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September 13, 2024 · 43 min · Faith and Favor
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Rev. Paul Jeyachandran leads the Intentional Disciple Making Church (IDMC) Movement, which is all about calling churches back to its disciplemaking roots. Visit us at idmcmovement.com
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0:00 Today's topic is what is faith from Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1. I wanna begin by giving you an overview of Hebrews. In some of0:12 my sermons, I've already covered this. So I'll just summarize it by these 2 statements. The overview of Hebrews can be said like this. The first 10 chapters deals with the perfection0:23 of Christ. That Christ is superior. Christ is better. In other words, the covenant that he brought, the new covenant, it's better than the old covenant. The new high0:35 priesthood, the priesthood ministry that he has established is better than the old testament priesthood, Aaronic priesthood. I want you to think about this. The first 10 chapters deals with the perfection of Christ.0:48 From chapters 11 all the way to chapters 13, it deals with the perseverance of saints. So you and I, we gotta understand who Christ is.1:00 And because of who he is and who we are in him, we are called to persevere in this life. That's why chapter 10 of Hebrews finishes like this.1:12 In verse 38, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 38 says, my righteous 1 shall live by faith. You and I are called to live by faith. Whether you're a young1:24 person or whether you are in your mature senior years, whether you're illiterate or illiterate, whether you're rich or poor, it doesn't matter. The bible doesn't differentiate on this.1:35 Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus, you and I are called to live life by faith. And that is why we need to understand what faith is. The bible1:47 says in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6, without faith it is impossible to please God. So if you want to live a life that honors God, you wanna live a life that pleases him,1:59 you wanna give a life that is pleasurable in the eyes of God. And not only that, that that God rewards that life. The Bible says, you can't do it without faith. That's why we want to study2:11 what is faith. I want to give you a definition of faith that I work with. This is my working definition of faith. Faith can be defined as the confident trust2:23 in God's word regardless of circumstances and consequences that results in our obedience to God. I want you to read that statement together with me and pause2:35 after every comma. Faith can be defined as the confident trust in God's word. See you and I, we need to understand that faith has to be upon the2:47 word of God. It has to be upon the promises of God. Faith cannot be just defined by itself. Faith in who? Who do you have that faith2:59 in? Who do you believe in? And that's why here the bible For us in our definition, we talk about the confident trust in God's word. In his plans, in his purposes, in3:11 his promises. Praise God. At the same time, regardless of consequences and circumstances. Doesn't matter what your circumstances are. What is a circumstance? I3:22 define circumstance as this. It is 2 words, circle and stand. In other words, you're standing within a circle. You're confined or restricted in life based3:34 on the limitations that life has thrown you. No matter what the circumstances are. Whether you're facing a challenge like Goliath in your life. Or whether it's a mountain. Or it's a red sea in front of you3:46 that you need to cross. Doesn't matter what the circumstances are. We need to have confident trust in God's word regardless of circumstances and3:57 consequences. You know when you act in faith, it would it would look like foolishness to the world. Sometimes when you step out in faith, it's like stepping out of the4:09 boat and walking on water like Peter did. Or it is like you have toiled all night and you caught nothing. And yet at the word of Jesus, Yet at the word of God, you cast your net4:21 again by faith. And these are regardless of circumstances and consequences that results in our obedience to God. Faith is always outworked through4:32 our obedience. It is seen in how we lay hold of God, how we lay hold of his plans, his purposes, and his promises, and how we move forward in obeying, in4:44 obedience to him. Hallelujah. That is the life that pleases him. That is the life that you and I are called to live. So this morning, as we study what is faith, I wanna4:56 take you to 1 passage of scripture. Heb or 1 verse in Hebrews chapter 11 and the first verse because this is the definition of faith according to the bible. And I wanna highlight5:08 2 things from this verse. 2 key principles that will allow you to live a life of faith if you understand this fully. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1. Now faith is the5:19 substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen. Faith is the substance. It is5:31 the evidence of things not seen. I wanna read in the NKJV version. In the New King's James version, this is what the bible says of5:42 Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of5:54 things not seen. I want you to think about these 2 words. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.6:06 And the evidence of things not seen. It's the conviction of things not seen. Now out of this comes 2 principles and let's lay it 1 by 1. Faith is the6:18 substance of things hoped for. In other words, the first conviction is faith is the assurance. That's the first principle. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.6:30 Hallelujah. When I think of that word substance, in k NKJV, it is the word assurance. In NIV translation, it's the6:41 word confidence. Faith is the assurance. It's the substance. It's the confidence of things you hoped for. I wanna define that word.6:53 Now you know that I don't quote Greek that often, but when I want you to pay attention to this 1 particular word, the word substance here is the word in the Greek. The7:05 reason why I say this is because this is very unique to the epistles. It's only a few times mentioned in the book of Hebrews. So whoever is the writer of the book of Hebrews7:18 wanted you and I to understand this word and he used it. And I want you to think about this. Whenever you do a word study, right? Because the English translation for this word is evidence,7:30 assurance, confidence. In other words, it has a rich meaning to it. And sometimes when you study a word, you gotta look at it in other contexts. In terms of where7:42 else in the New Testament has that word been used. Now for this, usually even if you are someone who doesn't own a Bible software program or something that can help you with this, you can go7:54 to a website. Search godsword dot org or bible study tools. They they have tools for you to study that word deeper. Now here, this is what it8:05 means. That word is also used in another part of the scripture. In Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 14. Now I wanna read Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 148:17 in the ESV and NKJV version. Look at this in ESV. It says, for we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence unto the8:29 end, steadfast unto the end. Listen to this. It says, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end.8:41 Beginning of our confidence, steadfast to the end. We hold our original confidence firm to the end. Now, when you read this text, you already know what is the word that is translated hypostasis.8:54 It's the word confidence. And I want you to think about how rich this word is. Because here, in the context you understand that hypostasis is not just a9:06 noun, it actually is a process. There is a it is a it's a state of being. In other words, there is an origin to it, and then there is an end to it. There is a beginning to it, and then there9:18 is an ending to it. Look at how it says. In NKJV it said, we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.9:29 In other words, there's a beginning for that confidence and the end for that confidence. The reason I say this is because many times in our life, when we are encountering an impossible situation.9:41 A situation where we are, it is beyond our control to manage or to find solution. We are stuck. What we naturally do is we say, Lord, I believe in you that9:53 you will grant me this grace. I believe in you for that open door. I believe in you for that miracle. I believe, Lord, that you will provide. But yet, our10:05 confidence, our assurance, our substance has not fully matured. It is the beginning of confidence. When you encounter a situation, you only are in the beginning of10:17 that confidence. So sometimes, that's why if someone else comes and talks to you the next day and or the day after, you may sometimes speak words of doubt10:28 and unbelief. And they may walk away thinking, wow, this person says he believes that God will provide, and yet his language betrays him. Yet his heart is filled with10:40 anxiety and worry. I want you to think about this. The reason is because you had the beginning of confidence. You had the beginning of assurance. But yet, you did not allow the assurance10:52 to continue and mature and become fully assured, fully convinced. Now this is important. There is a progression. There is a process when it comes to11:04 hypostasis. Whenever you're believing God for something, even though you may say I believe, that believing is a constant state. It's a11:15 posture. It's a position that you hold on to till what God has promised comes to pass. Otherwise, what will happen is you enter into a state of11:27 unbelief. You walk into faith, you walk out of faith. You are in belief, you are unbelief. In other words, you believe today that everything The next day your heart is so filled with anxiety and you're gripped11:39 with fear. Now, how do you get to that place of full assurance? See the bible says in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2. Looking unto Jesus11:51 who is the author and finisher of our faith. I love that. He's the beginner. He's the 1 who writes that faith in your heart. He's the 1 that matures that faith and completes that12:03 faith until you come to that place where you're fully assured. That's why we gotta keep coming back to the word of God. Even though you're going through that situation, rather than looking at the12:15 facts, you look at the word of God. Rather than looking at the circumstances, you look at the word of God. What God has promised, what God has prepared for you, what God has said concerning your life. That's the12:27 prophetic word for you for that season. Hold onto that. Let that let that that he has begun. Let it complete it. Let it become perfect. Hallelujah.12:39 Fully convinced that God is able. Let me give you a couple of examples. The Bible says in James chapter 5 and verse 17 and verse 18.12:51 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed fervently that it might not rain. And for 3 years and 6 months, it did not rain on the earth. Verse 18 says, then he prayed again and13:03 heaven gave rain and the earth bore its fruit. See, when the New Testament writer James summarizes this, the life of Elijah. You know, the whole ministry of Elijah13:15 hinged upon these 2 prayers. First, he prayed as he stood before God. He declared to king Ahab in first Kings chapter 17, there will be no rain until I say so.13:27 And 3 and a half years there was no rain in the land. Famine, drought plagued the land. Because that was the judgment of God upon the land for Ahab and his wife Jezebel's13:39 sin and the pagan worship that Israel was involved in. Now, the Bible says at the end of that season, Elijah prayed again. And then the Bible13:51 says, the rain came. Hallelujah. Now, he was a powerful man, and he was an extraordinary man moving in an extraordinary realm of faith. Is that what14:03 the bible says? No. The bible says he had a nature like you and me. In other words, he there was nothing extraordinary about Elijah. The extraordinary belongs to the lord. Elijah was an ordinary man who14:15 had an extraordinary god. The same like you and me. The Bible says he had faith in God. In other words, when he declared no rain, there was no rain. When he declared rain, there was rain. But14:27 how did he get to that place where he's fully assured that the rain will come? You know the Bible actually illustrates this in first Kings chapter 18, where he goes and kneels14:39 down and prays before the Lord to send rain. And the Bible says he prayed for 7 times. And every time he prayed, he would turn to his servant boy and say, go and see if there are any clouds in14:51 the sky. Because he wants to see answer to his prayer. He's praying for rain. There must be some cloud. 6 times the boy comes back and says, the servant comes back and says, there's no evidence of15:02 any rain. So he continues to pray. On the seventh time when he says, go and see, the boy came back and said, there is a cloud the size of a man's fist. That's15:14 all I see. A small cloud. The bible says, Elijah rose from his prayer, told the servant to go and tell king Ahab, go back to15:26 your palace. Otherwise, the rain will stop you because I hear the sound of mighty rain. I want you to listen to me carefully. How did he come to that place where he was15:38 fully assured? It took him some time. That's why you and I, we should never be in a state of hurry. See, our God is a God who wants you to come and wait in his presence.15:50 See, we are living in a generation where people want things to happen immediately. But you and I, we trust and obey a God who acts according to his timetable, according to his time. And his time, he's16:01 always perfect. Never early, never too late. He's always on time. And the wait and the thing that he asks you to do is to come before him and lay hold of his plans, lay hold of his purposes, lay hold of his16:13 promises, and wait until that beginning of that assurance, beginning of that confidence can be matured. And you come to that place where you're fully16:26 convinced. Let me give you another example from the New Testament. Romans chapter 4 verses 17 all the way to 21. Apostle Paul highlights16:38 how Abraham believed God for a son. Look at this scripture. As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. Now that is the promise that God16:49 gave Abraham. When you read Genesis chapter 12, Genesis chapter 17, and Genesis chapter 22, these are notable chapters in the life of Abraham where God17:01 makes a covenant with Abraham and says, I've chosen you. I've called you, and I'm gonna give you a promise of a seed. A son. A promised son. And I'll give you a17:13 land. And this is what he says. I'll make you the father of many nations. In the presence of the God with whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things17:25 that do not exist. And the Bible says, in hope, Abraham believed. Against hope that he should become the father of many nations. See, 1 thing about Abraham is he's the17:37 father of faith. Why? Because as soon as whatever God said, he said, I believe. Regardless of circumstance and consequence, I believe. I lay hold of the promise of God. I lay hold17:49 of what he says about me. And here he says he believed against hope. Why he had to lay hold of God against hope? Verse 19. The18:01 next verse says, the verse says, he did not weaken in faith. See, he did not weaken himself in faith. He had a strong faith. How? When he considered his18:13 own body. He did not weaken his own faith. He he did not weaken his faith by looking at his own body. The bible says he believed. He did not take into consideration his own18:25 body, which was good as dead since he was about 100 years old. In other words, he can't produce seed anymore in the natural. Or when he18:36 considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb, No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God. I want you to listen to me.18:48 He says, I did not consider my own body. I did not consider the barrenness of Sarah's womb. See, Sarah at this time is 90 years old. She is a woman19:00 who had menopause. And Abraham is a man on pause. No action. So both of them say, we are dead. How can something that is dead give birth19:12 to a life? The bible says he did not weaken his faith by considering his own body or the barrenness of Sarah's womb, but he grew strong in the faith.19:23 Hallelujah. How? As he gave glory to God. And then the Bible says in verse 21, fully convinced. I want you to circle this, underline this, because this is19:35 how you and I should live every single day of our lives. If you're struggling with anxiety, struggling with fear, struggling with all sorts of insecurities and feelings of inadequacies,19:48 the reason is because you haven't come to that place where you're fully convinced. Hallelujah. The Bible says he was fully convinced that God was able to do what he has19:59 promised. Hallelujah. God is fully able to do what he had promised. How do you get to that place where you're fully convinced?20:11 It didn't start in Abraham's beginning when God called him and said, Abraham, I'm choosing you. You're called. Go to this nation. Was he fully convinced? No.20:23 It was a gradual process. But he laid hold of God. He gave himself more and more to God. He did not consider other things, other facts, other figures. He looked at20:35 God's word. He laid hold of God. He laid hold of God's plan for his life. Laid hold of God's purposes for his life. Laid hold of God's promises for his life. And the Bible says he became fully convinced20:47 that God was able to do what he had promised. Hallelujah. This is the hypostasis. The first principle I want you to catch is20:59 faith is the assurance of things hoped for. Are you fully assured? In this season, I'm not sure who I'm talking to. Maybe you are someone who is21:11 going through a disappointing circumstance. Maybe it has been like that for a while for you. But in the midst of that circumstance, are you seeking God and laying hold of his promise21:23 and say, Lord, no matter what I see in the natural, I'm laying hold of your word, your plans, your purposes, and your promises. Because the word of God says that God is not a man21:34 that he should lie. The bible says, all God's promises are yes, and we say amen. No matter what the circumstance are, that we can lay hold of him. And he21:46 will do what he has promised. Hallelujah. The second principle I want you to catch from Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1 is faith is the convictions of things21:58 not seen. Faith is the convictions of things not seen. It's a conviction. I love that word conviction because it's in the Another translation it says, faith is the22:09 evidence. If you go to Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1, the second part says, faith is the evidence. It's the conviction of things. It's the evidence of things not22:21 yet seen. I want you to capture this word again. A Greek word. This word alankos means conviction. It means22:33 evidence. It also has a very rich meaning. Again, I established in the first point that when you are studying a word to understand the richness of that word, look for where else it's been22:45 used in the New Testament. Now this word is translated here as conviction and evidence. But in elsewhere in the bible,22:57 in Titus chapter 1 verse 9 and verse 13, it is translated as the word rebuke. I want you to read this context. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.23:09 So that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. That word rebuke there is the word Alan Kos. In other23:20 words, it's like this. It is not just giving evidence to your faith, but you're giving a rebuke for anything that contradicts your23:32 faith. Look at verse 13. Verse 13 of Titus chapter 1 says, this testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.23:44 I want you to think about this. Rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. Now what Paul is writing here to Titus is this. If someone23:56 comes to you and they are holding onto a wrong belief, what you have to do is to rebuke them sharply. How? By giving24:08 them the evidence of what is true. At the same time, you have to rebuke them. You have to rebuttal their wrong belief. It's like if you're in a debate team, right?24:19 Debate team is like this. Debate team A is arguing for a fact. And debate team B comes up, and they24:31 not only dismantle the arguments of team A, but they also give their own evidence. So 1, they have to rebuke what the team a has said. They24:43 rebuke it sharply. And then they have to give evidence why what they say is true. Now I want you to think about this. That's the rich word Ellen Cost. The bible says, faith is the24:55 assurance of things hoped for, the evidence, the conviction of things not seen. In other words, you and I, we need to understand that there is some things that you can't25:07 see in the natural realm. See, you and I are never called to live with our natural realm. And you're not called to live with your natural senses. Listen to this carefully.25:20 You and I are spiritual beings. We were created as spiritual beings who are having a temporal physical experience. But because of the fall of man, things25:32 have been reversed. The theological term for that is the ontological inversion. In other words, we are now inverted in our orientation. Rather than understanding25:44 and living by that we are a spiritual being who are having a temporal physical experience. We now think we are a physical being who occasionally have a spiritual25:56 experience. When I go to church, I have a spiritual experience. When I go to my life group, I have a spiritual experience. Other than that, I'm just a physical being. Nothing can be26:08 further from the truth. The truth is you're a spiritual being first. Because you're a spiritual being, the most important world that you and I live in is the spiritual world, not the natural world.26:19 That's why the bible says you and I we do not walk by sight. What does sight represent? Sight represents the natural realm. You walk by faith. Faith represents the spiritual realm. That's26:31 why the New Testament always teaches what you see is temporal. What is unseen is eternal. In other words, you and I need to train ourselves to keep seeing26:43 the invisible. If you keep seeing the invisible, you will believe God for the impossible because you have seen it. See you and I, we need to understand we live in the natural realm where our26:55 natural senses, the 5 senses are heightened. If you're a natural man living in the natural senses, what you see becomes very real to you. What you hear becomes very real to you. What you27:07 see, what you hear, what you smell, what you taste, what you touch is real for you. So unless you touch, unless you taste it, unless you see it, unless you hear it, you won't believe.27:19 But the reality is you and I are spiritual beings. We are called to see the invisible. We are called to walk by what we hear, what others have not heard. Hallelujah. So27:31 listen to me carefully. You and I, we need to see what God says in the spiritual realm. Because in the spiritual realm, you are seated in this heavenly places.27:43 You are far above all principalities and powers. He has lifted you higher. You're seated together with Christ in the heavenlies. Hallelujah. That's why the word of God says he will27:55 soon crush Satan under his feet. And you, if you are seated together with him, all the plans of Satan and all that Satan's work is crushed. Listen. You and I have to live with a different mindset.28:07 Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3 says that you are blessed with every spiritual blessing. In other words, there's no lack in your life. Everything in the spiritual realm is already provided for.28:20 First Peter chapter 1. Second Peter chapter 1. All things are given for you. All promises, the divine promises are given for you. For this life.28:32 I want you to listen to me carefully. That's why sometimes when we are seeing with our natural senses, we get disturbed by what we see, what we hear. When we keep tuning on to the28:43 radios, the television, the internet, and we keep hearing all the negativity that keeps coming in, our heart gets frightened. It gets anxious.28:55 Our soul gets so caught up with the world that the natural becomes all there is. So all you see is the limitation, the restriction, the confinement. But you don't see the29:07 liberty, the freedom, the the magnificence of what God has done in the spirit realm. So what you and I have to do is to be able to constantly see what he has promised, what he has29:19 prepared, and what he says is ours in the spirit realm and continue to rebuttal in the natural realm. That is how you live in faith. Here the word of God29:30 says that you rebuke sharply. You give a rebuttal what you see the natural. Let me give you some examples from the New Testament. In Matthew chapter 14,29:43 the disciples were on the boat. Jesus calls out Peter and says, Peter, come out of the boat. Walk to me. And Peter got out of the boat and kept his eyes upon Jesus, and he walked on29:55 water, the Bible says. But then in verse 30 of Matthew chapter 14, it says, but when he saw the wind, underline that word, saw. He saw something with his natural senses. He30:07 saw the wind. He was afraid. What you see affects your emotions. What you see affects your emotions. That's why what you hear will affect your emotions.30:19 Everything was fine until you heard about that retrenchment, the restructuring that's gonna happen, or the economic crisis that's booming, or these are the things that are happening. When30:31 you hear it, it disturbs your heart. It all of a sudden, what he saw made him afraid. And the bible says he began to sink. And when he sank, the bible says,30:43 he cried out to the Lord. Lord, save me. You and I know the story. Jesus rescued him. Let me give you another example. Mark chapter 4 and verse 35 all the way to verse30:54 40. Read the story. On that day when evening had come, he said to them, Jesus says to his disciples, let us go across to the other side. Now, if Jesus has said to you, we're31:06 going across to the other side, that's a statement you can take to the bank. But this is what happened. And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just31:18 as he was. The next verse says, and the other boats were with him and a great storm, windstorm arose and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling31:29 with water. But he was in the stern, and what was he doing? Asleep on the cushion. And they woke him. The disciples woke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care31:41 that we are perishing? They saw the wind. They saw the storm. They saw the boat was being filled with water. They go to Jesus and wake him up.31:53 Hey. Know, in the midst of the storm, Jesus was sleeping. There are only 2 persons in the whole of the bible that slept during a storm in a boat. 1 was Jonah. Jonah was sleeping32:05 the sleep of presumption. But Jesus was sleeping the sleep of peace. I want you to listen to me. Jonah was acting out of the will of God. Jesus was in the center of the32:17 will of God. So Jesus knew that this storm was not gonna capsize them. It's not gonna kill them. But yet, the disciples looking at the wind, their heart was in storm.32:30 I want you to see this picture. The storm was not out there. The storm was within them. Why? Because they allowed what they see in the natural to replace how they32:41 feel. So the natural senses affected the emotions. Now they're afraid. They wake him and says, don't you care? Now this is what happens with many believers. They go to God and say, Lord,32:53 you promised this, but it never happened in my life. I'm so disappointed. You know, time and time again, I have met so many people in my pilgrimage who have said to me that they are disappointed with God because they33:05 felt that God had promised them from the scriptures. They felt that God had prophes There were prophecies given about their life, and nothing had taken place. Can I humbly say this? God is a God33:17 who fulfills what he has spoken. But you and I, we need to come to that place to recognize what we see, what we hear aligns to him. Here the bible says, teacher do you33:29 not care that we are perishing? And he awoke. And Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, be at peace. Be still. And the wind ceased and33:41 there was a great calm. And he said to them, why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? What kind of a What a rebuke that was to the disciples. You have no faith.33:53 In other words, you see the little storm that happens and you did not remember the word I gave you. Let's go across to the other side. They had storm within. They saw the storm outside. It confirmed34:05 the storm within. They said, Alamak, we're gone. We're finished. So what did they do? They panicked. Whereas what Jesus did. He wake up. He realized there was34:17 peace within him. He did not allow the circumstances because he sees something else. And so he spoke what he saw. And the bible says, there was calm. There was great calm.34:28 Hallelujah. The wind obey him. The storms obey him. Everything obeys him. Why? Because he's the lord of all. And when he gives you a word, you can bake it to the bank. That's34:40 the truth. You and I, we need to lay hold of. The Bible says there was a man in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 8 and verse 9 and verse 10. A centurion. A Roman centurion who came to34:52 him and said, for I'm to a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to 1, go and he goes, and to another, come and he comes. And to my servant, do this, and he does35:04 it. When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, truly I tell you, with no 1 in Israel have I found such faith. Listen to this. How beautiful that verse is. Here is a Roman35:15 centurion. He has no covenant relationship with God, but yet he had such an understanding of something. You know what he understood? He understood authority. He understood that when he35:27 say something as a centurion, there are hundred fellows that run around and do what he says. Therefore, he recognized that Jesus is a man of authority.35:40 And so when he sees what other people didn't see, he got what other people didn't get. What did he get? He got a miracle. He says to Jesus, you don't need to come into my house to heal my servant.35:52 You just send a word, and my servant will be healed. And Jesus says, he marveled at this man's faith. You know, there's only twice in the New Testament that Jesus36:04 marvels at someone's faith. And both the times, they were Gentiles. And here the Bible says, here was a Roman centurion and he marveled at his faith. Why? Because this Roman36:15 centurion understood something and he sees what other people didn't see and he believed. See, you and I, we need to come back to this.36:27 Faith, living in faith, is all about having that full assurance. Going before God and allowing him to develop you, grow you, mature you, until you come to that place where you're fully36:39 convinced, fully assured that what he has promised, he's able to fulfill. In the same manner, you come to that place where you Whatever you see in the natural, you keep giving36:50 rebuttal to it. You keep rebuking it by seeing what he sees. Seeing what he shows you in the spirit realm. And when you see what others can't see, when you see the37:02 invisible, you can believe God for the impossible, and you trust him for it. Hallelujah. Now if you ask me this question, pastor, I'm not sure at the moment whether37:14 I'm in faith or I'm in unbelief. How do I know that I am in faith? I'm in a posture of faith. I'm in a position of faith. I'm believing God for the plans and the promises and the purposes that he has37:26 for my life, for my family. But how would I know that I'm in in a place of faith? There's only 2 indicators in the bible that I wanna give you as I end this message. 2 things I37:37 said to you earlier. What you see, what you hear will affect your emotions. Faith will affect your emotions. Fear will affect your emotions. Faith will also affect your emotions. So now37:49 there are 2 aspects of your emotions that I wanna talk about as I finish. Go with me to Philippians chapter 1 and verse 25. It says Paul writes here and he says, convinced of this, I know that I will remain and38:01 continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith. Circle those 4 words. Joy in the faith. In other words, there is a joy38:12 unspeakable that happens in your heart when you are in faith. Just like if you're in unbelief, fear grips your heart. And when fear and38:24 anxiety and depressing thoughts fill your heart, what happens? You lose all sense of hope. There's no joy. There's no singing. There's no laughter in your life. But when you come and be filled with38:36 faith that you are seeing what he shows you in the spirit realm and you rebuttal what you see in the natural realm, joy will come out. Joy in the faith. That's why the bible says you and I should be38:48 joyful. You know how the world will know that you are a believer? That you are joyful in all circumstances. That there is a joy of the Lord that gives you strength39:00 where other people are drained. So you and I, we need to lay hold of that. That's the first indicator for me to recognize that I'm in a posture of faith, position of39:11 faith. The second indicator is Colossians chapter 2 and verse 7. Rooted and built up in him and established in the faith just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.39:24 First indicator is joyful. The second indicator is grateful. You abound in thanksgiving. In other words, no matter what you're going throughShow more
Paul Jeyachandran
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