Understanding How Faith Works - Pastor Rob Urban

Welcome to Logan City Christian Church podcast where we bring God's word to you weekly.

We pray that what you hear will bring clarity to your situation and open doors in your life.

Enjoy the message.

God is good all the time.

You know this morning I'm just going to go straight into it because I have a message

that I believe, maybe not all of us but some of us at least, you're going to experience

a release of freedom without a doubt because I'm going to speak about faith, what genuine

faith is and I know when I got saved and I was in a faith church and you know that

emphasised on faith and for a long time I didn't feel that I fit or I was different because

I just didn't seem to have the kind of faith that was expected of me to, I don't know,

to be a Christian.

So we grow with these things and we think well I'll just accept that and maybe one day

I'll be able to have enough faith that I can be equal to everybody and that sort of thing

and so we end up doing things like trying to be like other people instead of being ourselves

and then years later I began to do a study on what faith is and I was liberated.

I was totally set free because what I was taught, what faith is, was totally different

to what I was learning.

And so today I just know, I have such a joy in my heart knowing that some of us here today

are going to experience what I experienced a number of years ago, it's just like, oh

praise God I am normal.

Wow, as normal as can be.

Talk to Chantelle about that one.

But I'm first going to explain what faith is, then how faith works, God's way and then

how we use it and how we apply it, amen.

So I'm going to speak on what is faith, how it works, God's way and how we apply it and

it's not hard.

Everything that God does is easy, He shows us.

We don't need to have a university degree to know the ways of God or the ways of the

Spirit, we need an open heart.

University degrees are good.

I got one off the back of a cornflakes packet and one day I might use it, praise the Lord.

I'm going to read Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6 and it reads here, but without faith it is impossible to

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

please Him, please God, it's impossible.

Did you know that without faith it is absolutely impossible to please God, you want to please

God?

I want to please God, I'm sure all of us want to please God and the Scripture here is saying

that if we don't have faith, it's impossible to please Him.

And so that's where I used to get hooked up years ago because I didn't understand what

it meant, what it was saying.

So I had a number of years as a Christian thinking that because by grading and comparison,

comparing my walk as a Christian with others that I didn't have faith and therefore I'm

really not, I'm not pleasing God like I should or could and it became bondage to me.

And I believe today the message is going to, anybody feels the same way like I did, you're

going to be liberated today in Jesus' name, amen.

Praise the Lord.

So but without faith it's impossible to please Him for He who comes to God must believe that

He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, amen.

1 John chapter 5 verse 4, for whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is

1 John 5:4

the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.

So faith is an important thing.

You know, for us to be able to please God we need to have faith, to be overcomers in

this world we need to have faith.

So I would say that faith is an important part of our Christian makeup.

So then we need then to understand what faith really is.

And so what is faith?

What does it mean?

Now as I said some of this may come as a surprise to some of us here today and so be it.

Praise the Lord.

So what is faith?

Faith, the word faith in the Greek is the, I'm not a Greek scholar.

You have to ask Theo for more depth in that.

But the Greek word is pistas which means this is faith, persuasion to be persuaded to trust

and an inner convincing, an inner convincing.

Faith listen to this, faith is always a gift from God and never something that can be produced

by people.

When I read that, this is straight out of a commentary and then I went to the concordance

and it says exactly the same thing.

And so I went on a journey searching to make sure that what I was reading was accurate.

And then as we follow it through with examples we've been given in Scripture we see clearly

that what is said is absolutely true that faith is always a gift from God and it's not

something that we can conjure up.

So that statement in itself began to liberate me to think, well, you know what?

Well, maybe I was a little bit more normal than I thought in those days.

And how we can build this theme to try and match others and when it comes to esteem,

self-esteem and self-worth, we don't need to listen to a motivational speaker to let

you know how good you are.

And what we need to understand is that we have in Christ redeemed self-esteem.

We have redeemed self-worth and that through the cross of Calvary we have been redeemed

by the blood of the Lamb.

And so our esteem that may have been low before we were saved now has been redeemed by God

and it's been empowered by the Spirit of God and we are a new creation in God through Christ

Jesus.

And so therefore the old person no longer is there.

There's a new creation.

And in that new creation is a person with God-centered self-esteem, self-worth.

You being a Christian, me being a Christian, there is no greater value of your self-worth

than being a Christian, being in the family of God.

God highly values you through what His Son did for us.

And so for a believer or faith for the believer is God's divine persuasion.

It's God's.

And therefore it's distinct from human belief.

Now you might be thinking, hang on a minute, Rob, you're crossing the boundary here, but

listen on.

Let me say that statement again for the believer.

Faith for the believer is God's divine persuasion, therefore distinct from human belief, but yet

human belief is part of a process in it.

And so faith is God's warranty.

It's God certifying that the revelation or the promise that He in birthed in you, the

very reality of what He in birthed in you will come to pass if we believe.

This is where we're heading this morning.

So His divine persuasion.

So God's warranty, He's certifying that the revelation or what God may be speaking to

you or what you may read in the Word of God, God is saying to us today that that revelation

somehow He in births it into our spirit.

I'm going to talk about that later.

So then God's revelation is not just information for us, it becomes an empowering moment in

our lives.

Faith is always received from God and never generated by man.

Folks, this was incredibly liberating for me a number of years ago.

Faith is always received from God and never generated by us or by man.

So the scripture says that how God has dealt with all a measure of faith.

You notice that the initiator is God and He's given in birth to every human being a measure

of faith and if they, we did, when we heard the gospel and we realized the way, the truth

and the life in Christ and that that measure of faith that we had that we knew like we

knew like we knew that this is the right way and when our believing is mixed with that

faith with that inner persuasion, the greatest miracle happened to every human being that

has ever been born again and that is salvation.

Salvation is a miracle brought by God paid at the cross of Calvary for every human being.

There are times in life I am certain, especially with me, we may seek God for direction.

You seeking God for direction now in your life?

Is there anybody here you're looking for, you know, Lord, what do I do?

You ever prayed that Lord, what do I do?

I don't know which way to go.

I just seem, there are so many options but not all of them can be right and so we can

search His Word and ask God for direction and ask God to show us but either way, when

direction does come, whether God speaks directly into your spirit or we read in the Word of

God that this is God's way, how He is wanting to lead us, you know, by His written Word

or His voice and inner confidence begins to arise in our spirit.

It's a word of God and not of ourself.

So God initiated it.

So let's look at the setting again.

I am believing God, let's say, for X, Y, Z or Lord, which way do I go?

And I have prayed, we've prayed and we said, Lord, which way do I go?

Now God may speak directly into your spirit and when He does, you know it.

And when He speaks into your heart, into your spirit man, you know like you know, like you

know, like you know that God spoke into your spirit and you know that's the right way to

go but right there at that point, or we may read the Word of God and it's given us clear

direction, right there it's really confirmed there's an inner convincing, a guarantee and

so I know that that's God and I know God's leading you that way.

So we have a decision to make.

We can mix faith with that, I mean, sorry, believe that and see the results or we can

allow unbelief to dissolve the whole process.

And this is why unbelief is so destructive to the Christian person.

So I believe when things where things can go wrong, in the case of a person desiring

something, let's say outside of the will of God, praying and believing God and saying,

I got to have more faith, I got to have more faith and believing for something that whether

it's in the will of God or not, I think what can happen is and where I was for some time,

I would read the Word and I would say, well, there's the evidence.

So I would start believing but never took the time to allow the Word to do its work in my

spirit so that what I was reading, understanding that this is a promise from God and then read

it over and over and speak it and hear myself speaking it to a point that something changes

that the promises of God come into agreement with me, my spirit being my person.

And when I and we come into agreement and understand, okay, now I understand that scripture

and now I know like I know God, I feel it, I read your scripture before, I read your

promise before, but after a few days of going over it and meditating on it over and over

again, now there's this confidence that this scripture is building in my spirit and will

build in our spirit that we know like we know like we know like we know this is it.

So then we are faced with the decision to make a choice.

Do I believe God in this?

Or do I say, oh, it happens for other people, it can't happen for me.

An unbelief will totally dissolve that.

And so faith is something that God in births.

And for years I was like, how come I don't have faith like others?

Now I understand that God has given each and every one of us a measure of faith, but he

also expects us to cry out to God, to call out to him, to ask him when we're in a time

of need or in a time of lack, whether there will be a family crisis, a relationship crisis,

a healing needed, whatever it might be, is that we then cry out to God and say, God,

I'm leaning on you.

God show me your promises.

I need to hear from you.

I need some substance from you into my spirit so then I can latch onto that and agree with

that and believe for this miracle to take place.

And this happens, it can be the rama word of God where God speaks to us or the word

of God can jump out and impact us so greatly, either way, whichever way God does it, it's

coming from God.

It's not us generating it.

Our part is to do the believing.

God's part is to impart faith.

We'll get there in a minute.

I can see something going on.

I'm not getting it.

We'll keep going.

God is Lord.

I believe it can be a discouraging moment if we are believing God for a breakthrough

of any kind and where we can be, see, I got a scripture, I know what God's word says.

I can even quote it off my heart and years later, nothing's still, nothing's happening.

My question to all of us starting with me today, the scripture you may be reading, has

it birthed a spark inside of your spirit?

Has it come alive?

Has it brought something alive in you that it's compelling, that it's convincing you

this is the truth?

And when we get hold of that truth, we go, this is faith that God has imparted into my

spirit and when I believe in agreement with that impartation, with that impression from

God that there when I believe with God on that, we will see, I will see a breakthrough

take place.

Are you still with me?

What about the other half?

We all still together this morning.

But if we are lacking a divine inner persuasion in our prayer or in our belief that God will

need a breakthrough, do you have, are you going through a crisis now?

I hope you're not, but if you are, are you believing God for a breakthrough in your life?

And we may be praying, we may be reading the word, but let me ask you this, saints of God,

is there an inner conviction?

Is there an inner persuasion that God, you know it, that God is saying to you, this is

the way to go, you know it like you know it like you know it like you know it, if you

don't have that, we need to get it.

Are you with me?

And when we get it, which is not hard to get, God's freely giving it all the time.

When we get that inner persuasion that you know that, man, this God spoke to me and I

know it's going to happen and I believe it.

I embrace it and then we begin to speak it.

God begins to move.

Faith involves an inner persuasion, an inner persuading against what we may see, hear,

or feel in this world.

I've seen it happen with a crippled man.

I've seen it with people that have been so sick that the revelation came that Christ

is the healer and they meditated on that over and over and toward the end you go and visit

them again.

You can see it in their eyes.

They're going, I had an encounter with God and I now know like I know that God is more

real than ever and I know in here, I don't know how I can tell you, but Christ will heal

me and their confession changes.

Well, let's believe together and we pray together and believe God according to that inner persuasion,

that faith that God birthed in them to get them through and miracles that happen.

You see, we need to have that inner persuasion, that faith that knowing that God spoke in

all His Word, we need that evidence, that divine evidence in our spirit man, that any

person that would try and talk you out of what you now believe, it will not have a chance.

They don't ever hope.

Are you with me this morning?

Amen.

Is there anyone here feeling like, oh, I'm getting this?

It's a lot easier than having to try and, you know, like, ring out a towel the last drop

to see if there's something for me.

It becomes this thing like works and faith, it's anyway.

Have you ever heard it said that faith is a risk?

I've never understood that.

And I'll explain why.

I think we can mix up.

I mean, I've got it wrong before, let me tell you, I have not had this nailed flat at all

for my life, Christian life.

But I've noticed some things and I've reflected back in my own life because I used to listen

to this faith as a risk and I think if it's a risk, then why would you step out?

So rather than condemning anything, I'd rather just like, well, I'm not understanding it,

I'll just keep going until I do understand it.

And I think that's whether that's right or wrong.

I really don't know, but that's what I did until the revelation came about faith.

You know, I remember Pastor Clark when, you know, you all know the story about COC when

they bought the land as $11 million and he got it for $3 million and he had $2,000 on

a credit card.

And he spoke and he shared it with as many people.

He said, yeah, but I had a convincing.

I had a knowing.

I didn't know how, but I knew it was right.

He said, even though I walked the floor, as you've heard it, at night and praying, God

provide this and that and the other and which God did.

But something that stood out to me is what he said, but God gave me.

He gave me something and I hung on to that.

Now I believe in this room this morning and those watching online that over the years,

God's given you some substance, some evidence to believe and to come in agreement with God's

Word or His direction in our life.

And maybe we have followed it and seen and experienced great breakthrough.

Maybe we haven't.

It's irrelevant now.

We're speaking about today because I believe today when we leave this place that many of

us, if not all of us are going to get hold of this and go, devil, you better look out.

You're in trouble because revelation really liberates.

Praise the Lord.

So how does this faith is a risk thing?

Where did it come from?

I believe what's happened, which I had done in the early stages of ministry, mixing faith

and belief.

And so I would believe God for something without the substance.

That's risky.

That's risky because if I'm believing something that I believe that we may need for ministry

and God hasn't given me that inner persuasion, that in-birth confidence and yet I go past

that very vital, important part that I begin to go out on my own without that inner confidence

and I start believing God for whatever it might be, that's risky.

But when God in-births faith into you and into me and we know like we know like we know

and we believe, that is not risky because God doesn't need to take risks.

You hear what I'm saying.

So believing without true faith or without divine inner persuasion, I believe, can be

a risk.

With genuine faith, there is no strain or tension.

I'll just let that sink for a little bit.

With this genuine faith, there's no strain or tension.

Rather it has the element of assurance and confidence because that's what God in-births

into us, confidence.

And this is what it is saying in Hebrews 6, that without faith, it's speaking about this

kind.

It's impossible to please God without knowing that I need to be close enough with, we need

to be close enough with God and understand that God will give us an inner persuasion

of faith that will get us through whatever.

And if we acknowledge that and we believe it, God's saying that pleases Him.

You see the difference?

That's the difference.

And so this faith that overcomes the world, that's what the Bible is speaking about in

John 5, that our faith, not our belief, our faith.

Now why does it say our faith if faith comes from God?

I'm going to answer that question in just a moment.

So regarding faith, just let me say it again.

If there is strain or tension or trying to persuade ourselves to keep from doubting,

you can be quite sure it's probably not faith.

But when we get that inner convincing, that substance in our spirit, and we know it, God

gives us that inner guarantee that we're on the right path, doesn't mean we're there

yet.

But when we believe this, miracles happen, breakthrough happens.

Jesus said all things are possible to them who believe.

So our part is the believing.

God will impart the faith, but we have to position ourselves for this to happen.

Amen.

Faith is not the law of mathematical probability.

It doesn't work like that.

Faith is not natural.

It is certainly not natural.

Faith is spiritual.

It's a gift from God.

And so the natural mind probably will never understand it.

But as spirit people, we know the ways of the Spirit as we grow in the things of God.

You know it, you feel it.

And so we cannot command faith at will.

And this was what I was trying to do and what I was taught.

And when it wouldn't work, I would feel that much less of a believer and really reluctant

to ever try again.

Faith is always something that is given.

It's in wrought by God.

It's liberating.

It is liberating.

Now I know there may be some thoughts or some scriptures you might be thinking, what about

this?

What about that?

We'll get to that in just a moment.

I'm laying a foundation here that I really believe that God wants us to know this for

sure that faith is something that He provides, something that He instills into us.

It comes from God.

It comes from God.

And I had it back to front.

I thought that I had to conjure it up.

I thought that I had to pray more and read more and do that.

And there are all good things.

It's not so much that it's incorrect.

It's incomplete.

And so the scripture says that the just shall live by this kind of faith, that it's God

knowing God.

I'm going through a test or a trial and I don't have the confidence that I need.

Father God, would you show me?

Would you speak to me?

I need some substance to believe and as we read the Word and God may speak to you and

the Word of God becomes clear and we meditate on it and then bit by bit this substance starts

building in our lives and to the end that we stand strong and firmly go, God has spoken.

God has spoken and I believe it.

And together God and us walk in victory.

And so in scripture, faith and belief are not exactly the same.

That was a main revelation for me.

Faith always comes from God, involves his revelation.

Therefore faith is beyond belief.

It is.

Anyway, let me go on.

If I'm going too fast, can someone just wave their hand and just say, hey, slow it down?

People on the sound desk are going, praise the Lord.

Faith is God's work.

Faith is never the work of people.

That shocked me.

And I'm going to explain this more deeply as we go on as I close the meeting.

We cannot produce faith from within ourself nor can we drum it up at will.

Faith comes as Christ will speak his rama word within or through his word within.

Romans 10, 17.

So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

So faith comes by hearing.

Are we listening today?

What the message is today?

Are we listening?

Because I tell you, when we listen and are open to the Spirit of God or to the Word of

God, it will transform our lives.

I believe an important part of being taught is to be teachable and to listen to what the

Spirit of God may be saying.

But then when faith comes, so that's saying that in the construction of the sentence,

so then faith comes, it's speaking in context to the person or the person that is desiring

it, does not yet have that, what they need to get through.

And so the writer, Paul, is saying, let me give you a key here.

The faith that you need, it will come.

That substance, that inner convincing that you need to get through.

It will come, but you need to be hearing and hearing the word of God, whether it be his

audible voice or whether it be us speaking out the word or maybe even today, you're hearing

the word being preached and you're hearing God's word, creating substance in your Spirit

to the point that now you're probably saying things like, now I get this thing.

Now I get it.

Now I get it.

Faith is always a response to divine revelation.

Faith both in its initiation and every step of the way is Spirit given.

Faith is God given.

I need to really emphasize this.

Faith is the divinely given conviction of things unseen.

Hebrews chapter 11 from verse one to three.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Do you see how this works?

Faith is the substance.

So faith is a substance.

God's inner persuasion in our Spirit man is a substance.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

But it's also evidence of things not yet seen.

You know that faith when God births it in your Spirit, it's evidence of things you're

not seeing yet, but you know, like you know, like you know, whether it's later in the day

or tomorrow or next week, you know it's happening.

You know it's coming.

You know it's going to happen because God in birth that in you, it is substance.

It's evidence.

And from that we mix our belief, we believe and move with God in these things.

Faith is not a condition of mind.

It's a divinely imparted grace to the heart.

We can receive faith only as God gives it.

Genuine scriptural faith is not our ability to count it done.

Let me read this.

Genuine scriptural faith is not our ability to count it done, but is the deep consciousness

divinely imparted to the heart of man that it is done.

There is a big difference.

It is the faith that only God can give.

True faith is not a struggle in the power of one's will.

It's not.

Here's a quote that I don't know who I got it from, I found it in my notes.

What a mistake it would be to take our belief in God and call it faith.

I'm not speaking about salvation, I'm believing God for something because believing without

the substance is not going to work.

So the challenge is, so what about when Jesus said to some of the people that were healed,

He said, your faith made you well.

Remember that?

So how does that fit in everything here?

The answer, I'm just going to read this because I wrote it down very carefully.

The Greek definite article is uniformly used in the expressions, your faith and their faith,

which occur over 30 times in the Greek in the New Testament.

However, this refers to the principle of faith operating in or at work in you, not your faith.

Does that make sense?

It refers to the principle of faith operating in or at work in you, but not your faith.

In the sense that faith is ever generated by the recipient, it's not.

We don't, I think you got it.

Faith involves belief, I'm going to give a few examples in a moment and then we'll close.

Faith involves belief, but it goes beyond believing because it involves the personal revelation

of the inworking of God.

Faith is always God's work, amen.

So faith and belief are two separate things, yet they work together.

Faith is inspired, God inspired and faith is God's persuasion, birth and spirit.

You're thinking, okay, I'm getting it, I'm getting it.

Good.

I don't know about you, but I need repetition to be able to catch these things.

Praise the Lord.

I don't know about you, but I need repetition to catch these things.

Just checking if you're still awake this morning.

We recognize this impression and in the persuasion when we can do one of two things, we can believe

and act on it or allow unbelief to override the divine in the persuasion, that's tragic,

but it's good when we believe.

Let's have some examples here this morning.

So let's say that there are some of us here that are believing God for salvation for family

members or some that have gone away from God, prodigal living being deceived and believing

a false Christian life if you like or whatever that may be.

So if we're going to be believing God and trusting God for them to A, be saved and truly

come to Christ or for them to turn around from whatever they're involved in to come

back to Christ, it's one thing and it's not wrong to pray, God, I pray for this person,

Lord, that you would bring him back and that you would do this and you would do that or

I pray for their salvation.

I mean, that's, as I said, it's not incorrect.

It's really incomplete.

So what we need to do, we need to gather some substance, some deep substance that we can

take hold of and speak it and believe it and meditate on it.

And for me personally, I don't really do much praying at all until I feel that conviction,

that inner persuasion that it's become so a lot, then I will pray.

And so here's an example.

I use these two scriptures a lot.

Second Peter chapter three, verse nine, the Lord is not slack concerning His promise as

some count slackness, but His long suffering toward us, not willing, not willing that any

should perish but that all should come to repentance.

So would you say then that God is an agreement with our heart for whoever that person may

be?

I would say absolutely yes.

John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He gave, He's only begotten Son, that whoever

believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

And I just use two scriptures, sometimes more with different situations, that I won't begin

to pray until such time that I am utterly convinced, totally, totally, if you like, saturated

with the revelation, this is the will of God for the person that I'm believing for.

And keep reading it.

There are times that I have read and meditated on these things for weeks.

And it's just like you're hitting a brick wall, hitting a brick wall, and that just seems

like one day, it's like the veil is pulled back and this revelation comes, this inner

convincing comes.

Yeah, I got it, God wants this more than I do.

And we're on the same team, we're in agreement together with, and somehow God when we believe

His Word, when we really believe it, that their God begins to trickle in this inner convincing,

this substance, this guarantee in our spirit.

And then when we pray from that position that we now have substance when we begin to pray,

oh boy, does that shake the heavens and the earth?

Absolutely yes.

Because your will, my will, my belief is lined up in an agreement with God's will.

And the words that we speak there carry power, carry authority.

And we see things happen.

And God's not willing that any would perish.

So do you have a loved one perishing right now?

I encourage you, do this, you will see change.

Not yet saved or deceived or walking in a false Christianity as I said, or deception,

whatever it might be, walked away from God.

I don't think it really matters to God what it is.

I just know God, whatever it is, if we wait on God and really be patient, He will in birth

in you that faith, that substance, that inner convincing that you need, the substance that

we get hold of and from that position that we begin to pray and believe, oh boy, you

begin to see things change.

We do.

But we first need that inner convincing.

That is faith.

It was given by God.

We positioned ourselves to receive it, but God gave it.

Is that making sense this morning?

Trying to believe in a promise with the absence of divine in birth persuasion is not really

true faith.

So what do we do?

As I said, we meditate on the Scripture, on God's promises, we read it, we speak it out

aloud over and again, and when it becomes alive in your spirit, it's like a divine spark

that lights you up inside.

Something changes inside of you.

Something changes inside of us.

It's God has just touched that place in your life, in your spirit that from hope it's just

like, I have this, I can take this to the bank as we say, and it's good.

There's no fault in what God is doing.

I have now, I have substance that I can stand from this position and pray because I know,

like I know, like I know, this is God.

Amen.

Amen.

It's this kind of faith that moves mountains.

It's this kind of faith that says, pleases God.

It's this kind of faith that overcomes the world.

It's this kind of faith, it's simple.

To me, it's just like, I'm a mechanic and I can do this.

Not saying mechanics are dumb because there's a lot of us in this church.

I think there's about seven retired, burnt out mechanics in this place.

11, sorry.

So we're not dumb, are we guys?

One of them's a girl too.

We're not dumb.

We're just different.

Praise the Lord.

What about healing?

First Peter 2.24, see, we need some substance.

We need substance.

We need a guarantee.

We got to get that first.

And when we get it, then we begin to pray.

That's when things change.

First Peter 2.24, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we having

died to sins might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.

Do we believe it?

It's spiritual, physical, emotional healing.

You see, we can quote Scripture, but has that Scripture created an assurance inside of us?

Is there solid substance that it's created?

And if it hasn't, keep working on that.

That's where our victory is.

That's where it's at.

And that when God begins to flow that into your spirit, and then we agree with it and

we believe it and we begin to speak it, act on it, my Lord, the things that God will do.

Praise the Lord.

Praise God.

Mark 11.22, I'm going to close in a second.

Some of you are saying, I've known you for over 20 years, you are not closing in a second.

I'm nearly done, guys.

This is an incredible passage of Scripture that I'm sure all of us know very, very well.

And I'd like to just make reference to things for the sake of time without actually reading

all of it, but it's important that I should, but I just don't have time.

But you'll hear where I'm going with it.

You see, Jesus went and healed blind Bartimaeus and there's one of the things happening and

then he comes in riding on a donkey and people are celebrating him and just saying, wow, here

comes the Savior of the world.

And excuse me, saying, Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the

Lord, everything's going really, really good.

And it says, when Jesus went into Jerusalem into the temple and he looked around at all

the things as the hour was already late and he went to Bethany with the 12th, Jesus went

to the temple and he looked around and he just thought, look at what they are doing here.

We see it later, it says they're buying and selling, there was thievery, there was just

corruption, people taking a shortcut through the temple to get to the Mount of Olives and

all this was just no respect for the house of God.

And so what happened was on the next day when they had come out from Bethany, it says Jesus

was hungry.

And so, you know, seeing a fig tree a fair way away and it said having leaves, he went

to see perhaps there would be something defined on it, something that he could eat.

And from my understanding, the fig tree produces the fruit first and the leaves come after

to protect the fruit.

So the sign is that if it's got leaves, it should have fruit.

And Jesus goes there and he looks at it and there's no fruit.

And remembering the day before that he went to the temple and the fig tree is a type of

the temple of the church, of the religion of that day and that he was seeing it's just

the same.

Here is the religious order, it's not producing any godly fruit, it's showing all the leaves

that it's got everything, it's got God, got everything, but inside there's no fruit.

And so when Jesus then sees that fig tree, he cursed the fig tree and then he moved on

and he went on.

Then he goes and pays a visit to the temple and he really tells them what's up and what's

wrong and that sort of thing.

So what happened is Jesus said never let anyone eat fruit from you again, this is what he

says to the tree.

And so, and off they go.

The next morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots and Peter

remembers said to him, Rabbi look the fig tree which you cursed has withered away.

And Jesus said something really amazing here.

He said, have faith in God.

That's what he's saying.

Let sure before you go and pray, believe whatever it is, make sure you have that inner convincing

first.

You see Jesus, he cursed the fig tree and kept going.

He didn't go half an hour and come back with a spade or shovel and dig to see, oh is it

withering yet?

Maybe I need to do it again.

And then he didn't come back that night and dig around and go, Jesus I hope it's working.

He didn't do that.

He walked up to it, he saw it, he spoke to it.

He said, let no one ever eat fruit from you again and that tree died from the roots up.

Jesus never went back to check.

He knew that that tree was going to die.

He didn't keep going back and checking on it.

The disciples are going, gee Lord, what have you done?

What have you done?

Jesus said, have faith in God.

Get that inner persuasion inside you.

Now I'm not saying or suggesting that you go home and you see your neighbor's favorite

plants and vegetables and that and start cursing them so they all die.

I'm not suggesting that.

But there are other things in life that, you know, but the Scripture says that have faith

in God.

If you have this faith in God, the one that I'm speaking about, you get this inner persuasion,

you believe God and then you work with that.

For Jesus said, for as shortly I say to you, whoever says to the man, are we speaking to

the problems in life?

If we are, what are we saying to them?

Be removed and cast into the sea.

Now this is a person typically speaking, already possessing the in-birth faith, the confidence,

the assurance, this knowing that God has already in-built in-birth this faith in me and from

that position, now I'm saying to the problem, be removed and cast into the sea and does

not doubt and he said, in other words, that you agree with that inner persuasion from

God but believes that those things he says will be done.

He will have whatever he says there for I say to you, whatever things you ask when you

pray, believe, you receive them and you will have them.

You cannot exclude verse 25 and 26, unforgiveness is something that needs to be dealt with.

I will mention that briefly but it does.

Jesus said, if there's unforgiveness, ain't gonna work but I just wanna close on this

one thing with Joshua.

To me this is incredible.

Joshua chapter 6, the walls of Jericho.

Joshua 6 · chapter mention

Now you and I would, I'm sure we would agree together to say that that was a very strong

fortified city that no one could get in.

When the gates are shut, that's it, forget it, it's not gonna happen.

Nobody ever did before.

But God's people come along, they cross the Jordan and the first challenge that they are

faced with is the biggest stronghold, how typical, how God works.

God gave Joshua a promise, he said, Joshua, I've given you this land and you need to take

it and you're gonna go to Jericho and this is what you're going to do.

You're gonna get the priests and you're gonna get your soldiers and you're gonna walk around

the perimeter of those walls for seven days and the first day you walk around once.

Now none of you can say a word, none.

Joshua, wow, he said then the second day you do the same, third day the same, ride up,

the sixth day the same, you just march around, don't say a word, go back to your camp.

On the seventh day, he said, Joshua, it's gonna be different.

You march around that wall seven times and on the seventh time, on the seventh day, you,

the priests and everybody, the priests are gonna blast the trumpet and everybody's gonna

shout and the walls are gonna fall flat.

Remember the story?

Yeah.

Here's the thing.

You know it happened.

See Joshua had substance, he had faith, he had direction from God and he followed it.

I mean it was the most unnatural thing to do.

How can a wall, how can walls, they say it didn't so much fall flat, it was pressed into

the ground, that's what I've understood.

How does that happen?

God can do anything.

When there are walls that are hedging you in and walls of containment in your life, that

maybe people have put there from previous relationships, whatever, have faith in God.

God will show you away how those walls can come down.

But we need to give Him the time and the place to do this.

But here's, as I close, here is the whole thing in the end.

Why couldn't they have just done the seventh day?

Walk around seven times and then shout.

In six days we could have had hot dogs and sauerkraut and have a good time.

You see the first day they walked around was equally as important as the last march when

they blew the trumpets.

You see God began to do something on the first day that they agreed that they would go out.

So as they took their first step out to march on that first day, God was starting to do

something.

And I believe that when we have that inner persuasion and we step out and believe God,

God starts to do something straight away.

I don't think He waits for one second.

And then on the second day, the second day was equally as important as the seventh as

the first.

And our faith in God, the belief that we have in the faith God's imparted into us, even

though we do not see any evidence in what we are doing, we don't see it.

But when God in births faith into you, you feel it.

You know it.

You know like you know that God is up to something here.

Then the fourth and the fifth and the sixth day.

And the walls came down.

I want to encourage you this as I close right now.

Just because we may not see things happen straight away doesn't mean God's not working.

He's working.

Get that inner persuasion, that faith that God gives to man that we can't drum it up

ourselves, we position ourselves for it through the Word of God, through the spoken Word of

God, whatever it, how God ministers to us.

And when we get it and then listen to it and speak it and over and over until it becomes

alive in us.

And that divine spark sets us a light inside that we walk away going, man, this is it.

I know this is going, I know God has spoken, I know this is the end result.

Even before we start, I know it.

And I believe it.

We step out, start marching in the spirit, if you like, around those walls that have

held you from prospering so long.

See them come down in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you for joining us.

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See you next week.