Faith | Pr Ronson

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We hope this message will light up your day.

Fantastic. Now I have a shot word for us. Usually

when I say shot is the oppositela. It may be long.

We'll see how the spirit leads.

Uh.

Today's word is faith, faith? Can I have the first slight?

Everyone say faith? Hey? Why that's just a sing singer

sing sing all right? Today we don't have translator because

the translator is having concha somewhere. Right. Today's word is faith.

You know, this word practicing has been coming into my

mind recently. Right. If you know of anyone who is

a lawyer, usually they'll say they are practicing lawyer. If

you know of any doctors, usually they'll tell you that

they are a practic is seeing doctor. You know, while

growing up, I couldn't make sense of the word practicing, Like,

what do you mean by practicing? You studied five years

for medical degree only to come out then only you practice? Right,

what do you mean you're a practicing lawyer? So basically

it meant that in their years of studies, when they

finally graduated or they go to their professional bodies, they

will get a license. Right, anyone here, you're studying to

be a doctor, studying to a lawyer. No, yeah, no, yeah,

sooner Okay. If it's not you, maybe your children one day.

So they will get a license and that qualify them

to start practicing their body of knowledge. So essentially, without

a license, they can't actually practice. We all know this,

Like the license will give them the legitimacy to practice.

So whenever you hear a practicing lawyer, my uncle is

practicing lawyer, my friend is a practicing lawyer, it basically

means the license enabled them to represent clients. The license

enabled them to provide legal advice and also appear in costs. Now,

if you're a practicing doctor, of course you have to

diagnose your patient. You can give medical prescription, et cetera. Right,

So whenever they say they are practicing lawyer, practicing engineer,

practicing doctor, essentially it's men the right. It's not men

that when they graduate they only start practicing like the

spots kind of practice where you go you are a

test subject. No, you're not a test subject. Okay, they

are qualified to give you legal advice, they are qualified

to give you medical advice and appropriate treatment. So when

I was just studying this word practicing, practicing, I begin

to ask myself, right, what about earth? As Christians? What

do we practice? Do we practice? Nsually? What? What do

we practice?

Right?

Because there's a difference between Christians and practicing Christian. I've

been in the Lord for twenty one years, this may

be mind twenty one years, and I've come to realize

that there's a difference between calling ourselves as Christians and

calling ourselves as practicing Christians. Most of people know that

when one profess to be a Christian, it doesn't necessarily

means one walks in faith. It doesn't mean that one

leave like a Christians, which, in other words, we are

familiar with this term right, that Christian by name, right,

but we don't practice it. But if we say that

we are practicing Christian, what what does it mean? What

do we practice? And I believe being a Christian what

we practice essentially is Faith's faith. You've got to practice

your faith to be able to call yourself Christian because

if you don't practice faith, you've got to relook into

your faith. Amen. When Jesus saved us, he wants us

to practice faith. Faith is the essence of our relationship

with Jesus. Faith in the gift of salvation that He

has promised.

Us is faith.

You've got to be practicing faith, but you don't practice

it for your salvation only you can practice faith in

all other areas. I always tell people that if you

can believe in Jesus for your salvation, you can believe

him for anything. And often we seem to change yourself.

You know, believe Jesus for our salvation, you've got to

believe him for the other breakthroughs in your life. Can

you say amen if you believe it. So I believe

that He doesn't want us just to be a Christian

like just because we believe in Jesus, he qualifies us

to be Christian. And many people actually stop at just that.

They receive Christ as a lot and savior. Hallelujah Amen.

They come to church four times a year, which is

usually Christmas, Good Friday, it's the Sunday, and probably someone

else's wedding or probably funeral. Then they disappear. But the

Lord wants us to mature in our faith, and to

mature in our faith, we got to start practicing faith.

So I believe that there are two practices here. The

basic practice of a Christian is coming to church. You guys,

notice I don't have to explain this. When you come

to church praise and worship, you're practicing your faith. You're

declaring praises to God regardless of how you feel. That's

faith because if a lot of people are worshiping God

based on how we feel, a lot of hands will

be going down today because today I don't feel like

lifting up my hands. I don't lift up my hands.

When you come to church, when you practice faith basically

means I don't care anything that is weighing me down.

I will still lift up my hands to praise God.

That's faith. Basic practice is to read the Word of God,

to read the Bible. These are basic you know this.

Basic faith is coming for fellowship. You come for a

self group, you come for homes. You have that basic practice,

basic practice of devotion, basic practice of small groups, reading

the Bible, prayer. But a's a deeper practice of faith

that I believe that today the lot wants you to apply,

which is whenever you face difficulties, you face oppositions, you

face challenges, it's a perfect opportunity for you to apply faith.

Every day. God gives us an opportunity to practice our

faith every day, right, so you're gonna be an athlete

you practice every day. You know, E sports is very

popular these days. I when E sports talk before and

eat sports athlete, do you know that they actually take

their sports like seriously. It's not like online gaming. You

lie on the bay, then you play. You call the

E sports there's probably easy sports. But to where E

gamer they really practice two hours a day, three hours

a day. They have their regim right, So when you

apply the principle of success, you've got to be consistent

in your practice. The question that a lot has for

you and I today is how consistent have we been

in our practice of faith? Let me give you an example.

In prayer time, we had the opportunity to pray for people.

Did we apply faith? Did we mean what we pray?

Did we declare what we mean to declare? There's a

deeper practice. You need to practice faith every day. God

gives us an opportunity. Let's talk about witnessing. How many

of you you desire to be a weakness, You desire

to share Christ to people every day. God gives us

the opportunity to witness to people every day. God gives

us the opportunity to pray for people. Faith must be

tested and applied. It must be tested and applied, because

if you don't put our faith to the test, it

only shows that our faith hasn't grown. In Hebrews eleven

seventeen to nineteen, by faith, Abraham when he was tested,

offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises,

offered up his only Begonden, son of whom it was

said in Isaac, your seat shall be called, concluding that

God was able to raise him up even from the dead,

from which he also received him. In a figurative sense,

I like this verse by faith Abraham when he was

tested video that God gave Isaac to Abraham when he

was at a very old age. He always wanted a son,

but he didn't have until God fulfilled his promise, where

he says, out of Isaac, your descendants will be as

multitude as the stars, as a sands at a show

and wander. Baba says that by faith Abraham, when he

was tested Offrah Isaac, how many of you know that

it was difficult in releasing your son to God? Ask

any parents here. Don't ask me. I probably will lately

release my spiritual son. Here you go, Lord, these are

my spiritual son, but your actual sons. It's often there

is that because of the love you have for your son,

it makes it difficult to surrender. So often the tests

of faith involve a challenge. It will always involve a challenge.

So as a Christian, we should ask ourselves when was

the last time I was challenged in my faith? And

when was the last time I applied faith? Faith must

be practice. Application of faith causes maturity. The difference in

maturity is in the application. And one of you know

this actually line we planted it in two oh one zero.

This April, we will be fifteenth year. Right across the

years we have seen people coming and going. That's only

because they come as a student and they graduate, then

God moved them elsewhere. But from a church planter's perspective,

for fifteen years, I won't let you know that it

hasn't been easy. Right, And I remember one day I

was just sharing with one of my disciples, right, I

say that he was still a student back then. I

say that, you know, to do work in Eli, to

serve God in Eli, it requires a lot of faith

because it can be demanding, demanding because if you don't

stay in Eli is demanding. If you say in Subag

you stay in Cyberjaya, Petaling Jaya, Alam, you stay far away.

It's demanding because of the traveling, because of time. If

you don't have a transport, you take public transport and

all it's demanding. I remember telling my this particular brother,

I say, is that my desire as a church planter

is I want to be an example of faith. If

you want to be anything, be a good example. You

don't have to be famous on stage and then only

you be you think that's a good example. You can

be an example wherever God plays to you, you can be

an example of faith. Right faith and faithfulness comes hand

in hand. So I told him that, your brother, I

know you're graduating soon, why don't you continue your serving here?

And he looks at me. He said, wow, it's like

almost unbelief, you know, like it's like a tall order.

The pastor is asking his huddle member to come and

serve with him here in Elin. And you know, there

are two things that Jesus marveled, right faith and unbelief.

When you read the gospel, Jesus were always marveled at

faith centurin being a gentle came to Jesus, Come and

heal my servant. He's deserving to be made well. And

Jesus wanted to make his way, and the centurion told

Jesus just say the word and he will be well.

And Jesus marveled at the faith, saying that I've not

found even just paraphrasing my own people, having such faith.

When he went back to his hometown in Nazare, he

couldn't perform a lot of miracles because of unbelief, and

he marveled at the unbelief. So I want to disciple

the church to marvel, to have Jesus marveled at our faith.

That when he looked at your faith, he's like, wow,

that's faith. So this brother look at me always in disbelief.

You know, faster what you ask is a very tall order.

I know he's a tall order. But maturity comes when

you apply fifth. I've been doing this for fifteen years.

I remember those days. I have to travel all the

way to Mantin, which is about twenty minutes half an

hour from here I live work at six pm. I

arrived Monting seven thirty pm, start at homes at eight pm,

travel back to sue bang at eleven PM. Fifth you

apply fifth all right, and across the years I am

able to see when people respond in faith, how much

they will grow more immaturity they do. There's so many

stories of my leaders here who don't serve. I remember

they serve in Nearli, but they don't stay in earlie.

And when you see them the before and you see

them after, the character shines true. Why because there's an

application of faith. We can only grow through faith. Faith faith.

We're going to be Christians with substance. We cannot be

a loud can Christian. We talk a lot, but when

the time comes for our faith to be tested, back serves.

I sense it in my spirit. God is putting you

through a test, and for you to pass the test,

there's no other way. You've got to apply fifth. If

you've got to make a decision, you make it by fifth.

If you've got to surrender something, surrendered by fifth. The

only key that can unlock your breakthrough is faith. You

might be saying faith in what faith in Christ? So

maturity will determine whether you will end your challenge or

you will see trials as a growth opportunity. Don't run

away from challenges applied with faith. Act on God's word

applied in your daily life. Trust in God's word, don't

trust in feelings. People who are immature often rely on feelings.

When they feel good, everything is good. When they feel down,

everything goes downhill. I always tell people, as Christians, we

live by faith and not feelings. We can acknowledge our feelings.

Yes we are down, We can be like the psamis.

Why are you discribe them? Within me? Bless the Lord,

oh my soul, all that is within me, Bless his

holy name. Yes we acknowledge our feelings, but feelings cannot

supersede our faith. Faith should supersed our feelings. A lot

of people they lose their destiny in God because of feelings.

Feelings come and go, but faith should be constant. So

Jesus is the centrality of your faith. First Corinthians fifteen fourteen.

If Christ is not reason, then our preaching is empty

and your faith is also empty. I love the scripture

because it's a distinction of Christ above all the other prophets,

above all religious figures. We believe that Jesus was born

a virgin womb. We believe he died at the cross.

We believe he rose again. This three components must be there.

So when the apostles stay. If Chris had not reason,

our preaching is empty, your faith is empty. Also, it

basically means we don't have faith. So today, if you

believe that Christ have risen from the dead, you actually

have something in you that is faith. You have something

in you faith. Say I have faith, Say like, you

really do have faith. I have faith. You have faith

in you. You have faith. You know, often the enemy

will come to deceive us to say that you don't

have enough faith. The fact that you already receive Christ

as your Lord and savior, you have faith in you.

So your faith is not empty, you have it in you.

Faith to me is like a switch, right. You probably

have listened have heard of this analogy before. You can

itally turn on your faith because God has really given

you that connection. All you need to do is to

turn the switch on. You turn on your faith, turn

on your faith. You know, many years ago, I was

preparing a message at home and my internet just when berserk.

Basically I was disconnected from my internet for half a

day or so. My WiFi couldn't function in modern day today. Okay,

back then was still modern lab but especially today, if

you don't have Wi Fi, what do we do? If

you don't have Wi Fi, you don't have data plan,

but you do. We all have withdrawers in terms that

we couldn't function. Really we go into colde the key,

our hand is shaking. We need to hold our phone,

We need to scroll our phone. Guys, if you are

like me, we all need deliverance. My thing about it right,

Connectivity to the Internet is so important these days. So

back then in twenty seventeen, when I was just preparing

my message, I couldn't access my Internet. I couldn't and

I was feeling a bit like a g because I

want to use the Internet to find materials, prepare for message,

et cetera. So I refreshed my WiFi, refreshed my WiFi.

I couldn't find my username, couldn't half a day, I

couldn't find my username. There, refreshed, refresh. Suddenly a user

name came out, God bless whoever. They couldn't use the name.

God rains full bar. There's how I use the name.

I user name is n raising my brother's rain. It's

not even there. God rains full caps. So when I

look at that, right, I've never seen that username before.

Those of you have neighbors, you always talk it is

my neighbor's name, this is my bank neighbor, front neighbors,

side neighbor. But when god rains popped up, I've never

seen the username before. I felt that God was encouraging

me to say that, Hey, Irene, I will give you

the inspiration for your message. You don't need the internet,

saying okay, Lord, surely you have spoken. And ever since

that day, right, this username didn't appear any longer. It's

only on that day. It was only at debt our.

Apply faith, because God can speak when you apply faith.

Keeps eleven one. Now, faith is the substance of things hopeful,

the evidence of things not seen. I'll let you know

that it's difficult to live by faith. It's hard to

live by faith. It's very hard because we all want

to see it. That only will belief. We only want

to see the assurance. Then only we will go. We

want to see that, Okay, this decision is the right decision.

Then only I will make that decision. But the just

shall live by faith. Faith to me is believe. Then

you will see. In eleven it was eleven to one. Now,

faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence

of things, not sin in verse six. But without faith,

it is impossible to please him. For he who comes

to God must believe that He is, and that He

is a rewarder of those who diligionally seek him. You

know what faith is to me? Faith is perseverance. It's perseverance.

God is a reward of those who diligiently sick him.

Faith to me is not giving up. That's faith. I

say you hear couple say I have faith in you.

Basically means I won't give up in you. I trust

in you. Many years ago we went to a plantation field.

It was in Kotta Warrisan and we knew that one

day there's going to be a campus there called Salmon Uni.

So in I think tween twenty fourteen we all went

to Kotta warri Sun. Back then we see nothing. We

only saw all pumps. You know what all pumps is? Right?

When we see all pumps, by faith, we stretch forf

our hand to this piece of land and we say

that God, one day you'll bring the lives to you.

One day the door will be open. Up to today,

we still have that connecting in sermon. Every Sunday morning

at fifteen, will come here and we'll pray, we'll pray.

Always tell my team pray for the chess. Say that

every chair represents a life in our physical eyes when

we see, yes, they are empty chests, you know, spiritual eyes,

the eyes of faith. I see full chess, full lives

because I tell you, if we don't persevere, we would

not have been here for fifteen years and counting. But

too many of us give up just because it gets difficult.

Too many of us give up just because we don't

see results. That's when you need to apply faith. If

it's not now, it doesn't mean it can't come later.

You come for prayer service. You know there always this light.

Pray for eggs in your life, right and we always

put it okay, pray for exten lie this, this, this, this, this,

and we say God, you open campus doors for us,

and we name these campuses. We say God in t

we say salmon, we say Mila, we say IPG, and

we say KPg. How long have you been praying for KBJ?

One year plus? One year plus we've been praying for

one year. Do we have anyone from KBJ, No, but

we still pray. But this year, finally we have someone

from KPJ.

Praise good.

The process of praying requires faith, faith and faith fullness.

You practice face. Oh, this week we don't have anyone

from this campus. Then this week we pray this Faithlah. God,

we thank you for this campus. We pray this coming

Ah you bring people from this campus. Well, you know what,

we don't just pray for campuses. We pray for families.

We pray for young looking adults. We pray for teens.

Do we have teens now? Probably have one there also,

Chris have graduated and going for college soon. But we're

gonna pray, apply our faith, apply our faith. So where

still praying for more locals in Nearly to join us?

Eighty percent of our people here are not from Nearly

then or not? Why because they are students? Right. You

guys come from different countries and all be praying God

more locals nearly because the day will come. I tell

you confidently, the day will come. You will have more

locals here. Will it be in next one year, will

it be in the next five years, ten years, I

don't know, But all I know is you gotta apply faith, faith,

in reaching out to people here, faith in praying and

not giving up, faith in anchoring the church. So God

reward's faith. He is pleased by faith, he is marveled

by faith. The only way to please God is faith.

It's faith is faith. So what is faith? Hebrews eleven

one really say is faith is the substance of things

so far. It's also mean faith is trust, believe, confidence,

assurance to persuade, to have confidence to trust, not merely

intellectual belief, but a trust that results from being persuaded

by God's truth. You probably have seen people who knows

a lot here, people who seems to be intellectual. They

can quote scriptures to scripture. I think being good in

Bible and biblical knowledge is good. We should all study

the world of God. We should all keep that would

have God, not just in our head, keep it in

our heart. But there's always that danger of knowing but

not believing. You know what I'm saying, You know, but

you don't believe. God wants us to know and believe.

So every time when there is a project, or when

it's an opportunity to give by faith, Ah, you know

it's good to give, but let that amount represent what

you know, you know, it's good to forgive your colleagues,

forgive your bosses if they have been callous, forgive your

family members, change you. It's good, a reunion and all. Sometimes,

oh it's good. Sometimes there can also be conflict in

the kitchen. An then you practice you, you practice loving

one another. That's safe, you know, especially when you come

to work. Right. Sometimes when people have different opinions of things,

or sometimes they don't do things up to your expectation,

and next day you have to come into office and

you have to sit next to them. Pleas life. You're

a Christian, don't go with a papaya face or mango

face to your collis. Right, you know what a mango

and face means, a very silent, long face. Right, So

there's a term called papa face because it looks long

and silent. But if you're a Christian, you practice faith

even though if your collique don't like you, say good morning,

how are you today? So even there's no respond it's fine.

You're called to be sought and light, right, you're not

called to be faked. Don't fake it, but you genuinely

want a greater person. You genuinely want to work well

with that person. It takes faith because the bilitical truth

is love God and love your neighbor. These are the

two greatest commandment. So when you talk about practicing faith,

it's not about you see someone who is lame at

the street, you go lay your hand saying that they

will be well. Great is your faith you can do that.

Sometimes the ultimate practice of faith is how well have

you loved one another. It takes more faith to love

people who are different from you. It takes more faith

to love people who are against you. It takes more

faith to love people who have taken you for granted.

So sometimes we talk about application of faith. It's not

just Lord, I pray for rain and there's rain, or

I pray for the clouds to move away it moves away.

Or I pray for provision there's provision. Yes, all these

are a good ect of faith, but even greater it's

our ability to bear with one another and love one another.

That even if people don't treat us well, will we

be defined by how they treat us? Or will we

be defined by the word of God on how we

should treat them. So it takes more faith to love.

Sometimes your leaders can disappoint you at church, really say

come my person, He'll call me, ask me out, how

come my homesleaved leader? You know, never do this for

me whatever, But understand that we may not be perfect,

but we are trying our best. We're trying our best.

I could demonstrate faith, So how do you want to

grow in your faith? Romans ten seventeen. So then faith

comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

No other way it can grow. It's very dangerous to

grow our faith based on experience, only very dangerous. What

I mean. You know, so come to a gathering, you

feel the atmosphere is right, Then you feel good for

your faith right. And when you pray, God answered instantaneously.

Sometimes he does you feel that, yeah, this is it man.

And when I was growing up as a Christian, being

a young Christian, when I was twenty years old, God

seems to answer prayer like then, you know, so everything

I prayed for is there? Your pray for car pack

is there? I when I was safe, I evangelize to

one of my classmen. I say, go to follow me

to church so we all couldn't find car Pack. And

my friends said, okay, killer, I tell her you want

me to go to church. I'm your can now pray

for a cappack, then I'll believe. I kid you not.

I turned into church in s fifteen. Back then he

was the third floor. A car reversed out and I

pucked in. So I always feel that being a young believer,

God answers prayer very fast. Look it's less than two

years old. It's like very fast. But somehow, now twenty

one years in the Lord, how long? Lord, how long

must I tarry? How long as I wait? You know why?

Because God knows that across the years, I have learned

what it meant to wait, because He knew when I

was young in my faith that experience needed to be

the catalyst to build my faith. But I also know

that I shouldn't go by experience, because certain experience can

invite doubts into your life. So if God doesn't answer,

it's God still good. If God closed the door for you,

you really wanted this job, you applied for it, You

went to the last stage of the interview and the

company saying no, You thought it's really for you. Know,

you went for the first interview, you went for the

second interview, You thought, this is it. Your life is set.

If you work for this M and C Company, you're

set for life. But the door closed. It's God's so good,

So don't build it by experience, you build it by faith.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.

So faith must be rooted in God's word. Please don't

root your faith based on my preaching today. It must

be rooted in God's worth. It must. When I say

God's worth means you must have a relationship with the word.

We know they are two type, logos word and the

rama word. Logos Worth is the written word of God,

which is your Bible. The rama word of God is

God's revelational word for you, for the situation, for the context.

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

So we say that we want to build our faith,

we got to relook back. How diligion are we in

reading scriptures, in hiding scriptures in our heart. So the

importance of having relationship with God and living bird matters

a lot, And we should never neglect the very thing

that builds your faith, which is the Word. It is

the application of the word that makes the difference, not

just the knowing. Next point, faith supersits facts you remember

the time when the fishermen came back In Luke, chapter five,

verses one to eleven, fishermen's came back. They taught all

night and they caught nothing. Jill said that they're boat

and told Peter launch out to the deep and lay

down your neck for a catch. What did Peter say, Master,

We have taught all night and we have caught nothing.

It is a fact. It is a fact that they

went up fishing at the right time. They came back

wash their net. It is a fact. But thank God, Peter,

say it nevertheless, at your word, at your wit. So

they went out, they launched the net, they caught until

the net was breaking. Now there's a principle here. We

need to learn to catch God's revelational word for our situation,

because the power for your faith comes from that revelational word.

So we say that we are lazy in seeking God,

lazy in catching that revelational word through our devotion, we

are not really growing our faith. I have to remind

ourselves stop waiting for the vision for the dream, stop

waiting for the prophet to come and say, listen, this

is what you should do. Stop waiting and know for

the evangelists to come, liness, this is what you should do.

Many of us are playing that waiting whereby God has

already recorded everything you need to know in his word. Really,

there is a time to receive a word from a speaker. Really,

I believe in that. I believe in the prophetic word.

I believe in the prophetic ministry. But don't let that

cloud you from doing what is basic, which is reading

the Word for yourself and hearing God for yourself. So

Jill send the crowd away. In other contexts, then he

sent his disciples out to another area wave when skin

Jesus was found walking towards them on water. Again, what

did Peter say, God, if it is you command me

that I can come to you. Jesus said, Come, that

itself is a word.

Come.

Based on that Peter step of the boat walked on

water towards Jesus. So, in whatever situation you are in,

you gotta ask God what.

Is his word for you? What is his word for you?

God can speak to anyone at any time at anyhow,

as long as as you are seeking, he can. And

I believe that all of us are equal in God's eyes.

We are all God's children, a loving Father will always

always once to speak to his children. And to come

to God, you need to come by faith. You gotta

believe with your entire being that He loves you. But

I would say, is that while we were seeing us,

he sent Jesus to die for you and me. That's

his greatest demonstration of love. Jesus says greater love. Have

no one than this, for a friend to lay down

his life for another friend. In a sense that many

of us struggle to come to the understanding of God's

love over your life, and that affected your ability to

even apply faith. So today I employ you church. I implore you,

my brothers, I employ you, my sister. Don't let anything

doubt you from believing that God loves you, that God.

Cares for you. He does.

How do I know?

I practice faith.

I applied that's what his word says, and I anchored

my life around his word. The days will come where

our faith will be tested. The day will come whether

there's going to be many teaching outside. And I want

you to anchor your faith in his word. Read his word,

study his word. So faith plus initiative equals testimony. So

it's not just about professing about faith. It's about taking action.

So as I just doing this right, I was like, okay,

so I call fat or fit. I think fit will

be better. So I put that initiative because faith plus action,

because that's the money acronymus fat right, So fit, but

initiative and action. Before you take action, you have to

take initiative, right James, Chapter two Versus eighteen twenty four.

But someone will say, you have faith and have works.

Show me your faith without your works, and I will

show you my faith by my works. You believe that

there is one God. You do well. Even the demons

believe and tremble. But do you want to know a

foolish men that faith without works is dead? So we're

circling back to Abraham. Was not Abraham our father justified

by works? When he offered Isaac, his son on the altar?

Do you see that faith was working together with his works?

And by works faith was made perfect and the scripture

was fulfilled, which says Abraham believed God, and he was

accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the

friend of God. You see then that a man is

justified by works and not by faith orly. So today,

if anyone would come up to any one of us,

and we say that I've been following Christ for X

number of years, I am of the faith. Another aspect

of the question that we can ask is show me

your works. What works will testify that you are a

man or a woman of faith. So Abraham ultimately had

something to testify of his faith. He surrendered Isaac. But

what about you and I If we say that we

are following Jesus, we are men and women of faith,

what works can we demonstrate that we are people of faith?

So I say that faith comes by hearing and hearing

the word of God. I have many experience to share

with you, but I'll just share with this one. Every

year I will ask God for a word. I say

that God is December. Let's say twenty twenty. Let's twenty

eighty four, I say, twenty twenty five. Give me a

word that I can hold on to. I know that

this is your word for me this year. I remember, specifically,

in seventeen I received a word from the Lord Isaiah

fifty four. Seeing all you who are barren, lengthen your cords,

strengthen your stakes. You will expand to the left, you

expand to the right. The entire scripture there from Isaiah,

including any tongue that rises against you in judgment, you

shall condemn. Twenty seventeen was one of my probably toughest

time at work, and I literally saw the fulfillment of

God's word. My department grew from about seven to twenty

other people. I have to handle disciplinary cases for my colleagues,

and it's not easy because it was a toick environment.

In one or two occasions, you know what, Isaiah fifty

four became my piller. And when I go back and

read and read, faith comes by hearing and hearing the

word of God. I declare Isaiah fifty four. Many of us,

when we are faced with a particular challenge, we don't

have anything to lean on. You should learn to lean

on God's word, that radma word for you, that prophetic

word for you, because He will never disappoint you. His

word is true. So when I was challenged to even

purchase an apartment here, I don't make life decision out

of my assumption. Right where the voice of God is absent,

we apply wisdom. Okay, God has also given us brain

to think. You should apply wisdom. Okay. Where the voice

of God is absent, you apply wisdom. Where the voice

of God is present, you apply faith because sometimes faith

will go beyond wisdom and logic. Because if wisdom and

logic prevails, Peter wouldn't have step out because why wisdom

will tell him if you step out of the world,

you will you'll sink. But because he heard clearly from

the Lord come.

You come.

So you got to catch God's word for your situation

and hold on to it. Don't simply cash. Don't like

today you're opening your Bible, okay today this word that

word no, it comes from an experience where you know

and you know that word click in your spirit. You

can apply that word in your situation. That's how I

know God speaks. God will never speak a word. There

will contradictious Bible. God will never speak a word they

were contradictious truth even all, he will always confirm it.

And when there's confirmation, who gets the glory God? So

I always look at when people make decisions, does it

point to God or does it point to self? When

people make decision, does it oh or a faith decision?

That does the decision cause the person to depend on

God more or depend on him less? That is one

of the tell tale signs of whether it is a

faith decision, because a faith decision will always put you

in a dependency on God and not independent from God.

So in twenty twenty one, I also pray. I say, God,

I've never made such a huge purchase. Years before, I say,

You've got to confirm it for me. And the work

came and I was just reading my Bible. You trom

me thirty one tree, and the Lord himself will cross

over before you. That became my revelational word. And faith

comes by hearing and hearing of God's word. The word

crossover meant a lot to me. You may not meant

to you. It's away, it's crossover. It's a crossover service

where we come to the first December and then we

cross over to a new year. But the word crossover

mean a lot to me because you guys knew for

many years I stayed in Subang, another state. To be

able to purchase a property, here's another state. Got to

cross over the state. So I know that the Lord

has crossed over for me, and by faith, I purchased it.

Chaste it monthly commitment. I can tell you it's a lot,

But why do I do it? Because the Lord says,

so he gave me that faith because logic I speak

a lot of people, you know, say, how com I

you go to church so far ah, you bought a

house there? How come I can't explain to you. All

I know is God said so? So by faith, I obey,

I ope it, I obey. And the beauty of obedience

is this, friends, is about pleasing God. Many of you,

I sense you are at a crossroad of just making

that faith decision.

Many of you.

You know, if if I were to hold back my money,

I wouldn't have made this decision. I would have saved it,

invested somewhere, bitcoined maybe somewhere. But faith decision will always

cost you something. So every time people say I came

here by faith, what does it mean? What does it mean?

You came here by faith? You know I do this

by faith? What does it mean? Because sometimes we can

literally take the word for granted, we take it lightly.

You know, by faith, I'll be there, We say it lightly.

You only say by faith you'll be there when you

really have nothing, when you really don't have a car,

you don't have enough finances, and you say by faith,

and suddenly a friend come up somewhere and say hey,

I'm going here, would you like to follow me? That's

your testimony. God sees your desire. Many of us have desire,

but we don't. I man desire to please God, desire

to do good, but we don't act on it. Why

because we feel that the challenges overwhelms us. Right, let's

talk about faith in serving. It's the same, guys. We

can have one hundred and one reasons of why we

don't serve. But faith decision is despite this hundred and

one reason, I was still self one hundred and one

reasons why I can't give my faith decision. Despite this

hundred and one decision, I will still give apply faith,

apply faith, apply faith, So go to end. I like this.

When I thought about it, the world says faked till

you make it. You heard about this before, faked to

you make it? The word tells me, favit till you

make it. So basically means I love because I've been

to a lot of occasion where people say, just wing it,

just wing it all right, you've got a class presentation,

you haven't prepared, your your friends with you, Just wing it,

just wing it, just God and go ring on it.

You go to public courses, the tissue, public presentation, and

all they say, don't worry, just fake it till you

make it right. That means you come out, you just

pretend it's going to be well, and you just wing it.

But favorite till you make it basically tells me, is

this life perseverance. Just gotta be your authentic self. God

is not asking you to be somebody else. You know,

if you're a worship leader, you don't have to be

like Josh to play the car horn. And you know

saying that only you feel that you are off a

certain level. You just be yourself. You just be yourself.

You know, the best person that God can use is

you when you are yourself. It's just that. So we

don't have to imitate the neighbor next to you, just

imitate Christ. Many of us we are we are chasing

to be somebody else. When God looks at you, he's

pleased with you as who you are. You may not

be the most outspoken, you may not be the most flamboyant,

you may not be the most funny one. But it's okay,

it's okay, it's okay because God designed you. He knows

you all right, soon. I want to say, is anyone

can apply faith. The loudest may not necessarily be the

most having faith, but the quietness often can be the

one having most faith. A lot of rich people to

go up to the treasury, they give, They give maybe

a bit loud luck because you can put in a

lot of coins, cring cring, cring, cring, cring, crankring cring.

But at that treasury, who was Jesus impressed the most?

The lady with the two might just they impressed Jesus.

She was very quiet in a giving, but yet her

faith gave her substance. So let your substance, let your work.

That's the find of your faith. You know, in the

age of social media, a lot of people are sharing

a lot of things. Very good. You share your testimony,

very good, you share your thoughts on social media, TikTok whatever,

very good, very good, very good, very good. I encourage

you to do that, but be very careful. The loudest

may not necessary be the one be the most faith,

but the quietest often has a faith like a lion inside.

I'm saying this because many of us we have a

particular vision of what a man or a woman of

faith should be like. And sometimes you wonder you're not

like them, and you wonder where you are in life.

But I'll let you know. Just be yourself, be your

authentic self, Be the best version you can be, because

God use you the best when you are you. Saul

wanted to give David his armor, Sauce armor, to go

and fight Golia. You remember the story. And when David

put on Salce armor, he wasn't used to it. He can't.

So Pastor taught us about this. You know, sometimes it's

not using another person's armor. It's about you being yourself.

So David put on an egg of faith, went and

confronted Golia with what sling shot? How many pebblestones? Five pebblestones?

How many stones to bring down Golia?

Just one?

You don't need a sword, you don't need a spear,

you don't need an armor. All you need is.

God.

So you're gonna end as extreme comes forward. What by

faith and not by faith will cost you? Faith will

cost you. Remember that, because if your faith doesn't cost you,

it may not be a fay worth keeping. It's just

that it will cost you. But it's the good kind

of costs. When you pay the cost you grow in

your character. I want to stand as we close. Thank you.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit as church dot org.

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that this week is going to be a good week.

I hate for you. God bless