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12+1 Core Values: Faith Evident | Pr Gloria Paul

Acts Cheras

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  1. You're listening to a message to go from acts church.

  2. We hope this message will light up your teeth.

  3. Saul was a scary person, right. He was someone who

  4. mean took for contact. He was a person who was

  5. persecuting believers at that time before he you know, was converted,

  6. you know, and he started doing God's work. So for Ananias,

  7. he could have yet hundred one reasons to say no,

  8. But like what Trenton said, he still did it anyway, right,

  9. He chose to do it anyway. And that is faith, guys.

  10. That is faith when you cannot see it, when it

  11. seems so difficult, even in the most impossible person. And

  12. just because of Anania's action, what happened to Saul, he

  13. he is what he turned and life around. Yes, his

  14. life was turned around, right, he received his side. First

  15. of all, we saw a miracle taking place because of faith.

  16. And secondly, because of Anna's life, Saul rose up. And

  17. if you read scripture in the same chapter, in verse twenty,

  18. it says immediately he preach about Christ and synagogues. So

  19. it was an immediate transformation. Saul was touched to the Lord,

  20. he got his eyesight, he was set free, delivered and

  21. then the next thing he did was he went.

  22. To preach the gospel.

  23. So sometimes you can be that Ananias, God may be

  24. calling you to set someone free, and that takes faith.

  25. The person in front of you may seem impossible to

  26. be saved, right because you know what you can only

  27. see through your eyes. But God sees beyond that. God

  28. sees him or her in a way that none of

  29. us can see. And that is what faith is, is

  30. the faith and trust that, okay, as long as if

  31. God is telling me, I'm going to do it right.

  32. And because he answered that, we have another hero in

  33. the Bible, Saul, who went on preaching the gospel, and

  34. even more powerful it is because he was someone who

  35. was against Christ.

  36. And then here we have the.

  37. Same guy who is choosing to preach the gospel.

  38. Right.

  39. Can imagine the kind of unbelief that people may have had,

  40. and when they see such a transformation, they would think, wow,

  41. there must be something for Saul to be fully transformed

  42. in such a way, right, and to believe in God

  43. as well. And that is fate, guys, that is fate.

  44. We may have not had that story here in the

  45. book in chapter nine of Ananias, if he just chose

  46. to step out, to step behind in fear and think

  47. can I actually do this?

  48. Right?

  49. And in fact, this guy's name, Ananya's is not repeated

  50. many times in the Bible. We don't always quote about him. Yeah,

  51. but then again, that small action is what God is

  52. looking for. It is not your big, you know decisions,

  53. but it's just that yes, Lord, I'll do this even

  54. if others don't hear it. But if God years you

  55. say yes, that goes a long way. Yeah.

  56. That is faith.

  57. Without faith and obedience of annas, there may not be

  58. even a soul.

  59. Yeah.

  60. Who is it that God may be sometimes bringing into

  61. your lives to get you to step out in faith

  62. so that you can be a blessing to them, so

  63. that you can be the one that shows them the

  64. other side of life, which is true Christ.

  65. Right.

  66. And as I was preparing this message, I was thinking

  67. about you know, God first wants to work in us, right.

  68. God wants to first work in you with your faith.

  69. Sometimes you may be wondering, God, why is it that

  70. I don't have people to reach out to or people

  71. that I can talk to or what? Well, then God

  72. maybe just working your faith first, because it may be

  73. just bring people. It may be opening door, but if

  74. your faith is not there, if it's not activated, if

  75. it's still dad, how are you going to reach out

  76. to that person?

  77. Right?

  78. And this faith that we're talking about doesn't need you

  79. to be fully memorizing the Bible right, or being a leader,

  80. or being all that the world things that you need

  81. to have. But God just simply wants a simple faith.

  82. Right.

  83. And time after time in the Bible, you will read

  84. that those who have actually experienced their healing or their

  85. breakthroughths are.

  86. Those simple people.

  87. Remember the lady who actually just touched the rope of

  88. Jesus and received a healing no one would have seen

  89. in the crowd because it was so crowded, right, but

  90. just that one touch, she didn't even have to touch

  91. or think of, you know, looking at Jesus. But she

  92. knew the power that Jesus had. And if I could

  93. just touch his rope, I can experience that healing. That

  94. is faith, right, that is faith. What is it that

  95. you are trusting the Lord today? And how can you

  96. actually step out in faith?

  97. Church? How can you build that faith?

  98. Right? Or what this word faith could also mean to

  99. you in this season of your life? Be pretty You'll

  100. not just be another word that people use, but may

  101. be an important ingredient in our lives as believers. Because

  102. without faith, it is impossible to please God. Right, It's

  103. impossible to please God. And the thing about faith that

  104. I learned, right, Okay, Interestingly, God has been speaking to

  105. me about faith for the past few weeks now. And

  106. then when I looked at the schedule, I was thinking,

  107. I saw my name, I'm assigned for this particular topic

  108. right past actually schedulesers and then she tells every Sunday

  109. what value to cover. And so I was thinking, oh,

  110. what a coincidence. I'm sure it's not a coincidence. God

  111. had this word brewing in my heart. So as I

  112. was I went to bait yesterday and all of a sudden,

  113. I was wide awake one am, and I felt the

  114. nutch of the Holy Spirit. Right, And as I was

  115. preparing this message, and God just put this in my heart,

  116. and he reminded he wants to remind the church that

  117. faith is actually a gift that He has given to

  118. us as believers, and because we are believers, we have

  119. access to it. Yeah, because the way you see faith

  120. is very different from what the people who may have

  121. not known Christ yet. See, faith, faith can just mean

  122. outside in the world, it means more trust, more confidence,

  123. more courage, more effort. Right, then I have faith in

  124. what I'm doing. But faith for us here as believers,

  125. it means that God has given you the excess because

  126. He loves you, because you have a relationship with him.

  127. You have the understanding and the assurance that God can

  128. move and do great things. Right, and so what is

  129. reminding us as his children is that He has freely

  130. given us the gift. But there's the thing about gift.

  131. You can choose to say thank you, Lord, or you

  132. can choose to put that gift aside and open it

  133. on another day, or maybe even forget that it's there. Right,

  134. But this gift is given to each one of us.

  135. Let's look at what the scripture tells us about this.

  136. Let's look at Romans twelve versus three. All right, just

  137. a bit of a context. Romans twelve, this particular chapter

  138. talks about the spiritual gifts, and before any of the

  139. other gifts are highlighted, faith in place. Right in verses three,

  140. it says, for I say, through the grace given to me,

  141. to everyone who is among you, not to think of

  142. himself more highly than he ought to think, but to

  143. think solbly, as God has deal to each one a

  144. measure of faith. Right, he has dealed each one with

  145. the measure of faith. And that just means God has

  146. given each one of us that measure of faith according

  147. to our belief, according to our trusts. Yeah. In one

  148. Quarantines twelve eleven, it talks about how God is the

  149. one who decides this. Right, it's not men, but it's

  150. the God who decides. And you read Efficiens, you can

  151. just take down the scriptures efficients for seven. It says

  152. that it is a special gift that is given to us. Yeah,

  153. special gift. And when you read Probbs three, Yeah three

  154. chapter seven to Arsus eight, it talks about how this

  155. gift is given to us as an enabling gift given

  156. to Christians. Enabling meaning when you have that faith, you

  157. are enabled to do things right.

  158. You're able to believe.

  159. More, You're able to lay hands on others and believe

  160. for healing. Yeah, you believe you're able to take a

  161. step forward and believing that God will open that door.

  162. So's enabling.

  163. It's that kind of a gift, right, It gives you

  164. that assurance. It gives you that power to do things. Yeah,

  165. and it's also the ability to be assured that God

  166. will do things that He has revealed.

  167. Right. That is how powerful this gift is.

  168. And when we read scriptures, you will see that it

  169. is also given to us in the measure of every believer.

  170. Right.

  171. And that's the thing sometimes, you know, if you read

  172. or if you've come across big giants of faith you know,

  173. or speakers or people that you know are called to

  174. you know, have a calling or a gifting to pray

  175. for healing, to prophesy. Right, And I always that question

  176. and say God, I would also want to have that

  177. kind of a gifting, right, And then God told me

  178. it's about faith. It is about faith if you can

  179. just have that faith and the trust to pray when

  180. you lay hands without a doubt thinking okay, well this happened.

  181. You don't have all those things, right, but you can

  182. just say God, just use me, and when you lay hands,

  183. God works and God moves, right. And that is why

  184. the scripture tells us here in the measure of faith

  185. for every believer, because it is something that we also

  186. need to cultivate.

  187. Right.

  188. The more you speak with the Lot. The more you

  189. meditate on God's word, because if you're going to pray

  190. for someone and if you have a word in your

  191. heart right, you're going to be holding on to that

  192. promise as you pray for them, compared.

  193. To just leaning on your own words. That's a difference. Yeah.

  194. Or when you are you have spent a lot of

  195. time with the Lord and God has assured you in

  196. that time of prayer, you have felt God's presence when

  197. you lay hands on someone and pray, or when you're

  198. praying for yourself, you feel the difference because you have

  199. that intimacy with the Lot and you're not stepping in

  200. just because I am doing it by myself, but I'm

  201. doing it because God is with me. So what we're

  202. trying to understand here is that faith it comes through

  203. the intimacy with the Lot. Yeah, it is not about

  204. how many years you've been a believer. It is not

  205. about how many books that you have read right or

  206. how well you speak, but it is about your intimacy.

  207. If you want to measure your faith, it goes back

  208. to what you do on a daily basis. How frequent

  209. are you speaking to the lot, are you taking time

  210. to listen to his voice. Yeah, when you're in the

  211. midst of making decisions, do you first go to him

  212. before anything else? Right, And it's not something that you

  213. just get instantly. It takes a lot of patience, it

  214. takes a lot of trust, and sometimes it's just about

  215. letting go and letting God to move in his ways. Yeah,

  216. that is what fate is church, right, And it is

  217. a gift that all of us have. But it's a

  218. matter of whether you want to open up that wrapping,

  219. that little bow that's on the gift and see what's

  220. in there and use it, yeah, and not keeping it aside. Right,

  221. it is a gift, amen. And that is what makes

  222. us so different from those who do not know Christ.

  223. And even more so, this value is so important because

  224. we are living in the midst of people around us

  225. who may looking for a sense of hope. Do you

  226. think so, right, looking for a sense of answers. But

  227. if we have the access to it, it's like as

  228. though you're having something good with you, but yet you're

  229. not using it. What a waye it is?

  230. Right?

  231. What a waye it is When people are looking for

  232. answers and you have all the answers, it's like you

  233. going for exam, and you have all the answers, and

  234. you know, you know what, you know what is coming out,

  235. but you don't bother to do answer and try those

  236. questions and you just go for exam and then your

  237. friends are all, you know, stress, right, but here you

  238. have all the answers with the Lord Amen, and you know,

  239. just to even draw us to an example from the

  240. Bible of what fate looks like, something that we can

  241. actually relate to, Yeah, it's one of the first miracles

  242. that actually Jesus did you know when he was here

  243. on earth, before he started any of his ministry, What

  244. is the first miracle he did?

  245. Anyway?

  246. Water into wine. Yes, that's what Jesus did, right, he

  247. turned water into wine.

  248. Yeah.

  249. And there's a lot of things that we can lean

  250. on from this story because it was Jesus performing the miracle.

  251. But what do you think was the one who had

  252. that faith behind it? Mary, Yes, marry herself. Yeah, let's

  253. just look at the scriptures here. Let's look at John

  254. chapter two. Okay, so let's just read a couple of

  255. scriptures here. It says in John chapter two, verses one

  256. on words on the third day, there was a wedding

  257. in Cannon of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now,

  258. both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding,

  259. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of

  260. Jesus said to him, they have no wine. Jesus said

  261. to her, woman, does your conson have to do with me?

  262. What does your consent have to do with me? My

  263. hour has not yet come. If someone tells you this,

  264. what would you do?

  265. Okay?

  266. By right, okay, what let's see was his life? His

  267. mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you,

  268. do it. This is Mary's respond Now there was said

  269. there six water pots of stone according to the manner

  270. of purification of the juice, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.

  271. Jesus say to them fill the water pots with water,

  272. and they fill them up to the brim. And he

  273. said to them, draw some out now and take it

  274. to the master of the feast.

  275. And they took it.

  276. When the master of the feast had tasted the water

  277. that was made wine and did not know where it

  278. came from, the Master of the feast called the bridegroom,

  279. and he said to him, every man at the beginning

  280. sets out the good wine, and when the guests are

  281. well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good

  282. wine until now this beginning of sign. Jesus didn't cana

  283. of Galilee and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed

  284. in him.

  285. Amen.

  286. So there are a couple of things that we can

  287. notice and learn from the scriptures here.

  288. Yeah.

  289. The first thing is about Mary's faith and focus. If

  290. you look at the response she gave, it may not

  291. be a common respond that you'd give to someone who says,

  292. what is it for me?

  293. My hour is not yet come? Right?

  294. But Mary knew something right because she had that encounter

  295. when the time, you know, the Angel visited her and said,

  296. you'll be conceived, right, you'll be conceived. And you know

  297. he even told the angel said, you know, we read

  298. that in Luke one thirty. Since then, the angel said

  299. to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have

  300. found favor with God. There was the promise that God

  301. gave Mary, and many years later Mary still remembered that promise.

  302. She remembered that I have found favor with God. And

  303. having favor just means that I have access to the Lord.

  304. I have an intimacy with God. I have that faith

  305. that he can make the impossible. And that is what

  306. favorite feels like.

  307. Right.

  308. Favor comes from the word favorite. Yeah, and if you're

  309. a favorite person of someone, you get all you want, right.

  310. And that is how Mary saw Jesus. I'm a favorite

  311. child of God. I'm found favorite and that is why

  312. there was nothing that could stop her or hinder her

  313. from asking God. It doesn't mean that she was trying to,

  314. you know, go against his word or wrestle his arm.

  315. That's not what prayer looks like, right. But to me,

  316. I see it as simple faith, simple trusts. Whether it

  317. happens or not, it's in the hand of God, in

  318. his will.

  319. Right.

  320. She didn't tell him that you have to do it,

  321. but she just said what she needed to do from

  322. her part on her side. And that is the thing

  323. about faith. It doesn't mean that things will happen in

  324. our way, but we just do it anyway. We just

  325. take that step of faith. We just see what we

  326. need to say. We just pray how we need to pray,

  327. and the rest is in the hands of God. Yeah,

  328. And that is exactly what Mary did. Yeah, It's about

  329. the heart and the poisture at the end of the day.

  330. That is where it boils down back the poisure of

  331. how you see yourself with God, your heart conditioned with

  332. the Lord. It goes back to that.

  333. Yeah.

  334. And in fact, if you look at the confidence that

  335. she has, that comes with intimacy, Right, you don't just

  336. go and boss around everyone, or you don't just tell

  337. and ask everyone that you don't know, right, it's usually

  338. with friendship. It's usually with a relationship. Therefore you can say, hey,

  339. can you please do this for me? Or can you

  340. please give me a I need a favor? Right, And

  341. in a simple term, that is how it looked like

  342. with Mary and Jesus.

  343. She had such confidence.

  344. Right, she knew that Jesus can do this. And it's

  345. not something that she even saw because it's his first miracle.

  346. She didn't seem you know, turning water into wine yesterday

  347. and thinking that, okay, Jesus will do it now. It

  348. was something new to everyone. Can you imagine that, Yeah,

  349. something new? And yet she was well, God, I need

  350. this and could you do it? That is face And

  351. if you look at a simple phrase she used, it

  352. was simple. It was not big words dragons, but it's

  353. just the.

  354. Condition of the heart and the poisture. Amen.

  355. That is why it says in Hebrews four sixteen, let

  356. us therefore come boldly to the throne of Grace, that

  357. we may obtain grace, mercy, and find grace to help

  358. in the time of need. So God wants us to

  359. come to him boldly, not with hesitation, not with doubt, right,

  360. not thinking that I'm too small or this thing is

  361. too small for God. No, whether it's a small or

  362. a big thing, God can do it right because God

  363. sees things differently from how we see things.

  364. Amen. Yeah.

  365. So that's the first thing that we can notice about Mary.

  366. And of course the second point that we can read

  367. from the scriptures is that Jesus is the one that

  368. makes our faith possible.

  369. That is something we've got to understand, right.

  370. We can, you know, have we can see what we

  371. need to say, we can pray, we can do things

  372. in action, but that is faith. By the same time,

  373. it is Jesus himself that makes things possible.

  374. Yeah.

  375. And there are few symbols that we can learn from

  376. the scriptures we read.

  377. Yeah.

  378. The first thing is that as we read this now,

  379. if you notice how many parts were there in the

  380. in the scripture six seven sixty seven six, Right, there

  381. were six pots. But the thing about six is that

  382. you know the Bible, if you look at numbers, they

  383. all have different symbols. Right, seven means completion, but there.

  384. Were six pots. Right.

  385. But you know what made it complete, h Jesus made

  386. it complete. Jesus made it complete.

  387. Right.

  388. So it can be sometimes a situation that seems incomplete,

  389. He can seem like a situation that is imperfect or

  390. just not nice in our eyes. Right, But when Jesus

  391. comes into the picture, and even more so with our faith,

  392. can you imagine the things that he can do? Right?

  393. And that is how water was turned into wine. That's

  394. the first thing he completes Us. Turned to the person

  395. next to you and tell them he completes you. Okay,

  396. Jesus completes you.

  397. Right.

  398. Nothing else can complete you, not the person next to you,

  399. not your job, not your any people that is in

  400. your life.

  401. Nothing. It is only Jesus.

  402. And until and unless you realize that, you will find

  403. so much more assurance and confident than to the way

  404. you live your lives. Yeah, only he completes us. And

  405. the second symbol that we can see is that the water.

  406. The living water is what cleanses us. Yeah, if you

  407. read John four ten, it talks about the living water.

  408. And whoever drinks of this water will never urse, You'll

  409. never grow dry, right, And that is what Jesus is

  410. offering to us. Yea. And so in this journey of faith,

  411. as you cultivate faith, the one thing that can fill

  412. us and cleanse us is the living water. And even

  413. in the places of unbelief, right, when there's no faith,

  414. the opposite is unbelief, and the only thing that can

  415. remove that unbelief is the living water. Yeah, if you

  416. can sit on his presence and say God, fill fill

  417. my cup and he feels you to the brim.

  418. Yeah.

  419. And of course the third symbol is the wine itself.

  420. When water turned into wine, that is the blood of Jesus, right,

  421. the blurd of Jesus. Now, if you think about it,

  422. when Jesus turned water into wine. You know, if you know,

  423. if you go back to signs every every water or

  424. you know, there's there's molecules that mix up water, right,

  425. and for wine to happen, you need a whole change

  426. of the whole signs behind it. It was not just

  427. even putting in some color and there you go wine

  428. or some sugar. You know, it didn't work that way,

  429. but it was completely two different things. Can you think

  430. about that? Yeah, it is. It is something that no

  431. man can actually do. Water to wine. If you look

  432. at the way that people human do, what do we do?

  433. We need to.

  434. Ferment, right, ferment the great for years and that's when

  435. you get wine. But yeah, we have Jesus. We just

  436. prayer you get something new. Yeah, And that's exactly what

  437. Jesus did. He did the impossible. Yeah, he did the impossible.

  438. And that is why time of the time we partake

  439. of the communion to remind us of what Jesus has

  440. done for us on the cavalry, which no one else

  441. could have done.

  442. Right.

  443. We are not called to leave a life that is condemned,

  444. but we're called to leave a life that is transformed.

  445. No matter how the past could be, no matter what

  446. mistakes you've done. God is not concerned of all that,

  447. as long as you can come before him and just

  448. say God, I am clean. I mean, I am who

  449. I am just before you as your son, as your daughter,

  450. could you wash me clean?

  451. Right?

  452. And that is exactly what Jesus did. And so sometimes

  453. it's hard for to have faith when we are still

  454. holding on to the past, when we're holding on to

  455. the mistakes we have done, the fear or it could

  456. be regrets, mistakes that we have done. Right, we can

  457. hold on to all these things, and that's why faith

  458. seems to be so impossible. Like, God, how are you

  459. going to use me because I've done all of that?

  460. Right?

  461. How am I going to pray for this because I've

  462. not seen an unsert prayer happen. Yeah, And so sometimes

  463. that could be the struggle that you keep wrestling with.

  464. But what God wants for us is to be washed

  465. clean with his precious split so that there can be

  466. that faith to arise. Yeah, the faith to arise. And

  467. so if you are seated here this morning and you

  468. are still holding on to some things that are pulling

  469. you down, then it's good to bring it to the lot.

  470. Go down to your knees and say, God, forgive me

  471. for the things I've done. Could I be made new

  472. once again before you? Right, so that I don't miss

  473. out what you want to use me off, Because God

  474. maybe just calling you at this very moment to do something.

  475. But because of the lack of faith or things that

  476. we're not letting go. We are missing out what God

  477. wants for us. Yeah, and you know what, I was

  478. reminded about this vine when Jesus changed it. Sometimes in

  479. our lives, God changes a whole thing. You had to

  480. change a complete thing for something new and something better.

  481. And it could be sometimes the removal of certain plans

  482. that you've had in life that didn't work out.

  483. Right.

  484. It could be losing off a loved one. It could

  485. be plans that you've had and it just didn't happen.

  486. Right.

  487. But God just sometimes has a reason why he has

  488. to remove these things to make way for the new

  489. that He has for us. That new wine, the new

  490. wine that could have never tastes as any better as

  491. how Jesus did it for us.

  492. Yeah.

  493. So, if you're here thinking, God, everything has changed. Nothing

  494. is working out the way I thought it would be

  495. by this age, by this time of the year, I

  496. should be experiencing what I wanted. But it's not working out.

  497. What is going on? Lot? Well, then maybe God has

  498. something new for you, right God, Maybe he has an

  499. open door for you. He has something even better than

  500. you thought you need it. But God knows even better

  501. for you. So you know what it takes feate, it

  502. takes trust to just keep going and keep moving forward. Yeah,

  503. and of course the third thing that we can learn

  504. from this story is we obey, we have faith. It

  505. is all for his glory. Yeah, that is why the

  506. tapping into faith is so important because at the end

  507. of the day, we want to give him the glory,

  508. and faith comes by hearing and obeying. We can't just

  509. hear and not do anything about it, right, We have

  510. to be doers as well, So that is why the

  511. obeying comes in place as well.

  512. Right.

  513. So what is it in your life that you could

  514. be trusting the lot? Or you know, maybe there's an

  515. area of life that God is wanting you to step

  516. in faith. It could be things that you still can't

  517. see yet, but you just keep trusting the lot anyway. Yeah,

  518. you know, just to share as I was thinking of

  519. my journey right last year when I left education, I know,

  520. I felt a lot prompting that I to go into

  521. a different field, right into coaching teachers. And I thought, Okay,

  522. that is what it is. It's going to be good,

  523. it's going to be great. But who knew that I

  524. would have you know, been really I lost the job

  525. last year, right, and then a new job came my way.

  526. And so when I was having a conversation with my

  527. boss recently, things are just falling in place.

  528. Right.

  529. For those of you who know me well enough, you

  530. know that this is something that I'm truly passionate about coaching,

  531. helping people, training people. And so then my boss told

  532. me this, and I mean, he's not a believer, and

  533. then he said, I don't know how things are just

  534. falling so so in place for you, Gloria.

  535. Maybe it was he used the word maybe it's karma,

  536. you know. Maybe it's karma.

  537. You've been doing good, you know, and and therefore you're

  538. having it all in place. But you and I know

  539. it doesn't work that way, right, He said, Yeah, things

  540. are just going in a place and the right timing,

  541. you know, because my boss is a coach himself, so

  542. we like to have those kind of conversations. So then

  543. in my heart I felt that that's just how God

  544. works when something you thought was supposed to be and

  545. when God closes that door. But if you just take

  546. that step of faith anyway, God has something better for you.

  547. He changes things around. Yeah, he makes things new in

  548. his own perfect timing and his own perfect will.

  549. Do we have all of it sorted?

  550. I think none of us can come to a place

  551. of thinking that, yes, I have it all sorted in life,

  552. because in life, nothing is just fixed. There's always going

  553. to be something new. There's always going to be a

  554. decision that you got to make, a change, a loss,

  555. whatever it is. But if you can just hold on

  556. to faith, faith in the lot, you will see things

  557. take place.

  558. Amen.

  559. Right, And this has been my person the journey you know,

  560. I mean, and all of you know this story as well.

  561. When I lost.

  562. Mom, I never knew that I could be able to

  563. seve him again, right, But to be able to stand

  564. and to just even talk about faith, it's something that

  565. I never would have imagined, right, never what I thought

  566. there's going to be what I'm going to do.

  567. But that's faith.

  568. I took that step without even seeing. Everything seems so

  569. blurry in the front, But you just take that step

  570. knowing that God is going to hold your hands. Yeah, God,

  571. it's going to hold your hands. And you know this

  572. is something that I'm praying for. I just just felt

  573. I should share since you know, we're in this church together,

  574. and it's just good to be real.

  575. Right.

  576. So last end of last year beginning of this year,

  577. you know, I've not been feeling too well. I think

  578. I have few of our leaders spring as well. And

  579. so because of the different changes in life right after

  580. Mom and things like that, I did developed this chronic

  581. skin disease, okay, and so my doctor sent me to

  582. the to the specialist and they say, oh, it's chronic.

  583. It can only be cured with steroids and you have

  584. to go down the road. And so then it had

  585. all kind of side effects to me, right, and it

  586. is really bad to the point that sometimes I mean

  587. being a woman, you know, when you when anyone I

  588. think man or woman and he hits you, it takes

  589. a lot of yourself as teamed down, right. You know.

  590. There were times sometimes when I come when I have

  591. to preach or when I have to lead, and when

  592. you're going through a better like that, it is never easy.

  593. But I always just go down to my knees and say, God,

  594. you can make things happen. Yeah. It's a type of

  595. faith every other time when I just show up and

  596. say God, I'm doing this for you. Yeah, and I'm

  597. beginning to see healing little by little. Yeah, just two

  598. weeks ago, Sheln spoke a word to me. Right, different

  599. ones have been praying. It's a long journey, yeah, because

  600. I'm not going with the usual treatment with hospitals and

  601. things like that. Yeah, more of a lifestyle thing. But

  602. this is what I mean by faith. You don't stop

  603. just because you don't see things happen, right, You still

  604. keep doing it. You still keep being faithful. And that

  605. is when God works. And time after time I can

  606. testify when you just serve the Lord in your own

  607. capacity in ways God calls you, that is when you

  608. see how God's speaking to you. That is when you

  609. see God answering your prayers. Right, That is when you

  610. see God doing the impossible. Yeah, and time after time,

  611. and I pray for someone. I'm mostly declaring that over

  612. my life because I know that God is able.

  613. Right.

  614. It is the faith that he sees, not because you're

  615. still carrying it, not because what you can do your strength,

  616. but it's only possible through Him.

  617. Yeah, true him.

  618. And I would say that this is the season of

  619. my life that I've experienced God closer than ever before,

  620. because that is what trials does to you.

  621. Sometimes, you know.

  622. When you are positioned in a place where you need

  623. to move in faith. And then when you do it,

  624. you experience God even closer. You feel such intimacy that

  625. cannot be described by words, but only with God. And

  626. so sometimes I can just listen to a worship song,

  627. or I can just be praying, I can just feel

  628. God's presence so real. I can just see tears rolling down,

  629. because that's how near God is to us. That's how

  630. near God is to us. And as your pastor, as

  631. you're in this together, can I just encourage his church

  632. to not miss out on what God has for us. Yeah,

  633. do not miss out on the power that God has

  634. for us. You know, God is just waiting to do

  635. something with you, Nick, with you young, firm, with all

  636. of you. God just is waiting for you to say, yes, Lord,

  637. use me in whatever capacity.

  638. It could be.

  639. In your marketplace, in your schools. Make each day count.

  640. Like I always say, you're never too young for something,

  641. You're never too old for something. It's just a matter

  642. of what you do today. And when you answer and

  643. say yes Lord, this is my level of faith. And

  644. in fact, if you read the Bible, what's the kind

  645. of faith that Jesus says, faith as small as a

  646. mustard seed. You know how, what's the size of a

  647. mustard seed? Have you all seen mustard seeds? It is

  648. so tiny, so tiny you can google the picture of

  649. you don't know what it looks like. That is the

  650. kind of faith God wants, not even you know, a

  651. Dorian size or whatever. No, it's just that little seat.

  652. That is all all it takes. And if you can

  653. have that fear, God moves the mountains with you through you. Yeah,

  654. and you will see how your faith in Him arises

  655. from that as well.

  656. Amen. Can I invite extreme forward? Yeah?

  657. So just a personal sharing because I feel that sometimes

  658. we may share testimonies or stories only after it has

  659. been done. Well, that's good, But you know what, Our

  660. God is very big in the working as well, because

  661. how you respond in the process, how you trust God

  662. while the waiting is what makes the impossible possible.

  663. Yeah.

  664. The moment Anania said yes, I will do this to

  665. go and see Saul, that is when things already happened.

  666. Right.

  667. It is not because he was able to but because

  668. God was able to do great things. True, He's yes

  669. through his faith.

  670. Amen.

  671. Yeah, And so I pray and hope that we will

  672. catch this word catch this faith and allow it to

  673. grow and brew withiness. Yeah, so that it can turn

  674. out into good wine, new wine, new things, and you'll

  675. be just amazed with how God uses you in a

  676. great and mighty way.

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

  678. information on our church, please visit aschurch do org. We

  679. are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that

  680. this week is going to be a good week. I

  681. hit for you. God bless