Life Changing Faith

It's not my intentions today to be controversial or to offend or hurt anyone's feelings. That's a great way to start a sermon, in it? There's a war raging on. Some of us feel like we've been shell-shocked, somewhat confused in the chaos that is the battlefield of life.

I was reading that the Barna Group, which is a Christian think tank, put out the latest numbers of what they called resilient disciples in America at only 10 percent of those who call themselves Christian. Over a third of the population says that they claim or have an affiliation or association with Christianity, but as the one writer said, surely a third pound of salt would make a difference in the taste of a pound of meat.

I think the Barna Group is closer to a more realistic number, saying that somewhere around 10 of the population is really resilient in their commitment to God. Now, while the church is not an ethnic minority, we are what the experts call a cognitive minority, meaning that the followers of Jesus, our worldview, our value system, our lifestyle convictions, our practices, our social norms, are increasingly at a sharp odd with those of our host culture. We face constant pressure from both the left and the right — yeah, you heard me, I said right, both the left and the right — to assimilate and simply follow the crowd.

Your political association is of no mind to me. Whether donkey or elephant, you better have some truth in you, because both sides, ladies and gentlemen, have their own agenda about power and control. Both sides. You better find the Word of God and build your life on that. They're not going to check your card at the pearly gates when you get in to make sure that you had the right association, but you will be judged by this book.

I believe that Jesus sees our primary war against the devil as a fight to believe truth over lies, and I want to preach to you today life-changing faith. There's a truth in having life changing faith. Matthew 17, verse 20, reading from the New Living Translation, says: "You don't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."

Now faith is wonderful. For those of us who have been in a deep relationship with God, we have realized how much more of a role that faith plays in our relationship with Him. It's it's more than a t-shirt or a bumper sticker that I have. It's more than me simply muttering the words that I live by faith. If you were to turn faith upside down, inside out, you wouldn't find the word impossible anywhere in it. And when you link faith up with the name of Jesus, you have an overwhelming, powerful combination that cannot be stopped by anything it comes up against.

Acts 3:16 says: "And his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all." As they're setting their wonder and astonishment right after the outpouring of Acts chapter 2, when the New Testament church began, immediately the disciples had to remind them that it's faith in the name of Jesus that made this possible.

Faith is the trigger that sets providence in the motion. Faith saves, ladies and gentlemen. Faith heals. Faith delivers. It still takes faith. And the point of interest here is the reality of, true to the fact, that all of us have faith, but unfortunately we often have more faith in the devil than we do in God, because we can be quickly to a sign that what we're going through is from the adversary, when sometimes what you're going through is simply the way you're living, because you're not living according to His Word. You're living according to what the social norm of the day is. You're living to what society says is acceptable. Well, I knew it'd start like this.

Max Lucado writes in one of his books a story about a professional thief that his name stirred fear in the hearts of people. He terrorized the Wells Fargo stage line for 13 years. He spooked even the most rugged frontiersman. And during his reign of terror from 1875 to 1883, he is credited with stealing the bags away from 29 different stagecoach crews. What's amazing is that he did it all without firing a single shot. His weapon, you asked? Well, his weapon was simply his reputation. His ammunition, it was fear and intimidation. A hood, he hid his face. No victim ever saw him. No one was able to ever give a sketch of his features. No sheriff could ever track his trail.

Black Bart was his name, and fear was his game. But the interesting thing about Black Bart, when the hood was finally removed, there was nothing to fear. After the authorities finally tracked him down, they didn't find a bloodthirsty bandit. They found a mild-mannered druggist from Decatur, Illinois. The man the newspapers pictured storming through the mountains on horseback was in reality so afraid of horses that he rode in the buggy on the way to the robbery instead of on the horse. His name was Charles E. Bowles, the bandit who never once fired a shot because he never once loaded his gun.

I wonder if we don't often times allow the reputation of the devil, if we don't allow how society has built him up, how our friends have managed to picture and portray him in movies, and we get him in our mind much bigger than he has ever been or ever will be. See, everybody has faith, but what your faith is in makes all the difference.

Faith is at the heart of life. You go to a doctor, oftentimes you can't even pronounce their last name. They give you a prescription you can't read. You take it to a pharmacist you've never seen. You take the medication you don't understand, and you do it all willingly because you have faith that it's going to make you better. Now that's living by faith.

See, the Bible describes faith this way. Hebrews chapter 11, the the faith chapter, the the hall of fame for the faithful, it starts out saying this in verse number one: "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, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."

Now, ladies and gentlemen, that is not a dictionary definition of faith, but rather what faith does and how faith works. True Bible faith is not simply blind optimism that is manufactured in a hope-so feeling. That's not how it works. Faith is not an intellectual assent to a doctrine. Faith is not believing in spite of evidence; that's superstition. A.W. Tozer said, "Faith is seeing the invisible, not the non-existent." Oh, somebody needs to let that settle in just a minute.

He, some people think faith is believing in something that's not actually there. That's not faith. Biblical faith believes God when He tells us that there is a reality which I cannot see in this moment. It's an understanding that His Word is true. It's an understanding that His Word is forever settled, that this book is not just simply a book like any other book, but this is the actual, living, breathing Word of God.

Now, I know our world questions a lot of things, and I know society has tried to put this up there and say it's really good and it has some basic principles there, but I'm here to tell you it's much more than just something that is good. This is something that that that tells us how the world was framed and came into existence. This is something that God Himself has given to you and I. You can discount it all you want. You can say it's not valid, it's not true. It doesn't matter. It doesn't need me to defend it. This thing has been here since the beginning of time, and long after I'm gone and have drawn my last breath, that word will still blend. And that's the very thing that you and I are going to be judged by in this life — not by what society says, not by what the government dictates or mandates, not what my friends think, but every word that is there, every, every bit, every line, every dot, everything that is there that will stand the test of time.

Faith is believing, not in man, because man disappoints and man lets me down. Even those that have been the closest to me in life have at one point or another let me down and disappointed me, but the Word of God has never disappointed me. Oh, there are some truths in there that sometimes are hard for me to digest, but time and time again the Word of God has proven to me that it is faithful and that it is true. And every time somebody tries to say it's not accurate and it's not right, history goes to prove it's exactly the way it says it is.

We have overwhelming more evidence for the Word of God and its truth and validity and how it has not changed than any other piece of documentation, a hundred times over, yet there are still some people who will believe Shakespeare over the Word of God.

Faith, faith is not me believing in nothing. Faith is me believing in what the Word of God says, even though it hasn't come to pass yet. Faith means I keep my eyes on God, who controls the circumstances, not on the circumstances themself.

Don't get confused about faith. Knowing, believing, and having faith in something are all different things. How do we know that God is real? Good question. How do I know this light is real? Well, Pastor Kevin, because the lights are on. But what makes it light, just because we all decided and determined that's what we call it? How do we know? See, the human mind is an amazing thing, and we have the ability to even trick our own minds. There's so much research and study that's been done into this, to where people have been given things and told it was something that it's not, and they believe it as an absolute truth. So don't tell me it can't be done, because even you yourself, if you'll have a moment of clarity and honesty and transparency here in this sanctuary today, you can say that there have been times that you believed something was, only to find out later that it was not. And until you found out it was not, it was an absolute, solid truth in your life. Now you know I'm right.

Whatever the case may be, you fault it to be true. You knew it with every fiber in you, only to find out later that it wasn't. See, we can convince ourselves. We are great at lying to ourselves. Scientifically, we may can figure some things out. We think we know because of what we believe, and we believe things with our minds, and we see the beliefs and ideas, and we paint a picture of a reality, and others may even agree or disagree with it. But beliefs are thoughts put into words, and those words can be communicated to others. Beliefs, however, are not absolute truths. They are relative truths, not reality itself.

Having faith in something is different. We don't put our faith in relative truths of man's opinion, but in the absolute truth that exists for all of time. Faith connects us to a reality that is bigger than you and I, that exists whether we believe it or not. Beliefs are in the mind alone, but faith possesses both the mind and the heart.

Now, I'm not talking about just some happy-go-lucky, that if you can think your way out of a bad, kind of stuff. I'm talking about believing in something that has proven itself throughout the test of time, from the very beginning, from the moment that man existed to where we are now, it has been forever settled and it is true. I'm not talking about what you want to see happen in your life. I'm talking about life-changing faith. I'm talking about the kind of faith that led a leper to come to Jesus and said, "If you will, it can." I'm talking about the kind of faith that the centurion said to Jesus, "You don't have to come. You can just simply speak the word." I'm talking about a kind of faith that the ruler said, "Just come and lay your hand on her, and it's going to work out." Or the kind of faith that a blind man said, "Jesus, thou Son of David, just have some mercy on me, and my eyes will be opened." The kind of faith that a Syrophoenicia woman said, "I know you've called me a dog, and I know you made fun of me, but even the dogs get a crumb off of the table every now and then, if I could just get a crumb, everything was going to be all right."

Life-changing, wonderful, fabulous faith that'll get you from here to there. Faith begins in the mind. Hebrews 11 and 6 says, "Without faith, it's impossible to please Him." Without faith, I don't have a chance of making God happy, so I got to have faith, some level, some way, somewhere inside of me. It's the beginning point.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth. The earth without form, darkness was on the face of the earth. He spoke it into existence. Where there was nothing, something came. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God."

The beginning of your walk with God calls for faith, but before faith becomes alive, you must believe there is a God. How do you draw that conclusion? Will you look around you? Doesn't the world we live in, the nature itself, lean this way? Look at the sky. You see order. Nature, you see design. You know, all things, they, they don't simply just stay as they are, but there is set in motion some way, somehow. How did it happen? Surely there has to be more than simply a big bang. Thought, that's me, like going out and taking the alphabet and blowing it up, and all of a sudden a dictionary appeared. It doesn't happen that way, not, not to hurt anybody, but I just don't see how you can come to that conclusion. You cannot come from disorder. Order is the evidence of a mind, of a die, of an intelligent designer, of a creator, and the creator must be all-powerful in order to do what he has done. The truth of God is simply inescapable. You can argue with me all day long, but it doesn't negate there is a God. You can deny Him all you want, but it doesn't take anything away from Him. You simply shortchange yourself. As Scripture says, only a fool says in his heart there is no God. And if I could give you some advice today, don't be foolish. Look at your neighbor and say, "Don't be a fool."

Since there is a God, and since He created beings to think, reason, and make choices, He must have a purpose. Faith builds on that purpose. You're not just some accident. You're not a mistake. You may not have been planned, but you have a purpose. Oh, your mama and dad may not have thought anything about what they did in order for you to be here, but God had a purpose for you. You're not an accident. You're not a mistake. He has a reason for your existence. And one of the greatest things you can ever discover in your life is to unlock a little bit of faith and say, "God, I know I'm not some random accident, but there has to be some reason You made me the way I am." And I'm telling you, you're made on purpose, to do something great for God and His kingdom.

The faith operates, this faith operates, with a simple equation: God speaks, and we listen. We trust His written Word, and we act on it, no matter the circumstances or what the consequences may be. Now, I'm going to dig a little bit today, and I'm going to mess with some of y'all. Is that all right? I'm giving you advanced warning. I'm not going to sneak attack you. I'm coming right at you. I'm coming for you. Look at your neighbor and say, "Pastor's coming for us today. Leave your toes out. I'm going to get all over them."

The circumstances in our life may seem impossible. They may be frightening. They may be unknown to us. But we obey God's Word anyway and believe that He will do what is right and what is best. See, faith is that, it's that, that itchy, antsy, rambunctious force that starts on the inner sanctum of your brain. The enemy tries to quiet it right off the bat. It tries to suppress it and keep it down. He did, he didn't want you to get your measure of faith out and turn it on. He, he knows that if you ever fully unlock what God placed inside of you, you become an unstoppable force, and he has no way to prevent you from moving forward. He knows that if you ever activate that thing, he can't keep you from heaven. He can't stop you. So he's going to do everything he can to try to keep you from turning it on. But I'm here to tell you, it's time to fire that faith up. Quit leaving it in the closet and allowing everything else to take precedence over that faith He placed inside of you.

Faith is there. It commands attention. It demands release. And in prison from the imprisonment that the enemy tries to put on it, it's time for you to put doubt on the sideline. It's time for you to slowly let it rise out of the darkness of your spirit. That's where faith has been placed. But I'm telling you to get it out and turn it on. That's when you start crying out, "Lord, I believe, but help down my unbelief. I know what Your Word is saying to me, and I'm trying my best to believe it." But cry out today, say, "God, I see what You're telling me in Your Word. I may not fully be able to see it, but let it come to pass in my life."

This is where your enemy of your faith begins to talk back to you. It begins to tell you, "Can't do this. It's too hard for you. You need to go back to what you know, back to what you're comfortable with. Who do you think you are, anyway? You're going to look foolish. People are going to make fun of you. You're not smart enough. The facts are against you. Circumstances are against you. Family and friends are against you. History is against you. Logic is against you."

Lies that come in the form of deceptive ideas are the devil's primary method of enslaving human beings and the entire human society in a vicious cycle of ruin that leads us to further and further east of Eden. But don't you believe his lie. If he's talking, he's lying. If he's talking, it's not truth. I don't care what he's saying, it's not the truth. He can't tell the truth. He, he is incapable of telling the truth. All he can speak is lie. So whatever he's saying, the exact opposite is what's true.

Faith, God-given faith, pauses, regroups, and begins anew. It says, "I will not be stopped. The power within me is greater than the obstacles that assault me. Greater is He that is in me than he that is trying to resist me."

Today, I'm talking about seeing beyond the obvious, see it into the unknown, and finding that wonderful, fabulous faith in our God. I'm talking about really seeing Him, not just some, some, some painted version you find it some cheap pawn shop on the wall, but having your vision of God, whatever that is, having an understanding with Him. And I don't know what you vision when you see Him. I don't know if you see that, that, that 70s hippie version of Him, with, with Birkenstocks on and long flowing hair. I don't know. Like, you need to have your vision, your version of Him. What is, what does your God look like to you? What does your God look like to you? It doesn't do you any good to know my version, because it works for me. What is your version of God? How do you see Him? How, when you read His words and when you pray to Him, how is that forming your thoughts and your opinions about your God? You can't base that off of stuff around you, right here, not on this earth. He is not of this earth. Don't, don't base it off of those things. It's going to skew your version and you, and, and, and your vision for what's trying to, to take place there.

See, our faith is going to be tested in a real world, and you're going to need to have your mind settled on some things, because if it's not settled, it's going to rock you.

Luke 5:17: "And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, there were Pharisees and doctrines of the law saying by, which would come out of every town in Galilee, in Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present to heal him. And behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with palsy, and they saw means to bring him in and to lay him before him," him being Jesus. "And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude," I gotta stop here for just a second. This is the critical juncture right here in the story: faith versus belief. If your belief system is good, it takes you to Jesus, because it knows Jesus heals. But faith says, "That's not good enough. I don't want to just be in the neighborhood where Jesus is. I want to be at the very feet."

I know you're not getting what I'm saying here. Yeah, believing is just saying, "I'm going to go to church today, because something good might happen." Faith says, "No, no, no. Whatever's going on, I'm there. It could be prayer meeting. I'm going. I may not be having the best day right here, but I know my God is still good."

That's the difference between belief in faith. Belief, they would have just showed up at the house, because they believed enough to take their friend there. But faith said, "No, this ain't good enough." They say, "I know I can hear Him in there, but I need to see Him." Yeah, y'all still ain't catching what I'm saying here. It's more, belief will take you so far, but it's going to take faith to get you all the way to the feet of Jesus.

"They went up on the housetop," back there in verse number 19, "and led him down through the tile with his couch in the midst before Jesus." Skipped down to verse 24: "But that you may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, he said unto the sick of the palsy, 'Outstanding thee, arise, take up thy couch, and go into thine house.' And immediately he rose up before them, and took up wherein he lay, and he departed into his own house, glorifying God." Because faith is the courage to put your belief into action.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Still ain't with me yet, because if y'all was with me, this place would be blown apart right now. Faith is more than just saying you believe in God. Faith is living what God has already said about you. Didn't get it, y'all. I'm gonna give y'all a chance, because they failed to test over there.

Belief and faith, there's a difference. Belief says, "I'm here. I know God has something." Faith says, "I'm gonna believe everything God has said for me." Faith is saying, "I'm more than a conqueror." Did you hear what I just said? More than a conqueror. That's what the Word of God says. I'm more than a con—. I'm not just victorious, but I cannot be defeated. See, if this was truly a house of faith, we wouldn't have to be saying one day the miracles are going to happen. The miracles will be happening, because it's activated by faith.

Every time Jesus stopped, He stopped because of faith. He didn't stop because of a belief. He stopped because, "I have not seen such faith." People who said, "I'm going to push through no matter. You can't stop me from getting to." That's faith.

Faith is the missing link between God and man. Faith believes what it cannot understand, ventures where it cannot see, convicts what it cannot prove. Faith is a song without music. It's a painting without a picture. It's a poem without words. Faith walks when it cannot crawl. It runs when it cannot walk. It flies when it cannot stand. Faith is a building on what you know here in this world, so that you can reach what you know is out there for you. When fear knocks at the door, faith knows there's nothing on the other side, over there. Faith is seeing also. Faith is seeing also. Faith is saying, "I'm not focusing just on my circumstances in my present moment right now, but my God's Word has told me that I can do all things through Him. And even though it is not working out in the present moment, my God's Word is still true."

As the Quaker intellectual Elden True Blood said so eloquently during his tenure at Stanford: "Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation."

Some rough plowing today. It's all right. The devil, you're a liar, and you're defeated. Faith is not some feeling that we simply manufacture. It is our response to the Word of God when it is preached. Faith is not just simply me acknowledging that it's there, but it's also believing that, no matter what the circumstances may be in this exact moment right now, my God is still good and faithful.

Three words in Hebrew 11, chapters 11, verse 1 through 3, to me summarize what true Bible faith is. It's substance. It's evidence. And it is witness. Substance means to literally stand under, into support. Your faith is what's going to hold you up, your faith. I'm going to tell you, you live on this world long enough, you, you make enough trips around the sun, there's going to be something that is going to rock you all the way to your very core. It's going to cause you to be tempted to compromise on every truth that you've ever known, because of how disappointed, hurt, let down, discourage you may be feeling in that moment. But it's faith who says, "I know I'm knocked flat on my back right now, but I refuse to give in to the enemy's lies. God, I may not even feel You. You may be like Job, everything, you've been taken away from him, and he says, 'I'm looking on the left and I'm looking on the right, but I know He knows the way I'm walking right now. I can't find Him, but He's still there.'"

Substance, so that you can say, "Faith is the confidence of things hoped for." I ain't seen it yet. It hasn't come to pass yet. He promised it to me. Man of God spoke it over me. Hadn't seen it yet. Substance. Faith is God's way of giving you confidence and assurance that what is promised will be experienced.

Evidence simply means conviction. It's this inward conviction from God that what He promised, He will perform. The presence of God-given faith in one's heart is conviction enough that He's going to keep His Word. I know some of you know what I'm talking about. You've been around, and God has done it for you in your life. He has done it. You went for, you went months, years, hoping, hanging on to something, and then God showed in. He come rushing in like a flood in a moment, and you have been so overwhelmed by His faithfulness.

I'm speaking to somebody right now, and you've been rocked again. Go back and remember the victories of the past. Go back and relive those moments of how good He's been. Go back and remember, the fact that you're sitting in this room right now is proof that He's a miracle-working God. You tried to take your own life, and you're still here today. He's a good guy.

It's a witness, to obtain a good report. Hebrews 12:1 calls the list of heroes of faith in the 11th chapter "so great a cloud of witnesses." They are witnesses to us because God witnessed to them. In each example that was cited, God gave a witness to that person's faith, the witness of His divine approval, and their lives and ministries. But you go back and look at that ragtag bunch in Hebrews 11. We have the ability to see the beginning of their stories. They didn't know how it was going to work out, but it was something about their faith that got them through, that has their names listed in the holy Scriptures.

And I'm looking out across this crowd today, and I'm here to tell you, don't, don't give up just because things aren't the way you want them to be right now. Your story's not over. Your story's not over. Your story's not over. Your story's not over. You may think it's over. You may think you're in the final chapter, but I'm here to tell you, that's not true. It's not true. It's not true.

Substance, evidence, witness. Faith brings us to an understanding of what God does. Faith makes us see what others cannot see. Faith doesn't panic when it appears all is lost. Faith makes us do what others cannot do.

When I think about what's going on, I think about the changed lives that are here in this room right now, what God's been doing the last several years here at this church, the miracles that have taken place and performed, the lies that have been put back together, seeing firsthand, on a weekly basis, that God still fulfills His promise. He still pours out His Spirit. He's still in the life-changing business.

Faith is confidence that everything's going to work out. Doubt, sickening feeling in the pit of your stomach that everything is just going to fall apart. Faith steps in and says, "No, you don't have to guess about it. God's going to do it. He's going to do it. He's going to do it." It's not just blindly going out, not having anything to hope in, but it's hoping in the forever settled Word of God. It has come to pass time and time again. He's been good. Has He been faithful to anybody today? Has He been faithful? Will somebody stand up as a witness today and say God is a faithful God? There were times in my life when I was faced with overwhelming circumstances, but my God came marching in to the circumstances of my life, and it pulled me out.

Look, for some of you, He brought you back to life. You had a death sentence over you. Somebody ought to be running and shouting right now. Somebody ought to be saying, "You've been too good for me, for me to stay." I'm quiet, you. Somebody needs to see your witness today. Let that exercise go. Come on, come on. We're in a critical moment right now in this service. Somebody needs to say, "Hey, He'd been good to me." Yeah, He's been good to me in my life. Sima Mario. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, just like that. Faith being activated now.

I want you to watch something now. Settle down. Y'all getting crazy. I ain't done yet. But I want you to keep this feeling, all right? Keep what you're feeling, because God's going to do something big.

We're living in a land of make up the truth as you see it. That's our role right now: just make up whatever you want. Our new environment is one in which the battle is raging between truth and lies, and truth is losing. Disinformation is the order of today. This is nothing new. The Word of God already addresses that. It calls it deception, the devil's primary strategy.

Listen to this: the devil's primary strategy for driving the soul and society into ruin is deceptive ideas that play into disordered desires, which are normalized in a sinful society. That's good. I'm going to read it again. The devil's primary strategy and driving the soul and society into ruin is deceptive ideas that play to disordered desires, which are normalized in a sinful society. And he has done a really good job at it.

Isaiah 6:1 says, "In the year the king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon the throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple." With the death of Uzziah, the expansion of prosperity in Judea would have seemingly come to an end. This would be a period, the time would mark history books have. This isn't just a Bible. This is a real deal that happened. Perhaps Isaiah, whom many scholars say was close to Usaid, he was a friend, he was, he was someone that they had a relationship, maybe he, he, he was, he was frustrated and upset because of the passing of the king, felt void of leadership and tragedy of an empty throne. However, within the year the Uzziah made that startling declaration, he said, "I saw also."

There's always something vying for your eye. There's always something that the enemy's putting out there for you to see and pay attention to. There's always going to be a diagnosis. There's always going to be a shortage. There's always going to be a failure. There's always going to be addiction. There's always going to be something there. There's always going to be something that has died in your life. But I want you to know, the prophet didn't just focus on the death, but in that same moment he said, "I seen something else going on. I had a loss in my life. I was a little uncertain about the future. I didn't know how things were going to work out, but I saw also my God is still on the throne. His train fills the temple. He has not lost any of his power."

Thank God for when fields of life have not produced, and when the bills are due and there's no money, when people have walked away with no sign of return, when the doctor says he's all done everything he can, when the boss says, "I'm going to have to cut your job." In the darkest hour, I saw also God is still on the throne. He is still high and lifted up. Somebody needs to stay, stay standard. Somebody needs to see also in this room today. I'm talking about marvelous faith, something that's beyond just a norm. You think things are never going to go back to the way they were at one time. I'm here to tell you, that's a lie. That's a lot of musicians, come. God's fixing to move in this place.

I'm, I'm reaching for somebody right now. My Holy Ghost inside of me is telling me that somebody has just written off: this is as good as it's going to be. And it's not. Why would you settle? Why would you settle for less than what God has for you? Why would you settle? What would you say? You are a child of the King. Did you hear me? You're a child of the King. You don't have to settle for less than. You're a child of the King. You belong to Him.

I don't know what all has happened in your life. I don't know everybody's story in this place, but I know life comes at us all, and I know it comes real fast. I don't know, sometimes these things have a way of just, just, just, just flooring us out of nowhere, and then all of a sudden we get a new identity in that thing, instead of being identified by who we belong to. I get identified by my circumstances, or some label that somebody's pushed on me, or, or because someone else has, has broken trust, or someone else has defied, or whatever the case may be, and that is all our attention focuses on. But I'm here to tell you, there's more for you to look at. Quit focusing on the negative. Turn your eyes up for just a minute and see that the Lord is still high and lifted up. He is still sitting on His throne. His train, His power, His authority has not lost anything.

In the name of Jesus Christ, I release faith in this place right now, supernatural faith in this place. Oh, I don't know where you're at and what you're going through, but I'm going to tell you right now, faith is moving in this house. Some of you have a gift of faith. You need to let God use you right now in this place. This altar is open. This is a time to get reconnected with God.

Come on. Yes, Jesus. Christ. I'm here to challenge your faith today. I'm here to challenge your faith. Are you just going to simply believe that where you're at right now is as good as it's going to be? I'm here to challenge your faith.

Take one second, one second. Hang on. I'm facing, so I feel it right now. I feel it in my spirit, and I rebuke it in the mighty name of Jesus. Be gone from this place, doubt. Be gone from this place right now. Fear, you have no place in the presence of God. Be gone right now from this place.

Some of you have been praying for a set, a situation, for years for it to unfold, and God has given you the ability to believe in that moment it's going to come, but you haven't seen it yet. I'm here to tell you, you are closer than you can even imagine. That's going to, that's not just me having some kind of hype preacher talk. I'm telling you right now in my spirit, God is moving. There were some things that have been set in motion in the last few weeks here, and right now I'm having to come against doubt in this room. Oh, I wish somebody right now who has not cried out in a long time would allow that faith inside of you — dig it out of the closet, get it out from underneath the shadow where it's living, pull it out. God has given you a measure of faith to use.

Yeah. I squeeze in down here, if I was you. Let your faith get you out of that pew where you are right now. Yes, God can meet you back there, all right. I felt that question right now. But there's something about you taking a first step of faith that makes a big difference in what God's about to do. Jesus, Jesus. You are here.