Sermon
The Word of the King - Anchor Faith
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Turn over, if you would, to Isaiah Chapter 7, verse 9.
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We're going to get the very latter part of this verse and
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I'm reading out the Legacy Standard Bible, which is the New
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American Standard 1995 that they have redone.
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I like the the New American Standard.
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I have heard through various sources that is one of the most
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accurate translations trying to adhere to the original Hebrew
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and Greek. Although I use a lot of
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translations because a lot of other translations get it right
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and communicate it in some terms that we can understand, you
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know, so, But this one came out and I like the way it had read.
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And so I'm reading it during my Bible reading plan this year.
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Anyway, the latter part says this.
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If you do not establish your faith in Yahweh, you surely
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shall not be established. And that struck me today when I
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saw that. And I want to talk to you about
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Anchor Faith now. I'm not talking about the
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church, I'm talking about faith that is anchored and we're
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talking anchor faith. All right, because our faith
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should be firm. It should hold and we need to
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have that. I know when we fir when the Lord
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first spoke to me about a church plant that we were going to come
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here and that you know, the Lord was telling me you need to go.
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At that point I asked him a series of questions because
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again, as you've heard me say, I'm the Abraham type.
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Get up and go to where you're going to show me and he can talk
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to me and route. I will pack the bags and go.
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I don't need the plan. I just give me a word.
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Now that's a heading for me. I'm out, OK, I'm not Moses.
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Moses like give me the plan. I'm on a plan here, you know,
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and you know what? God has no problem with either
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type of leader. Both of them were awesome
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leaders, OK. However, I knew my pastor, and I
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love my pastor, Pastor David Emma.
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I love him. I have the distinct privilege
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right now of being able to reprint his books, of which we
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are working on them. I love him.
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He has left a legacy and his voice needs to remain because he
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was a great teacher of the Word, you know, And so my honoring him
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and his life is that, you know, I've done a couple things.
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One, I've picked up a missionary that he supported in Albania and
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I have right now calling us a pastor in Africa, Kenya
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actually, and is pretty persistent.
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And I'm asking the Lord, do I need to continue on with what
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Pastor David started because he's not in the earth anymore.
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And I'm asking that question because, you know, God wants
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something to be completed. Even if you're not here,
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somebody's going to pick it up and keep on.
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If you finish your course, you're going to pass a baton and
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somebody's going to continue the course.
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OK, so anyway, knowing my pastor honored that he heard God to
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hire me and, and I wanted to honor him at all cost.
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And so I, he knew I was going to pastor one day.
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He trained me and for such. And so when I realized I was
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going to go and I knew I needed to meet with him, I knew I
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couldn't just go and say, hey, the Lord, I could have.
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But at the end of the day, knowing him, I'm like, I want to
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give him what I know how he operates.
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And so I said, Lord, you know, Pastor David is visual.
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He likes to see things and read things.
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I would leave, I would tell him and leave with no instruction.
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Lord, you know that. But I'm asking you for His sake
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because I want Him to know. I've heard from God and I need
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it to be in His gifting to receive it.
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So would you give me the plan of which He did?
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And He gave me some phases. The first 3 phases that we still
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carry today, the 1st 2 are basically done.
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And we even say that when we do vision partners.
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Ship. And so I typed it all out.
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I created my own logo because I was in Corel Draw and used to do
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graphic designs myself as a youth pastor.
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And so there was an Anchor Faith logo that no one's ever seen.
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My first draft to give him, it never made it past Oklahoma.
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When we launched, it turned into something different.
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However, I sat down and when I communicated to him and then I
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gave him that he was able to read on paper the words that God
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had given me, which then I knew that plan was anointed and he
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would sense that anointing. OK, of which he did and he was a
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major blessing to my life. But as I was talking about to
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the Lord Lord, what do you want to call the church, you know,
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and I dialogue with him. I said, now I'm going into a
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community. It's going to be a coastal
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community, you know, be awesome if we could have some name that
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even though we're new, it seems like we've been there for a
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while. And through that anchor, faith
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came into my spirit. You know, I just since I knew
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that we live by faith, faith just seemed I was a byproduct of
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faith, the Word of Faith. And as a result of that, Faith
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made the cut. Must be in a coastal town.
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Anchor showed up, which is obviously pretty easy with
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coastal communities. And so here we are.
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We're anchor faith. Now there are a lot of people
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still say we're Anchor of faith, anchor faith, Anchor of Faith
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Baptist Church. We are none of those names.
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Just to let you know, we are anchor faith no of even in
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Spanish. No Angela de Fey OK Oh no dos
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dress OK anyway, so our faith should be anchored, right?
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And this scripture did this phrase did not come because, you
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know, we do not use the heat. The Hebrew scripture that says
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he's an anchor of our soul, although he is OK.
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We use it in context of faith that our faith is firm,
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established. It holds, it does not.
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We do not get pulled away and no matter what.
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Current is happening in life no matter what.
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The currents are doing no matter what storms our anchor holds,
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because the Word never fails. Amen.
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OK so with that being said again in Isaiah 79 he says to them, if
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you do not establish your faith in Yahweh and that is God, you
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surely shall not be established. Now I love this because this
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scripture lets us know. That you can establish your
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faith in something else. You can establish your faith in
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something else. Faith is not a religious word.
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Actually, when you define faith, it just means a firm persuasion.
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Well, you know, the world is firmly persuaded about things.
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So when we say faith, we think church or religion.
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But the reality is when when God says faith, he's not thinking
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religion. You know, religion, he's
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thinking a firm persuasion and he's actually talking to a
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couple of his tribes that listen, they were putting their
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faith in things that other nations were doing and other
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religious expressions or gods they were doing instead of
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keeping their focus on the Lord. You understand what I'm saying?
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So this is really important that we establish our faith in God.
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He needs to be our firm persuasion because if we have
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not established our faith in God, then we are not established
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because what you actually firmly are persuaded in will fall away.
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It's temporary. It's not going to stand forever.
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It is. It can be shaken, but God's word
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stands forever. It is eternal.
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They Amen. So Isaiah is obviously the
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prophet warning you got. You need to get your faith
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established in God. Now, why is this important?
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You start coming into today. When I say today, I'm talking
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about tomorrow, a day that we haven't even arrived at that
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that Luke gives an account of something that is said
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concerning Jesus. And Jesus having this
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conversation is that there's going to come a day that he's
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going to show up. Now he gives a parable
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concerning this particular woman who goes before an unrighteous
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judge and is as looking for justice and she is so persistent
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at coming to him even though he does not fear God or man.
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He gives her what she wants. He concludes here in Luke
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chapter 18 verses 7 and 8. I move that guys Luke chapter
Luke 18 chapter mention
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18-7 and eight and it says this now God say now will not God
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bring about justice for his elect who cried to him day and
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night and will he delay long over them?
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Verse 8, I tell you that he will bring about justice for them
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quickly. However, when the Son of Man
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comes, will he find faith on the earth?
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Now what faith are we talking about?
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We're talking about faith established in God.
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So there's a day that's beyond us that the Son of Man is coming
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back to the earth and will he find faith in it?
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Now, it's important for us to define faith here because again,
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faith is not a religious term. So it's not like will he find
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religion here. We have to ask the question what
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is faith? Well faith by definition we know
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is a firm persuasion. Now faith according to Hebrews
Hebrews 11 chapter mention
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Chapter 11 verse. Now faith is the substance of
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things hoped for, the evidence of things what not seen it says
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Abraham and and Romans chapter 4 that he was firmly persuaded
Romans 4 chapter mention
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that what God had said he was able to perform.
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So he believed God even when the evidence in the natural was it
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cannot occur. Now when I say that, that
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doesn't mean there's something in the natural that cannot occur
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and he's convincing God to do something he wants.
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Well, this can't occur. So I'm going to believe God that
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he can do it anyway. But if God's not authorizing,
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you're not convincing him to do something he's not doing.
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However, if something's away and God's like that's not really how
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it is. It's this way.
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Well, now you can believe, and when you do that, then whatever
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situation you're in, in the context of Abraham, his wife
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could not have any children. She was barren, but yet he
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believed God, she's going to have a baby and he acted on
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that. She did not have an Immaculate
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Conception. I'm going to say that again.
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She did not have an Immaculate Conception.
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So when God says your wife's going to have a child, he didn't
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say, well, I can't wait till it happens.
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And they never slept with his wife.
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He slept with his wife believing that at any time his sperm was
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going to going to impregnate an egg.
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And she was it was going to get it to the walls of her uterus
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and it was going to come to pass.
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I'm in with adults here. OK, All right.
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He was believing this would occur because even though he had
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years, decades of evidence, it's not so.
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But God has now spoken. So now he's firmly persuaded.
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OK, well, how did he get firmly persuaded?
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Because faith is firm. Persuasion has to arrive
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somehow. OK, so God is going to ask the
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question, is there going to be faith in the earth yet?
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Romans 117 says this for it. For in it the righteousness of
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God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written.
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But the righteous shall live by faith Now in our dispensation,
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what we're in now current the age of grace or the age of the
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church. We are righteous, been made
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righteous because of the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus
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and we called on the name of the Lord.
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We became a new creature in Christ.
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Behold all things became new which our spirit man now, not
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the old one that was dead and separated from God.
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It has been taken out of our bodies and he has replaced it
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with a brand new spirit that is in the likeness of Christ.
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It has made righteous and it wants to and can hear the voice
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of God and it and this spirit that he gave us wants to obey
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whatever God says and to just make sure that that spirit gets
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it. He puts his own spirit inside
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our body to bear with this, with this new spirit that we are a
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child of God and we've been made righteous.
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Now the righteous are to live not by your job, not by your
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kids. Your life is not revolved around
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natural. It is revolved around faith.
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Now, that doesn't mean you're not going to interact with your
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children and your spouse and you're going to have employment
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somewhere or own a business. I'm not saying that.
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What I'm saying is all of those things are are being, are are
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you're functioning in those relationships through faith.
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We should be raising our children by faith.
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We should be doing our jobs, our businesses by faith.
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Everything we do should be by faith.
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And what faith does is it does not lean on its own
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understanding. Now, when I say faith, I mean we
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the Bible tells us that we are to not lean on our own
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understanding, but in all our ways.
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What do we do? Acknowledge and He will because
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when you acknowledge God then He'll give you His Word, which
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that's how faith comes is from hearing Him.
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And when you apply it, then you will live by the word of God in
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that situation that you've encountered.
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That's how we're supposed to live.
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My living is not my occupation. My living is the word of God.
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I just happen to be employed or I happen to own a business or
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whatever the case may be. I'm, I just happen to be a, a
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husband to a wife. I just happen to be a father to
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children. I just happen to be a
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grandfather, great grandfather. I just happen to be in whatever
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relationship. But all of those are by faith,
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because the righteous are to live by faith.
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And that's what we're in now. And yet Jesus says, will I find
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it here? So how could it be that there
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could be a planet of righteous people that Jesus is questioning
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when he returns? Will he even find them living by
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it? Amen.
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Hallelujah. The good news is it says the
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righteous will live by faith, which tells us righteous people
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can live by faith. Living by faith is obtainable.
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Now the enemy would try to convince you that you couldn't
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live by faith, that you have to do certain things like everyone
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else. You know, you don't have to do
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anything like anyone else. Now let me just pref it.
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Let me just explain that a little bit.
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God is not giving you something that no one else is doing.
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What he's giving you is in context to his word, OK?
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What I'm saying is, is everybody is doing it this way.
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And we're even talking the lost. Well, you know, if the lost is
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doing it. I mean, talking about those
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outside of covenant, the unrighteous, if they are
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amassing wealth or are are going after education a certain way
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and there's a whole plan, that doesn't mean that's.
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God's way. It could actually mean it's not
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because the enemy, the devil, who has been whipped and
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stripped of his power. OK, let's say that again.
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Who has been whipped and stripped of his power?
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Amen still has systems in the earth, and His systems are very
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profitable to those who follow. Now, when I say profitable,
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they're profitable to keep them in bondage because what
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whichever way He knows to keep you in bondage, meaning keeping
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you from fulfilling God's Word or wanting to do God's Word,
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He'll put you on that path. And that could be that he strips
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you of all your resources and you have nothing and puts you on
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drugs and you're and you're just living this horrific life of
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destitute. Or whether he's given you the
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palaces, he knows the pathway to keep you so that you'll continue
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to curse God because they're both there to kill, steal, and
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destroy from 1. You know he stripped them of
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everything and they curse God because they have nothing.
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But on the other side, he's given them everything, and they
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curse God because they think they are God.
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And in both ways, he wins. Amen.
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Because some people are just made by God in the womb to do
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certain things that the devil knows.
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I couldn't strip all this. Those people would just get up
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and keep coming. He can see it in your
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personality. He can see it in the way you're
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bit a little bit. I mean, he is a master of
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discovery of you and he knows your flesh.
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I said he knows your flesh. I mean, we have these tools in
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the natural where their personalities, you know, and
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there's four common personalities that have
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strengths and weaknesses. And then when you take that
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test, you know, you can really identify a person in the flesh.
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Every time I have one of our staff take it, I said.
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I listen. Act like you're in the flesh.
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When you answer some of the questions in the strengths, you
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can get in the spirit, you're like, oh, yeah, that's me.
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I'm this, I'm that. But then when you get after the
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weaknesses, you know, like you you're angry or you're
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impatient, you're like, oh, no, I'm not.
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So yes, in the spirit, you overcome those things.
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But let's say you were in the flesh.
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What would be your response? That's how you need to answer
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those questions, right? If I was in the flesh, which one
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would come up first? I would definitely do that one.
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OK. But I'm sanctified.
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I'm set free. I don't.
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But if I was right, OK, but that's how we take those tests
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because they always get messed up when they're always checking
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them by the fruits of the Spirit.
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Oh, I don't do that. None of these apply.
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Pastor Earl, what do you mean I would do none of these.
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I understand in the Spirit. I get it.
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You've overcome. However, we need to fine tune
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because your personality actually allows us to and you to
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understand how you process. And this is how you become
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patient with people when you understand how they process.
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Because God made us different. He didn't make us all the same.
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The problem is, is each personality thinks we are of the
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best and we want everybody to be ours.
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Right. I mean.
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If I gave you a personality test, you will find how many
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people you gravitate that are like you and process like you.
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And you're like they know. See, they get it.
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How come you don't get it? Well, because they process it
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like you do. That's all.
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Are you hearing me? OK, so the enemy knows and then
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he will move your life accordingly.
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But the righteous live by faith, and the faith they live is
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established in God, not in the world.
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So is there anything wrong with going to a university?
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No, but did the Lord tell you? Does your purpose require it?
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And if it does not, more people could be damaged going to a path
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that the rest do but yet cannot handle the actual environment
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they're being thrust into. Many believers have left the
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faith when they went to college because number one, they set in
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the churches not growing, but mom and dad bring me here.
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And they took none of their own personal responsibility.
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See, parents, that's why you got to raise your children by faith,
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because you need to look at them and say, I know you're
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graduating, but you should wait a couple years before you go to
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college. And recognize whether they are
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mature enough to even how have they walked enough in their
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faith to be able to withstand an onslaught?
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You know, because sometimes in parenting, we protect our
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children to the extreme that they don't even encounter.
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And we're giving them the, the ability to navigate situations.
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You're you're a safety net. You're recovering, but you're
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allowing them to process how now you're not throwing them to the
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wolves. I'm not telling you that, but
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you're having conversations that allow them to realize I'm making
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a choice either for God or not. And when you're training that in
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the home, then when they get. Out it becomes a little more
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successful. Let me say it that way.
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The chances of success are better because they've already
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done it under your covering. Because when they step out, they
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do what they want to do and they can get full blown rebellion.
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And you're like, I don't even know who my child is, but God
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and you're praying for him, believing God and doing all that
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now I'm not. Some are, some are.
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Some has developed enough that they can be released.
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I get it. This is why it's all by faith.
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It's not cookie cutter is hearing the voice of God for
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your situation, but the truths are going to be across the board
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from the scripture. It's not a different word that
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we've never seen in the context of Scripture, is what I'm
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saying. OK, so the righteous will live
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How? What are righteous?
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Righteous are those. This is by definition of this
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particular word. It means observing divine laws.
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It means, in a wine sense, upright, righteous, virtuous.
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We love those words. When we talk about righteous,
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but this word righteous has these two contexts as well,
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observing divine laws and keeping the commands of God.
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So God made you righteous and right standing with God.
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He gave you the spirit that says I'll obey God.
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I want to that's what it means to be righteous and that's why
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we say it's not a religious word.
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It just means right standing with the governing authority.
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You could not in your with your other spirit man ever get in
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right standing with God because you were born in the sin.
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You were a Sinner. Your nature was cut off from
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God. But God being rich in his mercy
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while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
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And when we called on his name, he gave us this new spirit that
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is now in the righteousness of God.
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It's in right standing. We didn't do it, He did it.
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Now he's placed it US and that spirit wants to keep the
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commands wants to he wants to. Now your mind does it.
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Your soul realm still has challenges.
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That's why the Bible tells us that we are to wash our mind
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with the word because once you're born again, the Holy
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Spirit becomes your great teacher and says guess what is
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yours? Oh can't wait to take you to
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class today. There are so many awesome
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things. Now when I say class you
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understand unfortunately we default to classroom
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environments even like right here we default to this.
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Now it'd be different if I was like, hey, we're all going on a
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cruise tonight so let me give you what we're going to be in
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enjoying. Now y'all have a totally
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different demeanor right now we're going to be doing some
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excursions. All right, Sharon, you and
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Steve, we got an excursion for you all right, it's it's worth
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$5000 already paid for. You see, I'm even like praise
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God, don't even worry about tips.
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It's all taken care of. All the food is all you can eat.
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This is the Lord. These are the things the Lord
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has given us in his word. But when we sit in here, we're
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thinking, oh, we're in class, we're taking instruction and
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we're taking it as knowledge when we're really getting the
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benefits package of who we are in Christ.
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He's an essence. Say, let me give you your all
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inclusive trip that you now have in the earth and let me give you
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all your benefits that you get to walk in.
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Now. This is what these sessions
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really are. These training sessions are now
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again when we're navigating whether we're going on a cruise
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and we're getting into some foreign territory.
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There's some places you should avoid, but if you get in
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trouble, we can rescue you, right?
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So when we look at this this way instead, then we're like, OK,
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the Holy Ghost in US is telling us all the great things that we
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can enjoy and the things that are given to us to overcome
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adversity. Let me get in and hear what the
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Lord has for me and let me change the way I think to line
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up with who I now am in Christ. So the righteous will live How
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how they going to live? How are you going to live?
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How are you going to live in 2025?
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By faith. Let it be the best by faith year
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ever. Amen.
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OK, so how do we get faith? Since we're living by faith, how
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do we get it? Romans 10/17.
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So faith comes by and by and as you heard me say, because Isaiah
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obviously kind of points this out, is that if your faith is
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not established in God, then you're not established.
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So you can have faith established somewhere else.
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This scripture says. So faith comes by hearing and
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and what Paul is saying is you're hearing in essence should
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be from the word of Christ. He's making a general state.
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Faith comes by hearing. All of us get firmly persuaded
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because of something we've heard.
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Some of you don't eat things because you became firmly
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persuaded that it's not good for you and when it's offered.
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No, no, no, thank you. No, go ahead, it's delicious.
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No, I'm fine. You've become.
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Firmly persuaded that you will resist.
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Yes, that's right. Come on.
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Right. Someone will tell all.
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Don't even worry. You see in that movie, you
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become firmly persuaded by them. You shouldn't see it.
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And this happens all the time. You go to the doctor and they'll
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and you're firmly persuaded what they said about you.
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You have that condition and you so firmly persuaded that you
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take your prescription. They give you, you go down to a
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drug store that someone you don't know fills it with the
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things that he said to fill it with and you have no idea what
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it actually looks like. So you just trust that what they
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put on the label and the pills in it are the exact thing that
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they're saying and you have no concept of that or what
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laboratory And there was no issues.
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And it's not a messed up order from that laboratory.
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I mean, I could take this a whole, but we just grab it and
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we're like, oh, man, based almost like a praise God, I'm
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fixing, I'm about to feel better.
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And we put it in our mouth and we suck it and put it.
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It could be, you know, arsenic, but you're firmly persuaded.
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It is what the doctor said you needed to get better and you
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don't even vet it. So firm persuasion or faith is
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easy. Actually it's really easy
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because again, the world is really good at them operating in
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their faith. They're firmly persuaded, firmly
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persuaded. There are people that are firmly
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persuaded still today that wearing a mask protects them
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still today. Now I don't have an issue with
-
that, but they wear them because of that reason.
-
They are firmly persuaded. How do we know they're?
-
Acting on it. Because a firm persuasion is an
-
action. But how did they get there?
-
They heard someone that they did not know personally stand up on
-
TV and say this is a way to protect you.
-
Anybody ever met Doctor Fauci personally shook his hand?
-
Anyone. Anyone ever go into the college
-
that he graduated from and see how many, how his grades were?
-
Anyone seen his personal degree? Any know anybody know anything
-
about his character, his lifestyle?
-
But now the Bible tells us the character and lifestyle of
-
Jesus, his educational experience.
-
I mean he only made the planet. Yeah, he has a really good
-
resume. I mean, he was, is and is to
-
come. And then we are like when the
-
Lord says. And we're like, man, I don't
-
know, but the world is easier to believe just because they heard.
-
But what Paul is saying, faith comes by hearing.
-
And listen, our hearing should be by the word of Christ.
-
So faith comes by hearing. So what we hear produces a firm
-
persuasion, and our firm persuasion should come by the
-
word of Christ. Because of Romans 10/17 we could
-
interpret. Romans 117 of the statement but
-
the just or but the righteous live by faith.
-
It could read this way, but the righteous will live by hearing
-
the word of Christ and that would be accurate.
-
But the righteous will live by hearing the word of Christ.
-
I'm hearing what Christ said. Well, what?
-
What does the Lord say? You know, and there's nothing
-
wrong with you being in a situation that you can take a
-
step back. Now, what I love about doctors,
-
because we have one here, is that our doctor actually listens
-
to the Holy Ghost. And so when she's examining feet
-
is Debbie, she's like, she's listening now.
-
Her natural training is there, but yet she can listen to the
-
spirit and determine is the symptom in your foot only foot
-
related or is there somewhere else?
-
This is what's so amazing about spirit LED people is because
-
again, they they're living not by their book learning.
-
They're living by what the word of God is saying.
-
In this moment, at this time, are you hearing what I'm saying?
-
OK, with that being said, then turn to James 122.
-
James 122. Wow.
-
Hallelujah. I better drive on.
-
James 122 says this. But be what doers of the word,
-
and not only so Paul says faith comes by hearing.
-
So hearing creates a firm persuasion.
-
However, if all you do is hear, you could have a deceived firm
-
persuasion, James implies. Even if you hear God's Word, if
-
you don't do it, you can have faith that has come from the
-
Word, yet you're deceived in your application.
-
And I have experienced these moments with with individuals
-
and I have checked myself to determine am I there?
-
I remember 1 very candid was purchasing them all and you
-
know, money is to go down. Are we supposed to do this?
-
Everybody's telling me do it. We I've already know.
-
I know the Lord wants us to, but you know, this is like real
-
deal. And I'm like, OK, I mean, I'm
-
all called up at the end of the day, but I need to, I need to
-
get something in my spirit about this more so because I'm ready
-
to act. And I do not want to act on
-
deception because my ACT, my acting outside of God's Word and
-
timing can get me into deception.
-
So, you know, I went down the road praying about it and the
-
Lord gave me a little scenario and through that the Lord said,
-
don't you think I can get you them all?
-
And that right there was my firm persuasion that at that point I
-
stayed on course period. Because the last thing I want to
-
do is think I've heard something.
-
It sounds like God. I've seen God do it with others,
-
but I need to make sure that's exactly what God is saying to
-
me. I mean, during the time of, you
-
know, when I would say the air of prosperity message, you know,
-
people would give a car away and then they would God would give
-
them a better car. They hear this testimony.
-
You know what? People just started giving cars
-
away, then they don't. They don't have a car.
-
And then they have to get a car that's not as good as the one
-
they gave away. And now they're upset at God
-
because they're saying faith didn't work.
-
Well, first of all, God never told that person to give a car
-
You're trying to. You coveted the blessing that
-
God gave to someone else when God told them to give a.
-
Car. Not you, but what we what do we
-
do? We try to make faith a formula.
-
The only formula about faith is what is God said to you that's
-
in line with his word and it is his word and you are to act on
-
it. That's the only formula about
-
it. And then you stay firmly
-
persuaded till it comes to pass. Outside of that, I cannot say,
-
well, you know this word for, you know, Stacy with her
-
business and you know, because she did, I'm going to do it that
-
way. Well, God may have her do this
-
business a different way. It's about you hearing God for
-
you and your situation. Now, the end results may be the
-
same successful business, but you may have gone about it 2
-
totally different ways just because people have a pattern.
-
Pastors fall in this huge when it comes to churches.
-
Oh, they go to church, look how they're doing it.
-
They go back home. They try to apply that.
-
God never told them to apply that.
-
Then they get upset because they're not getting the same
-
results. Then they get down on
-
themselves. I must not be a good leader.
-
Well, you're not a good hearer. Most.
-
Most. All of us is not that we aren't
-
good leaders. Sometimes we're just not good
-
listeners because we're applying stuff that someone else has
-
heard God do, but God has not spoken to us, OK?
-
So he says be a doer. Of the Word, not hearers, only
-
deceiving yourself. The new American standard of
-
this particular passage says it this way.
-
But prove yourself doers of the Word, and not merely hearers who
-
delude themselves. You understand coming to church,
-
hearing the Word, and coming to church all the time.
-
Hearing the word doesn't make you a successful faith person.
-
It can actually make you worse because if God speaks to you out
-
doing something and you do not do it, you know, then at the end
-
of the day, you're going to get yourself called up.
-
And really what you'll do is you'll move over into religion
-
to where you're going to do God's word your way on your
-
terms and you expect God to honor you.
-
That's what religion is, and that's what is what they say,
-
the works of the law, meaning you're going to hear God's word
-
and you're going to say of my own merit I can do it.
-
And when I do it, you have to honor me, bless me, and accept
-
me. But you can't do it because your
-
nature's off, and no religion can do it outside of faith in
-
the Word to perform in you. OK, so another translation says
-
this. Keep on obeying, keep on being
-
obedient to the word and not merely being hearers who deceive
-
themselves. Because what happens is, is
-
that, you know, in our sphere, there's a lot of great teaching,
-
which means then you acquire knowledge, you acquire
-
revelation knowledge, and you apply it and it changes your
-
life and you have the fruit of it.
-
But if you get into a place where again, because you're not
-
the only one in the room, this is a body, right?
-
I mean, Steve, how many times have you heard these verses?
-
I'm preaching right now, bro. Hot thousands, I would venture
-
to say thousands of times, right Yet.
-
There's probably some foods you've eaten thousands of times,
-
like a good steak, a hamburger. Fish thousands of times you're
-
not like I've had that yet in and when it comes to the Saints
-
with the scripture, we do that. I've heard that, well, the
-
minute you push the plate like that, because somebody in the
-
room had had that plate yet and they're like, what?
-
I've never smelled it. This is amazing.
-
Oh my gosh, I've never. And we're like, we're needing to
-
serve this. And you know, it's a good plate
-
because when you first had it, you loved it and you've loved it
-
enough. You've come to it multiple
-
times. But then all of a sudden the
-
minute you're like, push the plate, well, guess what?
-
You do. You have the knowledge of the
-
scripture and you can go tell anyone, but you've lost.
-
Revelation of it. The minute you lose revelation
-
of it, even though you have knowledge, then this is what
-
they sound like. You know, Well, I'm having these
-
challenges with finance. I'm having this challenge with
-
my body, you know, but I know the Lord heals me and I'm
-
believe, but there's a lot of butts.
-
Again, talk to me factually, no problem.
-
But once you give me the facts, all I should ever hear out of
-
your mouth from them. I am the healed of the Lord.
-
I am the righteousness of God. I am this, I am that.
-
And if you're having a bad day, you should have some great faith
-
friends that you can call and say, tell me how I'm healed.
-
Not this is how I'm feeling today.
-
I'm just having a moment. I know you're having moments.
-
We all have moments. But it'd be better for us to get
-
off talking about our moments and get to someone who you
-
you're not in my moment. I need you to talk about how I'm
-
out of my moment because I can't talk about it today.
-
So get neutral or keep the switch of faith on by not saying
-
how you feel and let somebody talk to you about how you feel
-
till you can start saying how you feel like they're telling
-
you. So people know they're shield of
-
the Lord or they know that God's called them the project or they
-
know that he has given them joy yet.
-
And when you try to and you recognize and you try to tell
-
them the word, then they kind of put up this wall.
-
Oh yeah, I know. Oh, yeah, I know.
-
Oh, yeah. No, no.
-
What you should be doing is, oh, thank God, I'm pulling up the
-
table. Bring that plate over here.
-
I need to eat some of this right here instead of.
-
Oh, I know. Well, that person probably
-
sliding over into this, a deceived life.
-
They're quoting what to do, but it's not manifesting.
-
In their life. They've heard it, but they're
-
not a doer. They've not proven it.
-
So again, because of Romans 117, I'm winding down now.
-
Romans 117 we could say this concerning, but the righteous
-
will live by faith. If you take this verse with
-
Romans 10/17, it would sound like this, but the righteous
-
will live by being obedient to the.
-
Word they have heard from Christ.
-
And that's how the righteous live.
-
Well, I'm righteous. Well then, are you living by
-
being obedient to the word that you've heard from Christ?
-
Is that how you're living? Because you know what, we we all
-
can explain and justify our positions a lot.
-
We could. And again, we all go through
-
challenges. Don't get me wrong, we all go
-
through, we can all justify a lot of stuff, but I've been
-
justified. I've been made righteous.
-
So if I'm going to walk in my righteousness, then there's a
-
lifestyle or a way I am to live. And that is by faith or by
-
obeying the word that I've heard from Christ, which is the King,
-
because the King loves me so much that he wants to give me a
-
word. That has to come to pass.
-
Hallelujah. Isn't that good news?
-
So Matthew 2121, Matthew 2121 and we'll go down to verse 22.
-
I'll probably be using this a little bit more than Mark 11
-
only because the Lord spoke to me about this verse.
-
Matthew 2121. We live at we are our facility
-
is at 2121 US One South and remember we came on the property
-
and we were speaking to our mountain.
-
OK and didn't realize this was a 2121 verse in Matthew.
-
OK, but it goes on and says in Jesus answer and said to them
-
truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt OK so you
-
can have faith. And you can have doubt and he
-
said, how's that possible? You can have faith, meaning you
-
can have heard and in even in past times been a doer.
-
But in this particular situation where you can look back on the
-
faithfulness of God, of how He healed you last time, how He
-
brought the finances last time, how He restored the relationship
-
last time, whatever the case may be, in this particular
-
situation, you begin to doubt. Because of the size of it.
-
So I said, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only
-
do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to
-
this mountain be taken up, cast into the sea, it will happen.
-
And all things you ask in prayer, believing that's having
-
faith firmly persuaded anchor faith you will receive you what
-
not maybe not could be not if it's God's will.
-
We already know if it's God's will because you're not even in
-
faith. Faith comes from hearing him.
-
You don't it you've already answered the will question when
-
you're in faith. You've not answered the will
-
question. If you're asking Lord, if is is
-
this your will not There's no problem with that question,
-
Lord. Now, is this your will for me?
-
To take this job, marry this person, whatever the case may
-
be, right? Well, once you hear Him, now you
-
know His will, and now you're in faith, because faith comes by.
-
I've heard, and I'm acting on it.
-
I'm going to do it. And it doesn't matter what storm
-
comes against that word. Now I said it doesn't matter
-
because we're going to have it. And when do I have it?
-
The minute I prayed, which means now I'm just thanking Him for
-
it. And again, how do we know if
-
somebody is firmly persuaded in faith and they're obeying it or
-
keeping it is because they're thanking all the time after
-
they've received well, how are you doing today?
-
Thank the Lord, I am the healed of the Lord.
-
I'm so thankful that God has healed my body.
-
Now you may be a wreck on the inside, but you're calling it
-
that and you're thanking him. You're not really saying I
-
believe I have it and I'm thankful I have I have it.
-
Now, that doesn't mean you don't check on yourself or you checked
-
yourself along the way. Because again, when you're in
-
the process of certain things, you know you always want to make
-
sure nothing's getting out of alignment.
-
No doubt is what jumped in. Nothing's delaying anything that
-
needs to be delayed. There's check UPS but you're
-
staying firmly persuaded on the words you heard.
-
There's been a couple situations I've been in the last couple
-
years that I've heard very specific the word the Lord say
-
to me, a very specific phrase, very specific.
-
And anytime I've come back to that situation, I ask him and
-
he's in both situations. He was quiet and he was quiet
-
because he's already given me the word.
-
The last thing I heard is the only thing he is saying, which
-
means keep your course, keep your course.
-
I know with the mall, you know, right before we know we went to
-
buy it, There was a little bit of challenge trying to get back
-
to the owner after we raised the down payment.
-
And I was like, man, OK, you know, do we need to go another
-
direction? Do we need to do something
-
different? You know, I mean, have we gotten
-
in here? Is there another process?
-
Did I miss something? I'm always checking, you know,
-
you know, I'm firmly persuaded on this thing.
-
But you know what? It's not an idol to me to the
-
point that if you tell me to go purchase some other land, I
-
would do it Da, da, da, da, da, you know, because obviously I
-
had only heard we were going to have it.
-
And I'll never forget during that particular conversation,
-
the Lord said, son, you can do whatever you want to do.
-
Well, I knew what he was saying because I've not changed my mind
-
on what I said. And then he proceeded to go on
-
and say, 'cause you do what you want to do.
-
My plan hadn't changed. Which means I'll send a man or
-
woman to God that will believe for this property and put on
-
this property exactly what I want on this property.
-
And you'll be in this community driving by and saying it could
-
have been me. Well, I was like, forget that.
-
Why would you forfeit what you've been called to do, right?
-
Why would you do that? Especially when God is assuring
-
you? Look, if you want to pass this
-
up, you can. But that doesn't change me.
-
Well, let me just stay with you. You know, a lot of times people
-
pass up and then it comes through someone else.
-
And some people don't even realize that some things you've
-
had in your heart, you're seeing other people do it actually was
-
yours because God let you do something else.
-
Come on, that's good. Ecclesiastes 84 where the word
-
of the king is, where the word of the king is authority and
-
power, we have anchor faith, faith that is firmly planted
-
because we are righteous people who keep His word word.
-
We stay obedient to it, that which we've heard, because where
-
the word of our King is, there's authority and power.
-
And no matter how much I've grown in the things of God, I
-
know this without a shadow of a doubt.
-
I'm ever dependent on hearing him, ever dependent because, you
-
know, I've read through the Scripture enough now that I can
-
quote scripture to him. But the question is, is that the
-
scripture I'm supposed to be using for this situation?
-
I can navigate situation now your word says, your word says
-
your word says and what I'm doing is I'm not telling him.
-
You better do that. I'm saying this is what your
-
word says. So in my situation, I know
-
there's a victorious in which one are you talking to me about?
-
Which one am I hearing you say so that it's my word.
-
And again, sometimes he's saying not chapter verse, but it's the
-
concept of. A scripture and at that point
-
you're like, got it, I'm doing it and you never come off and it
-
comes to pass.