Transformation Church Tallahassee

I am excited about this series of messages. I love to talk about and encourage people to exercise faith in God. It’s because learning to exercise faith in God has changed my life! Faith in God has changed Kathy’s life. It has changed the lives of our three girls and their husbands. We choose to live our lives believing God’s WORD! 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 of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 Why is it impossible to please God without faith? Because God is not pleased when he cannot manifest Himself in your life. God wants to have a relationship with you, meet your needs, and work though you to bless others. Faith is the CONNECTION by which salvation is transferred from heaven to you! Faith is the CONNECTION by which healing, financial help and everything God has, is transferred from heaven to you. A key verse when studying the topic of faith is Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 NKJV Now faith means that we are confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 Moffatt’s Translation Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. Hebrews 11:1 AMP Classic Edition There are several different dimensions of faith: #1. A Natural Human Faith. Everyone, Those Who Follow Christ and Those Who Don’t, Have A Natural Human Faith. By faith you are trusting that the chair you are sitting in will support you and not fall apart and spill you on the floor. You have faith that you're the engine of your car will start when you turn the ignition key. Most have faith the sun is going to rise tomorrow morning. #2. “Saving Faith” or “Faith To Follow Jesus Christ” – This faith comes from believing in your heart that God raised Christ from the dead and confessing with your mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord. Romans 10:9-10 #3. Supernatural Mountain Moving Faith Jesus said: “…whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” Mark 11:23-24 NKJV Faith is the CONNECTOR between God and man. For example: you hope for finances to meet your obligations, but faith in God gives the assurance that you will have the money when you need it. You hope for physical strength, to do the work that you have to do. Faith in God says: “The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalms 27:1 Sometimes we hope for God’s help in life, but Romans 8:31 says: “What shall we say to these things, if God be for us…” Faith says about itself everything that the Word of God says, for faith in God is simply faith in God’s Word! I learned an important lesson as an 18-year-old when I moved from Tallahassee to North Georgia to attend Emmanuel College. My first couple of weeks in College I had roommate problems. My first roommate was a basketball player who introduced himself to me as the Marco Polo of College basketball – told me that Emmanuel was the 7th college he had attended. He only lasted a week. I returned from a class and he and all of his belongings were gone. Along with a few of my things. My second roommate was a “Rockin-Roller” who wanted to play guitar all night long. I would wake up at 2 a.m. and he would have two or three other guys in our small dorm room “jam-‘in away.” And I was terribly homesick. I would call home and tell my parents I didn’t like North Georgia, I was coming home… and mom would say: “Son, come on home!” And dad would say: “Don’t you dare come home. Losers never win and winners never quit! You better not come home and you better make good grades!” Now, I didn’t know a lot about faith in God, but the one verse I knew was Phil. 4:13… I began to exercise my faith: “Lord, you see I am not happy, but Phil. 4:13 says: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” So by faith I receive a good roommate, and my dad says I can’t come home and I have to make good grades, so I thank you for helping me to like it here!” My 3rd week in school, I met a guy named Greg from Roanoke, VA and Greg told me he wasn’t getting along with his roommate. So I asked Greg if he was a party animal or if he liked to sleep at night (he said sleep), and Greg and I talked our roommates into moving in with each other, and Greg and I became roommates and good friends. I continued to pray: Phil 4:13… “Thank you Lord that today I am meeting new friends. By faith. I am going to enjoy Emmanuel College and the community here.” I quit sitting in my dorm room feeling sorry for myself, and griping about how much I didn’t want to be there. And by faith I got up and went out and made friends and made myself happy. If I had gone according to my feelings, I would have stayed in bed all day and I wouldn’t have gone to class, and I wouldn’t have gotten active in the college community. But I acted on the Word of God that says: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I started getting out of bed at 6:30 a.m. and going to have breakfast in the cafeteria. And instead of sitting by myself, I would look for tables that had an empty seat and ask folks if I could sit with them. Then I introduced myself and asked what their name was and started making friends. My flesh wanted to be selfish and gnarly in the morning. I didn’t want to have to make conversation with people I didn’t know. But I kept standing on Phil. 4:13 – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I joined one of the College Choirs and received an invitation to join a small 12-person ensemble that traveled across the country singing and representing the College. At the very first practice, I found myself paired up, and singing to a beautiful brunette from North Carolina. Who I later married! The next year I was voted the President of the Sophomore class. Then my Junior and Sr. years I was voted the president of the SGA of the School of Christian Ministries. John Wesley once said that the devil has given the Church a substitute for faith; one that looks and sounds so much like faith that few people can tell the difference. The substitute he called “Mental Ascent.” Many people read God’s Word and agree that it is true, but they are agreeing only with their minds. And that is not what gets the job done. You have to believe with your heart and speak your conviction with your mouth. “…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9-10 Mental Ascent says, “I know God’s Word is true. I know God has promised healing, but for some reason I can’t get it; I don’t understand it.” But faith in God says, “If God’s Word says it is so, then its so. It is mine. I have it now. I have it even though I can’t see it.” But Teryl, the thing I have been praying about hasn’t come to pass yet.” “Well if you already had it, you wouldn’t have to believe God for it.” 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Mark 11:23-24 NKJV Receiving comes after believing. Jesus says: “You have to believe you have it before you can receive it.” Another pastor once called and said “I want to ask you a question:” “Are you a ‘Name It And Claim It’ Preacher?” “Are you a ‘Blab It And Grab It’ Preacher?” I was quiet for a minute and said: “No, I am A Believe It And Receive It’ Preacher.” “Faith is not a trick we perform with our lips, but faith in God is a spoken expression of the conviction of our hearts.” Too many of us have a Thomas kind of faith instead of an Abraham kind of faith. Thomas said: “I am not going to believe unless I see,” but Abraham “staggered not at the promises of God…but was strong in faith.” Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:24-29 Thomas had a hard time believing that Jesus was alive. Thomas saw the nails driven into Jesus hands and the sword piercing his side. He saw Jesus hanging suspended between heaven and hell and he heard Jesus cry out “it is finished.” He saw Jesus die on the Cross. Perhaps the saw the body of Jesus taken off the Cross and wrapped in a burial shroud. His eyes and ears told him that Jesus was dead. But Thomas was using head knowledge instead of heart faith. Now look at Romans Ch. 4 – it talks about the faith of Abraham: (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; Romans 4:17 Verse 17 - Paul says our God “Gives life to the dead, and calls those things which do not exist as though they do exist. This is what God did in Genesis 17:5 when He changed Abram’s name to Abraham. Abram means “High Father, or Exalted Father,” and the name Abraham means “Father Of A Multitude.” The Lord changed Abram’s name to Abraham one year before the birth of Isaac, thus confessing that Abraham was the father of a multitude before it happened in the physical. 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” Romans 4:18 Verse 18 - There was no hope in the natural for Abraham or for his wife, Sarah, to conceive a child. But contrary to hope in hope they believed God. 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. Romans 4:19 Verse 19 - The Greek word that is here translated as “consider” is “KATANOEO,” and it simply means, “to observe fully.” Abraham did not think carefully and meditate about his age and Sarah’s age, and the impact that would have on God’s promise. He did not take those things into account. He did think carefully on and meditate-on God’s promise. Abram was seventy-five years old when the Lord first promised him that he would have a child and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:1-4). He was ninety-nine years old in this instance that Paul cited, and Sarah was ninety years old (Genesis 17:17). But he refused to consider his own body. He refused to meditate on the impossibility of what God promised. Faith is a direct result of what you think on. If you think on God’s Word, faith comes 10:17). If you think on other things, unbelief and fear comes. “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:6 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17 “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.” Romans 4:20-21 Verse 20 – One of the ways Abraham strengthened his faith was by giving glory to God. He invested time praising God. Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. Psalms 8:2 (Mt. 21:16) Over the years at times I have struggled to believe God – the reason is because the devil would put pressure on me… and I would find myself reasoning with my brain and trying to figure things out with my understanding, rather than trusting God’s Word. When we sent Terri off to College, we had enough money to pay her first Semester Tuition and room and board, but that was all. I fussed and fumed and felt sorry for myself and even got angry with God that I faced financial pressure. Kathy’s dad was a generous man, but told us it wasn’t his responsibility to pay for his grandkids college education. My dad sent us a couple of hundred dollars each month that helped. Finally I quit trying to figure things out with my mind and started trusting God with my heart. Kathy and I believed the Holy Spirit was saying it was the will of God for our kids to attend Emmanuel College, so we began standing on Phil 4:19… And you know what? When we needed money for the second semester we had it. The next year Kathryn entered college, so we had two kids enrolled at College at the same time. And we fought fear that we wouldn’t be able to pay the bills. We kept focusing on Phil. 4:19…All I can tell you is that when the tuition and fees were due, we had the money to pay! We called not those things that were… Faith is the connector by which salvation comes into your life! Faith is the connector by which healing comes into your life! Faith is the connector by which you can be baptized in the Holy Spirit! Faith is the connector by which financial prosperity is brought into your life. Faith is the connector by which God’s highest and best comes into your life!

John 20:24-24 1. “Have I found a promise in God’s Word, for that which I am believing God for?” 2. “Am I living in obedience to what the Scriptures teach?” “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me...10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. 11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the Lord of hosts; 12 “And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:8-12 3. “Do I believe God’s Word with my heart/spirit?” 4. “Am I considering contradictory circumstances?” 5. “Am I praising God for the answer?” Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:24-29 NKJV “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 1. Find A Promise In God’s Word Related To What You Are Asking God For. 2. Examine Yourself. Is Your Life Lined Up With God’s Word? 3. Mediate On God’s Promise, So It Becomes The Conviction Of Your Heart. 4. Believe God’s Word, and Affirm It With Your Mouth. 5. Do Not Consider Contradictory Circumstances. 6. Praise God For The Answer.

Lesson #4 – “Acting Your Faith” – Joshua 6; Luke 5 And the Lord said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor. Joshua 6:2 You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. 4 And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.” Joshua 6:3-5 Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.” Joshua 6:10 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there… 30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” Numbers 13:27-28, 30 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants[a] (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” Numbers 13:31-33 But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times. 16 And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city! Joshua 6:15-16 So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. Joshua 6:20 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. 19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. Luke 5:18-19 20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” Luke 5:20 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Luke 5:24 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. Luke 5:25

Lesson #2 – “How To Wake-Up Your Faith In God” 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 of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 NKJV Now faith means that we are confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 Moffatt’s Translation Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. Hebrews 11:1 AMP Classic Edition #1. Natural Human Faith #2. “Saving Faith” or “Faith To Follow Jesus Christ” #3. Supernatural Mountain Moving Faith For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Mark 11:23-24 NKJV Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:24-29 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. Romans 4:17-21

9 The next day as Cornelius’s messengers were nearing the town, Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, 10 and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. 12 In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. 13 Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.” 14 “No, Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.” 15 But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” 16 The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven. 17 Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house. Standing outside the gate, 18 they asked if a man named Simon Peter was staying there. 19 Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Three men have come looking for you. 20 Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation. Don’t worry, for I have sent them.” 21 So Peter went down and said, “I’m the man you are looking for. Why have you come?” 22 They said, “We were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He is a devout and God-fearing man, well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel instructed him to summon you to his house so that he can hear your message.” 23 So Peter invited the men to stay for the night. The next day he went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa. 24 They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter pulled him up and said, “Stand up! I’m a human being just like you!” 27 So they talked together and went inside, where many others were assembled. 28 Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean. Acts 10:9-28 NLT 29 So I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me why you sent for me.” 30 Cornelius replied, “Four days ago I was praying in my house about this same time, three o’clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, a man in dazzling clothes was standing in front of me. 31 He told me, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God! 32 Now send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. He is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner who lives near the seashore.’ 33 So I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you.” Acts 10:29-32 34 Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. 35 In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. Acts 10:34 36 This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after John began preaching his message of baptism. 38 And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Acts 10:36-38 39 “And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him to life on the third day. Then God allowed him to appear, 41 not to the general public, but to us whom God had chosen in advance to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all—the living and the dead. 43 He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.” Acts 10:39-43 44 Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. 45 The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. 46 For they heard them speaking in other tongues and praising God. Acts 10:44-46 Then Peter asked, 47 “Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” 48 So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days. Acts 10:46b-48 NLT