Sunday August 13, 2006 at River of Life Ministries
Series: Move It Part 4
Sermon: Know What To Know by Pastor Michael West
Scripture: Matthew 11:1-12
After Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, there was a distinct change in the disciples. They went from the average everyday man, to bold, outspoken, people of God. Why? There is but one answer, they knew that Jesus rose from the dead beyond a shadows of any doubt.
If Jesus had just died, the prophecy of Him being raised from the dead, proving He was the Son of God, would amount to less than a handful of peanuts. What good was a dead Messiah to anyone? Besides, sooner or later the corpse of Christ would have been located and that would make the disciples and any other follower look like a fool.
But on the contrary, they did see Jesus taken away, beaten, put to death on the cross and witness His resurrection. They knew that no one would ever find a corpse and so, their confidence was bolstered and set on fire by Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Their lives would never be the same.
As persecution increased, it became apparent to any serious Christian that they could be next in line for death, but instead of backing of, the disciples turned Apostles grew more aggressive in their evangelism. They preached without fear. They preached out of love. They preached because they knew Jesus and knew He was God and yet, one by one they were taken out by angry mobs.
Our Christian heritage and tradition tells us how:
Peter was crucified upside down in Nero’s circus
James son of Zebedee lost his head at the hands of King Agrippa (Acts 12:2)
Andrew was flayed alive and crucified on an X-shaped cross
Thomas lost his life to the lance of Hindus on MountAntenodur
Matthew lost his head while being pinned to the ground
Philip was crucified, not through his feet, but through his thighs and was finished off by being stoned
Bartholomew (Nathaniel) was crucified at Albana, known as Derbend a place in Russia
Thaddeus was the target of archers at Mount Ararat
James son of Alpheus was stoned by the Jews while preaching the Gospel
Simon the Zealot met his fate as his body was cut in two at the blade of a saw
John, one of the original disciples, although many attempts were made upon his life, he died a natural death
Each one knew Jesus. Each one would have known if His resurrection was real or not. Yet, one by one they met the martyr’s death. Each knowing full well that if they continued to preach the Lord’s gospel, their time would eventually come. At any time, they could have quit, given up, walked away and avoided such horrible deaths. All they had to do was to be quiet, simply stop. They did not. Why?
When you take a look at all other martyr’s who have died for some philosophy, idea, or other religion, these who did not renounce their faith in Jesus, stand apart from them. Why? Because they died for a historical fact!
It wasn’t fluff and stuff or the promise of a mansion, they died because Jesus and His resurrection were and still are, a fact—one they knew—the fact that Jesus rose, proves that Jesus is God and those who believe will meet and live with Him as He has promised!
Life implies there is a purpose. Life exists. Life has never come from non-life. That cause of life must have had a purpose. Therefore: some superior being must have created that purpose—Would that superior being be God, the Alpha and the Omega?
In this series we have learned in order be a part of the move of God we must Know What To Wear, Know What To Hear, Know What To See, in order to Move It.
Now let’s look at what to Know What To Know.
What would happen to Christians and the need in this world if we could get to the place where we really could believe God at His Word?
How many of us have asked God the Father for something and it seem as though He didn’t hear us? Then we don’t rest there, we do everything we can thing of doing that would please Him, and still nothing.
More often than not, for our desire to be fulfilled, for God to answer, we must rest in Him. Be patient and allow Him to fulfill His great desire for purity of heart to get within you.
Ephesians 3:17—”that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,”
That Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And ask Him that with both feet planted firmly on love, through faith so that the might of God’s Spirit will accompany your ministry.
In order for this, John 7:38 must be true. Let us be filled with divine enthusiasm, with rivers of life flowing from our hearts poured out from the throne of God.
But you must know this, it takes faith. Faith we have received, to those who have obtained like precious faith—II Peter 1:1.
Our foundations are tested not in days of peace, but in days of stress and strain. Your outside must be like the inside. We have the Spirit of God inside, but His light must shine through us to the outside where dangerous things await in the dark, but will flee wherever there is light.
Like precious faith is greater than the mind or body or any activity. Faith is a living power, revealed in you and the moment you know it, the moment you believe it, you will have the faith it takes to get you through. Faith is the substance and the evidence—Hebrews 11:1.
You weren’t saved by feelings or experiences, but by the power of God that very moment you believed the Word of God. On that day, the foundation God would build upon was laid down in your heart. Faith shattered the old you and a new you was created. All by faith, all by the Word of God. His Word is our foundation.
We have to know His Book.
Proverbs tells us that death and life are in the power of the tongue Proverbs 18:21
We need to know that when we speak the Word of God, we speak almighty power, rich dynamite power that explodes through the human, displaying the might of God and brings everything else into a place of insignificance.
The word of God formed inside us—”The Temples of the Holy Spirit” I Corinthians 6:19—living principles of a light and life giving force laid down upon the rock—the Word in us—mighty in thought, language, activity movement and anointing, a fire, ‘dunamis’ dynamite, enough to resist the mightiest pressure that the Devil can bring against us!
Remember, the Devil isn’t any stronger today than he was in Jesus day and the one big difference that we must know is that we have been given the power over all that he sends our way!
The people of God are not ordinary but extraordinary. Silver and gold I don’t have, but I do have Jesus Christ of Nazareth—rise up and walk! Acts 3:6
They operated by the Word. Operated by their faith. And the result was the manifestation of what seemed to be impossible was now possible, the man got up and walked because he was healed. Faith! Noah had it and was tested. Abraham had it and was tested. The prophets had it and now you do too!
Know this: God has no limitations!
Ephesians 3:20 — Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
Jesus must be first in your life. Why? Because all of God’s fullness is in Him—Colossians 2:9 All of God’s revelation is in Him.
Precious faith—do you have it?
It’s a process. It’s eternal. It’s at work right now in you. It has no end, but it had a beginning: “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, Rom 10:17.
Faith is the eternal nature of God, it doesn’t decay or fade; it is with you your entire spiritual journey. Faith is the Word Romans 10:8 and I John 5:7
“For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. “
And we have only touched a fragment…
Colossians 2:17—Col. 2:17
All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ.
We must become people of desire, hungry and thirsty for the things of God. We must never become satisfied. We will never move from our current stasis of faith unless it faith can become greater than our minds, greater than we are, unless we can look with faith beyond our circumstance.
No person of faith was made on wings of glory.
No person of real faith was “anointed and given it” or they “just have more than me.”
No, people of faith attend H.K.U., the Hard Knocks University. People of faith are made in the hard places, wit’s end, the corner of no way out. People of faith are made in adversity. Count it all joy. David said in his distress: God brought me to an enlarged place; I was set free, and He helped me.” Psalm 4:1; 18:36.
It’s time to know that you are a Ambassador of Christ, a communicator of divine life, the life He offers. Pass it on. But you can’t pass on what you don’t know and don’t have.
How can we do what Jesus has done and wants us to do? How can we do His great works and greater?
Luke 11:28 and John 6:28-29 have an answer, do you know it?
Luke 11:28 But He said, "More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" Guard it with your life!
John 6:28-29 To that they said, "Well, what do we do then to get in on God’s works?" [29] Jesus said, "Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God’s works."
Read: John 14:12
Romans 1:17
God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: "The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives."
Faith brings into action a principle within our hearts, so that we can dethrone every power of Satan through the power of Jesus Christ. We are not doormats in positions to be stepped upon, we have power, a revelation of God, a life to live. No child of a King bows before anything or anyone but the King Himself. How great are the possibilities within the hands of those who abide in God.
You need to know which messengers to listen to. There are two kingdoms at war. Do you know your enemy? What he looks like? How he acts? How he thinks and by which way he plans his way?
What did you come to the cross of Christ to see? Jesus had asked the people; did you come to see a reed shaken by the wind? God wants us to be flames of fire Ps 104:4
He wants us to be strong in Him and in the power of His might—Ephesians 6:10.
Let’s live our lives as those who have seen the King, as those who have a resurrection touch. As people who not just read but know, we are the sons of God, believers of His Word, people who stand in truth and the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Nazareth!
It’s time for the sleepers to awake. Arise to the deep things of God while it is called day. Ignite the fire of righteousness and let the light of the Holy Spirit within illuminate the world in which we live.
Put the Bible in practice. Dance the dance of faith. Know who you are in Jesus. Know His Word. Know His power and wake up to real life. It’s time to Move It!
