The TrueLife Mandate - Live

Open your Bible to Habakkuk chapter 2.

Habakkuk 2 · chapter mention

Meet me at verse 4. Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 4.

Habakkuk 2:4

And we're going to rattle off about four scriptures in unison here before we get started.

It says, Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the just shall

live by his faith. Say this after me.

The just shall live by his faith.

Go to the next verse there. I believe it's Galatians.

Galatians 3.11.

But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident for the

just shall live by faith. Will you say that again?

The just shall live by faith. Go to the next one.

Romans 117, for in the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith,

as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Say that.

The just shall live by faith. And let's go to the last one.

Hebrews 10, 38. Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back,

my soul has no pleasure in him.

One more time, let's say it, the just shall live by faith.

Now, several weeks ago, we started a new series. We called it the True Life Mandate.

And essentially with this series, I wanted to talk to you about why the Lord

started True Life Fellowship Church.

We started July of 2011 in a band room.

It was hot. It was smelly. We didn't have any equipment.

We didn't have any of these fabulous musicians and singers that we have today.

We didn't have any microphones.

We didn't have anything but a word from God and a handful of people that just

believed God was speaking to Stacey and I as well, and they really wanted to be a part of it.

And so we got going, and we got started, and the Lord gave us four words.

Before, he gave us a phrase, and the phrase was, is there more to life than

what you are experiencing? That became our phrase for the church.

Is there more to life than what you are experiencing?

Then he gave us four words. The words were love, learn, live, and lead.

And three weeks ago, we talked about love. The foundation to experience true

life is you have to recognize and realize that God loves you.

God loves you, not as you should be, but just the way you are.

And he loves you just the way you are so much that he's not willing for you to stay the way you are.

And so he loves you. He wants you to experience true life.

And then the next word is the word learn that we talked about last week.

You're going to grow as you begin to learn to know God better and better.

Anytime you are learning something,

you're going to have to go against the grain. And learning is hard.

Learning is difficult, especially as you get older. It gets a little harder

to learn because you have so many strongholds and so much experience and so

many opinions that it really gets hard to learn.

But if you're going to grow and experience true life, you're going to have to

learn to know God better and better, and you're going to have to be taught.

You know, we learn various different ways through teaching, through experience, through application.

There are various ways that we learn. But in essence, we're going to have to

grow and we're going to have to learn.

And so there was an emphasis the Lord placed on our ministry,

and it's a teaching ministry.

I'm a teacher of the word, and God has called me to teach because you're going to have to learn.

He's also called us, the next word is to live. And this is what we're going

to talk about today is to live.

You're going to have to live what you have learned, right?

You're going to have to live what you have learned. And so live by faith.

And he said, I want you, Devon, to teach people how to live by faith.

And we saw in those four verses that God really is commanding you and I to live by faith.

Now, he starts off by saying the just. The just are those that have been justified.

Those that have been declared righteous

justified meaning by grace through

faith the finished works of Jesus

caused us to be justified or just as if we've never sinned in the eyes of God

you and I in the eyes of God have been considered through his eyes as if we have never sinned.

We've been declared righteous. Righteous meaning in right standing with God.

He has declared us through Jesus, his grace, our faith has declared us in right standing.

God sees us right standing with him. And those that have been justified,

you and I, declared righteous, you and I are required to live by faith.

This is so very important because in the world that we live in,

people are living by worry. They're living by concern.

They're living by fear. They're living by their own opinions.

They're living by what Pookie and Ray Ray talking about. They are just living

any old way they want to live.

But the just, those that have been declared righteous, treated as if we've never

sinned, must live by faith. And so we have to ask, what is faith?

I'm so glad you asked that question. What is faith?

Well, Hebrews 11, one tells us, now faith is the substance of things hoped for.

Faith is the evidence of things not seen.

And so the just must live by faith and faith is the substance or it's the undergirding

material or the foundation of what you hope for.

Now hope and faith are not the same thing.

Hope is an intense, earnest expectation of something good happening in the future, right?

Faith is the undergirding substance that will bring to pass what you hope to

experience in the future.

And this is why Hebrews 11 starts out by saying, now faith is.

Faith is always now.

Hope is always in the future.

Faith is now. And so the writer of Hebrews says, now faith is the substance,

the foundation of what you hope for. If hope has no foundation, then it's just a wish.

Well, people say, I hope it doesn't rain. No, no, there's no foundation for

that. That's just wishing it doesn't rain.

But if you want to bring the past what God has promised in his word,

all of his promises are yes and amen, and they're all filled with hope.

In order to bring them a pass into your situation, it requires faith.

It's not just wanting it.

It's not magic. It's faith.

Faith is the substance of things that I want to see happen in my life.

Faith is the evidence of those things that are not seen.

Evidence is proof. I've got to have proof of something that I can't see with

my natural eyes, but I see in my spirit.

It, that evidence and that proof is the word of God.

Because Romans 10, 17 tells us faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

And so the word of God, as we hear the word of God and we mix faith with it,

it becomes something that we hold on to as our foundation.

Even though what we cannot see hasn't manifested yet, we know we have it.

Because we have faith in God.

We have a word from God. And God said it, and that settles it.

Currently, right now, you cannot see my Acura. I own an Acura.

Nobody can see it. Those of you online, you can't see it right now.

Those of you listening to the podcast as you're driving, you can't see it right

now. You can't see my Acura.

I own an Acura. You can't see it. But I have some evidence to show you today.

This is the title of my Acura

this is the evidence that

I have that I own the Acura now you can't see it matter of fact it's not even

here today so when you leave you won't see it because it's not here today but

this is the evidence that I

own it now you can't see it But I just showed you evidence that I own it.

Evidence. Proof that I own it. You can't see it, but here's the proof that I own it.

Likewise, when you are believing God for something,

you may not see it yet, but you better have some evidence that you have it,

even though you can't see it yet.

You might be sick in your body, but the evidence says, by his stripes,

1 Peter 2, 24, I was healed.

Now, on the outside, the doctors are still saying I'm sick, but my evidence

that I'm healed is found in the word of God, and the evidence will always supersede what you can see.

Come on, somebody say amen to this. You might be struggling financially,

and you may not be prospering, but your evidence is found in 3 John 1, verse 2.

3 John 1:2

Beloved I wish above all things that

you prosper and be in

health even as your soul prospers

so I have evidence even though you may not

see me prospering I've got evidence that I am a prosperous man because God's

word said it and I have faith that I have it so I'm prosperous right now even

though you can't see it yet our

new building that we're moving into it's debt-free you don't see it yet.

The banks don't know it yet, but 1 Corinthians 9, 7 tells me that a soldier

never has to pay for his own expenses, and so a pastor never has to pay for the building.

It's going to be paid for by the Lord himself, and so we own it outright.

The banks don't know it yet, but we have it Debt free right now This is what

faith does Hope says Follow me Hope says it's on the way.

Faith says, I have it now. Notice the difference.

Hope says one day it's going to happen. Faith says today it's going to happen.

Hope says that in the sweet by and by, you know, eventually that'll come to pass.

And nothing wrong with hope. We got to have hope.

But faith says, I have it now.

When we were looking for our church building, I was walking by faith.

Today is the day. That building is going to find me.

I'm not even going to look for it. It's going to find me. What were you talking

about? I'm releasing my faith because I had a word from God.

And God's word said that he has a building for us, a place for us to gather and meet.

And so we would declare we have it before we even saw it.

If you wait to see it before you believe it, that's not faith.

It's not even believing.

People say, well, I'll believe it when I see it. Well, you don't have to believe

it then because you see it.

If you want to see it, you're going to have to believe it first.

And faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

And so we find out in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 7, the apostle Paul tells us that

2 Corinthians 5:7

we walk by faith, not by sight.

And so how do we live? Well, we live day by day, right?

We live decision by decision, moment by moment. Well, how do we walk? Step by step.

One step at a time. And how are we supposed to walk? By faith. Each step is by faith.

By faith. I'm to walk by faith. Not by my sight.

Not by what my five physical senses are telling me. We're not supposed to walk by what we see.

What we hear. What we touch. What we taste. Or what we smell.

That's not supposed to govern our faith walk.

Our faith walk is determined by what God said.

What is God saying? And so we have to go back to that question.

What is God saying? You can't have faith if you don't know what God is saying.

You can't operate in faith if you don't know what God said. And if you try to

operate in what you think God said, now you are making yourself believe something God never said.

Too often I run into people, God gives me an opportunity to preach different

places, talk different places, meet different people. It's a blessing from the Lord.

I'll run into people and they'll tell me that they're doing something that they

think is operating in faith. Let me give you an example.

One guy told me one time, I don't wear my glasses no more. Well,

why not? Well, the Lord healed my eyes.

Well, can you see? I can't see, but I just believe my eyes are healed,

so I'm not going to wear my glasses anymore.

Well, please don't jump in that car and drive. Put them glasses on.

Why don't you keep wearing them until the healing manifests?

Did God tell you not to wear the glasses? Well, no, but if I'm healed,

I don't wear them. See, see, now you got into reasoning.

You reason with yourself, what if I'm healed, I shouldn't wear the glasses,

so I'm not going to wear them. No, faith comes by hearing what God said.

This is where people miss it. You can say all day long, Pastor Devon is going to come cut my grass.

I believe Pastor Devon is going to cut my grass.

I believe.

Pastor Devon is coming over the house he

gonna crank up that lawnmower he's gonna cut my grass oh I believe I believe

you're gonna be believing that forever because I'm not coming to cut your grass

you gotta make yourself believe something that I didn't even say.

That's called make believe. You're believing something that I never said.

And it's not going to happen because I never said it was going to happen.

But when you are walking in faith, you got to hear what is God saying to me?

When we left our last building, we could have stayed there. We could have bought that building.

We could have. We could have stayed there and bought it and never went through

this wilderness season that I believe we're in, which is not a bad season.

When I say that, I'm not saying this is bad. It's preparation.

God's preparing us for the promised land. And we could have stayed there.

We could have bought the building. But I heard the Lord say, prepare to exit.

So that's a word from God. Prepare to exit. I said, Lord, should we buy the building? He said, no.

So now I'm walking by faith. This wasn't just Devon just want to do what I want to do.

Y'all just come with me. I'm just doing whatever I want to do.

And y'all follow me. No, I'm walking by faith. The Lord said, prepare to exit.

And then he said, should I buy the building? He said, no. Okay.

We're not going to buy the building.

Right? So then we kept walking by faith. Lord, what are you saying? Go meet with Joy Church.

When Pastor Luke, I was in the meeting, and he said, come to Joy Church.

I said, what, do you have to ask anybody? Is it okay? He said,

I don't ask nobody. Just come. You guys are not going to be homeless. Come.

He said, come visit it today. I said, I'm coming right now.

Came, visit the building. He said, you can meet right here. I said,

praise God. The Lord said, do it.

I commended him to have you guys meet here. Do it. this is walking by faith.

We are to walk by faith, not by what we feel, not by what we see,

not what grandma is saying, not what Ray Ray wants us to do.

We are to do this by faith.

And how do I know I'm doing it by faith?

Because I can always trace it back to a word from God.

What is God saying to you.

Can you find it in this Bible here? And if you can, believe it and then act on what you believe.

Because Paul says we walk by faith, not by sight.

I'm here to tell you that the opposite of faith is not fear.

Matter of fact, fear is faith in something negative of happening to you.

You're not really afraid of the spider. You're afraid the spider is going to bite you and kill you.

You're not afraid of flying. You're afraid that the plane ain't going to land.

That's faith, or you have faith in the spider's ability to kill you.

You have faith in the possibility, which is highly unlikely,

it's still the safest way to travel, is by plane. Somebody say amen.

You have faith in the plane's inability or impossibility or rarely going down

than you do jumping in the plane.

It's faith in the opposite direction. That's what fear is. So the opposite of

faith is not fear. the opposite of faith is sight.

This is what I see. This is what I believe.

Am I going to move towards what I see or am I going to move towards what I believe

the Lord has spoken to me about?

In our building, this particular, and I'll tell you more about this particular

building that we are purchasing,

we believe the Lord said the first time we stepped in it back in July,

we believe the Lord said, this is it. This is the building.

They turned down our offer.

I wanted to move on. I'm good at moving on, by the way. I would just say,

hey, let's just move on. And Stacey said, the Lord said, this is it.

I said, well, they said no. She said, are we going to walk by faith or are we going to walk by sight?

And I said, we're going to walk by faith. The Lord said, this is it.

Well, they went under contract and the contract fell through.

They came back to us in October.

Would y'all want to buy the building? We gave them the offer.

They turned it down again. I said, babe, we need to move on.

She said, we got to walk by faith. The Lord said, this is it.

You see the contrast between sight and what you hear and faith?

She said, this is it. Now, I believe, I'll teach on this later,

but I believe we were walking in the gift of faith. And I'll show that later

on a little bit more about that. But she said, this is it.

It ain't going nowhere. Ain't nobody going to buy this building because this is our building.

And she was, you know, she was resolute in that.

Full disclosure, I wasn't. I was like, well, it's time to move on.

She was like, it's not time to move on. This is it.

God said it. I heard him say when we stepped

in the building this is it well we move on in February we get a call and they

call back to us and say uh you know what we'll just take the last offer you

gave us somebody say amen to that what what happened we just kept walking by

faith what does that mean.

God said it, and we're just going to keep walking.

He said it, and we're just going to keep going. This is what God said.

I know God said it. I'm not being moved by what I see.

You know, when we first got going, multiple banks said, we're not going to help

you. We're not going to help you. I'm not moved by the bank.

We're going to go for that. God said it. Let's go for it.

This is how you walk by faith. This is how you live by faith.

Faith is believing and speaking.

I believe it, therefore I speak. I believe it, therefore I speak.

And if you believe it so much, you'll begin to act on it.

I'll act on it. Faith communicates, not to convince other people, yourself.

This is what God said, and this is what's going to take place.

There's a pain in your body. you don't say you know uh one day i'm gonna feel

a little bit better no you say today,

right now i command you back to be healed tomorrow no no no no today don't be

like pharaoh say the front let's keep the fogs there just one more day i don't

know why he didn't say get the fogs away right now he said one more day let the fog say no today.

In Jesus' name, my foot is healed now.

What am I doing? I'm releasing faith because faith is now.

And as we live by faith, we are living exactly by what God is telling us in

his word or through a rhema word from God.

Now, there is logos and then there is rhema. Logos is the written word of God.

What you see in the scripture, rhema is the spoken word of God.

I'm speaking to you now, and I could be saying something to you that's hitting your heart.

I may not have the exact verse for it, but you know it's in there.

What he's saying, that's biblical, and it's hitting your heart. It's a rhema word.

I couldn't find in scripture, prepare to exit.

I couldn't find that. But I know there's exodus in the Bible.

Are you following me? and the Israelites exited out of Egypt.

So prepare to exit was biblical, right?

It was a rhema word that God had given me and I acted on the rhema word of God.

God will give you a rhema word that he'll speak to you that's congruent with

scripture and that is also in line with people you trust.

Come on, the Lord's leading me

this way. You just don't come up with something yourself and just do it.

I bounced out of people that I trusted. Like, man, the Lord said,

prepare to exit. And people that I trusted were like, that sounds like God.

I was like, we ain't got nowhere to go. They said, that definitely sounds like God.

I said, we got to get out by December 31st. Yep, that's God.

That's God. Right, what am I saying? I bounced it off people that I trusted,

that love me, love our ministry, love Stacey.

You know, I bounced it off of them. And they're like, yeah, that's God. You just got to go for it.

And then there are times the Lord will speak to you as you live by faith.

He'll speak a word on the inside of you, a phrase on the inside of you.

And you just have to go for it. Now, I'll encourage you to bounce it off someone

you trust, someone that looks like they're a little further along than you and

say, does this sound like the Lord?

And get some counsel in the multitude of, or the multitude of counsel, there's wisdom.

Get some wisdom in that. But as you live by faith, you're living like what you

have it before you even see it.

Let me say it this way. faith believes I have it before I can see it.

You got, you got to, it's got to be strong in you that you already have it.

Mark chapter 11. Let's look at verses 20 through 24. Watch this.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 11, 20 through 24. Now in the morning, as they passed by,

Mark 11 · chapter mention

they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. Wayne, you were talking about this earlier.

And Peter remembering said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree,

which you curse has withered away.

Look at the next verse. So Jesus answered and said to them, have faith in God.

Verse 23, for surely I say to you, whoever says, faith speaks to this mountain,

be removed, be cast into the sea, does not doubt in his heart,

but believe those things he says will be done.

He will have whatever he says. Pause that real quick, guys.

Notice how many times Jesus said here, you will have what you say.

Three times he said, you'll have it. only one time did he say believe it what

am i saying we have put so much emphasis on the believing.

But not really the same. I have it. Not to convince me, not to convince nobody

else, but to declare it through the authority he's given you.

I have it. I have it. I have what I say.

Our church building shows up now. Our church building is paid for now.

Million dollar check is coming in right now. Matter of fact,

it arrives today. This is what faith does.

Well, one day it's going to come. No, no, no. It's coming today.

Because now means at this present time. So watch this.

He says, but believe those things that he says will be done.

He will have whatever he says. Look at the next verse where I want to get to.

Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask, when you pray,

believe that you receive them and you will have them.

Now pause here for a second. Keep that on the screen just for a second.

Whatever thing, somebody say whatever. now Jesus said this not Devon Jesus said whatever,

well I'm limited what I can ask God for Jesus said whatever.

There's a man who used to go to our church, and he wanted an ice cream machine,

and he just didn't feel worthy enough to have it. I'm like, what are you talking about?

Brother, Jesus said you could ask for whatever. You want an ice cream machine?

He said it's too expensive.

Jesus said you could ask for whatever.

Whatever things you ask, request, when you pray, believe that you receive and you will have.

Now notice when I pray I'm supposed to believe that I receive it when I pray and then I will have it.

What happens too often in this walk of faith is we're waiting to have it before we receive it.

But you can receive it first and then you'll have it.

This was several years ago. You guys know this story. If not,

I'll tell it to you again.

I helped this gentleman out with some things and some counsel and certain things. And he called me up.

He said, I want to do something for you. I said, you don't have to do nothing for me.

That's fine, man. It's just conversation we're having. It's fine.

He said, no, I want to do something for you. I want to send you and Stacey to

Las Vegas to meet me in Vegas, all expense paid. I'll pay for everything.

You meet me in Vegas, and y'all just have a good trip and have fun.

Now, earlier that same year, that was around April I got that call.

In January, listen to me now, Stacey comes to me in January and says, I want to go to Vegas.

And I say, we're not going to Vegas this year. And she was like,

well, I want to go. I said, we don't have, you know, we didn't have the Vegas

money in the budget, right?

We don't have the Vegas money in the budget right now. Maybe another year, but not this year.

And she was like, well, I really want to go. I said, well, why don't you ask the Lord?

She said, I will. Three months later, this man calls me and says,

I want to pay for an all-expense pay for you and Stacey to go to Las Vegas.

Do you believe that her prayers were answered right there?

I said, wait, wait, what? He said, yeah. I said, why Vegas?

He said, well, I'll be in Vegas this time when we get to hang out or something along those lines.

I was like, you won't believe this, but my wife wants to go to Vegas. Well, I told her.

She started jumping up and down and spinning around and was super glad,

started preparing, started looking at outfits.

She was ready to go. Now, watch this. all he said was, I'm going to pay for you to go to Vegas.

We did not have a plane ticket. We didn't have a hotel at the time.

We didn't have the dates yet.

We didn't have nothing, but she was already celebrating.

Now, why was she celebrating and she didn't have any evidence of it in the natural

except this man's words?

You know why? Because she said, well, I believe that he's willing and he's able.

So I'm going to celebrate right now. I don't have a plane ticket yet.

We don't have a hotel yet. We didn't even have the right dates yet,

but we was already jumping, shouting, spinning, and spending money to get some

new outfits to hang out in Vegas. So what am I saying?

She received it before she even had it.

This is the faith walk. You can receive it now before it even shows up.

Matter of fact, it will not show up until you receive it now and say, I have it now.

And when you receive it, the scripture there says, then you will have it.

The having has, that's God's timing.

The receiving it is your timing right now.

You went the scripture put on screen verse 24 Mark 11. It says Jesus said it this way.

Therefore, I say to you whatever things you ask When you pray Believe that you

receive when am I supposed to receive it?

Huh? Shout it out When you pray I'm supposed to receive it as soon as I asked

for it I Believe that I receive it when I pray I.

And then you'll have it. So if you believe that you've received something when

you pray, what is the customary next step to receiving something before it manifests yet?

What's the next step? So let me give you an example.

I tell Stacy, this man said that he's going to pay for us to go to Las Vegas.

What should be my very next words after that?

Huh? Thank you. So we don't have a ticket.

We don't have a hotel. We don't have any dates. But I'm already thanking him

before it even showed up.

So the walk of faith is I believe that I receive it now.

Thank you, Lord, that it's already manifested. Glory to God.

I have it now. I believe I have it now.

Thank you, Lord, that it's happening. We did this with Zyana,

our oldest, going to college.

For years, we believed that she would get a full-ride scholarship.

And we had evidence in the scripture that, hey, education can be paid for. Amen.

And so we found some verses. We stood on those verses. And we declared Zyana's

college is paid for in Jesus' name.

It's paid for in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord.

Her college is paid for. I'm not

paying a dime. Her college is paid for in Jesus' name. Thank you, Lord.

Thank you. We just want to thank you that it's paid for.

Glory to God. I was going full ride to college. It's paid for in Jesus.

According to your word, you will supply.

Thank you, Lord. Well, lo and behold, what did I do? She went to college,

full ride, paid for. This is the walk of faith.

It's not magic. It's believing and receiving.

God said it. I believe it. I receive it. And then the manifestation is really in his timing.

You'll have it manifested when it's the right time. But many of us have quit.

It was easy for me to quit where searching for this new church was concerned.

It was easy to be, well, guys, let's just go rent something.

That wouldn't have been wrong in the natural, but that's not what the Lord said.

You listening to me? It's not what the Lord said. The Lord said,

give me more time. I heard that in my heart. Give me more time.

Well, we're going to walk by faith. Thank God that we had more time.

Hallelujah. Give me more time. All right, we'll give him more time.

We're going to walk by faith. It was easy to just say, you know what?

Let's just not do this anymore.

You know, this is not working. This is this and that.

No, when you walk by faith, you receive it. I've got it and I'm not going to let it go.

If the repo man came to my door and said, you owe money on that Acura,

I would say, repo man, let me get you some evidence.

Are you with me? Here's some evidence that I own my Acura.

I don't know what Acura you're looking for, but it's not this Acura.

I don't know what door you knocked on, but you knocked on the wrong door.

You're not taking my accurate because I have evidence.

You're going to have to do the same thing with the word of God.

This is what walking by faith is. You get a word from God, you say, I've got evidence.

If you were to get a hotel room in Atlanta, Georgia, and you secure that room,

and they give you a confirmation number, and you show up to that hotel and.

And you say, listen, I got a room here. And they say, well, we don't have you in here.

Well, yeah, you do, because, you know, I paid for this. You know,

you be calm. At first, I paid for this.

And, yeah, I got, you know, yeah, I got room here, you know.

No, we don't see you, Mr. Alexander. Well, listen, I'm just going to pull out

my confirmation number.

Okay. Yeah, we see that, but we still don't see you. Are you going to be like,

well, you know what, I guess I don't got a room. Let me go back to the car and

drive back to Charlotte. Are you going to do that?

Be honest. Are you going to do that? No. You're going to be like, Billy?

Now, listen, I don't care if you got to kick somebody out of the room.

I don't care if you need to build a room pretty quickly to get me in it right

now. I'm staying in this hotel.

Why? Because I have a confirmation number. I'm not going nowhere.

I'm not leaving this counter.

Can I help the next customer? No, you're still helping me, Billy. I'm here.

I need to be in this room. As a matter of fact, I'm tired. I'm tired,

and I need to get in there right now, okay?

Here's my number. I'm going to get my own room because I've got a confirmation number.

Wouldn't you be that hardcore if it came down to that?

That's how you got to be with this word.

I am healed. The devil said, you're not healed. You're hurting.

You're going to die. I'm healed. And then the word says I'm healed.

I've got a confirmation letter that I am healed. And I'm not going to quit on

that because the word said I'm healed.

Devil, you're not going to trick me into not believing this word.

I'm healed in Jesus' name. This is what you got to do. This is what walking by faith is.

See, people don't like us faith people because we crazy.

But we get results.

We believe God. we don't say well if God want to or if he don't want to no God

said he going to do it so I'm believing that he going to do it,

And I'm his favorite child, so he's going to do it for me. Amen. You got to believe that.

No, I just threw that in there. But he loves us all the same.

And so walking, living by faith means God loves me.

I've learned to know him better.

And now I'm walking this out by faith. Romans 14 23 I believe says anything

that we do that's not a faith is sin.

Anything we do that's not a faith is sin so God really is requiring the just

the righteous to walk by faith it's not a suggestion he even says without faith

it's It's impossible to please him.

You cannot even please him without faith. Let me say this one little nugget and I'll wrap us up here.

The Lord showed this to me a few years back. I love the Lord. I love the word.

This is what he said to me. Without faith, it's impossible to please him. Here's how we hear it.

When I get what God said I'm going to get, then he's pleased with that.

When I already have it, then God, that pleases God because I got what he already

said I'm going to have. That's kind of how we hear it.

Without faith, it's impossible to please God. And we kind of hear,

I already have, when I get what he already said, I'm going to get,

then God is pleased because he gave me what he said he's going to give me. That's not what it says.

What the scripture says is, without faith, it's impossible to please him.

Watch this. without believing that I've received it before I even have it.

That's what pleases God. Now follow me.

You have to believe that you have it before you have it.

You have to believe you have it before you see it. Let me say it that way.

You got to believe you have it before you see it.

That pleases God. He's saying, my children are believing that they have something

I said before they even see it. that pleases me. Think about that.

We're walking. I don't have it yet. What's going on? Well, I mean, I receive it.

Well, what's going on? Well, it hasn't manifested yet, but I receive it.

Thank you, Lord. I receive it.

Praise God. I've got it. I receive it. Where is it? What hasn't manifested yet?

But praise God. I've got it. I receive it.

That whole process is pleasing to God.

This entire year that we have been on this journey from announcing that we're

leaving our last building, we left our building in December,

now we're closing at the end of this month, May, hopefully get in there in June,

that's all been pleasing to God.

Because we are walking by faith. We've been flexible, adjustable,

and adaptable because God cannot use stiff-necked people. He can't use inflexible people.

It's all been pleasing to God.

When we get in this room, we're going to shout. We're going to give God praise.

We're going to celebrate. We're going to have a good time. But that's not what's pleasing to God.

The journey is what pleased God.

And faith walking in that journey saying we got it we got it we we call it in

today's the day we got it we got it that's what pleases god it's the journey

and this is why the lord told us this year we ought to enjoy the journey somebody say enjoy the journey,

last and certainly not least faith is always in the present tense,

I have it now. Well, the doctors say that this is happening.

I value what the doctors say.

I'm not going to ignore what the doctors say. I'm not going to deny what the doctors say.

I'm just going to believe the report of the Lord.

And now I'll be obedient to what the doctors are saying, but I believe that

the doctor's report is going to line up with God's report.

That's faith I believe it's going to like doc thank you what's going on about that's what it's saying,

okay I appreciate you anything in the natural I can do one time I asked the

doctor one time anything in the natural I do he goes I don't know nothing in

the natural I can give you this peel I said I don't want no peel I want something in the natural,

he said I don't know I said okay well you know what that means that means it's

going to have to come supernatural.

Because the peel had so many side effects that I don't want Are you listening

to me? I said, I don't want all that.

I said, Lord, should I take that? He said, no. I said, yeah, no.

Amen. We're not taking all that. I'm not against doctors, by the way.

I think you should listen to your doctor, but if you need to listen to the Lord too.

And so, you say, no, no, no, no. Doctor, I appreciate that report.

Thank you. I know what to work on. I know what to target. I believe God's word.

I have healing now. And in due season, it's going to manifest itself.

But faith says, I have it now. Say that, I have it now.

Say it one more time, I have it now. Say it one more time, I have it now.

I have it now. That's how living by faith operates. I have it now.

Now, faith is. Now, in this present sense, it's mine.

Now. How did I get my wife, Stacy? This Friday, we celebrate our anniversary. Praise God. Thank you.

Y'all can clap better than that. Thank you.

We're going to get out of town a little bit this week and just hang out.

But before I met her, I would say, today is the day I meet my wife.

Today's the day. So I always had my teeth brushed.

I always had a good haircut because, you know, today is the day.

Today is the day. And I wake up, today's the day.

Today, why? Now, now, now. You know what? I'm I'm going to run over there and,

you know, she's going to be over there.

Now, I'm expecting. I'm looking and I believe the Lord was pleased throughout the whole process.

And little did I know, I met Stacey and didn't even know she was my wife until

like a year and a half later. She was a good friend.

Marry your friend. That's a good advice right there. If you've got a good friend, marry your friend.

I talk to people all the time. They sing, that's just my friend.

You better marry that person.

If they're your good friend that's a good marriage okay I didn't mean to talk

about that this is how you experience true life.