What I Had in Mind | Student Pastor Zach Hammond
by Zach Hammond
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Hebrews 11:1-3, Hebrews 11:6-7, Luke 22:31-32, John 14:13-14, Matthew 21:21-22, 1 John 5:14, James 4:3, Proverbs 3:5-6, John 7:17, John 7:5, 1 Peter 1:7-9

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/zach-hammond--what-i-had-in-mind
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
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So Hebrews 11 and verse number one says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. The that that that part I want you to really get. I know this is most of this you could probably quote. This is that faith chapter gives us the definition of of faith. But he says through faith we were we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. So that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Skip down to verse number six for time's sake. But without faith. So you have the definition, you have some context. Then he says in verse six, without faith it is impossible. Somebody say impossible. >> Impossible. >> It is impossible to please him, to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe. Everybody shout believe. >> Believe. >> Believe that he is. >> You got you got to get all this in. We we quote those two, you know, this is now faith. The substance things hope for evidence. But without faith, it's impossible to please him. That second part is huge. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is. Who he is is a huge part of it. Believing who he is, that he is a rewarder of them that dig diligently seek him. By faith, Noah, being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. I preach to you this evening on this topic and topic and I know it'll take me a few minutes to kind of get into um make it make sense a little bit but I I want to just teach preach but I I I think tonight that we will I'm going to try to get quickly to where I want to go so that we can have a m we can have a time in the altar to try to make sure that we don't fall prey to a worldly definition or idea idea of what faith is. And so my my title tonight is this. What I had in mind. What I had in mind. All right. And I I I know again, like I said, it'll take me a few minutes to kind of get get here, but would you do this with me? Would you lay your Bibles down? Would you lift your hands? And could we just ask God to speak to us tonight? Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to be able to gather together on a midweek. Lord, I know that there's many that's come straight from work. I know that many have not even ate dinner yet, God. But you see their sacrifice. You see their heart. You see their hunger for you tonight, Lord. I pray that you would touch them in a special way tonight, Lord. That you would allow us to see through your word, God. Exactly what we need in this place tonight. You know where every person is. You know what troubles them, the thoughts that they have, God. And I pray that you would do what only you can do, and that is make your word relevant to every person in this room tonight, Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. And amen. You may be seated. Hebrews tells us that we must have faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. We have to have faith. We have to Everybody say that with me. I've got to have faith. >> I got to have faith. I I cannot please God without faith. So, it's important that we understand what faith is and that we participate in faith. our our western Christian culture especially, I'm afraid we have somewhat lost the identity of what faith really is. I believe today it's always it's put on t-shirts, it's put on billboards, it's put on, you know, display on social media that faith and fear are those things that are, you know, at war. It's like that anytime you hear faith, you've got to bring fear into the picture. And so I I want to bring something to you tonight that I I hope that can not only encourage you, but it can also kind of solve some things within your mind. I believe the biggest enemy of faith is not necessarily fear, but rather what I had in mind. It's not that we're all sitting here and we're cowering to the concepts of the idea that there's some big devil seeking us out trying to jump out from behind the corner and devour my family type thing. I think all of us are pretty aware the world's put them into a category where we're pretty pretty aware of the fact that they don't have it all together. There there's parts of of of of my life where I look and I'm almost like, man, if the world and the culture that we live in is enticing to you, we really need to kind of dial it back. It's chaos out there, right? It's it's crazy out there. And then we we understand that we we become more equipped and we understand today we're knowledge is increasing. A lot of things are happening to where we realize just by knowing who Jesus is and what God has done for us that a lot of us we we we've got this thing against the devil. We've kind of got him pinned, right? We've got him figured out that he's just a liar. He's a deceiver. He's going to try to manipulate. He's going to try to say things. And so we've got the frequency of his voice figured out. But we have something in mind that we think is supposed to be a certain way or turn out a certain way or and and we have this thing in mind that we're somewhat still struggling with. And I see faith in a lot of people's life as what it's described as the ability to have faith in God in some of our lives is failing, dwindling. It's dim. Luke 22 and31 says,"Simon, behold, Satan hath desired you that he may sift you as wheat." Anybody ever been in a place where you feel like that that you could relate to Simon there? That the devil is just sifting you as wheat, right? That he he says, "Simon, Satan desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. It's impossible to please God without faith. I got to have faith. And so he says, I'm just praying that in the midst of life, in the midst of the world that we live in, in the midst of trying to raise your kids, in the midst of trying to be a kid, in the midst of all the things that you're facing in life, I'm praying that if anything, just don't let your faith fail. That was his. He said, "Satan's going to come and sift you, and I'm going to pray, not that you can dodge it, not that you can figure him out, not that you can sl I just pray that your faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Hold on to your faith." I know that sounds very cliche. Many of you been around church for a long time. You're thinking, "My Lord, this is the simplest thing I've ever heard in my life." You got to hold on to your faith. But a faith that fails scripturally is always due to a lack of a true foundation. A faith that fails, hear me tonight, a faith that fails is due to a faulty foundation. We've got foundation issues of what we think faith really is. So, I'm ask I'm asking you tonight. I've come to you to preach to you on this sun this this this Wednesday night to examine your faith to check your faith. How do I check my faith? I got to check its foundation. I got to look and make sure that what it's built upon is right. Because you cannot in our modern world an idea of Christianity and what faith has become and what's posted on social media and what's preached on social media and all the things that we hear and it gets pedled to us. We cannot use the word faith or faith in God to get our way. I've got faith in God. I've got faith in everything that's that has to do with spirituality and religion until it's not what I had in mind. And when it's not what I had in mind, all of a sudden I have to step back and I begin to question some things. It's it's this place where you've come to and we'll read the scripture here a little bit later, but it's almost like you come to the end of your faith. Luke 24 challenges the thinking of the religious people because Jesus is working miracles for outsiders, but not for them in the town, not for them that grew up around him, not in his own town. He bypassed the lepers in Israel, but he worked a miracle for non. He bypassed the people that knew him, but he worked a miracle outside of the town. He did this and they became angry with Jesus. Jesus was not doing what they had in mind. That was the problem. If he would have just followed suit and done, you know, we're over here and we've got lepers in this town that you're from. Why are you going over there and you'll you'll work a miracle for non, but you won't work a miracle for us? How many times has it crossed your mind as a Christian of why we got so many people sick in the church? Why is this happening to me? This is not the way I thought it was going to work out. This is not what I had in mind. So many stories begin to file through the pages of scripture in my mind. But let's just think of one person who you definitely knew had a concept of his relationship with Jesus. It had to be John the Baptist. John the Baptist is the forerunner. He's his cousin. He's over here leaping in the womb before he's even out. John the Baptist is this person who he says there's none greater born of man, born of woman than than than John the Baptist. John the Baptist is this guy. But here we read about John the Baptist. And here's the forerunner sitting in prison. Jesus is working miracles in the town and John's over here behind bars. What what what happened to the greatest one bored a woman? The whole time people been running up and I'm one of John's disciples and John's doing what we all should do and say you're not my disciple. You need there's one greater than I. John passes all the tests. He could have got on his high and mighty horse. He could have had a mega church and he could have done this. People want to follow John. We we've been part of John's baptism. We these are John's disciples. These are you mentioned, oh no, he's he's pointing he's doing everything he's all about him. I'm just a for there's one greater. There's one coming that shoes I'm not worthy to feel. He he's pointing point and pointing and then all of a sudden John's thinking I'm sure John's thinking Jesus about to do some great things. If anybody knows Jesus, I know Jesus. I'm his cousin. I'm the forerunner. He talks good about me. I know that I please him. All these great things. and John. And all of a sudden, John's sitting in prison thinking, "What did I do? I thought I was going to be standing next to you when you healed the blinded eyes. I thought I would be the one standing next to you when everything started to happen and all the great things in the mirror. You're turning water into wine and you're doing this and that. All these fun things. The story would be great if John was sitting there. I'm the forerunner." But instead, John's sitting there where, you know, his expectations of what he had in mind. Could I just become a disciple? Could I just become somebody that's noted? No, John, you're going to be in prison and you're going to stay in prison. You're not just going to stay in prison, but you're going to be beheaded. I mean, obviously, none of us sign up for that, right? None of us are looking to to to give of ourselves that way. But John, the question, can can you be faithful when you need a miracle and it never shows up? Can you imagine John in heaven hearing the accounts of Paul and Silas? You guys got to get out. You know, you you got He had I'm sure John of all people had this thought process that, oh, these great things are going to happen to me. I'm John the Baptist. He's done everything. This guy, he's got on he got on this this hair in the wilderness. He's eaten locust. He's sacrificed. He's checked all the boxes. But he dies in prison. It's things like this that we read in scripture and it's easy to thumb through, but put yourself in those shoes. And I think we can relate a whole lot better to some of those stories. We want to play the victory card. We want to we want to be on the other side. We always want to be the one that's that that's that's coming out. and we preach about but there's times where I think we could really help our thought process if we looked and put ourselves in the character of some people that it didn't really turn out the way they thought it would because all of us sit here and we don't know what tomorrow holds and some of us are dealing with some things that yesterday is still holding on to us. We don't know why things turned out the way they did. We don't understand why this happened or that happened. But he he he tells us he says it's almost like well what was wrong with John's faith? Did John not have enough faith to get out? You begin to ask yourself, you begin to try to rationalize and figure out. And John 14 and 13 says, "Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do that the father may be glorified in the son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments, do you not believe, John? Matthew 21:21 says, "Jesus answered and said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, if you have faith and doubt not, you shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if you say unto this mountain, be thou removed, be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done. and all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer believing ye shall receive. What? So you're telling me that whatever I pray that you're going to answer. But then in the same sense, I've got people that are praying to get out of prison that are still in prison. I got people that are praying for healing that are still sick. got people that's needing healing from cancer that's still got cancer. So here's the problem. We many times find ourselves in situations where what we had in mind is not taking place. And so therefore we try to go to the wrong sources. First of all, we have a conversation with ourel or we go to something online or we go and start discussing it and and and it's very difficult to try to navigate the character of God and how God does things and why God does things without taking it from the context of scripture. Without context of scripture, we would read those read those scriptures and we would make hasty, seemingly faithfilled and motivated prayers. But we must use scripture to interpret scripture. We must use scripture to make sure that what we have in mind is what God has in mind and not what I have in mind. We must use scripture to answer the question of our faith. And I I'm so concerned with the condition of Christianity, especially in the United States on how misused and misconstrued and the idea of what faith is. It's become this thing of it. It used to be called name it and claim it and blab it and grab it and all these sorts of things. And and again, God is a rewarder of those who diligent. God is a he's a powerful God. He can do great things and he can open up the windows of he can pour out blessings. He can work miracles. Yes. But is he doing that based upon his will or my will? We have to check and and check this box. There there's so many people that I see and and and I I've seen it growing up in a pastor's home. They they they have this concept of that we can make demands of God. I can't tell you how many times maybe there's a there's a time that that I can't recall and and and again God does what God does. I again I I can't give explanation for everything that God does in scriptures. There's a lot of questions I have of why this didn't happen or why they get John would be a good one, right? But there's many of people that have stood by their bedside with my grandfather and father growing up and it would be a thing of Lord if you'll heal me I'll serve you. If you'll do what I have in mind, I'll come back to church. If you do what I have in mind, then I'll do this. If you rarely does that person receive a healing, the person that receives a healing is a person that says, "Whether you heal me >> or you don't, I'll serve you. Whether you answer the prayer or you don't, I'll serve you. Whether you do what I have in mind or you do something different, I then realize what I had in mind was not what you had in mind. And my thoughts are not your thoughts. And your ways are higher than my ways. And my will must conform to your will. This concept is all throughout scripture. But for some reason, the the simple definition of faith is probably in its most essence where we have to apply this. And we've failed to do so in our modern world. Got we've got people that are making demands of God. You make me do this. You give me that. You fix this. You give me a new car if you do this. It's like they're manipulating the creator. that's that's not never going to work. And it's it's it's this frustration that let's look at f 1 John 5 and verse number 14. And this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. You will notice that when you pray God's prayers, when you pray God prayers, he always answers. You know, people who have have given up on prayer are people who've been praying about what they had in mind. And when what you had in mind don't happen, your faith begins to fail. When you go through things, your faith begins to dwindle. When you're dealing with something that didn't turn out the way you thought it was going to turn out, I'm not where I thought I should be at this point in my life. I'm not achieving these things. I'm not exactly measuring up to the things that I thought. It's not what you had in mind of all of a sudden. You don't have to you got to look around. You got to put the blame on this God that you serve because I thought he gave me everything. I'm here to try to help you scripturally to understand that the promises of God apply when we align with the will of God. Are you with me tonight? The will of God is in alignment with the promises of God. When we pray God prayers, it motivates us to pray. It's like I can hear it resonate in the in in my aunts and uncles and and different ones of the elders that would come in and pray and and and they would pray if it be his will. They wouldn't hardly leave a dinner table and make plans without saying if it be the will of God. If it if if and Lord willing, I'll see you next week. Lord willing, we'll see you at church tonight. Lord willing, they did everything based upon true faith. And that is it's the same faith as the Old Testament. I don't know where at what point we got off basis of what faith really is, but faith is the kind of faith that three Hebrew boys had standing before a a man that was building idols to himself and had a fiery furnace who's going to turn up seven times higher. And they said, "Uh, our God's going to bring us out, but if he don't, Lord willing, Brother Snitzer, I ain't gonna burn in there, but if he don't, I know where I'm going." That's not common today. That's not a common thought process. We become so comfortable and we become so so everything's so great to some extent down here where we live that if we don't real we we we really get into a place where we've got these dreams and visions and hopes and things of what's supposed to happen and and all these great that we forget that we're just passing through. >> I I'm not here to stay. This is not my home. This is temporary. I'm just here just passing through. I don't know about you, but that'd be a good moment to clap your hand. I'm just passing through. Don't let the earthly mindset allow you to get in this idea of just that this that I' I've got so many hopes and goals and dreams. Lord, I hope the Lord don't come back until I get everything done that I got in mind. No, no, no, no, no, no. Not my will, but thy will be done. God's not here to align himself with my expectations. I must align myself to his will. He says, "I'll give you the desires of your heart." And that sounds great until you have wrong desires. You can be highly motivated with the wrong motives. He even tells he he he we see this in scripture. We we need to stop trying to bargain with God. Bend him to do what we have in mind. You will not manipulate God. Hear me tonight. You ask. James says in chapter 4 and verse number three, if you're making notes tonight, ye ask and you receive not. Why? God, I keep praying. God, I keep praying. God, I keep praying. I've asked you I don't know how many times to do this. I've asked you I don't know how many times to answer this. I've asked you I don't know how many times about this situation. He says, you ask and you receive not because you ask a miss. And could I play on the word tonight to say a lot of us are in a mess because we pray a miss. >> Some of you, you don't even realize. I look back over my life, some of the greatest things God's ever done for me is not answer that prayer. >> Where would we be today if God had answered every prayer you prayed? >> There's some things that God says, "No, that's not my will." And we better thank God. He says it's not just that you ask a miss. He says that you may consume it upon your lust. Look at this. Let me give you an example of of of highly motivate. It's not necessarily a bad thing to ask. But God God tells a couple of of of the these sons these these sons of Zebedee, James and John, coming to him saying, "Master, we would that we should do uh for us whatsoever we shall desire." That sounds great, doesn't it? You know, and Lord just that sounds like one of those previous texts. He said, "I'll just give you whatever you ask in my name." Again, that's in his identity. That's in who he is. That's in the fact that you know God, you'll know that that's a preference every time. If you don't know God, you'll ask a miss because you don't know who you're talking to. Are you with me? >> So, they he says, "We want to ask you whatever." He says, "You you'll do whatever we we need." He said, "Unto them, what would ye that I should do for you? Because I think God needs to see our heart. What we ask of God shows the condition of our relationship. What we pray to God shows the condition of our heart. And so he says, "Yeah, ask me." They said unto him, "Grant us this that we may sit one on the right hand and one on the left hand in thy glory." That sounds great. I mean, it's a it's a little pompous. Let's just be honest, but it sounds great. Great request. Put one of us on your right and one of us on your left and we get up there in heaven. That's all I ask for. Not much. You know, Jesus says this, "You don't know what you ask." Oh, thanks be to God that there's been times in my life that I really think if somebody if somebody could really audibly hear what God is saying to some of our unanswered prayers, it's that you don't know what you're asking for. And I'm sorry, I'll just be kind of real with you for a moment. I know some some some people and it's obvious nobody in this church but I know some people they feel a call to do certain things and I tell them you don't know what you're asking for. God's looking down on a lot of our lives thinking you you really mean that you really know what you're asking for. I I think we we really have got to get back to those old prayers that say, "God, whatever your will is for my life. These are my desires, but if they're not the right desires, God, purge me. God, wash me. God, cleanse me. Let my thoughts be your thoughts. Any man ask of wisdom, he can have." If you're asking God for wisdom, if you're asking God to change your desires, if you're asking God to change your will, it will affect and help your prayer life. It'll affect how you worship because you're worshiping based upon what he wants to do and his will for your life and the things that he's going to do because he's he he he's that kind of God that all things work together. what he has in mind for you would blow your mind. He can't let you in on some of those things because we would ruin it. We'd mess it up. To ask in his name is to be in alignment with his name, his identity. Faith is not this thing. I I just want to help you tonight. It's not articulating things in a certain way that you can convince God that you need certain things. God is so good that he will give good gifts. He will do great things but it's going to be within his will. That is how he is in his nature. It's why he refers to himself as a father. We are not doing the next generation a a service but rather a disservice if we give them everything they ask for. It would be foolish. But no matter how I try to help train up my sons, it ultimately comes back down to what is the desire of their heart? What is the will of their life? We can train and we can train and we can train and we can give and we can take away and we can try to uh do all the things that we are train them up in the way the way they should go. We can do all of those things, but ultimately it's the desire of the child, the child of God, who we all are. It's the desire of our heart that's going to determine where we end up. So many of us are frustrated with this relationship with God because we can't get through our heads that he has a plan better for us than what we have in mind. I just can't get it out of my mind that John sits in prison while Jesus works. Because faith is much more than believing. It's more than believing for freedom. It's more than believing for healing. It's more than just just believing that something great is going to happen that's beyond your power or beyond what you can control or beyond what you It's much more. Faith is much more than that. Jesus requires us to believe. And again, it's it's it's it's not this battle. It's not with the devil, but you can have faith in God when God doesn't do things. If you can have faith in God when God does it, or when he does, when it's good, when it's bad, and John's faith, we could see that this forerunner is willing to die without getting offended at where he was. And so we see I I just I want you to understand John passes the test of not only doing everything he did that was so powerful pointing to Jesus and all those things but when his faith was tried the whole time it's not my will but it's his will. Genesis 15 talks to us about the Sunday school song of father Abraham, the father of faith. Abraham knew God, not just about God, but he knew God. Faith is not this irrational thing. Faith has a foundation. And let me prove that to you through Abraham. Abraham understood the character of God, which is why he was described as the father of faith. Abraham knew that. He says, "If I'm going to give you this promise of Isaac, I'll still take him up the mountain." The first time he tells Abram anything, he says, "I want you to go hither. I want you to go out." He doesn't tell him where he's going, but Abraham starts walking. Abraham, it just depicts faith in this powerful way, and it's a it's it's so powerful because it has a foundation. It's not irrational. It's not just ask a miss. It's not just ask anything. It's built upon the character of God. The name of God. You'll see it all. It's not just I'm just praying. He said, "Anything you ask in my name, anything that's character," he's he's he's putting into context. He's putting into scripture how we are to pray. How we He said, "If you're going to ask something, remember who I am. Remember what my will is for you. It's about you being saved. It's not about you just prospering down here. It's about eternal significance. It's not about what you always have in mind. Faith, Abraham teaches us, is willing to walk first. Faith takes a step when they don't understand. I've heard it over and over and over again. I I' I've had conversations with youth pastors, student leaders, teachers, coaches, different ones. It's like these this is just a different generation. Okay. And I what do you mean by that? The they don't just take Well, Jacob, they just don't take this thing where you just you just got to do it whether you understand or not. They got to know why. I said that's great. You know, I I'm glad that they want to know why. I'm glad that they've got more information than ever before. They want to know why. They're probably going to ask some AI thing or they're going to have some conversation with the internet, figure out why. And a lot of that's great. I'm glad information is so accessible that you can understand why. But here's the struggle. You think Abraham knew why he was taking Isaac to the altar to slaughter him? No. What do you do when AI can't give you an answer? What do you do when you don't know why? You just abandon faith. You just leave the church. You just give up. You just back away because I don't if I don't know why. If I don't have the knowledge, if I don't have the understanding, then I'm I'm not going to act. I'm not going to do What's more powerful than that is Abraham is not only the father of faith, he's the father of Isaac. And the reason you know he's the father of Isaac is Isaac was willing to take his hand without knowing why. He knew enough about what they were doing to ask a question. But the question was about worship, not doubting his father. You knew there was enough of a relationship there between Abraham and Isaac that there was enough relationship that there could be a dialogue for one generation to ask a question to another. But it was never a dialogue of rebellion. It was a dialogue of pleasing God. There there's this there's this father of faith that's doing great things. And I I I can't help but stress to you tonight that Abraham's told to go. He says, "Do this." And he says, "Understanding will follow. Understanding comes later." Young people, sometimes knowledge comes later. The why comes later. Proverbs 3:5, the wisest man to ever live, tells us, "Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, for he will direct your path." That's faith. Substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen. It's not just some miracle sitting over here waiting on you and it's out here and I'm going to seek the signs and the wonders. No, no, no, no, no. It is following you. I don't understand. I don't Do you not have enough faith, John? Do you not have enough faith? We look and even the scribes and the Pharisees, they would look at people that had things wrong with them and they say, "They must not have enough faith to be healed. There must be something wrong with them. There must be sin in their life. There must be this." They're always trying to get a why to a problem. What's the issue with the problem? When sometimes it's just not what we have in mind in our carnal flesh. God is working his perfect will. John 7:17, if this doesn't do it for you, I don't know any other way to describe it to if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether it speak of myself. When you do, then you will understand. We want to understand, then act. Most of you in this place today, if I statistically, I would love to know the amount of people that are still in church today that bought into this thing with God based upon somebody told me to do it. Pastor preached it. I got in the water. I was seven years old. You think I understood everything I was doing? Absolutely not. But guess what? God honored obedience. The people that make it, the people that are still living for God are people that have a little bit of Abraham in them that says, "I'll walk when I don't understand." >> It's the person. Now, I'm thankful for Bible studies and I'm thankful for people that are analytical, and I'm thankful for people that want the answers. But faith is walking without understanding. Faith is saying, "I'm going to do when I don't know the doctrine. I'm going to believe when I don't really see." And in this age of information, we have faith that is dwindling. Hear me. Walking in faith, doing without understanding, ordinary obedience will always bring about an extraordinary outpouring. Our world has it backwards. Understanding and knowledge always go first. Prove it first. Seeing is believing. Show me and I'll buy in. The Bible says you'll never understand unless you choose to walk. He wants to build your faith so that revelation means more to you because it's not secondhand. I got this for myself. I forgot what I had in mind and I walked in what he had in mind. It's why it says his word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Why it's dark? But faith will walk in obedience. Not my will, but thy will. Jesus simply used miracles as a tool to build the foundation of faith. It always validated who he was. My praise and my prayers and my relationship with God are not to get what I had in mind, but ultimately to believe on him. I trust him. You're the only one who could save my soul. You're the Lord of my life. over and over again. Exodus, the miracles, the signs, the wonders were all about Israel believing on him. You're going to march around the walls of Jericho. Why? He could have done it in a moment. But the reason you're going to march is because you got to do it before you believe it without knowing. That's faith. Miracles are not these moments that take place in our pursuit. It's not something that that we're we're chasing after. Jesus says it over and over and again. Stop seeking the signs and the wonders. Those follow you in your obedience without knowing. And we've got it opposite. We've got faith turned around backwards looking for miracles. And if God don't work a miracle, then all of a sudden we start wavering in our relationship with him because it's not exactly what we had in mind. God didn't do it at the time I thought he was going to do it. God didn't show up in this situation when I thought he should. God hadn't healed them. Somebody died. Somebody got a divorce. Why? Why? Why? That's not the way I thought it should have happened. True faith recognizes God's nature and desires his will more than anything else. I'm here simply tonight to shake the foundation of faith. Is your faith about God or is it about you? Miracles are not some reward of the righteous. Salvation is. He's not handing out healings like a bonus to those who serve him well. Jacob had a limp. Moses had a stutter. People had problems. If I do well spiritually, then I demand this natural blessing. No, no, no, no. That's that's not it. There's blessings that are contingent upon obedience. Yes, God is going to do great things for his people if it's his will. This is why social media and comparing ourselves among ourselves is not wise. Because the devil will slither up in your head and convince you that God's done something for them and there's something wrong with you. No way. God says, "I will be with you just like I was with Moses, Joshua." Well, Joshua struts out there on the water just like Moses did and goes to strike it. And guess what? The rod that hits the water didn't split the water. What's going through Joshua's head? This is not what I had in mind. You told me back a few moments ago that you were going to be with me like you were with him. Joshua ends up having to get in there about waist deep before anything happens. But what if Joshua just abandoned the whole thing? He's like, "Well, God's not God. It was all just Moses. It was all just Pastor Carpenter. It was all just this one. It was all just that one. God's just with them. God's just blessing their family. God that's what happened on social media today. Joshua would have got in the hate category of being a false prophet. God didn't say he was going to be with you just like he was with He's going to be God to you just like he's God to the person sitting across. But that don't mean he's going to copy and paste every single thing. Why? Because you are uniquely gifted. You are uniquely challenged. You are uniquely anointed. >> God's not going to put more on us than we can bear. God's not going to It's not going to be all the same. And we struggle with that. God did a miracle in their family, but I'm still waiting on mine. We have to keep the will of God in the driver's seat. God's will is driven by his love for us. God is looking at the whole picture. There is a reason. Matthew 9ine tells us that the miracle is just a tool to promote belief. Forgiveness of sins and healing and the harvest and healing go hand in hand. We've heard it talked about. We've heard it preached about. But Jesus was always saying he would heal them so that they would know him. It would follow. He would forgive sins, then he would heal. Let your sins be forgiven. Now take up your bed and walk. Let your sins be forgiven. Then this would happen. It was always a condition of knowing him. The foundation of faith, great faith is based upon simply doing something because of the nature of God, walking in obedience. I I want us to really Deuteronomy 13. If I could just give you a few examples of some of the things that we're facing in our world today. Deuteronomy 13 tells us that there was prophets with signs and wonders. Exodus showed us that there was people who could manipulate and they could they could even, you know, Janies and Jeries, they tell us their names in the New Testament that they could even when God would do something, they would do it. There would be signs. There would be miracles. They would throw their serpents down. They would do this. They could turn the the water into this. They could they could make things look supernatural. He says there there's there's there's some things here. Galatians 1 even tells us Paul says if an angel appears unto you and speaks any speaks any false doctrine if his word doesn't line up with the word. There's a lot of things Old Testament to New Testament I could take you through. And there's a lot of people that can make miracles and signs and wonders happen that he warns us about. God's saying, "Don't follow after those things." And each time he'll tell you, you'll become deceived. Doctrine, the word of God, the character of God, that that that's what we're basing our life. That's what I'm walking in. I'm not walking and following somebody just because there's signs and wonders. I'm not walking and following somebody. I I'm thankful for those things. I'm thankful for the miracles. I'm thankful for all those things. But we've got a generation. We've got churches that are built on just like, well, there was a miracle that happened here a few years ago. Where's the doctrine at? Where's the Bible at? Where's the word of God at? And th those people will dwindle if another sign doesn't show up in a few weeks. >> Why? Because it's fake. Faith. The faith that we need is based upon what God's will is for our life. I know it's not necessarily popular by the concept of we want to be able to, you know, ask God that you would do this and you would do that and if I thought I could just ask him anything. Got to be careful that we're not asking a miss. Our foundation of faith must be the word of God. His word above the wonders. His word above everything. Skip down and John chapter 7 and verse number five says, "For neither did his brethren believe in him." Again, it's been around for some time, but I see it today in our world as challenging people, as challenging families. He does not term them as believers. They're with him. Let me give you the modern day way of what Jesus said or what they're describing here is they're at church, but they don't really know him. They're around him, but they don't really know him. They're with me, but he doesn't call them believers. Walked with Jesus, knew his ways, but they were only there for what they had in mind. It's a doubting Thomas that lets us know that there's levels of faith. Thank God, Thomas, you got your sign. But he said, "There's a whole lot of people who can believe without seeing. people that God is going to trust. Vessels of honor are people says, "Doesn't matter what God does, I trust him." If I could in closing, seen a lot of people turn their back on God because things happen that they thought was never supposed to happen to Christians. It's bad logic. It's bad theology. He says, "In this world, you will have trouble. Be of good cheer. I've overcome the world." That's two really crazy things. I got a overcoming savior and trouble. And if you try to divide those two realities, it's bad logic and bad theology. You can't just live that he's a overcoming savior and nothing bad's ever going to happen to me. And you can't live in this victim mentality that bad things are always going to happen to me. It don't matter what I do, what I say, whatever. They're over they're overlapping realities. And that's called faith. It's called the will of God. Things are going to happen. Things are going to come. Things are going to go. God's going to bring things in. God's going to take things away. Seasons are going to change. There's a time to weep. There's a time to mourn. There's a time to dance. There's a time to rejoice. Things are going to happen. But can we trust him in all the mountains and the valleys and the seasons of life? But ultimately, great people, good people have backslid because what they had in mind didn't happen. Reminded of the story where the disciples stand Troubles all around. They're in stor. They're in a storm. They tell Jesus, they said, "Carest not thou that we perish. Do you not care that we're about to die? Do you not care about what I'm going through?" And I know if we're all could just be real for a moment. I know I know a lot of good people, a lot of seasoned saints here, but we've been through some things in life that you just wonder, God, do you care? Are you troubled by what's troubling me? Do you not see what I'm going through? I've described this to a number of people. It's probably one of the most struggling things in my mind that I have to really cling to faith is I I don't I don't get why some people deal with what they deal with. Can I just be real with you for a moment in in closing? My grandfather, he died just a few years back. He was a man of faith. Heard me talk about him. Little to no education. Got out of school in third grade, started working. Couldn't read. He was a preacher. He was one of those that would have somebody read for him and they thought he was just doing that because that's what other people did, but it was really because he couldn't read. So, it was rather interesting thing. He was he he would tell him to read it again and he would it was it was kind of entertaining. My grandmother would read for him. That's how he would study. But he was a man of faith. He wasn't a man of a lot of education. He's a man of faith. I'd walk he'd walk through the hospitals. I'd go with him. Sometimes he wasn't even there because somebody called and needed prayer. He walked through because he said everybody here needs prayer. I watched them at ball fields. A man broke his leg. He walks up. Always got anointing oil. Rubs his hands over that leg and that leg leg goes back to the bone sticking out. goes right back in. Man of faith. He's done seen amazing things. Prayed for people he never knew. Prayed for people he'd never see again. That's what he did. That's how he built the church. It was all built on faith. He had a stroke and lost his eyesight. I watched him as he would be guided into a church auditorium. Every single day he would walk holding on to the pews for hours, pray at that church, sit up on the altar more than one. Oh, I I couldn't tell you the amount of times I walked in. I'd be able to spend a few minutes with him there, whatever time of day it was. You'd find him in there most of the time because he couldn't really do anything else. Couldn't see. Brother Sutton, I'd walk up and he'd grab my hand. He's got a big old hand. His forearms bigger than my legs. Just a big old man. He said, "Bub, will you pray God to heal my eyes? I just want to see this building be finished. It's under construction." He'd pray and he'd pray and he'd pray. I'd drive him to get something to eat after service after service after service. Hey, help me pray. God will heal my eyes. For me, that's like a modern-day story of John. Why? a man who's seen faith in action of God doing great things in everybody else's life, but he dies without his sight. But I watched that man even though he prayed a prayer, he had that in him. My uncles, all of all those elders had that in him. if it be God's will. I watched his faith stay so strong throughout the later years of his life where he didn't understand, didn't make sense. My my mom's dad, he's he's a minister as well, and he's one of those, he would travel, he'd drive hours across the the country to debate somebody with their own book. He'd wear you out. One of the sharpest guys you'll ever meet. You don't want He He's not gonna preach without preaching on the oneness of the Godhead. He's as sharp as they could get. You know where he's at right now? He's in a He's in a a home and he's lost his mind. I walk in, he can't even tell me who I am. Why, God? A man whose mind was so sharp has lost his mind. And a man full of faith has lost his sight. Why? This can't be what you had in mind. It's sure not what I had in mind. It's sure not what my family had in mind. But we all stand on one thing and it's the true definition of faith and it's not my will but thy will be done. Would you just stand to your feet tonight? I'm fearful tonight that the peak of pride in America today is claiming that what God wants for me is what I have in mind. It's claiming that the plan and the purpose of God is what I have in mind. And we use it in dialogue and we use it. We say just people just flippantly saying using that God told them or God said this or I believe God and we we all the while are trying to accomplish our own goals. That is modern day idolatry. The potter cannot put his hands unless it's his will. And we are building and forming idols of pride no different than King Nebuchadnezzar. If we are coming to God, coming to church, praying to God, praising God based upon something we have in mind. I'll do this just hoping that God will do that. I'll do this, God. But you know why I'm doing it is really because I expect you to do this. I want to challenge each and every person in this place tonight to rekindle your prayer life that your prayers are not hitting the ceiling. You might just be praying a miss. When you pray God's prayers, they're always heard loudly in heaven. When you pray God's prayers, you've got keys to bind, to loose, to do powerful things. Why? Because I'm not binding and loosening anything. He is. So, if you're only trying to pray and bind up something for what you have in mind, it'll never be bound. Are you understanding what I'm preaching to you tonight? I know I've tried to come to you at multiple different angles, but I'm closing 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse number 7 says that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth through it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom Having not seen, you love. And whom though now you see him not, you believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Did you know that's where that that was at? We sing about it. Joy unspeakable and full of glory. You know where that that that's going to be at? It's going to be when your faith has stood the test of time. It stood the test of what you had in mind. It stood the test of what your parents had in mind and what your co-orker had in mind and what this one had in mind for you. God's been working and molding and shaping you the entire time. And it's joy unspeakable, full glory, receiving verse number nine, the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. My faith tonight is not wavering. Again, you you got to got to understand that that definition of faith. It's not some miracle. It's not some sign. It's not something. Yes, those things follow. Yes, those my faith is his will. My faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen that seen. That's not a new car. That's not a wife. That's not a husband. That's not a job. That's not the No, my my prayer is Lord, if it be your will >> and the job will follow >> and the relationship will follow and the outpouring will follow and the miracles and the signs and the one. Why? Because we're just a group of people that says, "I'll go where you go. I'll follow the pillar of cloud. I'll follow follow the pillar of fire. Wherever you go, Lord, your word is a lamp unto my feet. Your word is a light unto my path. >> I'm here to serve whatever you have in mind. I want us tonight for just a few moments, for just a few moments, could we lift our hands in this place and could we pray our will? I've got to decrease. I've got to decrease every I believe faith could increase in a way tonight that it'd be so powerful that we could walk out of here with some confidence in who God is because I've got to decrease. My will, my way, my thoughts have got to decrease. My thoughts about myself, my thoughts about others, my thoughts about my circumstance, my thoughts about my family, my thoughts about all the things in my life. God, I want it to be your will. God, if it be your will, Lord, I want that to be my prayer. Not my will, Lord, but thy will be done. Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost in this place right now. I'm asking every person, would you lift your hands and surrender that will? Would you lift your hands and surrender that will? >> God, purge me. God, wash me. God, cleanse me. Oh God, >> without faith, it's impossible to please him. >> Your will, God, your will be done. Oh God, in my life, oh God, in this place, Lord, as it is in heaven. Oh God, in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Jesus. One more time. Would you lift your hands? I feel the Holy Ghost in this place. Jesus, we love you. Jesus, we love you. Have your will, God. Have your way in this place. Well, that's it. I hear somebody that's giving their will to God right now. That's surrendering. I know you've got questions. I know you don't understand things. I know some things are even frustrating you. But could you just surrender that to him right now, God, your will. I know, God, that you're working on on my behalf, God. I know that you are. Jesus name. Jesus name. The last thing I'll leave you with tonight is twofold. First, it's not only that God cares about you, but the Bible actually says that he is touched with the feeling of your infirmity. It's not that just he he cares and he knows that he feels. He's touched with the feeling of your infirmity. So you got to know you got to know that if I'm going through something, he's right there with you. Don't ever let yourself get to a place you're in a you're in a valley. You're being tried with fire. Your faith's under testing. Don't ever let yourself get to the point where you say, "God must not love me. God must not care. God must No, no, no. It should be the opposite. Not my will, but thy will. God trusts me enough to put me through this. God trusts me enough to put me in this situation that someone could look at me like John in prison and say, "He must really serve God. He must really love God." Is there anybody that could attest to the fact that Sister Thompson coming in here with cancer in her body is like looking at John in a prison saying they must really love she she she must really love they're going through some stuff. They must really love God. So don't ever let yourself get in a place where you begin to question the will. It's his will. It's not mine. It's not what I have in mind. It's the good, pleasing, perfect will of God. The last thing I'll leave with you tonight, and I feel very strongly to speak this to someone, it may not be for everyone, but before I dismiss you, know that the Bible says that your gift will make room for you. What I'm doing tonight is so far from what I had in mind, it's not even funny. But there's a lot of people that are discontent with where they're at in the kingdom of God and they're forcing things to happen because it's what they had in mind or what mom has in mind or what dad has in mind or what some random person set over you at an altar had in mind. And so you live in frustration in the kingdom of God because everything that you had in mind is not panning out. That's not the will of God. It's not the thoughts of a child of God. And great churches are made up of people that are seeking the will of God that are content with where they're at because God's taking care of me where I'm at. >> It's God's plan and purpose and will for me to be right where I'm at right now. There's a lamp. There's a light. There's word. I'm following God. I'm following the pillar. I'm following the But I'm not going to walk around kicking open doors because of something I had in mind. >> Your gift will make room for you. So don't let the devil get in your ear and tell you that God don't feel and don't care. But also don't let the devil get in your ear and tell you that you're a good for nothing. You need to be discontent. You need to do this. You need to do that. You need to get out of your character. You need to get out of your gifting. you need to get. There's nothing more frustrating in the kingdom of God and messing up churches and messing up people than people trying to live out something that's not the will of God. It's just what they had in mind. Please make a commitment to me that for the next couple weeks, I believe pastor said it Sunday night, but I believe we're at a pivotal po point. God's doing some things. God's and I understand sometimes change and shift sometimes it it causes us to be a little bit uncomfortable. But if God's going to do anything great among us, it requires us to embrace his character. Whatever happens the next few months, the next few years with this church, the revival, the harvest, the powerful moves of God, everything that's going to take place in the future is based upon saying his will. >> We can cast vision. We can prayers. We can have hope and expectation. But if it's not the will of God, what is it? Would you just would you just agree with me? Would you would you would you take the challenge and over the next couple weeks I'm going to be purposeful about praying that prayer. Not my will, God. Not what I have in mind, but your will. Lord willing. Lord willing. I I wish that would become some termin. Lord willing. Now you say that sounds super spiritual. That sounds old traditional. No. Lord willing is where we all live because without it it's impossible to please him. One more time, would you just lift up your voice and pray and dismiss, oh God, we thank you for your word. I thank you for some of the greatest people in all the world that are here on a Wednesday night, Lord, to open up your word. I pray that it would be all that it is, and that is a light. It would be a lamp. It would be revelation. Lord, I pray that you would help us to walk in faith, God, to know, God, that you are able. We may not know when. We may not know how. We may not know, Lord, the outcome, Lord, but we're going to walk up the hill in faith. We're going to walk, God, in faith, believing that you're going to provide, that you're going to do, God, that you're going to be all that you are because we follow you for who you are. In Jesus' name we pray. Everybody said, "Amen." >> Amen. >> God bless you. Shake hands with somebody. Tell them that you love them with the love of the Lord. You're dismissed in Jesus