Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. Faith Act. Everybody say week
number eight. Everybody say the grand finale.
Now we could have kept going and you'll see how
easy it would be for us to keep going by the
time we complete the message today. But this
will be the last message eight weeks in our series.
that we've entitled Faith Act. Let's talk about
faith a little bit. Because some people, if you
ask them what faith is, they just say, well,
it's just believing. It's just acknowledging
and believing. So where does faith come from?
How does faith work? We're going to talk about
that real quick as our introduction. Romans 10,
17 tells us this. Faith comes by hearing. and
hearing by the word of God. So when the Bible
talks about faith, you know, some people think
faith means a denomination or faith is if you're
a person of faith, if you're a believer or not.
And then that's just as far as their definition
gets. But I believe according to the word of
God, our faith needs to be an active faith, not
just a passive faith. So where does this faith
come from? The Bible says without faith, it's
impossible to please God. Where does this faith
come from? It comes from hearing and hearing
by the word of God. It doesn't come from our
imagination. It comes from God's word. And the
word of God here, the words, you know, the Greek
words, the New Testament was written in Koine
Greek in the original language. And here's what
it means. It means divine utterance. That's where
faith comes from. Faith comes from divine utterance.
Now that can be spoken or written. Spoken or
written. So, the written word of God is in the
Bible. Everybody say the Bible. But how many
of you know God speaks to you too? By the still
small voice of his Holy Spirit, he speaks to
us. So, there's some things that are very black
and white in the Bible. It's like, this is what
God said, right? And then there's times when
God speaks to you because there's some things
in your life that aren't written out in black
and white ink, on white paper with black ink.
Some things aren't just written out in the Bible.
Like there's no Bible verse that told Dean to
marry Gayna almost 40 years ago, right? Huh?
Now, she quoted a Bible verse on me before we
started dating. One day, because I'd been praying
for a girlfriend, you know, I'm in college. I
had girlfriends in high school. Now we're in
college and I don't have a girlfriend. I'm like,
what happened to me? You know, I lost it. I must
have lost something when I went to college, right?
So every week when we'd get together, we were
singing in a group together at the college and
we would have prayer request time and I'd say,
pray that I can find a girlfriend in college.
I mean, this is getting bad. And one day Ganna
walked up to me and she said, you have not because
you asked not. Now that's a Bible verse. That's
a Bible verse. She quoted a Bible verse on me.
I asked and like I said, in August we'll be married
40 years. So, but there wasn't a Bible verse
specifically that told me to marry Ganna. There's
not a Bible verse specifically that told me and
my family to move here from South Carolina to
plant Elation Church. About three years ago,
I mean, there's just not a Bible verse. But the
Holy Spirit spoke to us and led us and guided
us, right? So it's still God's Word. When God
speaks to you, it's God's Word. It's His divine
utterance for you. Now, we've got to be careful
when I say this, and I've talked about it during
the series. If all of a sudden you think God's
telling you to do something that is not in agreement
with His written word, then God's not telling
you that. Because God's not going to rewrite
the Bible to fit some kind of personal deal to
you. Alright? Are you with me? If you're with
me, say amen or oh me or uh -huh or something.
Alright? So faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. That's the first step of
faith is hearing a divine utterance from God.
It has to come from God for it to be God -pleasing
faith. Let's keep going. Hebrews 11 .1. Faith
is the confidence that what we hope for will
actually happen. It gives us assurance about
things we cannot see. So this is the second step
of faith. Second step. Now that word hope, you
know, we use the word hope like hope so hope.
I hope so. You know, I've been hoping that the
South Carolina Gamecocks will win a national
football championship all my life. But it's just
hope so hope. And it doesn't look like it's going
to change anytime soon. Thank God for women's
basketball. That's all I've got to say. But we
hope for things, and it's just like a hope -so
hope. But when you read hope in the Bible, it's
not talking about hope -so at all. That's why
we've got to acknowledge that the Bible is written
in Koine Greek, and we've got to look at those
words sometimes to know what they mean. Here's
what hope... means in the Bible. It's the Greek
word elpo and it means have a confident expectation.
Somebody say confident expectation. See, so if
we have heard God say something, if we had heard
a divine utterance, if we have read... a divine
utterance, if the Holy Spirit has caused that
word to come alive on the inside of us, you know
what? We can go ahead and get confident about
it. We can have a confident expectation to the
point that we can go ahead and get happy about
it even before we see it fulfilled in our lives.
The hope that we have in Christ is a confident
expectation that we're going to see the goodness
of God, that we're going to see the promises
of God fulfilled in our lives. That's the hope
that the Bible is talking about. So the second
step of faith is wholeheartedly believing, having
confidence in what God has said. Second step.
Third step. This is what we've been focusing
on. Because see, most people already know about,
and I mean, for, I don't know. Almost 50 years
I've been a follower of Christ and I've known
about hearing and believing, but I haven't really
understood the faith act part except maybe the
last 10 years of my life. James 2 .26 tells us
this, faith without works is dead. It's just
dead. What does dead produce? Nothing. So faith
without works is dead. Faith without a corresponding
action is dead. So the third step of faith is
acting in obedience. Acting in obedience. And
most people never get to that point where they
act in obedience. It's just like the verses that
we read during the offering. It says, if we do
this, then God will do this. Well, us doing our
part is acting in obedience. It's our faith act
to connect to God's promise. So, let's talk about
it a little bit more. Faith, the faith that pleases
God responds. The faith that pleases God says,
gives, does, acts. It just doesn't hear and have
a mental agreement with hearing. It has to go.
to the third step of responding, saying, giving,
doing, or acting. Now, it's easy for us to see
this when it comes to our salvation, right? Ephesians
2 .8 says this, For by grace you have been saved
through faith. Everybody say grace. What is grace?
A lot of people say unmerited favor. You know,
that's just like our common... Common thing,
right? Unmerited favor. But how does that, what
does that look like? What does that look like?
Well, grace, everybody say grace again. Grace
is what God does. Everybody say what God does.
See, grace is God's acts of kindness and favor
towards you and towards me. You know what? God
has done a lot. Hello? God's done a lot of very
great things and good things, and He's shown
His love and His kindness and His favor towards
you and towards me. So in salvation, God's grace
is... Jesus dying on the cross in your place
for your sins, shedding his blood, because without
the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness
of sin, the Bible says. So that's Jesus' work
of grace for you is the cross and the resurrection.
The resurrection just put a stamp on everything
that Jesus said, everything that Jesus did. I
mean, we can have confidence in what he has said
and what he has done. So grace is God's part.
You can't earn it, be good enough for it. You
can't be good enough for God's forgiveness and
God's goodness. You can't deserve it. That's
why we call it unmerited favor, undeserved favor.
It's just God's part. It's God's part. But it
says we've been saved by grace, by God's acts
of kindness and favor towards you. You have been
saved, but you receive it by faith. By grace
through faith. Right? Just because Jesus died
on the cross, does that mean everybody's forgiven
and everybody's going to heaven and everybody
has eternal life? I don't know. Do you know that?
Some of you are looking at me like, either you
quit listening or you don't know the answer.
Because of what Jesus did on the cross, his death,
burial, and resurrection, does that mean that
every person who's ever been born on planet earth
is going to heaven? No. No. Could they? Yes.
Because God's work is sufficient. Right? His
work is sufficient. But only the people... Who
come to Him in faith, right? You hear about God's
goodness. You hear about God's love. You hear
about Him dying on the cross for you. For your
sin and your place. Offering you His gift of
eternal life. You hear those things. And then
you say, I believe that. I believe He died for
me. I believe He wants to give me eternal life.
I believe that. So then how do we act? How do
we take hold of that? The Bible says, with the
heart we believe, but with confession... I'm
trying to quote that verse. Confession is made
unto salvation, is what the Bible says. If we
call on the name of the Lord, we'll be saved.
If we confess our sin, he's faithful and he's
just, he will forgive us and wash us clean. Cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. So that's our part.
That's how we attach to God's work of salvation.
It's when we come to the point where we say,
Jesus, I've messed up. I'm a sinner. I've done
wrong. I'm guilty. I've broke your law. And I
ask you to forgive me. Thank you for dying on
the cross for me, Jesus. Thank you for offering
me your gift of eternal life. Up until today,
my life's just been about me, but from now on,
I want my life to be about you too. And Jesus,
I ask you to be my Lord. I surrender my life
to you. Call on the name of the Lord. That's
how we connect. Everybody say connect. That's
how we connect with our faith to his grace gift
of salvation. Here's the deal. Saving faith,
living faith, walking faith, victory faith, God
-pleasing faith, they all work the same. They
all work the same. The just shall live by faith.
We're to walk by faith and not by sight. This
is the victory that overcomes the world, even
our faith. Without faith, it's impossible to
please God. These all come from verses, but faith
works the same. Look at the person beside you
and say, faith works the same. Faith works the
same. No matter what kind of faith it is, faith
works the same. Faith is more than just a mental
agreement and a belief. It's more than that.
Ultimately, our connection to the power and the
ability of God is when we act. upon what he said.
This is important. It's important. If we're going
to live in victory, I mean, this is important.
This is important. So that's why we've looked
at this series now and we're wrapping it up today
called Faith Act. Now, we've looked at all kinds
of stories and we've talked about how people
heard and believed and then they acted. Today
we're going to wrap it up. It's going to be a
little bit different than the other seven messages.
If this spurs interest, guess what? They're all
on YouTube and they're all on Facebook. You can
look at, hey, they're also all on our podcast,
which might be the easiest way to find them.
Whether you're on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or
whatever, you can find all the messages there.
Actually, the messages on podcasts are recordings
from Sunday morning. which are different than
the other ones on Facebook. Here's the deal.
James 2, 14 through 20. What does it profit,
my brethren? If someone says he has faith, but
does not have works, can faith save him? Some
people look at this verse and they say, oh, well,
now you're going to have to talk about works,
righteousness. No. No, because we can't earn
it. You can't be good enough to deserve salvation.
The Bible talks about it being like a target.
And it comes from the language and it's talking
about a target and there's like an archery shot.
And everybody's life is like... You're shooting
an arrow at the target. When it says that all
of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory
of God, it means that all of us have fallen short.
We've missed the mark. Everybody say, missed
the mark. That's the visual that that word is
talking about. So see, every single one of us,
by our life, we have shot at the target. Some
of us, including myself at times, if the target's
over there, some of us have shot our lives this
way. Has anybody ever missed it so much it was
like shooting in the opposite direction? Anybody
but me and about three other people. Let's go
ahead and fess up, all right? There are other
times when I try, you know. I'm not saying to
live a sloppy life and don't even try. But even
at my best, as the preacher, I mean, with a seminary
degree, at my best, I can't hit the bullseye.
Look at the person beside you and say, you can't
hit the bullseye. He's a hot shot. Come on. Tell
him that. You can't hit it either. We've all
missed it. So James is not talking about works
of righteousness to gain salvation. He's talking
about those things that we were just talking
about. What is a prophet? If someone says he
has faith but doesn't have works, if you say
that you believe in Jesus, a lot of people say
they believe in Jesus, but they've never confessed
him as Lord. They've never called on the name
of the Lord. They've never repented. Never. Not
even the idea to repent. Oh, I just believe in
Jesus, so I'm good now. How many of you know
that's not good enough to have some kind of mental
ascent? So can that kind of faith save somebody
if you just say that you have faith, but then
there's no evidence? Everybody say evidence.
There's no evidence at all. Can that faith save
you? The answer is no. Look at the person beside
you and say, the answer is no. Will saying you
have faith save you without a corresponding action?
The answer is no. Saving faith hears, believes,
acts by saying and surrendering, calling on the
name of the Lord, confessing your sin. All right?
So now we move to an illustration. In James,
the very next verse begins an illustration. Here's
what it says. If a brother or sister is naked
and destitute of daily food, and one of you says
to them, depart in peace, be warmed, and be filled,
but you do not give them the things which are
needed for the body, what does it profit? Look
at the person beside you and say, not a lot.
It's in your ability. So this is an illustration.
If someone doesn't have clothes and they don't
have food and you just say, well, just have peace
and be warmed and be filled and that's just what
you say, is that really helping them? No. So
heartfelt words without a corresponding action,
that's useless. So that's the illustration. That's
the illustration. And here's why I know it's
an illustration, because James says in verse
17, he says, just also, he says, well, just like
that. Everybody say, just like that. Just like
that illustration that I just gave you. Thus
also, faith by itself, if it does not have works
or a corresponding action, is dead. It's dead.
So faith without a corresponding action is dead.
That means it's lifeless. That means it's ineffective.
That means it's powerless. That means it's useless.
There's no corresponding action. He goes on in
verse 18, but someone will say, you have faith
and I have works. Show me your faith without
your works and I will show you my faith by my
works. Because faith without a corresponding
action, there's not going to be any results.
It's dead. It's going to be lifeless and useless.
You believe that there's one God, you do well.
Even the demons believe. They even believe so
much that they tremble when they think about
the power of God and the judgment of God. They
tremble. So what's James saying? He's saying,
well, when I look at some people, it looks like
the demons have more faith than they do. Hello?
Don't get mad at me while I'm preaching, all
right? Hearing and believing are not enough.
And then he goes on to say, but do you want to
know, oh foolish man, that faith without works
is dead? Faith without works is dead. So here's
what he's saying. He's saying there's multiple
kinds of faith. He points out that there's a
demon faith, a demon faith that recognizes God
and recognizes who he is and trembles. I mean,
so much faith in God and his ability and his
power and his coming judgment for them that they
tremble. And then there's dead faith. And really
when you look at both of them, they're both about
the same. They're both about the same. Demon
faith and dead faith. Now this is a point where
you look at the person beside you and say, I
don't have demon faith and I don't have dead
faith. And if I do, I don't want to anymore after
today. If I realize that that's the level of
my faith, I don't want to leave here with demon
faith or dead faith anymore. Alright? So, because
we want to have doing faith. Everybody say doing
faith. So we can have demon faith, dead faith,
or doing faith. Now, even though this is the
end of our eight -week sermon series, it doesn't
mean that we've exhausted every biblical support.
of how very important and critically important
faith acts are. I mean, we've looked at... I
don't know if I can even recall seven sermons
off the top of my head, but we talked about quit
crying and move when God's people went through
the Red Sea. We talked about Naaman. having leprosy
and the prophet telling him to go dip in the
Jordan seven times and how he got offended. And
if you get offended, you're not going to have
your faith back to receive your miracle. I mean,
we've talked about the woman with the issue of
blood last week. We've talked about... You just
have to look them up. And there's so many more.
So many more. So I decided to talk about Hebrews
11. That's like the chapter of our faith heroes
in the New Testament. So in Hebrews chapter 11,
we see some faith acts. Right? By faith, Abel
gave an acceptable offering to God. By faith,
Enoch walked with God, and he walked with God
and pleased God so much that God just took him.
I mean, just, I guess he's the first person to
get a glorified body straight off the earth.
He didn't just walk with God and God said, okay,
come on home with me today. Noah, by faith, built
a boat. Not just a little bass boat. This thing
was huge. Right? About 100 years he worked on
this boat. Had to work on it every day by faith
for 100 years. He didn't give up. By faith, Abraham
went without knowing where he was going. God
just said, go. Go to a place that I'm going to
show you. And he packed up his whole family and
his whole entourage. And they just took off,
not even knowing where they were going. But by
faith, they obeyed and they followed and they
went. Everybody say gave. Everybody say walked.
Everybody say built. Everybody say went. These
are acts. These are all acts. Faith actions.
By faith, Sarah, 90 years old, she took hold
of God's faithfulness and ability and had a baby
at 90 years old when she couldn't have a baby
at 20 years old. By faith, Isaac and Jacob pronounced
blessings and made promises to their families.
How do you confidently bless and make a promise
when you're not even going to be around to fulfill
it? By faith. By faith, Joseph confidently prophesied.
Here's what he said. He said, you know what?
We're in Egypt right now because this is God's
provision for us during this time of famine,
but we're coming out. One day, one day, we're
going to leave Egypt. And when we leave Egypt,
make sure to take my bones because I don't want
my bones buried in Egypt. That's how confident
he was. By faith, Moses led God's people out
of Egypt. By faith, they went through the Red
Sea. Do we have some action words there? Prophesied,
led, took, pronounced, made promises. Those are
all faith acts. By faith, they marched around
Jericho. That took a lot of faith, didn't it?
To just march around the city seven days and
be quiet? Don't say anything. I mean... Over
a million people being quiet walking around the
city. When people on the top of the city walls
are probably heckling you and saying, what are
you doing? It took faith, right? To march around
Jericho silently for six days and then on the
seventh day to march around it seven times and
then to shout before. Everybody say before. You
had to shout before the walls came down. See,
it's easy to shout after the walls come down.
But you shout by faith before the walls come
down. Now, here's what the writer of Hebrews
says all of a sudden. Right in the middle of
that big old long list about faith, he says,
how much more do I need to say? I'm just reading
this out of the Bible now. How much more do I
need to say? He said it would take too long to
recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak,
Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, all the prophets.
All of them had faith acts too. And all those
stories, I mean, we could preach a message on
this series out of every one of these people.
The acts of faith. Not only did they hear and
believe, they acted on it. And then he goes on
to say this, By faith these people overthrew
kingdoms, ruled with justice, received what God
had promised to them. They shut the mouths of
lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped
death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness
was turned to strength, just like yours can be.
What does the Bible say? Let the weak say, I'm
strong. Do we do that? How many of you felt weak
this past week? Weak this past week. W -E -A
-K and W -E -E -K. When you feel weak, do you
start saying, I'm strong? Or do you start saying,
I'm weak? Well, if you want to agree with the
weak part, you can stay weak. But if you want
to confess the God part and say, I'm strong,
then you can be strong. Some of you are thinking
about that really hard. Their weakness was turned
to strength. They became strong in battle, put
whole armies to flight. 300 people, over 100
,000 people, I mean, put the whole army to flight.
And then get this. By faith, women received their
loved ones back again from death. Sit on that
one a minute. Mary and Martha received their
brother back from death. Been dead four days.
Hello? Do we believe the Bible? Do we believe
the Bible? Mary and Martha received their brother
back. The lady, two ladies actually, whose sons
died after their encounter and their work with,
what, Elijah and Elijah, both of them, they were
women whose sons died. They got their sons back
because of their faith in God. It's in the Bible.
So by faith, they received their loved ones back
again from death. And then it says this. It says,
back in James, going back to verse 22. Going
to chapter 1. I mean, we've been focusing on...
Faith without works is dead, right? But let's
back up and see the first part of James. James
1 .22. Be doers of the word. Not only hearers
of it. Blinding yourselves with false ideas.
Be doers of the word. Don't deceive yourself.
This translation that I'm reading right now is
a Bible in basic English, but it's... It's staying
true to what it means. It's just putting it in
a way that we can understand it. Be doers of
the word, not hearers of it. Not only hearers
of it, because when you just hear it, without
doing it, you blind yourself with false ideas.
It's a false idea, a self -deception, to think
that hearing the word is all you need. Is that
what that says? Somebody help me out. Is that
what it says? It's a false idea. You're deceiving
yourself to think that hearing the word is all
you need. And then here's another illustration
that James has given us. Listen to what he says.
Because if any man is a hearer of the word and
not a doer, he's like a man looking at his natural
face in a glass or in a mirror. Now this is what
it looks like to just hear it and not do it.
You look at your face. So hearing is like looking
at yourself in a mirror. You're looking at something
in a mirror. And then it says in verse 24, For
after looking at himself, he goes away, and in
a short time he has no memory of what he was
like. When I walk away from the mirror, I'm a
whole lot more good looking than I was when I
was looking in the mirror. Here's the deal. We
hear and hear and hear. I mean, don't get me
wrong. It's important to gather together with
God's people and look into the Word of God together
and study the Word of God together. The Bible
says don't forsake that. I mean, we have somebody
here from North Carolina today who's on vacation,
and she told me, she said, oh, going to church
is not an option. So she got up and read the
Google reviews and whatever, and I keep telling
you that Google's important. Well, somebody left
a Google review that she read, and she said,
I want to go to that church. Okay? But we hear
and we hear and we hear. I'm about to preach
hard, so you might want to pull in your toes
just a little bit. We hear and we hear and we
hear, but do we respond to what we hear? Because
just hearing is like somebody looking in a mirror
and forgetting it when they walk away. So, as
I was praying this morning, I was like, okay.
We do a lot of hearing here at Alation Church.
We've done a whole series, a long series on who
God is and who God wants to be for us, who He
is for us. And He's given us His identity and
His work in His names. So we spent a long time
talking about this and how it's only going to
apply to us when we connect to who He is by faith
and who He wants to be for us by faith. When
God says, I'm El Shaddai and I can take care
of everything, I'm more than enough. Everybody
say, more than enough. God's more than enough.
God is El Shaddai. He's more than enough to take
care of everything. When He says that, just because
He says it, don't make it reality in our lives.
We've got to connect to who He is. Did a whole
big long series on spiritual growth, talking
about the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of
the Spirit increasing in our lives. on a daily
measure we talked about putting on the armor
of god and how we've got to align our words with
god's word and what god says to put on this armor
every day we've talked about who we are in christ
and what we have in christ and we went through
all of paul's letters in the new testament and
picked out every single time where he said in
christ in whom you know in him we found out who
we are and what we have. We've talked about authentic
praise and worship and what that looks like and
what that brings us. I mean, it's going to bring
us victory and deliverance and peace and joy
and life. We talked about and did a whole series
on what it means to follow the Holy Spirit and
be led by the Spirit and how He's a genius. He
knows everything about everything. And why do
we just want to do it on our own all the time
when we have the person who... knows everything
about everything living on the inside of us.
We just need to be Spirit -led. So we hear and
we hear and we hear and we hear. Just in this
series, we've talked about faith for deliverance.
We've talked about faith for victory. We've talked
about faith for provision. We've talked about
faith for healing. Just in this series. Give
examples from God's Word. How this works. And
you know what? It'd be a shame for the people
who come every week to say, well, what's next?
I mean, you're in the faith act, so what am I
going to hear next week? Because I'm hearing
and I'm hearing and I'm hearing and I'm hearing.
So now that this is over, what am I going to
hear next? See, we hear, and when we hear the
promises of God and see the work of God and the
Word of God, we see what can be. I'm going to
say that again. When we look into the Word of
God and when we study who God is and what He
wants to do for us and the promises that He's
made for us, we see what life can be like. But
if we never act, We're going to forget. If we
don't act, we're just like, okay, I heard that,
what's next? I mean, I was so encouraged by J
.T. when we did the J .T. and Michelle, when
we did the spiritual warfare and putting on the
armor of God. I mean, almost every week he would
say, you know what, we're saying that every day.
I mean, we're just... We're speaking God's truth
and putting the armor of God on every day and
then seeing things happen in their lives. I mean,
he did something about it. Right? So when we
hear, when we see what it can be, but if we don't
act, we're going to be like that person looking
in the mirror that forgets. Forgets. And just
like me, like I said, I look in the mirror and
I look a lot better when I'm not looking in the
mirror because I can't remember the blemishes
and stuff. When I'm not looking in the mirror,
I still think I'm 20. Does anybody know what
I'm talking about? When I'm not looking in the
mirror, I mean, I'm still 20. When I'm looking
in the mirror, I'm 58. You know? Here's what
James says. Under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit talking. Even
though I say it's Paul or James, we know that
the Word of God is inspired and breathed by God.
But he who goes on looking into the true law,
which makes him free, being not a hearer without
memory, but a doer. Putting it into effect, this
man will have a blessing on his... That means
you're supposed to say it. This man will have
a blessing on his... This man will have a blessing
on his... Acts. He will have a blessing on how
he responds to the Word of God. How he responds
to the promises of God. He's going to have a
blessing. God's going to bless that, and we're
going to see God's promises fulfilled. And in
all those stories that we looked at over the
last seven weeks, if those people would not have
acted, just Naaman's coming to mind. If Naaman
wouldn't have dipped into Jordan seven times,
he would have went back home to dip in his own
river, he wouldn't have been healed. If he had
dipped into Jordan six times, he wouldn't have
been healed. Right? If the lady with the issue
of blood, Jeffrey made this big nice Lego, but
he didn't bring it to church last week. If the
lady with the issue of blood would not have Lego'd,
everybody say Lego. Lego. It's translated said
in your Bible. And when Jesus talked about faith,
he said, have faith in God. And then he says,
anyone who says to this mountain, be removed
and cast into the sea, does not doubt, but believe
those things which he says, he will have what
he says. Everybody say three times says. One
of them is Lego in the Greek. Just like the lady
with the issue of blood, it said she said Lego.
If I only touch the hem of his garment, I'll
be made well. And when it says Lego, that means
she didn't just say it one time. It means it
was a systematic discourse is what that word
means in the Greek. It's over and over and over
again, and you're building a foundation. It's
a systematic discourse. Just like this, I mean,
when we bought it, it had a picture that gave
us a vision. Everybody say a vision. The picture
gave us a vision of what it would look like,
but then when you open it up, it's like, it's
just a bunch of little pieces of plastic. But
then there was some instructions. It said, put
this piece with this piece, and put this piece
with this piece, and then put all those pieces
together with this piece that you put together.
And all of a sudden, it becomes a Star Wars X
-Wing. Because you followed the instructions.
The Word of God says, Faith without works is
dead. I mean, you could sit there and look at
that picture of that X -Wing and say, boy, that's
a good -looking X -Wing. But if you don't act
and put it together and follow the directions,
if you don't do what God has said to do by His
divine utterance, if you don't respond, if there's
no corresponding action, you're not going to
see the promise of God fulfilled in your life.
I don't know about you, but I want to see some
promises of God fulfilled in my life, in my family,
in our church. I want to see some promises of
God fulfilled. Does anybody want some promises
of God fulfilled in your life? Have you read
the Word of God and you say, boy, this promise?
God promised me that. And when I look at my life,
I don't see it. Well, the problem is not with
God holding out on you. God's not holding out
on you. The problem is in our response. Sometimes
it's not immediate. Are you with me? Are you
with me? Sometimes there's a due season that
has to take place before you see the promise
fulfilled. So you've got to keep holding on to
faith. You've got to fight the good fight of
faith. You've got to stay connected to the promises.
You've got to keep doing because you don't know
which faith act. Is God speaking to you? And
I said this one week. It's like, well, one day
God told me to give this little girl at Publix
a $100 bill. And I started giving God all kinds
of excuses on why I shouldn't do that. In the
world that we live in today. And she had red
glasses on. Bright red glasses. And I just knew
that God wanted me to give it to her, but I'm
just like, God, she's going to think I'm some
kind of creeper. She's going to think I've got
a van out in the parking lot. I mean, you know,
she's like 20, and I'm like almost 60, and I
mean, this could go wrong. So I talked myself
out of it, and then it just kept gnawing at me.
I went back to that Publix. It's the one up there
by... South Claremont is where Jeffrey lives
across the street from there. I went back to
that Publix at least ten times asking other employees.
There's this girl about 20, and she has some
red glasses. God told me to give her something,
and I didn't give it to her. I'm telling you,
I've talked to at least five or six employees
at that Publix asking about this girl with red
glasses. Nobody has a clue who I'm talking about.
She might have been an angel or something. The
Bible says we entertain angels unaware at times.
It might have been a test. You know what? Me
giving her $100 might have been connected to
something. It might have been a faith act. For
me, it might have been a faith test for me that
was connected to something else that had nothing
to do with that. I missed it. I missed it. Can't
find her. Looked for her a long time. Gave that
$100 bill to somebody else with bright red glasses
on. And then the next time when I was in... Dairy
Queen, you can tell I don't eat right a lot.
Next time I was in Dairy Queen eating two hot
dogs and a blizzard, one of them chocolate -covered
strawberry blizzards. If you had that, oh man,
that's good. God told me to give money to somebody
else in a booth behind me. You know what I did
after that? I jumped up quick and I said, I know
you don't know me and I don't know you, but God
told me to give you this. I don't want to miss
it again. Don't want to miss it. See, if we go
on looking into the true law, which makes us
free, not just to hear, because if you just hear
it, you forget it. Just like all those... sermon
series is if you didn't put it into action, you're
going to forget it and you're like, what's next?
And you're not the only one guilty of that. Maybe
I'm the only one guilty of that. I don't know,
but God laid that on my heart today to tell you
that. But if we're a doer of the Word, we'll
have blessing on our acts. So when we hear...
We see what can be by the promises of God, by
the word of God. We can see that, yeah, we can
have abundant life, life to the fullest, life
of love and peace and joy and hope. We can have
it. We can see it because Jesus came to give
it to us. When we see what it can be and then
when we act, when we have a corresponding action
to what we have heard and what we have believed,
then our lives can be transformed. If we don't
act, going to church on a Sunday morning is just
rubbing a little bit of Jesus on you weak. And
here's the deal. If that's all you've ever done,
I want to tell you there's so much more. So much
more than just rubbing a little bit of Jesus
on you weak. So much more. I want it. Here it
is. We will connect to the grace gifts of God,
to the promises of God. We will connect to God's
power and ability. Everybody say, God is able.
See, God's omnipotent. He's all -powerful, and
He is able, and He has given us promises and
gifts. He's given us everything we need, the
Bible says, for life and godliness. Everything
we need. He's already given it to us. But we
take a hold of it when we hear it, when we believe
it, and then when we act. When we act. I'm going
to bring this out again. I showed it to you a
few weeks ago. That's a big old bullet. But I
wanted a big one that you could see instead of
just a little bitty one. It's a .50 caliber bullet.
Here's the deal. Inside this is all the power
it needs. All the power's in it. Because the
powder and everything's in it. There's enough
power in this to send this little brass, that's
not brass, copper or whatever that is. There's
enough power in this bullet to send this projectile
3 ,000 feet in one second. Power is here. That
doesn't matter until it's released. See, there
has to be an action to release this power. It
has to be in a rifle and the pin has to hit to
detonate this bullet to send that projectile
3 ,000 feet in one second towards a target. This
bullet's pretty harmless until that happens.
But all the power necessary is here. All of God's
power is already in his promises. The power to
fulfill the promise is in the promise. The power
to fulfill the promise is in the word of God.
Are you with me? Will we release that with our
faith act? Let's pray together. God, thank you
for today. Thank you for your word. Thank you
for your truth. I pray that it will be hidden
in our hearts that we just won't say, okay, this
is over, what's next? But that we will act on
what you said. We will listen for the still small
voice of your Holy Spirit that leads us and guides
us to do, to give, to say, to act. Help us to
be quick to obey. Quick to obey. Help us to be
serious about your word so that we know what
your promises are and we're able to see what
life can be in you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
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