Sermon: I’m Living That Crazy Faith!
Jennifer Mears 4/10/2007
Crazy to believe and not see…even though you are not able to touch…yeah, so what! Faith is faith! Don’t worry about what others think! Because, it works! It is crazy enough to work! without faith we cannot please God...and you know what...through the faith walk others will learn from us....faith is a powerful key to salvation!
Text : Hebrews 1:1 (NKJV)
God’s Supreme Revelation
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
Amp-
1IN MANY separate revelations [[a]each of which set forth a portion of the Truth] and in different ways God spoke of old to [our] forefathers in and by the prophets,
And Jude 3 (NKJV)
Contend for the Faith
3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
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3Beloved, my whole concern was to write to you in regard to our common salvation. [But] I found it necessary and was impelled to write you and urgently appeal to and exhort [you] to contend for the faith which was once for all [a]handed down to the saints [the faith which is that sum of Christian belief which was delivered [b]verbally to the holy people of God].
It will encourage others…
Exhort and convince them…
Be the first one to move and believe…
WALK THE WALK THAT YOU TALK!
IT IS A CHOICE!!! THE CHOICE IS YOURS!
uplift---don’t shoot down what God has in His Will for you...
FAITH!!! follow after it and live in it!
I Live in it…
I am keeping it…
sometimes All we need is a Word from God...
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7
When the odds seem impossible to overcome, we carefully, painfully seek God’s will. But how do we go about actively praising Him in faith-believing? Is it an attitude? Words? Or does it go beyond that?
God has a precise way of tunneling through, going over or around, and finding the answers. Although we don’t know what is around the next bend, we must give Him our unconditional trust.
Putting our faith in action and praising Him for answers to come means plugging up the hill and doing the best we can as we trust Him in the trek. Other times, it is going ahead in faith-believing, knowing without a shadow of doubt what He has for us, even if it’s outside our comfort zone!
The most difficult part for me in putting faith into action and praising Him for answers to come is when I must completely turn all over to God and take my hands off.
But what often comes is a time when I hear God say, "Hands off and let me handle everything."
Look at Job – he was told by everyone to curse God and die---do what Job did when others tell you that...just keep in that Crazy Faith state of mind...keep the faith! Tell them shut up and get out of my face
GOD IS THE ONLY HOPE I HAVE...keep the faith
there will be skeptics…so be ready...
Look at David and Goliath…
we gotta ignore intimidation and the status quo ---we gotta stand up to the Giants in our lives…
Bad reports – giant in our lives
Health, children…job, loss....
Contend for the faith...walk with confidence and faith
We are in a fight
We think we are fighting for children,
Actually we are not fighting for them but we are fighting for our faith
The enemy knows and does this stuff…
He is trying to kill our faith
That is what he is trying to kill
Not our finances, health, children,
Peter, James, John and Andrew----
Shut down their businesses
To follow Jesus
You know that people were talking…
Thinking they were crazy
Someone says contrary to your belief ---get in The Word and stand on it
Listen only the God’s Report…seek Him and His Report
Whose report will you choose to believe? Even when it is down to the wire…the last moment…
God is ALWAYS on time…just wait and let Him renew your strength…keep looking , knowing He is there and that He is with us always!
Keep walking in faith!
Jude 3
Earnestly contend (fight) for faith!
FIGHT FOR OUR FAITH
It is a fight, a battle between spirit and flesh
One step away from a miracle..
The enemy fights that much harder---time running out until he knows you are going to get it and move to a higher level in God
He fears our knowledge and faith…he knows what powerful equipment they are against him
He knows about the authority Jesus gave us but he is scared to all get out that
Luke 8:10
The enemy wants to kill our faith
I Cor. 1:5-6
Talking about enlightened!
God will begin to show you things
The enemy does not want you to ever get to the place you can hear God ..walking by spirit and not leaning on the flesh
He will put obstacles in your path to distract you to keep you from having faith he knows once you really get an understanding of the rev. of God
The mysteries of the kingdom---he knows you will be a force to be reckoned with …a threat to him and his kingdom
Equipped and ready
He knows we can get to a level that faith is just like breathing
Next level…faith increases
The obstacles are just to increase your faith…
Keep fighting…
Focus on God and how mighty he is!
You will come out in faith not fear
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!
It is not that deep…just be obedient
Have faith and stand on it
we gotta get to a place where we go from Believing to Perceiving
Romans 8:37
The Bible calls us kings and priests in Rev. 1:6
We are The world overcomers 1 John 5:4
For a lot of us this is just starting to become real.
We’re still learning who we really are.
We don’t quite have it yet
1 Chronicles chapter 14
David had a similar problem.
He’d been anointed king by the prophet Samuel when he was but a teenager and he knew for years that someday he’d rule over Israel. But, it really had not sunk in yet…
But look what happens in verse 2: "And David perceived that the Lord had confirmed him king over Israel, for his kingdom was lifted up on high, because of his people Israel."
It finally dawned on him! HELLO! David perceived (noticed using the senses, understand or comprenhend)
that the Lord had called him and confirmed him as king.
I can just imagine David saying to himself, "I’m king. I’m actually king! I AM KING!"
being king stopped just being something David had only thought about....
It became something he really was. He could see himself king….he was king
What does that have to do with us?
Much like David, you and I have been given a royal office. It is not until we believe it that we can exercise the power or authority that goes with that office.
If you’re sick, you can yell, "By His stripes I’m healed," 50 times a day. You can hope for healing. You can try to believe for healing till your hair turns gray. But if you don’t really perceive yourself as whole and healthy in Christ Jesus, if you don’t see yourself as "the healed" instead of "the sick," you won’t get any supernatural help. Yet once that realization hits you that you are, in fact, "the healed," no one--not even the devil himself--will be able to keep you from getting well.
Step over the line from trying to believe to actually knowing by dwelling on the Word of God. Read it and think about it. Practice seeing yourself through the eyes of the Word until the reality of your royalty in Christ rises up in you!
"Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 2 Timothy 2:3
Hard times are inevitable. You need to know that. Yes, we have been saved...redeemed from the curse, and there’s nothing Satan can do to change that, but he is going to challenge you on it...and he is gonna try to make your time here miserable---but we are to walk in victory...
DO NOT be surprised when the going gets tough. Times will come when you have to stand strictly by faith, when you’ll have to speak and act as though what God says is true even when you can’t feel it or see it happening around you. There will be times when everything looks terrible. That’s when you must endure to then end...be a good soldier....put on the whole armor of God (Ephes. 6)
People hear about the word of faith in healing or prosperity and they think, "Hey! I’m going to try that." Then when the hard times come, they give up and cave in...you gotta hang in there....it is when we wait upon the Lord ---that is when we are strengthened!
Warning! living by faith is not something you try. It’s a lifestyle! You do it when it’s hard.... You do it when it’s easy.... You do it all the time...you’re not doing it just to get in on the benefits of the whole deal... You are to do it because you know that faith pleases God (Heb. 11:6)....sorrow may last for the night but joy comes in the morning...
He will turn all things for good...hold onto that...we are more than conquerors through Christ!
Things may get tough but you’ll always come out on top if you endure it as you fight the good fight of faith like a good soldier of God. If you refuse to faint, give up, cave in and fall away, you will have the victory through Jesus!!!... The only Christian who is a defeated one is the one who quits!
