Sermon

Core Values of the Believer - Part 12 - Pastor Philip Steele - August 9th, 2026

Life of Faith Church

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  1. Hi, my name is Michelle Steele.

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

  3. We have more resources available to help you build your faith and bring your world by the Word of God.

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  8. Visit lifeofith.net today.

  9. Hebrews 11, 6, and we want to continue with this.

  10. We've been looking at the core values of the believer.

  11. And there were seven of them, and we are we've we've dealt with putting the word first place and also being determined to walk in love, and we'll continue with those going back.

  12. But right now we're centered up on being determined to walk by faith.

  13. Being determined to walk by faith.

  14. Now that is the calling on this ministry is to teach people how to live by faith, to teach people to build their faith and frame their worlds by the word of God.

  15. And this is so important because the Bible says three times in the New Testament, one time in the Old Testament, that that's how the justified live is by faith.

  16. All right?

  17. The Hebrew says, My just man will live by faith.

  18. Three times in the New Testament we're told that we live by faith.

  19. Paul said we walk by faith.

  20. He said we see by faith.

  21. All right.

  22. Anything that I have to do by faith, I have to live by faith.

  23. And you have to learn to live by faith.

  24. All right?

  25. It's something that's learned.

  26. Amen.

  27. It's not like a lot of churches.

  28. Well, what do we got to do?

  29. Well, I guess we've got to use our faith.

  30. Well, how do we do it?

  31. I don't know.

  32. Like the two guys in the boat, and it started sinking.

  33. Right?

  34. They said, Well, what should we do?

  35. And the one said, Well, maybe we should do something spiritual, take up an offering or something.

  36. Living by faith.

  37. Right?

  38. I live my life by faith.

  39. And I have to determine to do so.

  40. Hebrews 11, 6, it says, without faith, it is impossible to please him, God, for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.

  41. So we see there's no pleasing God without faith.

  42. Now understand when we say there's no pleasing God without faith, that doesn't mean that God's angry, that God's upset.

  43. It means this: everything that God has given me because of his pleasure, right?

  44. Remember what the Bible says?

  45. His good pleasure.

  46. Right?

  47. Why did God make you the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus?

  48. It brings him pleasure for you to boldly approach the throne and have no fear and have no idea that God's holding something against you, that gives God pleasure.

  49. How do you believe that you're the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus?

  50. By faith.

  51. So if I don't believe by faith that I'm the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, God gets no pleasure out of that.

  52. Amen.

  53. How do I believe that I'm holy and made consecrated in the eyes of God?

  54. By faith.

  55. Amen.

  56. You've got entire denominations that are telling Christian people that are born again and saved that they've got to work into holiness.

  57. You were made holy when you were saved.

  58. You were set apart and made right with God when you were born again.

  59. I was telling with one person that's a member of a holiness denomination, and we were talking about some things, and we we got over into dress.

  60. Right?

  61. And I just, I just, you know, they said, well, you're not supposed to wear anything that pertains to a man.

  62. A woman's not supposed to.

  63. I said, well, that that verse you're cherry picking there, I said, there are several verses around it that, you know, if you pick one of them, you got to use the rest of them.

  64. And I, you know, I said, you know, I was at your house and I noticed there's no fence around your roof.

  65. And the verse right before that one says you need a fence around your roof so nobody falls off your roof.

  66. I said, I don't know for sure, but I would I would bet that you've got two different kinds of material in your clothing.

  67. And the Bible says don't do that.

  68. I said, if you planted a garden, I'm pretty sure you didn't just plant one seed.

  69. You probably.

  70. You know, and I'm not trying to be, I'm not trying to be facetious with this, brother.

  71. But he said, but I do believe you're supposed to live holy, don't you?

  72. I said, yes, I do.

  73. I said, but I live holier by accident than most holiness people do on purpose.

  74. Because I learned that it's not my holiness.

  75. I got to take his holiness by faith and live it out because that's what pleases God.

  76. Amen.

  77. When you take your righteousness by faith and you take your holiness by faith, sin becomes a non-factor.

  78. Because I'm living this by faith.

  79. And what does 1 John 5, 4 say?

  80. It says, faith is the victory that overcomes the world.

  81. So when you're walking in faith, you're walking in victory.

  82. Everything that you try to do in yourself will be powerless.

  83. Everything that you do in faith will be victorious.

  84. Everything.

  85. Amen.

  86. Because anything that I try to do in myself is not faith.

  87. Hallelujah.

  88. So he said, without faith, you can't please God.

  89. Right?

  90. And that's not, understand, I need to reiterate that.

  91. That's not that God's mad, God's upset, I'm not pleased with you.

  92. No, it means my life, God gets no pleasure out of a person who's trying to get by works what Jesus deemed that we should get through faith.

  93. Amen.

  94. It's like the lady that came to me and she wanted me to pray for her.

  95. She had cancer.

  96. And I met with her.

  97. And she began to tell me.

  98. And in the middle of the conversation, she said, Well, Pastor, God should heal me.

  99. I said, Well, sister, just tell me, why should God heal you?

  100. Because I'm a good person.

  101. I keep the Ten Commandments.

  102. And I looked at her and said, That's not why God heals people.

  103. There are a lot of good people that keep the Ten Commandments that are sick today, that are nowhere close to being healed.

  104. If that's what God has healed, they would be healed.

  105. What gets you healed is receiving that the work is done, that it's finished by faith.

  106. Jesus bought and paid for my healing.

  107. He said in Isaiah, he said, with his stripes you are healed.

  108. In other words, that's how I are healed.

  109. If I'm going to be healed, that's how it's going to happen.

  110. I've got to take that by faith.

  111. Hallelujah.

  112. Hebrews 10, 38 says, now the just, that's us.

  113. Say out loud, I'm the just.

  114. Now notice it says, the just shall live by faith.

  115. If any man draw back, my soul will have no pleasure in him.

  116. So if I draw back, draw back from what?

  117. Living by faith, God gets no pleasure out of my life.

  118. I'm to live by faith.

  119. Amen.

  120. Say out loud, I want God to get pleasure out of my life.

  121. So I live by faith.

  122. Hallelujah.

  123. Hebrews 11:1, you're right there.

    Hebrews 11:1

  124. It says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

  125. And we established the fact last week that we can place there things not seen yet.

  126. Now notice it does not say that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things that do not exist.

  127. It says they're not seen.

  128. An idea is not seen yet.

  129. Hallelujah.

  130. So faith is the evidence of things that you don't see yet.

  131. The Greek word pistis, T-I-S, T-I-S, is where we get the English word faith.

  132. And it basically means this the conviction of the truth of anything.

  133. Being convinced that something's true.

  134. Amen.

  135. Conviction.

  136. Faith is the evidence, because it says now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen yet.

  137. Hallelujah.

  138. Say it out loud.

  139. Not seen yet.

  140. Hallelujah.

  141. So these things already exist.

  142. We just haven't seen them yet.

  143. Yet.

  144. I will see them.

  145. Why?

  146. Because I'm in faith.

  147. I'm living by faith.

  148. You may not see it, but you just don't see it yet.

  149. Faith is the evidence.

  150. Faith is the proof.

  151. So having faith for something is the same as having it.

  152. If I have faith for it, I have it.

  153. I just don't see it yet.

  154. But I have it.

  155. Hallelujah.

  156. Because faith is the evidence.

  157. That's faith is knowing that you know that you know that you know.

  158. It's that conviction.

  159. Hallelujah.

  160. And so it said that faith is the substance of things that I don't see yet.

  161. So I may not have seen it, but it already exists.

  162. Hallelujah.

  163. So whatever you're believing for, it already exists.

  164. See, God doesn't, God has to create nothing else.

  165. Because it's already been created.

  166. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10, in the Amplified Bible, it talks about the things that God foreordained, the pathways that we should walk in.

    Ephesians 2:10

  167. And it says, He made them and keeps them waiting for us.

  168. Hallelujah.

  169. Where God's own handiwork, his workmanship recreated in Christ Jesus, that we may do those good works which God predestined, planned beforehand for us, taking paths that He prepared ahead of time, that we should walk in them, living the good life that He prearranged and made ready for us to live.

  170. So what is it?

  171. It's prearranged and made ready for me to live.

  172. How do I get there?

  173. By faith.

  174. Amen.

  175. This is important.

  176. Why?

  177. Because faith needs no other evidence than God's word.

  178. That's all faith needs.

  179. Amen.

  180. Faith doesn't need a little evidence, a little, just a little bit of, you know, proof.

  181. Faith is the proof.

  182. Amen.

  183. And when you're in the word of God about whatever you're believing God for, you're entering into that spiritual dialogue in the spiritual realm.

  184. Amen.

  185. Glory to God.

  186. The world was not created out of nothing.

  187. I've heard people say that.

  188. And boom, out of nothing.

  189. No, it didn't say the world was created out of nothing.

  190. It says by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God.

  191. So that the things which are not that are seen did not come from things that do appear.

  192. But it was things.

  193. Just not things you could see.

  194. But not nothing.

  195. You see that?

  196. Well, God created the world out of nothing.

  197. No, he didn't.

  198. He created it out of things that could not be seen.

  199. Hallelujah.

  200. Right?

  201. So, so everything that a person is believing for, they may not see it, but it exists.

  202. That's why I keep telling you.

  203. The realm, the realm, the barrier between the natural world and the spiritual world is so thin.

  204. It's so thin.

  205. It's right there.

  206. It's just right there.

  207. And faith is the spiritual hand, the spiritual organ, the dialogue that gets me into that realm.

  208. Hallelujah.

  209. So the world was created out of something that didn't appear yet.

  210. It didn't appear yet.

  211. Faith is not an option.

  212. Jude 3 says we're to contend for the faith.

  213. Jesus said in Luke 18, 8 that when he returned, would he find faith on the earth?

  214. This God kind of faith.

  215. So faith, we see, is a lifestyle.

  216. It's the way the redeemed are supposed to live.

  217. Oh, hallelujah.

  218. When you read through Hebrews 11, and you see somewhere around 20, 22 times, it said they did these things by faith or through faith.

  219. By faith or through faith.

  220. When you take faith out of the mix, you've got dead works.

  221. Because faith is what brings life.

  222. Faith is the spiritual force that deals with the spiritual realm just like our senses deal with the physical realm.

  223. Faith is the spiritual force that deals with the spiritual realm just like our senses deal with the physical realm.

  224. You can't deal with the spiritual realm without faith.

  225. You can't deal with the spiritual realm in the sense realm.

  226. Amen.

  227. You're going to have good days and bad days.

  228. Hard days and easy days.

  229. But that doesn't change us.

  230. Our feelings don't change what we believe.

  231. Our feelings do not change how we perceive things.

  232. Right?

  233. Have you ever had a day that you felt like anything but a conqueror?

  234. Just me?

  235. Right?

  236. But you're declaring, I'm more than a conqueror.

  237. And then the next thing went wrong, and you're like, glory to God, everything's going my way.

  238. And it seemed like nothing was going your way.

  239. Why?

  240. Because you didn't see anything going your way yet.

  241. Right?

  242. But you're not going to pave the pathway with your words of authority and talk about how bad things are and how wrong things are, because you know the only way to write the ship is to keep your words in line with what God says.

  243. So you're not denying the feeling.

  244. You're not denying the fact that it looks like things are going wrong.

  245. You're just saying, look, this is what's happening, but this is what I'm expecting to happen.

  246. Amen.

  247. Hallelujah.

  248. I've had people tell me, well, I don't talk about how I feel.

  249. I don't blame you.

  250. But that's not necessarily faith.

  251. Because that can be denial.

  252. And denial and faith are miles apart.

  253. Amen.

  254. When a person goes to the doctor and the doctor says, We found this in your body, and you ask them, What'd the doctor say?

  255. I'm fine.

  256. There's nothing in my body.

  257. They said it's there, but it's not there.

  258. That's denial.

  259. That's not faith.

  260. That's denial.

  261. Why?

  262. Because it's there.

  263. Naturally, physically, it's there.

  264. It exists.

  265. Remember what the Bible doesn't say?

  266. It doesn't say that faith calls things that are like they aren't.

  267. It says it calls things that be not as though they were.

  268. So if you go to the doctor and the doctor says there's a spot on your lung, it does you no good to say I don't have a spot on my lung.

  269. You got to call things that be not as though they were.

  270. That's the spiritual dialogue of faith.

  271. Now, Father, I know what they found.

  272. I saw the report.

  273. I'm calling myself healed in the name of Jesus.

  274. I'm a cancer-free zone in Jesus' name.

  275. Cancer is under the curse of the law.

  276. And I take my stand on the word and I declare I'm a cancer-free zone in Jesus' name.

  277. Right?

  278. Now see, I'm not denying anything, but I'm operating my faith.

  279. Do you see this?

  280. So faith doesn't call things that are like they aren't.

  281. It calls things that are not as though they are.

  282. Amen.

  283. Because faith is that spiritual force.

  284. That's how I contact the spiritual realm.

  285. Faith is the spiritual hand, it contacts the spiritual world.

  286. Faith is the spiritual hand.

  287. That's how you reach into the spiritual world and receive everything that God has for you.

  288. See, fear is a spiritual force.

  289. Faith is a spiritual force.

  290. Fear is a spiritual force.

  291. And I've told people over the years, if you can understand how to fear, you can understand how to faith.

  292. Amen.

  293. If you know how to fear, you can understand how to walk in faith.

  294. Because it's the same process.

  295. Hallelujah.

  296. Most people that I see that are afraid of things, they talk about it all the time.

  297. I'm afraid of this.

  298. Right?

  299. I had an uncle, God bless him, he's in heaven today.

  300. Great man, my favorite uncle.

  301. All right?

  302. But he was so afraid of storms, so afraid of thunderstorms.

  303. And he was glued to the news.

  304. I mean, he watched the news like I read the Bible.

  305. And the greatest day in his life was when they had a 24-hour news cycle.

  306. Woohoo! Right?

  307. He might not have any sports channels, but he had all the news channels.

  308. And he was glued to it.

  309. He knew minute by minute tracking that storm.

  310. Right?

  311. Afraid, calling people, calling them, telling them to be afraid.

  312. It's gonna come through about five o'clock.

  313. Y'all be careful.

  314. Now what?

  315. Close your windows.

  316. Right?

  317. That fear got him.

  318. It kept him in bondage.

  319. But you know, that's how you operate faith.

  320. That's how you operate faith.

  321. You say those things over and over and over again.

  322. You're not repeating just for repetition's sake.

  323. You're saying what the Word of God says.

  324. And every time you're declaring by faith, that spiritual hand of faith is reaching deeper into the spirit realm and bringing you those things that you not only have need of, but those things that God wants you to have.

  325. Amen.

  326. That's why faith is not a one-off thing.

  327. You don't just use it when you have a problem and then put it up in the cabinet and wait till you have another problem and pull it out and try to use your faith.

  328. Faith does not have a forever shelf life.

  329. The faith that you use for your last situation must be strengthened and revamped and refurbished and restrengthened because you got to use it again.

  330. Hallelujah.

  331. You can know how to use faith, but the Bible talks about strong faith, weak faith, little faith, no faith.

  332. Amen.

  333. Talks about corrupted faith.

  334. So what does that mean?

  335. My faith can lose effectiveness if I don't keep it in operation.

  336. That's why we live how?

  337. By faith.

  338. We walk how?

  339. By faith.

  340. So you're conducting your life by faith.

  341. One translation says, not by something seen, but by faith.

  342. So you're living by faith.

  343. So when somebody says they're talking to you and you say, hey, how's this going?

  344. They say, well, I have it by faith.

  345. If they know what they mean, if they know what they're talking about, they're solidified in their belief.

  346. I have it.

  347. And it won't be long.

  348. You'll see them walking around with it.

  349. Why?

  350. Because being convinced.

  351. Oh, hallelujah.

  352. Is faith.

  353. Is faith is the answer.

  354. Glory to God.

  355. My goodness, I've already preached myself happy.

  356. Amen.

  357. When you begin to worry about things that you fear, you're releasing negative faith.

  358. It's the same power force.

  359. I heard one man say this fear is faith in reverse.

  360. It brings you everything you don't want.

  361. Amen.

  362. Glory to God.

  363. Now I know that you may know this, but I'm your pastor, so I need to help you.

  364. That's why you need to strike those things out of your vocabulary.

  365. Well, I'm just afraid.

  366. This is what makes me afraid.

  367. I'm just worried.

  368. I'm just concerned.

  369. Well, concern is just Christian worry.

  370. Right?

  371. I've had people saying, you know, Pastor, I'm not worried.

  372. I'm just concerned.

  373. Well, that's just Christian worry.

  374. That's like, you know, people have Christian cuss words.

  375. I won't say them because it might be your word.

  376. Christian cuss words.

  377. One pastor I knew his favorite Christian cuss word was corn.

  378. It was just corn.

  379. Oh, that's a bunch of corn.

  380. Right?

  381. Now, now, whatever, whatever word you use.

  382. But but we get into the, and that fights your faith.

  383. Because whether you call it concern, worry, just weighing on you, it's fighting your faith.

  384. Every ounce of fear is pulling against your faith.

  385. It's sapping energy from your faith.

  386. And that's why you get your words and your thoughts and your feelings from the word of God.

  387. You don't get them from the situation.

  388. You don't get them from what you see.

  389. You get them from the word of God.

  390. God's word tells you what to say, it tells you what to think on.

  391. It tells you what to see.

  392. Is that right?

  393. And that in turn does what?

  394. That in turn reaches into the spiritual realm and produces the thing that I'm believing for.

  395. Oh, hallelujah.

  396. Amen.

  397. I've had people come to me before and say, I want you to pray with me about my children, my family.

  398. Okay, what do we need to pray?

  399. Well, I want to pray that they won't go to hell.

  400. We'll do no good.

  401. That will do no good.

  402. We can't pray they won't go to hell.

  403. We got to declare the word of God.

  404. Why?

  405. Because especially if they're adult children, they have a choice to make.

  406. They're a free moral agent.

  407. They've got to choose, they've got to make a decision.

  408. So what I can do biblically is pray that people will enter their life that will influence their decision.

  409. Pray that the Lord will send laborers into their pathway.

  410. Amen.

  411. And declare the word of God.

  412. That what?

  413. As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord.

  414. Amen.

  415. Now what happens then?

  416. Faith goes into the realm of the Spirit and starts setting things in motion, starts moving things around, starts moving blockages out of the way.

  417. Amen.

  418. Faith is that spiritual hand that contacts the spiritual world.

  419. Hallelujah.

  420. In John 16, 7 and 8.

  421. Now I'm I'm we're looking over some things that we dealt with last week just a little bit.

  422. I can't afford to get too preachy here because there's some other ones I've got to get into.

  423. John 16, 7 and 8, talking about the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it's expedient for you that I go away.

  424. If I do not go away, the comforter, the paraclete, the counselor, the one called alongside to help, will not come unto you.

  425. But if I depart, I'll send him to you.

  426. And when he's come, he'll reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.

  427. The word reprove is means convince.

  428. He will convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.

  429. Hallelujah.

  430. So when a person misses the mark, what's the Holy Spirit do?

  431. He convinces us of it.

  432. Right?

  433. He convinces you that you missed the mark.

  434. When you got born again, the Holy Spirit convinced you that you were a sinner in need of a Savior.

  435. Hallelujah.

  436. But the Holy Spirit, for the believer, what does he do?

  437. He's the one that convinces you that you're righteous.

  438. He convinces you that you're in right standing with God.

  439. He convinces you that you're holy in his sight.

  440. See, the Spirit of God convinces you and proves to you a truth.

  441. When you're reading the Word of God, you'll come across the verse and the Holy Spirit will say, That's yours.

  442. That's your and if you'll stay there with it, he'll convince you that that belongs to you.

  443. He'll convince you that that belongs to you.

  444. Hallelujah.

  445. You've got to stay in it until you're convinced.

  446. Until you're convinced.

  447. Say out loud, I'm convinced that God's word is true.

  448. Oh, hallelujah.

  449. Now don't let that conviction waver.

  450. Because the circumstance, we we teach and preach from Mark 4, and we should, and we talk about how Satan comes immediately to steal the word that was sown.

  451. But there's other things that come immediately to come after the word that was sown.

  452. If you're believing for something in here today, whatever it may be, the circumstances that are adversarial to your victory are trying to steal the word from you.

  453. For instance, if you're believing God for a breakthrough financially in your life and you're standing in faith, every bill that comes that looks like you don't have the money to pay is trying to steal the word from you.

  454. It's trying to get you to get over there and agree, right?

  455. Because what is that agreement?

  456. Now you're in fear, and fear will rob you.

  457. So when you see that debt, you see that bill, what's your response?

  458. In the name of Jesus Christ, right?

  459. All of my debts are paid in full.

  460. Amen.

  461. I command you in the name of Jesus, just like Jesus said to do to the mountain.

  462. I call you to desist in your maneuvers.

  463. I call you to dematerialize.

  464. I call you to be gone in Jesus' name.

  465. Amen.

  466. And you're not hiding the bills, you're not stuffing them under the rug, acting like they don't exist.

  467. You're talking to them.

  468. Amen.

  469. Why?

  470. And what is faith doing?

  471. Faith's working.

  472. I said, faith's working.

  473. It's going into the realm of the Spirit, right?

  474. Where does the Bible say that God will supply your need from?

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

  476. Do those riches exist?

  477. Are they yours?

  478. They are.

  479. You might not see them, hear me, yet.

  480. But as you keep giving, you keep believing, you keep sowing, you keep your faith in operation, what happens?

  481. Faith keeps bringing it to you and bringing it to you.

  482. Amen.

  483. You go to your job tomorrow and they say, we decided to give you a bonus.

  484. We decided to give you a raise.

  485. Well, Pastor, you really believe that will happen?

  486. It's not, do I really believe it will happen?

  487. Do you really believe it will happen?

  488. Because if you believe it will happen, it'll happen.

  489. Hallelujah.

  490. I started telling people 20 years ago, the favor of God's all over my life.

  491. And I'll tell you like I tell people to this day, I can fall into an outhouse and come out smelling like a rose because the favor of God is on my life.

  492. Amen.

  493. This is important.

  494. I say, this is important.

  495. I know my lineage.

  496. I know my lineage from Jesus Christ.

  497. I know my lineage from the Word.

  498. I know my lineage from my spiritual fathers.

  499. I'm following their faith.

  500. I'm taking the same steps God told them to take.

  501. I'm going to get the same results.

  502. He said, follow those who through faith and patience have inherited the promises.

  503. Amen.

  504. Do you see that?

  505. Romans 9, 1.

  506. Romans chapter 9.

    Romans 9 chapter mention

  507. Thank you.

  508. And verse 1.

  509. Paul said, I say the truth in Christ.

  510. I do not lie.

  511. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Ghost.

  512. Hallelujah.

  513. Conscience is the voice of the Holy Spirit.

  514. Reason is the voice of your mind.

  515. And feeling is the voice of your body.

  516. Conscience is the voice of the Holy Spirit.

  517. So notice he says, My conscience, my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Ghost.

  518. Hallelujah.

  519. So remember the Holy Spirit is convincing me.

  520. Convincing me.

  521. He convinces you that by Isaiah 53 and 5 you're healed.

  522. He convinces you.

  523. Hallelujah.

  524. Feeling, reason, is the voice of your mind.

  525. Reason is the voice of your mind.

  526. Now this sounds elementary, but it's so important.

  527. You're never gonna understand spiritual things from the natural standpoint.

  528. Ever.

  529. It will never happen.

  530. That's why the Bible says there are things that have to be spiritually discerned.

  531. Amen.

  532. Walking by faith is one of those things.

  533. You will never understand faith in your natural mind.

  534. Because faith requires you to, at times, more often than not, to go contrary to what you're seeing.

  535. Hallelujah.

  536. Amen.

  537. There's things we're praying about right now.

  538. And you know, I said this.

  539. The Lord was talking to me about some things.

  540. I didn't know how to pray about it.

  541. So I had to pray in the Holy Spirit.

  542. And as I pray in the Holy Spirit, he'll tell me how to pray about it.

  543. But what are you doing when you're praying about something in the Holy Spirit?

  544. Well, I'm praying in tongues.

  545. You're praying by faith.

  546. Because you don't know what you're saying.

  547. You're doing it by faith.

  548. Every time you pray in the Holy Ghost, you're praying by faith.

  549. Why?

  550. Because I don't know what I'm saying.

  551. But what did I what do I know?

  552. As I'm praying in the Spirit, what am I doing?

  553. I'm praying mysteries.

  554. Is that right?

  555. I'm praying mysteries.

  556. I'm praying things I don't know.

  557. But then one day I'll be praying in the Holy Ghost, and all of a sudden I'll get an utterance in the known language.

  558. Oh, that's what I've been praying.

  559. That's what I've been praying out.

  560. Amen.

  561. But I'm doing it by faith.

  562. You're reaching into the spirit realm and you're accessing things, right?

  563. That's why the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, it says there are things that the natural mind in that man's own reasoning, he can never figure it out.

    1 Corinthians 2 chapter mention

  564. Hallelujah.

  565. So the mind is the voice, the reason is the voice of your mind.

  566. Feeling is the voice of your body.

  567. Now I don't like to feel bad.

  568. I don't know anybody that likes to feel bad.

  569. I don't, listen, I don't like pain.

  570. None of us do.

  571. But here's the thing feeling, feeling is used so effectively against people's faith because they don't keep the spiritual dialogue up.

  572. Well, if I was healed, wouldn't I feel better?

  573. How you feel has nothing to do with your healing.

  574. Feelings will change.

  575. Because healing will come.

  576. So I don't want to derail healing by focus on how by focusing on how I feel.

  577. I didn't say denying how you feel.

  578. I said focusing on how you feel.

  579. That'll derail healing.

  580. Why?

  581. Because every day that I'm up and I'm declaring what the Word of God says about my health, that hand, that spiritual hand, is is bringing it to me.

  582. It's producing it more and more in my life.

  583. If I stop that and I start saying, but let me tell you how I feel.

  584. Here's what happens.

  585. That hand stops.

  586. Because now my focus is not on faith, it requires your focus.

  587. You've got to have focus.

  588. It requires your focus.

  589. You've got to use faith on the front end.

  590. Right?

  591. Faith is like the bucket on a loader.

  592. It's on the front end for a reason.

  593. The front end gets the work done.

  594. Faith is for the front end.

  595. Amen.

  596. Faith is like a work truck.

  597. It gets the job done.

  598. Amen.

  599. I ministered a series one time called Faith Wears Coveralls.

  600. You know, faith isn't sexy.

  601. You understand what I mean by that?

  602. Faith is not a Lamborghini.

  603. It's not a Ferrari.

  604. It's a work truck.

  605. It's built for the long haul.

  606. It's built to move mountains.

  607. It's built to change things.

  608. Amen.

  609. Oh, hallelujah.

  610. You know how that is?

  611. You know, a sports car, they're not geared very low because they don't pull anything.

  612. They're designed to go fast.

  613. You want to pull a horse trailer, you got to get a truck that's geared low.

  614. Hallelujah.

  615. You never see a Porsche pulling a horse trailer?

  616. It can go fast, but it can't pull nothing.

  617. You want faith.

  618. Amen.

  619. Right?

  620. And it may be humorous, but that's how faith is.

  621. Faith squats in the back like a low a truck that's geared low, it just squats down and pulls.

  622. That's how faith is.

  623. Faith just squats down and pulls.

  624. Amen.

  625. Right now, your faith is pulling.

  626. Right now, it's pulling the load.

  627. It's bringing you into everything that God wants you to have, everything that God desires for you.

  628. Don't get upset.

  629. Just keep your spiritual foot on the accelerator and let faith do the job.

  630. Oh, hallelujah.

  631. Amen.

  632. Glory to God.

  633. Amen.

  634. I used to uh buck bales in in the summertime in West Texas.

  635. And you you could do it by yourself.

  636. And uh and had a long trailer on the back, go into that field where they just bailed that hay.

  637. You got a long trailer on the back of that truck and put it up in granny gear.

  638. Yeah, I don't know if anybody knows what granny gear is, right?

  639. Up in first gear and get it going.

  640. It's just crawling along about, you know, three or four miles an hour.

  641. And it's pulling that trailer.

  642. Right?

  643. And I'd get out the truck, the truck's going.

  644. Nobody's driving.

  645. Truck's just going in granny gear, pulling that long trailer.

  646. I'd throw up, you know, 10, 15 bales, and then jump up there and stack them, then make sure the truck's straight, right?

  647. You couldn't do that if it wasn't geared low.

  648. Because it's pulling that big trailer.

  649. Faith is designed for the long run, the rest of your life.

  650. The rest of eternity.

  651. Now abides faith, hope, and love.

  652. These three.

  653. Right?

  654. You got to get a hold of that.

  655. It may seem like your faith isn't working very quickly.

  656. That's that is the attitude of faith.

  657. You may not see it tomorrow, but you're going to see it.

  658. Why?

  659. Because it's steady moving towards you.

  660. Amen.

  661. Say it out loud.

  662. It's coming to me now by faith.

  663. See, faith not only deals with promises, but it's a spiritual dialogue in the spiritual world.

  664. Here's what that means: that faith is truth in the spiritual realm.

  665. Faith is truth in the spiritual realm.

  666. In Romans chapter 4.

    Romans 4 chapter mention

  667. And verse 17.

  668. Now he's talking about Abraham and how he received.

  669. And then if you look at verse 17, verse 17 is what we call a parenthetical statement.

  670. It's in parentheses.

  671. Why is it in parentheses?

  672. It's explanation.

  673. Alright?

  674. The first part of that verse is in parentheses.

  675. Notice what it says.

  676. As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations.

  677. Now again, this may be a simple thing, but we know that when God said that to Abram in Genesis, he was not the father of many nations.

  678. But God said, I have made you.

  679. Now why is that important?

  680. He didn't say, I'm going to make you.

  681. He said, I have made you.

  682. Faith is what?

  683. Truth in the spiritual realm.

  684. If God said it, is it true?

  685. Then it's not wrong for me to call myself what God said I am, even if I don't see it.

  686. God had to get his words into Abram's mouth.

  687. Abram was not declaring, I'm the father of many nations.

  688. How do we know that?

  689. Genesis chapter 15 says that God came to Abram and said, Walk before me and be thou perfect.

    Genesis 15 chapter mention

  690. And he told him the things that he was going to do for him.

  691. And Abram, the father of our faith, he made this statement.

  692. He said, He said this.

  693. He said, What could you possibly give me, seeing I'm still childless, and the heir of my estate is this Eliezer of Damascus.

  694. God had already told him, I've made you the father of many nations.

  695. And Abram said, You haven't.

  696. So what did God have to do?

  697. He said, This will not be your heir, but one that comes out of your own body will be your heir.

  698. And your name will not be Abram any longer, it will be Abraham.

  699. For a father of many nations I have made you.

  700. Is that right?

  701. So God got his words in his mouth.

  702. Romans 4.17, talking about Abraham and his faith, says, as it is written, I made you a father of many nations, before him whom he believed, even God who does what?

  703. Quickens the dead and calls those things that be not as though they were.

  704. Now, is this scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit?

  705. Then he says that's how God does things.

  706. He calls things that be not as though they were.

  707. What does the book of Ephesians tell you and I to be?

  708. Imitators of God, like dear children.

  709. Right?

  710. God creates things out of things that do not appear.

  711. God creates things out of things that do not appear.

  712. God said, call those things that are not as though they were.

  713. When you call things that are not, you're engaging in spiritual dialogue in the unseen world.

  714. Because you're calling things that be not as though they were.

  715. In whatever area it is.

  716. I don't see it.

  717. It is something that is not, but I'm calling it as though it is.

  718. That's spiritual dialogue in the unseen world.

  719. That's the hand of faith operating in the spiritual realm.

  720. See, this is not faith.

  721. Well, I know God can.

  722. I've seen God do it for other people.

  723. That's not faith.

  724. It doesn't matter if you've seen God do it for a million other people.

  725. That doesn't mean you have faith for Him to do it for you.

  726. It might be a good testimony, might make me shout, but it's no evidence that I believe God.

  727. I've had people say, Well, you know, I know God did it for so-and-so, so He'll do it for me.

  728. Not necessarily.

  729. Because my faith is involved.

  730. I said, My faith is involved.

  731. Hallelujah.

  732. In the spirit world, you use a different language than you do in the natural world.

  733. And spiritual things are different than natural things.

  734. And I made the statement last week: the problem with a lot of believers is they live too much in the natural world.

  735. And not enough in the spiritual world.

  736. And that's not just sinful.

  737. There are people that you know that are Christians.

  738. They're not sinful, but they live a very carnal life.

  739. Most of their life is spent in the natural realm.

  740. That's their pursuits, everything in the natural.

  741. Yes, God did give us richly all things to enjoy, but the Bible says walk in the Spirit.

  742. Conduct your life in the Spirit.

  743. Stroll in the Spirit.

  744. And you'll not what?

  745. Fulfill the lust of the flesh.

  746. For a higher level of faith to operate in my life, there has to be a higher level of spiritual living.

  747. Because faith is that dialogue in the spirit.

  748. See, where a lot of people make the mistake is they get up in the morning and they make their confessions, and that's it.

  749. That's the last time they think about it all day long.

  750. But I want that spiritual dialogue going consistently.

  751. Hallelujah.

  752. That's why carnal, natural thinking people have trouble with faith.

  753. They have trouble with it.

  754. Because faith does not always line up with the natural thinking.

  755. Amen.

  756. Because spiritual things are different than natural things.

  757. If you want to carry on a dialogue in Spain, you've got to learn the language.

  758. Amen.

  759. Amen.

  760. My oldest daughter lives in Boston, and I went there to visit her.

  761. And listen, I understood most people fine.

  762. I talked to one guy born and raised there.

  763. He started talking to me.

  764. I'm like, say what?

  765. I'm sure he felt the same way about me.

  766. You go there and say, y'all, they're like, what'd you say?

  767. What'd you call me?

  768. It's a good thing.

  769. You got to learn the dialogue, right?

  770. You got to learn the language.

  771. Hallelujah.

  772. If you want to carry on a dialogue in the spirit, you got to learn the language.

  773. I got to learn the language of faith.

  774. And faith, the language of faith is not just a positive confession.

  775. That's part of it, but that's not all of it.

  776. You're looking at things from a spiritual perspective.

  777. You don't let your mind go and start telling you, I don't see how this could ever change.

  778. How is this ever going to change?

  779. See, we talk a lot about our words.

  780. Where did those words come from?

  781. What you were thinking.

  782. It started up here.

  783. That's why the Bible says you've got to guard your heart and your mind through Christ Jesus.

  784. Why?

  785. Because you start thinking it, you're going to say it.

  786. And once you start saying it, now you've lended your authority to it.

  787. And once you lend your authority to it, your spirit and your faith start working to bring that to you.

  788. See, there are people that don't believe faith will bring you anything negative.

  789. Faith will bring you whatever you declare.

  790. Whatever you declare.

  791. If you declare, I'm not going to make it, I don't see how we can do it.

  792. Everything's falling apart.

  793. You're not going to make it.

  794. You're not going to see how you can make it, and everything's going to fall apart.

  795. And God didn't want that to happen.

  796. He didn't want it to come to you.

  797. But you are the establishing witness.

  798. You're the one that's in charge of the dialogue that's going on in the spirit realm.

  799. And as long as you're saying it's going to happen, it's coming.

  800. It inevitably it's on the way.

  801. Why?

  802. Because you declared it and used your faith to get it.

  803. I didn't use my faith for that thing to fail.

  804. You said it was going to fail.

  805. See, when you start thinking about things all the time, your spirit starts reaching out for them.

  806. Your spirit don't know why you want it, but it's reaching for it.

  807. Because you're thinking about it and you're saying it.

  808. Right?

  809. Nothing ever goes right.

  810. Everything's going wrong.

  811. Nothing's going right.

  812. And your spirit starts reaching out.

  813. I don't know why they want things to go wrong.

  814. And the same spirit and the same faith that would move blockades and move things out of your way stops moving things out of your way.

  815. Why?

  816. Because you said nothing goes right.

  817. Hallelujah.

  818. And God did not have to produce the thing that was wrong.

  819. You understand?

  820. There was no faith there to move it.

  821. There was no faith there to move it.

  822. It's that spiritual dialogue.

  823. Amen.

  824. Hallelujah.

  825. Look at 2 Corinthians 4.

  826. Am I helping you today?

  827. 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

    2 Corinthians 4 chapter mention

  828. Ooh, glory.

  829. So I want to carry on.

  830. One time we had a uh at our faith explosion in Kansas location.

  831. Uh I had a couple come in and I had met them some years before, and and they had been in charismatic word of faith circles, and uh they had been on staff at a church that I was uh uh uh familiar with and and they were launching into their own ministry.

  832. As a matter of fact, this was their first meeting outside uh of what they had been doing.

  833. And faith explosion, you know, I mean, uh we still have it to this day, but faith explosion, you know, you're preaching on faith, preaching, teaching faith.

  834. And uh I was sitting there on the front row, and uh they the the brother was ministering on faith, and you know, I mean, I could follow along, but it was like something's missing here.

  835. I don't I don't know what it is.

  836. Have you ever you ever went to a restaurant and it's like you ate, but all the way to pay the check, your stomach's kind of getting on you because you cheated it?

  837. You got to, you know, something was missing.

  838. Something was missing.

  839. And it's like there's some things that were good, but something was with it.

  840. We call it the spirit of faith.

  841. Because faith is not just a subject to be taught, right?

  842. It's it's a spirit to be caught, the spirit of faith.

  843. And so I was talking to somebody and they said, well, it was that it didn't have the spirit of faith.

  844. It was, but here's the thing: they did not know how to carry on the spiritual dialogue.

  845. If you just know concepts about faith, if you just know principles of faith, that's like taking somebody's leadership book and outlining it.

  846. You're teaching principles of leadership, but that doesn't mean you're a good leader.

  847. Right?

  848. I can see what somebody else said about faith and teach or preach it, that doesn't mean I know faith.

  849. Hallelujah.

  850. So you want to know faith because that's how we live.

  851. It's this spiritual dialogue.

  852. Romans 4, 17.

  853. We were there just a moment ago, and I moved us away.

  854. We'll move back.

  855. It says concerning that, that he calls those things that be not as though they were.

  856. And then in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 18, it says, While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporary, temporal, they're temporary, subject to change.

    2 Corinthians 4 chapter mention

  857. But the things that are not seen are eternal.

  858. They're eternal.

  859. You can only look at what you cannot see by faith.

  860. That's one of those verses.

  861. We do not look at the things that are seen, but things which are not seen.

  862. Well, how do I do that?

  863. How do I not look at what is seen, but look at what is not seen?

  864. Well, the natural mind can't figure that out.

  865. The only way you can look at what you cannot see is by faith.

  866. We use the phrase, you've got to use the eyes of faith.

  867. In other words, you've got to let faith be your eyes.

  868. I'm looking at it not just through the lens of faith, faith is my eyes.

  869. Amen.

  870. Yeah, how many here believe you're going to heaven?

  871. Right?

  872. Most of you.

  873. Rest of you will have an altar call at the end of service.

  874. Right?

  875. Well, here's the thing.

  876. You believe you're going there, you believe it's a place, right?

  877. You've never seen it.

  878. But you believe you're going.

  879. But you've never seen it.

  880. How are you seeing it?

  881. By faith.

  882. Well, I see it in the word.

  883. Yeah, but you're seeing it by faith.

  884. Think about that.

  885. You're going to a place that has streets with gold that's so pure it's transparent.

  886. And the streets are paved with it.

  887. And man, you'll you'll tell people that, and you should.

  888. You've never seen it.

  889. But you know you're going by faith.

  890. So what are you doing when you when you believe you're going to heaven?

  891. You are looking at things that are not seen.

  892. Right?

  893. Sickness is temporary.

  894. It can be measured.

  895. If you have sickness, then health is what is not seen yet.

  896. Healing is eternal.

  897. Hallelujah.

  898. So if there's sickness, then what do I do?

  899. I call for what is not seen.

  900. I don't compound what is seen.

  901. Right?

  902. I teach in healing school.

  903. Quit calling it yours.

  904. It's not your, and you fill in the blank.

  905. That denotes ownership.

  906. What do I own?

  907. Healing.

  908. Strength.

  909. Victory.

  910. That's what I own.

  911. Right?

  912. That's what you own.

  913. So just try it out.

  914. Say I'm healed, I'm whole, I'm strong, and I'm well.

  915. That's what I am.

  916. Amen.

  917. Amen.

  918. Don't take ownership of that other stuff.

  919. Yeah, but I'm dealing with it.

  920. That's what you're doing.

  921. You're dealing with it, but you don't own it.

  922. You deal with a trespasser.

  923. They have no right on my property.

  924. And what do I do?

  925. I deal with them.

  926. How do you deal with them?

  927. By faith.

  928. You fill your mouth with the word of God and you speak it by faith.

  929. What are you doing when you're speaking by faith?

  930. Calling things that be not as though they were.

  931. Entering into a spiritual dialogue.

  932. You might can see it, you might can feel it, you might can experience it.

  933. But instead of taking ownership of it and agreeing with it, you enter into that spiritual dialogue and you say, I'm the healed of the Lord.

  934. I'm well and whole and strong.

  935. I'm a whatever free zone in the name of Jesus, and I will not die, but I will live and give glory to God.

  936. Hallelujah.

  937. Now see, people hear that and they think, well, you're just talking about confession.

  938. No, I'm talking about faith.

  939. You can't talk about faith and not talk about confession.

  940. You can't talk about confession and not talk about faith.

  941. But confession is not just a pet thing.

  942. Confession means you're saying the same thing, the same thing as two, the same thing as God.

  943. When you're confessing the word, you're saying the same thing.

  944. Confession is not something that we just do, it's not just a cute little thing.

  945. Well, my confession is this.

  946. Most people like that get no victory out of their confession because they're just parroting what they heard somebody else say.

  947. Your confession comes out of what you believe deep down on the inside of your soul.

  948. This is what I believe.

  949. Oh, hallelujah.

  950. Amen.

  951. When you go to the doctor and the doctor says there's nothing we can do for you, you better know what you believe.

  952. You better know what you believe right here.

  953. Because the next words out of your mouth are going to determine the direction of your boat.

  954. Amen.

  955. Do you see that?

  956. I've watched this over the years.

  957. I've said this before.

  958. Back, will it be 2020, somewhere around there, end of 2020?

  959. April, excuse me, of 2020.

  960. When the the infamous socialistic lockdowns began.

  961. Just my opinion.

  962. Anyway, my dad called me, and he had uh, my mom actually called me and said, your dad is not is sick and and he won't go to the doctor.

  963. And so I got him, put she put him on the phone, and it kind of felt like a roll reversal.

  964. But I said, Now, Dad, what's going on?

  965. Well, I got this and I got that.

  966. I said, Well, look, you got mom concern.

  967. You need to get off this phone and let her call the ambulance.

  968. You need to go to the hospital.

  969. I don't need to do that.

  970. I said, listen, listen.

  971. Quit being a child.

  972. Let her call the ambulance.

  973. If it's nothing, not gonna cost you anything.

  974. Just, right?

  975. Well, he went to the doctor.

  976. And he did.

  977. He had pneumonia.

  978. And but as they were looking at the pneumonia, they found underlying things.

  979. He was dealing with congestive heart failure.

  980. Right?

  981. And so we didn't know that.

  982. And he got out, and my sister went there to see him and uh help him out.

  983. And I was dealing with him from here.

  984. I had things going on here.

  985. So then April of 2020, I went there to help him get to some doctor's appointments and whatnot.

  986. And of course, our words are lining up with what we want as his children.

  987. Right?

  988. I immediately started.

  989. My dad's heart is fixed, right?

  990. Trusting in the Lord.

  991. His heart is strong, his heart is well, right?

  992. Well, I got there and we're going back and forth to doctor's appointments.

  993. So we went to the the cardiologist.

  994. And the cardiologist was checking him out, and he said, Well, he said, uh, here's the good news.

  995. It's not any worse.

  996. Well, you know, I mean, you think, well, how's that good news?

  997. It's not any worse.

  998. That's good news.

  999. That's a natural person.

  1000. Right?

  1001. And so I looked at him, the doctor left, and I said, Dad, glory to God, it's not any worse.

  1002. That means the advancement has been stopped.

  1003. It's not any worse.

  1004. And he looked at me and said, You know what?

  1005. That's right, it's not any worse.

  1006. Praise God.

  1007. So we left the cardiologist and we had to go to the primary care physician, because the primary care physician needs to know what the cardiologist said.

  1008. Amen.

  1009. And we had to be sure and pay the cardiologist before we left for what he said.

  1010. But then we we we went to the primary care physician.

  1011. And my dad was sitting there, and you know he was feeling pretty good because it's not any worse.

  1012. And the primary care physician, good man, good, good guy, knew my dad, cared about my dad.

  1013. I'll never forget.

  1014. He sat down on the little stool, you know, the stool they have.

  1015. And he pulled himself up close to my dad, and he called my dad MJ.

  1016. Everybody called my dad Buddy.

  1017. His given name was Murdy Jack Steele, so I'm glad they didn't name me after him.

  1018. Anyway, I'd have gone by MJ too.

  1019. But anyway, he he he pulled himself up and he goes, now MJ, he said, I want to tell you something.

  1020. He said, okay, watch.

  1021. He said, you do know that your days of preaching are done.

  1022. You'll never be able to do it again.

  1023. Now I'm standing there hearing this.

  1024. Now watch.

  1025. I saw my dad.

  1026. He went.

  1027. That was it.

  1028. My dad died a few months after that.

  1029. Physically.

  1030. He died in that room.

  1031. That was it.

  1032. Now my dad saw multitudes of people healed.

  1033. He was healed during the days of the voice of healing.

  1034. Man not by the name of LC Roby laid hands on him.

  1035. At Glad Tidings Assembly of God at 103rd and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Tennessee.

  1036. Claude Bowman was the pastor.

  1037. Laid hands on him and God healed him.

  1038. He had had uh polio and uh his right side was was not paralyzed but weak, and it they had it in braces and it drug, and and he went up and the man laid hands on him and instantly healed.

  1039. Instantly healed.

  1040. Told him he'd never have children.

  1041. Here's proof of God's goodness to my dad.

  1042. Hallelujah.

  1043. But but here's the here's the thing.

  1044. Here's the thing.

  1045. When I saw that, when I saw that, I said, Dad, it's not any worse.

  1046. I could never get him past that.

  1047. Why?

  1048. Because now he had a double attack.

  1049. He had never done anything but preach the gospel.

  1050. From the time he was 16, 17 years old, he had never done anything but preach the gospel.

  1051. Do you see what I'm saying?

  1052. There was no spiritual dialogue.

  1053. My father knew God could heal.

  1054. He had seen God heal.

  1055. He had laid hands on people and seen God heal.

  1056. That's not a criticism of my dad.

  1057. I'm telling you, it's the best example I have.

  1058. I don't know anything about you.

  1059. And I could never get that dialogue started.

  1060. I could never get that dialogue started.

  1061. Amen.

  1062. But you know, God was good and gracious to him.

  1063. I remember the morning he called me and he said, son, I've been talking it over with the Lord.

  1064. I said, okay.

  1065. He said, the Lord told me I can go home if I want to.

  1066. And I said, well, what are you going to do?

  1067. Tell me what you're going to do.

  1068. He said, I'm going to go home.

  1069. I said, okay.

  1070. Two hours later, he was gone.

  1071. In heaven.

  1072. Now, listen, I don't believe that was God's best, but it sure does beat going to hell.

  1073. Right?

  1074. I don't believe that was God's best.

  1075. I believe quite honestly that he could still be alive today, making a difference in the world.

  1076. But here's the thing that I'm trying to say to you.

  1077. See, it's knowing God can, then you got to enter into this spiritual dialogue and call those things that be not as though they were.

  1078. Right?

  1079. Because sickness is temporal.

  1080. If you're dealing with something in your body today, it is a temporary situation.

  1081. Why?

  1082. The word of God's driving it out of your body.

  1083. The word of God that you speak is driving it out of your body.

  1084. How do I know your heart's strong?

  1085. How do I know it beats with the rhythm of life?

  1086. How do I know that it doesn't beat too fast or too slow, but it beats the perfect unit?

  1087. Well, how do I know that?

  1088. Because you're declaring it, you're saying it, you're calling those things that be not as though they were.

  1089. Amen.

  1090. The unseen world is a real existing kingdom that's trying to possess you and bless you.

  1091. You remember Deuteronomy?

  1092. You don't have to turn there, but Deuteronomy 28, 1 through 2.

  1093. It says, if you ask.

  1094. Hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, do all of his commandments, all these blessings will come on you and overtake you.

  1095. Right?

  1096. So the unseen world is that real existing kingdom that's trying to possess you and bless you.

  1097. Jesus said in Matthew 16, 19, he said, I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

  1098. Is that right?

  1099. That's the spiritual kingdom that faith has dialogue in.

  1100. And we have been given the keys, the spiritual authority to operate in the kingdom of heaven.

  1101. The spiritual kingdom that's trying to overtake us, trying to possess us.

  1102. I've been given the authority to operate there.

  1103. Jesus is saying, I'm giving you the ability through faith, that spiritual force, to operate in this spiritual kingdom while you're still living on planet Earth.

  1104. Hallelujah.

  1105. And we have to find out what is ours and operate according to the laws of that kingdom and not this one.

  1106. We don't operate according to the laws of this kingdom.

  1107. We operate according to the laws of the kingdom of heaven.

  1108. We've seen you can't please God without faith.

  1109. Why?

  1110. Because faith is the key that unlocks the kingdom.

  1111. Faith is how you unlock the kingdom of God.

  1112. We tap into the kingdom through faith.

  1113. We get out of the kingdom with doubt.

  1114. Hebrews 11, 4.

  1115. It says, you know, very quickly, it talks about Abel.

  1116. And it says that by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.

  1117. By which, by his sacrifice, he obtained witness that he was righteous.

  1118. God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead, yet speaketh.

  1119. Abel is listed as the first faith man that pleased God.

  1120. Genesis chapter 4, verse 6.

    Genesis 4:6

  1121. He's listed as the first faith man that pleased God.

  1122. Abel's sacrifice of faith was parallel to Jesus' sacrifice of his life.

  1123. There are two reasons God accepted Abel's offering.

  1124. Number one, he gave it by faith.

  1125. And faith pleases God.

  1126. The Bible says he did it by faith.

  1127. You know, I've heard had people say, well, you know, somebody taught him to do that, so Adam must have taught him.

  1128. We have no evidence that Adam taught him to do that.

  1129. He did it by faith.

  1130. You know, you can believe what you want to, but people, you know, there are people who say, when I get to heaven, I'm going to talk to Adam.

  1131. You sure he made it?

  1132. I don't know if he made it.

  1133. He's not listed in Hebrews 11.

  1134. Now, if I get there and he's there, I'm going to be fine with it.

  1135. But all I'm trying to explain to you is we overlook this.

  1136. He did this by faith.

  1137. He did not necessarily do this just because somebody taught him to do it.

  1138. He did it by faith.

  1139. Anything you do by faith is not legalistic.

  1140. It's not just a pattern.

  1141. You do it by faith.

  1142. Right?

  1143. Yeah, I'm going to eat breakfast in the morning, but I'm not going to eat it by faith.

  1144. I'm going to eat it because I like breakfast.

  1145. He did this by faith.

  1146. And what does faith do?

  1147. It pleases God.

  1148. Number two, Abel somehow understood the fact that his offering was a substitute for himself.

  1149. Because the life is in the blood.

  1150. The shedding of the blood of this lamb was received by God as a faith sacrifice.

  1151. A biblical sacrifice required the shedding of blood.

  1152. So Abel was saying to God, this offering is a substitute for my life.

  1153. It will not do me any good to die for you, so I give the firstling of my flock.

  1154. And if you'll accept this as my faith sacrifice, then you'll accept me.

  1155. Right?

  1156. Now, why is this so important?

  1157. God accepted Abel's sacrifice and he accepted Abel at the same time.

  1158. He accepted the sacrifice and he accepted him.

  1159. Jesus shed his blood for us so we could be accepted by God.

  1160. God accepted Jesus' sacrifice and us at the same time.

  1161. Hallelujah.

  1162. So God accepted the sacrifice of Jesus and us.

  1163. Once you understand this, faith's not hard anymore.

  1164. Once you understand it, faith's not hard.

  1165. Faith is just different.

  1166. Faith's not hard, it's just different.

  1167. But once you understand that, faith's not hard anymore.

  1168. God accepted me.

  1169. When he accepted the sacrifice of Jesus, he accepted me.

  1170. There's nothing between me and God.

  1171. There's no reason that God won't do for me what he promised in his word.

  1172. There's no reason he won't do it.

  1173. Now the devil will bring you all kinds of reasons why he won't, and they all have to do with who you used to be.

  1174. None of it has to do with who you are.

  1175. The devil does not understand righteousness, he does not understand faith.

  1176. He does not understand the new creature.

  1177. And that's why when you become strong in those arenas, you got him whipped every time.

  1178. Because when he brings up your past, right?

  1179. You know there people say, we'll bring up his future.

  1180. No, no.

  1181. When he brings up your past, refuse to talk to him about it because that's not you.

  1182. In the eyes and the mind of God, you don't have a past.

  1183. Oh, Pastor.

  1184. No, no, no, no.

  1185. Did the Bible say God forgot?

  1186. Did it say he forgot?

  1187. Then did he?

  1188. I'll finish here before we pray.

  1189. One time I had uh I'd had a carnal day.

  1190. Now, this is a long time ago.

  1191. I'm I'm not I'm only qualifying that so you understand this wasn't yesterday.

  1192. And it wasn't sinful.

  1193. It was just, I'll tell you what I did.

  1194. I got, man, I got over in the flesh.

  1195. And I got upset and I did, right?

  1196. Just flesh.

  1197. Well, that's a Wednesday.

  1198. And you know what preachers get to do on Wednesday night?

  1199. Preach.

  1200. And I told the Lord, I'm not preaching.

  1201. And he said, Well, then who's gonna preach?

  1202. I don't know.

  1203. Michelle or one of the other guys, somebody.

  1204. And he, and you know, the Lord's so gracious.

  1205. He said, Well, Michelle can't because she's teaching this class.

  1206. I said, Okay, then I'll talk to so-and-so.

  1207. Well, he won't be there.

  1208. We'll just have a prayer meeting.

  1209. Now again, I'm I'm not talking about sin.

  1210. I'm talking, I was convicted in my heart.

  1211. And the Lord said to me, He said, Philip, did you ask me to forgive you for that?

  1212. Yes, sir.

  1213. He said, Did I forgive you?

  1214. I said, Yes, according to your word, yes.

  1215. He said this to me.

  1216. He said, It is in bad taste to bring up something I've forgotten.

  1217. Woo!

  1218. Boy, I went that night and preached a humdanger.

  1219. Amen.

  1220. It's like Mark Hankins said, he said they had an evangelist that would come to their church every year.

  1221. And he said the lady in their church didn't like this evangelist.

  1222. She thought he was uppity.

  1223. And so that night, his dad, you know, B.B.

  1224. Hankins, he's gonna introduce the evangelist.

  1225. And the lady stood up and said, Pastor, I have a word.

  1226. For the evangelist.

  1227. Okay.

  1228. The lady said, Yea, my son, thou thinkest that thou art a humdinger.

  1229. But thou art not a humdinger.

  1230. Thou art only a dinger.

  1231. I didn't just preach a dinger that night.

  1232. I preached a humdinger.

  1233. Preached on retooling to win.

  1234. There's times you just got to regroup and go back at it.

  1235. Amen.

  1236. Spiritual dialogue.

  1237. That's what your faith is.

  1238. That's what your faith is.

  1239. Amen.

  1240. Amen.

  1241. Say it out loud.

  1242. Say, Lord, in the name of Jesus.

  1243. I'm reaching into the spiritual realm.

  1244. I'm going to receive everything you have for me.

  1245. In the abundance that you have it for me.

  1246. By faith, I receive it now.

  1247. In the name of Jesus.

  1248. Hallelujah.

  1249. Thank you, Father.

  1250. Now, Father, we just thank you today.

  1251. I thank you, Lord, for the moving of the Spirit that we've had.

  1252. I thank you for the anointing of God.

  1253. I thank you, Lord, that we're seeing this so clearly.

  1254. And we just receive all that you have for us in the name of Jesus.

  1255. Oh, hallelujah.

  1256. Father, I just speak to those impossible situations.

  1257. Lord, those things, I don't know what they all are.

  1258. But Lord, there's these ongoing things, ongoing issues.

  1259. Some have to do with health, some have to do with other things.

  1260. Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray that you would give your people a fresh view of those things coming to an end.

  1261. And that, Father, there would not be this consistent, this constant picture of not necessarily failing, but having to deal with this consistently.

  1262. I'm telling you by the Spirit of the living God that that is not something that you're going to have to deal with for the rest of your life.

  1263. It shall come to an end, and it shall be brought to its demise in the name of Jesus.

  1264. And it shall not continue its effect against your life.

  1265. For you are redeemed from it in the name of Jesus.

  1266. Now, Father, we thank you, we praise you, we glorify you for it in the name of Jesus, and we magnify your name.

  1267. Hallelujah.

  1268. Glory to God.

  1269. Hallelujah.

  1270. Let's stand on our feet today.

  1271. Glory to God.

  1272. God is so good to us.

  1273. Thank you, Jesus.

  1274. I believe God.

  1275. Amen.

  1276. And because I believe God, I have what I say.

  1277. Thank you, Lord.

  1278. Thank you, Jesus.

  1279. Thank you, Jesus.

  1280. Thank you, Jesus.

  1281. Thank you, Lord.

  1282. Thank you, Lord.

  1283. Hallelujah.

  1284. I just, this just keeps coming up in my spirit that even as the Lord said that we had entered into the seventh month, and the seventh month was a month of crossing over.

  1285. And even as I told the people of Israel in the book of Joshua, you're crossing over into a place that you've never been before.

  1286. So the importance is that you stay close because you've never passed this way.

  1287. I said to Elisha through Elijah that when you see me, if you see me go, that double portion of my presence, that doubleness of my spirit will come upon you.

  1288. The key was found in the following and the crossing over.

  1289. I've told you that you've crossed over in the seventh month into some of those things that you've been desiring to walk in.

  1290. Understand that that will continue throughout the year.

  1291. That will continue.

  1292. As you've crossed over, you're going to see those things come to fruition and come to pass.

  1293. Hallelujah.

  1294. Don't allow, don't allow those little foxes, those little things to steal that assurance and that sureness of what I have promised, for it shall surely, Heshamah, it shall surely, it shall surely come to pass in the name of Jesus.

  1295. Hallelujah.

  1296. Hallelujah.

  1297. And those things, those those things that they have just been, many, many don't even know that you've been dealing with it.

  1298. They're not even aware of it.

  1299. That will come to an end.

  1300. I speak peace to marriages, Father.

  1301. I speak peace to those relationships in the name of Jesus.

  1302. I speak wholeness to marriages in the name of Jesus.

  1303. Father, thank you for that.

  1304. Father, thank you.

  1305. I thank you for opening his eyes.

  1306. I thank you for hope opening her eyes.

  1307. And Father, that they can see the goodness of God in that situation.

  1308. Oh, hallelujah.

  1309. Thank you, Father.

  1310. Thank you, Father.

  1311. And there are those you've been having troubling dreams, troubling.

  1312. It's deeper than thoughts.

  1313. It's it's images.

  1314. And they come at the most inopportune times.

  1315. And it's it's thoughts of loved ones not making it, thoughts of loved ones going out of the world without Christ.

  1316. No, though those thoughts are trying to be superimposed into your mind by the enemy.

  1317. Hallelujah.

  1318. Stay steady, stay stalwart, stay committed.

  1319. Because hear me when I say the Lord says that I've already spoken to some that are close to them and they're speaking to them and they're affecting them.

  1320. And you're going to see the fruition of your prayers.

  1321. You're going to see it come to pass.

  1322. Don't allow those things of the enemy to try to get you over into fear.

  1323. Don't give place to it because he's trying to get a foothold in your mind.

  1324. Because you're the anchor.

  1325. You're the anchor.

  1326. You're the one that you're the one that has stood in faith when others gave up.

  1327. Stand fast, be strong.

  1328. You shall surely see the promise of the Lord in that situation.

  1329. Thank you, Father.

  1330. Glory be to God.

  1331. Hallelujah.

  1332. We thank you, Lord.

  1333. Glory to God.

  1334. Glory to God.

  1335. Glory to God.