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 bring 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 life city, state, nation, and world. Visit lifeoffaith.net today.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Let's um start over in Romans 4. And uh we're still looking at this. Uh we have been talking teaching on constant expectation. And um, when you when you're dealing with healing, you're you're always dealing with uh the the questions that people have, these different things uh you know concerning the will of God. And you know, I still talk to people in in meetings and and uh in churches, and we'll talk about you know healing, and someone will say, Well, I believe that you know uh God will heal if it's his will. Now we're not that's not where we're at today, but uh uh you know I we've proven conclusively over and over again from the word that it's absolutely 100% God's will to heal everybody, uh and and and obviously we have a part to play in that. And so that's why that's some of what we're we're dealing with. But you know in this constant expectation, if you if if someone was to come up to you and say to you today, what are you expecting? Well, depending on what you're doing in your day, I mean you may have it mapped out, you can kind of tell them what you're expecting. Um if you know someone is is um looking at things, believing things, uh standing for things, well, they may say they're expecting something. I'm expecting this, I'm expecting that. But this expectation is so important. Uh F.F. Bosworth, he wrote the book, Of course, Christ the Healer, just a classic on healing, and we've been quoting this statement that he made. He said, When we've learned the process of faith, we're receiving healing. We have learned how to receive anything else God promises in his word. When I've learned the process, now he he uses this word, the process. The process. See what people that say, well, if it's God's will, God will do it. What they do is they take all the responsibility away from them. And they're saying, Well, if God wants to heal me, then he will, and if he doesn't heal me, I guess it wasn't his will. And what they do is they omit the process. I have a part in the process. Right? You have a part in the process. If you look at just a natural situation, if you look at a marriage, if you're gonna have a good marriage over a long period of time, it requires the working from both sides. You can't have one party working on it and the other party saying, well, you know, if it's God's will, we'll have a good marriage. And just leaving it up to whatever. There's a process to it. There's a process to having a good marriage, there's a process to whatever that uh you're standing for. And we've talked about over the last two lessons about patience, which is that constant expectation of what God promised. And um the fact that there's no expiration date to that, right? That whatever God promised you, there's no expiration date. There's not a timestamp where he says, You've gone too far. I can't do anything now. Um we've talked about how for many one of the main enemies in their stand for healing is time. It's time. They get to looking at the time. Well, I've been believing God for six months. Well, what does that mean exactly? That means if I've got to believe God for six more months, I'll just believe for six more months. Right? There's no scripture that says when you start believing God, this is how long you'll have to believe, and then it'll happen. Right? I can speed it up or delay it, but there's no expiration date. And so you're up every day believing God for what God said. Right? So, um, right? We we taught Sunday morning here that we're living in the word. And so because we're living in the word, every day we get up and we're standing on the word. What did the word say? We're not living in the circumstance, we're not allowing it to make the decisions. And um get frustrated by time, whether it's six months, a year, a month, a day, a week, whatever it is, right? Because if you'll remember when uh in the Old Testament, when Naaman the Syrian went to Elisha, and uh when he went, the prophet didn't even come out to see him. He just sent Gehazi and said, Go wash seven times in the Jordan and you'll come forth clean. Well, remember what happened? He got frustrated. And here's what he said I thought, I thought he would do this, he would do that. And I've heard that over the years where healing is concerned. Well, I thought surely I'd be past this by now. Well, I mean, I understand where that frustration can come in, but if I don't continue to keep my expectation alive and thriving and fresh on what God's word said, that's why every day you're in the word about healing because you're declaring those healing things over your body. You're putting your eyes on the scriptures, and what happens? The Bible says his mercies are new every morning. And so there's a freshness, there's in it, there's a fresh power that comes into me every day because I'm declaring what God's word said over me. Amen. Now, faith for anything, there's three parts to this. Faith for anything, number one, comes by hearing. Faith for anything comes by hearing. And then faith for anything goes by saying. And then faith for anything grows by use. So it comes by hearing, it goes by saying, and it grows by use. That never changes. And so faith for anything comes by hearing. I cannot ever expect to believe that it's God's will to heal me if I'm never hearing anything about healing. Hallelujah. If you're believing God for healing in your body, you know, that's your job. That's what you're putting your eyes on, that's what you've got going in your ears. And obviously you're probably listening to other things, but the main bulk of your spiritual diet is what did God say about healing? Because that's how faith comes. And if you'll notice uh in Romans 10, 17, you can write that down. We won't necessarily turn there, but it says, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And it's been said that that in in the Greek that's that continuous sense. Faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing and hearing. There's no scripture that you can find that says faith comes by having heard. Well, I heard that. Well, what does that mean? Just because you heard it, faith comes by hearing. It didn't say faith comes the first time you hear it. It says faith comes by hearing. And so you never get, at the very least, you never get full faith after one hearing because there's so much more to it. And so I might realize that it's God's will for me to be healed after one hearing, but that doesn't mean I have faith to reach out and receive it. Because faith is the receiver. So what do I have to do? I have to hear and I have to hear and I have to hear and I have to hear and I have to hear. I told the story Sunday morning, standing in in the uh hospital with the young man that his family had been in this accident, and all of his children are recovering, and the word of God is working, and it's happening faster than anybody thought it would. And he looked at me. He looked at me and he said, Pastor, I've heard you say this over the years. He said, but I found in this situation how true it is. He said, it is a matter of life and death where you go to church. It's a matter of life and death. Why? Because you've got to be somewhere where you're hearing the word of God. How did they know how to respond to that situation that happened? How did they know to speak words of life? How did they know to take their stand on the word of God and say, My children will not die, but they will live and declare the works of the Lord? Well, they heard that over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. And when they needed it, the faith was there to act on it. Hallelujah. So faith comes by hearing, it goes by saying, and it grows by use. In Romans chapter 4 and verse 18, speaking about Abraham, it says, who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken, so shall your seed be. Now, God spoke that to him in Genesis 17, 5. And in Genesis 17, when you read Genesis 17, verse 1, it says that Abraham was 90 years old and 9. So he's 99 years old when God says this to him. And he says, notice at that age, he's 99. The Bible says that he was past the age at that point of father and a child. Sarah had always been barren, she never could have children, but yet he had already told him in Genesis 15 that it was through Isaac, through Sarah, that the promised seed was going to be born. Isaac was going to be born through Sarah. Now notice, it says, as it is written, I have made you a father of many nations. Yet at the time he was not a father of many nations. And he could see no possible way of being the father of many nations. Because it says, who against hope, notice what it says, who against hope believed in hope. Or against hope believed in hope. Well, we know that hope is an expectation. Hope is a picture. Right? If somebody says, I there's no hope in this situation. In other words, there's no route that they can see. There's no picture that they have. I've had people come to me and say, I need prayer because the doctors have said there is no hope. Well, what they're saying is that we don't see any way this can ever be right. I don't have a picture of this hope. So when Abraham looked at himself, and the Bible says uh in the Greek that he was fully aware of the condition of his physical body. He didn't ignore it, he didn't act like it didn't exist. When he looked at that, and then he looked at the deadness of Sarah's womb, the Bible says he did not consider that to be a reason to doubt God. Why? Because it says, who against hope believed in hope. Well, what was his hope? I have made you a father of many nations. I have made you a father of many nations. That's the picture that he had to believe in. That's the picture that he had to trust in. So against that picture, he believed the picture God had given him. And notice, how did God give him this picture? Romans 4, 17. Notice what it says. As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead. Now, there are people that they will say, Oh, yes, God can quicken the dead. God can bring the dead to life. He sure can. He's done it. But then notice the rest of it. And calls those things that be not as though they were. So not only does God quicken the dead, he calls things that be not as though they were. So how did he give Abraham this picture? He called things that were not as though they were. Hallelujah. God said to Abraham that he had made him a father of many nations. God calls those things that are not, that do not exist in the natural eye, as though they do exist. Now, again, that seems simple and elementary, but it's so key to this walk of faith. One translation says, and who speaks of the things that at present have no existence, and by natural causes and appearances are never likely to be at all as though they already actually were. Hallelujah. Now that's it that's how God does things. God never looks at you and says, Boy, you're really sick. There's just no hope for you. I mean, what you got, there's no coming back from it. That's not how God speaks. God calls things that be not as though they were. Hallelujah. So if you were to ask God, am I healed? God would say yes. Because God calls things that be not as though they were. Amen. Now, if amen. So you cannot call without your words. The way God gets his power into our lives is through his words. Look at Isaiah 46. Oh, we're gonna get it today. We're gonna get this today. Hallelujah. You might already have it, but you're gonna get some more. Isaiah 46 and 9. And God speaking, he says, Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there's none else. I am God and there's none like me. Notice what he does: declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all of my pleasure. So what does God say? Out of his own mouth, he says, Here's what I do. I declare the end of a thing from the beginning. All right, so he told Abraham, I call those things that be not as though they were. He says to Isaiah, I declare the end from the beginning. And so God looks at a situation and he starts calling the end of it from the beginning of it. So he never looks at the person who's dealing with a physical sickness and calls them what they're dealing with. He calls them what the end of it will be. And I don't have time to go there because there's so much to get into. But when they came to Jesus in the book of John and they said, uh, the one that you love is sick, speaking of Lazarus, and Jesus stayed there three more days. And before he, before it says he stayed there three days, he said, This sickness is not unto death. But the end result of it will be that God will get the glory, not out of the sickness, out of the life. What was Jesus doing? Calling the end from the beginning. Calling things that be not as though they were. Amen. God calls you healed when there's no evidence that you're healed. Now, again, in in spirit-filled circles, charismatic circles, circles that teach and preach this regularly, that's elementary information. But here's the thing that's where the power's at, is understanding that that's not just something that we do because that's what we believe. That's how God releases his power. That's how God gets his power into the situation. Yes, I have to believe him, but what do I believe about him? I believe what he said. Nobody in this room has ever seen Jesus physically heal anybody. Nobody has ever seen the physical hand of God heal anybody. But yet we'll say God will heal you. How do we know God will heal you? Because He said. He put His Word, gave His words to us. And so when I take the Word of God and God says I'm healed, He says it when there's no evidence that I'm healed. If I was healed, God would not have to tell me I was healed. In the natural, I may be dealing with something, but God will call me healed when there's no evidence that I'm healed. Calling and declaring both require words. Your dog will look at you and say, What are you doing, fool? Right? You gotta call the dog. Right? Hallelujah. Say that out loud. Say, call the dog. See, this is so important. I've got to call it. I've I I told a person one time, I said, it's gonna go the way you call it. How are you calling it? Listen, when you have an umpire behind the plate in a baseball game, what's he doing? What do we call that? He's calling the game. What's he doing? He's calling balls and strikes. Right? He's making the call. That's a strike, that's a ball. That's he's out, whatever the case may be. How does he do that? Through his words. He's calling it. Hallelujah. Look at Proverbs 18. Proverbs chapter 18. And verse 21. He says this. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Death and life are in the power of a tongue. I heard a very well-known minister say one time that you know what Solomon wrote in Proverbs that they were good anecdotes and they were good things to try to live your life by, but they were not things that necessarily were absolutely true. Well, I don't listen to him no more. But here's the point, right? Because the Bible says every word of God is true. But notice what it says it says death and life are in God's power. No, it says are in the power of the tongue. Is that right? They're in the power of the tongue, life and death. Now I've heard people say this the power of life and death are in the tongue. That's misquoting that scripture. It says death and life are in the power of the tongue. Not the power of death and life are in the tongue. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. The control of the tongue. The hand of the tongue. If you read through the word of God and you like you read through the Old Testament, especially, and it says it it when God was talking about Ishmael to Abraham, he said, and his hand will be against everybody. His hand will be against everybody. The hand represents might. It represents power. When the Bible wants to talk about the power and the might of God, especially in the Old Testament, it says he made bare his right hand, his right arm, the power and the might of God. All right. So this word power, it can mean hand. It can mean the strength, the ability. Right? Of life and death are in the tongue. Hallelujah. Do you see this? And so here's the thing. What does that mean? That when a person is saying things like this, now it's not just negative or positive, but when they're saying, I'm so sick, I'm so sick, I'm so sick. Sickness is in the power of the tongue. Hallelujah. Well, what am I supposed to say? I am sick. Well, you can say something like I'm taking healing. I know what I'm dealing with, but I thank God that I'm healed. According to the word of God, I'm healed. Now, again, while I understand that's elementary, here's the thing: you can know these nuances of faith, and yet it's not something that I put my confidence in. If I believe this, that death and life are in the power of the tongue, I will be watching what my tongue says. Very carefully. I won't allow anything. Right? Because, right? When you know that your words have power, and then a person, not you, but you know, when a person knows they have their words have power, and then they go speak things that are contrary to what they're believing, should they, should they have, should it be any wonder to them that they're receiving what they don't want when they're saying what they don't want? Hallelujah. Do you see that? If you go to a restaurant and you sit down and you're thinking, here, you know, I'm I'm I uh I want a salad. But they come and you order a hot dog. And then they bring you a hot dog. And you say, Why'd you bring me a hot dog? I didn't want a hot dog. I wanted a salad. You told me you wanted a hot dog. I do what you tell me. I don't do what you want, I do what you tell me. You understand what I mean by that? So when a person says, I want God to heal me, I want God to heal me, I want God to heal me, I'm sick, I'm sick, I'm sick, I'm sick. God doesn't do what we want, He does what we say. No, but the Bible says here, give me whatever I want. He said you have to ask for it. You have to ask for what you want. And I've had people tell me, well, the Lord, you know, the Lord knows what I need, so He'll just, you know, His will be done. That's a foolish statement. That's a foolish statement that will cause that person great harm. Why? Because you when you do something like that, you throw the door wide open to the devil. The door's wide open to him because you're putting up no defense. The Bible says in the book of Proverbs, chapter 20, he that keeps his mouth, keeps his life. You keep your mouth, you keep your life. That's that's why? Because that's how it's designed. Oh, hallelujah. So they're in the hand or the power of the tongue. That's the power of the words we speak. That's the power of the words we speak. So, now I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on this, so that's why you're watching your words. I'm watching my words. We're watching what we say. I don't want to constantly go around talking about how tired I am, how wore out I am, I just don't have no energy, can't figure it out, and I'm tired, and I'm this, and I'm that, and I'm the other. Right? We talked about that a few weeks ago. The Bible says God gives power to the faint. And to those that have no strength, he increases their might. He says that young men will grow weary, and the young men will grow faint, and they'll fall by the wayside. But to those that wait upon the Lord, he renews their strength. Oh, hallelujah. So, right? Instead of saying I'm tired, how about I'm renewing in strength? Might is coming into me in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Now, be honest, I'm not talking about you and probably not anybody online, so I'm not talking about you, anybody in here. I'm telling you about people you know. Most believers that you know are not that consistent with what they believe, they say they believe in the Word of God. It's got to be answered consistently. That's gotta be your statement about everything. Everything. Now we're gonna get into some works of faith too, because this speaking our words, we you know, we call that faith. And it is. And there's other things that need to be to it, but we've got to look at some more verses. You know, something that that the Lord impressed on me, and I have, you know, I have it all over the house. And it was this. If you go in my house, you see it all over the place. Philip, Michelle, and Liliana Steele will only love life and see good days. That's it. When people say, how's things going? We're loving life and seeing good days. It doesn't matter what's going on in the world. It doesn't matter what, it doesn't matter what's going on in their life or their life, I will only love life and see good days. And you might be standing for something and standing in a physical battle. And you might say, but I'm not I'm not seeing good days. Yeah, but you are if you're calling things that be not as though they were. This is so important. If the doctor looks at you and says, there's no natural hope, you're in a very good position. Why? Because that means you're totally dependent upon God. And I would always rather be in a position where I'm totally dependent upon God. Because the Bible says the arm of flesh can fail. It says God will never fail. Amen. Do you see that? Look at Mark 11. The Lord said something to Charles Caps. And he said this. He said, It is my greatest desire that my people create a better life by the spoken word. Amen. I knew Brother Charles, I know his family. I'm on the board of Cap's Ministries, and I'm I'm I only say that for one reason. So I know the family, I know the ministry, I knew him. Here's the thing he would not have said that God said something that God didn't say. And God said to him, It is my greatest desire that my people create a better life by the spoken word. Well, if that's God's greatest desire, I want to be in on it. Mark 11, verse 23. Notice this. He said, Truly I say to you, Jesus said this, that whoever will say to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but believe that those things which he saith will come to pass, he will have whatever he says. Now, those are not words that somebody quoted, those are words that fell from the lips of Jesus. And notice what Jesus said. I will have whatever I say. Now there are people who say, Well, I don't believe that. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter if you believe it or not. Jesus said it would happen. Well, I'm not having whatever I say. Well, you are. You are having whatever you say. Just follow that person around. They'll talk about how sick they are and what are they? They're what? They're sick. So what are they having? Whatever they said. Amen. Well, I'm just this or I'm just that. And you follow them around, they're having one, but yet they'll say, Well, I don't believe that, you know, you you people that say that, I don't believe that you can have whatever you say. But Jesus said I could. No, he didn't just say I could, he said I would. He will have whatever he says. Hallelujah. Do you see the importance of being specific? The importance of being, I mean specific about what I'm saying. Not using words like wore out, not using words like sick, not using those words. Why? Because I'll have whatever I say. Hallelujah. I I've had people tell me before, well, you know, I just, when I when I when I say things, when I say I'm healed, when I feel sick, I just feel like I'm lying. How can you be lying saying what Jesus said? You just cannot. See, this is the essence of faith. Jesus said, in verse 22, have faith in God. That phrase in the Greek is have the God kind of faith, or have God's faith. And it's and it's in the Greek, it's it it also says constantly. Have God's faith constantly. And then he says, Whatever you say, speak to the mountain. Well, what would the mountain be? Well, what are you dealing with in your physical body? What is that thing that's there that needs to be moved? He said, if I spoke to it, what did he say? If I don't doubt in my heart but believe that those things I say will come to pass, I'll have whatever I say. So the end result of that is that it is removed. Hallelujah. Look at Matthew 21. And I understand that we're emphasizing this, but that's okay, it needs to be emphasized. Matthew 21 and 21, this is the same account from Mark 11, just from Matthew's perspective. And Jesus said unto them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you shall not only do this which was done to the fig tree, it withered away, but also if you shall say to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea, what'll happen? It will be done. Now that's what Jesus said. Hallelujah. Jesus said, if I said it, it would be done. Now, but notice how he prefaced this. If you have faith. Remember how faith comes? By hearing. If you have faith. So somebody that that that hears like what we're teaching today, that's never heard anything about healing, they might come and say, oh, so all I got to do is say it. Well, saying it is involved, but I've got to take time to get faith in my heart. How does faith come? By hearing. And hearing. And hearing. And hearing by the word of God. Faith goes by saying. But notice, if you say, it will be done. If you say, it will be done. Say it out loud. If I say, it will be done. Now again, these are words that Jesus spoke. Hallelujah. Now Luke 17. Luke 17 and verse 6. And the Lord said, Jesus said, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this sycamine tree, be plucked up by the root and be planted in the sea, and it should obey you. It will do what you say. So if you have faith, you'll say. If you have faith, you will say. Faith goes by saying. And what will happen? It will do what you say. And do you see this? And so if a person says, for instance, if a person says, well, and you fill in the body part, whatever your organ, eye, ear, whatever it is that you're believing, disease that needs to be gone, whatever it is, I declare in the name of Jesus that this is strong, that this is well in the name of Jesus. But then you get in a in a in a in a situation and it's like uh it doesn't feel well, it doesn't feel right. And then what you'll see is a lot of times that person will say, Well, this is just not working. It's no good, it's it's whatever. Well, if you had faith, you would say. And then notice another thing that I learned over the years, I learned from Charles Caps, what you say, let it stay said. Don't pluck it up. Words are seeds. Right? Words are seeds. It's like the guy that that was planting a garden. And they asked him, they said, Well, you know, are your uh are your cucumbers coming up yet? He said, No, they're not growing at all. They said, How do you know? He said, Well, I dig them up every day and check on them. Right? Well, they're never gonna grow. They're never gonna grow. And so what you say, remember that the Bible says your words are like seeds, and what you grow, what you say, you gotta let it stay said. Don't say anything contrary to that. And we're not just talking negative and positive. Do you see this? So when you say, I'm the healed of the Lord, now let that stay said. That's what I am, I'm healed. When somebody asks, how are you? Healed. When somebody asks, how's that going? I'm healed. When somebody asks, how do you feel? I'm healed. When somebody asks, what's the prognosis? I'm healed. Now it doesn't mean you're denying something, denying what may be uh the medical prognosis or whatever, but you're the establishing witness. What do you say? You know, my mother taught me about being the establishing witness, and she wasn't even using faith to do it. Right? But she used to say things like, and maybe yours did too. My mother was big to say this. I don't care what everybody else is doing. This is my house, and you're my child, and we're not doing it. I'm in other words, I'm the establishing witness here. Right? So, whatever everybody else is doing, I don't know. But this is what I'm doing. Amen. I don't know how everybody else is doing, but here's what I'm doing. I'm healed. I'm well, I'm strong in the name of Jesus. Amen. Why? Because if you have faith, you'll say. You'll say in in the face of everything. Hallelujah. What harms a lot of people in their stand of faith is just inconsistency. Faith requires consistency. I've got to be consistent with what I'm believing, what I'm saying. Consistency in any area is what's going to win the day. And so I'm consistently declaring, consistently saying, right? And what's happening then is then there's a momentum that begins to build on the inside of me. There's a momentum that begins to build in my spirit. Now, so if you have faith, you will say. And he said it will do what you say. Now, I have to add works of faith to what I'm saying. Look at James 2. James chapter 2, verse 17. And we'll read verse 17, then we'll read verse 20. James says, even so, if it does not have works, faith is dead being alone. Even so, faith, if it does not have works, is dead being alone. Verse 20. But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead. All right, inoperative, non-energized. Hallelujah. Now we would call speaking to our body faith. That's faith. There's no such thing as quiet faith. Faith is speaking. All right? Yet James states that there are works of faith that can be seen. Hallelujah. So hold on, because we got to talk about this for a minute. So I can say I have a strong heart and then eat things that are contributing to my heart issue. I'm not taking an act of faith. Now I know there's people maybe watching online, maybe in the room. Well, you know, and I and I know what you're you're thinking. Well, the Bible says there's nothing that's to be uh uh, you know, uh uh uh pushed away that you give thanksgiving and praise over. I'm ready for you. All right? Because understand something. Understand this. Understand, first of all, the context of what Paul said when he wrote that scripture. It was not talking about eating things that are not good for you, it was talking about things that were sacrificed to idols. And he said, if you go to somebody's house and they have bought meat from the people that sacrificed it to idols, he said, an idol's nothing. And he said, Don't refuse it, sanctify it, consecrate it to God, and eat it. Now there was another time that he said, if they serve you things that were sacrificed to idols, and there's a weak brother there, a new believer, and he says that was sacrificed to an idol. He said, Don't eat it, because you'll make your brother fall. He wasn't talking about eating things that contribute to your ill health, just praying over it. Smith Wigglesworth, one time, he was in San Francisco and he was preaching in a church there, and they took him out to eat, right? And when they took him out to eat, it was in this uh uh, excuse me, they were having a uh dinner at the church, and they brought in a roasted pig and had it, you know, with the apple in its mouth, the whole nine yards. And they asked Brother Smith if he would bless the food. And he stood up and he said, Father, if you can bless what you have cursed, bless this foul pig. Now there are people, here's what they'll say. They'll say, well, you know, all of those nutrition things, there are no dietary guidelines anymore. And all of that, we're free from that. We can do whatever we want. Listen, understand this. It's no longer a sin to eat certain things. It's no longer, we'll no longer separate you from God's law to eat certain things. Doesn't mean it's good for you. I gotta be careful because you know, I am in Little Rock, Arkansas. Right? You know, people say, oh, I just love fried catfish, but God said don't eat it. He said, don't eat catfish. Well, it's not good for you. Now you do whatever you want. I'm not telling you how to eat. See, that's why I don't get into this stuff. But he said there are acts of faith. So think about this. It has been proven conclusively. Proven conclusively, a diet high in oil, a diet high in fried foods contributes to clogged arteries, high cholesterol, causes heart problems. If you're believing God for a heart healing, for healing in your heart, then I'm probably not going to be going to KFC after church on Sunday. Right? Yeah, but I love fried chicken, but your heart doesn't. And if you say, watch, if you're saying, I have a strong heart, my heart beats with the rhythm of life, my arteries are clean and elastic, it they transport nutrients throughout my body. Um my heart beats with the rhythm of life, it beats with the perfect rhythm, then I'm gonna follow through with the action of faith. Which is what? I have a clean heart, so I'm gonna eat like I got a clean heart. I heard a minister say something that I respect greatly. I know this minister. I heard him say something, I respect him greatly. It's not a criticism. But he said he didn't have a heart attack, but he was one day he was doing something and he just felt something. And so the Holy Spirit prompted him to go to the doctor. And so he went to the doctor, and when he had been born, he didn't know it, but he had a uh a deformity in his uh valves in his heart. And the doctor said they they did open heart surgery on him. And the doctor said, if you had not come in when you did, he said, that's what we call a widowmaker. He said, You would you would have died. Now the Holy Spirit got him there. But then here's what I didn't, man. I when he said it, I just cringed. He said, and so I'm fixed now. He said, I can eat whatever I want. No, you can't. Not and maintain your health. I'm not telling you how to eat. I'm not a medical professional. But but but but I I I look at these things. It's acts of faith. Oh, hallelujah. If if I'm battling, if a person's battling cancer, then I'm gonna be eating things that I know contribute to my health and help ward it off, not things that feed it. Two years ago, I brought my mother here because she was battling cancer in Kentucky. I say battling it, she was dealing with it. Stage four from the very beginning, stage four from the very beginning, stage four cancer. All right? And uh, and of course, listen, mom was a minister of the gospel. I have, I have, I have, there's so much I could say there, but here's the thing. There, there were deficiencies there. And here's the thing. Every doctor's appointment that I took my mother to. Now, when you're battling cancer on a on a high level, you got, you don't just have one doctor's appointment a month or a week. You got five a week. Sometimes you got five in one day. Because you got to go, you got to go to the oncologist, you got to go to the primary care physician, then you got to go up to the the cancer center uh at St. Vincent's, and you got to get a shot, and then you got to go over here, and then you got to go to wound care, and it's you got all this going on. Here's the thing that I want you to see. In all of those visits, nobody ever talked to her about nutrition. Nobody never said anything to her about that. Anything that I wanted to find out, I had to find out for myself. This is important. So, you know, if you're battling cancer, you probably don't want to be eating sugar. You probably don't want to be eating donuts and cake and pie. Why? Sugar feeds cancer. It's it's clinically proven. There's there's no there's no question about it. So an act of faith would be I'm not gonna eat that. You see what I'm trying to get at? People say, I'm healed, I'm strong, I'm well, pass the chicken. I'm healed, I'm strong, I'm well, give me the Doritos. I'm healed, I'm strong, I'm well. This is my sixth pop today. Let's see, it's not an act of faith. An act of faith is I prefer an apple over chips. Well, I don't prefer an apple over chips. Yeah, but you'll have what you say. So you gotta retrain your body. Mmm, glory. I just I what I want you to understand is there's faith to get healed, and then there's acts of faith to stay healed. How can I say, I believe God that He will keep me from cancer and then smoke, dip, chew, do whatever? How can I say, I believe God to keep me free and I'm doing the very thing that will cause it? I can say it and say it and say it. I'm healed, I'm healed, I'm healed. Put a pinch between the cheek and gum. I'm healed, I'm healed, I'm a cancer-free zone, I'm a cancer, I'm a cancer-free zone. No, you can't do that. Hallelujah. No more than you can say, my my blood sugar is at the perfect normal range. Give me another piece of pie. You can't do that. You cannot do that. Why? Because that's not that that's that's going against what you're saying. So now do you see why Paul said, Whatever you eat, you eat it in faith. So why why are you not eating that certain thing? Because you're in faith about your healing. Why are you not drinking that? Because you're in faith about your healing. Glory to God. Do you see this? You cannot say I'm healthy, fit, and strong, and then eat whatever you want whenever you want. You hear me? You you you hear you you hear me? Not talking to any of y'all. You hear me? This is it, this is important. You know, years ago, this has been, oh my goodness, this would have been 98, 1998, 99, maybe. And uh, I had just, oh my goodness, it was horrible. It was the allergies, just horrible. And my dad had dealt with that. And so, and and it didn't help the words that were always said. Well, you know, that just runs in the steels, and you know, there's nothing anybody can do about it, and and blah, blah, blah. Uh, they they were they were uh they always called it hay fever, and I never knew what hay fever was. I'm never around hay. I don't understand, you know. But in any event, uh I I thought, you know, I went to prayer about it, and I was believing God to heal me. And and I say this and I don't say it arrogantly, but I'm used to getting my prayers answered. I'm used to what I say coming to pass, and this wasn't moving. And so I went to the Lord about it. And uh I won, I would like to say the Lord boom from heaven is this, my son. But he didn't do that, right? We were at Mardell in uh uh uh Lanexa, Kansas. Uh Olatha, excuse me. We were in uh Mardell, and I I went by this discount rack, and you know you always look at the discount rack just to see what's on discount. And there was a book there by uh Dr. Colbert, Don Colbert, called The Bible Cure for Allergies. I still got that book written in '98, so it'd have been that same year that it was written. And I read through the book, and really what I had read so far, none of it applied to me. I'm like, well, that's wonderful. I mean, great, but I don't eat that, and I don't eat that, and I don't eat that. And then he got over here and he said, if you're constantly dealing with what seems like allergies, he said, look at your dairy intake. Now I'm not telling you to do that, I'm just I'm using this is what happened to me. I know where I was and I know where I'm at. All right, it was horrible. And and as I was reading that, I got to thinking. I have a glass of milk in the morning. I'll drink a glass of milk in the afternoon. Right? I'll I was literally milk in the morning, milk in the evening, milk when the sun goes down, right? I mean, I just that that was my go-to. Right? And and this is and and then cheese and and all that stuff, and I'm not getting into that. I'm just telling you what happened to me. Now I'm believing for healing. This is my point. I'm believing, I'm saying it. I'm allergy free. Allergies are under the curse of the law. I'm redeemed from that, according to Galatians 3.13. This is not my first rodeo preaching this. I've been preaching this for 30 years. All right? I was declaring that and it wasn't moving. And I said, okay, Lord, I see this could be the problem. I'll cut it out of my life. Right? Within two weeks, they were symptoms were gone. Gone. Gone. Now here's the thing. If I start adding that back into my life, I'll start dealing with the same symptoms. And people say, so God didn't heal you. It was no, God did heal me. He answered, he answered my prayer, he answered my confession by showing me the act of faith that I needed to take. Oh, hallelujah. Do you see that? So it's it's that act of faith. So I can't say, I can't, I can't say things like, you know, uh uh I declare that arthritis is a thing of the past, and my bones and joints are well and whole and healed, and then eat and drink things that are producing acidic content in my body and causing my joints to swell and causing these things to be painful. Why? Because the more I say it, faith is coming, but faith can be undone by my actions. Now, I'll I'll I've got 10 minutes, so let me say this. It's like the person that says, I'm believing God for abundance. I'm believing God for abundance, abundance and no lack. Charge it. I'm not talking about a person that uses their credit card and pays it off every month. I'm talking about somebody that's already got credit card debt. And they're saying, I'm believing God for abundance. Now just put it on the charge card. I want to go to that, I want to go to this, I want to do this. Just put it on the charge card. Do you see how what would it what would an act of faith be if they're in that bad of a position? Cut the card up. Or at least put it away and pay it off. Are you following me? Whatever it may be. Yeah, but I I need I need another car. Or I can get the one I have fixed up and and deal with it until I can really afford to get another one. Well, how about this? We'll just both ride in one car. I'll take the bus to work. You see what I'm trying to say? Because that same person will say, I'm so I'm sowing, I'm giving, I'm I'm I'm tithing, I'm I'm giving into the offerings, I'm believing God, I got my confession going. But then when it came time for an act of faith, I did everything contrary to what I said I was believing for. Hmm. Glory. Words of faith require acts of faith. And sometimes people get too too much onto that because there's a ditch on both sides of the road. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. Sometimes the first act of faith is just what am I saying? Maybe I just quit calling myself sick as an act of faith. Amen. Let me let me tell you this story. I was uh, I've told you before, but it bears repeating. You know, pastors have stories, and and I used to say pastors have the gift of redundancy, but then I thought that don't sound too good. But pastors have this gene that that they don't mind saying things over and over again. Here's the thing. Uh I had a pastor's wife, she called me, and I'd known this pastor for oh my goodness, 20 years at the time, and uh he had been diagnosed with cancer. And uh she said, Would you come over and pray for him? And I said, Of course I would. And so uh I remember the day I uh uh brother Jim, Pastor Jim Molson, he helps us with the Kansas location. I called him and said, Would you go with me to minister to this pastor? And so we were on our way over, and the Lord told me on the way over there. He had told me that morning, but he told me again. He said, When you get there, he said you need to take him to Isaiah 53 and 5, Matthew 8, 17 and 18, and 1 Peter 2.24. All of those verses say that Jesus carried our sicknesses and bore our diseases, and with his stripes were healed. And he said this to me. He said, and here's what I want you to do. I want you to tell him to lay back and close his eyes, and I just want you to repeat those scriptures to him over and over and over. And so I got there and and uh I talked to his wife. She had the Christian television on, and and and uh I said to uh Christian television station, I said, Can we turn that off? And she said, Okay, and she turned it off. And I told him what the Lord said. I said, I want you to just lay back and I'm just gonna repeat these scriptures to you. So for the better part of an hour, maybe over an hour, I just went over those scriptures with him. And and there was such an enlightenment in him before we ever left. I could say, I could see that that that he was feeling better. And then, but the Lord told me to tell him, now, and his wife, every day you need to do this. And if I remember correctly, it was three times a day. You need to do this. You just need to go over and over and over these verses. Now, here's why the Lord told me that. He said, the word has not been coming out of their mouth to the measure of what they're dealing with. They gotta catch up. Right? They have to catch up because those words of faith have to consistently be spoken. It's not enough to know God wants to, it's not enough to know God will or God can. It's it's what am I consistently declaring? Amen. And um, you know, they they they started doing that. And it wasn't, I was ministering at a church in uh independence, Missouri, and uh uh at a faith refresher that they were having, that's what they called it. And uh, and I looked up, and here come that pastor. He came walking in. He'd not been out of his house in almost a year because he'd been so weak and and couldn't couldn't get around. But but here he was, just by the word that they were speaking, and the word that they were hearing. Now he's in heaven today, but I've watched God raise him up. Amen. And so when you're declaring the word, words of faith, you're taking acts of faith, words of faith and acts of faith will do what? Receive faith results. They'll receive faith results. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This this is so important in our expectation because what I'm saying is evidence of what I'm expecting. What I'm saying is evidence of what I'm expecting. Hallelujah. So let's say this today. Say it out loud. Say, Father, in the name of Jesus, I declare anything that has been planted in my body that was not planted by you is pulled up, it's removed, it's taken away in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Say it out loud. My body refuses tumors, growths, cancer, heart disease, blood disease. I am free from it according to the word of God. Say this my body produces the right chemicals in the right amount to produce and sustain life. My blood pressure is normal, my blood sugar is normal, my blood count is normal. I'm whole and healed in Jesus' name. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Just take a moment and thank him for being totally whole and healed in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. We're whole and strong and healed in the name of Jesus. Oh, Father, we thank you for it in Jesus' name. We ha, we are energetic, we are full of strength in the name of Jesus. Oh Father, hallelujah. Lord, we thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Oh, the Lord is good to us. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And I like to ask, obviously, in every healing school if you'd like hands laid on you, we'll lay hands on you in faith.