Consistent Confession

Consistent Confession Part I.

Community of Faith / Pastor Jonathan Vorce / July 8, 2007

Text: Psalm 116:10; Joel 3:10

Introduction:

If you are going through a difficult time right now, speaking words of faith will make all the difference between you going under or going over. All your words are important, not just when you pray but your everyday vocabulary.

Our everyday conservation will either contain words of faith or doubt and un-belief.

Your words are either opening doors for God to bless or Satan to gain a foothold.

Consistently speaking words of faith releases the power for an overcoming life.

Consistency in your words is a key to spiritual power!

I. Confession and confess are important scriptural terms with special meaning. The Greek verb homologeo translates "to confess," which literally

means "to say the same as."

A. In order for our faith to be released it must be made with the mouth in confessing what God says in His Word.

1. We are making our words agree with the written Word of God.

B. The psalmist declared in Psalm 116:10, "I believed, therefore have I spoken". Speaking is the normal way for faith to be expressed.

1. This is further seen in the following verse as Paul applied these words to the confession of our faith in 2 Corinthians 4:13; "But having the

same spirit of faith, according to what is written, 'I believed, therefore I spoke,' we also believe, therefore also we speak."

C. A faith that does not speak is nonproductive.

II. The Bible emphasis the correlation between the mouth and the heart or spirit of man. What resides in the heart of man will eventually be manifested

in what he says.

A. This is clearly seen in Matthew 12:34, Jesus said, "For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart."

1. The Today's English Version renders this verse, "For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."

B. Whatever comes out of the mouth indicates the contents of the heart.

1. If my heart is filled with faith it will then be expressed with my mouth.

2. But if the words that come out of my mouth are filled with doubt and un-belief it indicates there is doubt and un-belief in my heart.

III. The Apostle Paul stressed the importance of faith in the heart and confession with the mouth as it concerns salvation in Romans 10:8-10;

8 "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in they heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

9 that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised from the dead,

thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

A. The order is which Paul spoke about the mouth and heart in these verses are very significant.

1. Notice in verses 8 and 9, it is the mouth and then the heart. Then in verse 10 he reverses the order and the heart comes first and then the mouth.

B. In receiving salvation, the progression is from the mouth to the heart and lastly coming from the heart to the mouth is vitally important.

I begin to confess with my mouth and then receive it into my heart. The more persistently I confess with my mouth, the more fixed it becomes established in my heart. Then once faith is planted in my heart, no conscious effort is needed to make the right confession. Faith begins to flow out of our mouth regardless of what I am experiencing.

1. As a boy, this is how I learned my multiplication tables. I kept repeating them over and over; six times seven is forty-two. As I kept repeating these they would automatically

come forth without seeming have to think about the right answer. They had become apart of me. Even now, quite a few years later, if you would ask me any combination of

numbers, I could give the answer without hesitation.

2. Repetition is the key to learning. Repetition is also the key to learning faith. The more I practice the more the principles become a part of me.

C. In the same manner, we must have the Word of God indelibly imprinted on our hearts.

1. When a need or crises arises, and our faith is challenged; we automatically confess God's Word as it relates to our situation.

2. When you first begin to do this there may be a struggle. Your mouth will have a tendency to get aligned to what you are feeling or experiencing.

3. Remember, that your feelings are based on your senses.

FAITH IS NOT A FEELING!!!