How Desperate Are You?

Pick our bibles up.

This is our custom around here.

We like to pick our bibles up and wave them around, make Jesus glad, the devil mad, and let's say this together Say heavenly father, I am hungry and thirsty for more, more of you, more of your word, more of your spirit, more of your glory.

Tonight I'll be taught the word of God.

My faith is growing exceedingly, and and so that I can accomplish what my purpose is on this earth.

In Jesus name, amen, amen.

Let's look at Matthew, chapter 11, and we'll start reading with verse 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Jesus is Speaking about John the Baptist, and here in verse 11.

He says fairly, I say unto you, among them that are born of women that's a lot of territory there among them that are born of women, there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist.

Now, not withstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

And From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

And let me read to you verse 12 in the amplified.

I think it's a little clearer.

The kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault and violent men sees it by force as a precious prize, a share, and the heavenly kingdom is sought for with most ardent zeal and intense exertion.

And so tonight I wanted to share a message entitled the desire of faith.

A really a better title, I think, is how desperate are you, how desperate are you?

And we think about the word desperate, we think about a negative connotation, but I'm I'm Couching it in a positive way tonight and talking about the intensity of our desire.

And when I read this verse here in Matthew, I see a plumb line dropped and it goes between hot and lukewarm, it goes between confrontation and resignation or between desperate and discontented.

You know, how desperate are you to receive what Jesus bought and paid for.

You know, in 1st Peter 1, 18 and 19, it says that we've been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ as Of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Now I was meditating on that verse one time and this truth came to my heart that since the blood is precious, then what it purchased is precious.

Just think of, just think of that if the blood is precious and it is, there's no blood, no, no blood like the blood of Jesus then what it purchased you know, the blood is our, is our currency of redemption.

And so whatever Jesus purchased with his blood is also precious.

So that means your health is precious to God.

Your, your prosperity is precious to God.

Your peace You're, you know your, your safety, your protection, your deliverance, all of those things that the blood of Jesus has purchased for you Are precious to him.

Are they precious to you?

In other words, we need to be desperate or violent to seize what belongs to us out of the hand of the enemy, in Order to give honor to God, who's paid such a precious prize, amen.

So how desperate are you?

I know the Bible is filled with people who displayed desperate Violet faith.

You could just see the plum line.

You know, pastor, we talked about a plum line.

Well, a plum line is a, is a tool that they use in construction, and you know you drop the plum line to established perfect vertical, and if you're building something it's got to be vertical or it's gonna fall down, and so you know you've got to establish.

When you're putting a brick wall up, you just drop a plum line and you make sure that the brick, each will, each course of brick, is perfectly Lined up with the one below it, so that you don't just kind of drift off, drift off until when you get to the top, like eight or ten Feet off, the ground is two or three inches out of plum.

That brick wall is no longer strong.

It could fall out, fall in the yard or something like that.

So we need to seize what belongs to us.

How desperate are you?

And so this plumb line.

There's a contrast between people that are just kind of resigned to their situation.

You know, lord, I'd like to have that.

If you want to give it to me, I'll take it.

No, that's not violent faith, that's just.

You know, you're just lukewarm.

That type of faith never receives from God.

It's not definite, it's not demanding.

Oh, but Pastor, I can't demand from God like that.

Well, no, you're not demanding from Him, you're demanding from the devil to take his hands off what belongs to you.

Amen, that's the one we're viling on, we're viling against Him.

He's the thief, he's the one that holds up our blessing, amen.

You know, in Ephesians, chapter one, verse three, it said Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.

In Christ Are the blessings that heaven itself enjoys.

Another version of the Bible says so.

That has happened.

We are blessed.

We're not trying to get blessed, we're not going to be blessed someday.

We have been blessed.

Why?

Because it was paid for, bought and paid for by the precious blood of Christ.

What if you went shopping for men?

You went shopping for a ring for your wife.

Maybe you're like me.

When you got married, my wife and I were young and broke and I think her wedding ring was a quarter carrot.

Take a magnifying glass to see the stone.

You know she didn't go around showing it off very much, it was pretty tiny.

So, you know, at some point in time we bought a bigger one.

And you know, just think about going into the jewelers.

And you know, and you're looking at a, maybe you're looking at a one carrot and you're looking at a really, you know, a high dollar one, one that's, you know, close to being flawless, and maybe it's the proper color.

And, of course, those diamonds, you know they're more rare, more precious, so they're more expensive.

And the jeweler says oh no, mr Griner, someone has already come in and paid the price.

You've got your package in the back, let me go get it for you.

And they go in the back and they just open it up and it's a five carrot, flawless diamond, you know, with all the.

You know somebody already bought and paid.

See, that's the kind of the.

That's what's happened.

Are we going to settle for the one carrot?

We're going to settle for the substandard one, the one that's got occlusions and flaws in it, the one that kind of looks like a milk bottle.

You know it's cloudy.

No, I mean, what was bought is perfect.

What is bought is it?

We didn't even have to pay for it, and that's what my point is.

And so the Bible is filled.

Let's look at Matthew 15.

And I'll just use this first one as an example, but there are many others.

Verse 21, it says and when Jesus went from there, he departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.

And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying have mercy on me, o Lord, thou, son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with a demon.

But he answered her not a word.

And his disciples came and besought him saying send her away, for she cried after us.

But he answered and said I'm not Sid.

But unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, this lady is a Canaanite woman.

I don't have anything for her.

She's not a covenant woman.

And then she came and worshiped him saying Lord, help me, help me.

But he answered and said it's not me to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs and talk about insulted.

She could have been insulted at that statement, but she said truth, lord, truth, lord.

Yet the dogs the word dogs means little puppies even the little puppies eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.

Think about what she said.

She didn't get offended.

She said Lord, just give me a crumb off the bread.

You've got a whole loaf.

I don't need a loaf, I just need a crumb.

And just give me a crumb.

It's falling off the side of your mouth.

One of your children's eating it and it's falling on the side of your mouth.

It's falling on the floor.

The little puppies are going to lick it up.

Just give it to me.

Give it to me.

That's all I need for my daughter to be whole is a crumb off of the loaf of bread.

That's healing.

And then Jesus answered and said unto her old woman great is thy faith.

Oh, it thrilled him.

And here she is, the Gentile.

She's not even a covenant woman, old woman.

Great is thy faith, even as you will.

And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

Another version says that that same instant oh praise God.

Talk about desperate, think about how she wouldn't settle she cried under the disciples.

The word cry means to scream, to shriek, to call aloud.

She was bold.

You know James was preaching last Wednesday, not about boldness and how important boldness is.

And this woman had boldness.

She would not be denied.

She had the kind of faith that knew Jesus could do it.

And she was persuading him just on the basis of mercy.

She said you're the son of.

Basically, she said you're the Messiah, you're the Jews Messiah.

She called him the son of David.

So she had faith.

A lot of the Jews didn't even believe that, but she believed it.

And that didn't get her in the door.

It wasn't until she said look, jesus, all I need is a crumb.

You've got the whole loaf available.

All I need is a crumb off that, oh, that thrilled his heart.

He said oh, woman, greatest I faith, you know, be it under the, even as you will.

And so her cry of faith, her violence, and he defined that as great faith.

Great faith, you know the.

How violent is your faith?

That's the question.

I have for you Just a message that I've preached before and I'm going to preach it over and over because I believe for me it's one of those messages, kind of like Brother Oral Roberts, the fourth man in the fire.

Have you ever heard him preach that?

It's a classic sermon and I don't do sermons, but this message God gave it to me back, I don't know 2005, I think, and I've preached it many times and I preach it to myself.

How violent are you, how desperate are you to get what God, to receive, what God has given you?

I think about Blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10, 46,.

He said Jesus, thou son of David, he's shrieked, he cried, he screamed Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me, see.

I mean, he's told him he's the Messiah.

A lot of that crowd they weren't even along, far along as he was and the other Jews around him said oh, hush, be quiet, hold your peace, don't bother the master.

And Jesus stopped stealing his tracks.

He's on his way somewhere else.

There's a multitude around him.

And that man stopped him with a cry of faith.

He stood still and said bring him here, son.

What do you want me to do for you, lord, that I might receive my sight.

You know he didn't say you know, lord, just pray the serenity prayer for me, would you?

You know, just give me the grace to put up with what I've got in life.

And yanny, yanny, yanny, no, let me receive my sight.

Man, he was violent, he was, he wanted the best, he was sick and tired of being blind and he wanted to see.

And Jesus healed him that moment.

Go your way.

Your faith, your faith has made you whole.

What kind of faith?

The faith that cries out, the faith that's violent faith.

Praise God, come on, let's thank him right now for violent faith, hallelujah.

I mean we should never be lackadaisical, or you know?

Just look, faith is fearless, it's audacious, it's undaunted in the face of difficulty, in the face of everything.

To the contrary, I want to say it again it's fearless, it's audacious there's a quarter word for you.

It's undaunted, in other words, it won't be denied.

That's the kind of faith that Jesus calls great faith, that's the kind of faith that he loves to honor.

And so the cry of faith made blind Bartimaeus whole.

Now let's look over at James, chapter five, another verse that I got a lot of revelation on numbers of years ago in relation to the harvest.

The book of James is an end time book and it's in relation to the end days.

And in James, chapter five, it talks about the rich men and how that their gold and silver is rusted and cankered and it's gonna.

It's gonna verse three it's gonna eat your flesh, as it were.

Fire.

You have heaped up treasure together for the last days.

So he's talking about the last days here in James, chapter five, and he said behold the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cry of, and the cries of them, which have reaped, are entered into the ears of the Lord of the armies of heaven.

So notice two things.

I was reading this years ago and I noticed that the wages were crying.

The wages were crying.

I said Lord, how is it that wages can cry?

He said wages are like blood.

They represent your life.

You work, you exchange your life for a wage and many people work themselves to death.

They work until they drop dead, especially in the old days when they had to die, especially in the old days when they had dangerous work.

I don't know when they were built in the Hoover Dam during the depression back in the 30s.

That was one of Roosevelt's crowning glories.

I think like 200 men died on that job.

Not much was made of their death, but it wasn't free, I think the same.

I think 60 or 70 people died on the Golden Gate Bridge, another Depression era project, a make work project, you know, government trying to do the job of private enterprise, and most people think that he was a hero.

I don't happen to think that.

I don't share that opinion of Roosevelt.

I think he was basically a socialist and I think that those kinds of actions by the federal government shouldn't be necessary.

I think they're the ones that caused the whole thing to begin with.

But anyway, getting back to this idea that money is like blood, and see, the blood of able cries vengeance.

The blood of Jesus cries mercy.

So your wages cry, and what are they?

If they've been defrauded?

If you've been defrauded, your wages were stolen by the person that was supposed to pay you and they didn't.

They were passed over for promotion, you were underpaid, you know, you got cheated, and a lot of that's going on right now.

I mean, every time we have illegal aliens coming across the border.

And that's what they are.

They're law breakers.

Every single one of them is a law breaker.

They're not a hero and they're stealing the wages of law abiding citizens when they come over here and go to work.

Somebody said well, the law abiding citizens won't do the work.

Well, you know, that's the supply and demand.

And so they're weakening this.

They're flooding the supply, so the demand goes down.

So that's right.

People won't work for nothing In this country.

They shouldn't have to.

But when you skew supply and demand by just letting people come over illegally, that's wrong.

So there's a lot of defrauded wages.

And guess what?

Those defrauded wages are crying out and they're saying God, we're in the wrong place.

And so then it says and the cries of them, that reaped.

So in other words, the laborers themselves.

And when I was reading this one time, the Holy Ghost said you know you were to faith.

People, you have a weakness.

You ought to have enough sense to agree with your wages.

Your wages are crying out.

Why aren't you crying out, see?

In other words, why aren't you being violent?

Why aren't you rising up and refusing to allow your wages to be stolen and taken from you?

Amen.

So the cry of the laborers you know they agree with the defrauded wages will not be denied.

So your wages, it says.

They cry continually.

You know, I just think about all the Jews.

They got all their wealth stolen by the Nazis.

And I've seen movies you know, schindler's List and the pianist, and different ones that picture the Warsaw ghetto, when the Nazis took over Warsaw, poland, and they fenced all the Jews into just a tiny little section of town and they had to move out of their nice houses and nice places to live and they could only carry so much with them, you know, and they left a lot behind.

And then when they hauled them off to the gas chamber, they stole all of their wealth.

They stole everything, and all those stolen goods are crying out.

They're crying out.

You know they were stolen, and so the laborers cries.

Enter into the ears of the Lord of the armies of heaven.

What does he do?

He commands the angels to go and retrieve those things.

I just believe we're living in the days when there's going to be a transfer of wealth out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

But how desperate are you for it to happen?

I mean, see, we've got to.

I'm just preaching this to stir your desire up.

Let's get our desire increasing.

It's not wrong to desire what Jesus' blood has paid for.

In fact, it's wrong not to desire it.

It's a dishonor to the Lord.

I said it's a dishonor to the Lord.

Let's stir ourselves to receive now, in the time of harvest, and the whole reason that we're going to receive this transfer of wealth is for the benefit of the harvest.

It's going to take lots of money to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Amen Takes a lot of money, and so let's stir ourselves to receive.

Look, we must have our health, we must have an abundant supply, we must have our peace.

We must be able to lay down our heads at night and sleep all night long.

We must have what Jesus bought and paid for.

It's precious blood that paid for it, and the things that he bought are precious as well.

Let's treat it like it's precious.

Let's desire it.

Let your hands in receive tonight.

How desperate are you and I confess I'm desperate, they've been to have everything I will have my health, my full health.

Stay, bid, praise God, all right, thank you, lord.