
SPEAKER_01: He said, the first thing that happened was peace came to me.
SPEAKER_01: See, faith and peace go together.
SPEAKER_01: Joy and peace in believing.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, we read it about, it says the kingdom of God's not meat and drink, but joy and peace in believing.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews says that those that are in faith have entered into rest.
SPEAKER_01: When you're walking by faith, you're at peace and you're at rest.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't mean you're not facing things.
SPEAKER_01: It means those things are not robbing your peace and they're not robbing your rest.
SPEAKER_01: So he said the first thing that came was peace came.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I decided, Lord, I'm right with you, and if I die tonight, on the other side of that's glory.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I quit grabbing the headboard.
SPEAKER_01: I quit trying to keep myself here.
SPEAKER_01: I just made the decision.
SPEAKER_01: If I die tonight, I'm going to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Well, see what started happening.
SPEAKER_01: Peace started working, and then faith had an opportunity to work.
SPEAKER_01: Now the word can get in there.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And the next morning he told his mother that day, he said, I'd like you to lay me out some clothes.
SPEAKER_01: And the next morning he got up and got dressed and went in to breakfast.
SPEAKER_01: And when he went to the breakfast table, his grandfather says, Has the dead arisen?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yes, the Lord raised me up.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not just telling a story to tell a story.
SPEAKER_01: I need you to see.
SPEAKER_01: He learned how to walk by faith.
SPEAKER_01: He couldn't deny that he couldn't feel anything below the waist.
SPEAKER_01: He couldn't deny that his hands weren't working right.
SPEAKER_01: He couldn't deny that there was pain in his heart.
SPEAKER_01: Couldn't deny that.
SPEAKER_01: It was there.
SPEAKER_01: But he was convinced.
SPEAKER_01: Say it out loud: no matter what I see, no matter what I feel, I'm convinced I have what God said.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: As you meditate the word, the Holy Spirit will convince you that you have whatever you've been believing for.
SPEAKER_01: As you meditate the word.
SPEAKER_01: So as I'm in the word, the Holy Spirit will convince me of that.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: What the Holy Spirit has convinced you that you have is on the inside of you.
SPEAKER_01: You're pregnant with it.
SPEAKER_01: It's there, it's inside of you.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01: And you'll hear people say, Well, I, you know, I thought, I, I, I thought, but, and I thought.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, if they just thought or were in mental ascent, there was no baby.
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
SPEAKER_01: We don't just think it.
SPEAKER_01: We don't just have mental ascent.
SPEAKER_01: We know.
SPEAKER_01: There's no maybe pregnant.
SPEAKER_01: You are or you're not.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That need a little better response than that.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Somebody says, Well, we're sort of pregnant, then you're not.
SPEAKER_01: Like I had that couple tell me one time, well, we're almost married, which is exactly like not being.
SPEAKER_01: Exactly the same as not being married.
SPEAKER_01: So, so you're in faith, or you're not.
SPEAKER_01: You're convinced, or you're not.
SPEAKER_01: You're believing, or you're not.
SPEAKER_01: Now, see, I don't know if you're believing.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you're convinced.
SPEAKER_01: Only you know.
SPEAKER_01: That's why faith requires honesty.
SPEAKER_01: You got to be honest.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I've learned that.
SPEAKER_01: Not too long ago, my wife came to me and she said, now we need to believe for this, and we need to believe for that.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
SPEAKER_01: Whoa.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm believing for already?
SPEAKER_01: I don't have any more faith to give to that.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but Pastor, you can do all things.
SPEAKER_01: I could have stepped out there and said, Yes, I'm the man of faith and power.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And watch the whole thing just.
SPEAKER_01: Because you got to recognize your limit.
SPEAKER_01: You got to recognize your measure.
SPEAKER_01: You got to recognize where you're at.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the story I told you about the gentleman that got born again?
SPEAKER_01: And he, when he got born again, he was dealing with this issue.
SPEAKER_01: He worked for the railroad and he had a tumor behind his right eye.
SPEAKER_01: And it had been growing.
SPEAKER_01: Well, he got born again, got up under the word, and began to declare the word and hear the word, and that thing started shrinking.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it shrunk so much that you could see it was noticeable.
SPEAKER_01: The swelling wasn't like it was.
SPEAKER_01: Well, he came up to me one Sunday after church and he said, I need to ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: I said, okay.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I have a problem.
SPEAKER_01: I said, What's that?
SPEAKER_01: He said, I don't know if I can believe that this is just going to go away.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I did not pull out my best Romans chapter 4, verse 17 sword and give him a theological, hermeneutical, hermenetical slap.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, where are you at?
SPEAKER_01: What can you believe?
SPEAKER_01: I said this can you believe that if you go through with the procedure, they'll get it all and you'll be fine?
SPEAKER_01: He said, I can.
SPEAKER_01: I said, then that's where we'll agree.
SPEAKER_01: That's where we'll agree.
SPEAKER_01: I had to meet him where he was convinced.
SPEAKER_01: Well, he went through with the procedure.
SPEAKER_01: They got it all.
SPEAKER_01: He lived.
SPEAKER_01: I saw him just a couple years ago.
SPEAKER_01: He's still alive, just as round as he always was.
SPEAKER_01: Still liking them donuts.
SPEAKER_01: But but here's the thing that I want you to see.
SPEAKER_01: He was convinced.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews 11, 7.
SPEAKER_01: It speaks about Noah.
SPEAKER_01: And it says, by faith, Noah being warned of God, things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world.
SPEAKER_01: By the which means by faith he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
SPEAKER_01: So notice Noah was warned of things not seen yet.
SPEAKER_01: Being warned of God of things not seen yet.
SPEAKER_01: So he was told of things that were not seen yet.
SPEAKER_01: Not yet.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: See, that's why you've got to be careful who you talk faith to.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to be careful who you talk.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody can't talk faith.
SPEAKER_01: So you have to be careful who you talk faith to.
SPEAKER_01: I have preacher friends that it doesn't do me any good to talk faith to them because they don't know it.
SPEAKER_01: So I just don't, I don't say, I don't discuss with them what God's saying to me.
SPEAKER_01: Because I don't need to have to wade through their unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: I learned that lesson years ago.
SPEAKER_01: I was at a conference.
SPEAKER_01: I learned that lesson.
SPEAKER_01: And I was visiting with a friend of mine.
SPEAKER_01: It was during a break, and I was visiting with him, telling him some things that the Lord was saying to me.
SPEAKER_01: And he just looked at me and said, Well, who do you think you are?
SPEAKER_01: And who would listen to you?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I learned real quick.
SPEAKER_01: Can't talk faith to him.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: That's important.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm very selective about that.
SPEAKER_01: So God warned Noah of things not seen.
SPEAKER_01: And Noah responded in faith.
SPEAKER_01: Noah responded in faith.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: That's why if you read Genesis 6.13, God told Noah.
SPEAKER_01: He said, The end has come up to me.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'm going to destroy the whole thing.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And I need you to build this ark.
SPEAKER_01: It was evidence that God warned Noah.
SPEAKER_01: And the word says that Noah moved with godly fear.
SPEAKER_01: So if God speaks to you about something and you get a witness in your spirit, and you don't move out on it, you'll be in disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: Disobedience to God.
SPEAKER_01: And you'll take God's witness lightly.
SPEAKER_01: See, I've got to know that.
SPEAKER_01: I would rather move out and miss God than not move out and be in disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I'd rather move out and miss God than move out and not move out and be in disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: God will ask the person that he knows will obey him.
SPEAKER_01: He'll ask the person that he knows that will obey him.
SPEAKER_01: Brother Copeland talked about a time that he was at a minister's birthday party.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord had asked him to go.
SPEAKER_01: And here's why the Lord had asked him to go.
SPEAKER_01: He was there, and they were, this minister was believing for a certain aircraft in their ministry.
SPEAKER_01: And they needed X amount of dollars.
SPEAKER_01: And when he got to that birthday party, the Lord said, I want you to give him the money he needs for his plane.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Lord, you know I will.
SPEAKER_01: He said, but let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: He said, There are guys in here that could that could give him that money and it would be like a tip.
SPEAKER_01: They wouldn't miss it at all.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Why are you asking me?
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord said, Because I knew you would.
SPEAKER_01: I knew you would.
SPEAKER_01: See, God will ask the person that he knows will obey him.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You know, when Michelle and I first started in the ministry, we came together in a covenant with the Lord and we said, we'll never say no to anything you ask us to do.
SPEAKER_01: We'll do it a hundred percent.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that you ask us to do, we'll do it.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing is off the table.
SPEAKER_01: I've never gone to the Lord and said, that's too hard.
SPEAKER_01: I've never gone to the Lord and said, I can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: I've never told the Lord, I can't be away from my family.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do this.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: I can do whatever you ask me to do.
SPEAKER_01: And let me say this.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, I'll say that.
SPEAKER_01: You don't know anybody that is rid the real ministry and doing things right that it hurt their family and destroyed their family.
SPEAKER_01: You don't know that person.
SPEAKER_01: There are people that get out there and go too far and do too much and get over in themselves and it hurts their family.
SPEAKER_01: But you don't know any of my children that are not where they need to be with God.
SPEAKER_01: It's not because of the ministry, it's because of their rebellion and their unwillingness to do what God wants them to do.
SPEAKER_01: Has nothing to do with the ministry.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: There comes a time when you got to go to the Lord and you say, Whatever you ask, that's what I'll do.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Noah moved with fear, not the fear that paralyzes you, but a reverential, godly fear that moved him to do the work of faith.
SPEAKER_01: And what did he do?
SPEAKER_01: He prepared an ark, his faith at work.
SPEAKER_01: So the Bible doesn't say this, and I understand that.
SPEAKER_01: So basically, when Noah stepped back and saw the ark, he saw his faith.
SPEAKER_01: That was his faith.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor Carl will take all those ministers through Agape after they'd finished it and got it all together, and he was walking around showing them all these things and talking about faith.
SPEAKER_01: And they asked him, they said, How'd you do this?
SPEAKER_01: He said, By faith.
SPEAKER_01: And he said he heard two of those ministers whisper at each other and say, Well, I guess we better get some faith.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see this?
SPEAKER_01: When you see somebody that's got something from God and use their faith to do it, they they ordered their life.
SPEAKER_01: That didn't just happen.
SPEAKER_01: People that you know that were healed by God, they did not just get healed, they did something, they ordered their life that way.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Remember James 2, 17?
SPEAKER_01: Am I helping you today?
SPEAKER_01: James 2 and 17.
SPEAKER_01: It says, even so, faith if it does not have works is dead.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: It's alone.
SPEAKER_01: A man may say, I have faith and I have works.
SPEAKER_01: You have faith and I have works.
SPEAKER_01: Show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works.
SPEAKER_01: So what does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: Believing is not enough.
SPEAKER_01: Believing without action is not faith.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'll tell you this story, and I obviously I don't recommend this, but a lady came, this, this uh true story, church in Pennsylvania, this lady got saved and started coming to church, or actually she didn't get saved there, she started coming to church there.
SPEAKER_01: And there was a lady there that and they were praying together, and they were praying that the nightclub across the street would close.
SPEAKER_01: Man, they were praying about it every day.
SPEAKER_01: And so about two weeks after this lady started coming to church, headlines in the paper that that nightclub had burned down.
SPEAKER_01: Man, they came to church Wednesday night, they're excited.
SPEAKER_01: The lady that had been praying, she said, Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: I should have been praying with you before.
SPEAKER_01: She said, I've been praying about that for a couple years.
SPEAKER_01: Two weeks after I started praying with you, that place burned down.
SPEAKER_01: Lady pulled matches out of her purse and said, I believe in putting legs to my prayers.
SPEAKER_01: Now remember what I said.
SPEAKER_01: I don't agree with that.
SPEAKER_01: I don't recommend that.
SPEAKER_01: She decided to put works to her faith.
SPEAKER_01: Now you understand the example.
SPEAKER_01: Believing alone is not enough.
SPEAKER_01: Noah did what?
SPEAKER_01: Prepared an ark.
SPEAKER_01: And how does Hebrews 11 say he did it?
SPEAKER_01: By faith.
SPEAKER_01: By faith he prepared that ark.
SPEAKER_01: So what happened?
SPEAKER_01: His faith worked.
SPEAKER_01: See, our faith is for people, not just for ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: That'll keep you balanced.
SPEAKER_01: My faith is for people, not just for myself.
SPEAKER_01: I begin by believing for myself, but the ultimate goal is to start believing for others.
SPEAKER_01: The ultimate goal is to start helping others.
SPEAKER_01: By faith, Noah condemned the world.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews 11 says, by faith he condemned the world.
SPEAKER_01: Our faith condemns the world.
SPEAKER_01: And our faith will be condemned by the world.
SPEAKER_01: And you can say that in our Christian faith or our faith in believing God.
SPEAKER_01: It condemns the world and it will be condemned by the world.
SPEAKER_01: When you start living by faith, worldly people will be condemned by it.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: When worldly people start seeing you being blessed by God, they'll condemn your faith.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: I had a worldly guy in the church one time, and he didn't like me preaching on prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: He took out newspaper ads about me.
SPEAKER_01: He printed up t-shirts.
SPEAKER_01: Talking about that prosperity message.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Told people all over the town that I was a false prophet.
SPEAKER_01: I was one of them prosperity guys.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I noticed that he, you know, he talked about I was a prosperity guy, but he never quit taking a check or anything, right?
SPEAKER_01: Well, well, what was the problem?
SPEAKER_01: He's part of the world.
SPEAKER_01: And had to had to condemn.
SPEAKER_01: I had a guy tell me one time I was doing financial classes on Friday evenings in the church.
SPEAKER_01: And we were talking about uh natural things, but then uh uh uh spiritual things, and I was telling them that they could build their faith and believe God to get a car debt-free, or believe God to get a home debt-free, or to get your down payment without going into debt.
SPEAKER_01: I had an older guy, he met me after church, and boy, he just, he just could, oh my goodness, he kind of railed on me.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you're in there teaching, teaching those young people that they can get a house with no debt.
SPEAKER_01: And how's that a problem?
SPEAKER_01: How is that a problem?
SPEAKER_01: Well, see, he couldn't see it.
SPEAKER_01: And it was evidenced by his lifestyle that he couldn't see it.
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
SPEAKER_01: Because if it listen, if you go out and work three jobs and kill yourself, they'll come to your funeral and talk about what a great guy you were.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: When you say, I sowed my seed and stood in faith, and God blessed me with this new car, they don't rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: In Genesis 22, and you don't have to turn there, you can write it down.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis 22, 1 through 3, it talks about Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: And it says, when God said to Abraham, he said, Take now your son, your only son, take him to the mountain that I'm gonna show you.
SPEAKER_01: And it says, early the next morning, Abraham saddled his donkey and did what the Lord told him to do.
SPEAKER_01: And notice there was no crying, there was no hesitation, immediate act of faith.
SPEAKER_01: You don't become the father of faith for nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: There'll be some what what Hebrews 11 tells us what he was convinced of.
SPEAKER_01: It said he did this because he decided that if God had to raise him from the dead, he would do it.
SPEAKER_01: See, that was the mindset.
SPEAKER_01: Well, how could he do this?
SPEAKER_01: Because faith was looking beyond.
SPEAKER_01: He had already made up his mind.
SPEAKER_01: God said that the promise was going to come through Isaac.
SPEAKER_01: If I offer Isaac as a sacrifice, that's the end.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, well, God will just raise him from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: He was convinced.
SPEAKER_01: Faith doesn't have to figure it all out.
SPEAKER_01: Well, how's this gonna work?
SPEAKER_01: And how's that gonna work?
SPEAKER_01: That's reasoning.
SPEAKER_01: That's not faith.
SPEAKER_01: You may say, Well, I'm believing God to come out of debt, but do you know how much debt I have?
SPEAKER_01: No, I don't, and I don't need to know, but God knows.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I'll help you.
SPEAKER_01: This is important because this is not just faith things that we shout about.
SPEAKER_01: This is how you live your life.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Say it out loud.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is working for me right now, providing for me, bringing things to me, bringing health, bringing physical prosperity in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: See, you don't become the father of faith for nothing.
SPEAKER_01: When you see somebody that's gotten something by faith, that didn't just happen.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say this so many ways you get it.
SPEAKER_01: If you're walking down a dirt road and you look over at the corner post of a fence and you see a turtle sitting up on that post, what's your first question?
SPEAKER_01: How do you get there?
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because turtles can't climb posts.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody had to put him up there.
SPEAKER_01: When you see somebody that was in debt last year and this year they're out of debt, that didn't just happen.
SPEAKER_01: Didn't just happen.
SPEAKER_01: You see somebody that tells you I'm believing to pay off my house, and the next year their house is paid off, didn't just happen.
SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't just their good financial planning, and it wasn't just them not going out to eat and putting all the money towards the house payment.
SPEAKER_01: Something happened.
SPEAKER_01: Faith worked, God did something.
SPEAKER_01: You don't become the father of faith for nothing.
SPEAKER_01: And when God said, I want you to take your son, he said, Okay, you got it.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Romans 4, 20 through 24.
SPEAKER_01: You know what it says?
SPEAKER_01: It talks about Abraham, and it says, him not being weak in faith, did not consider his own body now dead when he was about a hundred years old, neither the deadness of Sarah's womb.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: But he was what?
SPEAKER_01: Fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform it.
SPEAKER_01: That blesses me because that means God's just not talking, he's able to do what he says.
SPEAKER_01: See, many people skip the fully persuaded step.
SPEAKER_01: When you're fully persuaded, you're fully persuaded.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm fully persuaded.
SPEAKER_01: If you belong to Jesus, then you're Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: So what do I need to do?
SPEAKER_01: Get busy and start doing the work of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Ever what it may be, just start.
SPEAKER_01: Start somewhere and do the work of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's the key.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't know what Noah told God.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, you know, there's people that make assumptions, I don't know, I don't claim to know.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what Noah told God when God said, I want you to build this ark and gave him the dimensions.
SPEAKER_01: But I I I can see from the word that there wasn't a lot of discussion.
SPEAKER_01: God said, Do it, and they did it.
SPEAKER_01: The work of faith.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible calls that the work of faith.
SPEAKER_01: The work of faith.
SPEAKER_01: And so that means that that the faith that you exercise, you're you're gonna have to work it, but you'll always get the results.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's where where we always run into a danger.
SPEAKER_01: I'll say this as we're closing.
SPEAKER_01: You always run into a danger.
SPEAKER_01: Because the work of faith is just that.
SPEAKER_01: I've said this for years.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is not hard, just different.
SPEAKER_01: It's just different.
SPEAKER_01: It's a different way of living.
SPEAKER_01: Not hard, just different.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because your spirit wants to live by faith.
SPEAKER_01: The real you wants to live by faith.
SPEAKER_01: And when you give it the ammunition that it needs to live by faith, it will live by faith.
SPEAKER_01: And then you let faith be your thinking, and you let faith be your feeling, and you let faith be your vision, and you let faith be what you see.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01: And and and you keep that where it needs to be.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: It's not hard, it's just different.
SPEAKER_01: And so the the thing is to, okay, now I'm gonna go work my faith.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm not one of these people saying then every devil in hell will come against you.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, every devil in hell is against you anyway.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: It may seem like they're more pronounced when you start doing something for God.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm gonna talk for me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna talk for you.
SPEAKER_01: And it came to me one day.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I must not have been doing much before because they weren't messing with me at all.
SPEAKER_01: And the moment I decide to start doing something, the boy, it seemed like the well, they were always there.
SPEAKER_01: There just wasn't any reason to mess with me.
SPEAKER_01: Boy, I made the decision that day.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna have a lot to mess with me about from here on out.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing: even if they do try to give you some opposition, they're defeated.
SPEAKER_01: Be convinced of that.
SPEAKER_01: What do we do?
SPEAKER_01: We trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt us.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: We realize that the devil is a stripped, paralyzed, inert issue.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, according to Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14, destroyed him.
SPEAKER_01: And that's how we walk and live.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Say it one more time out of your mouth.
SPEAKER_01: My faith is working right now, producing great things in my life, producing healing in my body, producing finances in my life, producing salvation in my family.
SPEAKER_01: I walk by faith, I live by faith, I see by faith, I hear by faith, and I speak by faith, and I have what I have faith for in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Well, let's stand up today, shall we?
SPEAKER_01: Glory be to God.