SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hi, my name is Michelle Steele. Pastor Phillip and I want to thank you for listening to this message from Life of Faith Church. We have more resources available to help you build your faith and frame your world by the Word of God. From our website, lifeoffaith.net, you can connect to our YouTube channel. Watch the live stream feed from our church services. Access books and downloads in our web store. And discover more about Life of Faith Church, producing like city, state, nation, and world. Visit lifeoffaith.net today.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Go with me over to the book of Luke, chapter 4, this morning. And uh just in in light of what we'll be ministering on today, this morning, uh I just wanted to make you aware of some things we have in the Media Center. And uh the uh the first thing I want you to be aware of is we have this uh little book by Pastor Caldwell entitled The Word System. Uh he wrote this book in 1981. And so uh it's uh it's been around a while. This this will revolutionize your thinking. Uh I've got I've got an original copy of this uh that he gave me. And uh I every time I read it, it's just like it's eye-opening, it's refreshing. Uh that is available in the Media Center. Uh then uh, of course, uh my book is is out there every day. Is a faith day. Uh I believe it'll help you, it'll bless you. Uh this is a free resource, the foundation of the word. We have several of those out there in CD form that are available. Uh I ministered this a number of years ago. Uh that uh we have a uh a foundation, uh, the word of God that we can depend on. And then uh the final thing is the uh we have this on USB flash drive, uh maximum benefits of the word of God. So uh some of those are free. Uh you can uh if you just don't have anything to give anything at all, we'll give it all to you for free, and you can pay us when you get a chance. So the Lord's good. Amen. Luke chapter 4. We want to continue with this that we've been looking at the core values of the believer. The core values of the believer. And the Lord, uh, in October of 2024 uh at Faith Life Church, I was there with Brother Jerry, and uh the Lord uh gave me seven things that he called the core values of the believer. And we have been centering up on love and uh the uh the nature of God within us. And uh we'll touch on some of that today as well, but uh we want to really center in on the first one, the core values of believers. The first one is put the word first place. Everybody say out loud, put the word first place. Amen. So put the word first place. You know, I've had people over the years, and you I know you probably have too. They'll they'll talk about those word people. You're one of those word people, and you know, you guys just try to make the word of God God. Well, we didn't make the word of God God. God made the word of God God. He's the one that said in John chapter 1, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. But the point is that as believers, one of our core values is that we put the word first place. We put the word first place. Amen. Hallelujah. Say it one more time. Put the word first place. So in Luke chapter 4, and I'm not a real seasonal minister, but I thought as God was dealing with me about this, I thought it was interesting what he was dealing with me about in light of, you know, yesterday being the Independence Day and the 250th anniversary of America and him dealing with me on freedom. You know, freedom is why Christ came. When you boil it down to its essence, freedom is why Christ came. And yes, freedom from sin, freedom from the curse, freedom from bondage, freedom from the enemy, all of those things. But when you boil it down, freedom, freedom from anything that will attempt to keep you in any type of bondage, that's what he came to set you free from. Amen. First John says that uh uh the reason that the Son of God was manifested is so that he might undo or destroy. The King James says, uh destroy. The Greek says, undo the works of the enemy. If you remember in the book of Luke, Jesus was in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And it says there was a woman there that was bowed over and could not in no wise lift herself up. And it says Jesus called her to him and laid hands on her and said, Be loose from your infirmity. There was a spirit of infirmity, right? And the leader of the synagogue got upset with him and stood up and told all the people, you know, there's six days that you can get healed in. Come in one of those days. Right? I don't get it, but here's the point. Jesus got indignant. And he said, You hypocrite. He said, Do you not? Now follow his thinking. He said, Don't you untie your donkey or your ox on the Sabbath day and lead it to get a drink of water? He says, Ought not this woman who Satan has bound in the Greek, kept tied up, kept chained by this infirmity, be set free on the Sabbath day. Freedom was why he came. He didn't care if it was the Sabbath, he didn't care if it was midnight, 12 in the afternoon. Jesus said, I have come to set them free. Amen. And he gives us the way for him to for that to happen. In Luke chapter 4, verse 18, Jesus says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He's sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised or oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, to set at liberty those that are oppressed. The word liberty means to release from bondage or imprisonment, forgiveness or pardon. It means to let them go as if they'd never been committed. Remiss of the penalty. To set at liberty them that are bruised, to release them from bondage or imprisonment. So the first message that Jesus preached, he declared that he had come to set people free. That's the first message that he preached. I've come to set people free. I've come to preach deliverance to the captives. I've come to set at liberty them that are bruised, them that are oppressed. Hallelujah. Then he said, I've come to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. The acceptable year of the Lord. Well, let's look at this real quick as we're setting the foundation. Leviticus 25. And uh verse 8. The Lord is speaking to the people of Israel. He said, You shall number seven Sabbaths of years, unto thee, seven times seven years, and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto you forty and nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement, shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all of your land, and you shall hallow, set apart, make holy, consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land. Unto all the inhabitants thereof it shall be a jubilee unto you, and you shall return every man unto his possession, and you shall return every man unto his family. This is the acceptable year of the Lord, the Jubilee year. And notice what happens in that year. Notice what happens in that time frame. People are set free. If they are in debt, the debt's canceled, right? So he fixes generational debt. There's no generational debt. If you're in debt, it's canceled. If you were sold into servanthood, slavery, you're released. All the property comes back to you. The house comes back, the land comes back, everything comes back. Notice what he called it the acceptable year of the Lord. That's the acceptable year of the Lord. One translation says, a year when his favor is free-flowing. Hallelujah. Jubilee was a year of freedom and a year of rest. I remember decades ago here and Brother Copeland preached, Jesus, our Jubilee. Amen. Well, he is. But that's what he came preaching. He came preaching this freedom. Not just in a natural sense, not just in a spiritual sense, in every area. And he's going to explain to us how this operates. Let's look back at Luke 4. Luke chapter 4, verse 19. He says to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Now here's something to see. Freedom has to be accepted and walked in. Freedom must be accepted and walked in. I heard a story years ago. Now, this this is how long ago it was when it's when the Soviet Union was falling, when uh uh the the Cold War was coming to an end. And uh they they everything was changing, and they'd went into this certain town in the former Soviet bloc, and they had a real small zoo in this town, and they went into the zoo, and in the zoo was a uh a Russian bear that had been kept captive in this, it was like a uh uh 18-foot by 10-foot cell. It wasn't large at all, not for a bear. And uh that so they they they you know got this bear and took him and got him vet care and you know uh uh got him nutritionally back sound, and their goal was to release him out in the wild. Because he's he's been kept up, I say the wild, in it on a reserve, you know, where he would be safe because obviously he had not been in the wild, he didn't know how to take care of himself. So they got him fattened up and boy healthy and and they're ready, excited for the day, and and they pulled the trailer up and let the bear out, and the bear paced 18 feet this way, and 18 feet this way, and turned around and paced 18 feet. That's what he did all day long. There was no prison, there were no bars. They had to euthanized the bear.

unknown 12:12

Why?

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Because he didn't know he was free. He's just walking 18 feet one way and 18 feet the other way. Freedom has to be accepted and walked in. Jesus is preaching freedom to these people. And notice what they said. We won't take the time to go into all of it, but they said, you know, why are you preaching freedom to us? We're free, we're Abraham's seed. They were Abraham's seed under the bondage of Rome. They were bound. They were, if they were bound with nothing else, they were bound with religion. They were bound with this blindness that they couldn't see who Jesus was. He said, This is what I have come to preach. Freedom has to be accepted and walked in. Hallelujah. Say it out loud. Thank God I'm free and I'm gonna walk in it. Oh, hallelujah. He was free, but he didn't know it. See, these Jesus preached the word to them. It says that he came and you remember the story, he found the place where it was written, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Isaiah 61. He found that place and he began to declare it. Now, why would he be preaching freedom if nobody needed to be set free? Why would he be preaching you can be set free if nobody needed to be set free? That was his message. He said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach this. And he never wavered from preaching that. That's what produces freedom. It was what Jesus preached that produced freedom. Hallelujah. Jesus was preaching the word, they didn't receive the word. Jesus was preaching the word. When a person refuses the word, they're refusing freedom. They refuse the word, they're refusing freedom. Hallelujah. The word is the source of freedom. In John chapter eight. John chapter eight, verse thirty one. It says, then Jesus said to those Jews that believed on him. Notice he's saying this to people that believed on him. They believed that he was the Messiah. They believed that he was the Son of God. And he says to those Jews that believed on him, if, if you continue in my word. If, if is a qualifier. It's setting forth the standards here. These people believe on him. He says, okay, that's great. But here's the issue. If you continue in my word, you will be my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. But notice it all starts off with the if. If you continue in my word. See, that the issue is not that they believe in Jesus. The Bible says they believed in him. Jesus takes it a step further and says, that's good that you believe in me. And if you continue in my word, you'll be a disciple, you'll be an adherent to the word. And when you adhere to the word, when you adhere to it, you'll know the truth. You'll become intimate with the truth. You'll become close to the truth. It'll become a part of you. And the truth that you know that you continue in will make you free. It's not the truth you have heard that sets you free. It's the truth you stay with. It's the truth you continue in. It's what you do with what you've heard. I got to continue in it. I got to stay in it. I got to adhere to it. I've got to live in it. Hallelujah. Do you see this? So the believing wasn't the issue. They believed that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus says, look, if you want to walk in complete freedom, you got to continue in the Word. Because then that's how you know the truth. Hallelujah. If you continue. The word continue, it means to remain or to stay. The word is the place you want to be found in. I want to be found in the Word. I want to be found believing the Word. I want to be found living in the Word. Amen. You never want to be that person when somebody goes, Well, what's the Bible say? And you say, Where's my Bible at? Don't be that person. It's what does the word say in every situation? The Lord told me years ago, He said, the answer to every circumstance is what does the Word say? What does the Word say about this? Well, I'm dealing with this. What does the Word say? I'm dealing with this in my family. What does the Word say? I want to continue in the Word. And it doesn't matter what it looks like. It doesn't matter what it feels like. It doesn't matter if it looks like it's not working. Your job is to continue in the Word. Don't discard the Word for something else that somebody else says is working. Stay with the Word of God. The Bible calls the Word of God light, it calls it life, it calls it our victory. It calls it the way that we overcome. The word of God is the answer in every circumstance. And while that sounds elementary, when you ask that question every time, what does the word say? What does the word say? When I'm asking that question, what does the word? Now wait a minute, what does the word say? Now I'm continuing in the word. I'm remaining in the word. I'm living in the word. Hallelujah. One translation says, if you dwell within the revelation I have brought. You dwell within the revelation I have brought. Another says, if you live in my word. See, the key is living in the word. Living in the word. Not just having a knowledge of the word, but living there. This is where we live. This is where we stay. This is how we live our life, is according to the word of God. Hallelujah. We're putting the word first place. The result of living in the word is that we'll have an experiential knowledge of the word of God. You know, we don't preach experience, but you can't preach the word and not get an experience. I don't have to look to anybody else's experience to tell you the word of God works. I've experienced it myself. But yet, right on the other hand, I don't have to have an experience to tell you it works. And I don't have to see an experience to tell you it works. Why do I know the word works whether I see it or not? Because Jesus said it did. See, I'm living in the word. You're making the word your go-to. You're making the word the final authority in your life. And he said, when you're living in the word, what will happen? The Weast Bible says you will know the truth in an experiential way, and the truth shall make you free. From what? Whatever the bondage is. Whatever the issue is, whatever the circumstance may be, make you free. That phrase means to deliver or make free. From what? Whatever bondage may be present. There's no question if I continue in the word. When someone says, you know, I used to know a minister, and he was always talking about, I'm a word man. I'm a word man. But then he'd go through a challenge and he'd say, I don't know what I'm going to do. And finally, one day I said, Well, you're a word man. Go to the word. That's the answer. You know, that that, amen. That sounds too elementary to some people. What's the Bible say? I found your words and they were life. Is that right? What's he say? He says, In the word is life and health. In the word is the wisdom that I need. In the word is the victory that I have need of. What I need when I need faith, how do I get faith? By getting in the word. Faith comes by hearing the word. Is that right? But I've got to live there. I've got to live there. Don't ever be concerned about what somebody else is doing. You just stay in the word. You just live in the word. This is what the word says. Hallelujah. There's no bondage the word cannot break. No bondage. The key to continuing, the key is continuing. In the Word. You know, I heard my pastor preach years ago, and he made this statement. He said, There's no shortage of starters in the kingdom, but there's a shortage of finishers. And he taught on continuing in the word. And he taught from the book of Luke, where it says, which of you that you set out to start to build a tower? And he says, you don't first sit down and ask yourself if you have enough to finish the job. And then he went on and he said this. And he said, if you have just the spiritual guts to do what God said. Well, where does that come from? The Word. Where do you get that kind of resilience? Where do you get that kind of determination? From the Word. You can be spirit-filled from your toes to the tip of your head. And if you're not going to be in the Word of God and staying with it and continuing in it, there'll be no resilience. The Word of God, according to Romans, the Word of God is the power of God unto salvation, unto freedom, unto completeness, unto deliverance, unto victory, unto prosperity. The word of God is the power of God. When God spoke the word, the power of God was released. Every time you live and you stay in the word of God, the power of God is being released in your life. Hallelujah. So there's no bondage, the word won't break. The key is continuing. Never be that person who used to know the word. Right? Or used to believe the word. I've talked to guys before. Yeah, you know, I used, I was talking to a guy one time. I used to be like that. Well, what happened? Right? Yeah, I think sometimes the word we got to remember something. The word of God constantly updates itself. There's nothing in this book that the former generation believed, and now it's outdated and it's old school. Nope. It's new school, and it'll be new school next year and 50 years from now. And when they stand over me and say, dearly beloved, we're here to remember this guy, right? It'll still be new. It'll still be fresh. It will still be enlightening that generation. Why? Because every generation on this planet until Jesus returns will have some bondage. They will have something that they need to have freedom from. And it will be those that are continuing to preach, teach, declare the Word of God, and teach those how to live and continue in the Word of God. It'll be those people that'll be producing freedom. Oh, hallelujah. Amen. Listen, I don't care who you are. I don't care what color your skin is. I don't care if you're male or female. I don't care if you're old or young. I don't care if you're from Texas or God help us, Oklahoma. I don't care. The freedom that is in the Word of God will work for every person. There's no restrictions placed on it. Jesus stood before people and preached the word of God and he said, This is why I'm here. This is why I'm called to preach. I'll set you at liberty. I'll bring deliverance into your life. And they got so mad at him they rose up and grabbed him and tried to throw him off a hill. Hallelujah. Some people are bound by what they've been taught and they don't know how to accept freedom. Amen. Freedom is the key. He said it will make you free. So I don't want to be that person that used to know the word. Or used to confess the word. Or used to declare this or that or the other. Amen. I want to be that person that's living in the word. Living in, say it out loud. I live in the word. Say it out loud. Tell your neighbor, I live in the word. See, that is your living place. That is your foundation. I live in the word. What does the word say? That's what I'm going to believe. Amen. I've told you the story recently of me talking with this young man that was facing some challenges with his family, and they'd been in an accident. And I'm telling you, the Lord has just done some miraculous things in that family. Three of the kids were really, really injured. And but the Lord has done just what he said. They're recovering faster than anybody thought they would. Well, that's what the Lord said would happen. But I went there and I stood with him and I looked at him and I said, Don't let anybody else put their words in your mouth. You stay with what God said. And I was talking to somebody about the situation, and they said something that was not necessarily lining up. And I looked at him. Now I'm not I'm not a hard person. I'm not harsh to anybody. But it came out real quick. I said, Yeah, but what did God say? This is what God said. And what God said, what did it say? Let God be what? Let God be true and every other person, every other circumstance, every other situation be a lie. You might be going through it, but it's not the truth. You might be facing it, but it's not the end of the game. You might be dealing with something, but that's not how it's going to end up. It's going to end up the way the word of God said it's going to end up, because God's word is true, and every other thing comes underneath it. That cannot be the truth, and this be the truth. Whatever your situation is, that it might be a reality. It might be what you're dealing with, but it's not truth. It's changeable. Truth cannot be changed. Circumstances can be changed. Truth cannot be changed. Oh, hallelujah. That's why he said what? Remember in the book of Psalm, very familiar scripture? He said, Forever, forever, forever, oh Lord, your word is settled in heaven. Forever. How long is forever? Forever. Mighty long time. Do you see this? And so what you're dealing with, what you're facing, might be real, but it's not truth. Only the word is truth. Jesus said in John 17, 17, he said, sanctify them, set them apart with your word. Your word is truth. Your word is truth. And that word truth means what is true under in concerning any circumstance. So you name the circumstance, and the word, what it says about it, is true. Amen. Do you see this? And so when you're declaring the word, you're declaring truth. And what did Jesus say the truth would do? Make you free. So what will the truth you're declaring do? Make you free from whatever you're dealing with. Hallelujah. Do you see this? And and and and and ever what is happening? You can go to the doctor and they can give you a diagnosis that doesn't look good. Well, that's a reality. That's what they said. It's there in black and white, but it's not the truth. It's a reality, but it's not the truth. I can feel what they're telling me. I can see and feel the symptoms they're talking to me about. But here's the truth: I will not die, but I will live. And declare the works of the Lord. Amen. Well, you know, Pastor, that's kind of elementary. We know that. I know, I know we know it, but remember what Jesus said. If you know the truth, it'll set you free. And so it's not just believing something. I'll talk to people and they'll say, Well, I believe in confession. Now, but wait a minute, let's ride around with you all day and see if you believe in confession. Because Jesus said you'd have whatever you say. Now, I remember the day I don't know what God dealt with you about, and I'm not going to tell you how long ago this was. It's a long time ago, but I'm going to use me as an example because I don't know you. Right? Man, I got I got I got uh I got uh I don't want to say I got upset. I didn't get upset, maybe I got a little frustrated as somebody in front of me. They were doing something I didn't think they should have been doing. And I said a couple things, you know, now I don't cuss or nothing like that, but you know, gonna make me laid or something. I don't remember exactly what it was, but I remember what God said to me. He said, and you believe what you say will come to pass. Well, yes, Lord. He said, So you want all that you've been saying here to come to pass? Ooh. See, if you'd asked me, I'd have told you I believed in confession. I believed that what I said would come to pass. I would preach it. See, I believed it. I didn't know it. There's a difference. He said to those Jews that believed on him. See, what you know, what you let me say it this way, what you believe and what you know will both be tested. What matters is do you just believe it or do you know it? Think about this for a moment. If somebody comes to you, if if if some you're talking to somebody and you say, Hey, you're gonna be at church next Sunday, and they go, Well, I believe so. What does that mean? Maybe not. I believe I will, but maybe not. That's what it means. Right? So think about this, really, think about this. Can you go away saying that person will be at church next Sunday? No, because they said, I believe so. They didn't say yes. So when somebody says, Well, I believe that, well, what do you mean by that? You you believe it because you know it, or you believe it and you're trying to know it. Hallelujah. Once you know it, once you know it, it's finished. It's done. Right? When when you got born again, you got you might have got born again and you you didn't know how much God loved you. But one day it became so clear to you how much God loved you and you never doubted it again, not another day of your life. Why? Because I know that I know that I know that I know God loves me as much as he loves Jesus. How do I know God loves me as much as he loves Jesus? Because John 17 says that Jesus said, Show them that you love them as much as you have loved me. Now I found it in the word that Jesus loves me or God loves me as much as he loves Jesus. That settles it. Because I found it in the Word. Now I know it. Oh, hallelujah. But what if on the other hand you go to that person, you say, Hey, you're gonna be here next week? Yes, sir, I'll be here. I'm coming in the name of Jesus. Already got it on my calendar. Now you're expecting them. Right? You walk in, you'd be surprised if you don't see them. You know how you know how a lot of Christians live their life, a lot of believers live their life? Lord, I thank you for this. Father, I thank you. I'm believing you for this in the name of Jesus. And then if it seemingly doesn't happen, well, you know, I I wondered if it was gonna happen. They didn't know. What he say in his word? He said, You ask anything in my name, the Father will do it for you. Hallelujah. I gotta know that. I'm not praying out of a spiritual exercise. I'm not praying just to mark some spiritual territory. I'm praying because he said, Whatever you ask in my name, I'll do it for you. Based on the word of God. Amen. When a person stops living the word, they stop living in the word, they stop living in freedom. When you stop living in the word, you stop living in freedom. Look at uh 2 Timothy chapter 3. And uh verse 13. The apostle Paul is writing to Timothy, pastor of the church at Ephesus, and he says, But evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Now we're gonna read on, but I want you to see. He said, in that day, he said, evil men and seducers are gonna wax worse and worse. And what are they gonna do? They're gonna deceive and they're gonna be deceived. Hallelujah. Notice what he says, though. But continue, thou, in the things that you have learned and been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them. Knowing of whom you have learned them. What's the key to not being deceived? Stay in the word. Live in the word. Not not in a dogma, not in a denominational bent. What does the word say? That's the key to not being deceived. I was in a minister's conference years ago and I heard Bob Yendin make a statement. He and and and he said, the key to the answer to exotic doctrine is not exotic doctrine, it's the word. And he used the illustration when Elisha came to the sons of the prophets, and you remember they had they were making stew, and one of those prophets went out and got some gourds, he didn't know what it was, and he cut it up in the stew, and the man cried out, Oh man of God, there's death in the pot. I'd have been like, Don't eat it. But what did he do? He if the Bible says he took some cornmeal. There's nothing more simple than cornmeal. I like to make corn, corn muffins, cornbread, right? Cornmeal. You need cornmeal. Simple. You look on the back of a bag of cornmeal and it says, corn. Simple. Right? He took that simple cornmeal and threw it in the pot. And it fixed it. Now I don't know what was going on there, but here's the thing. What was going on? Something they didn't know what it was is causing the problem. The man of God got something very simple and fixed it. Whatever you're dealing with, the word's the answer. He says, You don't want to be deceived? He said, People are going to be doing this. You don't want to be deceived. Stay in the word. Continue in the word. Continue in the word. I was talking to some ministers one time that said, we don't know what to do here, and we don't know what to do there. And you know, all this is going on. And I just looked at him and said, guys, what does the word say? That's what we stay with. Is what does the word of God say? That's the answer to deception. Amen. I learned a long time ago. If I teach you the word of God, the pure word of God, in the manner that I learned it, if I teach it to you that way, it doesn't matter what's going on on TV, it doesn't matter what preacher's preaching what. If you're taught to refer back to the word of God, you'll go get your Bible and refer back to what the Word of God says, and you'll be safe. I don't spend a lot of time in my church, my churches, talking about what false teachers are teaching. That's false. Why would I want to talk about it? Let's talk about the truth. Yeah, but this guy's this, and this guy's that, and this guy this, and this one fell, and this one did that. And you know why? They didn't adhere to the word of God. If you're adhering to the word of God, that's not going to be a problem. You want to know how to live successfully? Live in the word of God. Make the word of God your source in every situation, and you'll always live successfully. Amen. Glory to God. Thank you, Jesus. The Weast Bible says, as for you, be remaining as you are in the things that you learned and have been assured of. Knowing the persons from whom you personally learned them. You know, look, look at the people that you learn from. Look at their life. Look at what God does in their life. Look how the word works in their life. He says, not only the things you learn, but look who you learn them from. Paul's holding himself up as an example. Look, Timothy, look who you learned from. See, the people that I learned from, I didn't have to ever worry about them falling into sin or getting into some kind of garbage. Right? Why? Because they were stayed on the word of God. The word of God was their source. The word of God was their foundation. Amen. When you make the word of God your foundation, nothing else appeals to you. Because the word of God is my source. The word of God is my attractant. Amen. Remain in the things you've learned. Because why? What you've learned is what will still work. What you've learned is what will still work. I remember one time when we first started the ministry years ago, nearly 30 years now. And I was preaching on faith, and we preached. We ministered, no exaggeration, we ministered 21 weeks on faith. 21 weeks. And mostly from Mark 11, 23. And that was what was, it's always big. I mean, we are a life of faith. We were faith builders, you know, so that's what we do. The vision of our church is to build people's faith. But the the point is, I'd ministered on that for, oh my goodness, I got two scenarios for you. And so the first one was uh there was a guy that he was one of our ushers. He was sitting in the back and he was there for every service, every meeting. And probably around the 20th message, maybe the 21st, it was like I could see it as I was ministering. It's like the light just came on. Just came on. And he came up to me after church just giddy, excited. He said, Pastor, I got it. I said, What'd you get? He said, I can have what I say. Only took 20 weeks, but he got it. Right? Changed his life. Now, another guy, I ministered on something else a couple weeks after that, and he came up to me. He said, Boy, I'm glad you didn't minister on faith again. I don't know if I can handle another message on faith. Yeah. Right? See, what you have learned is what will still work. Amen. Are you following me? You know, the Lord gave that revelation of Mark 11, 23. He gave that revelation to Brother Hagin. Now, it didn't start with Brother Hagin, but he gave it to Brother Hagin during the Great Depression when he was still on his deathbed, 17 years of age. Right? I learned that from Brother Hagin decades ago. He was the one that brought it to my knowledge. Helped me with it. Well, it worked for him from the time he learned it on his deathbed till he went home in 2003. Never stopped working. It's worked for me ever since I heard it all those decades ago. Listen, you you stay in what you know. Don't allow things to move you away from what you know. Hallelujah. The word you stay in is the foundation you can build everything God wants you to build your life on. That's the foundation is the word of God. Hallelujah. That's why, above all, you got to commit to the word. You got to commit to put the word first place. Hallelujah. Commit to live by the word. That's why I have to commit to live that way. Amen. Now if um you look at Luke 4, 4. Again, this is a familiar verse. This of course is the temptation of Christ. Devil said, if you're the Son of God, command this stone that it should be made bread. And I should teach there for a minute because you know his mode of operation has not changed. And it never will change. He's talking to Jesus here, and he asks, if you're the Son of God, command these stones to be made bread. Well, he may not come to you that way, but he'll come and say, Well, if you're healed, why are you still in pain? If your children are going to live for God, why are they still doing this? If your finances are better, why are you still facing this? Right? And you know, a lot of believers, and you you'd be surprised how many. A lot of believers immediately, man, they it's it's not that they get in agreement, but they try to do something else other than what Jesus did. Notice what Jesus did. He said, If you're the Son of God, command these stones to be made bread. Jesus said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. How do you live? By every word of God. Amen. Now that's that's how Jesus dealt with this. How do we got to deal with it? The same way. The same way. Well, if you were healed, you would certainly feel better. Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. I don't live by feeling, I live by the word of God. I'm healed because the word of God says I'm healed. I'm healed because it says he sent his word and he healed me and delivered me from all of my trouble, all of my distresses. Amen. Well, if you were free from the curse, this wouldn't be operating in your life. Thank God, not only am I freed from the curse, Deuteronomy 23 says God turned the curse into a blessing. Amen. See, I'm living by the word. Well, it doesn't look like I've been delivered, but you're living by the word. You're not living by what it looks like. Now that sounds simple to us as word people, but I'm not living by what it seems. Not living by how it feels. I'm living by what does the word say? This is what the word says. Why am I more why do I know I'm more than a conqueror? Because the word says it. Because I feel like I'm a conqueror? No. Because the word of God says it. How do I know all my children shall be taught of the Lord, and great will be the peace of my children? Because I see it? No. Because I know it's in the word. And I'm living by the word. And that's why you talk to your body and you talk the word to your body. And it doesn't matter what you're going through. I don't care if they're wheeling you into surgery. You're going into surgery, talking about how healed you are and how well you are and how God's touching your body. Amen. Well, what am I what if I have to go on with the surgery? Then you come out saying I'm going to recover speedily in the name of Jesus. I will not be on this bed of languishing, but the Lord will raise me up. Why? Because in every situation, you're going back to the Word of God. You're not living right. Well, nothing seems to be going right, but everything's going right according to the Word. And even if it doesn't seem like it's going right, and even if it doesn't want to line up, you load your mouth with the Word of God and you go put it in alignment. Amen. Don't let your life get outside the rails. Put the word of God in your mouth and keep it going down the road. Oh, hallelujah. So Jesus made it very plain. He didn't say he wasn't hungry. He didn't say that. He said, That's not how I live. I live by the word. Do you see that? Listen, I need to say this. How does pain in your body mean you're not healed? How does that mean you're not healed? It doesn't. If you live by the word, what do you say? Thank God you carried my pain. You bore my sicknesses and carried my pain, and with your stripes I'm healed. What I'm trying to get across to you is I'll have people come to me and say, Well, I thought I was better, but this pain came back. What does that have to do with anything? Oh, hallelujah. See, if I'm living by the word, he carried my pain. Well, yeah, I've been to the doctor, and they can't do anything about it. I understand, but he carried your pain. Because what you're living by the word. I said, you're living by the word. Well, you know, I'm believing for financial victory here, but you know, I opened my checkbook and a moth flew out the other day. Right? What does that mean? What does that have to do with anything? It doesn't change anything. Well, I'm believing for success, and they laid me off. That means a better job's around the corner for you. Because why? I'm living by the word of God. You've heard this story, but I'm going to repeat it to you. Pastor said they were leaving. They were going on on they were on the road. They were going to go teach and sing. And he said, uh, you know, they had uh $100 in their bank account. And you know, $100 even then doesn't go very far when you got to put gas in the car and you got to buy people food and write. And he said, the devil was on him. What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? And he said, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to act on the word. He said, wait a minute. Went back in the house, wrote out a check for $100 to a ministry and put it in the mail. And he said, now, devil, what are you going to do? There's nothing in the bank now. And he said, I had to learn. The devil, now he can't threaten me. Because he kept saying, you only got $100. Now I don't even have $100. Now what are you going to do? I'm going to live by the Word of God. And God brought them out. God delivered them. God made a way. Why? Because when you choose to live by the Word, God says, there's a person that will believe me and act on what I said in my word, I can move in their life. Those people that Jesus dealt with in Luke 4, they simply, if they didn't even believe what Jesus said, they could have believed because of what the word said. Jesus said, if you don't believe me, believe me for the work's sake. Is that what he said? Look at how it's working. If you don't want to believe what I said, look at the works that are going on. Hallelujah. Do you see that? Look at what God's doing in people's lives that stand on the Word. Look at how things are changing. My goodness, you want to be a part of that just because of the results that they're having. You live by the Word of God. The Word requires commitment to work. It requires commitment to work. The Word is the first and only thing we rely on. There are other things that are helps. There are other things that are blessings, but the Word is the first and only thing we rely on. Amen. You know, when we first got a hold of the Word of God, you know, I took standing on the Word literally. I'm exercising my faith. I'd put my Bible on the ground and stand on it. And then I'd always make this statement. I'd say, here I am, devil, on the Word of God. And I'm not going to be moved. Well, that was ridiculous. It might have been ridiculous, but it worked. It worked. Amen. People say you stand on your Bible today. I don't have to physically put my Bible in the ground anymore, but I have to stand on the Word every day. You have to stand on the Word every day. Don't fall into the pattern of grabbing a hold of the Word when a problem shows up. You're not prepared. If you got to wait till a problem shows up to grab the Word of God and start working the Word when the problem shows up, you're behind the game. You're behind. You've got to consistently be in the Word, living the Word of God. When's the best time to be declaring the healing power of God over your body? When you don't need healing. Every day of the world, you need to be declaring the Word of God because the Bible lets us know very plainly. I'll have what I say. Your words are the hand in the spirit realm. Proverbs says that life and death are in the power, the hand of the tongue. When you're speaking those words, the hand of the spirit in your words is going into the spirit realm and bringing you everything you need. As you speak the word of God, even when you don't have pain in your body, there's no symptoms in your body, and you're declaring over your body every day, I'm the healer of the Lord. 1 Peter 2.24 is flowing through my bloodstream. I am redeemed from the curse of the law because Jesus became a curse for me. Every sickness, every germ, every disease has to die instantly when it touches my body. I declare by the power of the word of God that my immune system will not be deceived in any manner because I'm the healed of the Lord. And maybe there's nothing going on in your body, but that hand of the Spirit is pulling all of that to you. The Bible says your word is life. It says it's the living word. You may not even know what's coming, but you're already prepared for it because you've been living by the word. Oh, hallelujah. Oh, hallelujah. I'd say, here I stand on the word. What are you going to do? Amen. You know, here's the thing. The devil's threats are empty if you don't act on them. They're empty. There's nothing he can do. There's nothing he can do. He's been defeated. Now, do we believe that? Because if he's been defeated, then there's nothing he can do if I won't cooperate. Hallelujah. Well, let me move on. That's why you got to quit talking about how the devil's fighting. You're building, you're you listen, you're empowering him. Well, the devil's this and the devil's that. What about what is God doing? What is the word of God doing in your life? People talk a lot about what the devil's doing. What is the word of God doing in your life? Well, the devil's attacked my finances. God has empowered your finances. Well, the devil's attacked my body. God has healed your body. Well, the devil's fighting my family. God has said, I'll save your family. I'll contend with them that contend with you, and I'll save your children. That's what God said. I gotta live in that. I gotta live in that. Hallelujah. When you commit to the word, you tap into the supernatural power of the word. When you commit to the word, this is what the word says. And so this is what we're gonna do. Amen. Hallelujah. Well, you know, I don't know what to do about this, and I don't know what to do about this, and I just don't know. What's the Bible say to do when you don't know what to do? It says you need to pray in the spirit because when you don't know how to pray as you should, the Holy Spirit will come alongside and help you. That's what the word says, right? So what do you do? You go to your prayer place and you say, Father, I don't know exactly how to pray about this in the understanding, but I know your word says to pray in the spirit, and that the Holy Spirit helped me, so I'm just gonna pray in the spirit about it. Amen. You know, there thing there are things about the church that I know God has said. I don't see how he's gonna do it in my natural mind. But I don't I don't get over there in the natural and try to pray about it in the natural. I don't know how to pray about it in the natural, but I know to pray in the spirit. And what happens as I pray in the spirit, what's it say? He'll come alongside, he'll aid me, he'll tell me what to pray. You pray about something long enough in the spirit, and you'll know how to pray about it in the natural. That's living by the word. I say that's living by the word. What do you do when you've done all to stand? What do you do according to scripture? Stand. Having what? Having overcome all. So when somebody says, I don't know what else to do, I've done all I know to do. Now just stand, just stand there, having overcome all. But I don't feel like I've overcome. But the word says you have. See, I'm living by the word. So if I'm living by the word, I'm talking by the word, I'm declaring the word, I'm saying what the word says. Brother Hagin used to tell the story. He said, you know, he said he never pastored a church that wasn't a troubled church. That's what he said. Pastored for 12 years. And he said, one time he had a really troubled church. And he was just a young preacher. You know, as he would say, just barely a Baptist boy preacher. But he'd, you know, he said, I he said, I come over among the Pentecostals because I got the left foot of fellowship from the Baptist. Now thank God for the Baptist. That's not what I'm saying. Uh you understand what I mean by that. Back back, especially back in those days, you wasn't going to talk in tongues and go to the Baptist church. It's a little different nowadays. Thank God. But he said he had a real troubled church, and they had a monthly pastor's meeting. And he said he'd go to that meeting, and he said the question they always said was, Well, how goes the battle? And he'd say, What battle, men? I don't have a care. I've cast all my cares on Jesus. I don't have a care. And he said, he'd walk away in those men and say, You know, he's lying. I know his church. He's got a bunch of troublemakers in his church. Right? He said they they that some of them met him a number of years later when he was traveling in the ministry. And they said, You know, we all thought there's something wrong with you. Because we knew what you were going through. He said, They said, but finally we figured out you're just living by the word. What's the Bible say? In your pathway is peace. Is that right? So you might be having anything but peace right now. If you're living by the word, what are you saying? In my pathway is peace. I have something that I say over my family all the time. I've got it all over my house. Philip, Michelle, and Liliana still will only love life and see good days. That's it. We will love life and see good days. Well, why are you declaring you're going to love life? Because there are things that come along that try to make you not love the life you have. You should be loving your life. And the only way you can do it is by living the word of God. Amen. This is important. You want to change a city? You want to change a church? You want to change the way people think. You got to teach them to live by the word of God. Live by the word of God. Live by the word of God. When you commit to the word, you tap into the supernatural power of God. Many never see the working of the word in their life because they will simply not commit to the word. I got to commit to the word. This is what the word says. This is what we're going to stand on. This is what we're going to believe. Amen. It requires that commitment to the word of God. And not just a head knowledge. Not just a knowledge of I know these things. Right? I knew a person one time, if you would start talking to them about something from the Word, they'd say, Yep, yep, I heard Brother Hagin preach that in 1969. That doesn't mean you believe it. And it does not mean you're living on it. I was at a uh a conference one time with Pastor, and I I was I had set up the table and I was doing the media. Michelle was with me on this one, and we were helping. And this young man came up and and he started, you can always tell where they're at when they walk up to the table like this, and they're like, Yeah, how's happy? Oh, I'm sorry. I forgive me. Are you happy? Anyway, here's the thing. Yeah, I went to Happy's church. And I learned all about faith from him. Then the Lord had to move me so I could go learn something deeper. In the words of a man of God that means a lot to me, Elder E. C. Morton, huh? You was a fool. Now, understand what I'm saying? No commitment to the word. No commitment to the word. You got to commit to the word of God. You never get to the place where I don't need that anymore. Where I don't need to hear about faith. I don't need to hear about healing. I don't need to hear about the power of my words. The lady came to Jerry one time, Brother Jerry one time, and he had taught on words. She goes, Brother Jerry, are we really back there where we got to talk about words again? Well, we never should have quit talking about words. See, this that's commitment to the word. That's commitment to the word. When uh when pastor, when the Lord told him where he wanted him to build the church, and the Lord told him what to do, the Lord gave him the scriptures, the Lord directed him as to what to do. And he went and talked to this group of businessmen that had the ownership of this property. And he said, This is what I'll give you. And they said, No, couple reasons. Number one, it's not enough. Wait a minute, that's what God said. He said, number two, we don't even really want to sell it. Right? What did he do? He said, I went back to that stump, sat on the stump, and said, now what? I did what you told me. Now what? And the Lord said, wait three weeks and go off from $10,000 less. Right? He waited three weeks and went back and asked them and they said, Okay. Now there's more to it, but that's the gist of it. What did he do? What did he do? He had heard from God. You stay with what God said. He didn't go back to the stump and say, Well, I guess that wasn't God's will. I guess I didn't hear from you. There are people, the Bible says, the word of God says that you are led by the Spirit of God, that you are the sheep of Jesus, and you know his voice, and another you will not follow. You need to be declaring that over you. I know the voice of the good shepherd. I am not deceived in any manner. I only hear your voice and I only act on your voice. And he went back and he sat down. And what did he say? He didn't say, Well, I guess I missed it. Must not have heard from you, Lord. Was that really you? He said, No, I did what you told me to do. And they said, No. Now what? Amen. I don't know who I'm helping, but I'm telling you, if you're if you're dealing with issues, have you done what God told you to do? Have you done what the word of God told you to do? Yes, I have. Then it's going to turn for your benefit. It's going to turn out your way. You just got to keep living by the Word of God. Amen. Well, I've been sowing, but nothing's changing. Get that nothing's changing out of there. I have been sowing, so it is going to come back to me in the name of Jesus. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. God will supply all of my need. Why? Because I've been giving. I know this sounds simplistic, but it's, it's, it's, if you're going to put the word first place, then the word is first place in every area. But this doesn't seem to be changing. Who told you it wasn't changing? Who said that? Charles Capp said he was praying, praying in earnest. And the Lord spoke to him and said, What are you doing? He said, I was kind of offended. He said, I'm not, I'm praying. And the Lord said, You're not praying, you're complaining. Get up. And he said, I got up, and the Lord said, You've done nothing but tell me for the last hour what the devil's doing. He said, I'd appreciate it if you'd quit telling me what the devil's saying. And start saying what I'm saying. What do you say when the devil says something? You say the word. What do you say when the circumstances speak something different than what God says? You say the word. Oh, hallelujah. You got to make the quality decision to commit to the word. Commit to the word. Commit to the word. Quality decision to commit to the word. In whatever area it is, whatever it may be. Yeah, but this is going on in my life. What do I need to do? You need to speak to it. Jesus said, speak to it, and it would move. He said in the book of Luke, he said, if you had faith, you would say to this sycamine tree, be plucked up by the roof and be planted into the sea, and it should obey you. Is that right? He said in Matthew 21, 21, he said, You'll not only do, if you have faith, you'll not only do what was done to the fig tree, but if you would say to this mountain, be removed, be cast into the sea, it would happen. What is the it? Whatever you're saying. You're living by the word. So what does that mean? I don't ever fall in line with my circumstances. I don't come into agreement with my situation. I'm always speaking the end from the beginning. I'm calling those things that be not as though they were. I'm declaring what God said in the face of what the circumstances are saying. Hallelujah. Think about that. There are believers that it's been years since they've called the end from the beginning. They're consistently looking at what they have and declaring what they have. They're not calling the end from the beginning. The Bible says that's what God does. And then he said, be imitators of God. I went to lunch with a pastor one time and he pulled out Romans 10, uh Romans 10 or Romans 4, excuse me, where it says that God calls those things that be not as though they were. And he looked at me with all sincerity. And he said, Philip, I've come to understand that we can't call things that be not as though they were. Only God can do that. This was a man that used to preach and teach faith. He used to teach the word of faith. What happened? He quit living in the word. He got over there and started thinking somebody else's thoughts. You better be calling things that be not as though they were. If you call things that are as though they are, what are you going to have? More of what are. You got to call things that are not as though they are. Amen. I'm going to belabor this point for just a moment because this is so important. You're calling the end from the beginning. What do you want the end of this situation? I don't care in the sense of, now understand when I say I don't care. It doesn't matter what you're currently dealing with. How do you want it to end up? You got to call that. And if you're going to call that, it means you're going to be living by the word of God. Oh, hallelujah. Amen. So, in whatever the situation may be, whatever you're believing God for, what's the end result? What's the end result you want? If you're believing for healing, the end result you want is not just you want to feel better. You want that out of your body. You want it gone. Right? And if Jesus carried it and Jesus bore it, and then he said in the book of Exodus, He said, I have blessed your bread and your water, and I will take sickness from your midst. That means that if it's there, God can take it. God said, I will take it. And you're living by the word. And so when somebody says, How you're doing, you say, I'm doing great. The Lord has taken my sickness and my disease. Yeah, but I'm still dealing with it. The fact that you're dealing with it does not change the fact that he took it. You're living by the word of God. You're living by the word of God. I know I'm throwing a lot of these little stories in here, but when Miss Jeannie had her back broken in three places, they wanted to put two rods in her back. What did she say? She was living by the word. God loves me too much to let me be paralyzed. And there's nothing, there was nothing wrong with my back before this accident, and you're not going to cut on my back. I'm living by the word. I'm not telling you that you don't need to have surgery. I'm saying look at the go-to. Look where she went. She went back to the word. God loves me too much to let me be paralyzed. How would it help you if I told you God loves you too much to let you go under? God loves you too much to let you stay sick. God loves you too much to let you stay broke. All you got to do is turn and start living by the word of God. You gotta turn. I'll close with this. When Isaiah came to Hezekiah, and you can read this three different two different accounts in the Bible. When Isaiah came to Hezekiah, you know if you've ever read that, it always got me, Joe, how the man of God just came in and said, Thus says the Lord, set your house in order, for you shall die and not live. And not only say you'll die, he said, you shall surely die. What was that? That was an answer. Because Hezekiah had asked, Am I going to die or what? God said, You're gonna die. Right? Woo! Boy, that's that's tough stuff. I don't ever want to hear those words. Kind of like the Abimelech, you're but a dead man. Oh Lord, what have I done? I did this in the integrity of my heart. But notice what Hezekiah did. Now you know this, but notice what the Bible says he did. It says he turned. He turned his face. And what did he begin to do? He got over on the word. He started telling God how he had served him, how he had, right? What was he doing? Come now, let us reason together. Plead your case. What was Hezekiah doing? Pleading his case. God, I've done right. I haven't been like those kings in the past. I've tried, I've done everything I know to do to live for you. Right? And what happened? Isaiah's walking out of the house, got in the courtyard, and God said, Go tell him I'm going to give him 15 more years. Is that right? Why? Because he was living by the word. Living by the word. I I challenge you. And I don't believe I don't know that anybody has, but I just want to challenge you. If you've moved away from taking what we would call the drastic steps. You know, if there's something that you need, something you need to change in your finances, whatever it may be, get that thing out, lay hands on it, tell it to be paid, to be gone, to dematerialize, to come to nothing. Why? Because you'll have what you say. And then call for abundance. Amen. In my church, in my house, there is no lack. Because my God supplies all of my needs. Well, you mean you never see lack? I didn't say that. I said what I'm saying is there is no lack. Amen. Hallelujah. Make a quality commitment. The decision of quality, commit to the word. This is what the word of God says. You can never get any fresher message or revelation than that. This is this is why am I walking in love? Because the Bible says that I am a child of love, of a love God. God's nature is love. God's nature is on the inside of me. It's not foreign to me to walk in love. It's not hard. Amen. Hallelujah. Thank you, Father. Let's pray today. Father, in the name of Jesus. Lord, I thank you. I thank you for every person under the sound of my voice. Father, I pray in the name of Jesus. Any, Father, any individual that may be under the sound of my voice, that is in need of healing, health in their body in any area. Father, I speak health over their bodies in Jesus' name. I speak the healing power of God over their body. Father, your word says you sent your word and you healed them and delivered them from all of their destruction. Father, I thank you that their body is fearfully and wonderfully made. I thank you, Father, that their bloodstream is clear. I thank you that their arteries and their heart are elastic and clean in the name of Jesus. I thank you, Father, that their hearts beat with the rhythm of life and they transport nutrients and things that are necessary for health and longevity throughout their bodies in the name of Jesus. Father, I speak to their minds in Jesus' name. I speak to the cognitive functions of their bodies in the name of Jesus. And I declare in Jesus' name that their mind, their cognitive functions function perfectly in alignment with what you would have them to be in the name of Jesus. According to Deuteronomy 28, the loss of memory and the loss of cognitive function is under the curse. And the word that we live by says that our elder brother Jesus delivered us from the curse of the law because he became a curse for us, and so therefore you have turned the curse into a blessing. We receive it in Jesus' name. We receive it in Jesus' name. We declare your goodness is our portion. We declare that your peace is our portion. We declare that your victory is our portion. We have no portion with the defeated. We have no portion with the sick. We have no portion with the broke. We have no portion with the defeated. We only have a portion with the victorious. And Father, we're grateful. We thank you for it in the name of Jesus. I thank you for manifesting yourself in their lives today, Father. I thank you for them. I plead the blood over every family, Lord. I plead the blood over their marriages. I plead the blood over their children. I plead the blood over their finances. I plead the blood over their jobs in the name of Jesus. I plead the blood over their comings and goings, and I declare in the name of Jesus that in their pathway is life and there is no death. And I declare that as the redeemed of the Lord have come, they shall go and they shall return in the name of Jesus. Father, we thank you that every work of the devil is defeated in their life. We thank you that every work of the evil one is defeated in their life. We thank you, Father, that he has no say in their life. We thank you for the victory of God that is theirs in the name of Jesus. And they and their seed and their seed seed after them shall worship God and glorify God and shall serve the Lord their God with all their heart, their soul, their mind, and their strength. And I declare that generation after generation will declare that God has been good to that family. And Lord, we thank you for it in the name of Jesus. We magnify you. Thank you, Father, for this church that you've set us here in this city, Lord, as a spiritual production center to produce life, city, state, nation, and world, to build people's faith and frame their worlds by the word of God. We thank you that you've not just placed us here to reach to be in a city, but to reach a city. And Lord, we thank you for it in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Let's stand up today. Shall we? Good to see everybody.