FaithAct: Stand or Fall

Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

Elation Church. Welcome to week number four,

I believe. Everybody say week number four. Week

number four in our series that we've entitled

Faith Act. Has anyone learned anything along

the way in this series? I have to admit that

I've learned some things, even though I'm the

one teaching it. I'm learning it before I teach

it. And today... was just a big aha moment for

me. Last week when I was preparing for this message,

it's like all of a sudden I saw something that

I'd never seen before. And that's strange when

you've preached the text multiple times. Remember,

I was in evangelism on the road, so I preached

a lot of sermons more than once, all right, if

you hadn't figured that out. So I preached this.

And I was so shocked that I've never seen it.

Have you ever read a Bible verse or even memorized

a Bible verse and then all of a sudden you see

it? It's like you might have known it for 10

years. You might have memorized it for 20 years.

And then all of a sudden you're like, is that

what that says? Is anybody with me? Well, that's

a big aha moment for me. And maybe everybody

in the room already knew. What I didn't know.

Okay, so it may not be an aha moment for you,

but it was definitely an aha moment for me. Faith

acts. Let's talk about faith. Just a reminder,

Ephesians 2 .8 tells us something very important

about faith. It says this, for by grace you have

been saved through faith. So, everybody say grace.

I believe the definition for grace might be here.

Grace, we're going to take it above, you know,

what you've got memorized, all right? Let's look

at it this way. Grace is God's acts of kindness

and favor towards you and towards me. Some people

just cut it off at unmerited favor, and, you

know, let's personalize it, right? Because God

has done some pretty amazing things. showing

His love, showing His kindness, showing His favor

towards you and me when we didn't deserve it.

We didn't deserve it. So grace, that's the part

God did which makes it available. See, grace

makes it available. Are you with me? Y 'all got

to listen faster. I don't want you to go to sleep.

It's easy to go to sleep when it gets warm, right?

Grace makes it available, but just because it's

available doesn't mean that we have it. Yes.

Just because it's available doesn't mean that

it's ours. It means that it's available. And

how do we take hold of it? By faith. It's by

grace. God's grace made salvation available.

And then we receive it through faith. We have

to receive it. Just like every other promise

of God, we receive it the same way that we receive

salvation. We receive it through faith. Galatians

3 .11, No one is justified by the law in the

sight of God, that's evident, for the just shall

live by faith. those who have been justified,

where God looks at you just as if you've never

sinned against Him, when you're in that position

in Christ, then you live by faith. You live by

faith. You're not justified by your ability to

keep the rules. You're justified because of what

God has provided, and then you receive it by

faith. 2 Corinthians 5, 7, for we walk by faith.

Everybody say walk by faith. We walk by faith

and not by sight. This word walk means the sphere

of our existence. Every day, everything we're

involved in, the Bible tells us that we should

live by faith and walk by faith. Our existence

should be about our faith in God, not based on

what we see or what we feel. Y 'all got to smile

every once in a while. Make me preach better

if you smile every once in a while. 1 John 5,

4. Good news, right? Every child of God. How

many children of God do we have in the room?

Every child of God defeats this evil world. We

are all victors. God's grace makes that available.

For you to live in victory in this world. And

how do you connect to it? How do you achieve

it? Through your faith. Through your faith. Hebrews

11, 6 says this. It's impossible to please God

without faith. How many people want to please

God? Well, then we have to understand faith and

walk by faith, live by faith. If we're going

to please God. So if we're saved through faith,

if we're called to live by faith, if we only

experience victory through faith, and if we can

only please God by our faith, then we need to

be people of faith. Actively living by faith.

Actively standing in faith. Actively increasing

in faith. Faith is important. Faith is important.

If you come to the Lathian Church a lot, you

might get to the point where you say, man, we

got another sermon on faith? Well, it's very

important. It's very important. Because it's

critical if we want these things in our lives,

if we want to see the promises of God fulfilled

and manifested in our lives, then we're going

to have to be people of faith. Going to have

to understand it. And I don't care how much you

know about it, you have room to grow. You have

room to grow. Look at the person beside you and

say, you have room to grow. Some of us have more

room to grow than others. I want to grow. I want

to grow. I want to be a person of faith, actively

living by faith, actively standing in faith,

actively increasing in faith. If you know me,

I want you to look at me as this is happening

in my life. So what is faith? Where does it come

from? How do we have it? How do we live it? Romans

10, 17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by

the word of God. Without a word from God, we're

living on speculation. We're not living by faith.

We might live... I mean, I guess people live

in faith in themselves or faith in other people

around them, but... I've let myself down quite

a few times and other people have let me down

quite a few times. So it's important if we're

going to have the faith that pleases God, it

has to be faith in God. Jesus said, have faith

in God. He didn't say just have faith. He said,

have faith in God because God is the one who

is able. And that faith comes to us when we hear

the word of God, when we hear a divine utterance.

Whether it's spoken or written. Now, that means

that all these promises in here, thousands of

promises, thousands. As you read them, the Holy

Spirit can cause them to come alive on the inside

of you and you say, God just promised me that.

God just promised me that. And I'm going to believe

it. I'm going to receive it. Right? So faith

comes by hearing. But it also comes by hearing

that divine utterance from God, the Holy Spirit,

who is living on the inside of us, who speaks

to us in a still, small voice. Most of the time,

still, small voice. So, how many of you know

that, you know, there's a whole lot of things

that God might be asking you to do that are not

written in black and white in this book? But

that doesn't mean that there's not a divine utterance.

Now, everything we say that we hear from God

has to agree with God's written Word. It has

to agree. If you tell me that God told you to

do something that the Word of God says that God's

against that, then God didn't tell you to do

it. He didn't tell you to. But there's not a

verse that says, hey, In April of 2021, I want

you to move from Myrtle Beach to Four Corners

and plant Elation Church. There's no black and

white verse for that. If you find it, let me

know. But there is the Holy Spirit of God speaking

His divine utterance to lead into God. There

was not a verse that said in August of 84, there

wasn't a verse that said, okay, Dean, I want

you to marry Gannon. There wasn't a verse for

that. But I had the peace of God and the direction

of God and joy of God all wrapped up all in it.

Right? So, a divine utterance. Faith comes by

hearing and hearing by a divine utterance from

God. So the first step, everybody say first step.

First step is hearing the divine utterance. Now

when you hear it, then you have a decision to

make. Are you going to believe it? Are you going

to have confidence in it? Hebrews 11 .1 says,

Faith is the confidence. Everybody say confidence.

That what we hope for will actually happen. It

gives us assurance. Everybody say assurance.

About the things we cannot see. So, confidence.

That what we hope for. What is hope? It's not

a hope, so hope. It's a confident expectation.

That we're going to see the promises of God fulfilled.

We're going to see the goodness of God fulfilled

in our lives based on what He has said. Based

on what He has said. You believe it to the point

not where you just have some kind of mental agreement.

No, you believe it where you have confidence

in it. So the second step of faith is wholeheartedly.

believing and having confidence in God's Word.

Second step. Now, a lot of people just quit right

there for I don't know how many years of my Christian

life. I mean, maybe 20 years. I mean, if I heard

it and believed it and wholeheartedly believed

it, that's faith. Is it? Well, in this series,

what we're learning from God's Word is that there

has to be a corresponding action. Everybody say

corresponding action. Because faith without works

is dead faith. How many of you know dead faith

won't produce anything? So we can hear it, and

we can say we believe it, and even be confident

in ourself that we believe it. But if there's

no corresponding action attached to it, then

it's not going to produce. It's dead faith. I

don't need to preach that. That's going to be

the last sermon of the series. Anyway, so the

third step, everybody say third step, is acting

in obedience. Acting in obedience. Sometimes

it's very clear in the Word of God. If you...

then I promise you that I'm going to do this.

And we can believe the promise and believe that

God keeps His promises and say, well, that promise

is for me, but if we don't do our if part, then

we can't expect God to do His then part. I'm

already getting some pushback on the social media

from this sermon series. But I don't care. I

don't care. I've got preacher friends giving

me some pushback. They're like, oh, you're talking

about... Listen, when I talk about acting and

when I talk about works, I'm not talking about

the works of the law. That's not what I'm talking

about. And you could run off and say, well, you

know, preacher's saying that we get saved by

works. I didn't say that. And if you're listening,

I didn't say that. Okay? But what I am going

to say is, salvation is provided, but you have

to act on it to receive it. You have to connect

your faith to it to receive it. The Bible says

you've got to believe it, then you've got to

confess your sin. If we confess our sins, He's

faithful and just. So that's an act. Confession

is an act. If you don't confess, you're not going

to receive salvation. If you don't call on the

name of the Lord, you're not going to be saved.

Hello? So you have to confess and you have to

call. Those are two actions. Two actions. So

the third step of faith is acting in obedience.

It's not by keeping the rules, no. But it is

by acting in the way that God calls you to act.

So our connection to the power and the ability

of God, everybody say God is able. Our connection

to his power, everybody say he's all -powerful.

Our connection to his all -powerfulness and his

ability is when we act on what he said. That's

our connection. And don't forget, you've got

to hear it, you've got to believe it, you've

got to have confidence, but there's always an

act, always an action. The faith that ultimately

pleases God is a faith that responds. It does.

It acts. It gives. Whatever it is that God is

speaking to you through his word or by the still

small voice of his Holy Spirit, whatever it is

that he is saying for you to do, and we've talked

about this, sometimes we don't even see a connection.

Remember Naaman? What's the connection of dipping

seven times in the Jordan River? going to do

with me being healed of leprosy. That's absolutely

crazy. I've got better rivers back where I lived.

Right? So we might not think the connection has

anything to do with the promise. But it does.

It does. So faith act. That little baby holding

that barbell. Can that baby lift that 300 -pound

barbell? Somebody say no. Obviously, an eight

-month -old baby with a bib around its neck can't

lift a 300 -pound barbell off the floor. I've

seen some strong babies, but none that strong.

But what do you think that baby would be like

if somebody who could pick up that 300 -pound

barbell walked up behind him and picked it up?

Yeah! Right? God is able. God is able, but He's

wanting you to act. He wants you to put your

hands on the barbell. He said, I'll pick it up,

but I want you to put your hands on the barbell.

Here's the story. Here's my aha moment this past

week. And if you've been in church any time,

you're going to know this story, and you're going

to say, what's the big deal, Dean? Well, Matthew

7, 24 through 29. Look at the person beside you

and say, listen fast. I don't want you to fall

asleep when it's warm, man. It might be hard

for me to stay awake during this one. I am standing

up, but I'm trying to stay awake. Oh, I thought

you were telling me I might need to stand up.

Had a friend that always fell asleep when he

was reading his Bible, you know, so. He decided

how to conquer that. He took his Bible and stood

up on the edge of the tub and read his Bible

standing on the edge of the tub. If you fall

asleep then, you're not going to fall asleep

again. You're going to wake up really quick,

right? So that was his solution to falling asleep.

Matthew 7, 24. Therefore, whoever... This is

Jesus talking, even though it's not read up here.

This is a parable. Everybody say a parable. Therefore,

whoever hears these sayings of mine and does

them, I will liken him to a wise man who built

his house on the rock. The rain descended, the

floods came, the winds blew and beat on that

house, and it did not fall, for it was founded

on the rock. How many of you have heard this

story before? But everyone who hears these sayings

of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish

man who built his house on the sand. The rain

descended, the floods came, and the winds blew

and beat on that house, and it fell, and great

was its fall. Simple story. Simple story. I want

us to look at the similarities and differences

between the two people, the two houses. This

message is going to be so simple, anybody in

the room can preach it after you're done. All

right? Similarities and differences. Same house.

Everybody say same house. We're not talking about

the three little pigs or one of them's out of

straw and one of them's out of sticks and one

of them's out of brick. I mean, it's not like

the foolish person built their house out of straw

and the wise person built their house out of

brick. No. Okay? Same house. When we look at

the text, it simply says built his house. Everybody

say built his house. So we can assume that there's

any differences between the houses. Same house.

It's also the same storm. The description is

exactly the same. The rain descended, the floods

came, and the winds blew and beat on that house.

Everybody say same storm. Nothing different.

It's not that one was a gentle spring shower

and the other one was a hurricane. No, it's the

same storm. But we have different outcomes. One

house did not fall. The other house fell, and

great was its fall. Everybody say, no duh. I

mean, this is just easy, right? It's easy. Simple.

There are different foundations. So now we're

getting into some differences. One foundation

was on a rock, and the other one was on sand.

And this is where I, among preachers, All of

a sudden, you know, we start pulling out that

verse, you know. Jesus said he was the rock.

Jesus is saying he's the cornerstone. Amen? It's

good preaching. Everybody say good preaching.

It's good preaching. So if you build your house

on Jesus, you're building your house on the rock.

And if you're not building your house on Jesus,

then you're building your house on the sand.

And if you build it on the sand, Then it's going

to fall. Because you should have built your house

on Jesus. All right. If I only had a B3 player,

Bo, we'd ramp it up hard right there. But that's

what I've preached. And that's what I've heard

preachers preach. Do we have any preachers in

the room or Bible study teachers in the room?

And that's where you went. If you tried to teach

this, that's where you went. Well, that preaches

real good, but that's not what Jesus said. This

was my aha moment. My aha moment. So, what's

the difference on the foundations? Where does

the difference come from? What does Jesus say?

He clearly told us. But then we just create our

own sermon based on his parable. But it's very

clear. Everybody say very clear. Very obvious.

It's so easy. It takes a theologian to mess it

up. It's so easy. Let's go. Same word. Everybody

say same word. Both these guys heard the same

word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the

word of God. Both of them heard the same word.

Jesus said it exactly the same for both of these

people. He said, whoever hears these sayings

of mine. So, these are not just complete atheists

or pagans. These people heard the word. Whoever

hears these sayings of mine. And then there's

different descriptions. There's like, one of

them is wise. Everybody say wise. The other is

foolish. Everybody say foolish. Now, they heard

the same word, but the way one reacted was wise,

and the way the other one reacted was foolish.

So simple. What's the difference? What's the

difference? What's the rock? What's the sand?

Jesus did not say, right after he said this parable,

he said, I am the rock, so build on me. And that's

good. That's good preaching. That's not what

he says. The difference is between a wise person

and a foolish person is their response to the

word. It's like, I ain't never seen that. I've

read this a hundred times. I've preached it 20

or 30 times. I've never seen it. Have you ever

seen it? I mean, is this like, oh no, he's just

telling me something I already knew. That's okay.

It's good to hear it again. Different responses

to the Word. That's the difference. He said this.

I just copied and pasted this from the text.

Everyone who hears these sayings of mine, and

does not do them will be like a foolish man.

So if we hear the divine utterance of God and

we don't act on it, there's no corresponding

action, then we're foolish, Jesus said. But if

we hear it and do it, we'll be wise, Jesus said.

What an amazing illustration. Just straight up

in our face. Same storm. Nothing different about

this storm. Matthew 5 .45 tells us it rains on

the just and the unjust. Every single one of

us, we live in the same fallen, broken world.

I mean, I know that don't give us warm fuzzies.

But it's messed up. It's broken. Sin has destroyed

God's beautiful creation. So it rains on the

just and the unjust. When I talk about being

a person of faith, I'm not talking about, hey,

if you'll be a person of faith, nothing ever,

no bad thing will ever come into your life if

you're a person of faith. That's not what I'm

saying. The Bible doesn't teach that. I mean,

our opportunity to use our faith, our opportunity

to have victory, that automatically tells you

that there's going to be a struggle. If you're

going to have victory, there's going to be some

kind of struggle that you're going to overcome

to have victory. So we live in a fallen, broken,

messed up world. All of us. I mean, here's what

the enemy tries to get us to believe so many

times. You know what? Nobody's as messed up as

I am. Nobody has ever dealt with what I deal

with. Nobody has ever had to struggle. Nobody's

ever had the problem as severe as mine. I tell

you, if we go around the room and share the microphone

and talk about terrible things or tragic things

that you've gone through or you're going through

now, I mean... it'd be real easy to have a woe

is me testimony service. Because if you're not

going through trouble today, I'm pretty sure

you've gone through trouble before today. Same

storms. Same storms. I've already showed you

that Jesus described them exactly the same, but...

But we're talking about being wise and foolish.

We're talking about standing or falling apart.

And in this world, when storms come our way,

when tragedy comes our way, when trouble comes

our way, when all those things come our way,

it's like, here's the question. Are we going

to stand in faith or are we going to fall apart?

Has anybody ever fallen apart before? Have you

had a time when a storm hit and you just... Fell

apart. I have. We all have. But Jesus is saying,

look, you don't have to fall apart. You don't

have to fall apart. There's different outcomes.

One person stands, one person falls apart. I've

seen it so many times. People who go through

the same thing. This family went through this.

Terrible thing. This family went through the

same terrible thing. This person faced this challenge.

This person faced the exact same challenge. One

of them, one of those families falls apart. One

of these people fall apart. One of these families

stand, and that person stands. And they went

through the same thing. Same thing. And what's

the different outcome? What's it based on? See,

I'm going to tell you. I believe what the Bible

says right here. And it says this in 2 Peter

1 .3. By His divine power, this is God's power,

God has given us everything we need for living

a godly life. Everybody say grace. He has already

given you and me. He's already made it available.

Everything you need. We've received all this

by coming to know him. If you're in Christ, he's

already given it to you. The one who called us

to himself by means of his marvelous glory and

excellence. And because of his glory and excellence,

he has given us great and precious promises.

Everybody say great promises. Everybody say precious

promises. You want me to tell you how great and

how precious they are? These are the promises

that enable you, empower you to share His divine

nature and escape this world's corruption. Because...

This world's corruption we know was caused by

human desire. It's caused by sin. That's where

all the tragedy and all the trouble, hey, it

wouldn't be here without the original sin in

the garden. That's when it all fell apart. So,

the Word of God, God has given you and He has

given me great and precious promises, and He's

already given us. The promises that will empower

us to share his supernatural, beyond what we

can do or accomplish on our own, his divine nature

and escape the world's corruption. Do you believe

it? I believe it. I believe it. And I can't say

I always get it right, but I do look back at

my life, and there has been an occasional time

when I have responded by hearing what God said

and then having a corresponding action after

I've heard it, after I believe it, after I have

confidence in it, and then I'd have a corresponding

action, and I have seen the goodness of God.

I've seen deliverance. I've seen miracles. I've

seen promises fulfilled. I've tasted the peace

of God that surpasses understanding when people

would say, how in the world could you be so calm

and have so much peace when this is going on?

How in the world? How is that possible? It's

possible because it's the peace of God. It's

the peace that He gave to me, not the peace that

the world has to offer that just depends on if

everything's going my way or not. I've tasted

and seen the goodness of God. In the land of

the living, that means now. So many people think

that, oh, it's going to be great when we get

to heaven. I'll have victory when I'm in heaven.

I'll have peace and joy and life when I'm in

heaven. Yes, you will, but you can have it now.

You might think I'm crazy, but I'm telling you,

you can have it now. I talked about somebody

who said that they wasn't going to come here

because I told them that they could have peace.

That God wanted them to have peace. They identified

with their worry, their fear, their anxiety.

It became part of who they are. And they didn't

want to come to church here because I told them

God wanted to give them peace and God wanted

to set them free. And I just said it generally

like I'm saying it now, but they took offense.

Not coming to that church. If somebody told me

I could have peace when I needed it, I'd be saying,

that's where I want to go. Because I want some

of that. I can't wave a magic wand or just touch

you and give you the peace of God that surpasses

all understanding. I don't have it to give. God

has already given it to you. And listens. Jeremiah

got it right. He's the weeping prophet, right?

Do you know Jeremiah? He's the weeping prophet,

man. Nobody's wanting to listen to him. But the

Lord told him, He said, You got this right. You

saw this well. Because here's what God said.

He says, I am ready to perform my word. I want

you to hear God tell you that today. He is ready

to perform His Word in your life, in your situation.

God's ready. God's not holding back. God's ready.

Everybody say, God's ready. God's ready to perform

His Word in your life. He didn't tell you something.

Have you seen that commercial? I know it's old

now, but that guy with the dollar bill on a fishing

pole, and he's like putting it, dangling it out

there, and then when he gets close, he jerks

it up, jerks it away. Have you seen that commercial?

That's not God. That's not God. He's not dangling

His Word and His promise out in front of you

just to like keep you on the hook but not give

it to you. No, He is ready to perform His Word.

I have to be honest. There are some times in

my life where I think, God, why are you holding

out on me? But see, what I'm doing then is I'm

not walking by faith. I'm walking by sight, and

I'm walking by feelings. When I start saying,

God, why are you holding out on me? I mean, I'm

doing what you told me to do. Why are you holding

out on me? Listen, we'll talk about this later,

but there's a thing called due season. Everybody

say due season. Due season. Sometimes we're going

through a due season, even in our actions. Sometimes

there are multiple actions. We've looked at that

through the stories that we've looked at. It's

not just one corresponding action. It's two,

three, four. I think the first week, there might

have been up to five different corresponding

actions. And then even before God's people crossed

over to the other side of the Red Sea, I mean,

it went, there was a lot of time in between all

this from when they saw the dust cloud coming

to when they actually crossed over on dry land.

It wasn't due season yet. The promise was there,

but it wasn't due season yet. And you got to

hold on. You got to fight the good fight of faith,

holding on to the word of God, holding on to

your confidence, holding on to your confession

and profession. your agreement with what God

has said, sometimes you've got to hold on to

it. There's been times in my life where I've

had to hold on. Hey, I'm still holding on to

something that God promised me, and I'm waiting

on the due season to come. And when the due season

gets here, you know what? I'm already happy about

it, and sometimes I laugh and jump and dance

because it's not here yet, but I know it's coming

because God promised it, and God keeps His promises.

Then there's other times where it's been months.

It's been months. I've held on. I've held on.

There's been years. There's been months before

the due season came. And I saw the deliverance.

I saw the freedom. I saw the provision. Look

to the person beside you and tell them, hold

on. Hold on. Don't give up. Don't give up. I'm

trying to remember. I think it's Galatians 6

.9. I don't have it on the slide, but I feel

like I need to read it right now. Galatians 6

.9. I can't pull the complete verse out of my

head. Are you looking it up? I can look it up.

I got a Bible right here. Why am I looking at

you? Huh? Speed drill. I remember doing that.

You got it? GE Power Company. Galatians 6. Galatians.

Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Here we go.

Galatians 6 .9. So let's not get tired. Everybody

say doing. Let's not get tired of doing what

is good. At just the right time, we will reap.

Everybody say due season. See, if we don't get

tired, if we don't give up in our corresponding

action to what God has said and what God has

promised, if we don't give up, It says at just

the right time we will reap the harvest of blessing

if we don't give up. But if we give up, we're

not going to get it. I don't know if you are

as excited about this as I am, but when I looked

at this parable, I said, wow. There's a difference

between standing and falling apart. Everybody

say, this is for me. I mean, all of us are going

to have the opportunity very shortly to either

stand or to fall apart. You're going to have

an opportunity. And the difference between standing

and falling apart, when the storms of life in

this fallen world hit, the difference is how

we're going to respond to God's promises and

God's truth, how we're going to respond and how

we're going to hold on to it. how we're going

to fight the good fight of faith and not give

up. Because our connection to God's power and

God's ability ultimately is when we act on what

he says. It has to be a corresponding action.

Remember, you can hear, you can say you believe.

But if there's no corresponding action to what

you have heard and what you say you believe,

I'm sorry, but we're not going to receive it.

But the good news is, if we will hear and believe

and have confidence and don't give up, stand

with God. Stand on God's side. We'll see his

goodness. We'll see it. We'll see it. You can

see it. You can see it. Look to the person beside

you and at least smile when you say it. Let's

say, you can see it. Tell them, say, you can

see victory. Go ahead, tell them. You can see

victory. You can see deliverance. You can see

freedom. You can see peace. You can see joy.

You can see hope. You can see life. You can see

it. Because all that's who God is and what his

kingdom is about. You can see it. This online

worship experience was brought to you by the

Friends and Partners of Eulation Church.