Counterfeit Faith

You're very welcome to today's Triumph Church podcast.

We pray that you enjoy the message.

But it is a a blessing to us to be with you.

The Lord very supernaturally joined us.

It's been an interesting way to, you know, that he has tied our

hearts together over period of time.

We are in a phase of our ministry that we feel called to

plant churches around the world. And some of them are literally

plants where we put a pastor that wasn't there before and

then begin, you know, through our relationship with him,

contributing to the growth of that ministry spiritually as

well as naturally. But then there are a lot of

other churches that already were in existence.

And we found some of those in Uruguay and Bolivia and El

Salvador and the Dominican Republic and, and of course,

Pastors Brad and Amy. And that he joined our hearts

with theirs. And part of the process that we

feel called to do is to be an agent or a partner in ministry

together with the people that the Lord joins us with to enable

their growth, to enable their increasing influence in their

community. Because that's what it's all

about. We're not here just to be a

religious social club that is inward in terms of the blessing

we are looking for perhaps, but to be a change agent in the

world that God has put us in, to be a source of influence for the

Kingdom of God that wouldn't be there otherwise.

And, you know, it was not too long ago that a couple of years

ago we started this process. We are now we have 22 church

plants or affiliations such as you have become to us in eight

different countries in the last two two years and a few months.

And so the Lord's doing a quick work and part of his direction

to us is to in an instant such as this, where a viable church

is already growing and and becoming an influence to enable

that process to to be expedited to be enhanced in whatever way

we can. And one of the things he's put

on our heart is the, you know, the importance of, of the

relationships that are created, not just culturally around the

world, but the body of Christ is a, you know, collection of

different cultures, different talents, personalities, each

making its own contribution to the larger body of Christ for

the for the purpose of glorifying the Lord in this

earth and producing growth and influence for the Kingdom of

God. So as that process unfolds, in

many instances, it's simply a matter of us trying to enhance

your influence in a ministry. And in that process, you know,

really is much focused on the significance of a building.

That seems like a natural consideration.

We can have church and a home. We can have it anywhere we want

to have a church. But yet the Lord spoke to us

clearly that one of the greatest evangelistic tools that a church

has is a building. It is a point of identity in a

given community, and it draws people to to see what's going

on. I mean, even, you know, for us,

it's been very much that same truth.

We've passed through a number of different facilities since we

started our church in a motel conference room just like this.

And then we, you know, outgrew that and went to a, you know,

well, it was an auditorium in a local Community College.

It would seat a few 100. And we outgrew that and made a

deal with a developer in an industrial park to build us out

some space in one of his buildings.

And we had a 1500 seat sanctuary in there.

And then in a few years we'd outgrown that and built our own

building then. And you know, it's, it's like a

process. And of course, that building,

every time we changed to a new facility, a new building, you

know, I would say within a matter of a year or so, we had

doubled in size. People are interested.

It's draw, it draws people to see what's going on in a

particular facility. And so of course, you know, we

know that you are the church individually.

Buildings aren't to be the the principal goal except to the

extent that it enables us to exercise greater influence in a

community because that's what it's all about growing the

Kingdom of God. If you believe the word of truth

that you've been taught is a life changing experience for

you. Well, the Lord says if we make

the effort to disciple nations, then it'll change nations.

There are two groups of nations at the end of the age that are

going to be, you know, judged according to Matthew 25, the

judgment of the living nations, goat nations, and, and of

course, those that are sheep nations that are part of the

purpose and plan of God. And that's who is going to

populate the millennial reign. And of course, it would be a

shame to have a culture such as Irish culture or any of the

national cultures we might think of be excluded as a national

identity in the millennial reign of our Lord.

And you know, of course, your participation in the eternal

ages to come isn't dependent upon your national identity

identity, but it would be a shame for you to be there

without the culture you were intended to influence.

And so it's important that we see the discipleship of all, all

nations as a significant thing for all of us to be participants

in. You might say how, you know,

obviously we'll talk about that as we get into today's message,

but this is kind of who we are right now in terms of what the

Lord's called us to do. We still have our our ministry,

our church in, in Minneapolis. And of course, that's an

important part of the calling of God on our life.

I had actually thought that was to be my final calling, you

know, was to be a pastor. And I was very comfortable with

that because I've done it for decades and, you know, didn't

hold any threatening unknowns for me.

So I was happy just to remain a pastor in my my latter years.

I got my own burning Bush and said, no, you're, you're to use

what you have stewarded on the Lord's behalf to this point is a

springboard into all of the world and to plant churches,

make disciples of all nations. We're excited to be joined with,

you know, Brad and Amy and this wonderful venture along with the

other other churches that we have either planted or become

affiliated with. Anyway, it's, it's really good

to be here. It's it's hard for me to I mean,

select from the word of God, which is so broad and so

beautiful. You know, a specific message for

a one hour that that would be the most by the way, 45 minutes

sermon perhaps whatever this turns out to be.

So you have to agree with me that I'll have the utterance

that he plans for you to benefit from today.

I've got a a lot of possibilities, but let's just

take a moment and pray. Father, we thank you that what

we're doing is not simply a a natural matter.

It's not just a a normal venture to do our religious duty on a

Sunday morning. It isn't a matter of being

entertained by a man or person. We are here for the sole purpose

of hearing from you. You tell us the one word from

you can change our experience of life.

So we thank you now as we exercise our faith for divinely

inspired utterance and the anointing that destroys every

yoke of bondage. This being a time when we're

graduated to another degree of glory in you.

We believe for that in Jesus name, Amen.

Well, as we, you know, as I kind of struggle a little bit with

what, what to preach, you know, I could not get away from

something that I know you're already very familiar with, and

that is faith. I'm so I'm going to talk to you

about faith. And that's really what our

ministries are often referred to as Word of Faith.

I'm not sure I like Handel's all that much because it tends to

seem exclusive, but when we talk about being a faith ministry,

that isn't something that should alienate or even especially

attract, because it's simply referring to the word of God.

This is the Word of Faith. This isn't a particular weird,

you know, or different kind of church.

Then then all churches are called to be.

We're all called to be Word of Faith churches because that's

what this Bible is. It is the Word of Faith and in

the in the word itself tells us that we have to be certain if

we've been justified by the blood of Jesus that we live by

faith. We don't live by, you know, the

casual coincidence that may unfold in somebody's life if

they or the the fruit of a good education, although that's

important or the fruit of something else, hard work.

You don't you don't experience what you can experience in life

through the Lord. If you limit it to those kinds

of considerations, It is faith that is going to determine your

ultimate experience of life, your ultimate quality of life.

You know, as Pastor Brad was talking a few moments ago about,

you know, the, the generosity of a, a woman that had very little

to give, but she was willing to give it all.

And of course, that's the heart condition that the Lord wants to

cultivate in all of us. But why are there people who are

generous when the word says, if you sow sparingly, you reap

sparingly, you sow bountifully, you reap bountifully.

Well, He doesn't measure generosity in terms of dollars

and cents, but rather on the basis of what you have to give.

So why wouldn't she be abounding now out of that poverty that she

began with? And I guess the most basic thing

you can say about that is you have to believe that the Lord

wants you to prosper. You have to believe that God's

into your financial increase because that's what the Word

says. The Bible says he takes pleasure

in the prosperity of His servants.

The Word of God says He wishes above all things that you

prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers.

The Word of God tells us He wants you to have all

sufficiency in all things. Why?

So you can abound to every good work.

But if you don't know these things, you can't invest your

faith in them. But even if you do know them

intellectually, that's not good enough.

You have to invest your believing in these things to see

the fruit of the promise of God come to pass in your life.

You have to believe. There are a lot of religious,

there are a lot of religious efforts that we all make from

time to time, you know, to align our words with the word of God,

to align our thoughts with the word of God, to base our

relationships on the word of God.

So we strain to make it happen in this natural arena, often

can't and wonder why, you know, things are not working in that

particular arena as they should be, because it's not by works

that you gain these things. It's the grace of God, and yet

the Bible tells us we can only appropriate the grace of God by

faith, beginning with our salvation.

So it all comes back to what you believe you're going to

experience a life in terms of your quality of life or

experiences in general in life in line with what you believe.

Faith is defined, and this is important.

You get this. Faith is defined as the

investment of your belief system in the Word of God.

When the Bible talks about faith, it's not talking about

OK, the Christian faith as opposed to the Hindu faith, or

no, it's not a particular religious pursuit.

The word faith in the Bible is defined as the investment of

your belief system in the Word of God because the Bible tells

us that a man is as he thinketh in his heart.

You are going to be what you believe and it shouldn't be a

hard understanding that you know we have to work to get.

You are a product of your belief system.

You make choices every day that are going to be based on what

you believe is in your best interest.

If you're normal, what is in yours or your family's best

interests. That's the way you make choices

each and every day of your life, and you make dozens of them.

And the Lord says every one of those choices you make is going

to fall in the category of life and blessing or death and

cursing. And he says he wants you to

choose life over in Deuteronomy 30 where he tells us that, but

the choice is yours because you're a free moral agent.

And this understanding, you know, it shocked me how few

people really have this a grasp on this truth.

But he will allow you to experience death and cursing,

even though he loves you so much.

He sent Jesus to redeem you from the touch of death in every

arena. It's his will that you make a

choice for life and blessing. But if you choose death and

cursing, and that's what the Bible is a revelation of how to

make right choices, how to invest your decision making in

the judeo-christian ethic, the value system, the ethical

standards of the Bible. This is how you make good

choices for life and blessing. And he tells you how you know

the opposite choices that you would make affect you in terms

of death and cursing and the touch of it.

So even if you're saved and you believe that God loves you and

you can't understand why, you know, you've prayed to be healed

or you've prayed to be successful in the financial

arena so you can abound to every good work, but nothing seems to

be happening. You know, we've preached faith

for 45 years in our ministry. And, and one of the most

consistent things that I have had to deal with as a pastor

over the years are people who come to me and say, pastor, I

believe the word of God. I made a decision to believe the

word. I have prayed and it's not

changing anything in this natural arena.

You know this, that's what faith does when you invest your faith.

OK, so much to say on a basic plane, but we we deal with two

realms of truth in our lives, the spiritual arena of truth and

the natural arena of truth. This is these are the two realms

of truth we have to live in. We've been created with a

physical body and a the ability to navigate this temporal world

that we live in. And that world is governed by

the laws of physics that are very real and that you have to

cooperate with. You'll never get so spiritual.

You can jump out of a tree and fly like a bird.

You're going to go down because of the law of gravity.

So you know, there are physical laws we cooperate with in the

temporal arena, but there's a higher realm of truth called the

spiritual realm. This is the realm you become a

part of when you're born again. You become spiritually alive

unto God. And so now you have a whole

different arena of truth that you have to that I say you have

to. You don't have to do anything,

but if you want to change your natural situation, you need to

invest your believing in the spiritual truths of the word.

When there's a contradiction will net with natural truth.

Often times there's not a contradiction.

That's fine. You believe something in the

Word, and that doesn't contradict anything you see in

this natural temple arena. And that's good, but they're

going to be many times you believe something in the

spiritual arena about who you are in Christ.

And that's an important beginning point.

Who you are in Christ, This is the real you.

When you're born again, you're a new creature in Christ.

You've never existed prior to the time you were born again on

a spiritual plane. You were spiritually dead or

separated from God. But when you get saved, you make

a decision to believe that Jesus paid the penalty for your sin.

You become spiritually alive unto God and He sees you in

Christ. There are many wonderful

scriptures in the Word about being in Christ.

There are also scriptures that talk about His being in US and

that being our hope of glory. But there is a melding of our

life with His when we become born again.

And you become on a spiritual plane according to the word of

God, you become the healed, the delivered, the set free, the

prosperous. This, this is how God sees you.

This is who you are. But you get up in the morning

and you look in the mirror and you're not healed.

You're sick as a dog. You don't feel good.

So why are you walking with sickness and disease when God

says by the stripes of Jesus you were healed, therefore you are

healed? Well, here's a conflict between

spiritual truth and the natural reality you're dealing with on a

daily basis. The Word says you become the

righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

The moment you're born again, you have right standing with

God. That also implies A behavioral

change. But the most important

understanding, at least out-of-the-box, is that you have

right standing with God. No matter what you do, you still

have right standing with the Lord.

Religion says no. You know, you, you go out and

sin after you're born again, you know you're going to have to get

forgiven by God. You're going to have to grovel

around in repentance. No, the Bible says that if

you're saved, there is no condemnation in Christ.

He sees you as cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.

Once you make the decision to be born again.

That's not an OK to go sin. It's just saying that he doesn't

see you any differently when you do now.

Your experience of life will be different.

He hasn't separated himself from you when you sin, you've

separated yourself from him. He's still there.

He never leaves you, never for sex.

You. I don't know why I'm getting

into all of this. I have to trust the Lord in

this. But He sees you as cleanse even

the day after you did something dramatically wrong.

But you're going to eat the fruit of a decision for cursing

and death unless you do something.

He hasn't left you, you've left him.

So when we see in first John 17 through nine that we confess,

the word simply means acknowledge, and that restores

us to our place in him. You say, well, you know, when I

when I sin, bad things happen. Yeah, you've chosen death and

cursing and you're not going to be able to receive the purposes

of the Lord, which is your healing, your deliverance,

whatever it might be. You're not going to receive

those kinds of things because the word says your heart will

condemn you. Jesus doesn't condemn you.

The Lord doesn't condemn you, but your heart will condemn you.

And in first John three, it talks there about how we have no

confidence in God. That's a synonym for faith, and

therefore you won't receive what you ask of Him.

So when you when that's just a natural fact of life for a

believer, when you deliberately, especially if it's a deliberate

sin, your heart will condemn you or later you discover it is your

heart. You can't love the Lord and not

have your heart condemn you. And it affects your your faith,

your ability to receive the the promises and principles of God.

Well, you know, this is a whole nother arena of teaching and

consideration we could get into, but it's important you see that

distinction. We live in two realms of truth.

You make decisions to believe who you are in Christ.

That is the dominant truth. It created this temporal world

that we live in now. The realm of the Spirit did.

And so when you invest, you're believing in the spiritual truth

of who you are in Christ. And that contradicts the natural

fact. It changes the temporal,

temporal arena in 2nd Corinthians 418 there it talks

about that realm is subject to change.

That's what the word temporal actually means, temporary.

We get our English word from it. So the other realm, the scene

realm of the unseen realm, the spiritual realm is unchanging

and it's eternal. So when you invest you're

believing in that realm, then it changes your natural

circumstance and the dominant realm of truth takes over and

you your healing happens, your deliverance happens, your

financial blessing happens. So that being the case, and

since getting more back on the subject here, when you believe

that that's the truth and you invest your faith in the word

that says these things and then you put corresponding action

with that faith. I mean, that's an actual a

natural outworking. It isn't a legalistic effort

you're making. But when you truly believe

something, you act on it. If you're not acting on it, you

haven't come to a place of faith yet.

And so when you, when you get to a place of faith where whatever

it is you're considering is concerned, it changes the way

you behave in that regard. But I get, I get asked that

question so much over the years, I believe and yet nothing

changes. I believe, I know I do.

I've made a decision to believe. And I've said before making a

decision is the starting point. You need to do that.

But faith is a process of altering A belief system that

has been in place since you were born, since you since you were

born into this earth. You hear things that begin to

shape what you believe, maybe from well meaning parents, a

philosophy professor in school, a friend that you thought was

particularly cool or something. You hear all of these things

about life and it shapes a system of belief that now needs

to be changed once you're born again.

And so you've got to, you've got to begin absorbing the new

truth, the new realm of truth that you've decided to believe.

It just begins with the decision.

You've got to begin absorbing that new realm of truth by

hearing and hearing and hearing that truth.

Meaning you're going to have to give consideration to your own

words, which you hear more than anybody else's.

That's why what you speak is so one of the reasons why it's so

important. You've got to understand there's

certain people you can't fellowship with.

That means have a sharing of heart with Bible says what

concord has Christ with Belial or the believer with the

unbeliever. The answer is none.

So you know, the fellowship that you had at one point in time

with people that are not believers or don't believe the

word that you believe, you can, you can even be talking somebody

else that's born again, but they don't know or care about living

in line with the word of God. You can't fellowship with them

either. And fellowship means a sharing

of heart. It means you can't listen to

them. You can't put yourself in a

posture of, of being affected or influenced by their opinions.

Even though you may, you know you know you, you may like them

or respect them for other reasons and other ways.

You can't fellowship with them. It'll infect your belief system.

It doesn't mean you can't have a relationship with people that

are unsaved. You need that because the Lord

may need you to bring them into the Kingdom.

So you maintain a relationship by loving them, being kind to

them and you know these kinds of things, but you don't interact

with them on a heart level or it will infect you.

Don't know why I got into that at the moment either.

But so the point being, I get asked, you know, Pastor, you

know, I think I believe. Well, if you think you believe,

you don't. Or pastor, I have made a

decision to believe. Well, that's good.

That's starting point. But that's not where you, you

know, just automatically assume you got faith.

Now, there's a scripture that mandates us to examine ourselves

whether we be in the faith. That's in 2nd Corinthians 13

five. So let's go there for a moment.

2nd Corinthians 13 five, I guess you all got it up there.

OK, well, that's nice. But the word says here, examine

yourselves whether you be in the faith.

So this is for people who thought they were in the faith,

people who are wondering why, you know, they're since they

decided to believe, they haven't gotten healed.

They haven't gotten, I mean, prosperity is nowhere close.

Whatever it was they're believing for hasn't occurred.

Well, we're told in verse 5 to examine yourselves, whether you

be in the faith, prove your own selves.

That's an interesting word. That Greek word is perosmos,

translated prove here. And of course, you know, we see

it used in other ways and other places.

That's another message. I can't go there.

But it it means to put pressure on yourself before the enemy

puts pressure on you. You examine yourselves and prove

your own selves. Know you, not your own selves,

how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates.

I did a series called Reprobate Faith not too long ago.

Reprobate means counterfeit. It means put to the test and

failed on trial and reprobate faith is counterfeit.

Faith fakes people out. They think they're in faith and

truly they are not in faith. And so he says the solution to

this is to examine yourselves, whether you be in faith.

If you got the amplified rendering of this handy, If you

do, then I'll read that for a moment.

Test and evaluate yourselves to see whether you are in the

faith. Now that's going to be told how

we do that in the balance of this verse and living your lives

as committed believers. Examine yourselves, not me.

You know, a lot of people say, well, the word doesn't work.

You know, I've tried this now for six months a year, the faith

message it, it just flat doesn't work.

Now you're trying, you're putting him on trial.

He said no, examine yourself, not me.

Or do you not recognize about yourselves by an ongoing

experience that Jesus Christ is in you?

Unless indeed you failed the test and are rejected as

counterfeit. So then there are two big

things. Is this the amplified?

Huh. OK, there is a rendering that

talks about holding to your faith.

Oh, amplified classic. Well, OK, the amplified classic

says holding to your faith. Holding to your faith and

showing the proper fruits of it. The classic Amplified says that

you need to hold to your faith and show the proper fruits of

it, and then of course, that Jesus Christ is in you.

So these are the three main points that we are to test when

we evaluate our faith, when we examine ourselves, whether we be

in the faith. And the first of those would be

holding to your faith. It's not.

It's not real faith. It's counterfeit faith.

It's reprobate faith. If you put a deadline on your

faith, look at it that way. Faith has no deadlines.

You can't say Lord doctor told me I'm going to die within the

next year. OK, here.

Here we go. Is this the amplified classic?

OK, examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see

whether you're holding to your faith and showing the proper

fruits of it. Holding to your faith means you

don't put any deadlines on God. When you say, Lord, doctor told

me I got a year to live, you got to do something.

You got to do something within the next few months or I'm going

to die. Well, Lord, I'm on the verge of

bankruptcy. If you don't, if you don't help

me out here, you know I'm not. I'm going to have to shut down

my business. I'm going to have to do this or

that. No deadlines.

Faith doesn't see a deadline as being an issue because you know

it just doesn't. The promise of God is you and

Amen. Whether it comes to pass

tomorrow or two years from now. Your your deal is to hold to

your faith until you see the promise manifest.

And it doesn't really matter how long it takes.

It seems like most Christians have a, a limit, you know?

Well, I've, I've been tithing for a year now.

I've been tithing for two years now and I haven't seen the winds

of heaven opened in my life. Well, the Lord said this is one

place you can prove him, but you don't do it by putting a

limitation on him. You prove him by making a

decision to tithe. From now on, it doesn't matter

whether you see anything or not. This is something you believe

and the windows of heaven will be open.

Can't be any deadlines. So essentially we see that being

the first point of examination in verse 5 of chapter 13.

Are you holding to your faith, showing the proper fruits of it?

That does not mean getting the manifestation of what you're

believing for. You know, a lot of people say,

well, I don't, you know, I don't see the fruit of healing or I

don't see the fruit of prosperity.

So, you know, this must not be working.

That's not the fruit that you're to be measuring by Galatians 522

the fruit of the spirit. Brother Hagin is taught that the

capital S in spirit. There really should be a little

S because it's talking about this being the fruit of sowing

the seed of God's Word into the soil of the human heart.

And of course, that's the seed principle Jesus talks about in

Mark chapter 4. You know, the seed is the word

Mark 4 · chapter mention

of God. You got some challenges to keep

that the soil of your heart cultivated properly and then

it'll produce fruit. 3060 and a hundredfold.

The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 522 tells us what

fruit we should be experiencing as a result of that seed being

sown in our heart. Now, this is a big test for you.

You're testing your faith. I mean, this is how you examine

yourself, whether you be in the faith.

Are you showing Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness?

Look at the fruit of the Spirit and see if these things are true

for you. Even when the pressure's on,

when the pressure is on and the symptoms haven't been alleviated

or the, you know, the money hasn't come in and you're

feeling like time is running out.

Do you have peace? Because if you're in faith, you

do you have joy? Are you still able to love

people that treat you poorly, really badly?

And yet, you know we're called to love them.

As a matter of fact, the word says that faith only works by

love. Love being agape, meaning to

give to someone else. When your motivation isn't self

concern, your faith will work. You know, if if your only

motivation is to get healed, you probably won't.

If, if if you're, you're, you know, you haven't thought beyond

that. Why?

Why are these truths of God available to us?

It is ultimately to accomplish His purposes in life, not to

serve, as you know, to satisfy the demands or lusts of our

flesh. He wants you to be healed so you

can be a a witness or witness for Him.

He doesn't want you to be a fat, happy couch potato.

And if you're not using, if your faith isn't grounded in the love

of God, that's what it amounts to.

What do you, what do you believing for?

What's the reason? Well, I don't want to have to

deal with the pain anymore. I don't want to have to, you

know, believe God just to pay the bills every month anymore.

If you're believing you got peace and you have joy, you're

able to treat people lovingly, your motivation is turned

outward. It isn't simply a motivation

that would serve your carnal nature, but it is turned outward

to other people's benefit, the higher purposes of God.

And, and you know, so hey, this is a biggie.

Take a look at the fruit of the Spirit because he says this is

part of the examination. Are you holding to it?

That's why we are told to be imitators of those through who

through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Patience meaning that you're holding to it.

The word patient means to endure, and it carries the

connotation of cheerful endurance.

So you cheerfully enduring. Are you walking around on your

lower lip, feeling sorry for yourself, hanging on by your

fingernails until the Lord finally gets around to doing

something? No, that's not faith.

That's reprobate faith. That's counterfeit faith unless

you're holding to it. And you're not going to change

unless you're showing the proper fruits of your faith.

The peace and the joy comes first.

I've had people say to me over the years, man, I'd be peaceful

and I'd be joyful if I had my healing.

Or when the day comes that my prayers are answered, you know

I'll be peaceful and joyful. No, it's got to come first.

And that's what faith will do. It'll bring it.

It'll bring it. And when the fruit of the Spirit

is there and you can be kind to people even when they shout at

you, you're patient. You're not counting the hours

until you see a manifestation when you can, you know, just

rejoice in the Lord because he said the these things in the

word that you're believing, then you are passing the examination

of faith. There we go.

I was leaning on it wrong. Then you're passing the

examination of faith. And so the biggie though, to me

is knowing that Christ is in you, because if you really know

that the greater one lives in you, if you really know that,

then you can do all things. You can do all.

There's nothing you can't do according to the Word.

You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

He is in you, you are in Him. You find your identification in

Him and He is in you working to do his will and his good

pleasure according to the word. So knowing that he is in here is

a hugely important contributor to whether or not you've got the

peace of God and the joy of the Lord.

And you're you're tolerant and you're kind and you're gentle

and you're patient. Hey, it's when you know that He

lives within you, when you know that the Creator of this

universe is in you, when you're filled with the Holy Spirit

because of the fact that He is a triune Godfather, Son, and Holy

Spirit. You are also indwelled by the

Father, indwelled by the Son. How in the world can you be

walking around on your lower lip feeling sorry for yourself if

you truly know that, if you have a revelation of that fact,

that's what it says here, how Jesus Christ is in you.

How can that be except you be reprobates, except your faith be

counterfeit? And so these are three important

points of self examination that we all need to make.

Are you holding to your faith? Are you showing the proper

fruits of it? And do you have a day by day

awareness that Christ is in you? He is your hope of glory, and if

you know that He is in you, it changes your outlook on life.

Each and every day of your life you ACT differently, you make

different decisions. And that now they are for life

and blessing instead of death and cursing.

So these are important considerations, I think, but

there are other other other ways that I think we can identify

counterfeit faith. Of course, faith works by love.

This is a biggie. So if you have trouble loving

people, and especially the people that are hard to love,

there's some people I don't have any trouble loving at all.

Here's an example and others too, that you have walked with

and learned to trust and be with.

For some people are real easy to love, real easy to give to.

This is the kind of love we're talking about.

You give to them. How do you give to them?

Give them a listening ear, give them an encouraging word.

Give them time and prayer. Give them maybe a little

financial help. Give them courtesy.

Give them gentleness, kindness. When you begin giving to people,

then you know your faith will operate on a level that it will

not operate on any other way. And one of the biggest enemies

in terms of loving people is love of the world that we see in

first John 2:15. If you love the world and the

1 John 2:15

things that are in the world, the love of God will not be in

you. And of course, that's the first

direction your love needs to take.

When we talk about loving being the royal law we abide by, we

see that the first direction of that love is God.

The second of that direction of that love is our neighbor.

Loving him as ourselves. We'd love the Lord thy God with

all thy heart, all thy mind, all thy soul.

You know second commandment like unto it.

Love thy neighbor as thyself. So love has the direction of God

first, and then and then people secondly.

But I would say this, you can't love God or people to any

greater a degree than you know how much God loves you.

And we're talking about faith right now because faith only

works by love. So the first point of revelation

has to be how much God loves you.

If you don't know how much God loves you, you're not, you

really don't. You're not going to love God

back in the way that that you should and you're not going to

love unworthy people back for sure or give to them in any

substantial way. And so how much how do you know

how much God loves you? Well, we could go over to 1st

John chapter 4 and spend some time there, but we're not John

John 4 · chapter mention

416 tell first John 416 tells us the apostle John says there we

have known and believed the love that God has to us and then he

says that's what perfects you in love.

He said knowing and believing how much God loves you is what

perfects you in love. How do you know if you've been

perfected in love? How do you know you really have

a revelation of how much he loves you?

Well, perfect love casts out fear.

So if fear is a is a part of your life and for many people

it's a daily routine. Anxiety and fear constrains most

people's decision making process, naturally speaking.

But if you have fear, you are not perfected in love, which

means you have not known or believed how much God loves you.

And that's only going to come by spending time with Him.

It's the only way that's going to come.

I mean, we all have the same challenge.

I know the things I think about in private.

I know the things that, you know, I want to say to somebody

that cuts me off in traffic and maybe do if there's nobody else

in the car with me. You know, I know.

I know the real me and I know how unlovable I really am.

Everybody knows that about themselves, and it can make it

hard to understand. How in the world could a perfect

God love you so much that He sent Jesus?

But He does, and you're not going to have a revelation of

that to any greater a degree than you spend time with Him.

And that just means sitting with Him, opening your heart to Him,

praying in the Holy Ghost. A lot of times you don't know

how to pray as you ought. This is really important for you

to be able to pray in the Holy Spirit.

He says when you do, you're making intercession for the

Saints according to the perfect will of God.

And the 1st St. that you're making intercession for is

likely you, you know, but Saints aren't something special beyond

being a believer. All believers are referred to as

Saints. So at any rate, so love is the

is a major consideration in whether or not your faith is

going to work. Are you able to love people?

Are you able to love God? As the Word says?

If you're not, then you know your faith is reprobate, it's

counterfeit, and it will not work.

And so how do you know? We just went through that

process. Hopeless Faith is counterfeit

because in Hebrews 11/1 we're told that faith is a substance

of things hoped for. In other words, that word hope

means expect, by the way, confident expectation.

And it's not the kind of hope we hear about in the world, hanging

on by your fingernails until the Lord gets ready to help you out

here. Now, hope is confident

expectation. So when you grow in your faith

to a place of confident expectation, your faith will put

substance to it. When you grow in your faith to

that point, then you'll have the manifestation that you desire

when you really and then truly expect it.

And I've heard people say, well, you don't want to get your

expectation up too high because then you know, if you get

disappointed, you'd be devastated.

So you don't you don't want to be just expecting something that

you know, like that, like healing, like deliverance, like

whatever it is you're expecting. No, where it says that you have

to expect for your faith to have something to put substance to.

Now, this is really important, maybe one of the most

significant parts about being in faith.

How does expectation come? How do you develop expectation?

Well, let's take a look at first Peter chapter 1.

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

I mean, how do you expect something that so far, you know,

it's like a dream come true. Yeah, you want it, but how?

How in the world do you do you expect this first?

Peter 113 is where we found the answer to that which says

wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to

the end. Hope there same word as in

Hebrews 11/1. It means confident expectation.

So something called girding up the loins of your mind.

And when it says be sober, that word simply means be sound

minded. In other words, you control your

mind, you cast down vain imaginations and every every

thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ.

I mean you're going to have to control your thinking.

That's what be sober means. Gird up the loins of your mind.

Be sound minded and whatever that means, gird up the loins of

your mind. It produces hope.

It produces positive expectation.

How long to the end? The end of what?

The end of your faith, The end of the age, whatever end you're

dealing with. But you will generate positive

expectation if you gird up the loins of your mind.

Well, loins means the creative capacity of your mind.

Your mind is how you become a creator.

You create the day you're going to step into tomorrow.

You create your own experience of life.

That's your calling. You're made in the image and

likeness of God, and He's the Creator.

Therefore, He makes you able to create, not anybody.

You can't use this, your faith, your prayer, your love.

You can't use any of these things to manipulate other

people's decisions. You can't I mean, your faith is

for you. You know, there are some very

few exceptions to that, like a parent able to exercise their

faith on behalf of their child. Do their child grows to a place

of accountability before God and they can do it themselves.

You know, there are certain instances of spiritual authority

where where somebody else can, but normally your faith is just

for you. It's not for other people.

At any rate, the same is true for love.

The Bible says love never fails. I've had people say to me, well,

love has has failed. You know, I have loved that

person for I've done everything I can do for two years and

they're just as ugly as they ever were.

So I can't see love working or not ever failing.

Well, that verse in First Corinthians 13, you know, is a

statement of of that. It never go gets old or goes out

of style. It is always God's solution for

relational challenges, but you can't manipulate somebody into

loving you by loving them because they're a free moral

agent. Just just none of these things.

Your faith, your prayer life. You can pray forces of darkness

to abate and you know someone's struggle, but you can't pray

them into a place of health or healing.

You can pray the the forces of darkness coming against them be

abated, but you can't micromanage their life through,

through your prayer, through your faith, through your love or

anything else. And so you always have to have

that in mind. That doesn't mean you don't pray

for people. You don't love people obviously,

or you don't join your faith with theirs.

That's the proper use of your faith.

When they're believing the right thing, then you can get an

agreement with them and amplify the effect of the faith.

But at any rate, I want you to see in this verse, gird up the

loins, the creative capacity of your mind.

This is a different word for mine than in many other places,

Romans 12/2, where we're told not to be conformed to the

things of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of

your mind. The word mind, the Greek word

there really has to do with the logical capacity, the rational

characteristics of the human mind.

You have the capacity to make deductions or inductions from

the things that you see in this natural arena.

This is a different word. Gird up the loins of your mind

here. If you look in the strongs means

imagination. Now this is probably the most

important thing to me over the years.

It finally opened to my understanding.

You know my imagination prior to, you know, learning the word

it was, it was where fantasy occurred.

You, you could use your imagination and fantasize and

you know, whatever you wanted to do with it.

Imagination is the ability of your mind to mentally image

future probability. Now hear that it has always got

to do with future probability. You don't need to imagine what's

past or what's present. You know what that is.

But to imagine means you build a picture of a future probability,

and that is a powerful force that even relates to unsaved

people. Back in Genesis 11, we're told

when the Tower of Babel was being built, the Lord had to go

down and scatter them, He said, because nothing would be

restrained from them that they imagined to do.

Imagination is hugely important. And most people's, and I'm

speaking in the natural arena, most people's imagination, they

build pictures of all of the negatives.

That's what fear will do. Well, I'm fearful about this

doctor's report. And it builds a picture in your

mind's eye about what that's going to look like.

You're going to get sick and die and what's going to who's going

to take care of your husband or your wife or your kids or, you

know, fear. We'll build a picture of failure

in business, failure financially, fear or taking

cares, worry, It's all the same thing.

Builds a picture in your mind's eye of the negative.

And that's why the Word says you're going to have to cast

down vain imaginations, foolish imaginations, and bring every

thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

You begin to build a picture. Hear me now, but you don't hear

anything else I've said today. Hear this.

Use your imagination to build pictures of what God says about

your life. And that begins with the Word of

God and continues into what He tells you or shows you by the

Holy Spirit. The Word of God has two channels

into your life. One is the written word, the

general will of God for all believers of all ages, and then

the revelation ministry of the Holy Spirit to your life, which

has to do with God's purposes for you as an individual that

aren't written in the Word. I mean, you know, there are

messages by the dozens that have been preached about how to

understand God's will for you. But we can go real quickly to

1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 and see this without any

question. First Corinthians chapter 2

1 Corinthians 2:9

verse 9. I has not seen ear heard neither

is enter into the heart of man the things that God has prepared

for them that love him. And you know, I presume we've

got a room full of believers that love God and this is his

word to you. I hadn't seen it ear hadn't

heard it. Neither has it entered the heart

of man. You're not going to get it from

an aptitude test, from a course of instruction in college.

You're not going to get it from well meaning parents.

Verse 10 says they have been revealed unto us by the Holy

Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit's

ministry to your life is to reveal things that God has

prepared for you if you're a person who loves him.

And so you need to build a picture of your life.

Yes, everything God says about you and His word, you are

healed, you are delivered, you are set free, you are

prosperous. What does that look like in your

estimation of future probability?

Can you see it? God told Abram he could have

whatever he could see. That was a snapshot of a truth

for us and the new covenant. We can have whatever we can see.

And it's not talking about natural visual acuity to us.

It's talking about what we can see with our mind's eye.

And that's why he uses the word gird up the loins of your mind,

the the word for imagination, because that will build

expectation in you the more you see that instead of the natural

circumstance. It goes back to again, 2nd

Corinthians 417 and 18. We're not to study or to focus

on and to be attentive to the things that are seen, but we are

to look at, to focus upon, to study things that are not seen.

The unseen realm being the eternal realm, the realm of the

Spirit. And that's what is revealed to

us by the Word of God. So all of these things tie

together. But for me, you know, one of the

most profitable things I, I have seen in the Word in my years in

ministry is starting to use my imagination deliberately to see

churches being built all over this world, to see them in

different nations where we have contacts and where you know we

can, where we have relationships, you know, that

the Lord establishes with us. And in different churches.

I can see with my mind's eye. And he calls this the loins of

my mind, the creative capacity, because if I can see it, I can

make it happen in my life. I can make it happen.

I say I can. The Lord will through me when I

see it as he says it is. And this is what he says it is

he says this to all of us in the word of God, healed, delivered,

set free, prosperous, but to you in particular, when you begin to

identify the desires in your heart that are God-given and it

orient's you toward what you believe must be his will for

your life. And that's the way it begins.

And then you know, you begin to get Marks and goals and

objectives you can press toward that will take you toward your

high calling of God. When that process unfolds in

your life, then you know it's because you can see it with your

mind's eye. He said, if you see it, you can

have it. And I, I'll tell you a good way

to know if this is sinking in is when you're, when you get in bed

and you get in that place between wakefulness and sleep.

The things that populate your mind's eye at that point fall in

the category of fear, anxiety. Does it keep you from going to

sleep really good because you're worried about paying the bills

or you're worried about something attacking your body or

in that place where you're really not deliberate?

Thank you. For exercising your will, where

does your mind's? Eyes go if.

It was a blessing. Goes to who you are in Christ.

When it goes. For more.

Information for your life you. Can visit.

Us, your marriage, your relationship, whatever it may

be, when it goes to this desire of your heart.

I mean, you know, I, I flew in, in the days before ministry and

I'm wrapping up now, but in my days before ministry, I was an

Air Force pilot. I went through, that's what I'd

always wanted to be. I went through a Military

Academy and got my wings and then went to pilot training, got

my wings and in pilot training, even though we had some airline

pilots that were in training to fly fighters or, or whatever

their Air National Guard units had to offer.

But they were, they were already pilots and they were, you know,

in some instances several 1000 hours.

They were young guys, but they had a lot of experience.

We had two of them in my class and everybody assumed they were

going to win the, you know, the flying award, which they, they

made, you know, for, for people that, well, Long story short, I

finished at the top in the flying phase of of my pilot

training class for one reason. Not because I'd had any

experience. I hadn't, not because I was, you

know, some people say he's a natural or he's a natural.

I don't think anybody's really a natural.

I mean, I guess there are different levels of coordination

and reflexive responses, but it wasn't that.

It was because without knowing what I was doing, I would lay in

bed at night. When I got back, Glenn and I had

just gotten married and used to bugger.

But I would stay there. I would be sitting there

thinking about the ride the next day, particularly if it was a

check ride and I was going through all the control motions.

And you know, I could see myself doing the different maneuvers

and the formation and aerobatics and air combat maneuvering in

the instruments, the navigation, whatever right it was.

I'd walk myself through it over and over again.

And, and then that's the way it went the next day.

And I'm doing this without even knowing I'm doing this.

I am using girding up the loins of my mind.

I'm using the creative capacity of my mind by envisioning the

future probability that, you know, was going to take shape.

And it did. They've actually determined, and

I'm told in the basketball arena there, rather than practicing

free throws, or maybe not to the total exclusion of practicing 3

free throws, but they'd have their professionals.

You know, just imagine hitting the hitting the basket and had

as much positive effect as getting out there, actually

practicing it. When you can see it in your

mind's eye, you have created a future you're going to step into

tomorrow. So that's about all I'm going to

have time to do. I'm going to say there are a few

more examples of counterfeit faith, wavering faith.

We know you can't waver. You've got to hold to your

faith, silent faith in 2nd Corinthians 413, Romans 10/8,

you got to speak it. You got to speak it because

you're hearing it and it reinforces what you're believing

and thinking, and not to mention the effect you're having on

other people. But we believe, therefore we

speak. Faith without a vision is also

the last one. You're not using your faith just

to gratify your own self or do, you know, build your little

world. God has a vision for you.

That's where you apply it. And I don't know, you know, this

is a whole nother message, but I think you can certainly connect

the dots. As you think about it, you begin

imagining seeing yourself, your future probabilities defined by

what God has called you to do. We're going to go look at some

properties that, you know, I, Brad and, and Amy are, are

interested in and I don't, you know, I don't.

Here's here's the thing. In third world nations, you

know, or in certain parts of the world, the power of the dollar

is amazing and it can do a whole lot of different things.

You know, you can build a nice 200 seat sanctuary for fifty

$60,000 in many places in Latin America, less than that in

Africa. We can build brick and metal

roof churches in Africa for 35,000.

So you can do a ton with a, you can do a lot with a dollar.

Unfortunately, Ireland's exchange rate is is not the same

to do what we could do for, you know, fifty $75,000 in another

nation or less would probably take, you know, a million or two

here, but it's God we're talking about.

Couple $1,000,000 is just a drop in the Holy Ghost bucket.

You know, that is the truth of the matter.

It all depends on are we seeing our future probabilities the way

we should be seeing it. It's not just your pastor's

responsibility. This is your church.

Everybody that has felt called here and believe me, everyone

has a place where it pleases God to put them in the body of

Christ. Another message, but one of the

most significant truths about your success in the Kingdom is

going to be your being a participant where it pleases God

to put you. And you can know that very

certainly and very surely. And so part of your

responsibility, part of your supply to this body is joining

with them in their faith is they is they see future probabilities

that include a beautiful facility.

It doesn't matter how much it costs.

It's the Lord we're talking about and he'll bring it in one

way or the other. So I would encourage you all in

that regard. Again, Lynn and I are so blessed

to be associated with you in the future as well as presently, and

we look forward to being a part of the process.

I thank you for your patience with me because I have preached

in an hour and 15 minutes actually.

So I'm done here. Take it or I'm going to preach

longer.