WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Blind Faith, Walking by Sight Publishing Date: 2009-07-05T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/blind-faith-walking-by-sight/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:17.520 Ruth hood hood wink wink feel free to come up sorry Matt made you get up 00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:27.680 Ruth was away on another vacation was it Australia this time or it was Down Under 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:36.320 Ruth didn't know I would be calling her up so she's going to stumble through this 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:43.840 you might have to hold it closer to testify that the Lord brought me through 00:00:43.840 --> 00:01:05.320 quite a trial this past month and I just want to thank him I just want to thank and praise God 00:01:05.320 --> 00:01:15.800 for all he brought me through this past week and I mean month and I had a good report from the doctor 00:01:15.800 --> 00:01:24.160 I've had a procedure at the hospital and I just want to give him praise honor and glory for bringing 00:01:24.160 --> 00:01:40.760 me through this what what what happened to you well had what they call bowel cancer and I've got a 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:48.120 good report and I don't have to go back to the doctor for every four months for a blood test now 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:55.360 so I'm thankful and praise God and when they checked your lymph nodes there was nothing 00:01:55.360 --> 00:02:05.880 do you have to go back for chemotherapy no no praise God and I've been free of pain since yesterday 00:02:05.880 --> 00:02:19.600 and it all happened in about three weeks ago less than three weeks ago 00:02:19.600 --> 00:02:44.920 thank you Ruth see that wasn't half as bad would you like to come up every week okay we were talking 00:02:44.920 --> 00:02:54.160 about when am I good to go okay we were talking about Josiah and the culture of kings but somehow 00:02:54.160 --> 00:03:03.400 I felt we need to visit something else that perhaps is not as culture ish but something relatively 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:08.800 simple that we've gone over before but I'd like to go over again and so today we're going to talk 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:15.480 about this thing called blind faith but blind faith is really not blind blind faith is actually 00:03:15.480 --> 00:03:21.360 the same as walking by sight it just depends on what kind of sight we are talking about that's 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:26.960 why I gave it that title blind faith is equal to walking by sight and though it sounds contrary 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:35.840 to what scripture says we'll find out that seeing is so vital in exerting faith so I put the 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:42.760 scripture on top of your page so that we can look at it and see how God in that scripture brings 00:03:42.760 --> 00:03:49.480 out certain things about faith that we need to take notice of and so this is from Hebrews 11 13 00:03:49.480 --> 00:03:56.640 to 16 and here's what it says it says all these people were still living by faith when they died 00:03:56.640 --> 00:04:04.560 it's talking about the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 they did not receive the things promised they 00:04:04.600 --> 00:04:09.360 only and look at the words that have been highlighted saw them and welcomed them from a 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:16.360 distance and they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth people who say such things 00:04:16.360 --> 00:04:21.240 show that they're looking for a country of their own if they had been thinking of that country they 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:27.480 had left they would have had the opportunity to return instead they were longing for a better 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:33.520 country a heavenly one therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city 00:04:33.520 --> 00:04:58.120 for them and so I want us to notice it's not that much fun then yeah it's not living on the 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:05.240 edge yeah so folks one of the things we need to understand about faith is that faith requires us 00:05:05.240 --> 00:05:15.120 to be people who see and seeing is vital if we want to walk in the kind of faith that God wants 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:20.600 us to and that the people in Hebrews chapter 11 did and so we're going to examine some of those 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:27.720 things I've highlighted on that page and one of the things we will see there is that it all begins 00:05:27.720 --> 00:05:47.640 this way and we spoke about this long ago seeing has to precede believing has to precede confessing 00:05:47.640 --> 00:06:03.480 or saying has to precede action or doing seeing has to precede believing has to precede confessing 00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:12.560 has to precede doing has to anything less than that if any of these steps are missed then you 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:20.360 miss out on what would really be faith if if we begin at confession then really it's a hollow echo 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:26.600 if we begin at believing whatever believing on because if you don't see accurately a belief is 00:06:26.600 --> 00:06:35.680 based on falsehoods and any action that is not based on these is presumptuous and presumption is 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:44.040 not faith presumption is dangerous that which we see is equal to that which we believe which will 00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:51.640 then produce that which we confess which then leads to that which we do and please understand 00:06:51.640 --> 00:06:57.160 that breakthrough in any area in your life does not come through chance but through change break 00:06:57.160 --> 00:07:03.600 through in my life in any area whatever you're struggling with be it failure be it provisions 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:11.800 be it healing be it just an inability to break out of a cycle that you seem to re-enter be it 00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:18.120 hopelessness whatever it be breakthrough does not come by chance breakthrough does not come by chance 00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:28.080 but only through change only through change and change does not happen till in the areas that I'm 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:35.960 with I go through these four phases I go through these four phases and I'm saying to you that if 00:07:35.960 --> 00:07:41.560 you follow through on these steps in whatever area it is that you want to you'll find that over a 00:07:41.560 --> 00:07:50.120 period of time it will be impossible impossible to restrict you or short-chain you from obtaining 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:57.000 what God has planned for you it will be impossible I'm using the word impossible it will be impossible 00:07:57.280 --> 00:08:07.360 to restrict you or short-chain you from obtaining that which God has for you guys remember we've 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:14.120 said this year before we do not operate by rules we do not operate by policies we only operate by 00:08:14.120 --> 00:08:19.120 principles and principles have the ability to do two things principles have the ability to change 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:25.320 our mindset and principles have the ability to destroy principalities let me say that again 00:08:25.440 --> 00:08:32.880 principles have the ability to destroy both mindsets and principalities rules will not do 00:08:32.880 --> 00:08:42.800 it policies will not do it wishy-washy compromises won't do it the only thing that takes down both 00:08:42.800 --> 00:08:48.280 mindsets and principalities which are the only two enemies that Christians have to struggle against 00:08:48.280 --> 00:08:59.240 here on earth can both be taken down by principles and one of the unchanging principles of faith is 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:11.080 that I have to see accurately based on what I see accurately I have to now stake my belief based 00:09:11.160 --> 00:09:20.160 on what I've staked my belief on I now need to speak it declare my intent and once I have declared 00:09:20.160 --> 00:09:25.920 my intent it is required of me now to put into action that which I've seen believed and spoken 00:09:25.920 --> 00:09:34.200 and once this principle is established it is impossible to restrict me or short-chain me from 00:09:34.200 --> 00:09:41.720 obtaining everything on earth that God has appointed me everything on earth everything on 00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:55.200 earth that is appointed to me by God go ahead she's she's she's eating a banana and asking me to 00:09:55.200 --> 00:10:07.280 repeat no go ahead yeah it goes well with a bit of calcium there yeah I was surprised that I 00:10:07.280 --> 00:10:15.560 didn't pause for a breath let me start again then I want to say to us that the two enemies we have 00:10:15.560 --> 00:10:24.360 here on earth are our mindsets and principalities that oppose what God wants for us the one thing 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:33.400 that can destroy both mindsets and principalities are principles principles destroy both mindsets 00:10:33.400 --> 00:10:40.320 and principalities we've said before we don't operate by rules because rules don't work we 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:48.520 don't operate by policies or compromised values that takes a little from the world takes a little 00:10:48.520 --> 00:10:53.040 from Christianity mixes it and takes a little from the supernatural takes a little from common 00:10:53.040 --> 00:10:59.400 sense and mixes it takes a little from reason takes a little from things that have of God mixes 00:10:59.400 --> 00:11:04.600 it we don't operate by that we only operate by principles that are extracted from the word and 00:11:04.600 --> 00:11:11.880 these principles then have the ability to destroy both mindsets and principalities and one of the 00:11:11.880 --> 00:11:19.720 principles that is unchanging when it comes to faith is this principle of seeing accurately what 00:11:19.720 --> 00:11:27.280 God has said in his word or what God is showing and then having seen it accurately to stake my 00:11:27.280 --> 00:11:35.000 belief on what I've seen and having staked my belief on what I've seen I now begin to embrace 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:44.680 it and very easily declare my intent with words and once I declare my intent it is required of 00:11:44.680 --> 00:11:53.280 me now to begin to do or put into action that which I have seen believed and have declared and 00:11:53.280 --> 00:12:03.280 when I do this what happens is there is nothing that is restricted from me there's nothing I can 00:12:03.280 --> 00:12:08.880 be short-changed off from obtaining in terms of all the things that God has for me here on earth 00:12:08.880 --> 00:12:16.560 I'd like to say to you that Jesus lived this way our standards when it comes to faith will 00:12:16.560 --> 00:12:24.080 be the same standards as the Son of Man Jesus Christ it will not be less it will not be less 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:31.800 so as we talk about this today if at times it chaffs you that perhaps you operated by a standard 00:12:31.800 --> 00:12:37.680 that is lower then feel free to apply some talcum powder but we are not going to lower our standards 00:12:37.680 --> 00:12:44.600 we're going to just just operate at that level however the Son of Man operated and how he approached 00:12:44.600 --> 00:12:51.880 everything is how we will approach things in terms of being taught. Questions? 00:12:57.880 --> 00:13:07.560 A mindset is my way of thinking a principality is opposing spirit force that tries to come 00:13:07.560 --> 00:13:14.840 against what I need to do and both can be destroyed with principles because it is written is the most 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:25.200 effective weapon because it's the sword of the spirit. We'll go into that there's just the intro 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:37.440 any other questions? Okay let's move on to seeing then seeing Jeremiah 1 11 you see God talking to 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:44.760 Jeremiah and he says to Jeremiah Jeremiah what do you see and Jeremiah says I see an almond tree and 00:13:44.760 --> 00:13:49.400 then God says good I will watch over my word to perform it then he goes a little further and he 00:13:49.400 --> 00:13:55.000 says Jeremiah what do you see and he says I see a boiling pot from the north and so on. Folks we need 00:13:55.000 --> 00:14:05.960 to understand that sight and sound are used powerfully in the spiritual realm sight and sound are used 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:22.280 powerfully in the spiritual realm by both God and the enemy by the way because the enemy always tries 00:14:22.280 --> 00:14:29.640 to counterfeit that which is God and it's a poor counterfeit but it's still a counterfeit sight and 00:14:29.640 --> 00:14:36.400 sound are used powerfully in the spiritual realm Israel saw Goliath David saw an uncircumcised 00:14:36.400 --> 00:14:45.720 Philistine Peter saw the waves Peter also saw a man at the beautiful gate and seeing him he knew 00:14:45.720 --> 00:14:57.440 that the man had faith Elisha saw the chariots of fire around the trees and knew that he was safe 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:06.080 Elijah saw Jezebel even though Jezebel sent a messenger the Bible says Elijah saw sight and 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:13.320 sound are used powerfully in the spiritual realm and God uses sight and sound to show us things 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:20.080 but the enemy uses sight and sound to intimidate us works both ways Elijah this powerful prophet 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:27.360 comes down from Carmel and the Bible says Jezebel sent a messenger to him to say to him that he would 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:37.080 be dead by the evening of the next day and the Bible says Elijah saw Elijah saw and yet Elisha 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:46.400 was able to see chariots of fire around when no one else could see it sight and sound are used 00:15:46.400 --> 00:15:54.040 powerfully so guard the affections of your heart in terms of what you let into your life through 00:15:54.040 --> 00:16:01.400 the eye gate and the ear gates because all intimidation all fear has to come through sight 00:16:01.400 --> 00:16:12.360 and sound they use powerfully and the enemy knows this which is why there is absolutely no room when 00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:18.480 it comes to seeing to allow sights and sounds that are meant to put fear in me I have to give it no 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:24.520 room it's like an immediate shut down and it happens quite a few times in a day sometimes to 00:16:24.520 --> 00:16:33.800 people where suddenly this sight you see this thing happening or you there's an image that comes to 00:16:33.800 --> 00:16:39.240 your mind and you begin to go down that road or you hear something that someone says or you hear 00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:46.760 something on TV and immediately your mind starts stirring you've got to train yourself discipline 00:16:46.800 --> 00:16:51.920 yourself it is your personal responsibility to train yourself a discipline yourself to shut it 00:16:51.920 --> 00:17:05.640 down to shut it down the gates are yours to close our eyes the gates are yours to you got to shut 00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:14.320 down sights and sounds that are not from God from entering your soul for instance there is it is 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:20.600 you know you know it's so strange but every medicine every insurance coverage every car 00:17:20.600 --> 00:17:27.280 is sold simply on the basis sometimes of sight and sound in terms of fear or attractiveness I 00:17:27.280 --> 00:17:34.480 mean they'll tell you this medicine can take away this pain and 80% of Canada is dying off it so 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:38.320 you better get this medicine and then once you're hooked they'll tell you how if you take that 00:17:38.320 --> 00:17:45.600 medicine it'll cause you dizziness vomiting slow death pain in the nose and hair loss and that 00:17:45.600 --> 00:17:50.560 they say quickly so that you don't realize but they've already got you hooked because they told 00:17:50.560 --> 00:17:58.760 you that 80% of Canada dies of it sight and sound are vital the enemy knows that Babylon knows that 00:17:58.760 --> 00:18:06.720 Babylon works on it guys works on it shut it down oh this is something you have to take personal 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:17.560 responsibility for there's no other way around it I do not want in my life anything that does 00:18:17.560 --> 00:18:22.600 not come from God and I shut it down and I say father I do not want to deal with that and if I 00:18:22.600 --> 00:18:27.040 see that there is fear in my heart when I hear this then I go and say to the Lord father I did 00:18:27.040 --> 00:18:32.680 not go down that track but did you see that I had fear when it was spoken about so now can you and 00:18:32.680 --> 00:18:36.520 I talk about it so that we can deal with this fear because I will not operate by fear either 00:18:36.520 --> 00:18:57.240 anything that stirs fear anything that is out of control in terms of sight and sound anything 00:18:57.240 --> 00:19:05.080 that brings up emotions that are not a negative anything that sends me down a track track that 00:19:05.080 --> 00:19:12.600 is unscriptural or is a deviation of scripture or is not godly anything that is recurring over 00:19:12.600 --> 00:19:17.680 and over again anything that comes even with a hint of condemnation anything that accuses or 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:25.240 condemns others anything of this sort is not from God this is why it is vital to know the nature of 00:19:25.240 --> 00:19:29.880 God because once I know the nature of God it is easier to identify that which is of God and that 00:19:29.880 --> 00:19:42.480 which is not we live in a completely different time Matt completely different time they had to 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:47.400 do that because they had to set the standards of holiness and unholy and then Christ comes and 00:19:47.400 --> 00:19:53.680 pays the standard of unholy it was that condemnation that was heaped on Israel that the sun paid Israel 00:19:53.720 --> 00:19:59.720 was called the son now son the son who is Christ comes and pays for that condemnation therefore 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:06.960 there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ that's how it works I have to move on but 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:15.760 we'll come back to questions again Matt folks all faith is preceded by accurate sight or revelation 00:20:15.760 --> 00:20:23.400 all faith is preceded by accurate sight or revelation all faith all matters of faith have 00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:30.280 to be preceded by accurate sight and revelation so there's when we talk about blind faith it's 00:20:30.280 --> 00:20:35.600 just a way of saying it I think Tino is there any chance you can turn the air conditioning off for 00:20:35.600 --> 00:20:45.400 a little while and then perhaps I'll send you again to turn it on thanks man so accurate faith 00:20:45.400 --> 00:20:52.160 is always preceded by sight accurate sight and revelation for instance if you go to Romans 1 17 00:21:05.600 --> 00:21:13.560 it says in Romans 1 17 we often talk about it as righteous will live by faith is what Romans 1 00:21:13.560 --> 00:21:19.040 17 says but look at the beginning of the scripture for in the gospel a righteousness from God is 00:21:19.040 --> 00:21:26.840 revealed a righteousness that is by faith from first to last just as it is written first it has 00:21:26.840 --> 00:21:33.720 to righteousness from God has to be revealed before one can begin to walk by faith and not 00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:40.480 by sight but always sight proceeds or revelation proceeds faith take another scripture 2nd Corinthians 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:44.840 5 7 2nd Corinthians 5 7 00:22:00.360 --> 00:22:07.540 again it talks about living by faith and not by sight it says that we live by faith and not by 00:22:07.540 --> 00:22:16.220 sight but now go to revelations 5 verse 5 now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and 00:22:16.220 --> 00:22:25.300 has given us the Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come it is preceded by sight therefore 00:22:25.300 --> 00:22:30.340 why therefore therefore because the Spirit of God has been given to us and he shows us what is to 00:22:30.340 --> 00:22:34.740 come therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we're 00:22:34.740 --> 00:22:40.820 away from the Lord we live by faith and not by sight it is always preceded by revelation or sight 00:22:40.820 --> 00:22:50.900 second Corinthians 5 7 5 5 just going to the preceding verses 5 7 says we live by faith and 00:22:50.900 --> 00:22:55.540 not by sight but you see why we live by faith because we have been given the Holy Spirit who 00:22:55.540 --> 00:23:01.380 brings us that guarantee of things to come based on that knowing of the things that are to come 00:23:01.380 --> 00:23:06.260 that is brought to us by the Holy Spirit now we don't have to worry about living in the body 00:23:06.260 --> 00:23:13.340 and living in the heavenlies we just operate by faith because we have something to stand on faith 00:23:13.340 --> 00:23:23.580 always is preceded by revelation folks you will teach you will live you will believe what you see 00:23:23.580 --> 00:23:33.860 you will teach you will live you will believe what you see let me say that again you will teach 00:23:33.860 --> 00:23:43.260 you will live and you will believe what you see I'm not talking about just plain natural sight 00:23:43.260 --> 00:23:51.260 I'm talking about see as in what you see and base your faith or belief on why do you think there 00:23:51.300 --> 00:23:57.620 are pastors who will tell you that I mean I remember going to this church once and spending 00:23:57.620 --> 00:24:04.580 almost 45 minutes talking about the mighty deeds of God and how God has done this and that and 00:24:04.580 --> 00:24:12.580 people in the church were very convinced in that meeting of what I was saying and they were agreeing 00:24:12.580 --> 00:24:19.740 and then after I was done one of the pastors came up and he stood in front and he said to the church 00:24:19.820 --> 00:24:24.380 after I was done thank you Jacob that was very good but we need to understand that these things 00:24:24.380 --> 00:24:28.860 don't have to happen and these things don't happen nowadays it may happen occasionally to 00:24:28.860 --> 00:24:33.860 one or two people and so don't go in the expectation that this is how life is supposed to work life is 00:24:33.860 --> 00:24:38.020 full of difficulties and things go up and down and I'm listening to him and I'm saying to myself 00:24:38.020 --> 00:24:44.620 that was 45 minutes destroyed in less than a minute but why is it that a pastor said that the 00:24:44.620 --> 00:24:49.660 reason the pastor said that is because that is what he sees he does not see things being 00:24:49.660 --> 00:24:55.740 provided he does not see things being healed he does not see scriptures as they need to be 00:24:55.740 --> 00:25:01.860 interpreted he does not he has not lived it he has not seen it therefore how can he teach 00:25:01.860 --> 00:25:10.580 anything else he has to teach what he has seen so on one hand I cannot blame him on the other hand 00:25:10.620 --> 00:25:18.700 I wanted to blame him a lot so I went up after him and I said I know I'm in your church I disagree 00:25:18.700 --> 00:25:25.060 with what he was saying but these things I believe can happen to everybody and I went and sat down 00:25:25.060 --> 00:25:32.860 because yeah that I didn't want people in the church to think that I agreed with everything he 00:25:32.860 --> 00:25:38.860 said I had to say that I disagree and then I went and spoke to some of the elders in the church and 00:25:38.860 --> 00:25:42.940 I said I'm sorry I said that I disagreed but I hope it was okay with you and if you want to 00:25:42.940 --> 00:25:47.940 say something to me feel free and we left it at that but the point is you teach live and believe 00:25:47.940 --> 00:25:53.540 what you see and the battle is to perceive accurately the battle is always that will we 00:25:53.540 --> 00:26:00.580 perceive what we need to perceive accurately the sad thing is often we don't we are supposed to 00:26:00.580 --> 00:26:09.420 will we perceive what we are supposed to perceive accurately that is the battle that is where the 00:26:09.420 --> 00:26:16.340 battle is because if my sight can be jaundiced then the enemy does not have to do anything else 00:26:16.340 --> 00:26:21.540 because if sight is jaundiced then he knows that believing will be jaundiced your confessions will 00:26:21.540 --> 00:26:29.940 be twisted and your action will be limited simple if my sight is jaundiced my beliefs will be half 00:26:29.940 --> 00:26:36.940 baked my confessions will be twisted and my actions will be limited and so faith will not 00:26:36.940 --> 00:26:43.100 produce the results it's supposed to produce so how is our sight jaundiced our sight is jaundiced 00:26:43.100 --> 00:26:50.940 and this is common knowledge I believe in this church site is jaundiced by our experience our 00:26:50.940 --> 00:27:05.980 sight is jaundiced by what we have been taught our sight is jaundiced by feelings our sight is 00:27:05.980 --> 00:27:19.900 jaundiced by facts that have not gone over time meaning when facts don't change over time we 00:27:19.940 --> 00:27:29.740 begin to believe the facts instead of the truth our sight is jaundiced by human role models that 00:27:29.740 --> 00:27:38.700 we have who are themselves jaundiced it's like a blind man leading a blind man our facts are 00:27:38.700 --> 00:27:49.300 jaundiced by inaccurate inaccurate teaching these are the things that jaundice our sight 00:27:49.300 --> 00:27:58.660 our experience especially when our experiences over a sustained period of time and we have not 00:27:58.660 --> 00:28:07.300 seen a change then now that becomes a default in those areas so it could be that in your life 00:28:07.300 --> 00:28:12.700 there are people who are sick or there is a sickness in your body that has not gone over time 00:28:12.700 --> 00:28:20.460 so then our seeing begins to change and we begin to think that this is the way it is sometimes it 00:28:20.460 --> 00:28:25.100 is because of plain inaccurate teaching now in some churches when they listen to this message 00:28:25.100 --> 00:28:30.460 they'll say that I am inaccurate in my teaching because I say that it is God's will for everyone 00:28:30.460 --> 00:28:37.980 to be healed but I stand my ground and say no that's the right teaching if you are taught 00:28:37.980 --> 00:28:42.940 for 40 years that God sometimes yields and God usually does not and he has a greater purpose 00:28:42.940 --> 00:28:50.860 that's what you will believe there are human role models we have sometimes it's our husbands our 00:28:50.860 --> 00:28:58.860 fathers our mothers our wives who seem to be our spiritual role model and so whatever they did we 00:28:58.860 --> 00:29:04.220 now hold on to and will not budge from it human examples are poor examples at the end of the day 00:29:04.220 --> 00:29:09.100 remember what we said Jesus Christ the Son of Man is the ultimate standard in faith nothing less 00:29:09.100 --> 00:29:26.180 our feelings we know we know what this means sometimes guys biblical concessions can also 00:29:26.180 --> 00:29:32.380 John this our site what I mean by that is we will pick on Paul we'll pick on Job and we'll pick on 00:29:32.380 --> 00:29:39.380 a few kings from the Old Testament and base our entire theology on what did not happen for them 00:29:39.380 --> 00:29:49.420 I'm not going to argue that even right now but those are biblical concessions like like when Jesus 00:29:49.420 --> 00:29:54.340 said to the guy who said is it okay to divorce and Jesus said to them Moses gave you that concession 00:29:54.340 --> 00:29:58.860 because you were hard-hearted but it is not remember he makes that statement at one point 00:29:58.860 --> 00:30:07.020 it's that kind of a thing except for when there's sexual immorality or when there's violence I can 00:30:07.020 --> 00:30:13.860 understand and Jesus makes that exception but the point is this that we cannot take biblical 00:30:13.860 --> 00:30:22.460 concessions to build a theology around it another favorite theology that comes this oh the Lord does 00:30:22.460 --> 00:30:27.460 not want to supply our wants he only wants to supply our needs don't know where that came from 00:30:27.460 --> 00:30:35.820 he only wants to supply our needs not our wants and then you'll have to now begin to redefine wants 00:30:35.820 --> 00:30:43.340 and needs and try to keep it both clear which father wants to supply only his child's bare needs 00:30:43.340 --> 00:30:55.020 this is not that balloon the bear necessities no it's not that thing yeah God will supply all our 00:30:55.020 --> 00:31:00.500 needs was never meant to say that God will not supply wants the word needs there is everything 00:31:00.500 --> 00:31:09.700 required for living now what is the need and a want suddenly I'm sure hockey will be a want 00:31:09.700 --> 00:31:20.900 so just understand that our site is jaundiced by these things and I want to say this important 00:31:20.900 --> 00:31:27.380 that you don't pass on your beliefs based on what you inaccurately what you see inaccurately to 00:31:27.380 --> 00:31:33.820 others let me say that again please make sure that your beliefs are rock-solid otherwise do 00:31:33.820 --> 00:31:47.340 not pass on what you see inaccurately to others just as much as you cannot force one to walk in 00:31:47.340 --> 00:31:55.060 your faith don't make someone walk in your lack of faith either calling that faith let me say that 00:31:55.100 --> 00:32:00.940 again just as much as I cannot force anybody here to walk in the faith that I may have in a situation 00:32:00.940 --> 00:32:07.020 I should not force you to walk in the lack of faith either now I may not have faith for healing 00:32:07.020 --> 00:32:11.460 let's assume if I do not have faith for healing and you come to me and say you have a sickness I 00:32:11.460 --> 00:32:17.320 should not now say it you know you're right sometimes God does stuff like this he senses 00:32:17.320 --> 00:32:22.140 sickness so that we may live a greater lesson you know what you just go and get whatever needs to 00:32:22.140 --> 00:32:27.300 be done done and forget the stuff about healing I may not have the faith for it but please do not 00:32:27.300 --> 00:32:32.060 pass it on just because you have a lack of because I don't have a lack because I have a lack of faith 00:32:32.060 --> 00:32:36.300 make sure that I don't pass it on to somebody else make sure that whatever you pass on to somebody 00:32:36.300 --> 00:32:46.300 is rock-solid there are areas in my life where I'll tell people I'm sorry I cannot talk to you 00:32:46.300 --> 00:32:50.420 because I have not sorted that out in my life and I'm sorry I cannot advise you on that I 00:32:50.420 --> 00:33:02.500 have to fix it in my life first if someone came to me five or six years ago and asked me to pray 00:33:02.500 --> 00:33:07.820 for provision in their life I sometimes feel like a hypocrite because I knew the situations with my 00:33:07.820 --> 00:33:11.380 provision and my lack of faith when it came to provision and I'd be praying for provision for 00:33:11.380 --> 00:33:16.140 someone else and I feel like man you know how to say these lines but you don't know how to back it 00:33:16.140 --> 00:33:23.340 up in your own life don't want to do that just take them to someone else who may be able to pray 00:33:23.340 --> 00:33:28.500 for them but do not pass on that which is incomplete or a lack in your life either by 00:33:28.500 --> 00:33:38.300 pretending as a hypocrite or telling them something that is not true please don't questions comments 00:33:46.140 --> 00:34:02.660 I would suggest that you check with someone you think is perhaps in that area walking in your view 00:34:02.660 --> 00:34:08.380 a life that is just totally circumspect in what in terms of what the word says and go and check 00:34:08.380 --> 00:34:14.140 go and check your understanding with that person or go and check your life with that person's life 00:34:16.140 --> 00:34:30.340 learning initially is a process of second-guessing guys I spent many years learning by watching others 00:34:30.340 --> 00:34:36.780 in certain areas and I did second guess myself because I did not know how to navigate and it's 00:34:36.780 --> 00:34:43.780 time well spent it's time well spent and I would sit and listen while these men would talk about 00:34:43.780 --> 00:34:49.660 stuff and I think to myself when am I going to get here it was not beating myself down but it was 00:34:49.660 --> 00:34:53.980 always saying here is a man I know who can walk a certain way and I'd like to see how he does it 00:34:53.980 --> 00:35:01.020 there's a guy called Vic who was brilliant at constructing churches all throughout the world and 00:35:01.020 --> 00:35:07.380 I remember sitting and watching him and thinking to myself man this must be what it is to walk in 00:35:07.380 --> 00:35:11.660 the shoes of an apostle and I didn't know anything about the apostolic then but I knew that much and 00:35:11.700 --> 00:35:19.500 I watched him and that's the way you learn make sure that your human examples are examples that 00:35:19.500 --> 00:35:27.740 actually have learned how to both talk the talk and walk the walk because one of the things Paul 00:35:27.740 --> 00:35:33.740 says which I want to say in different areas of my life to the church at acts 29 is imitate me as I 00:35:33.740 --> 00:35:40.060 imitate Christ and there are areas in my life which I say without any modesty right now that 00:35:40.100 --> 00:35:45.020 you can imitate in my life because I imitate Christ not all but there are many areas in my 00:35:45.020 --> 00:35:53.100 life where you can do that I said that with relative ease as I can your life in case you 00:35:53.100 --> 00:36:06.500 didn't know and at the end of the day how did Christ walk that should be my ultimate comparison 00:36:06.660 --> 00:36:12.700 how did Christ walk when it came to provisions how did Christ operate when it came to healing I 00:36:12.700 --> 00:36:19.900 know why he was not sick one because he was not born with original sin two because he walked 00:36:19.900 --> 00:36:27.780 perfectly before God but how did he deal with healing in other people's lives there's only one 00:36:27.780 --> 00:36:35.700 plumb line for us in all these areas guys how did how did he deal with things of life how did he 00:36:35.700 --> 00:36:45.780 walk across the waters how did he listen what did he see that becomes our standard that becomes 00:36:45.780 --> 00:36:57.860 our standard faith that is blind is usually faith based on inaccurate site or natural site so the 00:36:57.860 --> 00:37:02.260 whole idea of blind faith really is not just trusting God and leaping off a cliff blind faith 00:37:02.260 --> 00:37:09.300 is when I'm either operating by natural site or I'm operating by inaccurate scene that's when I'm 00:37:09.300 --> 00:37:21.420 really blind otherwise faith always operates on the basis of knowing revealed site always 00:37:25.420 --> 00:37:32.180 in a sense yes because by my definition which is not necessarily biblical is just a perhaps 00:37:32.180 --> 00:37:37.100 a way of putting it but I'm saying that blind faith is faith that is based on natural site 00:37:37.100 --> 00:37:43.620 or an inaccurate scene but it's not a theological statement it's just something I just wanted to 00:37:43.620 --> 00:37:51.740 say and the only way blind faith and of the inaccurate site can be corrected is by accurate 00:37:51.740 --> 00:37:58.340 teaching or accurate modeling which is again a form of teaching because teachers model what they 00:37:58.340 --> 00:38:04.700 are supposed to teach Jesus said that he said look at these Pharisees don't do what they do 00:38:04.700 --> 00:38:12.420 sure listen to them but don't you do what they do but that's not a good teacher the other thing 00:38:12.420 --> 00:38:18.260 that I need to understand about seeing and we touched on this also before but I was so sure 00:38:18.260 --> 00:38:22.740 that this had to be repeated this week the other thing that we need to understand about seeing is 00:38:23.140 --> 00:38:32.020 that folks many of us in many different situations in our life think that God is neutral when it 00:38:32.020 --> 00:38:39.140 comes to dealing with us God is neutral we understand that God is not against us but not 00:38:39.140 --> 00:38:46.580 all of us are constantly aware that God is for us I go through these times when I'm shocked that 00:38:46.580 --> 00:38:53.140 I think God is not for me neither is he against me I just sometimes I'm shocked and I go and tell 00:38:53.140 --> 00:38:58.700 him you know Lord after 20 years I just when I was talking to you right now I was struggling 00:38:58.700 --> 00:39:03.380 because I wasn't sure whether you were for me I know you're not against me but I suddenly felt 00:39:03.380 --> 00:39:10.660 that you weren't necessarily for me God is never neutral when it comes to you but you can think he 00:39:10.660 --> 00:39:17.420 is neutral if you do not recognize who he wants to be in your life I want you to remind I want to 00:39:17.420 --> 00:39:23.860 remind you of Joshua 5 verse 13 to 15 in Joshua 5 13 to 15 here's what happened happens Joshua knows 00:39:23.860 --> 00:39:29.980 that soon he's got to go and take Jericho and he goes for a walk and when he goes for a walk he 00:39:29.980 --> 00:39:35.540 suddenly sees a man with a sword drawn out and he goes up to the man and he asks the man a question 00:39:35.540 --> 00:39:43.420 he says to him are you for us or are you for our enemies and the man has a strange reply and this 00:39:43.420 --> 00:39:52.340 man is a pre-incarnate Christ just so you know the man says neither and it's always fascinated me 00:39:52.340 --> 00:39:58.980 that the pre-incarnate Christ appears to Joshua and Joshua asks are you for us or are you for the 00:39:58.980 --> 00:40:07.780 enemy and he says neither that's neutrality and then after saying neither he says I am the Lord 00:40:07.780 --> 00:40:16.080 of the armies of heaven and immediately Joshua falls down to the ground as soon as Joshua recognizes 00:40:16.080 --> 00:40:22.300 who he is and his title immediately God begins to reveal to him everything else that needs to be 00:40:22.300 --> 00:40:29.460 revealed and I want to say to you that God will only be neutral to you if you do not recognize 00:40:29.460 --> 00:40:35.740 his awesomeness and what his title is to you in a particular season at a particular junction in a 00:40:35.740 --> 00:40:44.540 particular event that is when you leave thinking he's neutral but if you and I have in every 00:40:44.540 --> 00:40:50.700 situation an ability to go up to God and say what are you being to me what is your title right now 00:40:50.700 --> 00:40:57.460 in my life I recognize your awesomeness I know you are Lord but tell me your title in my life 00:40:57.460 --> 00:41:02.300 right now and I'm saying to you that if you practice this you'll be surprised and how your 00:41:02.300 --> 00:41:08.940 heart will leap like a calf that is prancing because suddenly you realize in junctions of 00:41:08.940 --> 00:41:16.500 your life in situations in events he tells you who he is for that particular season and you 00:41:16.500 --> 00:41:21.100 suddenly are filled with such boldness that on one hand you will bow before him on the other hand 00:41:21.100 --> 00:41:26.300 you leap to your feet and prance around because your heart is full of this revelation of who he 00:41:26.300 --> 00:41:34.100 is I know who he is this month in July as I travel I'm sometimes surprised at who he doesn't tell me 00:41:34.100 --> 00:41:40.780 he is what I mean is I expect him to be mighty miracle worker and when I ask him so father I'm 00:41:40.780 --> 00:41:45.300 going on this trip and you know all the things that go with the trip what do you want me to what 00:41:45.300 --> 00:41:50.380 do you want to be to me during this time I mean he tells me sometimes it doesn't fit what I want 00:41:50.380 --> 00:41:57.420 him to be but it doesn't matter so let's assume he says to me that I want to be a teacher for the 00:41:57.420 --> 00:42:02.780 next month during the trip then you know what I'll do I'll go take the Bible and I'll take every 00:42:02.780 --> 00:42:10.940 scripture on what a teacher does and I'll take every scripture on how a pupil responds it's very 00:42:10.940 --> 00:42:17.940 easy to do that go to esord or any such now I have exactly what the Bible says a teacher will be 00:42:17.940 --> 00:42:24.780 like as Christ is and I also know how a pupil should respond now I'm armed for the next 21 to 00:42:24.780 --> 00:42:32.020 26 days I'll be walking around knowing who he is when Joshua went up to him and he said neither 00:42:32.020 --> 00:42:38.100 and then he reveals his title he didn't tell Joshua I am Yahweh he didn't say to Joshua I'm 00:42:38.100 --> 00:42:43.060 Yahweh Jaira your provider he didn't say to Joshua I'm Yahweh Rapha your healer he didn't say I'm 00:42:43.060 --> 00:42:51.540 Yahweh Shama I'm Yahweh Nisi he said I am Yahweh Sabaoth why because he knew that the next morning 00:42:51.540 --> 00:42:59.260 Joshua has to go and take Jericho he knows this event the situation the juncture you are at and 00:42:59.260 --> 00:43:08.340 he will reveal what he needs to be and suddenly it's like a banner waving over your head which 00:43:08.340 --> 00:43:12.900 goes with you wherever you're traveling because the king is in residence there and the king has 00:43:12.900 --> 00:43:19.660 a title that applies to your situation for now so you don't have to worry about miracle working 00:43:19.660 --> 00:43:23.740 and all that stuff because he had just told you he's going to be a teacher and you know immediately 00:43:23.740 --> 00:43:29.460 that he will watch over you and instruct you and teach you his paths and his ways and you will hear 00:43:29.460 --> 00:43:34.420 a voice in your ear saying do not turn to the left or to not turn to the right but walk in the ancient 00:43:34.420 --> 00:43:40.820 paths and I will prosper you in what you do so suddenly you respond like a pupil and you go with 00:43:40.820 --> 00:43:46.700 such confidence and your eyes and ears and heart is continuously caught because you want to hear 00:43:46.700 --> 00:43:52.380 the rabbi speak to you and tell you what he is about and you realize that even though you are 00:43:52.380 --> 00:43:58.780 going on a trip you're going to learn and come back far more learned for I have been taught by 00:43:58.780 --> 00:44:03.220 the tongue of my teacher and my ears have been listening to him you see how everything changes 00:44:03.220 --> 00:44:14.780 this is something we need to do in terms of sight when we begin to see who God is in a 00:44:14.780 --> 00:44:21.500 particular season then it is easy now to base my beliefs on the sight of his name 00:44:21.500 --> 00:44:36.220 when you acknowledge it God begins to reveal more as he did with Joshua have to see his title what 00:44:36.220 --> 00:44:47.020 is he want to be at seasons events in my life at the end of the day I always remember this 00:44:47.020 --> 00:44:53.740 God is not neutral with you you're a son and God said this about Jesus he said I love my son dearly 00:44:53.740 --> 00:45:01.060 and because I love my son dearly I will show him all things and this he says in John 520 put your 00:45:01.060 --> 00:45:07.420 name in there I love my Jacob dearly and I will show him all the things that he needs to see because 00:45:07.420 --> 00:45:23.020 I love my Jacob dearly can you imagine my Jacob this nuts man sight must lead to believing sight 00:45:24.020 --> 00:45:32.140 believing it is possible for sight not to lead to believing it's fascinating how like I said I 00:45:32.140 --> 00:45:36.820 was sharing testimonies in that church and at the end of testimonies and they knew I was telling 00:45:36.820 --> 00:45:43.460 the truth at the end of all those testimonies there was no believing sight you would think 00:45:43.460 --> 00:45:48.220 would lead to belief you know in Matthew 27 verse 28 I think Jesus has just risen from the dead 00:45:48.220 --> 00:45:58.380 and he appears to disciples and it says many believe but some doubted they saw a man they saw 00:45:58.380 --> 00:46:10.180 him risen in an immortal body and many believe but some doubted sight should lead to belief and 00:46:10.180 --> 00:46:16.300 please understand that beliefs are more than preferences belief is more than consensus beliefs 00:46:16.300 --> 00:46:22.060 are non-negotiable convictions yeah please this is important okay we all say we believe but a 00:46:22.060 --> 00:46:30.340 belief is a non-negotiable conviction it's non-negotiable and what's it based on it's 00:46:30.340 --> 00:46:36.700 based on this grasp you have of God's non-negotiable faithfulness and truth it's 00:46:36.700 --> 00:46:45.740 non-negotiable that's what a belief is guys a belief is not a preference a belief is not 00:46:45.740 --> 00:46:52.340 a consensus opinion because most people seem to be getting it right when they think along 00:46:52.340 --> 00:47:07.220 those lines a belief is a non-negotiable conviction because you have suddenly grasped the fact that 00:47:07.220 --> 00:47:12.860 God has some non-negotiable truths and his faithfulness is non-negotiable so now you 00:47:12.860 --> 00:47:20.380 can stake your life on it and your reputation and lose both if he doesn't turn up but guess 00:47:20.380 --> 00:47:27.140 what it pleases him because there are people who did trust him and the Bible says they did not get 00:47:27.140 --> 00:47:34.140 what they were looking for here on earth but they knew something else was waiting for them always 00:47:34.140 --> 00:47:39.700 remember the the objective of faith is not to obtain results the objective of faith is to please 00:47:39.820 --> 00:47:47.020 God the results are a byproduct it is a big leap for me I always used to think the objective of 00:47:47.020 --> 00:47:59.140 faith was getting results convictions are non-negotiable a conviction is a belief you 00:47:59.140 --> 00:48:06.460 won't change a conviction is a belief you won't change to violate a conviction would be a sin 00:48:06.460 --> 00:48:12.580 a conviction is a belief you won't change you can add to a conviction once you know it's 00:48:12.580 --> 00:48:19.580 accurate God may cause more truth to explode onto your site and you add to it but a conviction is 00:48:19.580 --> 00:48:26.740 not something that changes I don't know if I told you this I may have told you some of you this 00:48:26.740 --> 00:48:37.740 situation I was this happened some five or six years five years ago 2004 May or something or 00:48:37.740 --> 00:48:45.660 doesn't matter five or six years ago I was flying from Vancouver to London and with somebody else 00:48:45.660 --> 00:48:53.140 on a mission trip and this person was much more learned and perhaps one of the people who's 00:48:53.140 --> 00:48:59.140 invested the most in my life and as I'm going on this mission trip halfway through the flight 00:48:59.140 --> 00:49:10.460 I break out in a cold sweat and I feel dizzy and I completely just go dead and I found out later 00:49:10.460 --> 00:49:18.340 that the person took my pulse and found out that there was no pulse and I had gone cold and so when 00:49:18.340 --> 00:49:25.660 I came around I found that they had put an oxygen mask on my face cleared the chair the seat next 00:49:25.660 --> 00:49:33.340 to me and had fed me coke because they thought that I needed my sugar levels were low stuff like 00:49:33.340 --> 00:49:39.500 that and I felt a little embarrassed at all this that had happened so finally once people have gone 00:49:39.500 --> 00:49:44.740 back I took off the mask and the person next to me told me that you had completely gone dead and 00:49:44.740 --> 00:49:51.060 he had started praying in tongues and because he did not feel a pulse and the body had gone cold 00:49:51.060 --> 00:50:00.260 and we went after the after that the trip went fine I was away for two weeks works really hard 00:50:00.260 --> 00:50:06.380 like I'd normally do on trips and came back and when I came back the person said to me that you 00:50:06.380 --> 00:50:14.180 need to now go to a doctor and you need to check out the condition your physical condition because 00:50:14.220 --> 00:50:20.220 what happened on that aircraft was really something else and you need to go and check yourself out and 00:50:20.220 --> 00:50:25.220 I believe that this is something God wants you to do and I would recommend that you do it because 00:50:25.220 --> 00:50:28.940 you have to be responsible he didn't say God wants you to do I want you to do it because you have to 00:50:28.940 --> 00:50:34.820 be responsible to keep yourself well before God and stuff like that and because it was this man 00:50:34.820 --> 00:50:41.420 who had such such an impress such an influence on my life I was suddenly caught in this dilemma 00:50:41.420 --> 00:50:48.700 because all my life since I've become a Christian which was in 1988 I have never had ever to touch 00:50:48.700 --> 00:50:55.300 a medicine never which is I'm not saying that that is the standard that I want to apply to 00:50:55.300 --> 00:51:01.380 everybody but I'm saying in my life that is how it has worked I've never had to touch a medicine 00:51:01.380 --> 00:51:08.020 and here is this man of God who I respect and honor and look up to who's telling me that I need 00:51:08.020 --> 00:51:13.140 to go and I'm caught in this dilemma because I know what how God has operated with me and I know 00:51:13.140 --> 00:51:19.220 what this man is telling me now that night that man has a dream and in that dream this is funny 00:51:19.220 --> 00:51:28.500 in that but it but I interpreted it wasn't in the dream he sees me getting married to somebody and 00:51:28.500 --> 00:51:34.740 so I'm standing in front of the altar and there's this person in a bridal gown with a with the face 00:51:34.740 --> 00:51:42.300 covered with a veil and he is the one who's marrying us and he pronounces us husband and wife 00:51:42.300 --> 00:51:51.300 and then I lift the veil and it's a guy and now it's a guy and he says to me Jacob it's too late 00:51:51.300 --> 00:51:57.140 I have already pronounced you man and wife and you're married and there's nothing you can do and 00:51:57.140 --> 00:52:01.860 as he's talking to me the Lord is beginning to speak to me I was driving down the Oak Street 00:52:01.860 --> 00:52:05.820 Bridge and taking that ramp off to come to my place and I just remember this part and the Lord 00:52:05.820 --> 00:52:11.580 is saying do you see do you see do you see and as he's talking I said I have an interview he said 00:52:11.580 --> 00:52:16.500 I do not understand what it means you have to be careful I said I understand it and began to tell 00:52:16.500 --> 00:52:25.100 him I said if I marry right now into the system that you are telling me to go into the Lord has 00:52:25.100 --> 00:52:30.220 taught me to be this way all my life he has always taken care of my health and he has always kept me 00:52:30.220 --> 00:52:36.620 safe without the need for medicines and he's always healed me now if you have asked me to go 00:52:36.620 --> 00:52:42.460 and marry into a system that God has taught me to stay out of and I do it I'll never be able to 00:52:42.460 --> 00:52:50.300 come out of it and this man had the humility to say you know you're right do not listen to anything 00:52:50.300 --> 00:52:59.420 I said before the reason I'm telling you this is sometimes if you have a conviction about something 00:52:59.420 --> 00:53:04.780 and you have to make sure you have an accurate site and conviction then you have to stand your 00:53:04.780 --> 00:53:11.100 ground regardless at the cost of your reputation even sometimes at the cost of your life but that's 00:53:11.100 --> 00:53:17.540 what convictions are about if you go and check any law situation in the US the if you go to a 00:53:17.540 --> 00:53:21.700 court in the US the US courts define what is a belief and what is a conviction did you know that 00:53:21.700 --> 00:53:26.420 a belief is something that can change and they ask you is it a belief that you have or is it a 00:53:26.420 --> 00:53:31.180 conviction because if it's a conviction they know that you will not change it at any cost even if 00:53:31.180 --> 00:53:35.660 you get a jail term but if it is a belief the court can ask you to perhaps change your belief 00:53:35.660 --> 00:53:42.620 because beliefs are defined as changeable you can go check it I checked it this morning to make sure 00:53:42.620 --> 00:53:54.660 the reason for telling you that story is you've got to know what your convictions are and you've 00:53:54.660 --> 00:54:07.260 got to base your convictions on accurate site and then if it's a conviction you can stand 00:54:07.260 --> 00:54:16.560 because to violate a conviction would be sin to violate a belief would be a sin and the Bible 00:54:16.560 --> 00:54:26.000 says in Romans 14 23 anything that I do not do in faith is sin make sure your convictions are 00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:32.760 solid that's important that's why site is so important conviction always will speak guys it'll 00:54:32.760 --> 00:54:37.960 always speak because convictions are on the inside and it will always show up on the outside 00:54:37.960 --> 00:54:45.920 in your lifestyle if you have a conviction about anything it will speak in Daniel chapter 00:54:45.960 --> 00:54:55.400 3 verse 23 or thereabouts they had verse 17 and 18 sorry they had convictions they had convictions 00:54:55.400 --> 00:55:00.840 and they their conviction within them spoke and they said oh king we believe that our God is going 00:55:00.840 --> 00:55:06.880 to rescue us but perchance that God does not rescue us we want you to know that we will not 00:55:07.040 --> 00:55:22.240 you it's it's at cost it's at cost any questions before we move on to confession and then action 00:55:22.240 --> 00:55:34.600 we should be done by 115 any questions you see why it is very important that I know my site and 00:55:34.720 --> 00:55:42.120 my convictions before I teach or try to influence somebody else and why you need to do the same 00:55:42.120 --> 00:55:47.680 before you teach or influence somebody because just as dangerous as it is to influence somebody 00:55:47.680 --> 00:55:52.640 else to walk in your faith it is as dangerous to encourage someone to walk in your lack of faith 00:55:52.640 --> 00:55:58.760 or my lack of faith so there are many times when people will come and ask me for prayer and I 00:55:58.760 --> 00:56:04.240 realize that I don't have faith to pray for it so instead of praying help I back off and I first 00:56:04.240 --> 00:56:09.160 go and negotiate with God saying I do not have faith to pray for this you know something I did 00:56:09.160 --> 00:56:17.120 not have faith to pray for the child's muscle and then the day after I heard it I was talking to 00:56:17.120 --> 00:56:24.200 Heidi and saying Heidi so this is what is happening and very casually she said if the child has a 00:56:24.200 --> 00:56:30.000 muscle the things will work out and I don't see why God cannot create a muscle and I heard that 00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:35.120 and so I went back and I started saying to God it's that easy father I want we want muscles and 00:56:35.120 --> 00:56:41.480 then we prayed together that evening but till then I had not even gone to that area of muscles I was 00:56:41.480 --> 00:56:49.120 thinking of other options of a tube being inserted father maybe because my father's the dad has 00:56:49.800 --> 00:56:54.920 if you put in a tube a seven centimeter tube things will work out so I was going for that option 00:56:54.920 --> 00:56:59.840 till I heard about the muscle see sometimes when you do not have faith for something no instead 00:56:59.840 --> 00:57:04.280 of going for the usual health prayer which is okay but we have to move to places of maturity 00:57:04.280 --> 00:57:10.320 step back and say okay father I want to come to the place where I can have faith for this and 00:57:10.320 --> 00:57:18.160 work on it it is your personal responsibility to work on it this is discipline guys these are the 00:57:18.160 --> 00:57:33.720 disciplines of Christian life these are the disciplines of Christian life convictions lead 00:57:33.720 --> 00:57:41.120 to confession we're talking about the next page now convictions lead to confession and just so 00:57:41.120 --> 00:57:50.480 we understand what confession means to confess is to acknowledge agree and then declare confessions 00:57:50.480 --> 00:57:57.120 are an acknowledgement an agreement and then a declaration so confessions are not mantras 00:57:57.120 --> 00:58:04.600 because they are a declaration of intent they are a declaration of intent and confessions have 00:58:04.600 --> 00:58:09.720 limited power if you haven't seen accurately if you haven't believed it to a point of being 00:58:09.720 --> 00:58:21.540 absolutely persuaded confessions are just limited in power they don't do much because the Bible 00:58:21.540 --> 00:58:26.960 says the name is 3-3 one of my favorite scriptures can two walk together in agreement unless can 00:58:26.960 --> 00:58:35.120 two walk together except they are in agreement so it's pointless confessing stuff it's a hollow 00:58:35.120 --> 00:58:41.400 echo if I already haven't come into agreement with what God can do and with what God is saying 00:58:41.400 --> 00:58:48.760 because I've seen it and now I'm persuaded to a point of being convicted of it in my heart only 00:58:48.760 --> 00:58:59.200 then is it natural for the abundance of the heart to be spoken with the mouth that's how it works 00:58:59.200 --> 00:59:10.400 and if you begin to actually confess because you have seen and because you are persuaded in 00:59:10.400 --> 00:59:17.080 your heart it will show in your in pattern changes in your life guys confession is always 00:59:17.080 --> 00:59:22.280 matched with consistent changes of patterns in your life once I begin to confess a certain 00:59:22.280 --> 00:59:28.040 thing you and it comes out of a deep conviction you'll see that in an area where I used to react 00:59:28.040 --> 00:59:34.440 differently there's a change in pattern now because now my words are not talk-to-talk it's 00:59:34.440 --> 00:59:47.400 words that come out of my walk there's a difference suddenly that's perhaps where charismatic Christians 00:59:47.400 --> 00:59:55.920 such as some of us missed out when confession became the endgame instead of it being a declaration 00:59:55.920 --> 01:00:04.200 of intent that was based on rock-solid conviction with him and here's another important point which 01:00:04.200 --> 01:00:17.640 you need to note that that reason will always try to silence confession reason will always try to 01:00:17.640 --> 01:00:28.840 silence and intimidate confession reason reason will try to silence confession or intimidate it 01:00:28.840 --> 01:00:36.720 will try to silence confession the voice of reason silences dilutes our convictions and our 01:00:36.720 --> 01:00:45.040 confession let me see that again the voice of reason will always try to silence or dilute our 01:00:45.920 --> 01:00:55.320 convictions and our confession like Roland Tan used to say cut off that cabbage that's I mean cut 01:00:55.320 --> 01:01:03.320 off your head and stick a cabbage there you'll do better the voice of reason will always silence 01:01:03.320 --> 01:01:14.360 your convictions and confession or it'll dilute it you know I'm just saying this again this is where 01:01:14.400 --> 01:01:22.640 you can look really foolish but I need to say like I know that there is a particular vehicle that God 01:01:22.640 --> 01:01:28.680 is going to give me in future and I'm even asking him now okay father so what do I do with my present 01:01:28.680 --> 01:01:34.580 vehicle and it looks like I'll have to give it away to somebody so I don't know who but now every 01:01:34.580 --> 01:01:39.520 morning when I wake up I see this vehicle going past my house and I do not know why he wants to 01:01:39.520 --> 01:01:44.120 give it to me because it's not like I'm unhappy with the vehicle I have but I know it so every 01:01:44.120 --> 01:01:48.640 morning I say oh father there it goes first thing I get up in the morning there you see it again and 01:01:48.640 --> 01:01:54.440 now I'm beginning to examine the vehicle beginning to check it out to see well not bad not bad and 01:01:54.440 --> 01:02:00.160 now my question is okay father so who do I give the present vehicle I have to you got to tell me 01:02:00.160 --> 01:02:04.640 that too because what would I would do with two vehicles as far as I know I'm not getting married 01:02:05.240 --> 01:02:14.320 so don't need two vehicles my dad will give one away and when I was writing this I thought no no 01:02:14.320 --> 01:02:19.480 I should speak it out here in church because I'm quite sure this is gonna happen so my dad will 01:02:19.480 --> 01:02:25.840 tell you right? My dad will do a raffle in the church or something no just kidding but the point 01:02:25.840 --> 01:02:38.040 is I just needed to throw that in for my own sake folks it's a Toyota but it's an SUV the voice 01:02:38.040 --> 01:02:44.160 of reason silences or dilutes our belief and folks the voice of reason will also cause you 01:02:44.160 --> 01:02:50.360 to sometimes not act in faith for small things here's here's an example it's only a small headache 01:02:50.360 --> 01:03:00.520 forget praying just grab the Advil it's only a small headache so why go through the whole 01:03:00.520 --> 01:03:06.080 labor of prayer just grab the aspirin or the Advil it's much easier oh it's only a small muscle 01:03:06.080 --> 01:03:19.480 pull that will go away in four days I can't understand that yeah that's the voice of reason 01:03:19.480 --> 01:03:26.320 but this is this is common to us all I am surprised that sometimes if the pain is not 01:03:26.320 --> 01:03:34.120 bad enough it'll go away in three four days we live in a different economy 01:03:40.480 --> 01:03:47.960 I guarantee you if Jesus was with twelve of you and you had an it Jesus boo-boo 01:03:47.960 --> 01:03:59.720 after three and a half years your language wouldn't change but the point is this guys we 01:03:59.720 --> 01:04:05.240 bear it because the voice of reason says now you're going to pray for that and what if the 01:04:05.240 --> 01:04:10.440 headache doesn't go to deal with the hassle of why the headache didn't go and just take the 01:04:11.320 --> 01:04:22.880 see this is how we fall out of practice guys we have to be faithful in little things that is what 01:04:22.880 --> 01:04:30.520 makes a crisis become a small thing later on a crisis is big because we never practiced it with 01:04:30.520 --> 01:04:36.480 little things when you practice with little things a crisis loses its size and magnitude 01:04:40.440 --> 01:04:50.880 I refuse now to bear up if if there is a thing father it is hurting and I really don't like pain 01:04:50.880 --> 01:04:55.240 and you know that I don't know why you gave me such a low threshold of pain but I'm glad you did 01:04:55.240 --> 01:05:02.720 but please in the name of Jesus Christ be healed same applies to provision same applies to failure 01:05:02.720 --> 01:05:08.680 same applies to doors opening same applies to shutting doors same applies to not allowing 01:05:08.840 --> 01:05:13.880 things same applies to allowing things it's all the same man we learn in small things 01:05:13.880 --> 01:05:34.040 let's go to action and finish confession has to be followed by action see folks if our response 01:05:34.040 --> 01:05:39.880 is the same difference as the world know what good are we if we just bookend our prayers with 01:05:39.880 --> 01:05:49.280 some faith jargon what good is it if it's the same difference as the world we got to be distinctly 01:05:49.280 --> 01:05:54.600 different when it comes to faith man there's always a shedding away of a garment when you 01:05:54.600 --> 01:06:01.760 walk on what you see or what you believe and what you speak remember blind Bartimaeus what did he do 01:06:01.760 --> 01:06:09.440 he shed off the garment he didn't shed off the gum and fold it neatly and keep it safely so that 01:06:09.440 --> 01:06:17.640 later on he can pull it out and wear it again he's fed it off and he walked an action that follows 01:06:17.640 --> 01:06:23.760 this kind of site this kind of believing this kind of declaring of intent is always a burning 01:06:23.760 --> 01:06:30.960 of bridges man a burning of bridges because there'll be absolutely no going back you risk 01:06:31.000 --> 01:06:37.560 your reputation and your life risk your reputation and there will be times when you risk your 01:06:37.560 --> 01:06:39.920 reputation and your reputation is in ruins