FaithAct: Demon, Dead, or Doing?

Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

Elation Church. Faith Act. Everybody say week

number eight. Everybody say the grand finale.

Now we could have kept going and you'll see how

easy it would be for us to keep going by the

time we complete the message today. But this

will be the last message eight weeks in our series.

that we've entitled Faith Act. Let's talk about

faith a little bit. Because some people, if you

ask them what faith is, they just say, well,

it's just believing. It's just acknowledging

and believing. So where does faith come from?

How does faith work? We're going to talk about

that real quick as our introduction. Romans 10,

17 tells us this. Faith comes by hearing. and

hearing by the word of God. So when the Bible

talks about faith, you know, some people think

faith means a denomination or faith is if you're

a person of faith, if you're a believer or not.

And then that's just as far as their definition

gets. But I believe according to the word of

God, our faith needs to be an active faith, not

just a passive faith. So where does this faith

come from? The Bible says without faith, it's

impossible to please God. Where does this faith

come from? It comes from hearing and hearing

by the word of God. It doesn't come from our

imagination. It comes from God's word. And the

word of God here, the words, you know, the Greek

words, the New Testament was written in Koine

Greek in the original language. And here's what

it means. It means divine utterance. That's where

faith comes from. Faith comes from divine utterance.

Now that can be spoken or written. Spoken or

written. So, the written word of God is in the

Bible. Everybody say the Bible. But how many

of you know God speaks to you too? By the still

small voice of his Holy Spirit, he speaks to

us. So, there's some things that are very black

and white in the Bible. It's like, this is what

God said, right? And then there's times when

God speaks to you because there's some things

in your life that aren't written out in black

and white ink, on white paper with black ink.

Some things aren't just written out in the Bible.

Like there's no Bible verse that told Dean to

marry Gayna almost 40 years ago, right? Huh?

Now, she quoted a Bible verse on me before we

started dating. One day, because I'd been praying

for a girlfriend, you know, I'm in college. I

had girlfriends in high school. Now we're in

college and I don't have a girlfriend. I'm like,

what happened to me? You know, I lost it. I must

have lost something when I went to college, right?

So every week when we'd get together, we were

singing in a group together at the college and

we would have prayer request time and I'd say,

pray that I can find a girlfriend in college.

I mean, this is getting bad. And one day Ganna

walked up to me and she said, you have not because

you asked not. Now that's a Bible verse. That's

a Bible verse. She quoted a Bible verse on me.

I asked and like I said, in August we'll be married

40 years. So, but there wasn't a Bible verse

specifically that told me to marry Ganna. There's

not a Bible verse specifically that told me and

my family to move here from South Carolina to

plant Elation Church. About three years ago,

I mean, there's just not a Bible verse. But the

Holy Spirit spoke to us and led us and guided

us, right? So it's still God's Word. When God

speaks to you, it's God's Word. It's His divine

utterance for you. Now, we've got to be careful

when I say this, and I've talked about it during

the series. If all of a sudden you think God's

telling you to do something that is not in agreement

with His written word, then God's not telling

you that. Because God's not going to rewrite

the Bible to fit some kind of personal deal to

you. Alright? Are you with me? If you're with

me, say amen or oh me or uh -huh or something.

Alright? So faith comes by hearing and hearing

by the word of God. That's the first step of

faith is hearing a divine utterance from God.

It has to come from God for it to be God -pleasing

faith. Let's keep going. Hebrews 11 .1. Faith

is the confidence that what we hope for will

actually happen. It gives us assurance about

things we cannot see. So this is the second step

of faith. Second step. Now that word hope, you

know, we use the word hope like hope so hope.

I hope so. You know, I've been hoping that the

South Carolina Gamecocks will win a national

football championship all my life. But it's just

hope so hope. And it doesn't look like it's going

to change anytime soon. Thank God for women's

basketball. That's all I've got to say. But we

hope for things, and it's just like a hope -so

hope. But when you read hope in the Bible, it's

not talking about hope -so at all. That's why

we've got to acknowledge that the Bible is written

in Koine Greek, and we've got to look at those

words sometimes to know what they mean. Here's

what hope... means in the Bible. It's the Greek

word elpo and it means have a confident expectation.

Somebody say confident expectation. See, so if

we have heard God say something, if we had heard

a divine utterance, if we have read... a divine

utterance, if the Holy Spirit has caused that

word to come alive on the inside of us, you know

what? We can go ahead and get confident about

it. We can have a confident expectation to the

point that we can go ahead and get happy about

it even before we see it fulfilled in our lives.

The hope that we have in Christ is a confident

expectation that we're going to see the goodness

of God, that we're going to see the promises

of God fulfilled in our lives. That's the hope

that the Bible is talking about. So the second

step of faith is wholeheartedly believing, having

confidence in what God has said. Second step.

Third step. This is what we've been focusing

on. Because see, most people already know about,

and I mean, for, I don't know. Almost 50 years

I've been a follower of Christ and I've known

about hearing and believing, but I haven't really

understood the faith act part except maybe the

last 10 years of my life. James 2 .26 tells us

this, faith without works is dead. It's just

dead. What does dead produce? Nothing. So faith

without works is dead. Faith without a corresponding

action is dead. So the third step of faith is

acting in obedience. Acting in obedience. And

most people never get to that point where they

act in obedience. It's just like the verses that

we read during the offering. It says, if we do

this, then God will do this. Well, us doing our

part is acting in obedience. It's our faith act

to connect to God's promise. So, let's talk about

it a little bit more. Faith, the faith that pleases

God responds. The faith that pleases God says,

gives, does, acts. It just doesn't hear and have

a mental agreement with hearing. It has to go.

to the third step of responding, saying, giving,

doing, or acting. Now, it's easy for us to see

this when it comes to our salvation, right? Ephesians

2 .8 says this, For by grace you have been saved

through faith. Everybody say grace. What is grace?

A lot of people say unmerited favor. You know,

that's just like our common... Common thing,

right? Unmerited favor. But how does that, what

does that look like? What does that look like?

Well, grace, everybody say grace again. Grace

is what God does. Everybody say what God does.

See, grace is God's acts of kindness and favor

towards you and towards me. You know what? God

has done a lot. Hello? God's done a lot of very

great things and good things, and He's shown

His love and His kindness and His favor towards

you and towards me. So in salvation, God's grace

is... Jesus dying on the cross in your place

for your sins, shedding his blood, because without

the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness

of sin, the Bible says. So that's Jesus' work

of grace for you is the cross and the resurrection.

The resurrection just put a stamp on everything

that Jesus said, everything that Jesus did. I

mean, we can have confidence in what he has said

and what he has done. So grace is God's part.

You can't earn it, be good enough for it. You

can't be good enough for God's forgiveness and

God's goodness. You can't deserve it. That's

why we call it unmerited favor, undeserved favor.

It's just God's part. It's God's part. But it

says we've been saved by grace, by God's acts

of kindness and favor towards you. You have been

saved, but you receive it by faith. By grace

through faith. Right? Just because Jesus died

on the cross, does that mean everybody's forgiven

and everybody's going to heaven and everybody

has eternal life? I don't know. Do you know that?

Some of you are looking at me like, either you

quit listening or you don't know the answer.

Because of what Jesus did on the cross, his death,

burial, and resurrection, does that mean that

every person who's ever been born on planet earth

is going to heaven? No. No. Could they? Yes.

Because God's work is sufficient. Right? His

work is sufficient. But only the people... Who

come to Him in faith, right? You hear about God's

goodness. You hear about God's love. You hear

about Him dying on the cross for you. For your

sin and your place. Offering you His gift of

eternal life. You hear those things. And then

you say, I believe that. I believe He died for

me. I believe He wants to give me eternal life.

I believe that. So then how do we act? How do

we take hold of that? The Bible says, with the

heart we believe, but with confession... I'm

trying to quote that verse. Confession is made

unto salvation, is what the Bible says. If we

call on the name of the Lord, we'll be saved.

If we confess our sin, he's faithful and he's

just, he will forgive us and wash us clean. Cleanse

us from all unrighteousness. So that's our part.

That's how we attach to God's work of salvation.

It's when we come to the point where we say,

Jesus, I've messed up. I'm a sinner. I've done

wrong. I'm guilty. I've broke your law. And I

ask you to forgive me. Thank you for dying on

the cross for me, Jesus. Thank you for offering

me your gift of eternal life. Up until today,

my life's just been about me, but from now on,

I want my life to be about you too. And Jesus,

I ask you to be my Lord. I surrender my life

to you. Call on the name of the Lord. That's

how we connect. Everybody say connect. That's

how we connect with our faith to his grace gift

of salvation. Here's the deal. Saving faith,

living faith, walking faith, victory faith, God

-pleasing faith, they all work the same. They

all work the same. The just shall live by faith.

We're to walk by faith and not by sight. This

is the victory that overcomes the world, even

our faith. Without faith, it's impossible to

please God. These all come from verses, but faith

works the same. Look at the person beside you

and say, faith works the same. Faith works the

same. No matter what kind of faith it is, faith

works the same. Faith is more than just a mental

agreement and a belief. It's more than that.

Ultimately, our connection to the power and the

ability of God is when we act. upon what he said.

This is important. It's important. If we're going

to live in victory, I mean, this is important.

This is important. So that's why we've looked

at this series now and we're wrapping it up today

called Faith Act. Now, we've looked at all kinds

of stories and we've talked about how people

heard and believed and then they acted. Today

we're going to wrap it up. It's going to be a

little bit different than the other seven messages.

If this spurs interest, guess what? They're all

on YouTube and they're all on Facebook. You can

look at, hey, they're also all on our podcast,

which might be the easiest way to find them.

Whether you're on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or

whatever, you can find all the messages there.

Actually, the messages on podcasts are recordings

from Sunday morning. which are different than

the other ones on Facebook. Here's the deal.

James 2, 14 through 20. What does it profit,

my brethren? If someone says he has faith, but

does not have works, can faith save him? Some

people look at this verse and they say, oh, well,

now you're going to have to talk about works,

righteousness. No. No, because we can't earn

it. You can't be good enough to deserve salvation.

The Bible talks about it being like a target.

And it comes from the language and it's talking

about a target and there's like an archery shot.

And everybody's life is like... You're shooting

an arrow at the target. When it says that all

of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory

of God, it means that all of us have fallen short.

We've missed the mark. Everybody say, missed

the mark. That's the visual that that word is

talking about. So see, every single one of us,

by our life, we have shot at the target. Some

of us, including myself at times, if the target's

over there, some of us have shot our lives this

way. Has anybody ever missed it so much it was

like shooting in the opposite direction? Anybody

but me and about three other people. Let's go

ahead and fess up, all right? There are other

times when I try, you know. I'm not saying to

live a sloppy life and don't even try. But even

at my best, as the preacher, I mean, with a seminary

degree, at my best, I can't hit the bullseye.

Look at the person beside you and say, you can't

hit the bullseye. He's a hot shot. Come on. Tell

him that. You can't hit it either. We've all

missed it. So James is not talking about works

of righteousness to gain salvation. He's talking

about those things that we were just talking

about. What is a prophet? If someone says he

has faith but doesn't have works, if you say

that you believe in Jesus, a lot of people say

they believe in Jesus, but they've never confessed

him as Lord. They've never called on the name

of the Lord. They've never repented. Never. Not

even the idea to repent. Oh, I just believe in

Jesus, so I'm good now. How many of you know

that's not good enough to have some kind of mental

ascent? So can that kind of faith save somebody

if you just say that you have faith, but then

there's no evidence? Everybody say evidence.

There's no evidence at all. Can that faith save

you? The answer is no. Look at the person beside

you and say, the answer is no. Will saying you

have faith save you without a corresponding action?

The answer is no. Saving faith hears, believes,

acts by saying and surrendering, calling on the

name of the Lord, confessing your sin. All right?

So now we move to an illustration. In James,

the very next verse begins an illustration. Here's

what it says. If a brother or sister is naked

and destitute of daily food, and one of you says

to them, depart in peace, be warmed, and be filled,

but you do not give them the things which are

needed for the body, what does it profit? Look

at the person beside you and say, not a lot.

It's in your ability. So this is an illustration.

If someone doesn't have clothes and they don't

have food and you just say, well, just have peace

and be warmed and be filled and that's just what

you say, is that really helping them? No. So

heartfelt words without a corresponding action,

that's useless. So that's the illustration. That's

the illustration. And here's why I know it's

an illustration, because James says in verse

17, he says, just also, he says, well, just like

that. Everybody say, just like that. Just like

that illustration that I just gave you. Thus

also, faith by itself, if it does not have works

or a corresponding action, is dead. It's dead.

So faith without a corresponding action is dead.

That means it's lifeless. That means it's ineffective.

That means it's powerless. That means it's useless.

There's no corresponding action. He goes on in

verse 18, but someone will say, you have faith

and I have works. Show me your faith without

your works and I will show you my faith by my

works. Because faith without a corresponding

action, there's not going to be any results.

It's dead. It's going to be lifeless and useless.

You believe that there's one God, you do well.

Even the demons believe. They even believe so

much that they tremble when they think about

the power of God and the judgment of God. They

tremble. So what's James saying? He's saying,

well, when I look at some people, it looks like

the demons have more faith than they do. Hello?

Don't get mad at me while I'm preaching, all

right? Hearing and believing are not enough.

And then he goes on to say, but do you want to

know, oh foolish man, that faith without works

is dead? Faith without works is dead. So here's

what he's saying. He's saying there's multiple

kinds of faith. He points out that there's a

demon faith, a demon faith that recognizes God

and recognizes who he is and trembles. I mean,

so much faith in God and his ability and his

power and his coming judgment for them that they

tremble. And then there's dead faith. And really

when you look at both of them, they're both about

the same. They're both about the same. Demon

faith and dead faith. Now this is a point where

you look at the person beside you and say, I

don't have demon faith and I don't have dead

faith. And if I do, I don't want to anymore after

today. If I realize that that's the level of

my faith, I don't want to leave here with demon

faith or dead faith anymore. Alright? So, because

we want to have doing faith. Everybody say doing

faith. So we can have demon faith, dead faith,

or doing faith. Now, even though this is the

end of our eight -week sermon series, it doesn't

mean that we've exhausted every biblical support.

of how very important and critically important

faith acts are. I mean, we've looked at... I

don't know if I can even recall seven sermons

off the top of my head, but we talked about quit

crying and move when God's people went through

the Red Sea. We talked about Naaman. having leprosy

and the prophet telling him to go dip in the

Jordan seven times and how he got offended. And

if you get offended, you're not going to have

your faith back to receive your miracle. I mean,

we've talked about the woman with the issue of

blood last week. We've talked about... You just

have to look them up. And there's so many more.

So many more. So I decided to talk about Hebrews

11. That's like the chapter of our faith heroes

in the New Testament. So in Hebrews chapter 11,

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

we see some faith acts. Right? By faith, Abel

gave an acceptable offering to God. By faith,

Enoch walked with God, and he walked with God

and pleased God so much that God just took him.

I mean, just, I guess he's the first person to

get a glorified body straight off the earth.

He didn't just walk with God and God said, okay,

come on home with me today. Noah, by faith, built

a boat. Not just a little bass boat. This thing

was huge. Right? About 100 years he worked on

this boat. Had to work on it every day by faith

for 100 years. He didn't give up. By faith, Abraham

went without knowing where he was going. God

just said, go. Go to a place that I'm going to

show you. And he packed up his whole family and

his whole entourage. And they just took off,

not even knowing where they were going. But by

faith, they obeyed and they followed and they

went. Everybody say gave. Everybody say walked.

Everybody say built. Everybody say went. These

are acts. These are all acts. Faith actions.

By faith, Sarah, 90 years old, she took hold

of God's faithfulness and ability and had a baby

at 90 years old when she couldn't have a baby

at 20 years old. By faith, Isaac and Jacob pronounced

blessings and made promises to their families.

How do you confidently bless and make a promise

when you're not even going to be around to fulfill

it? By faith. By faith, Joseph confidently prophesied.

Here's what he said. He said, you know what?

We're in Egypt right now because this is God's

provision for us during this time of famine,

but we're coming out. One day, one day, we're

going to leave Egypt. And when we leave Egypt,

make sure to take my bones because I don't want

my bones buried in Egypt. That's how confident

he was. By faith, Moses led God's people out

of Egypt. By faith, they went through the Red

Sea. Do we have some action words there? Prophesied,

led, took, pronounced, made promises. Those are

all faith acts. By faith, they marched around

Jericho. That took a lot of faith, didn't it?

To just march around the city seven days and

be quiet? Don't say anything. I mean... Over

a million people being quiet walking around the

city. When people on the top of the city walls

are probably heckling you and saying, what are

you doing? It took faith, right? To march around

Jericho silently for six days and then on the

seventh day to march around it seven times and

then to shout before. Everybody say before. You

had to shout before the walls came down. See,

it's easy to shout after the walls come down.

But you shout by faith before the walls come

down. Now, here's what the writer of Hebrews

says all of a sudden. Right in the middle of

that big old long list about faith, he says,

how much more do I need to say? I'm just reading

this out of the Bible now. How much more do I

need to say? He said it would take too long to

recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak,

Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, all the prophets.

All of them had faith acts too. And all those

stories, I mean, we could preach a message on

this series out of every one of these people.

The acts of faith. Not only did they hear and

believe, they acted on it. And then he goes on

to say this, By faith these people overthrew

kingdoms, ruled with justice, received what God

had promised to them. They shut the mouths of

lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped

death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness

was turned to strength, just like yours can be.

What does the Bible say? Let the weak say, I'm

strong. Do we do that? How many of you felt weak

this past week? Weak this past week. W -E -A

-K and W -E -E -K. When you feel weak, do you

start saying, I'm strong? Or do you start saying,

I'm weak? Well, if you want to agree with the

weak part, you can stay weak. But if you want

to confess the God part and say, I'm strong,

then you can be strong. Some of you are thinking

about that really hard. Their weakness was turned

to strength. They became strong in battle, put

whole armies to flight. 300 people, over 100

,000 people, I mean, put the whole army to flight.

And then get this. By faith, women received their

loved ones back again from death. Sit on that

one a minute. Mary and Martha received their

brother back from death. Been dead four days.

Hello? Do we believe the Bible? Do we believe

the Bible? Mary and Martha received their brother

back. The lady, two ladies actually, whose sons

died after their encounter and their work with,

what, Elijah and Elijah, both of them, they were

women whose sons died. They got their sons back

because of their faith in God. It's in the Bible.

So by faith, they received their loved ones back

again from death. And then it says this. It says,

back in James, going back to verse 22. Going

to chapter 1. I mean, we've been focusing on...

Faith without works is dead, right? But let's

back up and see the first part of James. James

1 .22. Be doers of the word. Not only hearers

of it. Blinding yourselves with false ideas.

Be doers of the word. Don't deceive yourself.

This translation that I'm reading right now is

a Bible in basic English, but it's... It's staying

true to what it means. It's just putting it in

a way that we can understand it. Be doers of

the word, not hearers of it. Not only hearers

of it, because when you just hear it, without

doing it, you blind yourself with false ideas.

It's a false idea, a self -deception, to think

that hearing the word is all you need. Is that

what that says? Somebody help me out. Is that

what it says? It's a false idea. You're deceiving

yourself to think that hearing the word is all

you need. And then here's another illustration

that James has given us. Listen to what he says.

Because if any man is a hearer of the word and

not a doer, he's like a man looking at his natural

face in a glass or in a mirror. Now this is what

it looks like to just hear it and not do it.

You look at your face. So hearing is like looking

at yourself in a mirror. You're looking at something

in a mirror. And then it says in verse 24, For

after looking at himself, he goes away, and in

a short time he has no memory of what he was

like. When I walk away from the mirror, I'm a

whole lot more good looking than I was when I

was looking in the mirror. Here's the deal. We

hear and hear and hear. I mean, don't get me

wrong. It's important to gather together with

God's people and look into the Word of God together

and study the Word of God together. The Bible

says don't forsake that. I mean, we have somebody

here from North Carolina today who's on vacation,

and she told me, she said, oh, going to church

is not an option. So she got up and read the

Google reviews and whatever, and I keep telling

you that Google's important. Well, somebody left

a Google review that she read, and she said,

I want to go to that church. Okay? But we hear

and we hear and we hear. I'm about to preach

hard, so you might want to pull in your toes

just a little bit. We hear and we hear and we

hear, but do we respond to what we hear? Because

just hearing is like somebody looking in a mirror

and forgetting it when they walk away. So, as

I was praying this morning, I was like, okay.

We do a lot of hearing here at Alation Church.

We've done a whole series, a long series on who

God is and who God wants to be for us, who He

is for us. And He's given us His identity and

His work in His names. So we spent a long time

talking about this and how it's only going to

apply to us when we connect to who He is by faith

and who He wants to be for us by faith. When

God says, I'm El Shaddai and I can take care

of everything, I'm more than enough. Everybody

say, more than enough. God's more than enough.

God is El Shaddai. He's more than enough to take

care of everything. When He says that, just because

He says it, don't make it reality in our lives.

We've got to connect to who He is. Did a whole

big long series on spiritual growth, talking

about the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of

the Spirit increasing in our lives. on a daily

measure we talked about putting on the armor

of god and how we've got to align our words with

god's word and what god says to put on this armor

every day we've talked about who we are in christ

and what we have in christ and we went through

all of paul's letters in the new testament and

picked out every single time where he said in

christ in whom you know in him we found out who

we are and what we have. We've talked about authentic

praise and worship and what that looks like and

what that brings us. I mean, it's going to bring

us victory and deliverance and peace and joy

and life. We talked about and did a whole series

on what it means to follow the Holy Spirit and

be led by the Spirit and how He's a genius. He

knows everything about everything. And why do

we just want to do it on our own all the time

when we have the person who... knows everything

about everything living on the inside of us.

We just need to be Spirit -led. So we hear and

we hear and we hear and we hear. Just in this

series, we've talked about faith for deliverance.

We've talked about faith for victory. We've talked

about faith for provision. We've talked about

faith for healing. Just in this series. Give

examples from God's Word. How this works. And

you know what? It'd be a shame for the people

who come every week to say, well, what's next?

I mean, you're in the faith act, so what am I

going to hear next week? Because I'm hearing

and I'm hearing and I'm hearing and I'm hearing.

So now that this is over, what am I going to

hear next? See, we hear, and when we hear the

promises of God and see the work of God and the

Word of God, we see what can be. I'm going to

say that again. When we look into the Word of

God and when we study who God is and what He

wants to do for us and the promises that He's

made for us, we see what life can be like. But

if we never act, We're going to forget. If we

don't act, we're just like, okay, I heard that,

what's next? I mean, I was so encouraged by J

.T. when we did the J .T. and Michelle, when

we did the spiritual warfare and putting on the

armor of God. I mean, almost every week he would

say, you know what, we're saying that every day.

I mean, we're just... We're speaking God's truth

and putting the armor of God on every day and

then seeing things happen in their lives. I mean,

he did something about it. Right? So when we

hear, when we see what it can be, but if we don't

act, we're going to be like that person looking

in the mirror that forgets. Forgets. And just

like me, like I said, I look in the mirror and

I look a lot better when I'm not looking in the

mirror because I can't remember the blemishes

and stuff. When I'm not looking in the mirror,

I still think I'm 20. Does anybody know what

I'm talking about? When I'm not looking in the

mirror, I mean, I'm still 20. When I'm looking

in the mirror, I'm 58. You know? Here's what

James says. Under the inspiration of the Holy

Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit talking. Even

though I say it's Paul or James, we know that

the Word of God is inspired and breathed by God.

But he who goes on looking into the true law,

which makes him free, being not a hearer without

memory, but a doer. Putting it into effect, this

man will have a blessing on his... That means

you're supposed to say it. This man will have

a blessing on his... This man will have a blessing

on his... Acts. He will have a blessing on how

he responds to the Word of God. How he responds

to the promises of God. He's going to have a

blessing. God's going to bless that, and we're

going to see God's promises fulfilled. And in

all those stories that we looked at over the

last seven weeks, if those people would not have

acted, just Naaman's coming to mind. If Naaman

wouldn't have dipped into Jordan seven times,

he would have went back home to dip in his own

river, he wouldn't have been healed. If he had

dipped into Jordan six times, he wouldn't have

been healed. Right? If the lady with the issue

of blood, Jeffrey made this big nice Lego, but

he didn't bring it to church last week. If the

lady with the issue of blood would not have Lego'd,

everybody say Lego. Lego. It's translated said

in your Bible. And when Jesus talked about faith,

he said, have faith in God. And then he says,

anyone who says to this mountain, be removed

and cast into the sea, does not doubt, but believe

those things which he says, he will have what

he says. Everybody say three times says. One

of them is Lego in the Greek. Just like the lady

with the issue of blood, it said she said Lego.

If I only touch the hem of his garment, I'll

be made well. And when it says Lego, that means

she didn't just say it one time. It means it

was a systematic discourse is what that word

means in the Greek. It's over and over and over

again, and you're building a foundation. It's

a systematic discourse. Just like this, I mean,

when we bought it, it had a picture that gave

us a vision. Everybody say a vision. The picture

gave us a vision of what it would look like,

but then when you open it up, it's like, it's

just a bunch of little pieces of plastic. But

then there was some instructions. It said, put

this piece with this piece, and put this piece

with this piece, and then put all those pieces

together with this piece that you put together.

And all of a sudden, it becomes a Star Wars X

-Wing. Because you followed the instructions.

The Word of God says, Faith without works is

dead. I mean, you could sit there and look at

that picture of that X -Wing and say, boy, that's

a good -looking X -Wing. But if you don't act

and put it together and follow the directions,

if you don't do what God has said to do by His

divine utterance, if you don't respond, if there's

no corresponding action, you're not going to

see the promise of God fulfilled in your life.

I don't know about you, but I want to see some

promises of God fulfilled in my life, in my family,

in our church. I want to see some promises of

God fulfilled. Does anybody want some promises

of God fulfilled in your life? Have you read

the Word of God and you say, boy, this promise?

God promised me that. And when I look at my life,

I don't see it. Well, the problem is not with

God holding out on you. God's not holding out

on you. The problem is in our response. Sometimes

it's not immediate. Are you with me? Are you

with me? Sometimes there's a due season that

has to take place before you see the promise

fulfilled. So you've got to keep holding on to

faith. You've got to fight the good fight of

faith. You've got to stay connected to the promises.

You've got to keep doing because you don't know

which faith act. Is God speaking to you? And

I said this one week. It's like, well, one day

God told me to give this little girl at Publix

a $100 bill. And I started giving God all kinds

of excuses on why I shouldn't do that. In the

world that we live in today. And she had red

glasses on. Bright red glasses. And I just knew

that God wanted me to give it to her, but I'm

just like, God, she's going to think I'm some

kind of creeper. She's going to think I've got

a van out in the parking lot. I mean, you know,

she's like 20, and I'm like almost 60, and I

mean, this could go wrong. So I talked myself

out of it, and then it just kept gnawing at me.

I went back to that Publix. It's the one up there

by... South Claremont is where Jeffrey lives

across the street from there. I went back to

that Publix at least ten times asking other employees.

There's this girl about 20, and she has some

red glasses. God told me to give her something,

and I didn't give it to her. I'm telling you,

I've talked to at least five or six employees

at that Publix asking about this girl with red

glasses. Nobody has a clue who I'm talking about.

She might have been an angel or something. The

Bible says we entertain angels unaware at times.

It might have been a test. You know what? Me

giving her $100 might have been connected to

something. It might have been a faith act. For

me, it might have been a faith test for me that

was connected to something else that had nothing

to do with that. I missed it. I missed it. Can't

find her. Looked for her a long time. Gave that

$100 bill to somebody else with bright red glasses

on. And then the next time when I was in... Dairy

Queen, you can tell I don't eat right a lot.

Next time I was in Dairy Queen eating two hot

dogs and a blizzard, one of them chocolate -covered

strawberry blizzards. If you had that, oh man,

that's good. God told me to give money to somebody

else in a booth behind me. You know what I did

after that? I jumped up quick and I said, I know

you don't know me and I don't know you, but God

told me to give you this. I don't want to miss

it again. Don't want to miss it. See, if we go

on looking into the true law, which makes us

free, not just to hear, because if you just hear

it, you forget it. Just like all those... sermon

series is if you didn't put it into action, you're

going to forget it and you're like, what's next?

And you're not the only one guilty of that. Maybe

I'm the only one guilty of that. I don't know,

but God laid that on my heart today to tell you

that. But if we're a doer of the Word, we'll

have blessing on our acts. So when we hear...

We see what can be by the promises of God, by

the word of God. We can see that, yeah, we can

have abundant life, life to the fullest, life

of love and peace and joy and hope. We can have

it. We can see it because Jesus came to give

it to us. When we see what it can be and then

when we act, when we have a corresponding action

to what we have heard and what we have believed,

then our lives can be transformed. If we don't

act, going to church on a Sunday morning is just

rubbing a little bit of Jesus on you weak. And

here's the deal. If that's all you've ever done,

I want to tell you there's so much more. So much

more than just rubbing a little bit of Jesus

on you weak. So much more. I want it. Here it

is. We will connect to the grace gifts of God,

to the promises of God. We will connect to God's

power and ability. Everybody say, God is able.

See, God's omnipotent. He's all -powerful, and

He is able, and He has given us promises and

gifts. He's given us everything we need, the

Bible says, for life and godliness. Everything

we need. He's already given it to us. But we

take a hold of it when we hear it, when we believe

it, and then when we act. When we act. I'm going

to bring this out again. I showed it to you a

few weeks ago. That's a big old bullet. But I

wanted a big one that you could see instead of

just a little bitty one. It's a .50 caliber bullet.

Here's the deal. Inside this is all the power

it needs. All the power's in it. Because the

powder and everything's in it. There's enough

power in this to send this little brass, that's

not brass, copper or whatever that is. There's

enough power in this bullet to send this projectile

3 ,000 feet in one second. Power is here. That

doesn't matter until it's released. See, there

has to be an action to release this power. It

has to be in a rifle and the pin has to hit to

detonate this bullet to send that projectile

3 ,000 feet in one second towards a target. This

bullet's pretty harmless until that happens.

But all the power necessary is here. All of God's

power is already in his promises. The power to

fulfill the promise is in the promise. The power

to fulfill the promise is in the word of God.

Are you with me? Will we release that with our

faith act? Let's pray together. God, thank you

for today. Thank you for your word. Thank you

for your truth. I pray that it will be hidden

in our hearts that we just won't say, okay, this

is over, what's next? But that we will act on

what you said. We will listen for the still small

voice of your Holy Spirit that leads us and guides

us to do, to give, to say, to act. Help us to

be quick to obey. Quick to obey. Help us to be

serious about your word so that we know what

your promises are and we're able to see what

life can be in you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

This online worship experience was brought to

you by the friends and partners of Eulation Church.