Core Values of the Believer - Part 13 - Pastor Philip Steele - August 12th, 2026

Hi, my name is Michelle Steele.

Dr.

Phillip and I want to thank you for listening to this message from Life of Faith First.

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And we want to continue.

We've been looking at this core values of the believer, and we've been uh focusing in on determining to walk by faith.

And uh this is so important, uh, especially to our body, because this is this is what we're called to teach and minister on.

But determining to walk by faith, there were seven core values of the believer, and we uh focused uh a number of weeks on putting the word first place, walking in love.

Now we're determining to walk by faith.

In Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 4, it says, By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Now notice that he obtained witness that he was righteous.

God testifying of his gifts, and by it, he being dead, yet speaks.

Hallelujah.

So in Abel we see the sacrifice of faith.

We're gonna focus on two aspects of faith tonight, two different men, Abel and Enoch.

In Abel we see the sacrifice of faith.

In Enoch we see the walk of faith.

But Jesus pleased the Father by offering himself, self-sacrifice.

All right, that's how Jesus pleased the Father.

Abel's sacrifice was more excellent because it was by faith.

And it had a double meaning.

His sacrifice had a double meaning.

The first thing is Abel counted that his sacrifice would be accepted and that he would be too.

His sacrifice would be accepted and that he would be too.

Secondly, Abel was unworthy to offer himself without atonement.

He was unworthy to offer himself without atonement.

And the sacrifice provided the substitution of blood, and Abel then gave himself to God.

But he was unworthy to offer himself without atonement.

And the sacrifice that he brought provided the blood, and Abel was able to give himself to God.

See, this is revelation.

And it happened to the first man of faith.

This is the first man of faith that we see in the Bible.

Alright?

Abel understood he couldn't give himself to God without atonement.

He understood that to shed his own blood would have been useless.

Hallelujah.

So the substitute was his offering.

It was a sacrifice of faith.

Because he realized any other offering would be useless.

And God called his sacrifice faith.

And said it was a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.

And notice what it says then.

And he obtained witness that he was righteous.

He obtained witness that he was righteous.

Our access to God is through the sacrificial blood of Christ.

Alright?

Now this is very important.

Faith begins at a certain point.

And I know I've taught her for years, faith begins where the will of God is known, and that's absolutely true.

But faith begins at a certain point.

And that point is this it begins with the knowledge of what Christ has done as our substitute.

That's where faith begins.

If I don't grab that, if I don't have a firm foundation in that, I'm going to struggle with faith.

Because everything that faith will bring me is something that Jesus already paid for.

Faith will not bring me anything that's not paid for.

And that's why he paid for everything.

And so my faith can bring it.

Hallelujah.

And so the first thing I've begun to look at this this way with faith is I have faith that that belongs to me because Jesus paid for it.

Anything paid for, I can just receive it.

Hallelujah.

And so faith begins with the knowledge of what Christ has done as our substitute, but it grows up into him as the head of the body.

Alright?

It grows up as the head of all things.

Hallelujah.

Faith is that spiritual force that we contact God with.

Faith is how we do business in the kingdom of God.

Alright?

Faith is the transaction point.

I say faith is the transaction point.

Amen.

You know, you go buy a suit, you go buy something at the store.

Well, you're not leaving until you make a transaction.

You want the goods?

You got to swipe the card, give the cash, write the check.

I guess you can still write checks.

Right?

But why is this so important?

Because you've got to understand where there is no faith, there's no receiving.

I can't receive without faith.

I need to say this the best way I know.

God loves everybody, he saved everybody.

But you know, that required faith.

God cannot be good to you like he wants to without faith.

That's why the scripture says, and we we've talked about the last two services, without faith, it's impossible to please him.

Right?

I can't please God in my walk with him.

God is pleased when I see myself as righteous.

God is pleased when I see myself as holy, consecrated.

God is pleased when I see myself as his child.

God is pleased when I see myself as begotten of God, with God's DNA in me.

But I only do that by faith.

I only walk as righteous by faith.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

Do you see that?

And so God cannot be good to me like he wants to be without faith.

There's no receiving from God without faith.

Because faith is the transaction point.

And so there's things God wants to do.

God wants to provide for people, God wants to bless people with, but they have to exercise faith.

Now notice I said exercise because every person's been given the measure of faith.

Everybody's been given that starter measure of faith.

It's up to me what I do with it.

I have to exercise that faith.

Amen.

So the kingdom of God is a real kingdom.

And we've been given authority there, and the way we contact God is with the spiritual force of faith.

Understand, no matter what we learn, no matter what we learn about our authority, no matter what we learn about different things, if I'm not exercising faith in it, it's not working.

All of us in here are born again.

I'm looking over the room.

Everybody's born again.

I know everybody in here tonight.

Here's the thing everybody has been given authority.

When you were born again, you were given authority over all the power of the devil.

Right?

All the power of the devil.

Jesus said that newborn Christians should cast out devils.

Isn't that what he said?

He said, Go preach the gospel, right, to all men.

And then he said, them that believe, the first thing they'll do is cast out devils.

Right?

Well, why is this so important?

Because I have authority over all the power of the enemy, but I've got to exercise faith to walk in the authority.

Because there's times you've got to walk in the authority when you don't feel like you have any authority.

Amen.

Brother Hagin would say it this way: He said, you know, when something has happened that just knocked your head down between your feet, he said, and then you got to exercise your authority.

And dear Lord, you don't feel like you have any authority.

You got to do it by faith.

Faith is not faking, faith is how you access what is legally yours in Christ.

You're not faking anything.

You're not acting like you have authority.

Faith is not acting like something.

See, that's why some people think faith is acting like you're not sick.

Well, that's not faith.

That's fake.

That's not faith.

You, amen.

You you can you're you can be in faith if somebody says, you know, what what's what's wrong?

You know what the doctor says?

And you tell them what the doctor said, that doesn't mean you're not in faith.

It means you're not faking it.

I've had people before that they'd come up in the line and I'd say, What can I pray with you about?

Oh, I don't want to say, I don't want to make a negative confession.

Well, what am I supposed to do?

Just go and sit down then.

Because what can I do?

It's not a negative confession to say what you're going through.

Even if you voice what you're going through, you still have authority over it.

The key is to stay in faith.

Oh, hallelujah.

Say out loud, I'm in faith, operating my faith, seeing my faith work.

Oh, hallelujah.

Glory to God.

That's how we contact God is through the met the avenue of faith.

I've been given authority in the kingdom.

And I've got to exercise my faith and act that way.

Faith has an act to it.

And I don't just mean acting in the sense of, you know, you don't feel good, and so you're going to take a faith act and get up out of bed anyway.

That's part of it.

Faith has an act.

Faith has an assurance.

There's an assurance to faith.

When you the Bible calls it the good fight of faith, he told Timothy, fight the good fight of faith.

All right?

The Greek says that that is a fight marked by its beauty of technique.

You see somebody operating in faith, it's a beautiful thing to watch.

Because they're not faking it.

They're not putting on airs.

They're standing in faith.

There's an assurance about faith.

Amen.

When somebody in faith walks in the room where there's a problem, it's like the light came on.

Everything's going to be okay because faith just entered the room.

Glory to God.

Right?

And so faith has this assurance.

And when you have faith, you know that you know, that you know, that you know everything's gonna be okay because you have faith.

And people can't understand why you're not worried and why you're not defeated, and why you're not singing gloom, despair, and agony on me.

Right?

Because you're in faith, and faith is victory.

Right?

Faith is the victory, and what does it do?

It always overcomes the world.

So my job is to stay in faith.

Every day is a faith day.

Oh, hallelujah! Do you see that?

Tell your neighbor, say, I'm in faith.

I believe you're in faith.

Hallelujah.

See, Christ entered into God by way of self-sacrifice.

By faith, I accept that.

So I accept that by faith.

I didn't see him on the cross.

I never saw the blood.

I never heard him say it's finished, but I accept that he did it by faith.

Amen.

I accept that he did that by faith.

And then my presence before God is accepted because of Jesus.

Now I take that by faith.

I'm accepted in the beloved.

I'm accepted in the presence of God.

Abel had witness that he was righteous.

I have witnessed that I'm righteous.

You have witnessed that you're righteous.

The Bible says the blood of Jesus speaks better things than the blood of Abel.

And that blood is on the mercy seat.

It's a wonderful thing that it's on the mercy seat.

Whoever comes to Jesus has to come to that mercy seat.

And what does the blood do?

It speaks.

What does it speak?

That they're righteous, they're holy, they're forgiven, they're redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

That blood is still speaking.

That's my witness.

The Bible says there are three that bear witness in heaven.

And one of them is the blood.

Hallelujah.

What does it bear witness?

I'm righteous.

So every time, every time, every time you're exercising your faith in anything that God wants you to do, it's bearing witness to the sacrifice to the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Oh, hallelujah.

I have witness.

But I'm righteous.

Look at Genesis chapter 4.

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

You've got to, you've got to always take the struggle out of faith.

And you've got to live by faith.

You're living by faith, it's not gonna get you're not gonna get there gritting your teeth.

If you're not resting, you're not in faith.

If there's not joy and peace, you're not in faith.

Period.

Pastor, that's hard.

No, it's not hard.

It's Bible.

There's joy and peace in believing.

Them that believe have entered into rest, is what the scripture says.

Right?

See, as long as I'm trying to work something up in myself, as long as I'm trying to make this happen in my own strength, faith is on the sideline.

It's not doing anything.

Why?

Because I got it.

Amen.

You know, there are people that give and sow and they struggle financially.

You want to know why?

Because they put all their confidence in their work.

The work they do.

How much work they do, the hours they work.

I'm a hard-working man.

That's why your faith isn't working.

I didn't say you shouldn't work hard.

You don't put confidence in your hard work.

Right?

Because what's the Bible say?

It says twice.

It says it in Isaiah, and it says it in Isaiah or in Jeremiah.

That if you put confidence in your hand, that hand will always fail.

So I thank God.

I praise God for my job.

I thank God for my salary.

I thank God for my business.

But I understand that the security, that the success is going to come through faith.

It's not going to come from what I can do.

Why?

Because he told the people in the book of Deuteronomy.

He said, When you enter into the land and all these things have been given to you, don't say, My might and the power of my hand has gotten me all these things.

But you shall remember the Lord your God because it's he that gives you the power to get wealth.

Where does that wealth come from?

The kingdom that we talked tonight.

How do you access it?

By faith.

Everything I touch is blessed.

Everything you touch is blessed.

Favor is dripping off of you in the name of Jesus.

You can fall in an outhouse and come out smelling like a rose.

Why?

Because you're full of the favor of God.

I don't feel like I got favor.

That's doubt talking, not faith.

Faith will tell you you are highly favored.

You're highly blessed.

Amen.

Somebody's looking to bless you right now.

Deuteronomy 28, 1 and 2 says, all of those blessings are trying to chase you down and overtake you.

Oh, hallelujah.

So what do you do?

Slow down, let them catch you.

Amen.

Glory to God.

Woo! Hallelujah.

Genesis 4, 3.

It says, in process of time came to pass, Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.

So notice, he brought an offering without death and without blood, and it was not accepted.

It was not accepted.

Hallelujah.

Why?

It was not by faith.

No faith in the substitute.

No faith in the substitute.

Now we could go a lot of different directions here, but our focus is on faith.

You got to understand, when anything becomes about works, then the substitute's not involved.

That's why I said that the beginning point of faith is what did Christ do?

And you put your faith in that.

Oh, hallelujah.

And it can be something as simple as somebody saying, Well, I'm I'm a good person.

Well, the Bible says there's none good.

What do we do with that?

I've heard people talk about sinners and say, oh, he's a good guy.

The Bible says there's none good without God.

Well, got quiet.

I know a lot of good people that aren't saved.

No, you don't.

You know a lot of unsaved people, but they're not good.

Why?

Because the Bible says they're not.

How can they be good?

They don't have any goodness.

Moving along, hallelujah.

Right?

And so if if a person's saying, Well, I'm a good person, so God should do this for me, there's no faith there.

You didn't have, there's nothing for the substitute there.

But let me go even a step further.

Well, I don't understand.

I'm confessing this a hundred times a day, and and nothing's happened yet.

You're putting all your faith in your confession, not in the person you're confessing to.

And when you do that, it's works.

You should confess the word every day.

You should declare the word over your body, over your family, every day.

I do that every day.

But I understand something.

I am not gonna, the Bible says you will not be heard for your much speaking.

Isn't that what he said?

He said the hypocrites think they'll be heard for their much speaking.

And so you need to confess the word every day, but you're confessing the word every day based on what Jesus did for you.

That's why our confessions start out with, because I am in Christ.

Because of what Christ did for me.

Sickness and disease cannot reign in my body.

So it goes back to what Christ did for me.

Hallelujah.

And that's where a lot of people miss it.

And you should listen, I'm I'm I'm trying to help you.

You you should you should print out scriptures.

I've got scriptures I go over every day, but here's what I understand I print out the Scriptures because I have faith in the Word of God that what they're saying is true.

Take the pressure off yourself and get it over on your faith.

Because when you're trying to make it happen on your own, see, when somebody comes to me and they say, I just don't understand why I'm not healed yet, they're not in faith.

Because they're trying to figure it out.

That means they're working in their own natural knowledge.

Right?

So I've got to back up and say, Now, Lord, I don't know why my healing hasn't manifest yet, but I know what your word says, and based on what Jesus did for me, I choose to believe I'm healed.

And if that person will do that, they'll watch a shift come.

There's a shift will come.

Hallelujah.

Yes, sir.

Amen.

I used to say the church all the time.

And I meant it.

I mean, this is just my mindset.

The only way I know, the way I am is this all I know to do.

When circumstances push me, I just know to push back harder.

Right?

That's my personality.

Right?

They punch you, just punch them harder.

I was at the pool with Lily the other day, and there was a guy, and I don't know why people always want to talk about how old they are.

He was swimming.

He was like, and and and I had a a watch on that I swim in, and he said, he said, uh, uh, boy, you know, back in my day you couldn't swim with that with a watch on.

And he, ho, ho, ho.

Well, yeah, I'm nice to people, but finally he said, boy, it's horrible having to get old, isn't it?

And I just looked at him, I said, just keep punching, brother, just keep punching.

You'll be all right.

I I mean, I'm not I'm not gonna agree with that.

It's not horrible getting older.

The Bible says we go from glory to glory.

Right?

But you understand what I'm saying?

So if a person feels like they're stagnant, they feel like they're not moving forward, they need to back up and get back over here and get their faith in what Jesus did.

And then let it move on from there.

And then the manifestation is not your focus.

What Jesus did is your focus.

And now you have the object of your faith.

You're not focused on the on the on the product of your faith, you got the object of your faith in mind.

And so when I have the object of my faith in mind, Jesus, then according to Scripture, the manifestation will come to me easier.

Hallelujah.

Because I'm focused on him.

And that's in any area.

In any area.

I don't know.

I'm sowing, I'm giving, I'm confessing, and our finances are not just not getting any better.

There's no faith there.

Because why?

The confidence is in the sowing and in the confessing, not in the giver.

My God shall supply.

Wait, who's going to supply?

According to his riches that are in glory by Christ Jesus.

Meaning the access to those riches that the Father has that are in glory is by Christ.

It's by Christ.

And I put my faith in that.

And when I sow, my seed is an act of my faith.

It's a point of contact for my faith.

I'm giving this because you died on the cross so I could be free from poverty.

And I put my faith in you.

That's why I'm sowing this seed.

Oh, glory to God.

You see?

And so then faith becomes something that it's not just a hanging on, it's a standing on.

I'm standing on my faith.

And that's why the Bible tells us about the indestructibleness of faith.

It says that faith stops all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

Right?

It says faith overcomes the world.

Right?

Glory to God.

And so my focus then is on what Jesus did for me.

My focus is not on what I don't have, my focus is on what he did for me.

And so, hallelujah.

Abel had witness that he was righteous because he brought an offering that required death and required blood.

He set himself in perfect identity with Christ.

We obtain witness that we're righteous through the blood of the Lamb.

In Hebrews 11 and 5.

Boy, that was worth combing your hair and coming to church for.

Hebrews 11 and 5.

Notice it says, by faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found, because God translated him.

For before his translation, now notice, this is important.

Before his translation, he had this testimony.

What was your testimony, brother Enoch?

He pleased God.

Is that right?

He pleased God.

So Enoch's, of course, was a faith walk.

Abel's was a work of faith.

Enoch's was a faith walk.

You know what 2 Corinthians 5, 7 says?

It says, for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Now again, that's another thing that people come, well, I'm not paying attention to what I see because I'm walking by faith and not by sight.

Walking by faith and not by sight is not refusing to pay attention to what you can see.

If you watched healing school or were here for healing school Tuesday, we went in depth about that.

That people will preach and say Abraham didn't pay attention to his body.

It's not what the Bible says.

It says he had full understanding about the deadness of his body.

But it said he didn't weaken in faith because of that.

Why?

Because it says he put his trust in what God said.

Isn't that what the scripture says?

It says he is, it says, uh uh uh before him whom he believed, even God, he became like God in that he called things that be not as though they were.

And so walking by faith is allowing faith to be that guidance.

It's seeing with the eye of faith.

I know what the natural is, but here's what I see with the eye of faith.

Here's what I see me as healed.

I see me as blessed.

I see, right?

I know I'm going through this, but I'm that's not the issue.

What you see in the natural means very little.

It's what you see in the spirit.

It's have you made that transaction?

You you gotta make that decision.

This is how it's gonna be.

Now that's faith, and regardless of what I see, regardless of what I see.

Well, I went back to the doctor and they said it wasn't any better.

Okay, I understand that, but we're walking by faith and not by sight.

So what do we say?

Regardless of what they saw or regardless of what they said, Jesus took stripes on his back for my healing.

I put my faith in what he did.

I have more faith in what he did than in the report I received from the doctor.

Because Isaiah 53 and 5 is where healing for anything starts.

And if he did that, that's how you're healed.

Glory to God.

This walk of faith, Enoch walked with God.

Enoch is responsible for this walk of faith.

The walk of faith is an abiding, continuous fellowship with God and his word.

An abiding continual fellowship with God and his word.

You cannot walk in faith or by faith without abiding in fellowship with God and his word.

Fellowship is not two guys in a boat.

All right, it's communion.

It's the Greek word koinonia.

It denotes an intimate setting, intimate meeting.

We're sitting there as friends, we're conversing, we're fellowshipping.

Amen.

And so if you stop abiding and fellowshipping with God in his word, you'll start walking by sight and not by faith.

Because I'm not fellowshipping and abiding in the word.

Remember what Jesus said?

He that abides in me, if if I abide in you and you abide in me, you'll ask what you will and it shall be done.

But it's this abiding, it's staying there.

Amen.

When your faith in what you see is stronger than what you don't see, you know you're not walking by faith.

When my faith in what I see is stronger than what I don't see.

Uh 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 8, it says, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, because the things which are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:8

Hallelujah.

See, seeing something doesn't mean you're walking by it.

Because that walk is conducting my life.

It's how I make my decisions.

When you start making your decisions based on what you can see in the natural, that means faith has departed.

And understand what I mean by making decisions.

You've got to explain these things because of hyper-teaching in these areas.

Because people will teach that if you're in faith, you don't go to the doctor.

That's dumb.

That's just ignorant.

I mean, I don't mean that bad, but there's no other way for me to say it.

That's just wrong.

If you're in faith, it doesn't mean that you don't go to the doctor.

Charles Capps would say over and over and over again, taking medicine is not going to stop your faith from working.

Not going to stop the word from working.

If God told you not to take it, or God told you not to go to the doctor, then stay home.

Don't take it.

But I've never had anybody that I know of, maybe one person.

In all these years I've been in the healing ministry and in the word of faith.

I've only had maybe, maybe one person that the Lord told them not to go to the doctor or not take their medicine.

Maybe, maybe one.

Now you would think if that was how God operated, I'd have seen a lot more than that.

Amen.

See, so walking by what you see, that doesn't mean you don't go to the doctor, you don't, whatever.

It means I'm not, that's not how my decisions are being made.

I'm not going to start calling myself sick and dying because they found something in my body.

I'm going to walk by faith.

And I'm going to call myself healed and whole and well.

And what what's going to happen to me?

I will not die, but I will live and I'll declare the works of the Lord.

Amen.

I tell myself all the time, boy, old people are going to call you old.

You're going to live so long and strong.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

This is important.

But, amen.

When you walk by faith, you walk according to things you don't see.

We talked about that Sunday morning.

So if I'm dealing with sickness, healing is what is not.

And so I call for what is not.

I'm calling those things that be not as though they were.

See, just going to a faith church doesn't mean you have faith.

Just having faith books doesn't mean I have faith.

The proof that I have faith is when I'm walking according to things I can't see.

When you walk by sight, then that's when you're walking by what you feel, what you touch, or what you see.

I'm walking by sight.

And that's why when you're walking by faith, things can't get you down.

Circumstances can't get you down.

Because you're not walking by sight, you're walking by faith.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

I've told this testimony a number of times in healing school and even in church.

When I a number of years ago, many, many years ago, now thank the Lord, but I dealt with some things physically myself.

And the issue, the fight, the fight was to not allow what I was going through physically to become my focus.

I was going through it, I was dealing with it, but I had to keep my focus on how I saw myself.

See, how do you see yourself?

If you talk to certain people, they see themselves as, you know, you fill in the blank.

They see themselves as old.

They see themselves as weak.

They see themselves as sick.

They see themselves as whatever.

And they talk about it that way.

My cancer, my heart problem, my disorder, my this, my sugar diabetes.

Ownership.

They're using their authority to own it.

Right?

You always talk about it as something that you're redeemed from.

Oh, this is what I'm dealing with.

But you never leave it there.

And I thank God I'm I'm healed.

I'm healed from that.

Right?

Because what am I doing?

I'm not walking by sight.

It's there.

I can see it.

I can feel it, but I'm not walking by it.

Hallelujah.

But in 2 Timothy 3 and 14, Paul wrote Timothy.

Am I helping you tonight?

Paul wrote Timothy, and he made a statement to him, and it's a very succinct statement.

He said to Timothy, continue in the things that you've learned and have been assured of, knowing those that you learn them from.

Notice, continue in the things you've learned.

God adds to your faith, but you never go off and leave faith.

Because faith is not a camp or a message.

Faith is not a car or a house or a suit of clothes.

Faith is a lifestyle.

I've told people for years, they'll say, How did you finally get God to prosper you?

Well, that's the number one, that's the wrong question.

And here's the answer: I never chased prosperity.

I went after the giver, not the gift.

Because people will look at their finances and they'll think, what I need is more money.

According to Scripture, you need wisdom.

The Bible says prosperity will ruin a fool.

So if I don't have wisdom and I get more money, I'm just going to make bigger, dumber decisions.

But when I get wisdom, this is what God says.

This is what God says.

Then when I get the finances, by faith I do what God said.

Does that make sense?

It makes faith.

So faith is not a camp, it's not a message, it's a lifestyle, it's how we live.

And so continue means to stay, to abide, to uh stand, to dwell there.

Amen.

You never want to get caught dead without faith.

Because the Bible says in Hebrews 11, these all died in faith.

They died in faith.

Hallelujah.

So there are winds and waves of doctrine, but you don't follow winds and waves.

You follow God.

You continue in what you've learned.

I had somebody tell me one time, they said, Pastor, I got a, it was a CD at that time.

They said, I got a CD, and they said uh they had come, they had been in our church in the very beginning, and they'd moved out of state for a number of years and God brought them back.

And they said, uh, I was listening to that message, and that message you preached Sunday morning, they said, you were preaching the same thing 20 years ago on the tape I have in my car.

Well, why would I change?

Why do we stop preaching that or teaching that?

The Lord said to me one night sitting on the front row of our church, He said, You preach the pure word of faith in the manner you learned it.

That's what you do.

There's more revelation comes, but the core never changes.

You don't ever.

You continue in what you've learned.

Somebody came to me and they said, I've been saying this, and it doesn't seem like anything's changing.

What do I do?

Say it again.

Yeah, but I've been saying, say it again.

Quit thinking about how much you've said it and just say it again.

Hallelujah.

Don't you know you understand how that breeds frustration?

Have you ever had anybody, and and you're talking, I've talked to people about situations they're dealing with with people, and they say, well, I'm I'm trying, I'm trying to be nice to them, and it's like I just can't, I just can't get a breakthrough.

Well, just look, just keep walking in love, just keep doing what you're doing.

Don't worry about how they're responding.

You just do what faith would do.

Is that right?

And so you just continue in what you've learned.

It's it's not, nobody's doing anything wrong.

You got to take that pressure off yourself.

You're not the healer, you're not the blesser.

God is.

So all your faith has to be in him and in his word.

You got to continue in what you've learned.

We learn three things from Enoch's faith.

We learn three things from Enoch's faith.

I'm hurrying.

This is just too good to stop in the middle.

In Hebrews 11, 5 and 6, it says, By faith Enoch was translated that he would not see death and was not found because God translated him.

Before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God.

Without faith, it is impossible to please him God, for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and he's a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.

So we learn three things from Enoch's faith.

Number one, we learn the nature or the character of faith.

We learn the nature or the character of faith.

It's it's its true nature.

We we we the the spiritual sense that we recognize who God, that God is, and he's a rewarder of those that seek him.

That's the first thing we learn about his faith.

Because when we trust God, we trust him because he is.

God is.

The time you're not seeing him do anything for you is the time you got to walk by faith.

But he is.

We trust God because he is.

And so that's the one of the first things we learn from his faith.

Secondly, we learn the reward of faith.

The reward of faith.

Enoch knew he could be rewarded for his faith.

As you continue to believe that God is, and you continue to walk with him, you'll begin to see the rewards of faith.

Hallelujah.

You know, there's a lot to those statements that we used to say all those years ago.

Go in church.

You know, God's working on it.

I'm just going to stand because God's working on it.

Well, right now, God's working on your circumstance.

Right?

God's working, whatever you need.

He's working on it.

You just believe that he is, and he's a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.

If he is, he is what he said he is.

Oh, glory to God.

Number three, we learn that faith pleases God.

So first, we learn the nature and the character of faith.

Secondly, the reward of faith.

And thirdly, that faith pleases God.

Enoch had a testimony that he pleased God.

There's a difference between a testimony and a confession of faith.

Amen.

A confession of faith is before the manifestation.

A testimony is after the manifestation.

And so Enoch's testimony that he pleased God was a fact.

He had already done it.

He had already pleased God.

And notice it says he did it by faith.

Abel had witnessed that he was righteous.

Enoch had a testimony that he had pleased God.

So that means he must have gotten rewards.

Because he's a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.

You can write down Luke 6, Luke 17, 20 through 21.

Jesus was talking to the religious leaders of his day.

And he told them, he said, the kingdom of God does not come with observation.

Right?

He said, because the kingdom of God is in you.

Doesn't come with observation.

So the Holy Spirit will bring us to the reality that the kingdom of God is in our heart.

Observation in these verses means outward show.

We're not citizens of this world.

We're not of this world.

Faith is of the spirit world.

And that's the world we're of, is of the spirit world.

That's Romans 5.5 says, and hope maketh not ashamed, for the love of God has been shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Spirit, by the Holy Ghost.

So how does the Holy Spirit bring us the reality of the kingdom of God?

He poured it into our hearts.

He's put it in us.

We now have revelation poured out into our hearts that the kingdom of God is ours.

It belongs to me.

Hallelujah.

In our last verse is Romans 14.

Romans 14 and 17.

In Romans 14 and 17, it says this.

For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Notice the progression.

Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Abel had witness that he was righteous.

And it says the kingdom of God is not found in natural things, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Jesus, through his blood, made it possible for us to contact God.

And we contact God through faith, which is the force of your recreated, reborn human spirit.

We can go to God at any time and release that spiritual force of faith.

That's in us.

And this is back before he was on TV on the radio.

And he would say that in this program, we're going to show you how the Word of God can make a positive difference in the everyday circumstances of your life.

He taught us how to take our faith and change circumstances.

Because to multitudes of people, faith is just hanging out and waiting.

Well, I'm in faith.

But if I'm in faith, something's working.

Something's moving, something's happening.

Alright?

I don't mean that I'm seeing the manifestation necessarily right now, but remember, if I don't see God doing something right now, I'm walking by faith.

Hallelujah.

So I learned all those years ago, decades ago, that I can go and release that spiritual force of faith that's in me anytime I want to.

It's my faith.

I can release it whenever I want.

This is important.

Because when you see a circumstance that looks like it's going contrary, people say, well, speak the word to it.

That's true, but release your faith.

You got to release your faith.

I say you got to release your faith.

Everything, I say it every day, everything is going my way.

Everything.

I praise God every day and have favor with everybody I meet.

You mean everybody likes you?

Doesn't matter if they like me or not.

They're going to show me favor.

Because the open hand of God's favor is extended towards me.

Now, see, that's not just a positive confession.

I release my faith in that.

I release my faith in that.

And I don't talk about how people don't like me.

You'll never hear that come out of my mouth.

They don't like me.

They don't care about me.

Why would I say that?

I want favor with everybody.

I will say this.

If they knew me, they'd like me.

I'm a likable guy.

If they knew me, they'd like me.

I had a person tell me one time, they said, so-and-so don't think much of you.

I said, they don't know me.

They just don't know me.

If they knew me, they'd love me.

I mean, you know me, you love me.

I heard some chuckles.

Let me close here.

But we can petition God for whatever we need.

And remember what 1 John says.

If we ask anything, according to His will, He hears us.

And it says, if we know He hears us, we know we have the petitions that we desired of Him.

So I made the statement a few Wednesdays ago.

So then asking in prayer is the same as an answer.

Because if he heard me.

Now that's right.

And so never say, well, I've been praying about that, but I hadn't got an answer yet.

But wait a minute.

Don't say that.

I can still be praying about it, but I don't want to put those words in the air that I don't have an answer.

He said, if I ask according to his will, he hears me.

And if I know he hears me, I know I have the petitions I desired of him.

Hmm.

Hallelujah.

So your days are just getting better.

Amen.

Your years are just getting better.

Your life's just getting better.

Your family's getting better.

Amen.

Whatever you're believing for, it's just getting better.

Why?

Because the Bible says the way of the righteous grows brighter and brighter more and more until the perfect day.

Amen.

It says the steps of a good man, good woman are ordered of the Lord.

Is that right?

It says that that when you cast your cares on him, he will not allow the foot of the righteous to be moved.

It says, whoever's in charge of whatever you need, that their hand, their heart is in the hand of the Lord, and he turns it whichever way he needs it to turn.

Wow.

And you just release your faith in that.

Let's stand up tonight, shall we?

Praise God.

I believe you got a lot out of that.

I did.

I was studying today and I was shouting about it.

Praise God.

Amen.

Shout about my own message.

Amen.

But the thing is, as we're leaving, is this don't make faith hard.

I didn't say faith didn't have effort.

Don't make it hard.

You got to put effort in, but don't make it hard.

I've had people tell me before, you know, Pastor, I'm not like you, no, I'm going through things.

Well, you don't know that I'm not going through something standing here tonight.

But faith is joy and peace in the Holy Ghost.

If you're in faith, you're going to be joyful and peaceful because you got it.

I got it.

If I'm in faith, I got it.

Glory to God.

Just tell your neighbor, say what you're believing for, you have it.

Receive it in the name of Jesus.

Oh, hallelujah.

Glory to God.

Well, don't forget Sunday morning.