Welcome to NECF Sermons. Each message here is
designed to uplift and strengthen you in your
walk with God. Don't miss out. Stay with us until
the end for a rewarding experience. Let's dive
right in. Alright, today we will continue from
where we stopped on Sunday. And we will be dealing
with... Still faith for evangelism, right? Still
be dealing with faith for evangelism. And we
will consider some conduct, actually, or some
pains that causes men to be weak in their faith,
or some indicators. Let's use the word of the
researchers. Indicators or factors that we can
see and... can point to weak in faith or weakness
in faith. So things that we can see that points
to weakness in the faith of a believer, things
that we can see. So it means that when you are
checking yourself, right, when you're checking
yourself, these are the things you must always
check. Or when you see these signs, you should
begin to seek your faith to be strengthened,
right? Seek that your faith be strengthened.
The body of Christ is established by Christ that
we might strengthen each other. And one of the
things that people really want to do or that
we might find ourselves doing in the body of
Christ is to believe that you can survive alone
or to believe or see things. uh that are taking
place in our lives and we we do ignore them or
take them for granted or just you know uh see
them as no problem right means that we don't
check ourselves well or even when we check we
don't call ourselves to action by seeking us
our faith to be strengthened so when we see these
things that we are going to highlight out now
it means that we should seek our faith to be
strength we should talk to a brother talk to
a sister talk to a pastor right and say sir i
see myself being weakened because of this circumstance
and therefore i seek your encouragement and you
know when we come to cathartismus uh believers
meeting holy ghost meeting one of the things
that happens there is that we are strengthened
in faith Right. Your fears are brought before
your face and the power of God that has taken
away the worries is made manifest. So let's quickly
check a few scriptures. So we're talking about
things that indicate that a believer is actually
weak in faith or signaling that you need help.
Right. You need help. So let's put the first
scriptures. Acts chapter one. Acts chapter one.
I'm just going to call all of the scriptures
and I'll be going on. So, chapter 1 actually
is the beginning of how the apostles began to
gather. They were together. Acts chapter 1 from
verse 19. Let's read from verse 19. And as it
was known unto all dwellers at Jerusalem. In
so much more as the feud is called in the proper
tongue, that is to say the feud of blood. For
it is written in the book of the Psalms that
let his habitation be desolate and let no man
dwell therein and his bishopric let another take.
Therefore of these men which have accompanied
with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went
in and out among us, beginning from the baptism
of John unto the same that he was taken up from
us, must one... be ordained to be a witness with
us of his resurrection. And they appointed to
Joseph called Barsabbas and who was son named
Justus and Matthias. And they prayed and said,
Thou Lord, which knowest the heart of all men,
show whether of these two thou hast chosen that
he may take part of this ministry and apostleship.
from which Judas by transgression fell, that
he might go to his own place. And they gave forth
their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and
he was numbered with the eleven. He was numbered
with the eleven. So what are we picking here?
Now you realize that in verse 24, they prayed,
right? They prayed. And in verse 26, They casted
lots. Okay? So, more or less, having two combinations,
right, of things to discern the will of God.
So, they prayed and they casted lots. Good. Now,
let's go to Acts 13, verse 1 to 3. Let's see
the difference in the conduct of the apostles.
Now they were in the church that was in Antioch,
certain prophets and teachers, as Barnabas and
Simeon, that was called Niger, and Lucius of
Cyrene and Minyan, which had been brought up
with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. As the minister
to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said,
Separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work
whereunto I have called them. And when they had
fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them, them
away now two different scriptures are this one
talking about someone coming into the work of
ministry right and this other chapter 13 also
reveals someone who is also going for the work
of ministry right so we see these two uh scenarios
almost very similar more like ushering people
into the work of ministry and we see that the
first part in act chapter one they prayed and
the casted logs. But in Acts chapter 10, they
just prayed, fasted and prayed, and they sent
them forth. Right? Now, the first thing we must
know is that when they said the Holy Ghost said,
it's not a voice from heaven. Okay? Because from
the scriptures, we know how the Holy Ghost speaks.
It's not like a voice from heaven. It's not like
an angel entered and was, you know, flapping
the wings and then saying some word. It means
that someone gave a word. And that giving of
a word is what is presented as the minister and
pastor. The Holy Ghost said, it means from one
of the believers there, the word came and it
separates me, Barnabas and Saul, from the world
where I have told them. So someone gave a word,
a direction for the ministry of Barnabas and
Saul. Do we see that? so it means only because
the holy spirit speaks through the believers
right they were ministering uh in that situation
and then what we saw there was that they just
fasted and prayed and they sent them forth without
casting lots right so casting lots was used as
the means by which they could discern what god
was saying right what god was saying so we can
see that the disciples or the apostles grew from
that revelation or from that position where prayer
and something to where prayer and that is it.
So they grew from where prayer and casting of
blood to a place where they just prayed and ushered
people into ministry. And therefore we can see
that at this point, There's the level of ignorance
that was exercised. They didn't know that this
casting of blood was not to be carried out again.
So there's a level of ignorance that made them
walk in that. Because the prayer in verse 24
was sufficient for them to pick someone. It was
sufficient for them to pick someone. So we can
say that at the beginning they had some level
of weak faith. But as they grow in their understanding,
some of these conducts like casting of law was
taken away. And as you would bear a testimony
that this never happened again in the book of
Acts. This never happened again in the book of
Acts. And progressively we see that. So we can
see ignorance is one of those things that can
actually affect the conduct of a believer. It
can affect you if you don't have a revelation
of God's word. And that is why we pay attention
to every bit of... the scripture like we pay
attention in this church as much as we can to
each verse that you don't miss out in any revelation
of god you don't miss out in any rebel so see
uh ignorance there as one challenge now let's
see uh another one we can just write the scriptures
down because we already discussed them on sunday
acts 11 act 11 showing the same thing uh From
Peter's conduct, right? Showing the same thing
for Peter's conduct. Just write Acts 11. Acts
11. Then Romans. Romans 14 and 15. We're not
going to go through those ones again because
we have taught them and explained them on Sunday.
What was happening in these two places was, for
example, in Romans. 14 and 15, is that there
was no sufficient knowledge among the people
that says, well, we shouldn't eat food sacrificed
to idols. So it means that their faith was weak.
It was explained as weak in faith because they
didn't have the full knowledge and understanding
that nothing should be rejected. Nothing should
be refused, but should be received with thanksgiving.
So we see that the lack of knowledge in that
place, and we see that it's ignorance as well.
in 11 we find that as well in the corner of peter
and we saw paul correcting right as we read from
galatians uh paul correcting so scriptures just
reflects ignorance in the revelation of jesus
right and then a revelation comes from paul the
same thing so as a believer what we can see is
that if we don't understand Right? If we walk
in ignorance, it will be difficult to be strong
in faith. So, when we are teaching every part
of the scripture, line by line, is because we
don't want to miss anything. Right? We don't
want to miss anything. That is why we teach and
we pay attention to the word of God. Now, the
thing is that sometimes, certain part of the
scriptures... right certain part of creatures
might look as if they are not of presence of
present application let me put it that way that
is not uh that is not the goal or that's not
the goal of the bible in terms of trying to make
that everything that is being taught like is
now now you have to apply no it is that you grow
in the knowledge you keep increasing in the knowledge
the growth and the knowledge is the goal So it's
not like, oh, we are teaching you now and we
want you to go out to just go. No, you cannot.
You can find certain teachings that you would
apply on the floor and certain teachings that
you would come to later in the future in your
life. Do we get it? So the main emphasis of teaching
the scriptures is that you grow in that knowledge.
So no knowledge is, no knowledge is, how can
I put it? No knowledge is insignificant while
it's being taught to you. Every knowledge is
significant. So the emphasis is that you pay
attention, right? You pay attention. So don't
ask, why are we teaching this? Why are we learning?
Just go. Just learn it, right? Learn it, note
it down. Learn it, note it down. Learn it and
note it. So you are growing in grace. You are
growing in the knowledge of Jesus. So take away
every ignorance. Take away every form of conduct
that reflects that. Now let's go to Matthew 16,
verse 8. Let's see some scriptures from the Gospels,
right? 16, verse 8. Now let's start from verse
5. And when his disciples were come to the other
side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then
Jesus said unto them, Take heed. and beware of
the living of the pharisees and of the services
and the reason among themselves saying it is
because we have taken no bread which when jesus
perceived he said unto them all ye of little
faiths why reason ye among yourselves because
ye have brought no bread do you not understand
yet do you not yet understand neither remember
the five loaves of the five thousand and how
many baskets yea took up neither the seven loaves
of the four thousand and how many baskets yea
took up how is it that ye do not understand that
i speak it not to you concerning bread that ye
should beware of the living of the pharisees
and of the sadducees then understood they how
that he had begged them to beware of the living
of bread uh sorry Then understood they how he
bid them not beware of the living and dead, but
of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
So you see Jesus also called, you know, their
lack of understanding little faiths, their lack
of their ignorance to think that it was about
physical bread rather than Jesus was referring
to the teachings and doctrine of the Pharisees
as bread. Mark 8, verse 17. Similar scripture,
same rendition. Still talking about ignorance
when it comes to the teaching of the Pharisees
that is misinterpreted by the disciples. Verse
17. He said, and when Jesus knew, he said unto
them, what reason? You see, why reason ye? Because
ye have no breath. Perceive ye not. perceive
ye not yet neither understand have ye your hearts
yet hardened having eyes see not and having ears
hear not and do not remember what when i break
the five loops among five thousand how many basket
full of fragments took it up they said unto him
they say unto him twelve and when the seven among
the four thousand how many baskets full of fragments
took it up they said seven and he said unto them
how is it that ye do not understand right you
do not understand and in matthew he called it
little faith right he calls it little faith so
we can see this as one of the things that can
actually affect believers faith i can affect
uh believers for example i can give you an example
uh you probably have gone out and you had preached
to people and you have seen that although they
are believers But they hold on to certain things,
right? Some of you come here, you begin to ask
questions. Are they really saved? Well, some
of them are saved, right? For example, people
who believe in using elements as the presence
of God, right? Using natural things as the presence
of God. Or people who believe in taking the Bible
literally and practicing it literally, right?
You can see a lot of weakness of faith in that.
When I mean practice literally means, for example,
some people believe in taking Holy Communion
and that is the blood and the body of Christ,
right? Things like that. Now, those are expressions
actually of weakness of faith because it does
not come with the revelation. In the revelation
of that, we understood that we don't have to
practice that. So in such practices, you can
see, okay, these people are weak in faith and
that's ignorance. And we too, sometimes, we can
find ourselves in that. Now, let's move to the
second one. The second one, the first one we
just dealt with is ignorance, not having sufficient
knowledge, not working in sufficient knowledge.
Fear, anxiety, and doubt, right? Fear, anxiety,
and doubt. Fear, anxiety, and doubt, right? It's
a signal, it's a pointer to the fact that you're
weak, right? You're weak at that point in time,
pertaining that situation. Right? You are weak
at that point in time pertaining that situation.
There are situations that comes to you like your
faith just, you know, you're like, no, this one,
it doesn't get to you. Right? You're very strong
like, oh, this situation is going to pass. You're
holding on to the word of God and you're moving.
You're moving without doubt. But there are certain
situations, you know, that when they touch you,
right, or you find yourself in such situations,
fear, anxiety, and doubt sets in. Right. Fear,
anxiety, and doubt. Now we can see Matthew 6
verse 30. Matthew 6 verse 30. It's a word for
if God so clothed the grass of the field in which
today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven,
shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little
faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What
shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal
shall we be clothed? Now we see that worrying,
anxiety about what to eat, what to drink, is
also regarded as little faith here, right, in
Matthew. 6 verse 13. So things in the natural,
talking about things in the natural, needs in
the natural can actually become a circumstance
by which we are weak in faith. We are little
in faith. So it means that when those things
come, you need someone to encourage you. You
need to talk to someone before it drags you away
from the doctrine of Christ. We have seen people
where the needs, the natural needs, let them
away. Right? And you see that they lost their
salvation. No, they didn't lose their salvation.
People who have believed, walked with Christ.
Right? But because of the natural needs, because
of needs, they are drawn away. Right? They are
drawn away. We see Demas, right? We see Demas
as an example. Right? We see Demas as an example.
We see John Mark maybe as an example as well.
Right? As examples of people, of course, them,
as the Bible says, they loved the world, right?
They loved things of the world. We saw John Mark,
of course, left the field where they were working
together with Paul. And then later, somehow,
somehow, found his way back to a place where
he was ready to go out again. So we can see that
the things are natural can actually cause our
faith to be weak. And it's because we are on
this earth and... It can cause our faith. Now
we go to Matthew 8, 26. Matthew 8, 26. Another
expression by which Jesus emphasized and called
the faith of people working with him, little
faith. From verse 23. And when he was entered
into a sheep, his disciples followed him. And
behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea,
insomuch that the sheep was covered with the
waves. But he was asleep. And the disciple came
to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us,
we perish. And he said unto them, Why are ye
fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose
and rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was
a great calm. But the men marveled, saying, What
manner of man is this, that even the wind and
the sea obey him? Even the wind and the sea obey
him. So again, in this scenario, we see fear,
we see anxiety. we see fear we see anxiety fear
and anxiety even while jesus was with them so
this is also regarded as weak in faith regarded
as you know lead of faith you know it's like
someone regularly coming to church hearing the
word but still working in fear and anxiety right
here in the world but walking in fear and anxiety
so this is not ignorance in that sense but you
know right christ is there you know what scripture
says Yet, emotions, natural emotions, overthrow
the word of God in your mind. In your mind, right?
The word of God is overthrown by the natural
emotions that you give expression to. Matthew
14, verse 31. So it's also called, we can experience
those things as we go daily. And when we see
them, we should know what to do. And immediately,
Matthew 14, verse 31. And immediately Jesus stretched
forth his hands and caught him and said unto
him, O thou of little faith, careful didst thou
doubt. And when they were come to, okay, so we
can read from verse 27. But straight away Jesus
spake unto them, saying, Be of good care, it
is high, be not afraid. And verse 28, Peter answered
him and said, Not if it be thou. So, it's talking
about... peter uh in this case as well seeing
the kids in the natural i'm beginning to doubt
beginning to doubt and it's also called little
faith right it's also called little fear and
we see fear anxiety we see doubts in that circumstance
doubt in desert can these things happen to believers
while they walk on it yes but should a believer
walk away and say i don't need help when these
things happen or not admit it no You shouldn't
say you will not. There's a brother actually
in church that someone called me, and I'm sure
I will inform the pastor about it. I don't know
which of these stages, but I know one of these
is happening to him, and he's almost going to
no faith. He's abandoning the gathering of the
brethren. He's walking away from the meetings
that we're holding and all of that. And I believe
that it's a matter of fear, anxiety, and doubt.
And a solution is for him to stay in his room
and not go out to meet anybody. That's a solution,
right? Thanks to the believers that are around
me, that are around him, that are calling us
and say, sir, I know you are his pastor. This
is the circumstance of things. No believer should
do such a thing. It's because you don't understand.
At that point, he's weak in faith. But I'm sure
if you even ask him, he will say he doesn't even
know what confidence in faith is, right? I hope
he should be here today, he will be here today
to listen and be able to diagnose himself. Now,
the next thing we find is actually confidence
in self or confidence in self, right? It's also
an expression that a person is weak in faith,
actually. Confidence in self, right? In self,
in your own ability. Confidence in self, in your
own ability. Luke 22, verse 32 to 33. Luke 22,
verse 32 to 33. Luke 22, verse 32 to 33. So you
can just read from verse 30. We can start from
verse 30. That ye may eat and drink at my table
in my kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging twelve
tribes of Israel. And the Lord said, From 31.
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have
you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have
prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And
when thou art converted, printing thy brethren.
And he said unto the Lord, verse 33. He said
unto the Lord, Lord, I am ready to go with thee
both into prison and to death. And he said. I
tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this
day before that thou shalt tryst deny that thou
knowest me. And he said unto him, and he said
unto them, when I sent you without paws and feet
and shoes and ye lacked anything, right, lacked
ye anything, and they said nothing. So what we
see here, right, while we continue, if you also
continue, you'll see that in verse 36, he said,
then said he unto them, go now. He that hath
pause, let him take it. Okay, I think we don't
need that part. So it just goes to the point
where Peter actually had believed that he could
actually swallow Christ based on his own strengths
and his own confidence. And although Christ was
still wanting, he said, well, I'm seeing something
that certain desire to save you. But he said,
well, I can go with you anyway. I can put my
life down on you. Yet Christ was warning, was
giving that warning, saying, this is what is
about to come. And did he fall into that? Yes.
He fell into that because he believed that he
could have been able to follow Christ, even to
the point of death, follow him to the prison.
And we see that that did not take place, and
he realized it at the end. We see here is more
of confidence in self, confidence in self. can
actually point to weakness in faith, confidence
in self. So we can pay attention to ourselves.
When we carry out this conduct, when we see ourselves
working in this, we can caution ourselves and
say, I think I'm believing so much in self rather
than in what Christ can do through me, in what
Christ can do through me. And we talked about
it, it was read on Sunday when Pastor Victor
was praying that, I think he talked about it,
he mentioned it, that, Paul himself had certain
things he could be confident about when it comes
to the flesh, right? And he gave a profile of
himself, yet he understood that all this is garbage
for the excellences of knowledge of Christ, right?
So what we see there is that his believing is
not in self, but much more. So we can say he's
strong in faith. He's strong in faith, having
that understanding that he would not have confidence
in the flesh. Now, let's see again the last one.
The last one. The last one, then we will check
a particular example in the Bible. Offenses is
also a signal of weakness in faith, right? Offenses,
when you hold on to offenses. When you hold on
to offenses, it shows that you're weak in faith.
When you hold on to offenses, it means a brother
offended you and you refuse to forgive or you
refuse to fellowship with the brother. Now, Luke
17, verse 1 to 10. Offenses. Luke 17, verse 1
to 10. Then Jesus said unto his disciples, unto
the disciples, it is impossible but that offenses
will come. But woe unto him to whom they come.
It were better for him that a milestone were
hanged around about his neck and cast into the
sea than that he should offend one of these little
ones. Take it to yourself. If thy brother trespass
against thee, rebuke him. And if he repents,
forgive him. And if he trespass against thee
seven times in a day, and seven times in a day
turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt
forgive him. And the apostle said unto the Lord,
increase our faith. And the Lord said, if ye
had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might
say unto the sycamore tree, be thou plucked.
up by the roots and be planted and be planted
in the sea and it should obey you but which of
you having a servant uh having a servant or feeding
a cattle will say unto him i and by when is come
from the field go and sit down to meet and will
not rather say unto him make ready where which
i may stop and get up thyself and serve me till
i have eaten and drunk in an apple thou shall
eat and drink Don't he thank the servant because
he did the things that were commanded him? I
true not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have
done all those things which are commanded you,
say, we are unprofitable servants, and we have
done that which was our duty to do. We have done
that which was our duty to do. Now we see that
Jesus was talking about offenses here. He was
talking about offenses here. And then they said,
increase our faith. Increase our faith. So it
means that when we hold on to offenses, it reflects
being weak in faith. It reflects so much of our
weakness in faith. If we find it difficult to
forgive someone. Now imagine someone who finds
it difficult to forgive another person. A brother.
A brother. At what point would they believe that,
or at what point would they find it necessary
that forgiveness should be given to outsiders?
And the second forgiveness I mean is that at
what point would they find it necessary to preach
the gospel? Because the preaching of the gospel
brings forgiveness to men. Do we get it? So if
your brother who is in the same faith with you,
you find it difficult to... Forgive the brother.
How much more or to what extent can you go out
and preach that people may receive forgiveness?
So offenses is also one of those areas that we
see that the believer can actually be weakened.
So you should be someone who forgives very easily.
You forgive people. You don't hold on to offenses,
especially when it has been. It has followed
the manner at which the Bible says we should
deal with offenses. It means you have spoken
to the pastor, you have spoken to the brother,
right? You have spoken to the pastor, you have
spoken to the brother, you have spoken to the
church, you have been called upon. You should
forgive. You should forgive. It shows that you
are strong in faith, right? It shows that you
are strong. So, exercises of forgiveness, right,
is showing strength in faith. It's showing strength
in faith. So we can say that we don't need an
angel to tell us if you are strong or weak in
faith, but we can see it from your conduct, right?
So when people approach you, when your pastors
approach you, when a brother approach you and
is having a conversation with you, we can know
whether you're weak in faith or not. We can know
who you are forgiving, who you have not forgiven.
We can know if you're agreeing in the word or
not. We can know. if anxiety is there and the
job or the responsibility of the believer is
to seek help right is to seek help and in seeking
help what do we do we grow in seeking help we
we grow it therefore means that in our conduct
we can see that now let's go to a study of a
man of god right i'll call him man of god that
was weak in faith right but the bible explained
the part of his life and told us that he actually
became strong in faith, right? He actually became
strong in faith. Now, just the same way we see
the apostles from Acts chapter 1 across to 11,
right, or 10 thereabouts, there is increase in
the revelation. Ignorance taken away. They became
strong in faith. Their conduct also changed.
Their conduct changed. The kind of, the way they
deal with believers changed. The way they understood
the Bible changed. The way we relate with Gentiles
changed. The way they seek the direction of God
also changed. From casting load to much more
the things of the Spirit, walking in the direction
of the Spirit. So we see that in the Apostle
book. Let's check Abraham's life a little bit
and see some parts of his life. Now, the main
scripture that we should start with is Romans
18, verse 22. Romans 4 verse 18 and 22. Romans
4 verse 18 and 22. so shall thy seed be. And
being not weak in faith, he considered not his
own body now dead when he was about a hundred
years old. Neither yet the deadness of Sarah's
womb. He started not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God and being fully persuaded. that what he
had promised, he was able also to perform. And
therefore, it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Now, it was not written for his sake alone that
it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that
raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. who was
delivered for our offenses and was raised again
for our justification was delivered from offenses
and was raised again for justification so up
until verse 25. so what we saw here is that there's
something abraham did or there's at a point in
his life where the bible says and therefore it
was imputed to him as righteousness right something
was imputed to him as righteousness now that
part by which it was imputed to him as righteousness
is the part that we want to trace that before
that time right where the times where the promise
of god that was spoken to him where he thought
that he himself could fulfill it where the times
are such right so we can start with genesis 12
verse 1 to 3. so we're just going to go through
genesis a little bit and then see. Genesis 12,
verse 1 to 3, which is the instruction of God
for him to live and follow, right? For him to
live and follow. And now, the Lord has said unto
Abraham, get thee out of thy country and from
thy kindred and from thy father's house unto
a land that I will show you. And I will make
thee a great nation and I will bless thee and
make thy name great and thou shall be a blessing
and now bless them that bless thee and cause
them that cause thee and indeed shall all the
families of the earth be blessed so abraham departed
as the lord has spoken unto him and lord went
with him and abraham was 75 years old when he
departed right when he departed now this is where
god began to speak to him and of course this
is the first time god is speaking to him and
telling him you become the father of all nations
so you become the father of uh all through you
all the families of the earth will be blessed
right through you all the families of the earth
will be blessed you will be a great nation and
i'll bless thee bless uh and make thy name great
and that shall be a blessing so we see that god's
plan and its communication to abraham at this
point in time was clear right it was clear of
what god wants to do uh through him but let's
see uh verse 15 let's say verse 15 let's see
verse 15 and let's see some considerations that
took place now verse 15 says verse 15 from chapter
15 sorry genesis chapter 15 from verse 1. this
is after these things the word of the lord came
unto abraham genesis 15 verse 1 in a vision saying
fear not abraham i am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward And Abraham said to the Lord, God,
what will thou give me, seeing that I go childless?
And the steward of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.
Now, the first thing we see here, or what we
see here, or the first option for him was the
steward of his house. that god might do what
he wanted to do or what he has spoken through
his steward so the problem is you have said it
you will do it but can you use this steward since
i go childless now we see that in that sense
and we see that in this place we can say well
the word of god that he had received in genesis
chapter 12 right was not what was on his lips
right he said through you All the nations of
the earth were blessed. And now, he himself is
saying, well, can you use Eliezer? I believe
what you will do, but maybe through him. Or maybe
through this person. And Abraham said, Behold
to me, thou hast given no seed. Verse 3. And
lo, one born in my house is my heir. So, who
will inherit all his house? His servants. So,
he's saying, since it is the servants, that is
there at this stage, at this point in time, can
you do it through these servants? And we say
that the word in Genesis 12, verse 1 to 4, or
3, was not on his lips, right? Was not on his
lips. Now let's check chapter 16. Just move to
the next chapter as well. Chapter 16. Now let's
read from verse 1. I said, now Sarah, Abraham's
wife, bear him no children. And she had an unmade,
an Egyptian whose name was Agur. And Sarah said
unto Abraham, behold, now the Lord restrained
me from bearing. I pray thee, go in unto my maid.
It may be that I may obtain children by her.
And Abraham acting to the voice of Sarah. And
Sarah, Abraham's wife, took her girl and made.
Amid, right? The Egyptian after Abraham and dwelt
10 years in the land of Canaan and gave her to
her husband Abraham to be his wife. And he went
in unto Agur and she conceived. And when she
saw that she had conceived, her mistress was
despised. I got to read that again. And when
she saw that she had conceived, her mistress
was despised in a heist. And so I said unto Abraham,
my wrong. Be upon me. I have given my maid into
thy bosom. And when she saw that she had conceived,
I was despised in her eyes. And the Lord judged
between me and thee. But Abraham said unto Sarah,
Behold, thy maid is in thy hand. Do to her as
it pleaseth thee. And when Sarah dealt hardly
with her, she fled from her face. She fled from
her face. Now again, another... alternative,
right? The word of God, not in the mouth of the
husband, not in the mouth of the wife. And we
see that in this case, right? The word of Genesis
1 to 3 or 1 to 4 was also not in their mouth
and they were working in a way by which they
seek to fulfill what God wants to do. And this
became an example in Galatians, right? An example
in Galatians while Paul was talking about and
talking to believers who had started in the spirit,
believing the scriptures, and people bringing
circumcision onto them. And this was used as
an example of, you know, of works that is away
from faith. So, but let's see what happened from
chapter 17. Right, from chapter 17. From chapter
17, verse 1. From chapter 17, verse 1. What happened
in chapter 17? God again appeared and revealed
himself and spoke his word, right? Spoke his
word to Abraham. And when Abraham was 99 years
old, sorry, 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared
to Abraham and said unto him, I am the Lord,
I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be
that prophet. Now make a covenant between me
and thee. He will multiply thee exceedingly.
And Abraham fell to his face, and God talked
with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant
is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many
nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called
Abraham, but thy name shall be Abraham. For a
father of many nations I have made thee. Now,
this is exactly what was spoken in Genesis 12,
verse 1 to 5. And I'll make thee exceedingly
fruitful, and I'll make nations of thee. and
kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish
my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed
after thee in their generation, for an everlasting
covenant to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed
after thee. And I will give unto thee, to thy
seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a
stranger, the land of Canaan, for an everlasting
possession, and I will be their God. And God
said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my commandments.
thou shalt keep my covenant therefore thou and
thy seed after thee in their generations this
is my covenant which ye shall keep between me
and i see now what we see here right what we
see here is that god started reiterating what
he has said right god started reiterating what
he has said in genesis chapter 12 verse 1 to
2 to abraham again right he started reiterating
genesis chapter 12 to him meaning that restating
now was it the first time that god is stating
this no right so it means that when the word
of god comes to someone and there is doubt or
anxiety there is need to treat it with the same
word of god that has been spoken so there is
no new any new revelation that would treat the
weakness of faith than that which is already
revealed There is no new revelation that will
treat the weakness of faith than that which is
already revealed. There is no new revelation
that will treat the weakness of faith than that
which is already revealed. So God began to explain
to him and explain and teach him once again.
All right. So this reiteration of God's statement
is what Abraham started believing and changed,
right? Changed his pattern of bringing alternatives
to what God wants to do. Do we get that? So when
the revelation of God increases in a man's life,
right? When God reiterates what he's about to
do, when we return back to the word of God, it
strengthens us and takes us away from what our
alternatives are so from here we saw that there
was actually no point in time where he began
to think of an alternative again and if you read
romans romans says at 100 so if you go back to
romans 4 romans says ads we can check right we
can go back to romans 4 because in chapter 90
chapter 17 he says he was 99 years old right
chapter 17 he was 99 years old and if you go
to romans 4 again romans 4 from that verse we
will see conversation he said who against or
believe in him that he might become the father
of many nations According to that which was spoken
to all the saints. Now verse 19 says, And being
not weak in faith, he considered not his own
body dead. When he was about a hundred years
old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb,
he staggered not at the promise of God, full
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God. So Paul writing, picking Genesis 17,
and the conduct of Abraham from that moment,
he called it being strong in faith. He called
it being strong in faith. Verse 17 says it was
about 99, and Romans 4 says it's about 100. It
means within that same period, which we can point
to chapter 17, that from then henceforth being
strong in faith he glorified god right and being
fully persuaded means that something was spoken
to him verse 21 of romans was said something
was spoken said being fully persuaded that's
what he had promised he was able to perform away
from what abraham himself would do so it means
that when we observe his life at this point we
can say he's now fully persuaded of what god
wants to do that he himself god will do it so
we can say he's an expression of a weakness of
faith when he considered eliza it was a as a
weakness of faith when he considered ishmael
right to see uh to be the hair of what god will
do So, it means that we ourselves must pay attention,
right, to how we walk. Now, when we come to Galatians,
Galatians actually now explains it, right? Galatians
now explains it and use that example, use Acts'
example as someone of the bond or someone of
the flesh. So, Galatians 4, Galatians 4, 21.
Galatians 4, 21 to 31, actually, writes, was
one of the promise, right? So stating that which
God himself will do. And in Romans 4, it was
regarded as strong in faith from that point where
he believed God. And which, verse 24, which things
are allegory for these are the two covenants,
the one that was from Sinai and which generates
to the bond, which is Agar. For the Agar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia. and answer it to Jerusalem,
which now is and is in bondage with her children.
So in this place, if you continue reading, what
we see there is that that was not God's plan.
Ishmael was not God's plan. Ishmael was a man's
plan, was a man's effort. But Isaac was who God
was pointing to. And we know that also beyond
Isaac is Christ. Beyond Isaac is Christ himself.
So we can see these as weaknesses of faith. We
can check the scripture across the scripture.
One thing that is consistent among such examples
as such is that they do not stay in that weakness
of faith. They do not stay. Now we have Gideon
as well making a statement, if God be for us,
what if these things happen to us? We have such
examples. So many examples are such. One thing
that is consistent is that they do not stay in
the place of the witness of the God. They move
on to believe and fully persuaded. So the key
word is that to be fully persuaded that what
God has promised, He will do in your life, in
the ministry that He has called you to do. That's
not about to say, faithfully is He who has promised,
who also will do it. Right? Faith is he who has
promised, who also will fulfill it, who also
will bring it to pass. Now, the one thing that
we can just conclude with today is that also,
when we go for evangelism, okay, to preach the
good news of Christ, it is not you that will
save the man, but it is through you that the
man will be saved do we get it it is not you
that will say so most of the time it's we are
so we can be so full of uh how do i want to say
it's prepare all the words what what should i
say yes it's good but in that you must know that
your communication would be the spirit working
in the person not in the eloquence of your word.
So when we go for evangelism, it's not all about
you trying to save, trying to convince. Yes,
you have to persuade them, you have to explain
the scripture to them, but it is not you who
is saving. So it makes the work easier as you
go to preach. So if you know that this preaching
I'm doing, the Holy Spirit is going to walk through
my teaching, through my explanation of the scripture
to fulfill what he has said. Right? So we're
going to, 1 Timothy 2 verse 4. Let's go to 1
Timothy 2 verse 4 and just wrap it up on that.
It says, go from verse 1. Let's go from verse
1. I exhort thee that, first of all, supplications,
prayer, intercessions, and giving of thanks be
made for all men, for kings and for all that
are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life in all godliness. and honesty
for this is good and acceptable in the sight
of god our savior who will have all men to be
saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth
and come unto the knowledge of the truth so god's
promise is that he wants men to come to the knowledge
of the truth and he wants all men to come to
the knowledge of the truth and it is taking place
through you so first when you know that this
is what god said this is his desire this is what
it will do your preaching is easy your evangelism
is easy as you go so as you go you are depending
on god's promise to save man not on your promise
to save man okay as you go you are depending
on god's promise to save man and not on your
promise to save man so when we tell you to go
for evangelism we are not telling you promise
us that you would save somebody Or promise us
that someone will be saved through you. There's
nothing like that. But you can be rest assured
that God will save someone through the preaching
of the God. So what we tell you to do is to preach.
Do we get it? So what we tell you to do is to
preach. So there should be no anxiety, worry,
or doubt that someone... What if the person is
not saved? No. What if the person... you know,
does not understand what I'm saying. What if,
what if, there should be none of that? Because
God's promise is that it would save man. Right?
It would save all men. So, when we go out, we
should have this boldness and have this faith
and have this confidence that as I teach, as
I explain the gospel, the Holy Spirit would save
this person. Right? That this person will come
to the knowledge of Christ. So we'll stop here
for now. Can we be on our feet and just give
thanks? We appreciate you being here today. We
hope you carry this word with you throughout
your week. Don't forget to check the show notes
for additional insights. Stay connected with
us through our website or follow us on social
media. If you were encouraged, share this message
with someone you care about. Until next time,
stay blessed.