Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. Welcome to week number four,
I believe. Everybody say week number four. Week
number four in our series that we've entitled
Faith Act. Has anyone learned anything along
the way in this series? I have to admit that
I've learned some things, even though I'm the
one teaching it. I'm learning it before I teach
it. And today... was just a big aha moment for
me. Last week when I was preparing for this message,
it's like all of a sudden I saw something that
I'd never seen before. And that's strange when
you've preached the text multiple times. Remember,
I was in evangelism on the road, so I preached
a lot of sermons more than once, all right, if
you hadn't figured that out. So I preached this.
And I was so shocked that I've never seen it.
Have you ever read a Bible verse or even memorized
a Bible verse and then all of a sudden you see
it? It's like you might have known it for 10
years. You might have memorized it for 20 years.
And then all of a sudden you're like, is that
what that says? Is anybody with me? Well, that's
a big aha moment for me. And maybe everybody
in the room already knew. What I didn't know.
Okay, so it may not be an aha moment for you,
but it was definitely an aha moment for me. Faith
acts. Let's talk about faith. Just a reminder,
Ephesians 2 .8 tells us something very important
about faith. It says this, for by grace you have
been saved through faith. So, everybody say grace.
I believe the definition for grace might be here.
Grace, we're going to take it above, you know,
what you've got memorized, all right? Let's look
at it this way. Grace is God's acts of kindness
and favor towards you and towards me. Some people
just cut it off at unmerited favor, and, you
know, let's personalize it, right? Because God
has done some pretty amazing things. showing
His love, showing His kindness, showing His favor
towards you and me when we didn't deserve it.
We didn't deserve it. So grace, that's the part
God did which makes it available. See, grace
makes it available. Are you with me? Y 'all got
to listen faster. I don't want you to go to sleep.
It's easy to go to sleep when it gets warm, right?
Grace makes it available, but just because it's
available doesn't mean that we have it. Yes.
Just because it's available doesn't mean that
it's ours. It means that it's available. And
how do we take hold of it? By faith. It's by
grace. God's grace made salvation available.
And then we receive it through faith. We have
to receive it. Just like every other promise
of God, we receive it the same way that we receive
salvation. We receive it through faith. Galatians
3 .11, No one is justified by the law in the
sight of God, that's evident, for the just shall
live by faith. those who have been justified,
where God looks at you just as if you've never
sinned against Him, when you're in that position
in Christ, then you live by faith. You live by
faith. You're not justified by your ability to
keep the rules. You're justified because of what
God has provided, and then you receive it by
faith. 2 Corinthians 5, 7, for we walk by faith.
Everybody say walk by faith. We walk by faith
and not by sight. This word walk means the sphere
of our existence. Every day, everything we're
involved in, the Bible tells us that we should
live by faith and walk by faith. Our existence
should be about our faith in God, not based on
what we see or what we feel. Y 'all got to smile
every once in a while. Make me preach better
if you smile every once in a while. 1 John 5,
4. Good news, right? Every child of God. How
many children of God do we have in the room?
Every child of God defeats this evil world. We
are all victors. God's grace makes that available.
For you to live in victory in this world. And
how do you connect to it? How do you achieve
it? Through your faith. Through your faith. Hebrews
11, 6 says this. It's impossible to please God
without faith. How many people want to please
God? Well, then we have to understand faith and
walk by faith, live by faith. If we're going
to please God. So if we're saved through faith,
if we're called to live by faith, if we only
experience victory through faith, and if we can
only please God by our faith, then we need to
be people of faith. Actively living by faith.
Actively standing in faith. Actively increasing
in faith. Faith is important. Faith is important.
If you come to the Lathian Church a lot, you
might get to the point where you say, man, we
got another sermon on faith? Well, it's very
important. It's very important. Because it's
critical if we want these things in our lives,
if we want to see the promises of God fulfilled
and manifested in our lives, then we're going
to have to be people of faith. Going to have
to understand it. And I don't care how much you
know about it, you have room to grow. You have
room to grow. Look at the person beside you and
say, you have room to grow. Some of us have more
room to grow than others. I want to grow. I want
to grow. I want to be a person of faith, actively
living by faith, actively standing in faith,
actively increasing in faith. If you know me,
I want you to look at me as this is happening
in my life. So what is faith? Where does it come
from? How do we have it? How do we live it? Romans
10, 17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by
the word of God. Without a word from God, we're
living on speculation. We're not living by faith.
We might live... I mean, I guess people live
in faith in themselves or faith in other people
around them, but... I've let myself down quite
a few times and other people have let me down
quite a few times. So it's important if we're
going to have the faith that pleases God, it
has to be faith in God. Jesus said, have faith
in God. He didn't say just have faith. He said,
have faith in God because God is the one who
is able. And that faith comes to us when we hear
the word of God, when we hear a divine utterance.
Whether it's spoken or written. Now, that means
that all these promises in here, thousands of
promises, thousands. As you read them, the Holy
Spirit can cause them to come alive on the inside
of you and you say, God just promised me that.
God just promised me that. And I'm going to believe
it. I'm going to receive it. Right? So faith
comes by hearing. But it also comes by hearing
that divine utterance from God, the Holy Spirit,
who is living on the inside of us, who speaks
to us in a still, small voice. Most of the time,
still, small voice. So, how many of you know
that, you know, there's a whole lot of things
that God might be asking you to do that are not
written in black and white in this book? But
that doesn't mean that there's not a divine utterance.
Now, everything we say that we hear from God
has to agree with God's written Word. It has
to agree. If you tell me that God told you to
do something that the Word of God says that God's
against that, then God didn't tell you to do
it. He didn't tell you to. But there's not a
verse that says, hey, In April of 2021, I want
you to move from Myrtle Beach to Four Corners
and plant Elation Church. There's no black and
white verse for that. If you find it, let me
know. But there is the Holy Spirit of God speaking
His divine utterance to lead into God. There
was not a verse that said in August of 84, there
wasn't a verse that said, okay, Dean, I want
you to marry Gannon. There wasn't a verse for
that. But I had the peace of God and the direction
of God and joy of God all wrapped up all in it.
Right? So, a divine utterance. Faith comes by
hearing and hearing by a divine utterance from
God. So the first step, everybody say first step.
First step is hearing the divine utterance. Now
when you hear it, then you have a decision to
make. Are you going to believe it? Are you going
to have confidence in it? Hebrews 11 .1 says,
Faith is the confidence. Everybody say confidence.
That what we hope for will actually happen. It
gives us assurance. Everybody say assurance.
About the things we cannot see. So, confidence.
That what we hope for. What is hope? It's not
a hope, so hope. It's a confident expectation.
That we're going to see the promises of God fulfilled.
We're going to see the goodness of God fulfilled
in our lives based on what He has said. Based
on what He has said. You believe it to the point
not where you just have some kind of mental agreement.
No, you believe it where you have confidence
in it. So the second step of faith is wholeheartedly.
believing and having confidence in God's Word.
Second step. Now, a lot of people just quit right
there for I don't know how many years of my Christian
life. I mean, maybe 20 years. I mean, if I heard
it and believed it and wholeheartedly believed
it, that's faith. Is it? Well, in this series,
what we're learning from God's Word is that there
has to be a corresponding action. Everybody say
corresponding action. Because faith without works
is dead faith. How many of you know dead faith
won't produce anything? So we can hear it, and
we can say we believe it, and even be confident
in ourself that we believe it. But if there's
no corresponding action attached to it, then
it's not going to produce. It's dead faith. I
don't need to preach that. That's going to be
the last sermon of the series. Anyway, so the
third step, everybody say third step, is acting
in obedience. Acting in obedience. Sometimes
it's very clear in the Word of God. If you...
then I promise you that I'm going to do this.
And we can believe the promise and believe that
God keeps His promises and say, well, that promise
is for me, but if we don't do our if part, then
we can't expect God to do His then part. I'm
already getting some pushback on the social media
from this sermon series. But I don't care. I
don't care. I've got preacher friends giving
me some pushback. They're like, oh, you're talking
about... Listen, when I talk about acting and
when I talk about works, I'm not talking about
the works of the law. That's not what I'm talking
about. And you could run off and say, well, you
know, preacher's saying that we get saved by
works. I didn't say that. And if you're listening,
I didn't say that. Okay? But what I am going
to say is, salvation is provided, but you have
to act on it to receive it. You have to connect
your faith to it to receive it. The Bible says
you've got to believe it, then you've got to
confess your sin. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just. So that's an act. Confession
is an act. If you don't confess, you're not going
to receive salvation. If you don't call on the
name of the Lord, you're not going to be saved.
Hello? So you have to confess and you have to
call. Those are two actions. Two actions. So
the third step of faith is acting in obedience.
It's not by keeping the rules, no. But it is
by acting in the way that God calls you to act.
So our connection to the power and the ability
of God, everybody say God is able. Our connection
to his power, everybody say he's all -powerful.
Our connection to his all -powerfulness and his
ability is when we act on what he said. That's
our connection. And don't forget, you've got
to hear it, you've got to believe it, you've
got to have confidence, but there's always an
act, always an action. The faith that ultimately
pleases God is a faith that responds. It does.
It acts. It gives. Whatever it is that God is
speaking to you through his word or by the still
small voice of his Holy Spirit, whatever it is
that he is saying for you to do, and we've talked
about this, sometimes we don't even see a connection.
Remember Naaman? What's the connection of dipping
seven times in the Jordan River? going to do
with me being healed of leprosy. That's absolutely
crazy. I've got better rivers back where I lived.
Right? So we might not think the connection has
anything to do with the promise. But it does.
It does. So faith act. That little baby holding
that barbell. Can that baby lift that 300 -pound
barbell? Somebody say no. Obviously, an eight
-month -old baby with a bib around its neck can't
lift a 300 -pound barbell off the floor. I've
seen some strong babies, but none that strong.
But what do you think that baby would be like
if somebody who could pick up that 300 -pound
barbell walked up behind him and picked it up?
Yeah! Right? God is able. God is able, but He's
wanting you to act. He wants you to put your
hands on the barbell. He said, I'll pick it up,
but I want you to put your hands on the barbell.
Here's the story. Here's my aha moment this past
week. And if you've been in church any time,
you're going to know this story, and you're going
to say, what's the big deal, Dean? Well, Matthew
7, 24 through 29. Look at the person beside you
and say, listen fast. I don't want you to fall
asleep when it's warm, man. It might be hard
for me to stay awake during this one. I am standing
up, but I'm trying to stay awake. Oh, I thought
you were telling me I might need to stand up.
Had a friend that always fell asleep when he
was reading his Bible, you know, so. He decided
how to conquer that. He took his Bible and stood
up on the edge of the tub and read his Bible
standing on the edge of the tub. If you fall
asleep then, you're not going to fall asleep
again. You're going to wake up really quick,
right? So that was his solution to falling asleep.
Matthew 7, 24. Therefore, whoever... This is
Jesus talking, even though it's not read up here.
This is a parable. Everybody say a parable. Therefore,
whoever hears these sayings of mine and does
them, I will liken him to a wise man who built
his house on the rock. The rain descended, the
floods came, the winds blew and beat on that
house, and it did not fall, for it was founded
on the rock. How many of you have heard this
story before? But everyone who hears these sayings
of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish
man who built his house on the sand. The rain
descended, the floods came, and the winds blew
and beat on that house, and it fell, and great
was its fall. Simple story. Simple story. I want
us to look at the similarities and differences
between the two people, the two houses. This
message is going to be so simple, anybody in
the room can preach it after you're done. All
right? Similarities and differences. Same house.
Everybody say same house. We're not talking about
the three little pigs or one of them's out of
straw and one of them's out of sticks and one
of them's out of brick. I mean, it's not like
the foolish person built their house out of straw
and the wise person built their house out of
brick. No. Okay? Same house. When we look at
the text, it simply says built his house. Everybody
say built his house. So we can assume that there's
any differences between the houses. Same house.
It's also the same storm. The description is
exactly the same. The rain descended, the floods
came, and the winds blew and beat on that house.
Everybody say same storm. Nothing different.
It's not that one was a gentle spring shower
and the other one was a hurricane. No, it's the
same storm. But we have different outcomes. One
house did not fall. The other house fell, and
great was its fall. Everybody say, no duh. I
mean, this is just easy, right? It's easy. Simple.
There are different foundations. So now we're
getting into some differences. One foundation
was on a rock, and the other one was on sand.
And this is where I, among preachers, All of
a sudden, you know, we start pulling out that
verse, you know. Jesus said he was the rock.
Jesus is saying he's the cornerstone. Amen? It's
good preaching. Everybody say good preaching.
It's good preaching. So if you build your house
on Jesus, you're building your house on the rock.
And if you're not building your house on Jesus,
then you're building your house on the sand.
And if you build it on the sand, Then it's going
to fall. Because you should have built your house
on Jesus. All right. If I only had a B3 player,
Bo, we'd ramp it up hard right there. But that's
what I've preached. And that's what I've heard
preachers preach. Do we have any preachers in
the room or Bible study teachers in the room?
And that's where you went. If you tried to teach
this, that's where you went. Well, that preaches
real good, but that's not what Jesus said. This
was my aha moment. My aha moment. So, what's
the difference on the foundations? Where does
the difference come from? What does Jesus say?
He clearly told us. But then we just create our
own sermon based on his parable. But it's very
clear. Everybody say very clear. Very obvious.
It's so easy. It takes a theologian to mess it
up. It's so easy. Let's go. Same word. Everybody
say same word. Both these guys heard the same
word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the
word of God. Both of them heard the same word.
Jesus said it exactly the same for both of these
people. He said, whoever hears these sayings
of mine. So, these are not just complete atheists
or pagans. These people heard the word. Whoever
hears these sayings of mine. And then there's
different descriptions. There's like, one of
them is wise. Everybody say wise. The other is
foolish. Everybody say foolish. Now, they heard
the same word, but the way one reacted was wise,
and the way the other one reacted was foolish.
So simple. What's the difference? What's the
difference? What's the rock? What's the sand?
Jesus did not say, right after he said this parable,
he said, I am the rock, so build on me. And that's
good. That's good preaching. That's not what
he says. The difference is between a wise person
and a foolish person is their response to the
word. It's like, I ain't never seen that. I've
read this a hundred times. I've preached it 20
or 30 times. I've never seen it. Have you ever
seen it? I mean, is this like, oh no, he's just
telling me something I already knew. That's okay.
It's good to hear it again. Different responses
to the Word. That's the difference. He said this.
I just copied and pasted this from the text.
Everyone who hears these sayings of mine, and
does not do them will be like a foolish man.
So if we hear the divine utterance of God and
we don't act on it, there's no corresponding
action, then we're foolish, Jesus said. But if
we hear it and do it, we'll be wise, Jesus said.
What an amazing illustration. Just straight up
in our face. Same storm. Nothing different about
this storm. Matthew 5 .45 tells us it rains on
the just and the unjust. Every single one of
us, we live in the same fallen, broken world.
I mean, I know that don't give us warm fuzzies.
But it's messed up. It's broken. Sin has destroyed
God's beautiful creation. So it rains on the
just and the unjust. When I talk about being
a person of faith, I'm not talking about, hey,
if you'll be a person of faith, nothing ever,
no bad thing will ever come into your life if
you're a person of faith. That's not what I'm
saying. The Bible doesn't teach that. I mean,
our opportunity to use our faith, our opportunity
to have victory, that automatically tells you
that there's going to be a struggle. If you're
going to have victory, there's going to be some
kind of struggle that you're going to overcome
to have victory. So we live in a fallen, broken,
messed up world. All of us. I mean, here's what
the enemy tries to get us to believe so many
times. You know what? Nobody's as messed up as
I am. Nobody has ever dealt with what I deal
with. Nobody has ever had to struggle. Nobody's
ever had the problem as severe as mine. I tell
you, if we go around the room and share the microphone
and talk about terrible things or tragic things
that you've gone through or you're going through
now, I mean... it'd be real easy to have a woe
is me testimony service. Because if you're not
going through trouble today, I'm pretty sure
you've gone through trouble before today. Same
storms. Same storms. I've already showed you
that Jesus described them exactly the same, but...
But we're talking about being wise and foolish.
We're talking about standing or falling apart.
And in this world, when storms come our way,
when tragedy comes our way, when trouble comes
our way, when all those things come our way,
it's like, here's the question. Are we going
to stand in faith or are we going to fall apart?
Has anybody ever fallen apart before? Have you
had a time when a storm hit and you just... Fell
apart. I have. We all have. But Jesus is saying,
look, you don't have to fall apart. You don't
have to fall apart. There's different outcomes.
One person stands, one person falls apart. I've
seen it so many times. People who go through
the same thing. This family went through this.
Terrible thing. This family went through the
same terrible thing. This person faced this challenge.
This person faced the exact same challenge. One
of them, one of those families falls apart. One
of these people fall apart. One of these families
stand, and that person stands. And they went
through the same thing. Same thing. And what's
the different outcome? What's it based on? See,
I'm going to tell you. I believe what the Bible
says right here. And it says this in 2 Peter
1 .3. By His divine power, this is God's power,
God has given us everything we need for living
a godly life. Everybody say grace. He has already
given you and me. He's already made it available.
Everything you need. We've received all this
by coming to know him. If you're in Christ, he's
already given it to you. The one who called us
to himself by means of his marvelous glory and
excellence. And because of his glory and excellence,
he has given us great and precious promises.
Everybody say great promises. Everybody say precious
promises. You want me to tell you how great and
how precious they are? These are the promises
that enable you, empower you to share His divine
nature and escape this world's corruption. Because...
This world's corruption we know was caused by
human desire. It's caused by sin. That's where
all the tragedy and all the trouble, hey, it
wouldn't be here without the original sin in
the garden. That's when it all fell apart. So,
the Word of God, God has given you and He has
given me great and precious promises, and He's
already given us. The promises that will empower
us to share his supernatural, beyond what we
can do or accomplish on our own, his divine nature
and escape the world's corruption. Do you believe
it? I believe it. I believe it. And I can't say
I always get it right, but I do look back at
my life, and there has been an occasional time
when I have responded by hearing what God said
and then having a corresponding action after
I've heard it, after I believe it, after I have
confidence in it, and then I'd have a corresponding
action, and I have seen the goodness of God.
I've seen deliverance. I've seen miracles. I've
seen promises fulfilled. I've tasted the peace
of God that surpasses understanding when people
would say, how in the world could you be so calm
and have so much peace when this is going on?
How in the world? How is that possible? It's
possible because it's the peace of God. It's
the peace that He gave to me, not the peace that
the world has to offer that just depends on if
everything's going my way or not. I've tasted
and seen the goodness of God. In the land of
the living, that means now. So many people think
that, oh, it's going to be great when we get
to heaven. I'll have victory when I'm in heaven.
I'll have peace and joy and life when I'm in
heaven. Yes, you will, but you can have it now.
You might think I'm crazy, but I'm telling you,
you can have it now. I talked about somebody
who said that they wasn't going to come here
because I told them that they could have peace.
That God wanted them to have peace. They identified
with their worry, their fear, their anxiety.
It became part of who they are. And they didn't
want to come to church here because I told them
God wanted to give them peace and God wanted
to set them free. And I just said it generally
like I'm saying it now, but they took offense.
Not coming to that church. If somebody told me
I could have peace when I needed it, I'd be saying,
that's where I want to go. Because I want some
of that. I can't wave a magic wand or just touch
you and give you the peace of God that surpasses
all understanding. I don't have it to give. God
has already given it to you. And listens. Jeremiah
got it right. He's the weeping prophet, right?
Do you know Jeremiah? He's the weeping prophet,
man. Nobody's wanting to listen to him. But the
Lord told him, He said, You got this right. You
saw this well. Because here's what God said.
He says, I am ready to perform my word. I want
you to hear God tell you that today. He is ready
to perform His Word in your life, in your situation.
God's ready. God's not holding back. God's ready.
Everybody say, God's ready. God's ready to perform
His Word in your life. He didn't tell you something.
Have you seen that commercial? I know it's old
now, but that guy with the dollar bill on a fishing
pole, and he's like putting it, dangling it out
there, and then when he gets close, he jerks
it up, jerks it away. Have you seen that commercial?
That's not God. That's not God. He's not dangling
His Word and His promise out in front of you
just to like keep you on the hook but not give
it to you. No, He is ready to perform His Word.
I have to be honest. There are some times in
my life where I think, God, why are you holding
out on me? But see, what I'm doing then is I'm
not walking by faith. I'm walking by sight, and
I'm walking by feelings. When I start saying,
God, why are you holding out on me? I mean, I'm
doing what you told me to do. Why are you holding
out on me? Listen, we'll talk about this later,
but there's a thing called due season. Everybody
say due season. Due season. Sometimes we're going
through a due season, even in our actions. Sometimes
there are multiple actions. We've looked at that
through the stories that we've looked at. It's
not just one corresponding action. It's two,
three, four. I think the first week, there might
have been up to five different corresponding
actions. And then even before God's people crossed
over to the other side of the Red Sea, I mean,
it went, there was a lot of time in between all
this from when they saw the dust cloud coming
to when they actually crossed over on dry land.
It wasn't due season yet. The promise was there,
but it wasn't due season yet. And you got to
hold on. You got to fight the good fight of faith,
holding on to the word of God, holding on to
your confidence, holding on to your confession
and profession. your agreement with what God
has said, sometimes you've got to hold on to
it. There's been times in my life where I've
had to hold on. Hey, I'm still holding on to
something that God promised me, and I'm waiting
on the due season to come. And when the due season
gets here, you know what? I'm already happy about
it, and sometimes I laugh and jump and dance
because it's not here yet, but I know it's coming
because God promised it, and God keeps His promises.
Then there's other times where it's been months.
It's been months. I've held on. I've held on.
There's been years. There's been months before
the due season came. And I saw the deliverance.
I saw the freedom. I saw the provision. Look
to the person beside you and tell them, hold
on. Hold on. Don't give up. Don't give up. I'm
trying to remember. I think it's Galatians 6
.9. I don't have it on the slide, but I feel
like I need to read it right now. Galatians 6
.9. I can't pull the complete verse out of my
head. Are you looking it up? I can look it up.
I got a Bible right here. Why am I looking at
you? Huh? Speed drill. I remember doing that.
You got it? GE Power Company. Galatians 6. Galatians.
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Here we go.
Galatians 6 .9. So let's not get tired. Everybody
say doing. Let's not get tired of doing what
is good. At just the right time, we will reap.
Everybody say due season. See, if we don't get
tired, if we don't give up in our corresponding
action to what God has said and what God has
promised, if we don't give up, It says at just
the right time we will reap the harvest of blessing
if we don't give up. But if we give up, we're
not going to get it. I don't know if you are
as excited about this as I am, but when I looked
at this parable, I said, wow. There's a difference
between standing and falling apart. Everybody
say, this is for me. I mean, all of us are going
to have the opportunity very shortly to either
stand or to fall apart. You're going to have
an opportunity. And the difference between standing
and falling apart, when the storms of life in
this fallen world hit, the difference is how
we're going to respond to God's promises and
God's truth, how we're going to respond and how
we're going to hold on to it. how we're going
to fight the good fight of faith and not give
up. Because our connection to God's power and
God's ability ultimately is when we act on what
he says. It has to be a corresponding action.
Remember, you can hear, you can say you believe.
But if there's no corresponding action to what
you have heard and what you say you believe,
I'm sorry, but we're not going to receive it.
But the good news is, if we will hear and believe
and have confidence and don't give up, stand
with God. Stand on God's side. We'll see his
goodness. We'll see it. We'll see it. You can
see it. You can see it. Look to the person beside
you and at least smile when you say it. Let's
say, you can see it. Tell them, say, you can
see victory. Go ahead, tell them. You can see
victory. You can see deliverance. You can see
freedom. You can see peace. You can see joy.
You can see hope. You can see life. You can see
it. Because all that's who God is and what his
kingdom is about. You can see it. This online
worship experience was brought to you by the
Friends and Partners of Eulation Church.