Second Peter 1. Last week we did Second Peter 1.4 and we talked about promises of God. Second Peter 1.4 talked about the promises of God. Today we start with Second Peter 1.5. Hi Joey, everything OK? Everyone wants to be a preacher.
Second Peter 1.5 and we will probably stay there for a while because today we just pick on one word, faith. So if you go to Second Peter 1, reading from verse 3 onwards, His divine power—Second Peter 1.3-5 for today, reading from the NIV—His divine power—oh, by the way, I forgot.
This is Russell. I forgot to introduce him. Russell said he wanted to stay hidden. He was glad I didn't introduce him, but now I have.
So Second Peter 1.3, His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.
And then last week we talked about Second Peter 1.4. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
And today we do. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness knowledge. So today we start with faith. If I read it from another version, it will say verse 5.
So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character and spiritual understanding.
So we are talking about basic faith. One of the best places to go for basic faith is Hebrews 11. Let's go 1 to 8 today. Hebrews 11, 1 to 8.
So let's look at Hebrews 11, 1 to 8, because we're talking about basic faith. Hebrews 11, 1 to 8, reading from the NIV.
Now faith is a confidence, or let me read from the ESV. Doesn't matter. Now faith is the assurance, now let's read from the NIV.
Now faith is a confidence in what we hope for and the assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.
By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God's command so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
By faith, Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith, he was commended as righteous when God spoke well of his offerings.
And by faith, Abel still speaks even though he is dead. By faith, Enoch was taken from this life so that he did not experience death.
He could not be found because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
And without faith, it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
By faith, Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear, built an ark to save him and his family.
By his faith, he condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
We'll stop at verse 8. By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going.
So, basic faith. We start with the understanding that faith on one hand is oriented towards the future.
Faith on one hand is oriented towards the future. Faith on one hand is oriented towards the future.
And it's a hoped for reward that you're after. It's a hoped for reward that you're after because it's been promised by God.
It's been promised by God and you expect it to be realized. So that's one side of faith.
So it's oriented...what happened? All good, Brandon?
Okay. So faith is oriented towards the future. Faith is oriented towards the future.
Faith is oriented towards the future and it has to have hoped for rewards.
So whenever you say you are now standing in faith or showing faith, do you have a hoped for reward? What are you hoping for?
And if you don't have a hoped for reward, then it is not faith.
And the hoped for reward has to be based on a promise of God that is either already in the Scriptures or comes from his nature or is based out of him speaking to you from Scriptures and his nature.
Okay, let's go over that again. Faith is oriented towards the future. It's something...that's one part of faith. We'll talk about the second part.
It's oriented towards the future. It is a hoped for reward. So you've got to have hoped that there's a reward waiting.
If there is no such hope, then it's not faith. It has to be promised by God.
The promise has to be from Scripture or from his nature or from what he has said to you directly that is in accord with his nature and Scriptures.
And you must have an expectation that it will be realized. If those things are absent, it's not faith. It's wishing. It's kesara-sara. It is Hail Mary. But it's not faith.
Any question? No?
So can you believe that it's a promise?
Or he may speak directly to you in here or through a prophetic word or something, but that also has to line up with Scriptures and with his nature.
And then there must be the expectation that it will be realized.
Without expectation, faith doesn't exist.
So is that an expectation? Anything else? It's wishful thinking, throwing coins in a well, kesara-sara, or I don't remember the last one.
So that's one side of faith. Faith is oriented towards the future.
The next one is faith is also the unseen reality. Faith is also the unseen reality of God's power present now.
The unseen reality of God's goodness present now. The unseen reality of God's provision present now.
The unseen reality of it. How confident or how expectant are you of that?
These are the two opening sentences of Hebrews chapter 11. This is how God defines faith.
The unseen reality of his power present now.
So sometimes it's annoying when Tooney in the middle of the song says, oh, freedom is here now, bondages will be broken.
And you think to yourself, please, can I just stick to holy? I can handle that.
But why is he saying freedom is here now, bondages can be broken, depression can lift? Why is he saying that?
Because the unseen reality of the power of God, the goodness of God, the presence of God, and the provision of God is part of living faith.
And it doesn't have to happen in the context of a congregation. It can happen when you're walking alone.
That is unseen reality. That is what the ancients were commended for, as in the ones who went before us were commended for.
The unseen reality of his power. You realize what a huge gap now lies between his description of faith and our walk of faith.
Huge gap. Am I walking in the unseen reality and the expectation of his power, of his goodness, and of his provision, and of his presence on a normal basis?
No. I might exert faith in a crisis or I might exert faith for you. But this is not my unseen reality.
Is it yours?
Is that a yes or a no? Don't worry. Any questions?
Example of the unseen reality.
Abraham. Let's pick on him.
Abraham. Let's pick on him. He lived in the unseen reality that when God asks him to leave people and go because he's going to give him an inheritance, that his presence, his power, his goodness, and his provision will be with a man who is leaving clan, country, nation, family, and setting off on his own, led not even by the stars, but by a voice that none of his ancestors have ever heard of.
His father was an idol worshiper. He has no prior history. But this unseen reality keeps him. And then every time he begins to get scared, God will turn up and say, I am your exceeding great reward and shield. And it reassures him again.
But he walks in this continuously.
And so is that how we go about our business?
And the reason we don't go about this way is because of the assault of the visible world on our thinking. The assault of the visible world upon our thinking.
The assault of the visible world upon our thinking. And that's something we need to completely undo if we want to become heroes that get added to Hebrews 11, verse 42.
Don't be modest and say, no, I don't want to be in Hebrews 11. We named ourselves Acts 29. You're stuck.
Yep.
Yeah.
A reward is something in the future that you may not even get. The strange thing is Abraham is walking in the unseen reality of God's goodness, provision, presence, and power. And yet he is walking towards a reward that he knows has not been built with human hands.
It's a city that he knows he won't even get here on earth. But it keeps fueling him because he knows if he doesn't get his, get it, his descendants will get it.
Faith is really not about answers for you. We are the ones who have made faith a means to get what we want. Faith is a means to bring to pass here on earth what heaven wants.
And in the process, some of the things you want may be what heaven wants to, maybe what Christ died for too. But we got to shift and stop using faith as personal currency for personal goals.
And shift first to faith is the way that I bring to pass on heaven, the things bring to pass on earth, the things that heaven wants. Your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.
And for that we need to reach back into the past and connect. This is what all the guys in Hebrews 11 did. You never find a guy in Hebrews 11 who got a job or got a raise.
Or got a wife, a wife they did get. But, and getting a wife is a good thing. All you guys there.
Happy birthday.
Yeah, so this is the cool thing about faith that all the guys mentioned in Hebrews 11 were guys who got things that heaven was planning for us.
And that's what we're going to do. We're going to get to know the world. We're going to get to know the world.
Where is he? There he is.
Yeah, so this is the cool thing about faith that all the guys mentioned in Hebrews 11 were guys who got things that heaven was planning for us.
But it required a man or a woman to stand. And the moment they stood, it was released.
That is so cool about this thing called faith. In the process you get provided for and all that stuff.
Remember guys always, all these things shall be added unto you so that you don't have to worry about it so that you can seek what is important.
What's the great thing about not having a business but being an employee? You don't have to worry about earning.
That guy who sits in the big office higher up, higher up on the building, he pays you this thing. You don't have to worry about it.
Imagine if soldiers had also to work for their living.
So on one hand faith is oriented towards the future where a hope for hoped for reward promised by God is realized.
On the other hand, it's also the unseen reality of God's power, provision, presence in the present.
So when we talk about things not seen, things not seen, things not seen, we're talking about things not seen.
We are talking about the power of God available for His people in the present.
Can you reorient your understanding of faith along those lines?
And then there's things hoped for, things hoped for.
When we talk about things hoped for, we're talking about future reward. We're talking about future reward.
But you live as if the things hoped for are real now.
And if you look at Abraham's life, Abraham conducted his whole life on these assumptions.
On these two assumptions.
So things not seen is the power of God actually.
Things not seen is not the same as things hoped for.
Things not seen is, hey, I can't see it, but the invisible God who is present here is present here with power, with goodness, with absolute faithfulness.
It's called loyal faithfulness.
Here's the strange thing. It's a strange term.
Loyal faithfulness.
With provision and with goodness, He's present here now.
Is that sufficient for me to trust that the words that I speak will become life and spirit?
As I speak right now, I'm speaking from my notes, I'm speaking from the point of view of a mere mortal.
But is it possible for me to at this instant believe that as I speak, that the provision, the faithfulness, the presence and the power and the goodness of God will be sufficient
to take the words that I speak and make them John 6 63, where the words I speak to will be spirit and life and will not be flesh?
Can you imagine what that will do to all of us? Including me, because I'm hearing it too.
This is being aware of the unseen reality of His power present among us.
And then there is the future hope.
But with future hope, with future rewards, can you begin to behave as if you already have it?
First John 5, 14 and 15.
Can you believe it's your present possession, even though it is not yours yet?
Come to think of it, aren't you being foolish about salvation?
You believe you're already saved.
And yet you're here on earth.
Nothing changed since the day you said that prayer.
You look the same.
But it is living this way.
It's living.
When it comes to salvation, we live that way.
Any questions?
Okay.
One of the things that's really required for faith based on the readings we just did is perseverance.
Perseverance.
Most of these guys we read about, they excelled in this.
Noah stuck around for many years before the rains came down and the ark became a reality.
Abraham stuck around for many years until the son of promise, Isaac, was born.
So these guys had this critical component of faith or requisite of faith called perseverance
because it's one way to guarantee the joy of receiving promises.
It's one way to guarantee the joy of receiving promises.
So be you young or old, and this is not an age thing because I've seen young people with great faith
and old people with little faith.
And so whatever age you are, this is a quality that you need to develop, perseverance,
when it comes to the things of God.
It's to guarantee that the joy, it guarantees the joy of receiving promises.
And perseverance, since you want it so badly and I can see it on your face,
perseverance is produced by the testing of faith.
Ha ha, set you up and trap you.
Perseverance is produced by the testing of faith.
James 1.3 talks about it, that when my faith is tested, then I develop perseverance.
So if you want to venture into faith, then know that it will be tested.
And when you are tested, you then learn how to persevere.
When you persevere, you come into teleos or maturity.
So anybody who thinks that faith is an easy grab and go, name it, claim it stuff,
is just setting themselves up for a fall because it doesn't work like that.
Faith will always be tested.
And it's in the testing that perseverance develops.
And it's in perseverance that you and I become mature, which is what God is after anyways.
And so the testing of faith, I mean, if every child should just marvel and clap their hands with joy
when you tell them, hey, one day you're going to mature, you're going to stand, you're going to walk,
you're going to make your own decisions, children will enjoy it thoroughly.
But strangely, they'll go through a whole period of testing before they get there, man.
And it's the same with faith. Faith will be tested.
How many volunteers? No way. I'm putting my hand up.
I want to be tested because I want to increase in faith because if I increase in faith,
then God will get through me and through you to do things here on earth that heaven has always desired.
That aside, I get to mature. And what does maturing look like?
I get to become and look more like Christ.
And if that's what he's after, eh?
Any questions?
Yeah. So sometimes healing may happen instantaneously.
If Jesus was around, most healings happen instantaneously.
Some took a little more time. Nowadays, there are times when I've seen things happen immediately.
Other times it takes time.
When it comes to healing, I do not know all the reasons, but I know that perseverance still applies.
Perseverance applies to any promise of God. It doesn't matter which area you take it in.
You can take it about opening a nation and evangelizing a nation or opening a small sore on your knee and cauterizing that.
It doesn't matter which way you go.
Every promise requires perseverance if God does not make it happen immediately.
Yeah. God owns my body. He loves healing it.
See, the problem with a message like this is you can't take everything and put it in this message.
I would love to, but you would have to be here till 2 a.m.
But since you don't look that enthusiastic, we'll have to go with this thing that, yeah,
we want to aim for eternal things, but the fact still remains that he is my father.
And which father in the process of expanding his kingdom will not look for his child who is hurting?
Him being king doesn't stop him from being predominantly father. He's always father.
I woke up in New York two days ago in the afternoon, fell off to sleep.
And in this, I'm seeing a dream. And in the dream, I'm talking to you guys.
And there are some other guys too who I didn't recognize.
And as I'm talking, I come to the end of the sermon. And we are nowhere there right now, okay?
I come to the end of the sermon. And I'm telling the church that, listen, God is always faithful.
God is always full of goodness. God is always someone who will take care of you.
God is always, and as I'm preaching, I suddenly stop in the dream and I turn, I stop preaching,
and I look up and I start saying to him, Father, I've got a new name for you, always.
That's his new name, always. And then I start talking and I start weeping and I tell him how much I love him.
And as I begin to tell him how much I love him, you guys join in and you start telling him how much you love him.
Because he's always like this. He doesn't choose between personas.
So on one hand, he's able to heal this little thing that most hockey players live with for six months,
but I can't bear living with it for six days because I don't get paid six million.
So there's that side of it. And then there's this thing of also huge things that have to happen.
It's both. It's not one or the other. Yeah.
Perseverance is impossible. Perseverance is impossible.
Perseverance is impossible without drawing close to God.
When you go over those eight verses we read, you'll see that they would persist on drawing near to God.
Perseverance is impossible without drawing near to God. Without drawing near to God.
Why? Because faith without trust, faith without trust is backbreaking.
I think we talked about this last time. If this, this is how you need to view it.
This is trust. This is faith.
Faith without trust is backbreaking. You won't survive. It'll kill you.
It'll disappoint you. It'll disillusion you.
The first thing is to trust.
Can I trust someone because I know their nature, because I know their heart towards me?
Can I trust a person? If I can trust a person, then what they say becomes so easy to believe.
But if I don't trust a person, believing is so difficult because in the back of my mind it's always, will they be true?
And so without trust, faith is backbreaking. It's impossible.
So in any area where you're struggling with faith, go immediately, start rewinding and find out, in this area, do I trust his nature?
What's his nature predominantly? Father and then King. But do I trust him in this area?
Start there. And once you begin to trust his nature in that area, faith becomes easy. You don't even want to promise then.
You don't even want to promise. I don't need a promise from Thunay saying, I'll turn up today for worship and lead worship.
I don't need a promise. I mean, we doubled his pay, but yeah.
So I don't need a promise from him. I know he loves worship. I know he loves being here.
So he'll turn up. Once you know someone's nature, faith is easy. Any questions on that?
That's a critical element of this, see? Whenever you're finding it hard to exert faith, go back to him and look at him as a father
and begin to find out what about your father don't you trust? And then build it up from there and faith will flow again.
Perseverance carries two things in it.
Immediacy and eventuality or patience. Perseverance carries two things in it.
Christian perseverance. Christian perseverance is very different from normal perseverance.
Christian perseverance is there's an immediacy because God is alive, God is here, God is not in the past, present or the future.
God is now, I am. There's an immediacy to what he says. But at the same time, there is also patience that's required.
You see this in Hebrews 10, verse 36, where he says it's through patience and through faith that you inherit the promise.
It's both. And the two must combine, eh? The two must combine.
And when they combine, that's when you have what you ask for while you wait for it.
Beautifully, you have what you ask for while you wait for it. You have what you ask for while you wait for it.
It's a story of every pregnant woman. You have what you ask for while you wait for it.
It's a story of Abraham. He's changed his name to Abraham. He is going to be the father of a nation, but he waits for it.
When I said earlier these words are spirit and life and that if God could take these words and make them spirit and life,
then the way you receive words of spirit and life is in here, not in here. This will never compute this.
But in here you know it is true and then you try to process it, you may have some success with it.
Any questions?
Okay. Faith also gives, faith also gives the world, this is so cool man, these things should make us so desirous for faith, eh?
Faith also gives the world proof of the reality of God. Faith also gives the world proof of the unseen reality of God.
Faith also gives the world proof of the unseen reality of God. It thrills God, eh, when you show faith because every time you show faith, he'll demonstrate his power.
When that song goes, Yahweh will manifest himself, if you call him, if you seek him, he will manifest himself.
The intent is, hey, can you exert faith so I can give the world proof of the unseen reality of me?
And so when I don't live by faith, when I don't live by faith, I don't experience this power, the reality of this power.
Psalm 40, verse 3, I waited patiently for the Lord, he turned and heard my cry, he lifted me up from the mighty pit, he set my feet on rocks to stay.
Now listen to verse 3, many will see and many will fear and put their trust in the Lord.
James put it this way, you say you have faith, show me your works. You say you have faith, show me your works.
You say you have faith, show me your works. Because when the works are seen, and then Jesus goes and puts it this way,
If you don't believe me for the words I've spoken, then believe me for the works I do.
And so there's a call upon our lives to begin to show proof of the unseen reality of God through works of faith.
But if you're afraid that we will fail, then we will never venture out.
It is the sluggard who sits in his home and says there's a lion out on the streets and therefore will not venture out.
But it is in the venturing out that faith begins to happen.
It's in the venturing out that faith begins to happen.
Step by step, increment by increment, little by little, Joey went skating.
I haven't done that yet because big men fall heavy.
But that little kid was scared but he went skating. Bit by bit he will learn.
The invitation is, hey, this week can you find something where you will need to trust his nature and enact faith?
Something, something small, something big.
Any questions?
Okay. Yeah.
Say that again.
What was the faith of Samson? Yeah.
He was a really funny guy.
And big. And so he has enough faith in the promise that God made to his parents that one, he'll deliver Israel,
two, that he has supernatural strength, and that three, he knew his strength was not in his hair, it comes from God.
And he was confident of that even after sleeping with a prostitute, that God would be faithful.
But the very eyes that he used to lust after women are the very eyes that are removed from his face.
And the very man who was supposed to deliver Israel and judge them was the man who was judged by God and the Philistines
when everything fell upon the Philistines and he died too.
So his end and the story is so tragic.
But he had enough faith in the promise that God made that as long as this boy does not drink anything
that is from the fruit of the vine and that he keeps his hair long, that I will use him as a deliverer and he'll have supernatural strength.
Guy would go to sleep, they would bar the gates, and those gates were like as high as that television and about as broad as the sound booth.
And he goes and he rips them out because he knows he has the strength.
He rips them out, puts it on his back, and then to prove that that wasn't enough,
when you actually look at it, the hill he went up was about 700 feet high.
Isn't it enough to put some gates on your back?
No, he now puts the gates on his back and climbs up, ascends 700 feet just so guys can see that their gates have been ripped out as he walks towards Hebron.
He knew that with the jawbone of a donkey, he could slay people.
That guy was so full of faith, but he was so full of filth.
Faith and filth are, at the end of the day, faith and filth do not go together.
Less so in the Old Testament, more so in the New Testament.
The problem with the New Testament is we cannot behave like the citizens of Babylon and expect kingdom results.
In the Old Testament, it was possible to sometimes dabble in Babylon and dabble in Israel, but in the New Testament, you cannot do both.
It's exclusive.
This is important. This is sometimes so what we desire to demonstrate, to demonstrate the power of God.
People see and they marvel. People see and they marvel.
I met a guy in St. Martin's who was talking about, one of the things we want to do in St. Martin's is to set up a training center.
And we saw, we met a guy who has this amazing house that we could use as a training center, and thank God Chava has decided to buy it for us.
Thank you, Samson.
It is an amazing place, eh? And his dad used to be the town drunk.
And when this preacher used to come through St. Martin's, they would turn to the preacher and say, hey, you want to preach to us? Convert him first.
That's what the standard line was. You want to preach to us? Convert the drunk first.
And one day this preacher goes up to this drunk man, and he preaches to him, and he gets converted.
And he goes from being drunk to being sober to becoming the governor of St. Martin's.
And then he built this beautiful place that Chava's going to buy for us.
So, thank you Chava.
It is...
And the thing is, guys, in this man being converted, the entire island began to open its ears and heart to the gospel.
That guy later on became the governor of St. Martin's.
The demonstration of God's power is something he thrills.
He thrills, fills it.
Trufate gives you right standing with God.
In all the scriptures we saw, the true faith gives you right standing with God.
Or righteousness with God, right standing with God.
Trufate gives you right standing with God.
You look at Abel, he was called righteous.
You look at Enoch, he was called righteous. You look at Noah, he was called righteous.
I mean we read those scriptures, they were declared righteous because of their faith.
Here's the crazy thing, when it came to Abraham, not only was he declared righteous,
this should really tickle you, not only was he declared righteous, when you read James chapter
223, he was declared righteous and then he was called the friend of God. Why? Because of
faith. Crazy eh? It's impossible to please him without this. It's impossible to please him.
Sometimes guys, we will have the privilege, not we can have the privilege. It's not some secret
thing spoken in heaven. Sometimes when you walk in faith, God has the ability to convey to you
directly or convey to you through others that listen, you're my friend. And when he says you're
my friend, you don't puff up your chest, you just shake in your boots because you just heard God
say, hey you're my friend, you pleased me, you actually trusted me, you trusted me for something
that is impossible. One of the desires that the Holy Spirit yearns with is can I prove God
trustworthy to you? But if I want to prove God trustworthy to you, can you take a step or two
so I can prove it? You get to be called friend.
And once you're a friend of God, you have access, you have approval,
you gain places in God. You gain places in God. What do you mean gain places in God? Haven't you
noticed at your work, there are guys who came in after you, came in before you, but they seem to
have gained a place with the boss or with the company. They just have that favor, that acceptance,
that approval, that access. Same thing. We are all the same before God. There's no bias, there's no
partiality because God is impartial, but there is trust. Please understand, in function, we are not
the same because God, when he trusts somebody, appoints to them more. Please understand that.
There are rewards that differ. There are five cities, there are ten cities, there are no cities,
and that is sometimes based on stuff like this.
Being made right with God, not by the blood of Christ, which already takes care of all of us,
but being made right through, finding him trustworthy. Any questions on that?
Okay. If this is basic faith, what's the other faith like? I don't know. This is tough enough.
The Holy Spirit yearns to help me by proving God's character, trustworthiness,
tough enough.
The Holy Spirit yearns to help me by proving God's character,
trustworthiness. Hey, Jacob, can I show you again that he's really trustworthy so that next time
it happens, you don't have to worry? The next thing they talk about is everything in the visible
world, everything in the visible world. So money, mission, marriage. Let's throw in a word that
doesn't start with an M. Babies, redemption, needs, shelter, future. All these things that
exist in the visible world, all these things, everything in our visible world, everything that
has to do with our daily experience, everything. Nothing is exempt, according to Hebrews 11.
Everything, everything comes into being
through the invisible,
comes into being through the invisible spoken word of God.
It's foundational that I understand this, that everything,
there's nothing that you see that hasn't been first formed but with the unseen,
invisible spoken word of God. This is why it is critical in all your situations, in all your
circumstances, in all your daily experiences to either have a knowledge of the word, knowing what
God has spoken, or to have a Rhema word that you receive that you then begin to inject into your
circumstance because everything changes through the unspoken word of God, everything. Any questions
on that? This is why you prophesy over situations, over babies that are still in the womb, over
people, over circumstances. What are we doing? We're doing the same thing that happened in Genesis
chapter 1, verse 1 and 2. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word,
no that's John 1. In the beginning there was nothing and then what happens? God begins to speak
before he speaks what does the scripture say in Genesis 1, 2? That the spirit of God was
hovering over everything and as God begins to speak things begin to happen, ex nihilio, which means
everything created out of nothing.
Which is why it is freeing when we have worship the way we do because everything that God wants
to do has to be created with words that he provides. These songs are not just random songs
that Tuni pulls out or I pull out or whoever's in charge pulls out. These are words that come
with strength because God wants something done.
Ask this question of us. Just pause for a second. Just forget everything we said
till now and ask this question for ourselves. Why is it that you and only think of yourself,
Rachel thinks of herself, George thinks of himself, Aaron thinks of himself. Why is it
Nellie thinks of herself? Why is it that we find it so difficult to speak words
as a people? Why is it that you find it so difficult to speak words as a people? Why?
Yeah, answer this question
because this requires an answer.
Why?
Let me take it a step further.
If we don't get there, we will not experience the fullness of all that we have to because we do not speak.
First Kings 18 verse 38, and Elijah asked them. The names I picked were random. I just saw them,
so I picked them. It got nothing to do with them. So please don't think George and Nellie and others
don't speak. First Kings 18 verse 38, and Elijah went and asked the people of Israel,
tell me who will you follow, Baal or Yahweh? And the people said nothing.
So answer this question. It's a hard question. I'm actually accusing you of something.
Yeah, and so try to escape the condemnation, but please don't escape the piercing question
right at your face. Why is it that after all these years you do not speak?
You have to ask this question and answer it because it's going to stop us from going where
we are supposed to go.
Yeah, speak of different things you can speak about. One, speak of what God is suddenly doing inside you.
I mean, the pavan is wearing a hockey jersey. I know what it is to go for a Canuck game.
You don't know what happens inside of you. You see a guy tripping something, and you're like,
oh, I'm going to go for a Canuck game. You don't know what happens inside of you. You see a guy
tripping someone, and it's not calling. Yeah, referee sucks. These are the words that come out.
Whether you're a believer or not, it just jumps out of you. And then you realize, oh shucks,
you're a believer. What happens in Rogers stays in Rogers. So on one hand, it comes out immediately.
And then other times, you're watching the puck goes, you're just waiting because everything in one,
you want to leap and you either go, yay, or you go, ah. These are the two reactions. It's instant.
Why is it that when it comes to things within the womb of a Christian, and all of you have spiritual
wombs, if you're a believer, why is it that the things that are within, just do a quick bunny hop
and it doesn't get further? I mean, I wish we had divine acid reflux,
but it doesn't come out. So that's one thing. Okay? So that's one thing. The second thing
with regard to speaking, what about the hurt you went through this week? What about the pain that
you went through this week? What about the song, oh God, apart from you, I'll be undone. I need you.
What if there were no songs with I need you? When will the I need you come out of you? It is
normal for Christians to have lament, excitement, hurt, pain, crying out, supplication, prayer,
moaning, groaning. And if in the Old Testament they had it in Romans 8 says that the Holy Spirit
provides us groaning, where is it?
No, I don't believe it'll be out of order because your pastor is always out of order.
I mean, I'm setting the precedent, guys.
I would say that sometimes it is our culture,
our culture. And if we don't have a few that rise up to break it, it will not break.
It will not break. I know we're going off topic, but it's important.
If this culture, go ahead.
I heard you say questions are a real culture or a church or things too shy or uncertain or lacking faith.
Yeah. No, I'm not saying questions. I'm saying expressions.
Not questions, expressions. Where are those expressions?
I charge all the leaders in this church to begin to do this because we just need seven or eight
people to do this. I'm not just saying leaders, anybody, seven or eight people to do this,
and it will begin to change. Everything is contagious in the Holy Spirit.
And let's say you go out of order, it will be well worth it.
It cannot be limited to worship night, say, because that happens once every six weeks.
Wow, Christmas all over again.
Okay. A few other thoughts and then we'll stop. Faith does not help you.
Faith does not always bypass. Faith does not always bypass.
Faith does not always bypass difficult times.
Faith does not always bypass difficult times. Abel went through a difficult time.
Enoch didn't. Abel had no deliverance. He died. Faith does not always bypass difficult times,
particularly when it is suffering for the sake of Christ. When it comes to suffering for the sake
of Christ, faith will not always have you bypass difficult times. Sometimes you'll go through it.
Other, and you'll watch while that fellow called Enoch, he hardly has as much faith as me, but that
fellow gets like permanent deliverance. He leaves the earth while I'm stuck here and Cain's coming
to knock my head off. And then you look at Moses. He had faith, but he is mistreated terribly by
the largest empire in the world. But he also sees mighty deliverance. Abraham,
he went through, I mean, he was a nomad for most of his life.
Amazon couldn't deliver to him because there were no drones then.
And so the guy never had an address and yet he was the father of faith. So at the end of the day,
just understand that faith does not always mean that you will not have a difficult time. There
will be phases in your life where despite your faith, you will have to stand up for God
and endure what has to be endured.
Stand up for God and endure what has to be endured. In the process, there'll be mocking,
there'll be, look at him, there'll be scoffing, there'll be occasional persecution.
And through all that, faith will not get you out. You stand in it.
Any questions on that?
Yeah. In some cases, the things that you desire to do, you will not be able to do,
you will not be able to do, you will not be able to do, you will not be able to do,
Yeah. In some cases, the things that you desire to see in this present life, you may not see in your
lifetime, but it will happen. But I'm talking about sometimes enduring for long, where the reward that
you're waiting for isn't happening even though you're exerting all the faith you can. It isn't
happening. It's taking time. Some days you feel really bad, other days you're falling apart,
the third day you rise up again, but you stand, you stand, you stand. People are saying stuff,
it doesn't matter. You've gone once, you've gone twice, three times, four times, five times,
and every time there's a door that shuts and you still don't know what, but something kicks in,
you're saying, I'll still stand. Why? Because there's a hope for reward in the future
that I will wait for. Some things I may not see in my lifetime, but the one I'm praying for will see it.
It's well worth it, guys. You think you would not stand in faith for someone like Judah or for Brielle
or for Phoebe or for Mia. You're not even their parents, but you would stand in faith if you knew
there was a promise for one of them. Till you die, you would pray, oh God, let Judah become this,
let Judah become this. I speak this upon Judah. Let Judah become this, let Brielle become this.
You would, and you will pass on, but you know why the Iron Curtain fell? You know why the
wall in Germany fell? It is because of thousands of years, not thousands,
years and years of praying. You know how many blows it took to bring the wall down?
800,000 blows, and then suddenly the wall cracked. 800,000 blows before the wall cracked.
It is so worth it, guys, because we are no longer looking at faith as something that gives us rewards.
We are looking at faith as something that brings heaven's desire on earth through our people who
have decided that there is nothing that is more thrilling than standing up for a God who wants to
bring things to pass here on earth. You think I don't get scoffed for this revival thing I've been
talking about for three years? You think it's not going to happen? Gosh, man, it's not going to
happen. You think it's not going to happen? Gosh, man, it's going to happen.
Great. Thank you. Really, I didn't expect that, but thank you. This is what I meant. We don't have to
go southern, we just have to go soft. Amen. Yeah. Wow, that was almost like a breeze.
Thank you. I really somehow sincerely mean it. For the Holy Spirit to move in me,
or for me to move in the Holy Spirit, one of the things important is I must hear with faith.
I must hear with faith. All these guys we mentioned heard with faith. For the Holy Spirit,
for the Holy Spirit to move in me,
or for me to move in the Holy Spirit,
I must hear with faith. I must hear with faith. What does that mean? Hearing with faith, HWF.
Hearing with faith requires intentional engagement and conversations with God.
Intentional engagement and conversations with God and confidence. That is what builds. Whenever you
do that, it builds confidence in His nature. You know, when Thuney is leading worship or when
anyone picks a song here, I'm listening. What am I listening for? I'm listening to see if there's
anything in that song that I am supposed to take for this week. And then there'll be phrases,
there'll be words that come out. And I'll realize, ah shucks, I can use that because something
clicks inside. Hearing with faith. When Dilna went up to sing, I was wondering, which song is he
going to sing? Which song is he going to sing? What does that mean to me? When I look at the
order of songs, as one song follows the other, I think to myself, what are you trying to do today,
oh God? What are you trying to do today? It's called hearing with faith.
Hearing with faith. Any questions? And then one of the ways we hear in faith is by walking with
somebody. Can two walk together except they be? Agreed. Amos chapter three, verse three. Walk with
him. Spend time with him. And as you engage him in conversation about things that have nothing to do
with any of your problems, as you engage him in conversation. I'll give you an example. I was in,
I just flew in from New York last night and yesterday morning I felt a lot of going, go to
the corner of a street called Pear Street, P-E-A-R. And when you go to the corner of Pear Street,
just take your camera and take photographs. And so I went to the corner of Pear Street and I
started taking photographs. And that was it. And then the Lord said, come home. And then we look
at the photographs. And as I began to look at these photographs, it's the first keel stoke, K-I-E-H-L.
Oh, I didn't know it either. So I took photographs and each of the photographs had something
that had to do with either us or me. Engaging him in conversations, intentional conversations that
gives you the confidence now to say, ah shucks, all I have to do is obey. And so what if I look
foolish at the end of the day? What if I lose 25 US dollars on Uber? Big deal. Let it go. But at
least you tried obedience, which brings us to the last point. Hearing with faith is critical,
you guys. And then here's how the equation works. Hear with faith so that you can,
to receive with faith, to receive with faith so that you can act with faith
so that you can perfect, be perfect in obedience. That's how the equation works. Hear with faith
so that you can receive with faith so that you can act with faith so that you can be perfect.
There's an F missing. Perfect in obedience.
Perfectness and F missing. Perfect in obedience.
And the last bit is in Hebrews 118, the last verse we read. Hebrews 118. It says, let me read it.
Hebrews 118. By faith Abraham went called to go to a place he would later receive as in as his
inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. It shows us through
Abraham the when, the how, the why of faith, even though it doesn't tell us where. Where? No. When?
Yes. How? Yes. Why? Let's look at that and then we'll stop. So usually when you are stepping out
in faith, you may have to break with your past ways of doing things.
So Abraham had to break from his past before you set out. Before you set out,
you may have to break from your past ways of doing things.
Second, by faith
is an internal response.
By faith is your internal response to being called out.
By faith is your internal response to being called out. When called,
and what's the external response?
He obeyed. How did he obey? Without hesitation or procrastination.
Beautiful, eh? Just think of that for a second.
All the promises of God are sealed till you open them with obedience. Hear me again. All the
promises of God are sealed till you open them with obedience. What's the process? What's the how,
the why, the when? God may not give you the where, but he does give you the how, why and when.
What's the process? You may have to break with your past ways of doing things before you set out.
You may have to break with your past ways of doing things before you set out. Because always
remember this, that the faith for the next thing, you never... Your experience till yesterday
does not prepare you for the faith you need for tomorrow. Tomorrow's experience is going to be
brand new. You cannot use old faith for tomorrow's experience. You can only use the remembrance that
God dealt with an eight-foot Goliath, so he must be able to deal with a nine-foot Goliath. But if you
haven't faced a nine-foot Goliath in your life, tomorrow's experience you've never done before.
Faith is never a repeat of something you've done. It's always new.
That's the very nature of faith. The tomorrow's experience, oh my God, it is larger than I've
ever experienced. Therefore, I've got to lean back and trust that the same God who delivered me
from the lion and the bear will be able to deliver me from Goliath. Second thing is, by faith
is your internal response to him calling, saying, Dhillna, I want you to go to Belarus.
And so Dhillna now has just heard a call. He's supposed to go to Belarus. And now Dhillna has to,
by faith, step out. And that's the internal response. What's the external response?
I will obey. And what kind of obedience? Not when I retire, which is six months away. Not
it is without procrastination or hesitation. We met a person who hasn't gone on a mission trip
because he has a dog that cannot be left alone because it's 17 years old. And so I said, have
you prayed? So he said, yes, but he just keeps getting stronger and stronger the more we pray.
So they ain't going anywhere. And the dog is 17 and seems to be living quite happy.
Yeah. So the second part is being, and the third part is without hesitation, without procrastination,
you go forth. When you go forth, it'll be to a place
that's part of your inheritance. It's a place that's part of your or your tribe or your people's inheritance.
And once you step into that, God will give you permission and he'll give you provision
for it. But it's always unlocked through obedience. Imagine this guy's what if,
what if Judah, Mia, Phoebe, Yahya, these guys actually train people every second month
in St. Martin's 20 years from now. I'll be 80. Hopefully if we have a private debt, I might still,
I'm kidding. Private debt jokes are really bad, eh? The pastor never joke about stuff like that.
Okay. But what if everything we are doing now is so that they get to do that?
Come on, man. Aren't you living for something greater than yourself?
What a pathetic thing to live for yourself. And then the inheritance that you have,
what do people gather inheritances for? Why are Remy and Hamari amassing millions
so that they can give it to Yahya and Judah? You amass an inheritance to give it away.
And that's exactly what we're doing. And then comes permission and provision.
So what if we have permission in St. Martin's and then along comes a man called Chava.
This is God uses to bring us provision. And now the future generation has an inheritance.
This is how it works. Let's pray. Have you ever heard a sermon end with your name Chava?
So father, gosh, every time we think we've learned enough about faith, you open it up again and
there's never an end to this. Holy Spirit, this is our desire as a church that we see faith as
something that reaches back and connects heaven's desires through us to happen here on earth.
And Holy Spirit, could you please help us by proving God's trustworthiness in our lives?
Each individual life here, I want, I know you want to prove God's trustworthiness,
but it won't happen except through
having hoped for rewards in the future and practicing the reality of the unseen presence,
power and goodness of God right now. And through the testing of faith.
It is important for you that we mature. So I bring the entire church to you and I say,
please make us mature. Please test our faith. You don't test us to fail. You test us so that we can
pass. You must have your way. You must have a mature bride.
This is what we ask for now in Jesus name. Amen. There'll be people here to pray with you. Feel
free to come up for prayer. Say hi to Michelle's parents and to Russell.