Service Date: 10.18.18 8PM
[Music]
and while we’re standing I just want to
jump into the word is an honor to bring
the word today then let’s just jump into
it I’m gonna be speaking from Hebrews 11
verse 1 and 6 and so verse 1 says now
faith is the substance of things hoped
for the evidence of things not seeing
verse 6 jumps to say but without faith
it is impossible to please him for he
who comes to God must believe that he is
and that he is a rewarder for those who
diligently seek Him
father God we thank you for your word we
thank you for a moment in your presence
Lord Jesus that we are gathered not to
hear from man but to hear from you so
Lord God I think you I submit myself to
you as your vessel may the word that you
released through me speak to every heart
and mind in this house everyone watching
Lord God that you would activate faith
in this house in Jesus name Amen
just greet the person next year saw them
they look good
view the phone so that scripture I think
that scripture has so much weight to it
it says without faith it is impossible
to please God now it’s it’s very
interesting because without faith you
know faith is what creates room in our
lives for God to move in and through us
faith is when we create capacity for God
without faith with when there were there
is no faith rather it is the evidence
that there is the unawareness of the
knowledge of God concerning our lives
and so if we are unaware of God’s Word
concerning our lives we cannot partner
with him because we would not recognize
his resources or what they are for and
so without faith we cannot glorify God
because our lives does not look like
what he envisioned when he sends us on
the earth and so I find it also
interesting how the scripture talks
about the faith of a mustard seed would
move mountains we see that great men of
faith in them and in the Bible day they
would change a community they would
transform a nation miracles would break
out they would transform their families
and their lives and so my question is
what is this faith what is the faith
that God is speaking of that he says
without this you cannot please me what
does that look like in my experience I
have learned what it is not and I was
sure story this story might not sound
like a true story but it very well is
many years ago I say that like I’m 70
but but many years ago this was I for
three of my friends and I we were
casually talking about in this house who
would like to win the Mega Millions the
lottery come on somebody look at that I
am NOT alone so this is a very funny
very family so we were casually talking
about wow you know what happens if we
win the lottery and we were not talking
about gambling we just believed because
personally I believe God can do anything
and so we were like you know what we
should really pray that God will give us
the numbers to win the lottery
and so we all came together we’re like
man this thing we could be like just you
know 100 million dollars richer in about
a week so we can’t forget that we were
really serious because we just knew that
like God could really do anything so we
came together we’re like you know
obviously I didn’t come in here on the
jet so you should know how the story
ends but we came together and we said
yes you know we’re gonna pray about this
we’re gonna believe that God is gonna
give us the numbers and so everyone was
you know is responsible to put numbers
together and they need to all be in
alignment when we meet up and so we all
went our separate ways or like God we
just thank you that you are gonna give
us the numbers and so we were just me oh
we did this we wrote the numbers down we
met up and some of the numbers were not
clashing so we’re like you know we just
need to go deeper in our faith and let
the Lord speak because we were not
trying to gamble we said no but this is
a hit one get one so we went back we did
the whole thing again we checked the
numbers so we were like you know what
maybe the numbers that do match those
are the ones we can pick and just figure
out the rest so we did that we went we
play the lottery we did not win so we
came back together we were like okay
this is not right because we believe God
so we were like you know let’s go into
fasting and prayer and I was like you
know what we just have to exercise
greater faith we don’t even need to
check if we won we should know we won
and uh-oh where this story so we went
into like a 7-day fasting we were
praying every night God we just thank
you we without the vision for the money
we were like okay we’re gonna pay tithe
we’re gonna help the Lord’s work we’re
gonna give this money to the church we
allocated what we’re going to do with
our families this was a real thing and
so the time came we bought our ticket we
said nobody should even check online
because we just knew that we won we
called all our family members and I
remember I called my mom I said mom I
have great news I just won the Mega
Millions my mom was like you’re joking I
said no tell the family we told our
pastor we said you know what we just won
the Mega Millions they’re like we say
yeah we got it everyone and it was we
were like you know we just have to
believe God we have to put it all on the
line and know that God can do it so we
go to the office the lottery office
we’re so confident we’ve told our
families my mom is already planning a
new jet you know we go to the office we
have our ticket we’re smiling we’re
joyful
we’re going to the office we’re like oh
we came with the winning ticket the
woman scans it and she’s like I’m sorry
this is not the ticket real like no
check again the machine must be faulty
okay
and she checks it again it’s not we were
like oh no we need to go online and so
we went online it was not the numbers it
was devastating
I said i’ma go call my mother I said mom
this was a lie I wasn’t too sure so we
were like we took a moment we’re like
wait what are we supposed to do because
for us this was us having faith that we
said God you can do anything but this we
were not trying to gamble and buy 10
tickets every day no we said god this is
hit 1 get 1 okay
and when we left that place I was so
discouraged because I’m like God your
word says that whatever to agree on it
will be done for them we were 4 we
doubled up when that’s
Cosette I don’t understand this is not
adding up
okay and so we I remember calling my mom
and my mom was my brothers everybody was
just upset because they’re like how do
you play this kind of foolish games the
pastor thought we were crazy it was a
mess and we went back and I’m like God
how is that possible we had faith we put
it all on the line we said we’re willing
to look foolish for you and it did not
work how many people have ever felt
disappointed by what you thought you put
your faith on you see when I look back
on that it taught me two things about
faith the first thing is that the
Scriptures tells us that faith is the
substance of things hoped for it doesn’t
say that faith is things hoped for there
is a difference between substance and
things hoped for there’s a difference
between substance and expectation now in
the scripture substance can also be
translated to foundation now in in
construction we know that the strength
of a building lies in the foundation the
foundation is what anchors a building is
what it’s what you know bears the weight
of the building without a strong
foundation a structure would collapse if
there is a earthquake or any kinds of
disaster because there is nothing strong
enough to hold the weight against
natural disaster and so if substance is
speaking of foundation and it says that
faith is the substance of things hoped
for and then there is a kind of
expectation you would have that God
would back it up with substance that the
foundation that we speak of you see the
Bible talks about how faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the Word of God
now the word of God does not mean that
you know God is gonna come in and
audible and tell you exactly what you
need to do but it means that this word
of God can come by the way of
inspiration it can come by the way of
instinct it can come by the way of
divine strategy it can come by the way
of creativity wisdom anything that
pushes your expectation to the place of
manifestation but God is responsible for
this God is responsible for the
foundation when the expectation is what
he’s building and I began to learn that
when we isolate the two when we isolate
substance and expectation we recognize
that expectation can come from many ways
expectation can come from the Spirit of
God but expectation can also come from
fear expectation can come from societal
pressures it can come from so many
different outlets that it’s outside of
God and so when I look back and I
wondered I said you know what let me
look back on all the times that I felt
disappointed by God and to be honest
every time that I felt disappointed by
God something about my expectation was
rooted in fear at that time of our lives
the four of us we all had something in
common
we were very uncertain about the future
we had a fear of what God was going to
do with our lives moving forward because
we could not see it and so it was almost
as though deep down the reason we wanted
God to give us the megamillions was for
something to give us meaning to our
lives for something to say we have
arrived oh you can see me now that’s
something about there was not cha you
know you don’t see me with a jack
Ellison value but something about that
was about the idea that something
external could add value to me and
because that was not rooted in in God he
had no ties to back it up no matter how
foolish I wanted to make myself look
oftentimes we are we are running away
from our fears
and passing up the issue to God in the
context of prayer we pray about things
we don’t want to confront and then we
get disappointed when they don’t happen
you see one of the wants something I
used to fear greatly was death of a
loved one and so for many years I would
I never I kind of had a wall with how
close I get to people because I didn’t
want to get so close to you and then you
die this is weird but that was my fear
and recently the Lord said that showing
me to make me understand that grief is a
part of life some of us have
disappointments in God because of the
loss of a loved one and we felt like God
they should have been here you took them
away but when the Lord showed me that
you you must understand that the same
way that laughter is a part of life
grief is a part of life and sometimes in
society grief has become so foreign to
us that even the very symptoms of grief
is now being medicated that you lose a
loved one and instantly they say you are
depressed but it is normal there are
some in some cases you cannot medicate a
human emotion
you will only suppress it and so because
we are so accustomed to this idea that
you know I have to be on at all times
even the Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes
3 that there is a time to weep and a
time to laugh even God understands that
no this is a part of life that it might
have been their time it’s ok to take
some time to mourn their memories to
mourn the fact that you can just call
them but recognize it as a part of life
and instantly that fear broke off of me
and I wasn’t afraid anymore of if a
loved one died because I understood that
this is a part of life and so it’s not
gonna be that I’m gonna be praying from
a place of fear because when the Bible
tells us that God has not given us a
spirit of fear but a spirit of love of
power and that’s
sound mind you see power means that you
cannot add to me to make me more
powerful I just AM and so nothing
nothing I do is based on what could add
to me it’s just what it is you see a
sound mind means that I don’t rush into
projects because of how it looks I I
have vision I have clarity I have
focused I’m not rushing into things
because there is emotional instability
you see God is saying that when you are
moving from my spirit there are signs to
show you what it looks like love is
always serving other people it’s not it
doesn’t have a selfish agenda and so we
have to examine the ways the things that
shape our expectations in God the second
thing that this taught me you see
there’s a scripture in the Bible and
some of us we could read this
during our prayer time when Jesus said
you know whatever you ask for in my name
I will do that the father may be
glorified in the son that was one of the
scriptures I used in my prayer doing my
lottery run I said Lord I’m not asking
in anybody’s name I said the Lord Jesus
Christ of Nazareth I said I’m gonna make
it clear as day I say no more even point
the scripture that where you were born
come on somebody so and so sometimes we
wonder because these are scriptures in
the Bible and it’s like but you said
whatever we asked for in your name you
would do whatever means whatever and the
second thing I learned looking back at
the things in life that brought me
disappointment was that sometimes when
God is speaking to you it is a you that
you have not yet become you see Gideon
there was a man in the scripture named
Gideon and when an angel encountered
Gideon he meant he identified him as a
mighty man of Valor meaning a man of
great courage
but when you read what was happening
when the angel even encountered him he
was more of a
any man of timidity you know of fear he
was doing a lot of things that just did
not look like courage and so it shows us
that sometimes the version that God is
speaking to even though Jesus is saying
whatever you asked for it might not be
are you that you are yet because the you
that he is speaking to is a you that is
moving in his spirit that your
expectations are formed by his spirit
they come from his spirit it’s not
coming from your fear or your pride or
your ego or your need it is coming from
the Spirit of God and so if we don’t
look at these things we would easily
have this weight of discouragement and
disappointment that God I put my faith
on it and it did not work and the Lord
did say no you put your expectation on
it
faith is what I work with you on that’s
not you you can you can put expectation
on something but the Lord has no ties to
it unless it is what he is building and
so the question now comes that how do we
identify maybe sometimes it might be
confused at God okay what is this you is
this me how do we truly identify what is
from God and what is not and it’s to
question two questions I want everyone
to ask themselves you see the scripture
I mentioned earlier that says when Jesus
said whatever you ask for in my name I
will do it that the that the father
may be glorified in the son the first
question you want to ask yourself if
this happens who does it glorify the
most Jesus for me and this is not to say
that God is like power hungry that he
doesn’t want you to have pleasure in the
things that you do but he does not want
the things that you do to have you who
does it glorify the most and the second
question if it does not happen who hurts
the most because if you have a mindset
of loss if you think that if this thing
does not
but in my life something is being taken
away from me that mindset will blind you
from the leading of the Holy Spirit
because no matter how many times you
wanted to say that God I surrender if
you think that’s your your ability to
surrender is gonna cause loss in your
life subconsciously you would not
believe that God does not want you to
walk away that God wants you to walk
away if he does because you will not
believe that God would want to cause
loss in your life and so we have to
examine who hurts the most in this thing
this very thing I’m asking for does it
hurt the kingdom of God more than it
hurts my life Oh am I too involved in it
emotionally that I cannot allow God to
show me that maybe this is not the way I
have for you does it hurt the people are
signed to me more than it hurts my
agenda or does it hurt my agenda more
than it hurts them and so I want to just
hug it and say oh no no I’m not letting
you go it’s like in the Lord of the
Rings the little guy crashes and so now
sweetie
speaking about activating faith many of
us we have a word from God and we are
aware that there is something in us that
we can’t just shake off but yet we feel
as though we lack the motivation to move
forward we lack the motivation to go
after in boldness the very things that
we feel like God you have put this
desire in my heart the scripture tells
us that faith without works is dead and
so they can be they can be faith present
but it’s dead where there is no works
and so there are three things that I
want us to just three ideas when
thinking about activating faith and the
first thing is that God heard you the
first time
I’m saying this because oftentimes we
get discouraged in prayer we get
discouraged that God you gave me a word
you gave me this idea you gave me this
vision you gave me this dream and I feel
like I’m just hitting roadblock after
roadblock after roadblock and then we go
into prayer and fasting and we’re
praying that God make away God make away
and nothing is happening and it’s almost
as though who in this house has ever
questioned God do you even hear me yeah
and we’re wondering God why is it that
this is what you gave me to do but you
are not opening any door it seems and
somehow we think that maybe after the
50th or the five thousandth time God
will say oh check mark i’ma answer you
now and you see what I’m learning family
is that we you have heard this before I
believe that sometimes prayer is not
about changing the situation but it’s
about changing you because God I mean
God is God first of all it doesn’t he
doesn’t even need a second to move but
he needs a person to receive and to
carry the weight of the outcome you say
sometimes we’re so focused on the
outcome that we don’t realize that every
blessing is a responsibility every
blessing has a weight attached to it
it’s not just about us because every
time God blesses you you become a vessel
to bless another person and so if the
Holy Spirit and the resources of heaven
is gonna back up your life God sometimes
will allow circumstances to exercise
your muscle of endurance so exercise
your muscle of patience because when he
opens the door if those things are not
worked in you the moment because if your
if your only goal is the finish line
when you get to the finish line you’re
gonna go home but there are other things
to do at the finish line and so if you
don’t have patience in you if you don’t
have endurance in you if you don’t have
a
relentless nature about you when the
blessing comes it will become a burden
to you you see there’s a scripture that
that Jesus said do not cast your pearls
before swine and what that means is do
not give what is valuable to the ones
who will not appreciate it for the
resources of heaven so back your life
God needs to know that you are committed
you are actually in this the Holy Spirit
will not partner with someone that is
unfaithful and so when we read
scriptures like if you are faithful in
little God will make you ruler over much
it is not just for us to feel good and
have more influence because the Lord is
saying okay if you have found the
ability to endure in this thing and he
even says it is little so you obviously
know it is little you obviously
recognize that something about this may
even be below what I believe about
myself you see I’m thinking about David
although when we think about David we
think of a man who killed a lion and a
bear and then he killed Goliath but the
truth is when David killed the lion and
the bear he had no Goliath in mind all
he knew was that he was taking care of
sheep that was it he was not thinking of
when I killed this lion and when I
killed this bear God is gonna elevate me
to kill Goliath there was nothing like
that in mind and he was taking care of
sheep too a father that did not even
really value him the task that he had in
front of him was something that could be
recognized as little but he but God used
that position to build his muscles of
endurance that he could put his life on
the line for sheep without the future
promise of anything else and so
sometimes the circumstances in your life
is not because God did not hear your
prayer it’s not because God did not see
your sacrifice he heard you the first
time but there is something that he’s
working in you there is far greater than
the outcome happening right now because
when we believe in who God
the outcome is set but we must recognize
that blessing is also a responsibility
attached to someone else’s life and God
is concerned about that the second thing
I want us to just the second thought I
want us to think on is that forget about
your haters we live in a culture that is
so consumed about haters we see them on
Instagram we try to clap back you know
instead of just blocking them one just
one click but okay you see why I say
this there’s a story about a
twelve-year-old girl in the scriptures
who died and when she died Jesus said
she’s not dead but she’s sleeping when
he came into the room and he’s like oh
yeah she’s not dead she’s just taking a
nap and the people are laughing at him
and they’re mocking him because clearly
they’ve checked they have done their due
diligence to know that this girl is dead
and then what Jesus says you know Jesus
is like you know I’ll tell these people
to get away from me so he puts them out
he tells a little girl arise and then
the Scriptures tells us that her spirit
came back into her but what happened
after this is what I find the most
fascinating because right after Jesus
instructs the parents and commanded them
tell no one of what just happened and
what I’ve always wondered like why would
he say tell no one what happened and
this revealed to me his heart posture
that he could care less about proving
anybody wrong you see if you are so
confused about your haters you will only
be motivated by what they see the danger
in this is that life it’s not about what
people see everything that you see is
the result of countless hours that
happen on seeing and so if your
motivation is only about proving your
haters
you’re gonna lack motivation for the
rest of your life because the work that
God has called you to do in the
beginning it is unseen and when
frustrations hit when circumstances come
against you you would feel like this is
not even worth it ain’t nobody know what
I’m going through and you will literally
drop it because and without knowing
because you see sometimes we don’t have
the words to articulate what we feel but
we thought you recognizing your
motivation has always been about proving
people wrong proving your family wrong
proving your ex-boyfriend wrong that he
shouldn’t have left me or proving your
ex-girlfriend wrong I have no clue but
the thing is if you are so focused on
proving people wrong you will only be
motivated by what they see Jesus careth
could care less he said do not tell
anyone about what happened I don’t care
if people thought she was dead all that
matters is that right now she’s living
live your best life people don’t have to
know and not know stop focusing stop
giving your energy to dead things and
the third thing family is that allow God
to be your strength
you see we’re gonna have moments of
weakness that’s normal but a moment
should not define your life a moment of
weakness should be a time where we bring
it to God and say God this is what I’m
going through it doesn’t change my
belief in you there was a certain man
that said God I believe help my unbelief
he recognized that belief is present but
unbelief is also present help my
unbelief
whatever this is rooted and I may not
know it is shocking what would happen
when you present to God and say Lord be
my strength it is shocking what can
happen in your life in that moment but
oftentimes in the times of weakness we
almost want to sit in it and complain
and just dwell in it rather than coming
before the Lord and say God this is
what’s going on I’m not sure about this
you know there was a time for me I like
most of my fits are really with God
because at least I know I can trust that
he will bring me back to sense but one
day particular I was very confused but
the thing is that confusion never shakes
my reality of who God is because I’ve
recognized that the problem in life
would never be God it will never be God
because he is complete he is whole he is
love that is just who he is and so for
me when I’m confused I’m like God you
need to show me what is wrong here
because I know it’s not you but I feel
like there is a there is a
miscommunication about maybe what I’m
doing and so I was in a moment where I
was just I just felt like God I feel
like I’ve given you everything and I’m
just confused about this season and no
lie I remember when I was just like God
what else do you want from me and this
was not a moment I didn’t want to call
anybody because sometimes calling people
might just either encourage you in
nonsense or just have you suppress the
pain and so I said I just want to talk
to you God about this right here right
now and so I remember this story’s a
little crazy but I remember and I was
like what else do you want from me do
you want my blood is that what you want
how cuz I was just I was just live it
and I remember I went to the kitchen and
I and I was not trying to do anything
crazy this was just me raging and I took
a knife I’m like what do you want to
speak so I took the knife and then I was
like trying to like just a little cut
because I’m afraid of pain I said and it
wasn’t working I was like okay let me
get a razor because at least sometimes
you just cut yourself accidentally and
so I picked up the razor and the moment
I picked it up I heard him say what are
you doing
and I threw it away and I just broke
down in tears and I my god I just needed
you to tell me what is going on and it’s
easy you know but in that moment of
weakness it was not about looking for
outside source to either give me a
temper because sometimes your moment of
weakness looks ugly that’s why I’m
sharing this story it’s not always
pretty it’s not that you always come to
God and you kneel and you just you know
get your prayer shawl and you’re like
father sometimes this is a mess it’s
like where the knife at okay what you
want Laura I’m tired and so this brought
me to a moment where I just felt so much
comfort because I don’t hide anything
that he already knows and so it brought
me so much comfort so much peace so much
clarity to know that Stephanie this is a
time to just diving deeper in your trust
so diving deeper and knowing that I’m
needing your every step and after that I
just I cried I laughed I was like I
don’t know what the heck I was doing but
lord I love you but let God be your
strength let God be your strength know
that he is your refuge and in these
moments even in the face of unbelief you
can your your belief can overcome
whatever is causing that roots in your
life I believe that God wants to
activate faith in this house that the
areas in your life the words that you
have lack motivation on that there is a
fresh fire that is going to come in you
and that fire must be flamed that fire
must be flamed and it is not to look at
God like he’s ever the problem because
God will never ever be the problem one
thing I’ve recognized if you have that
resolve in your mind you will never look
at it as though God this is your fault
you would always have an understanding
that God even though I don’t understand
this now I believe that is
work together for my good but I can come
to you I can come to you and I can trust
what you’re doing in me family can you
stand to your feet
thank you Jesus
I just want us to take a moment in
prayer if you know that that word was
for you I just want you to lift up your
hand as we pray thank you Jesus thank
you Jesus thank you Jesus
father God you see every hand raised you
see every heart Lord God I says that
there are some in this house that they
have they don’t they they feel like they
don’t know how to share their pain
because they don’t want to look less
spiritual they don’t want to look like
they don’t believe in you but they do
but there is a pain that it has just
been suppressed and suppressed over time
and they’re saying God help me in the
area of my weakness lord I thank you for
every word that you have spoken to your
people I thank you Lord God that in this
house that you are giving them a new
fire that even now Lord God they would
feel it from the depths of their belly
that there is some it would literally
feel like what Jeremiah said like fire
locked up in my bones that that you are
giving them fresh inspiration fresh
creativity fresh strategy to action Lord
God that they would act on the word that
you have given them lord I thank you
that you are your your increasing their
discernment of self
the Lord they would recognize when an
expectation is of you or when an
expectation is of fear or anxiety and
Lord they would know that it’s okay to
release it I break every lie in this
house that says that’s something that
left them caused them loss because Lord
Jesus you are not a waster you use
everything nothing that can be taken or
added can change the value of who we are
in your eyes and so I thank you Lord God
that your people would have to courage
great courage Lord God to go after the
things that you have said despite what
looks like disappointments in the past
despite who walked away despite who
stayed that Lord God their hearts will
not be tainted by their history
father God have your way I speak to
every mind that is suicidal I speak to
every mind Lord God that they would
release their pain onto you they would
release their pain onto you I speak to
your children Lord God that they have
seen grief as a foreign thing and in
wanting to escape grief they’re looking
at suicide Lord I can so that in this
house in the name of Jesus I can’t see
that over anyone watching in the name of
Jesus Lord may you minister to them that
grief is a part of life it is not
foreign to us and it’s okay to take some
time to mourn it is okay
Lord we thank you we thank you that you
met us in this house we thank you that
you spoke to our hearts Lord Jesus seal
this word that came forth in the hearts
and minds of your people in Jesus name
Amen
[Music]