Faith

Your people and your father's household and go to the land. I will show you I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I Will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I Will bless those who bless you Whoever curses you I will curse and all peoples on earth will be blessed Through you first of all bottom line. What's the intent of God? In a person's life. What's that? What word do you see there bless? I give you that one, too What does it mean to bless? I mean, this is what God God wants to pour this out. I think this is this a lot of people miss this Go ahead in the Old Testament to bless means to Endue with power for success or prosperity. I don't know what that next word means, but it sounds like really serious longevity and so on to worship by bending the knee All right, and the New Testament were to bless Go ahead to speak well of to praise to be happy or fortunate When the Bible says that God wants to bless you He's talking about your whole person God has ideas of favor in mind for you and folks How many people here just get beat down from time to time in the workplace or in the home or you know with other people? Well, God isn't against you. He's for you and I have to say to you because we're sinners and I'm right there among you I don't feel like I deserve the blessing. Is there anyone else here that ever sometimes feels like maybe you didn't deserve it today and the truth is You didn't and I don't and we don't but God says just the same nonetheless. I want to bless you very important that's the Old Covenant if God wanted to bless that much in the Old Covenant and Jesus came along in the New Covenant and replaced it. The Bible says with a better covenant. That means he wants to bless you more In this generation in this age So let's get it real straight. Our daddy God is not up there looking for ways to discourage to thwart to frustrate to make you angry He wants to bless you with success and prosperity And all those other good things, okay That means by the way Fertility it means like you're gonna bear a lot of kids and stuff. We got that one down Pastor Jeff says we had it. All right, turn it off before we get confused anymore. All right So that's what the Lord said now Abram Look at verse 4 Left as the Lord had told him and out he went and there Says goes on down verse 7 the Lord appeared Abram and said to your offspring. I will give this land and So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him and from there he went on toward the hills of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and A on the east and there he built an altar to the Lord and gate and called in the name of the Lord The first thing I want you to see and we could develop this and I have another teachings but folks all through this chapter 12 and chapter 13 Look at verse 4. Once again, he builds he reaffirms that altar look at verse 18 of chapter 13 Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre Hebron where he built an altar to the Lord You'll see over and over again while Abraham is waiting for this promise of blessing to come You can mark his path number one, please Virginia with altars Abraham was a man who worshipped the Lord for his part. Now, I don't know what happens to us along the way church But we have a tendency to try every other thing to get the blessing of God Except the thing that the Bible makes very clear that we're to do and that's to worship faithfully before the Lord It is against us. It's something in us does not want to worship. What is it? It's our sin nature we don't want to bow down to anything Americans are caught up. They are they are in love with themselves I mean, it's it sickens me to watch TV anymore these days and see people who just feel like they're God They they control their own morals. They control their own values their own destinies. They all think And so they don't want to worship anything and we get that just spills over it rubs over on us Instead of realizing that if we want the blessing of God, we need to build a pathway of altars But put down the next point, please Abraham had a problem of faith now How many of you? Feel like you know, the Lord wants to bless you But there's a gap between what you know, the Lord wants to bless you with and what you have. Okay, just a peep this Jack and Kathy Hall, is that the only one? There's a guy let me say to you I may didn't say it very clearly There's a gap between the promise that you feel of God's blessing that he you feel he wants to pour out on you and what? You're living in now now. Let me see again All right Trust me If you ever get up here and you ask a question you love to see people respond because then you know that It's the same language, you know in the right country and all that Sometimes you don't know that stuff now I can't tell you how many areas of my life I'm still living there a number of them and my kids and you know, my My ministry to be sure and something my own personal life blessing that I believe the Word of God has promised to me But I'm not there yet like Abraham I have a problem of faith Abraham's problem was what? well if he's to have all this offspring and all this blessing and all these Kids and by the way, the Lord just tuned us up a little bit. By the way, look at Genesis 15 The Lord says to Abraham The Abraham's a little frustrated verse 2 he says 15 to Oh Sovereign Lord What can you give me since I remain childless? In other words, I don't have this blessing. You've been talking about yet You've given me no children Verse 4 the Word of the Lord came to him This man this servant of yours will not be your heir but a son coming from your own body will be your heir He took him outside and said look up at the heavens and count the stars if indeed you can count them And then he said to him so shall your offspring be Now Abraham's been told he's gonna have more kids than he can count stars in other words, it was Basically telling him promising him that he was gonna have an endless progeny of faith It wasn't happening. How many years went by but from when Abraham received the promise to about this point Does anyone know about this point right here? about 20 years 20 years How many of you have waited 20 years for one of your promises to be fulfilled? yeah, I I wouldn't be surprised if some of you've been waiting that long and but Many of us has been longer or shorter, but some of us even longer. So he is common to us He has a problem like we do now Just for tonight and this is being very moving very quickly. I want us to see how Abraham finally received the promise All right, go ahead Here's how God's power God's perspective of power was touched now flip over to Romans 4 back in the New Testament Are you all warm enough tonight? Or is it too warm? It's okay. All right. Good. Here's Romans 4 This is very powerful. Please if you're a newer Christian and you haven't read Romans 4 with Real deliberate eyes wide open do so Because it talks about Abraham receiving God's blessing and so Let's look at verse 18, which brings us right to the heart of the story. Here's Abraham waiting for his promised blessing of Children, and here's what it says verse 18 Romans 4 18 against all hope Abraham in hope believed and So became the father of many nations just as it had been said to him so shall your offspring be without Weakening in his faith. He faced the fact that his body was as good as dead Since he was about a hundred years old and that Sarah's womb was also dead We didn't even talk about her body. He just talked about her womb. I mean the spark was gone. Let's face it All right. She was 90 All right Yet he did not waver through unbelief Regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and Gave glory to God Being fully persuaded that God had power to do What he had promised now folks There are a lot of years I read Romans and didn't get what that was talking about and I hope tonight if we don't get anything else out of this That we can get what this is talking about for our personal lives you see Abraham discovered That he wasn't getting what he needed to get just by kind of Trying to make it happen. All of you know the story of Ishmael. That's when he he went another route and If you don't know that story it appears about in chapter 16 When Abraham took things into his own hands and tried to make God's promise come to pass He went out and he got his wife's servant and she got pregnant right away Which Sarah wasn't able to do and she had us had a son But it was not the son of the covenant and there's a whole teaching there about what happens when we try To do God's work for him When you try to do God's work in the arm of the flesh It's been called through the generations and Ishmael Something that doesn't bear the promise or the glory of God and I've been guilty of it Have you ever been guilty of it? You know making it One thing it's so bad that you try to make it happen. Maybe it's a spouse to come to the Lord Maybe it's a child a son or a daughter to come look Maybe it's a promotion or maybe it's a promise of a new business or maybe it's you know a place in ministry You want it so bad that you decide well the Lord promised it and I'm gonna make sure it happens And folks there's a danger in that Abraham learned it the hard way the right way is To Not waver in faith and the Lord rebuked him and that's another whole story in itself And I just I jotted down three things here. I can put my finger on my notes three things This isn't on an overhead. So you'll have to write this down separately that Abraham did and that you can do to receive your blessing number one, you've got to have a Promise number one. You have to receive a promise from the Lord Can I say to you that far too many of us and myself included we live in vague Christian terms I'm really weary of being a vague Christian if you're not believing the Lord in specific It's likely you're not going to receive things in specific. How many of you can think of one specific thing right now? You're believing for I talked about this on Sunday so important It makes it takes faith out of the realm of the hypothetical and puts it right in your face Now the thing you have to come to is what's the Lord's promise for whatever that is You can't go out and make it up. That's you know a while back people were into this whole thing about the you know the Cadillac gospel You know, well, I believe God once mean it was a Cadillac back in the 70s Now it would probably be something else something more exotic, you know, the Ferrari gospel or something like that But it's a or the Subaru gospel or whatever suits your category. Okay, but you see That whole thing was warped because from the beginning God didn't promise specific material things like that to people he promised blessing and Then the Lord can easily and then oftentimes does give you a vision He speaks to your heart from his word He quickens a promise to you about a particular quality or sometimes It's a thing or a place how many people have prayed over this facility right here. I'll tell you what in the mid 1980s I had person after person after person kind of me and say the Lord has promised us this building the Lord has given me a picture of North Way owning this building and When I took it to the Lord and I prayed about it at first I didn't get all that You know clear in my spirit But over time I did and when the Lord puts that promise in your heart and you own the promise whatever it is That's the first step. Why did Abraham have such assurance that though that he was going to have this offspring? Because the Lord the Bible says the Lord appeared to him. How many believe the Lord appeared to you tonight and said day You're gonna serve a national ministry at the left-handed Mongolians you You would know it was God. I mean if he appeared to you All right, and then that the problem with many of us including me oftentimes I don't know what that promise is out there. It's too big. Where do you get those promises pastor? Yeah, you just do you read through the promise pocket promise book and pick one out? No, I think it comes as you wait on the Lord as you read his word devotionally as you pray and God many times the greatest things he gives me to believe him for a burdens that I have and he'll give me a promise for a burden and The burden comes because I've been with the Lord So that's another whole thing But you got to have that first if you don't have that first if you don't have a promise if you're not holding on To something you're not going to receive anything and what makes being a Christian fun It's the adventure of going through these things folks instead of just sitting back and be a passive old boring pew sitter None of you were that way but that's there are people like that. All right number two once you receive the promise Abraham received it back here in Romans 4 then disregard the circumstances Number two disregard them Look at it verse 18. There's the promise. So shall your offspring be verse 19 Without weakening his faith. He faced the fact that was body was as good as dead But he didn't focus on it And what I have to say tonight is that too often when it comes to the promises of the Lord We get a promise. We have a hope or a dream that the Lord puts into our spirit and we look at ourselves and say I don't have a degree in this. I don't have enough money to do that Nobody thinks I can do this My body still hurts My husband still doesn't talk to me about God my kids still think I'm weird My business still doesn't look any better than it did yesterday and I have to say, you know it and I know it those circumstances Absolutely just strike fear into us, don't they? Had someone called me on the phone said well, I liked your message Sunday and I started praying in faith And I still owe my bills today and it still hasn't happened for me and I could tell in their tone of voice They were real discouraged, you know And I hadn't no one's ever heard me say if you pray on Sunday you get it on Monday. Has he ever heard me say that? but Folks if we focus on what the problem is and not on the promise of God Faith doesn't have a chance to work It doesn't it doesn't happen that way and I I know that that's a difficulty for many of us for it is for me You know when everything around you how many of you believe that we are not controlled by circumstances We're controlled by God God is sovereign if he wanted your body to be healed your business to prosper your marriage to do this your friendships to do that Your career to do this your may the Lord can speak it tonight and nothing is going to get in the way of it You know that the pastor of the largest fastest-growing most examined study church in America didn't go to seminary Makes me mad, you know, I mean What was you know, God just decided and you know, there's a lot of things that God does it a very logical But what is it? Why did you do because people trust his word believe his promises? now what is the secret then from when we go from the gap of receiving the promise and Disregarding our circumstances my last point. How do we make it through? How do we close the gap first question asked how do we close it? How does how do we go from receiving the promise to dealing with our circumstances to when we finally received and as Abraham did? find that God is pleased and credits our believing as righteousness and Blessed us. What is the secret? Well, the secret is this Look at it. It says he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God But was strengthened in his faith. I'm going to talk this Sunday about how to increase your faith. He was strengthened in his faith and the best Greek translation that I could find says as he gave glory to God as He gave glory to God in other words as he spoke his praise to the Lord and Declared his faith and his trust in God as he spoke out in spite of his circumstances This was what you said Lord. I praise you for who you are. I praise you for your power. They can bring this to pass then The Lord and how many biblical illustrations could we give? of where praise Overcame circumstance, I mean I could go on and on and on where praise was the instrument Remember 2nd Chronicles 20 when the Israelites were surrounded by the armies Three on three sides and they were down this little valley and they're gonna get wiped out was like a million invaders against them And that's when he sent the praisers out in front of the army and the people killed them So, I mean there's just tons of illustrations like that Why does that work? What's the principle behind that? Who thinks they know let's have a little Interaction. Yes But okay, but how why does why does praise work? Yes All right Number one if it raises God above whatever that Circumstances in other words instead of seeing your your sickness or your lack or deficiency or lack, you know, whatever it is The Lord becomes a focus and dear ones. We're all prone to lean back on our own strength But there's another reason pardon All right, you're expressing love that's that's right Okay, that's the one that I think is so critical. Look at a couple cross-references. Look at Psalm 80 verse 1 Would you Psalm 80 verse 1 says here? Here is the Shepherd of Israel you who lead Joseph like a flock you who sit enthroned between the cherubim Cherubim are symbolic of angels of praise you who sit enthroned The ark of the presence of the Lord shined forth Look at Psalm 99 verse 1 The Lord reigns as we sang tonight let the nations tremble He sits enthroned between the cherubim and we all know Psalm 22 verse 3 the Lord Inhabits the Bible says the praises of his people folks the reason why praise Raises faith is because praise brings the presence of God and when the presence of God is brought into any circumstance The devil doesn't stay there the author of doubt and fear cannot abide in the presence of the Lord Now this can be all just so much rhetoric or so much spiritual jargon or it can be life-giving to you I have experienced even in the last two weeks very dramatically a time when my circumstances were saying doubt fear No change you're being naive Take things into your own hands do it your way Disregard this believe that And I can tell you firsthand tonight I took time out of my schedule to be in the presence of the Lord and as I did that and worshipped and just gave him Focus as we were saying here the Lord exchanged my doubts and my fears faith that I didn't have before And I can tell you without any equivocation or any kind of Qualification that I have seen a change in my life in the last two weeks because The Lord has done a work and I want to say to you tonight, whatever it is you're facing if there is a gap between the promise and the Fulfillment and you're struggling with all that's in between Raise up your praise to God Don't waver in unbelief because of what you see and touch and feel and think God transcends our five senses And give him praise for that. That's why we spend the time in every gathering to give him praise That's what we're gonna do in just a moment. We're gonna stand up and Shake each other just a bit and we're going to praise him for whatever it is that we are waiting To see of fulfillment in our lives And we're gonna praise him even for what we're waiting to see him do in our congregation After we pray for each of you and so here's just for us tonight The Lord loves us enough to bring us out in a cold snowy night and tell us that he wants to bless us He wants to bless us and there's if there's a gap in our lives right now praise is what? Crosses the gap and God will credit to us as righteousness think for just a moment. What is it in your life tonight? What promise are you laying hold of that hasn't happened yet? Let's stand together Bow our heads for just a moment. We're gonna pray together before we do anything else Lord, I praise you for this incredibly powerful principle of your word that brings us out of the realm of the theoretical and into the realm Of the promises that we need for our lives tonight Lord make faith alive for us in each and every circumstance. I Pray for each one that's about to pray Lord that they'd have the boldness to praise you Despite what their body tells them despite what their relationships tell them despite what the circumstances say to praise you In the midst of these little circles in just a moment I look up for a second. Would you please as you pray together? I'm gonna encourage you one specific thing We have a small enough group tonight and we're all pretty much familiar with the things of the Lord. I Have found this as we praise him not saying I'm not saying let's cry out and ask you I'm saying let's praise him for example Let's say that Mike says that he's having some conflicts in his work and he's trusting the Lord for a change in his work Well praise God For what he's gonna do to supply for Mike He knows Mike circumstances. He's gonna prevail in them and the Lord may even quicken you a scripture And that's what I want to encourage you If there's a scripture that comes to mind or a thought that maybe something is from the Lord for that person you encourage him Just say I really feel the Lord wants you to know this tonight about that situation I've heard lots of people Had their lives changed by that kind of thing All right Take about eight or ten minutes in groups of just three or four and we'll come back together and give him that same kind Of opportunity in our corporate midst. All right, so in threes or fours turn around now and praise For that promise that you need to say, all right moving threes or fours Turn around and encourage each other. Would you?