Lock Out The Doubt 1

Tonight I wanted to share a message entitled Doubt is a Robber.

And let's look at Matthew, chapter 14.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

And one of my favorite subjects is faith.

And this is coming at the subject of faith, maybe a little bit from the negative side, but it's still positive.

Matthew, chapter 14, and this is after Jesus fed the 5,000.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

And in verse 22, in straight way, jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and go before him under the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

And in verse 25, and in the fourth watch of the night, which was anywhere from three to six am, jesus went under them walking on the sea.

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying it's a spirit, and they cried out for fear.

But straight way, jesus spake unto them saying be of good cheer, it is, I be not afraid.

And Peter answered him and said Lord, if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water.

And he said come.

And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.

But when he saw the wind boisterous or strong, he was afraid and beginning to sink, he cried, saying Lord, save me.

And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him O thou of little faith, wherefore dits thou doubt.

And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

So doubt is a robber.

Doubt will rob you of God's best, the best that God intended for you to have.

I mean, it'll cause you to receive something less than what God had in mind for you.

And so lock out doubt, shut the door on doubt.

Don't let it.

In this Bible example, Peter was so delighted, so encouraged, so Thrilled in the midst of his being.

Fearful one moment and thrilled the next.

I think it's kind of funny.

You know, one moment he's afraid and crying out for fear.

The next moment he realizes Jesus walking on the water.

Hey, I want to do that.

Please bid me to get out there.

I want to come see you.

You know, without thinking, he gets over the side and he starts walking on the water.

Before we criticized too much, he did walk on the water and and and.

So he wanted to see, he wanted to do what Jesus was doing, the something supernatural.

You know, jesus is always doing something supernatural and he wants his church to be doing something supernatural as well.

You know, let's not get mired down in the natural.

Let's not get mired down in the arena of this present world.

Let's let's make sure that we're battling in the arena of faith, and One of the one of the things that you're gonna have to contend with in that arena of faith is doubt, because doubt is gonna try to rob you.

Don't be surprised.

And so, and that's exactly what happened To Peter.

I mean, peter started off really good.

He started walking on the water.

He was good, he was doing good, but then something happened.

What happened?

Well, he noticed something.

See, he got his eyes off of Jesus, he got his, he quit being thrilled with walking on the water and suddenly he saw the wind boisterous.

Now, you know, nobody can see the wind, wind is invisible as far as your eye.

But so what he did?

We saw the Results of that strong wind, which were waves.

I mean, he started seeing the rough seas that he was walking on and he started looking at these circumstances and and Jesus, you know so he said oh, laura is beginning to sink.

See the moment.

He started doubting.

The devil started robbing, doubt started robbing him of God's best.

God's best was for him to be out there with Jesus the whole time, whenever Jesus came back to the boat.

He could come back to the boat.

Maybe the rest of the 11 might want to even join them.

I mean, after they watch Peter and Jesus out there for a while, maybe some of them would have had the courage to get over the side and walk on the water with them.

But that didn't happen.

Because he, he noticed the waves and and and he was, he was.

He began to sink and he started shouting oh, jesus, save me.

And and.

So you know Jesus.

Jesus didn't go over there.

Oh, come on, brother, give me a hug, it's okay.

No, he said hey, oh, you have little faith, oh, you have little faith.

See, it's a teachable moment.

Jesus had three and a half years to spend with his disciples.

He had, he had to have every opportunity to teach them the right way.

He had to teach them faith, faith.

That just just happened.

I mean, you've got to be taught faith.

You've got faith coming by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

You've got to have a basis for your faith.

And so Jesus never skipped a moment, a Teachable moment.

And so his teachable moment for Peter was when he was sinking and he caught him and he said oh, you have little faith.

Why'd you doubt?

Why?

Why did you doubt?

And so Doubt came from a fear produced by the circumstances.

I mean we all face circumstance.

We all face storms of various strengths I mean.

When I talk about storms, I mean any bad circumstance like sometimes health issues, pain, trouble in the marriage, trouble with your children, trouble with your family, trouble on the job, trouble with your finances, trouble with the IRS, trouble, trouble, trouble.

Trouble comes to everyone In the world.

You shall have trouble.

Jesus said that you shall have tribulation.

It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

And so we're gonna have the opportunity to get our eyes off of God's Word and get it on to the circumstance.

And if we let our eyes stay on the circumstance, say I don't go along with just ignoring what's going on.

I'm not saying that we ought to act like nothing's happening, I'm saying where is our attention focused?

And obviously Peter started focusing on the wind and the waves and he began to doubt and he began to sink and doubt robbed Peter of God's best.

And I could make the case that it also possibly robbed the 11 of God's best for them.

Because, again, if Peter had kept it up, if he had kept trusting and kept his focus on Jesus and ignored the waves and the wind and just stayed out there, perhaps the other 11 would have had the courage you know John would have.

You know, john and Peter they're kind of they're kind of competitive with one another.

They had a race to the tomb, remember.

And so there, peter is one way.

And then John, john, the disciple whom Jesus loved.

It a little bit pretentious, sort of sorry John.

And so you know, this is there.

You know John's gonna get over the side of the boat until until he sees Peter, and so, really, the doubt on Peter's side robbed the other 11.

I think you could make a case that it robbed everybody that was watching what was going on, and so that's true of you.

I mean, people are watching us in this day and time.

They're, they see something different about spirit filled, bible believing Christians and they would like to be like a secretly.

They don't want to admit it many times, but they're watching.

They're watching to see what's gonna shake this person, what's gonna upset this person, what's gonna make this person go down, what's gonna sink this person's boat, what's gonna cause this person to go to shout and say, oh, help me, I'm drowning, and so listen that audience, whoever it is who's watching you.

Doubt in your life can rob them of God's best, and so you know, doubt is a robber.

Let's, let's, let's close the door.

Let's close the door, amen.

Let's look at 2 Peter, and God has provided such great things for us.

2 Peter, chapter one.

It says here in verse three according as his God's divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that called us to glory and virtue.

So the knowledge of this word provides all things that we know that we need to have in this life.

I mean, he's provided everything we need to have the good life, not the bad life, not the life that falls short.

God's best is available to us.

He's already given it to us.

It's ours.

All we have to do is claim it by faith and shut the door on doubt.

Another scripture I love Ephesians, chapter one, verses three.

Blessed to be our God and Father of Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.

In Christ, the Amplified says he's blessed us with every spiritual blessing that heaven itself enjoys.

Isn't that awesome?

And so we are equipped for the good life.

God wants us to have success on every side.

He wants us to be healthy.

He wants us to be courageous right now.

He wants us to be financially blessed.

He wants us to be healthy, free of pain all of those things.

And so faith sees say we have a vision.

Faith can see what other people can't see.

I mean originally, peter looking out of that boat.

All he saw was Jesus walking on the water.

He saw the supernatural.

It wasn't until he got out there and started doing the same thing that he suddenly saw the natural.

He suddenly it was always there.

The waves in the wind were there.

When he got out of the boat and started walking on the water, it was all there.

But then suddenly he noticed it.

But faith sees the supernatural.

Faith sees into the spirit realm.

Faith sees what's not evident, and then the hand of faith takes it and receives it.

You could say we have hand-eye coordination.

You know faith.

People are able to grab ahold of things that other people can't even see, much less receive, and so that's the way that the kingdom operates the hand of faith receives what the eye of faith sees, and so let's practice that the next time that we're come up against all kinds of circumstances.

See, the eye of faith is going to focus on what God's Word said.

I like what Proverbs 4 says attend to my son, my daughter, attend to my words and let incline thine ear under my things.

Let them not depart from thine eyes, but keep them in the midst of thine heart.

See, we've got to have faith in the middle of our heart and we've got to slam the door on doubt.

We've got to keep doubt out, keep doubt out, and so the hand of faith then takes hold of what the Word says.

And it says it's mine.

It's mine now I have it.

It's mine now.

It belongs to me now.

I know some of you've heard this before and this lie, this to be water for the seed that you've had, and some of you are hearing it maybe for the first time.

Or let it be planted in your heart and begin to let it grow.

And in Hebrews 11, one, the Bible says that faith is evidence of things not seen, not seen with the natural eye.

You know you can't trust what your eyes see.

I find it amazing, see, if I didn't know better, I would think that the Democrats are very are faith people, because they're calling all of.

They're saying that there's no riots going on.

We've got video of riots and they're saying, oh no, there's peaceful protesters, there's moms out there and there's veterans out there, and you know, some of the moms that are out there are LGBTQ people.

I mean they're really men with women's clothes on, and so I know they're not faith people, but I mean it's kind of, isn't it amazing?

I mean they're just in total denial of what's actually going on.

They keep saying the same things over and over, and it's not only them, but the news media is doing the same thing.

It's not really the news media, it's the live media, but lies media.

But we're not even going to call it fake news anymore, it's just straight lies, but kind of like that.

In other words, we've got to be so persuaded by what the Word says that we don't even notice what our eyes, our natural eyes, see.

It's what our faith, eyes, eye of faith, is seeing.

That's what counts.

The Word of God, romans 417, faith calls those things that be not as though they were.

Calls those things that be not as though they were.

So really, peter, when confronted with the wind and the waves after he got out there walking on the water.

I mean, he could have and should have said well, praise God, I'm walking on the water, hallelujah, I'm walking on the water with Jesus.

I can't see, I can't see, I'm walking on the water with Jesus.

He told me to come out here.

I came out here.

I'm doing what he said.

See, he could have been bold, he could have been, you know, he could have spoken the opposite of how he felt emotionally.

You know, you got to master the art of calling the things that be not as though they were.

You've got to master the art.

I mean, I still find Christians that are hesitate to do that because they feel they're lying.

But we're not.

You can't act like God and lie, because God does not lie.

God calls the things that be not as though they were.

He called a man who had no children and couldn't have children, with a wife who was no longer able to have children, and he called him the father of many nations.

Was he lying?

No, he called the thing that be not as though it were.

And when Abraham started agreeing with God, he's, you know, they had a baby, praise God.

So, uh, you know, next time you think you're sinking, just say bless God, I'm walking on the waters of life.

God told me to go and I'm going, I'm not sinking, I'm walking, I'm not doubting, I'm believing.

See, let's learn how to talk the language of faith.

Let's learn how to speak with our mouth and believe in our heart, because that's the definition of faith.

So, uh, I was reading just the other day it's one of my favorite uh Brother Hagin testimonies you know he, uh, he was a young single Baptist, uh minister, probably 19, 20 years old, and uh, in this little town and uh, after Sunday service he got up on Monday morning, looked in the mirror and and when he smiled, he felt his face with kind of dead, his left side of his face.

And so he looked in the mirror and when he smiled, he smiled on the right side, but the left side was just dead.

I mean, he could grab the flesh and it was just he didn't feel anything.

And I have to know his history.

His history was that he was healed of of a heart defects and I don't know how many different kinds of blood diseases.

So he had certain things in his body and his past that would have suggested that he was having a stroke or had a stroke.

I mean, it would have been easy to to have melted into a puddle and and maybe called an ambulance and rushed to the hospital.

But this is Monday morning.

He said well, I'll tell you what I'm going to do.

I'm going to go down to full gospel tabernacle that was the the only full gospel church in town.

I'm going to go down there on Wednesday night and have the have the pastor pray for me and lay hands on me.

And this is Monday.

So there he shows up at church, he has it all planned, and a group of kids you know younger young adults were there with him.

And the end of the service, you know, there was no altar call, it was just Bible study.

And he said, you know, and so, is anybody got anything forward to Smith?

He said, yes, pastor, I just asked you to pray for my healing.

He said, yeah, come on up here.

And so he had no one in the mall.

And brother Hagan said you know, I'm just listening for the amen, I'm agreeing with everything he's saying.

He's praying the prayer of faith and all I want to hear is amen, and then I'm going to say my part.

And so, when I am in came, he said that's it, I have it, thank you, thank you.

Lifted his hand and that was it.

And he walked out the door and a group of people followed him, you know.

And uh, and so one of the kids said well, did you receive your healing?

I sure did.

And then they got under a streetlight and of course, he didn't look any different than he did before.

I mean, he still got half of a face, you know.

And so one girl named Imogen says well, you don't look any different.

Do you feel any different?

He said not that I can tell you know.

How do you know that you're healed?

He said I don't know I'm healed.

I don't think I'm healed.

I know I'm healed, you know.

And so he had to defend himself all the way home.

And they're just going by the night, they're going by what they can see, and he's going by what he believed.

He believed he received, and his face didn't look any different and he didn't feel any different.

What was different?

Well, the prayer of faith had been prayed over him and he had agreed with the prayer of faith.

What is the prayer of faith, say?

The prayer of faith calls the thing that be, not as though it were.

That's what the prayer of faith does.

And he just agreed with that prayer of faith.

So the next morning he got up and he had a, I guess, a breakfast date with him a gene, because he showed up at her house for breakfast and mama's cooking, you know, for the two of them and she said well, you look the same as you left last night.

He said, yeah, I'm healed.

He said well, I don't know when you got healed, you don't look any different.

Do you feel any different?

No, not that I can tell.

See the same thing all over again.

And you say why do you think you're healed?

I don't think I'm healed, I know I'm healed.

And so then mother intervenes and she said I'm a gene.

I think I'd be a little careful if I were you, cause I know this young man and I know that he was had a sentence of death, I know that he was in a bed paralyzed for a couple of years and doctors had given up on him and even the preacher gave up on him, and here he is walking around alive.

I think he might know some things about faith that you and I don't really know.

So if I were you, I'd be a little careful, and we'll need to say brother Hagan overcame all of those things that were said against him.

In fact she said you know, if I can't see it, I'm not gonna believe it.

That's what him and Gene finally finished with.

Now you know, I'm not gonna believe anything, I can't see.

Well, that kind of faith is not how you receive.

In fact, that's not faith at all, that's not any kind of faith and that's not the kind of faith that can, that can receive what God has.

And she didn't make the cut.

What do you mean?

Well, she, he didn't wind up marrying her, he married somebody else.

So probably better for him and her.

But everybody say I'm not doubting, I'm believing.

Why do you think you're healed?

I don't think I'm healed.

I know I'm healed.

When we can develop our faith like that, when we can call the things that be not as though they are, then we don't have to let doubt enter into the picture.

Doubt is a robber.

Let's lock out the doubts and let's receive God's best.

Amen, lift your hands and receive tonight.

Doubt is a robber.

We're not gonna let him in anymore than we'd live in any other kind of robber in.

Amen, hallelujah.