When Faith Fails

I got a text message from someone at two o'clock last night and begged to go to sleep and answered

the person and then begged to go to sleep.

Then started thinking maybe I need to look at what I should teach today again.

And so then stayed up till three, stayed up pretty late because I felt God saying teach

a different message.

So this was, this happened at three in the morning.

And so you can blame it on whoever texted me.

I don't know why it is important for us to go down this route because I wasn't planning

to do this.

But we need to talk about what happens when faith fails, when faith fails.

And as soon as I say when faith fails, we immediately have to say God does not fail,

but the quality of faith can fail and the outcomes can fail.

Because the moment we say when faith fails, it would almost seem to insinuate that, oh

well, God failed.

No, when faith fails, it's not as if God fails, but outcomes do fail and the quality of faith

can fail.

And so for whatever reason, it is important to the Holy Spirit that we discuss this so

that we know how to deal with things going forward into this amazing year that awaits

us where the manner has stopped and a new kairos begins.

So what does it look like when faith fails?

What does it look like when faith fails?

One of the things that happens when faith fails is just nothing seems to happen.

You've been standing faithfully trusting God, nothing seems to happen.

In fact, it takes longer.

Nothing is happening.

Months are going by, weeks are going by.

You've trusted God and nothing is happening.

That's the first thing that happens.

Two, sometimes exactly the opposite begins to happen.

What you're trusting for, it almost feels like exactly the opposite is beginning to

happen.

Three, you see that others who aren't standing in faith seem to get what you are standing

in faith for very easily while you are struggling.

And four, you stand in faith and you find that at the end of the day nothing worked

out anyways and it died.

That's what it looks like when faith fails.

And it's happened to everybody in this room.

There's nobody it hasn't happened to.

It's unfortunately a common human experience.

And why does it wreck you the way it wrecks you?

Because one, we've been taught and we hear it almost every Sunday we hear it.

Every time we read the word we hear that faith will be rewarded.

And so it wrecks you that after standing in faith you haven't been rewarded.

Why does it wreck you?

Because you were so sure you heard God.

You were so sure that the prophetic that was spoken was of God.

You're so sure of it and yet it wrecks you because even though you were so sure that

God said it, look at where you are at.

Why does it wreck you?

It wrecks you because you expected greater things.

You prayed.

You believed.

You trusted.

And then at the end of it all there's nothing to show for it.

It wrecks you.

Why does it wreck you?

Because when he has the power to change situations, why doesn't he intervene?

Isn't he a good father?

Why isn't he intervening?

And it wrecks you.

Why does it wreck you?

Because others are watching while you stand in faith and you've got nothing to show but

an empty bag and it is embarrassing.

It feels like you're on a fool's errand.

And so it actually wrecks you.

And there's nobody here who hasn't been through that experience either.

I remember receiving a prophetic word from a guy who didn't know me.

I was at a banquet hall in Surrey at a Full Gospel Businessmen's meeting and he comes

up to me and he says, your father is ill, right?

I said yes.

He says, do not worry.

God wants you to know that your father will live.

And then 14 days later I'm with my dad as he dies and it wrecked me.

There's nobody here who hasn't been through some degree of this experience.

How do you respond?

How do you respond when faith fails?

How do you respond?

And our response is pretty typical.

It's strange how humans respond a certain way regardless of which church they go to,

what their background might be.

How do you respond?

You usually respond by statements like, I can't trust God again.

Or I can't trust God in a certain area.

Two, you won't attempt faith or express faith in certain areas.

That's something I want you to check on.

As you look back at the last years, as you look back at the last few years, there are

certain areas where you do not attempt faith because you have not seen results.

And so you stopped attempting faith in those areas.

It's fascinating, as I was thinking, I could think of one or two areas in my life where

I'm scared to attempt faith.

There are so many areas where I do brilliantly.

Then there are a couple of areas I'm scared to attempt faith because I've seen failure

in those areas for whatever reason, which we'll talk about.

But then it scares me to attempt faith there because I don't want to fail.

I want God to succeed.

I want me to succeed.

I want my hearing to be right.

It gets so messy and complicated sometimes.

Third, we begin to change our expectations.

Change our expectations and confessions.

What I mean by that is when you find that you feel like you've been burnt standing

in faith, you begin to lower your expectations and you begin to change the way you speak

about what you expect.

In Genesis chapter 15, verse 2, you see Abraham in this conversation with God, where God had

Genesis 15:2

long ago promised him a son.

By the time he gets to chapter 15, when God says, I'll make you a father, he says, thank

you that you will help my servant Eliezer and his descendants to continue my heritage.

Why?

Because he had gotten to a point where it was difficult after years to still expect

God to give him a son as he gets older.

So he changes his expectations and he changes his confession.

Your expectation determines your confession.

As you lower your expectation, your words change.

Your expectation, when it changes, it ends up in changing what you confess about what

you expect to.

You lower your expectations, it always changes your confession.

So that's what happens to Abraham.

You find many characters in the Bible who lower their expectations because of repeated

failure sometimes.

The other thing that happens is resentment against God.

Resentment against God.

Resentment against God.

And it begins to express itself in public lament.

It begins to express itself in public lament, as in you begin to say things about God that

are not outright defiant, but sufficiently sarcastic with a tinge of humility so that

you go and get zapped and you begin to say stuff.

It'll be like, yeah, you know, God works in mysterious ways.

What you really mean is, can't trust him, man, he works in mysterious ways.

All kinds of stuff comes up.

Jeremiah fell into this trap in Jeremiah 15, 18, where he says at one point, oh God, you're

like a deceptive brook.

You're like a deceptive brook.

This is Jeremiah, the prophet, saying it.

So we begin to resent God and the resentment shows up in public lament.

And you can never hide resentment against God.

It always shows.

It'll show in prayer.

When you listen to people's prayers, you can usually figure out where they are with God.

I'm not talking about whether it's a great prayer or a not great prayer.

I'm talking about relationship is expressed through words.

Any questions on this?

Any questions?

When faith fails?

I think we need to talk about this because everyone here has been affected by it at some

level and we can't walk with that kind of mud on our shoes.

We'll have to either, I would suggest get new shoes because it's very hard to walk with

this kind of mud on our shoes because every time we step into some new area, we'll look

behind and we'll see those muddy tracks and it just brings you to that same place.

It's not going to work.

Look.

I wish I could sometimes pinpoint reasons why God wants a certain teaching done.

But I don't know.

But I know it will be, it is important to just follow orders.

Any questions, guys?

This is only my reality or is it yours also?

Of course it's yours.

If this isn't your reality, you must be dead.

Yeah.

Okay.

Resentment against God, it takes a while till we get there.

True.

So let's change that word to another word that God actually uses of Jeremiah.

Suspicion of his character.

We begin to suspect his character.

Resentment like Evan is saying is at the end of, I mean, further down the road, you've

got to begin to suspect his character and then go down the road for a while before you

begin to dislike and resent.

But suspicion of his character, unfortunately, is common.

At one point in the Amplified, it puts it this way in Jeremiah 15.19, that God is saying,

I take offense at your suspicion of my character.

If you do not separate the vile and the nonsensical from that which is pure, you cannot be my

mouthpiece, Jeremiah.

That's what God says in Jeremiah 15.19.

Any other questions?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because the thing is, I can't repeat this history next year.

I've got to be free of this.

Because it's everything that God gives us given graciously and is acquired by faith.

Is given graciously, salvation is given graciously, but how do we appropriate it?

By faith and by our words.

Everything is believed and spoken in the kingdom.

Everything is believed and spoken.

So if I do not believe it, even though grace is being poured out, I'm not able to receive

it because the grace that is being given is given by an invisible person and it is invisible.

I receive it by faith and then it becomes real in my life.

And I believe and I speak.

That's why speaking is so important.

Salvation is not complete till you speak it.

So if you cannot say, I have received Christ, Christ lives in me, I am born again, I live

for him, then it doesn't matter that you may have raised your hand, you're not saved.

One believes in his heart and confesses with his mouth.

No one speaks about it.

So why does this happen?

Why does all this happen and what can we do to fix it?

I just thought I'll put down 10.

I got more but I thought I won't frighten you right off the bat.

So after we have done 10, I'll put the next 20 down.

So why does this happen?

Why is it that faith fails?

One of the things I suggest is that, and these are things we can work on then, is that if

faith is only used during a crisis, then it's likely that it will fail.

If faith is only used during a crisis.

In Psalm 106 verse 7, it says, sorry, Psalm 107 verse 6, that whole Psalm is about people

Psalms 106:7 Psalms 107:6

who found themselves in difficult situations and they cried out for help to God and God

did rescue them.

But in each situation in Psalm 107, it is people who were in a crisis who called out

and God helped.

Nothing wrong with that.

God will help you in the times of crisis.

The thing with that kind of faith, the thing with crisis faith, is that it's not your preferred

lifestyle, it's not your default.

So you got to muster up whatever faith you have in a crisis and God will help you once,

twice, three, four times.

When he begins to find you lazy, where faith is not a preference, where it's not your default,

God will still in his mercy reach out for you but he would say, Jacob, I really want

you to grow.

May I suggest to you that every church has this, people who use faith in a crisis.

It's not your preferred lifestyle yet, which is a very hard thing to prefer, eh?

I mean, here's a question we're asking, do you prefer to live by faith?

As in, do you prefer to trust God for everything?

That's just nuts.

That's how Jesus lived, so that becomes a standard.

Second one is contractual faith.

Contractual faith is when you feel that God has said something so he's covenantly bound

to keep it and then that becomes the focus and the object and the measure of whether

God is good or not.

Contractual faith is transactional, it's not relational.

You see contractual faith with Jacob at Bethel where he lies down on a stone, realizes that

God is in the place, calls the place Bethel and then he makes a statement, if you bring

me back here, I'll give you a tenth of the spoils.

Contractual faith is when you know that God is faithful and you bind him to his covenant

and say, you will do this for me because you said it.

Contractual faith was the reason the faith movement collapsed.

Contractual faith said, if I say it enough times I must get it because you said that

whatsoever you say, you can receive it.

Contractual faith is when it doesn't come out of father-son intimacies.

It doesn't come out of a loving relationship.

It comes out of, you said it, you gotta do it.

You are faithful, you better do it.

You said it, how can you go back on it?

God then becomes someone who you bind to his covenant, not because he's your father but

because he's a promise giver.

It never works out well.

And unfortunately churches are full of people who stand on contractual faith.

When it should come out of father-son intimacies and it should come out of partnering with

God.

Remember guys, faith is something that God is already doing that you are entering into.

Beautiful, eh?

It's not me asking God to do something for me.

It is me finding out what God is doing and entering into it.

It is embracing what God is doing.

Which is why in James chapter 1 it says, when you do not know what to do, ask for wisdom.

James 1 · chapter mention

What's he saying?

Ask for how God is thinking so that you know what God is doing so that you can enter into

it and let him do all the work while you trust him.

Beautiful.

Just hear that again.

When you do not know what to do, ask for wisdom.

Why?

Because when you ask God for wisdom, he shows you what he's thinking and doing.

Then?

You enter into and embrace what he's thinking and doing.

And then?

Then you do nothing.

You just rest as he goes and does all the work and you trust him and wait for the outcome.

This is what kids do.

This is why God said ask for wisdom.

Because you can't figure it out anyways.

These are the reasons why faith fails.

Man, the people that have been disappointed by the faith movement.

It had so many rich good things.

But then came in this thing where it was, I'm standing on the word.

Standing on the word is very different from trusting the Father.

Standing on the word is standing on what someone says and you don't know the person well enough.

All you know is that he is faithful and a promise keeper.

But you don't know him.

You got to now hang on to his word and hold him to his word.

There are some children who hold their dads to their word.

There are some children who don't have to care because they know from knowing their

dads over a period of time that if my dad said it he'll come through.

This one is a big one.

Sometimes there are experiences in our life that affect us so deeply it becomes a stronghold.

And now once it becomes a stronghold it becomes a hideout for lying spirits that tell us,

in this area do not trust God.

You've learned the hard way.

Do not go there again.

You see that with Israel so many times.

When Israel came out of Egypt they had experienced 400 years of slavery.

And so when God who performs miracle after miracle, 10 different plagues, 10 different

miracles, take them through the Red Sea, poised at the conquest of the land and the slave

mentality kicks in and they say, we were like grasshoppers, we will be bred for them.

They are giants.

The land may be good, God may have promised, but it is impossible to go in.

It's a slave mentality.

It was the same with Israel when David turns up at the forefront and Goliath turns up every

morning and all the Israelites after their morning sacrifice go hide in their foxholes

because they think that this giant is sufficient to beat them and that God doesn't matter.

And then along comes this little boy who is not a warrior but a shepherd and he says,

you uncircumcised Philistine, who do you think you're defying?

Sometimes an experience can so affect me, so deeply affect me that it becomes impossible

for me to trust him in that area.

And that then becomes a stronghold.

A stronghold is like, I've said this before, a stronghold is like a room that once was

empty and then you started bringing cardboard boxes after cardboard boxes and cartons begin

to collect in that room and as the cartons collect, snakes, little creepy crawlies, scorpions

begin to come and hide because they know you will never be able to get them out till you

get the boxes out.

Strongholds get demonised because there is a lot of place to hide.

There were areas in my life where I was super afraid because of one or two things that had

happened to me repeatedly, I was so scared, man, so scared.

My God, I had to confront it.

Otherwise I would never fly.

Can you imagine, had that been successful, you'd have had me every week of the year.

Every week of the year.

Don't.

Two months.

Probation.

Wayne.

But it had scared me so badly and may I suggest to you that you have these fears in your life.

I can go down each row and identify some of your fears.

The only ones who cannot see it are you.

Everyone else knows those fears about you.

The first thing I might have to do then is to identify it and begin to work on it.

Everything begins with putting your finger on it and without justification put your finger

on it and say, God, I've got a problem here.

I am super scared.

Hey, remember this, I was supposed to say this later.

Ask these three questions always, they're brilliant questions.

First one, what is a lie I'm believing?

What is a lie I am believing?

In areas where you're failing to trust God, in areas where you're anxious, in areas where

you're scared, in areas where you're sad, in areas where there's a repeated habitual

tendency to go a certain way, in areas where there are triggers that are always set off,

ask this question.

What is a lie I am believing?

The second question, what is a truth about the Father's nature that I can lean back on

in this area?

What is a truth?

What is a truth or what are two truths about the Father's nature that I can lean back on

in this area?

And then the third question, what is a scripture that I can learn and use to move from my feelings

to the truth?

What is a scripture that I can use to move from my feelings to the truth?

So the first one is what is a lie I am believing?

And in your particular area, I don't know if there's a single person here who does not

have this happening in their lives right now.

What is a lie that you're believing?

Psychologists and psychiatrists probably ask different variations of these questions, but

they don't have the...the first question they can ask, the second two questions they can't

ask because they don't know.

The second question is what truth or what two truths about the Father's nature can I

lean back on in this area?

What can I absolutely trust that this is who the Father is?

I can lean back in this area.

He will hold me.

And the third one is what is a scripture that I can use to move from my feelings and how

I feel to what is true?

Over a period of time, if you can take these three questions and answer them, I cannot

see how one will fail.

I mean, you do press repeat, rewind, repeat, rewind, but you'll get there.

Sometimes guys, when you pray in faith for things and there's someone else involved,

remember there's someone else's will involved.

So don't expect things to change just because you're praying with great faith.

God does not...go ahead.

Not necessarily.

Contractual faith would be...

Oh, two and three work in...yeah, yeah.

They work together.

Sometimes when you're praying for other people and their wills are involved, don't expect

that things may work out easily, work out fast, work out at all, because God will not

change someone else's will because you pray.

If God could change people's will if you prayed, we could have had the entire world saved by

now.

I mean, we could do it before Feb 29th because there's an extra day thrown in.

We could have finished it by Feb 29th.

But that's not the way.

Jesus, a man full of faith, could do nothing in Capernaum because there were other wills

involved.

So just remember that because sometimes you're praying for faith and you're asking God, why

aren't you coming through?

And God would love to say to you, because it's not your will, it's someone else's will

and they're not willing to bend it yet.

I'm doing everything in my power to help them change, but they're not yet willing to give

in.

When it comes to children, guys, and we'll have more children in the church over the

next few months, when it comes to children, you may have to go ahead and do what you may

not do for yourself, for your children, because you can't keep your child waiting until your

faith works.

Sometimes Christians do that where the child...

I mean, I remember my sister, I've said this to some of you before, my nephew Caleb had

an ear pain and my sister...

He came to my sister and my sister said, okay, let's pray and she prayed.

And after she prayed, she said, okay, now let's take some medicine.

So he said, well, mama, you just prayed, give Jesus some time.

So she decided, okay, she'll wait for a while.

And in this situation, the pain left and it was an amazing story that Caleb remembers.

There was another time when she prayed and the pain didn't leave.

And now she was not going to wait till the pain leaves because the boy was in acute pain.

At that time, you cannot use the child as your guinea pig to try out your faith, because

if there is a reason your faith is failing, the child will go through pain.

And God would rather that you go and do what is necessary than stand there for your child

in faith.

Yeah, just be careful of that always.

Because sometimes parents begin to exert faith for their child and if things don't happen

immediately, you are caught in this dilemma, am I not showing faith or am I showing faith?

You are showing faith, God is pleased with your faith, but he has no problem with you

taking away the pain of the child and then continue in faith.

And it doesn't mean that next time you go back to the same default, you trust God again.

It's just this one-off thing.

Next time it happens, don't go running to what you did first.

Stand again in faith.

I love that Caleb responded that way.

Mom, why are you giving me medicine?

Give Jesus time to work.

How did he get there?

Because his parents, even though they have sufficient medicines at home, taught him that

we first pray and that God heals.

Craving.

Sometimes faith fails because we crave like crazy.

Crave is to get instant gratification.

Craving is instant gratification.

It's in Psalm 106 verse 15, Psalm 106 verse 15, which says that Israel craved, God gave

Psalms 106:15 Psalms 106:15

them what they wanted, but sent leanness to their souls.

God will give occasionally what you want and he may even afford you the leanness of souls

for a while, but after some time he'll say, Jacob, I'm far more interested in your soul

than satisfying your craving.

Immediate gratification ain't going to happen now.

And mature faith learns patience.

Mature faith learns patience.

Hebrews chapter 6 verse 12, those that inherit promises, inherit promises through faith and

Hebrews 6:12

through patience.

There is an immediacy to faith and there's an eventuality to faith.

Immediacy is God has said it, he will do it.

Eventuality is God has said it, it is taking time, he will do it.

And both have to collide.

There was an immediacy to what God said to Abraham.

You will change your name.

You will be called Abraham.

There was an eventuality to what happened.

You will be called a father of faith not because you got something immediately when

you prayed.

You will be called a father of faith because you trusted God as a friend and a father and

walked with him as he brought to pass things in your life that glorify his name.

Another pitfall or downfall of the faith movement was, name it, claim it.

Immediate instant gratification.

We grew a whole bunch of Christians who were namby-pamby, immature.

Give it to me now, give it to me now.

It's mine, it's mine, it's mine.

It was a shame man.

Sorry, say that again.

Yeah, end from the beginning.

It's so critical to see the end from the beginning.

If I see the end from the beginning it becomes so much easier for me to walk through difficult

times.

If I don't see the end from the beginning, it's difficult.

This is why faith cannot be contractual.

It has to be transactional.

It has to be relational.

In relationship you know that this is who he is and how he'll be.

Resentment.

Resentment distorts God's face.

Resentment distorts God's face.

And once God's face is distorted, it's hard to trust him.

Resentment distorts God's face.

And once God's face is distorted, it is hard to trust him.

How do you straighten out God's face once it's distorted in your head?

You go back to the word and look at how he looks.

Beautiful, eh?

When your resentment has distorted God's face and everybody here has been through it,

where God didn't turn out to be who he was and his face gets distorted, when the face

of God is distorted, know this, that you will not be able to trust him.

Why do you think children who grow up in foster homes find it so hard to then trust somebody?

Why?

Because who they thought was a father, who they thought was a mother treated them in

a way that now just leaves such a horrible mark on them that they're never able to look

at a father or mother even if they're loving and see anything in them that they would like

to respond to.

How do you correct it?

You correct it by going back to the word and finding his face again.

It's the only place you'll find his face in.

You won't find it in a worship song.

One of the scary things about present day worship songs is you can make the father look

as beautiful as you want him to.

I would rather go to the word and see a scribe to him, the beauty that comes from the word,

than create my own imaginary Santa Claus without a red suit.

Any questions before we go on?

Hey, he's good, eh?

And he's a rewarder of those that trust him.

Guys, I've been through all of this and every time I go through stuff like this, I identify

where I'm stuck and then I go and restart again.

Another one is unforgiveness.

These are reasons why faith fails.

Another one is unforgiveness.

Unforgiveness or discord clogs the release of the results of faith.

Maybe some of us don't have a problem with unforgiveness, but there is this idea of discord

too.

You know, it's fascinating that James 5.16 says, confess your sins to one another.

As the elders come to lay hands on you and pray for you, confess your sins to one another

and the prayer of faith will heal you.

There is this idea that, Jacob, keep your heart clean in terms of the bitterness that

you may bear.

I've said this to the old timers here before.

One day when I was trying to come up with a message on unforgiveness, I asked God, why

is it, oh God, that you are so hung up on bitterness?

Why is it that you get so cheesed off by this whole idea of bitterness?

His answer was fascinating.

He said, Jacob, when you are bitter, there's nothing that you and I have in common.

Everything that I was and I became on the cross and everything I've done since the beginning

of time and since then has been the exact opposite of bitterness.

When you are bitter, he showed this image of a husband and wife sitting in a car and

they are sitting six inches apart, but there is a wall that is three feet thick between

them.

He says, that's how it is because you and I have nothing in common when you're bitter.

That scared me that every time I'm bitter, it's not that he isn't there, but I'm not

able to relate to him because there's nothing that he has in him that is bitter.

And then with this idea, we should also add discord.

Discord is what happens more amongst Christians than unforgiveness.

Discord is when there is a fracture, there is a brokenness in relationship, there is

sometimes a dishonouring of each other.

In 1 Peter 3.17, he talks about husband and wife and actually goes to the point of saying,

hey husband, if you don't treat your wife with honor, then know that your prayers will

be hindered.

That's one area that I won't have to deal with.

Praise the Lord.

There are some advantages.

Here's another one.

It is possible that you heard wrong.

It is possible that you heard wrong and that for some of us, especially for some of us

who've been hearing God for a while and think we are good at it, my God, to even imagine

that we heard wrong is unhandleable.

No, no, how can I hear wrong?

I am Jacob.

I hear right.

No, you can hear wrong.

And it's pride that prevents me from realigning or reexamining what I heard.

You can hear wrong.

If you're too proud to adjust or align to new orders, in Deuteronomy 1, verse 40 to

Deuteronomy 1:40–44

44, God has just told Israel, hey Israel, I told you to go up and take the land.

You decided not to.

Now I want you to know that for the next 40 years, you'll be roaming in the desert, so

don't go up.

They said, no, no, no, no, no.

We really are sorry about what we said.

We take back everything we said.

Erase, erase, erase.

We're going up to take the land.

Hallelujah, praise the Lord.

And they get beaten like crazy and they come running back.

So the point is that you have to realign and readjust when God changes his orders.

Sometimes you hear wrong.

I'm so scared that in some areas where I've seen God come through again and again and

again that I will choose not to hear him if he were to change.

I must always leave room for his sovereignty.

I must always leave room for his sovereignty.

Even when I don't understand.

When I started this whole faith journey, this used to really trip me up because I would

be so sure that I heard God and then it would be like, I can't back off now because I would

go and announce it in church and now everybody is expecting it to happen and now God is saying

something else and I'm saying that's the devil, but it's really God and I can't back up.

Oh my God, it is so difficult.

Next one, sin.

I don't know why we are so scared of the fact that some things go wrong because of sin.

Because the faith movement started saying that you are not getting what you're praying

for because you're sinful, now we've gone to the other extreme where we don't want to say

that sin could be a reason.

Man, it is a very prominent reason and if it is, since you sin every day, deal with it.

Why we bother that sin could have been the reason why faith failed?

Step in and deal with it.

Sin creates avenue for sabotage.

Sin creates avenue for sabotage.

Joshua chapter 6, or was it 7?

Joshua 6 · chapter mention

Joshua chapter 7, verse 5 and 6.

Joshua 7:5

God says to Joshua, I've given Jericho into your hands.

Joshua says, great.

He takes Jericho and then he goes to the next city.

When he goes to the next city, he's not able to take it.

He sends 3,000 men out.

They get beaten up by the Amorites and they come back.

And he has his head in his hands and he's saying, oh God, you said you'd be with me

like you were with Moses.

How come I send my men out and they come back beaten?

What am I going to do now?

And that's when God says to Joshua, hey Joshua, I just want you to know that there's a guy

in your camp called Achan.

And Achan's stolen some Babylonian silk.

You need to get rid of his sin before I can let you conquer.

I love finding out sin in my life.

As in, if there is something, find it out.

Big deal.

If you can't find out your sin, please come to me.

I assure you, I'll help you.

Pastors love doing stuff like that.

Fear-filled faith.

Sometimes what you think is faith is not faith, it is fear-filled faith.

I love it when I think I'm walking in faith and then something small happens and I panic

Gosh, that wasn't faith.

Small things.

I remember my car would get broken into.

I was so afraid to leave my car anywhere, man.

Father, I plead your blood over the car.

I plead your blood over this.

Please send your angels, your angels and those that camp around.

Every scripture, Psalm 91, my entire, I would read all of Psalm 91 over my car.

And then I realized, my God, I'm so scared.

And so I remember once telling the Lord, Father, you know, as I leave my car here,

I'm really afraid, so I'm not going to pray.

So you just take care of it.

And I walked away because my prayers were coming from such a scary place.

Fear-filled faith.

And then God, then we had a discussion and then God said, why don't you pray like this?

Father, thank you for this car.

It's yours.

I'm just returning it to your stable right now, leaving it on the road.

It's your responsibility.

You're a good steward.

It's yours.

Please take care of it.

I'll come back and use it later.

It was so much easier.

As long as it was mine, I could not protect it.

As long when it became his, it was easy to protect.

So many of this, I've met some of you and you have expressed things in faith and I know

it is from a place of fear.

My problem when I have fear-filled faith is I'm usually double-minded.

Next one.

Faith without works.

Faith without works.

If you have faith, it usually doesn't fail if your faith is already expressing itself

in works.

Faith without works usually fails.

When it is scripture being quoted, when it is prayers being said, but there's absolutely

nothing that you're doing that will cost you, then I would say, is it really faith?

Is it really faith?

Why does faith fail?

Would it be faith if Rahab said her house will be saved if she didn't help the guys

who came to Jericho?

James talks about this.

James says, hey, faith without works is dead.

Show me your faith.

I will show you my works.

Didn't Rahab do the same thing when she decided that she would hide the spice?

Hey, didn't Abraham do the same thing when he was willing to offer Isaac on the altar?

You know what faith without works looks like?

Faith without works looks like no plan B.

Faith without works looks like no plan B.

There is just absolutely no plan B.

If you fail, you're going to look really foolish.

There is no plan B.

You're stepping out saying, I will show my works by stepping out of God trusting you,

and I have no other backup plan.

Go ahead, Diana.

I'm thinking faith without works.

You say faith without works is no plan B.

Yeah, faith without works requires that I have no plan B.

But you want faith with works, not without works.

Yeah, when I say faith without works, it means your faith must have works.

Faith without works does not work.

Bible says faith without works is dead.

So that's planning without a plan B, Diana.

You have things like this.

Let me rephrase the whole thing.

So, yeah.

Let me go to plan B.

So here's plan B.

Here's plan B.

Here's plan B.

One of the ways that you know someone is walking in faith is that they are not going to be

safe.

They are not going to be safe.

They are not going to be safe.

They are not going to be safe.

So, what you know about someone is that he steps out without a safety net to show that

what he believes is what he or she is going to do.

The action is taken without any safety net.

He's got no safety net.

I love it when Peter steps out of the boat.

He's got no safety net.

I love it when Paul shakes off the serpent from his hand.

He's got no safety net.

Fomo and Mirdan.

Faith fails when you don't have encouragers to help you.

Faith fails sometimes when you don't have encouragers to help you.

The absence of encouragers.

Not WhatsAppers.

Encouragers.

WhatsApp is a whole different thing.

You're going through a difficult time and you say, I'm going through a difficult time.

And then you'll have, depending on how many people there are on your WhatsApp group,

praying, praying, praying, praying.

Amen.

God will come through.

I agree.

Oh my God.

So WhatsApp groups are not how you are encouraged.

Encouragers are those who come beside you like Erin and her.

And are able to stand with you while your muscles are collapsing

because of the strain of what you are handling.

And who are able to make it so much easier for you.

And take your trouble away.

Encouragers are not the ones who encourage you to stand under the load.

Encouragers are those that take the load.

Encouragers are those that take the load, not those that encourage you.

Hey, you just stand. Yeah, yeah.

You flex those muscles and stand.

You got more muscles left now.

No, no, no, that's not encouraging.

That's like making sure your muscles ache.

It is coming and taking the weight of things.

WhatsApp is when you say, you stand.

I agree. Amen.

Praying.

I'm unfortunately part of one WhatsApp group

which has 40 people and when they start Merry Christmasing,

my God, it's like 40 Merry Christmases in the middle of the night.

Part of being encouraged when you're going through a tough struggle

is to come to the leaders of the church.

Really, Jacob, where does it say that James 5, verse 14 and 15?

James 5:14

Are you sad? Are you sick? Are you troubled?

Come to the leaders of the church.

They'll pray a prayer of faith, anoint you with oil,

and a prayer of faith will heal you.

God will forgive your sins.

Use scriptural models, eh?

And if you don't, then what constitution are you working from?

What preamble are you using to bring to pass things in your life?

Next one.

Guys, sometimes faith fails because I don't fight the battle and persevere.

Sometimes I have to, once I stand in faith,

remember there's someone who opposes what I'm trying to walk in faith for.

There's someone who opposes it.

I've got an active enemy who actually has fiery arrows

that can penetrate and burn up your insides

if it were not for the shield of faith.

So as we go walking with God and mature over the years,

you'll find that sometimes faith fails

because I did exert faith but I did not persevere with it.

Stand. I mean, Paul puts it so brilliantly.

So don't think that, oh, Jacob, this is just too much.

I can't handle it. Grow up. You can.

Why? Because Jesus lives in you.

Why else? Because the word of God says so.

Why else? Because the Spirit of God is your help.

Why else? Because this is the way God raises up mature people

that can bring to pass on earth His will in heaven.

We can't go saying this is too much.

We can't, guys. I'm sorry that those excuses are unaffordable

because God is powerful and good and loving and fatherly.

That doesn't change.

That doesn't change.

So sometimes it requires that I persevere

through something to see it happen.

And when you can't persevere, my God,

go get a bunch of solid encouragers

who can persevere on your behalf while you take a break.

Get them. They'll take on the weight.

Oh, but I don't have good enough friends.

Who's looking for friendship?

Get encouragers who can take the weight.

If I was carrying a weight that I can't carry,

I don't care that I don't know you.

I'll put it on your back if you're willing to carry it for me.

I don't want your friendship first. I want your shoulders.

Persevere, guys.

David, what is that kind of thing that you had earlier on

when you were talking about the fear of the great change?

It doesn't tie up. It's like two separate standalone things.

One is about persevering through fiery arrows.

The other one is about hearing God if He wants to change anything around.

It's like two standalones.

So, when I've been in so many situations

where I've stood for faith for very long and nothing would happen

and I would either call people to help me,

ask God to realign anything that I need to,

and then persevere saying, this will come through.

Man, you've heard so many of my stories where

what opened the door was just joyful perseverance.

Please, perseverance is not miserable.

Perseverance can be joyful.

Perseverance is not miserable.

Joyful, why? Because you know the end from the beginning.

David had to fight through things.

Moses had to fight through things.

Elijah had to fight through things.

And if you don't persevere, then you only have two choices,

quit or compromise.

Either quit, as in forget this, it doesn't work, or compromise.

Forget this, let's just go for a shmail.

It's either one or the other.

If Isaac is being promised and Isaac is taking time,

then you only have two choices.

Let's just quit this whole thing.

Let's just forget it.

Or, ah, this is taking too long.

Let's spawn an ishmael.

Faith fails when you're exhausted.

Faith fails when you're exhausted.

It is such a cool trick of the devil.

Faith fails when you're exhausted.

It's such a cool trick of the devil.

What he does is he makes you think that you have to do all the exertion,

all the work, all the coating of scripture,

standing in front of the mirror, telling yourself who you are,

speaking verse after verse, doing something crazy.

And he just gets you so exhausted and the results are not coming

and you think to yourself, forget it.

One of the things we need to do when we exert faith is go into a place of rest.

And that can only happen if faith is not contractual.

Where you know that your dad has said so,

so now you learn to rest in it instead of exert.

What's the worst that can happen?

I mean, let's assume that the guy who gave me the prophetic word

that my dad would live was right and he lived.

So he would be about 84 years old or something now.

I'm not even calculating.

Let's assume he would be 85 years old.

And let's assume he died tomorrow.

At the end of the day, guys, some of these things we are fighting for

and for faith are really ridiculous stuff.

Fight for greater things for faith.

Hebrews 10, 35, 36 is what we should fight for.

I mean, it's good to have money.

It's good to have a job.

It's good to have healing.

All these things are really good.

It makes life really happy and nothing wrong with it.

Use faith for that.

But use oodles of faith for Hebrews 10, verse 35 and 36.

Hebrews 10:35

Sorry, Hebrews 11, 35 and 36.

That's where faith should be used.

Don't spend it all on getting a job.

Job, money and all these things come through obedience, not through faith.

Read the list somebody, Hebrews 11, 35 and 36.

That list is crazy.

That's a faith list.

Don't read so loud.

Don't read so loud.

It's overpowering.

Thereabouts.

Yeah, here goes.

I'll read it loud with my mic.

And what more shall I say?

I do not have time to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah.

I really don't have time, oh God.

It's four o'clock.

Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets who through faith

conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised,

shut the mouth of lions, quenched the fury of flames,

escaped the edge of the sword, whose weakness was turned to strength,

who became powerful in battle, routed foreign armies.

Women received back their dead, raised to life again.

Others were tortured and refused to be released so that they may

gain a better resurrection.

Some faced years and flogging while others were chained and put in prison.

They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword.

They went about in sheepskin and goatskin, destitute, persecuted, mistreated.

The world was not worthy of them.

They wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

These were all commended for their faith.

Did none of them receive what was promised?

That's crazy, eh?

You do not receive what you are promised but you are commended for your faith.

The things that we get disappointed about are really not in this list of things.

If you are getting disappointed about not being able to chase foreign armies out and conquer kingdoms, great.

I want to learn how not to strive in faith but to rest in faith.

When you strive in faith you end up saying stuff like,

I am the only one left who is saving your people, there is nobody else.

Then God will have to say something like, Jacob there are 7000 others so stop mourning.

When you strive in faith, when you have to exert it all,

learn how to see the end from the beginning and rest in faith so that God does all the work.

When you strive, here is what you are saying.

When you strive, you are saying, God needs help with what he needs to do.

When you rest, you are saying, God knows what he is doing, I don't need to tinker with it.

Here are some things that you and I can correct based on this list.

Get rid of your laziness.

I was once told by a pastor older than me, when I preach, never say get rid of your laziness

because that will make people feel like you are accusing them.

Say, let us get rid of our laziness, may I suggest to you that we get rid of our laziness.

No, get rid of your laziness.

And if the hat fits, wear it. Get rid of your laziness.

What do I mean by laziness?

Guys, there is this thing of patient perseverance which requires, my God, work man.

It requires work.

Rest doesn't mean the absence of work.

Rest means leaning back on God and accompanying him as he works.

But you have got to keep pace with God.

You can't be lazy about faith.

Try taking a lazy walk through a battlefield and hope that fiery arrows miss you.

What are you doing?

Just going for a morning walk during the battle.

No, eyes alert.

Not even scooping up water like this.

Going down to the river like a dog and lapping it up.

Because you don't want to be caught unaware.

Because your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a devouring lion seeing who he may.

Gulp down.

That's not exactly how it says it.

But the point is this, that come on man, we got to not be lazy.

So I say to you, arise, oh sleeper, awake from the dead and show me your faith in 2020.

That was a nice response.

Is that shallow?

Restart without beating yourself up.

When your faith is failing, don't spend two, three days beating yourself up saying, woe is me, woe is me.

Say woe is me a couple of times and then get up and get going again.

So you failed, you heard wrong, you sinned, you really messed up.

Well then now get up and let's get going.

Three, ask God for keys.

Why am I failing, oh God?

What is it that didn't make this happen?

He's a God who loves giving keys.

There's a famine in 1 Samuel 21.

David is saying, oh God, I've done everything you've asked me to.

Why is it that I still have a famine?

I've walked in faith, I've done what you told me, I've worshipped you.

Why am I still having a famine?

1 Samuel 21, 1.

Hey David, I just want you to know that your predecessor Saul was supposed to have established a treaty with the Gibeonites.

He broke that treaty, killed a whole lot of Gibeonites, land is under a curse, it's struck with famine.

Do you want to get rid of this famine?

Here's how.

Voila.

Find keys.

Read the word to dismiss doubt.

Read the word to dismiss doubt.

Read the word to dismiss doubt.

If you're getting to doubt, there's only one way to get out of it.

Go to the word.

Read the word to dismiss doubt.

Oh God, I doubt you here.

Well son, let me show you where to go.

Here, read this about me.

How many times did you read it, Jacob?

Once.

Read it about 16 times.

Really?

Yeah.

And what will happen?

It'll renew your mind and the way you think about me.

I'm done.

Numbers 23 and 19.

Is God a man that he should lie?

Is he like the son of man that he should say something and then take it back?

Nope.

And then listen to this verse.

Second Corinthians 1, 20.

Every promise of God is yes and amen in Christ.

Psalm 92, the last verse.

He's my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Go ahead.

Which one?

Oh yeah, yeah.

Guys, vision is impossible to walk in if there is no faith for it because it's beyond you.

Hey, and by the way, I've met with some of you once.

I've been to a church in New York.

Hey, and by the way, I've met with some of you while you're doing this vision thing.

What I'm noticing is you're writing down the things God wants you to do.

You're not writing down the dream that God has for you.

If you weren't here for the last two or three weeks, go listen to the sermon.

It's a crackerjack sermon.

And so listen to it.

It's really good.

Do they say wicked anymore?

They do?

They do?

So, but I guess it's not a right word to use in the church.

You can't say wicked sermon, yeah.

Yeah.

So guys, here's the thing.

I'm noticing that when you come and talk to me about your vision, ah, great.

You just came right at the ending of the sermon.

Great.

Here's the thing.

When you write your vision down, I'm noticing that many of you are writing down the things that God wants you to do.

I'm asking that you do that.

I'm also asking that you write down his dream for you.

What's he dreaming about you?

If that's not real, when you write, ah, I know how.

You can ask Sue, Betty, Nick about this later or anybody else who's been a teacher in the past.

When you write down your report at the end of the year for your child, what are you writing?

You're usually, I think, writing that this boy has these abilities.

I see him doing this.

This is what he is good at.

This is what he can aspire for.

This is what he can become.

There is a future casting of a teacher's dream for the child that you want to convey to the parents.

That is what God wants us to do first.

Only after that does he want us to put down a list of the things we are doing.

Make a difference of that.

All righty, we are done.

Yep.

All this time is on Diana now.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was trying to give a longer explanation since we have time.

You heard what was said five years ago that we are entering a new Kairos and by all that,

Greek was the word, we are entering a new Kairos.

We are entering a fluid time of God doing new things.

We will not be able to eat manna anymore.

We will have to work with our hands to harvest what God will have us plant.

What in the world does that mean?

Now we have got to go figure that out.

After figuring it out, we will have to use faith to make it happen.

We have got nothing except a word that a man spoke a few years ago.

We have got nothing except a word that a man spoke five years ago that has come to pass.

This is how it works.

Where now with faith, you begin to shape what God has said.

Beautiful, huh?

Which other people get the opportunity to do this?

Just imagine what you are doing.

Imagine what you are doing.

God speaks.

Be it the Logos word or the Rhema word.

God speaks.

You take those words and what do you do?

You mix it with faith.

And the words that God speaks, you use the hands of faith to shape it into something that is actually real.

Which other people in the world get to do this?

Tony Robbins has been trying it for thousands of years and after all the books he has written, he still can't get the hang of it.

He is a positive thinker who is older than me.

But the point is this, guys, we have this, I can't even tell you how my heart thrills at thinking that the words God speaks, I can now use faith so that he can have his desire here on earth.

So that he can have his desire here on earth.

Mary had to express faith.

Let it be done to me as you will.

Zechariah did not.

I would rather speak while God is working than be dumb while God is working.

So please, I beg you, in the year ahead, look at how there are certain areas where you and I haven't done well and changed those areas so that our faith does not fail.

Yeah?

I'm going to ask Joan how she is.