God is waiting for the Church to begin to be the image of His likeness. Quit thinking like the world thinks. Be transformed to think like God thinks by the renewing of your mind! How do I get this faith to grow, how do I increase this measure of faith on the inside of me? Fruit comes out of a seed. If you don’t plant seed nothing will grow. Faith won’t grow unless you plant the seed (Word of God) into your spirit. As you keep sowing the seed (Word)in your spirit…meditate upon the Word, thinking upon the promise of God, eventually something will begin to grow….faith will grow! You don’t even have to understand how it works! The seed you are planting inside of you is full of the divine nature, full of God’s life….it will change your life! You will not be ashamed (disappointed)! When we begin to speak God’s Word by faith it will create what we speak and change things around us!
God can begin to take the Word of God that was put in our spirit through our meditation of His Word and through the power of the Spirit, the wisdom and power within us through Christ, it will begin to gus us the understanding of it. We then fill our mouth with faith and as we being to speak that Word to our circumstances, the Holy Spirit can hook up with this and create the reality of faith on our behalf because God has obligated Himself to His own Word.
We are called to be people of faith. We are called to be the very image of His likeness! This is who God made us to be! He has called and ordained us to this!
There are two ways to be strong in the Lord. (1) Word of God (knowledge of it) (2) Praying it out in the spirit (tongues) You can become the same manner of man Jesus was! Need to view yourself a God views you! You are positioned in heavenly places in Christ. Renew your mind to this. Pray your siuations out in the spirit and God will put His mind on you, you will get His attention. Speak His Word (which He has obligated Himself to) and you will rule your circumstances and walk in the spirit as a king and priest in the dominion and authority given to you in the mighty name of Jesus! Too often we are waiting on God to do something for us. We fast and pray for the power that already resides within us! God is waiting for individuals and a group of people to rise up in the understanding of who they ae In Christ so He can put a strong measure of anointing on us to do a mighty work for Him!
Hope is the promise that what you desire can become the substance of reality in your life. Hebrews 11:1 Faith is now! What are you standing on for your life right now? The promise of God, the glory of God? God’s Word is steadfast.(Heb. 6:13-20) and cannot change or lie. This is where Abraham pivoted: natural hope or spiritual hope. Abraham chose to believe the promise of God. You have an opportunity to change negative reports through the Word of God! You have to reach deep down and get that promise of God: it is the substance of your faith! The word substance means grounds or confidence.
Faith is built on the promise of God. It is contrary to natural hope. When hope turns and you find yourself hopeless there is something to hold on to. God’s promised Word to you becomes your spiritual hope. Romans 4:19 Abraham was not weak in faith (he didn’t ignore the facts that made God’s promise look impossible). He had another hope, a spiritual hope, which was God’s Word spoken to him.
Romans 4:20 He staggered not at the promise (Word) of God through unbelief but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. How is one weak in faith? By considering, reflecting, speaking your circumstances (contrary to God’s Word). Don’t tie God’s hands to move in your situation.
Faith has a power to touch God like nothing else. Speak to your mountain( Mark 11:22-24) James 1:2-8 Count it all joy when your faith is tried and put works to your faith. Do not waver!
Somewhere deep down you have to make up your mind. Be strong- fully persuaded! A double minded person cannot receive anything of the Lord s0 don’t speak in contradiction to His Word!
This sermon was shared on Mother’s day from Ephesians 5. The word submit is referenced in vs. 21,22 and this text has been used in many wedding ceremonies. Submitting is hard. Humble yourself (husbands, your exampe is Jesus in John 13). Do you find yourself struggling to submit, even to things God is dealing with you….get over into the spirit and it will be much easier to do! Learn to reverence what God has put inside your spirit. Husbands don’t demand reverence or respect from your wives until you have learned to love them unconditionally. God put something great inside your spirit, you are precious to Him. Husbands, God gave you something precious: love, honor, and cherish the gift (wife) God has entrusted to you. Learn to speak over your marriage. Men, walk in love and you will find women are designed to submit or respond to it! Become friends and let each other have space to be the individual they were created to be. 1 Cor. 13:4-8 shares that even if there has been damage, God’s love is stronger and is a great, powerful force of His very divine nature resident in you! You see, if you are not treating your wife right than something is wrong inside. Relationships often just need an adjustment to grow and be healthy.
This sermon shows the difference between the gift of salvation and the promise of the Father. 1 Cor. 1:24 Christ= wisdom/power of God. Jesus grew in wisdom and favor with God and man for 30 yrs. His life was noticeably different after He was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then He moved in power and ministry! Everything changed for Him. When you were born of the Spirit it was the gifting of God, unction (1 Jn. 2:20,27) and God’s Spirit lives in you to accomplish His will and purpose for your life individually. However, in Acts 1:4 we read about the promise of the Father. Acts 1:8 says “You shall receive power.” The Holy Ghost comes upon you and you are anointed with power to be a witness and do the work of the ministry. This is the outflow (river) resource of the inward source of God’s life that indwells you by His Spirit. Jesus preached His first sermon Luke 4:18 and religion no longer favored Him, they wanted to kill Him! Acts 10:38 was Jesus the man from Nazareth anointed by the Holy Ghost with power. If this power was necessary for Jesus I believe it is necessary for each one of us to be effective in ministry/anointing.
In this sermon we walked with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane and witnessed His anguish. How He went from the Garden is not how He went in. He was under incredible pressure because He didn’t want to do what God wanted Him to. Been there? How do you cause your spirit to do what your mind, body, will and senses want to refuse, what is contrary to God? Get down on your knees and pray! I’ll do it if it is easy, comfortable, but can’t you find another way or someone else to pull it off? Vexed, grieved, irritable, betrayed, misunderstood, abandoned, rejected, mind games, imaginations from the enemy of your demise….sound familiar? Hebrews says we can finish our course with joy if we look to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith! In the third hour of prayer Jesus saw the purpose of the cross (Is. 53), He saw me and you, the seed that would crush satan’s head! He saw the glory of the Church, He saw harvest! If we can just get ourselves quieted during times of stress, God will reveal things to our spirit(not our mind) that we have never seen before and give clear direction! We can come out of any storm with joy and peace….let’s do it God!
This sermon opened with Eph. 6:10 and explored further what happened at Easter, but not from the traditional approach! Be strong, able to function, able to do something about your life. He purchased for you a position of authority! God views us in His image/likeness and desires you to see how valued and beloved you are to Him. He died on the cross for you, and went into hell,and rose to be seated at the right hand of the Father for you. Prays that you see the riches of the wealth of God’s presence , the inheritance He has given each one of us, the benefit package. We can stand up against the things that pound on our lives. When you love and desire the Word of God and continue in the thoughts of it as a matter of habit or custom, let it be repeated over and over again you, will transcend your circumstances and live in the position of power God has ordained you to in the authority of the name of Jesus!
This sermon is a powerful one on faith taken from Rom. 4:17-21 as its text. Abraham had a promise from God that was physically not possible. He knew this to be a reality for almost a century. God said that Abraham was not weak in faith and yet he struggled for 25 years. In Gen. 12-17 we see that weakness was his reasoning and trying to work out what God had promised. However in Romans God did not hold this against him. When you are fighting God and His promises you will just keep driving, and pushing and circling…there is no peace and no rest! Israel was God’s covenant people and yet they circled 40 yrs in the wilderness. God knows you and according to Rom. 11:29 He will not change His mind of what He has called, chosen, and ordained you to be. But He will also not override your sovereign will. God’s Word is the ultimate. What He has promised He will do for you. He cannot change Who He is. He is waiting on you to take His promises in His Word, believe them and speak them and they will come to pass.
However, once you understand this and put faith in motion, immediately satan will come to test and challenge that same faith. 2 Cor. 10:3-6 talks about this spiritual warfare. Your victory is only won by casting down every imagination and thought that exalts itself against God and His Word. God will not interrupt your thought life. The reason some of us cannot believe God’s promises is because we are asking Him to take away something that has become a stronghold in our life. Eph. 6:10-18 assures you that you can win when you fight with the sword of God’s Word and that Word replaces all the thoughts that have been satan’s playground in your soul. You can possess your soul and walk in the power of the Spirit!
This sermon examined the reason for being filled with the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Explored three reasons why this would be desirable. (1) Language brings us into unity/harmony which can produce the glory of God. Want to see God? Do it His way and pray always in the spirit. (2) The Holy Ghost will give you utterance and you pray this back to the Father, He sets His mind on you, you have His attention! Pray that utterance you pray His mind, will, and purpose! Speaking in tongues makes God’s power available. 1 Cor. 14:22 tongues is a sign to them that believe not of the works of God. When will we get to know the Spirit of God? Are you afraid of being called a fanatic? Pray in the Holy Ghost and He can draw the unbelievers and move by HIs manifestations to meet their needs. There are two reasons the Spirit of God cannot move…unbelief and people who are unlearned. When was the last time a sinner ran out of this place full of God and told people come meet a church full of God? To get full of God you have to pray in the Holy Ghost (tongues) and let Him fill you up; in the Greek is be being filled, not an event but a lifestyle! You can understand what the will of the Lord is! (3) Praying in tongues helps in worship. You can sing out of your spirit directly to God by the anointing of the Holy Ghost.
This sermon expounds on Rom. 4:18 which declares Abraham to be a father of faith. I want to show you who God is…and why He desires us to be people of faith. We must realize that God is and what or who He is…a God of faith! The seed reference is singular and is the Seed of Christ. Heb. 11:3 God spoke and the world was formed by faith. The word understanding here means: God rested, pondered, meditated, carefully thought through, purposed in His heart and created a reality. We are born of the seed of God.( 1 Jn. 3:9) Heb. 11:1,6 I want to show you the seed of faith. Luke 8:11 the seed is the Word of God. The seed of God is Jesus, we receive Jesus into our heart we have recieved the seed and He has placed within us, the divine nature. I Jn. 3:10 Born of God. Gal. 3:16 Promises are made to Abraham and his seed. 1 Cor. 1:27 You have received the seed of Christ in your heart, the wisdom and power of God to live this life as an overcomer. He made us like Himself! We are the image of His likeness. Do you see where faith fits in? I’m glad God has shown us the purpose of faith. He has given us the ability to come to Him and to please Him….we must believe that You are and diligently seek You and You will reward this!