Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Pleasing God Pt.3

Let's turn to Hebrews 11, and we'll pick back up where we were this morning. We're going to spend the next number of sessions dealing with the subject of life in the supernatural and trying to really grab hold of what that is. You talk about life in the supernatural, and it seems to so many minds that it's life in the bizarre or in the spectacular. The supernatural is really all that pertains to the kingdom of God and to walking in that kingdom of light. The supernatural is being in communion with Father. It's important that we understand and realize that it doesn't always have to be something that is spectacular. It has to have its origin in Father, in the Word of God, and that's the purest expression of the supernatural that there is. Many of the occult supernatural occurrences attract so many people because of their bizarre nature. Remember what they are. They're just inferior expressions of that realm of spiritual creaturehood. Because they are creatures, all that emanates from them is inferior to their Creator and the pure holiness of our God. His original purpose for that supernatural, spiritual realm was to create eternal beings that would fellowship with and worship Him.

When we talk about this life in the supernatural, we come back to the 11th chapter of Hebrews, as we were looking this morning. We were understanding what true biblical faith is. It is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. We spent quite a bit of time in review for some of our young people who have probably not gone through as much time on those particular verses to get the proper foundation down. We saw in verse 6 that without faith (true biblical faith), it's impossible to please God. Without trusting in Him, He can't be pleased. It's not what we're doing for Him; it's what we're doing by Him. We realize that without Him, we can truly do nothing that is accepted of Him (a phrase that we've shared for years). We saw that he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those that diligently pursue Him, or have a hunger for God, an appetite. He rewards those that have an appetite for Him. The Scripture says, "O Taste and see that the Lord is good..." Once you've tasted of God, everything else is just inferior, and it's that goodness of the Lord that continues to draw us to Him.

So, we started looking into the life of Abraham. We saw that Abraham, the father of our faith, began to express what true biblical trust and assurance is: obedience without understanding. A lot of people seem to think that's a little bit radical--that you would do something and not have any idea what the consequence or the end of this thing was going to be. Well, we know what the end is from the promise of God. We just can't understand it. We don't always know how God's going to get us there; we just know where we're going to end up. We've all heard the little phrase, "We've read the back of the Book, and we win!" We understand that there's a place that's been prepared for us. The Scripture says that to those of us who overcome will be granted to be seated with Him on His throne, even as He has overcome. So, that's our expectation; that's our hope, our favorable expectation.

We saw in verse 8 of this 11^th chapter that Abraham was called. "By faith Abraham, when he was called..." Don't go if you're not called. Now, the call can be general or the call can be specific, but we don't go if we're not called. We must have the authority of the Word of God to act upon. We are not kings; we are ambassadors. We're sent; we're carrying a message; we're representing the authority. We're not the authority, but we've been given power and authority over all the power of the enemy. We must understand what our function is--that we're responding to the voice of God and to the call of God. When Abraham was called, he obeyed, verse 8 says. One of the greatest evidences of faith in your life is obedience. What are you doing with what you know, with what you have? To every one of us has been given the measure of faith. What are you doing with what God has given you--the revelation, the talents, and the opportunities that are afforded you to represent His kingdom as children of light, salt, ambassadors, and those who herald this gospel?

"By faith Abraham, when he was called...obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." We spent the time this morning developing these thoughts and the fact that we're not going to really understand it all. We ended this morning with the comment that we were going to take a look at what "strong faith" is. Abraham was strong in faith, giving glory to God. He was boasting in things that were not yet accomplished and professing things that had no way of occurring as though they already were. Even the changing of his own name was evidence of that, making the declaration of what God had promised.

Let's go over to Romans 4, and we'll take a look at some of these principles. We'll be spending some time here in the next couple of sessions in Romans 4, and we'll also be going to Genesis. You'll probably want to read Genesis 12 through 24 here in the next couple of days and get a feel for the life of Abraham. We'll be looking in James 2. That's where you're going to learn the most about Abraham, in those particular passages: Genesis 12-24, Romans 4, Hebrews 11, and James 2. You'll get a good feel for this man, the father of our faith, and what it means practically to walk by faith.

In Romans, faith is expressed in relationship to redemption, but the principles are the same. In any area--whether it's redemption or the benefits of redemption, such as the right to represent Him in power and authority as His witnesses, divine healing, our ambassadorship and authority over principalities and powers, or whatever it is--these principles are the same. We can learn here from Abraham's life what it means to obey the call of God. Then as we go into Genesis and look at some of the details, it'll vindicate the statement that I closed with this morning: strong faith doesn't mean you never fail; it means you never quit. You let God's Word come to fruition in your life, because the Scripture makes it very clear that in due season you will reap if you don't faint, if you don't quit, if you don't collapse while waiting for God's promises.

So, here's Abraham, a man who'd received this call upon his life. He was to leave all of his livelihood; he was to leave everything that was common to him and everything that was dear to him in the natural. God was separating him from his people and from his way of life. God was taking him out of his comfort zone and was calling him to Himself. Abraham was going to a land that he wasn't aware of, a land that God had promised would flow with milk and honey. God promised him at that time also a son. He said, "From your seed, all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed." What a promise! Here's this man, and you get a feel for where he is, walking in this promise. As the Scripture goes on, we're going to see that Abraham had some natural obstacles to overcome. We all know the condition that Sarah was in. Here's this beautiful lady who is not able to have children; she's barren. A child was to be God's gift to her, and yet she was not capable of producing this life that God had promised. That brings us into this analogy that the Holy Spirit uses as He contrasts it to our regeneration and sanctification, to us supernaturally taking on the image of Jesus Christ, and His life being formed in us, contrary to everything that we have natural ability to produce.

So, we pick it up in Romans 4, and the Scripture says in verse 13, "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." It's not through the law; it's not by works. Now, we'll explain the whole works aspect of James in just a moment, because we do know that faith without works is dead. Don't let any man say that he has faith if he doesn't have works, James says. What kind of "works" is it talking about? It's talking about that obedience of Abraham; that's the "works." If you go back into the third and fourth chapters of Hebrews, you'll see that the Word did not profit them, not being mixed with faith--that obedience factor, that ability to step out and be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. He's talking about natural works or works that are done for the purpose of trying to appease God, instead of works that are done by the grace of God through obedience--God working by us, not us working for God. (That's a phrase that we want to get into your hearts. I heard it this morning, and I liked it, so we'll use it.)

The Scripture goes on and says, "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) [the father of us all] before him whom he believed [those that come to God must believe that He is and that He's a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him], even God, who quickeneth [makes alive] the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope..."

Now, what did we say "hope" is this morning? It's favorable expectation. We saw that there are two understandings of this. We talked about the faith camp. And when I say "faith camp," some of you don't know who I'm talking about, and some of you do. We're talking about a lot of the abuses of these biblical principles, the most well known being Kenneth Copeland, Fred Price, and many of these guys that are on the networks like TBN. I don't think a lot of the "ministry" that's on TBN now was what Willard Cantelon had in mind when he gave the station to Paul Crouch years ago. Willard started that TV station. How many of you knew that? I think Willard started most things! He was an interesting old guy, wasn't he? He's home with the Lord rejoicing now, but you know he started the Mission of Mercy in Calcutta. How many of you were aware of that? He started that thing, the big flagship for the Assemblies of God. David Grant took us to the little mission where Willard preached every night. They had revival every night there for months, and he talked about the revival that got started there. One thing that was interesting about Willard--whether it was the station there in L.A. that they started the ministry on, or whether it was the Calcutta Mission--he had such a capacity to be used of God and then just give it to somebody and go somewhere else! He never built anything for himself. That guy had more stuff come through his hands than anybody I've ever seen. What a blessing he was, and what a walk of faith that we could emulate as we learn to live in the supernatural! Would to God that some of those old saints were still around. We were talking about that with David just the other day. I told David, "Now we're the old guys." We need to leave the same heritage that was left to us, praise God!

There are many doctrinal things that those faith camp guys are in error about, but as it pertains to this teaching, the one thing that I want to make distinct for you is this. One of the things that they hold to is that faith is a force, that it's something that can be manipulated and obtained. That say that faith, in and of itself, is a force, and when you receive it, you now have it at your disposal. We're saying that is not what faith is. Faith is trust, assurance, and reliance. Faith is a relationship with God. Faith is obedience to God. God mandates it, God initiates it, and God is the source of it. We're the agents through which it flows. We need to keep that clear in our minds. It doesn't originate with us if it's going to remain pure.

So, as we're looking at the Scriptures here, we go on and study our father of the faith, Abraham, who believed God (Who makes alive the dead and calls those things that are not as though they were), who against hope believed in hope. Now, that's something that we have to get. If we're going to walk in the realm of the supernatural, we're going to have to come to that place where, based upon the promises of God (though many times it looks hopeless), we hope against hope. Natural hope fails. But what do we have? We have the promise of God, the Word of God. We have that favorable expectation that, "Even though I don't see it, I see no way, and I don't understand why, I'm following He Who's invisible, and I'm seeking a city whose builder and maker is God. I'm not following my own agenda; I'm not trying to build my own kingdom. I don't understand it all; I can't explain it to you. But I know that God's Word has declared it, so I'm going to hope against hope. All natural hope is gone, but I have the realm of the supernatural, this life of the supernatural."

We see it with Abraham here in the birth of Isaac, this miraculous birth. We've all experienced it in our lives at different times, as God has answered prayer and supernaturally intervened in our lives. I've shared with you some of the more spectacular things I've seen over the years as God has visited us. We've seen, on a couple of occasions, the dead raised. All natural hope is gone, but there's a passion! There's a fire in your bones; there's a zeal for the house of God! All of this is working within us and will not bow its knee to doubt, fear, or failure, when, "God has said..." Like the children of old, looking at the walled cities of Jericho, everything in us says, "There is no way, man; but I'm going to shout anyway! He's going to bring the walls down!"

We're preparing our last meal with the little sticks and the meal, and the prophet comes and says, "Give to me first." And some say, "Yeah, just like a preacher--wanting to take my last bite!" That's the way a lot of people feel about the ministry. They've missed the point that if you're going to be blessed, you need to listen to what the prophets of God have to say. And then shall you prosper, the Scripture says. Against hope, it was put into the hands of the man of God, and it didn't fail.

Abraham, who against hope... Let's say it another way so we can all get hold of this thing. Abraham believed God and believed the promises of God even when he wasn't able to help Him out. You know, we want to help God out and then give Him all the glory. We want to be working about, being God's little helpers, and then saying, "Look how the Lord's blessed me!" How many of those memorials do you have where it was absolutely, supernaturally put into your hands, and you can reach back and grab hold of those things and know the visitation of God? Those visitations change your life. You may only have one in your whole journey, but you'll never be the same when you've been able to walk in that realm of the supernatural. And you know that we're a people who walk by faith and not by sight. We're a people who call things that are not as though they were (praise God!) because faithful is He Who promised.

So, here's Abraham, and it says he was believing against hope. Well, what's he believing against? God said he was going to have a kid, but he's got one problem: his wife is barren. Now, Abraham's still cooking pretty good. The problem is when we're strong in our own abilities, some of us that are talented. (You notice I included myself!) Those of us that are talented, those of us that are pretty resourceful, those of us that are industrious, those of us that are overachievers, the "A" personalities, and many of those things--we really can get ourselves into trouble, because we begin to produce things and want to put the label of God on them. God will bring you to your end to be glorified in you.

Many of you know that in my own life, through the trials that God has brought me through in this last year, He's been faithful to us, and we were able to experience being totally emptied. And I believe some good's going to come out of it. I believe that God's going to stir my life back to that place of childlike faith, of innocence, to where we can see His hand move again in our lives in a fresh way and in a way that we've never known before. God can use people like us when we're emptied. It can help you, and it can get in your way. I've told you the stories, like at the hospital that day. I love that story about when I was going to visit that young man in the hospital, and that nurse said, "You can't go in there." I said, "Yes, I'm going," and she said, "You can't." She said, "We'll call security if you do." I said, "Good; they can come and watch!" This woman did everything but try to physically stop me, and that wouldn't have been a good idea! We went in and prayed for this young man, and God supernaturally healed him. I came back on the next visit and asked to see this young man. I asked, "Is he still in such-and-such room?" "No!" "Well, where is he?" "He's on the fifth floor." I said, "Is that in this building?" "No! This building only has three floors." I said, "Well, it would be kind of tough to get to the fifth floor then, wouldn't it?" She said, "Not for you!" Do you know what? She was right. If that guy had been on the fifth floor of a three-story building, and I needed to see him, I was going to see him (praise God!) because God had sent me. But we can get into trouble, too, because sometimes we start relying on our own abilities and our own tenacity. God will empty you of self that it can be purely His power and His glory.

Now, Abraham was still cranking, man! I mean, 86 years old, and he produces himself an Ishmael! The dude's still hot, man! Don't mess with Abe; he's a bad dude. Finally, we run him up to 100 years of age, and now God is able to work. Do you know what's interesting? It didn't seem that Abraham was having as much trouble believing when it was just Sarah who was dead. Isn't it interesting that when we become dead, it's a little tougher? We can tell everybody, "Oh, just believe God. I'm praying for you, brother. Praise God!" And now, it's your turn. Now he's 100 years old, and the Scripture says here that he was not weak in faith and that he considered not his own body. But as you read the narrative, you see the day-by-day expression of Abraham and Sarah. You see his response to Sarah's admonition to go into Hagar, and you begin to see that there were those moments in his life when Abraham truly staggered. He staggered when he took Lot with him, when he was to take no family. God said, "I want you to leave all your family and go." He takes Lot with him, and how many of you know what that became? A thorn in the flesh. Just a little disobedience becomes "a Lot." A little disobedience becomes a lot in the spirit realm. He takes Lot, and we know how it becomes a thorn in his flesh. We see him go into Egypt, and in the time of adversity and pressure, he lies about Sarah being his sister. Our father of faith--cowering down, afraid that they're going to take her and kill him. Now, how is that going to happen when he hasn't had the seed that was going to bless the nations yet? We forget about the promise because of the immediate circumstances, don't we? You can't die if God's promises aren't fulfilled in you yet!

So, we realize what God is speaking to us. When we trust in our own abilities so many times, we have to be brought to our end, so that we can begin to hope against hope. He wants to take away all of our natural resources, so we can get back to trusting in God.

Here we are, and Abraham's walking in faith and seeing this fulfilled in his life. Now, watch what takes place here. Here's this man who disobeyed with Lot, disobeyed in Egypt, disobeys with Hagar, and tries to convince God. That's one of my favorite parts. We're not going to go there right now, but you can see this when you read Genesis 12-24. You'll see over there where Abraham tries to convince God that Ishmael's the blessing and cries, "Bless Ishmael!" He said, "It's not Ishmael. I'll bless him; but the promise is not coming from him, but out of your own loins and out of the womb of Sarah." Abraham is staggering. After God had said it to him again, he said, "Bless Ishmael!" That's staggering.

Why does Romans say that he didn't stagger? Because God speaks from the end of things. Aren't you glad God's speaking from the eternal perspective? Aren't you thankful that God doesn't sum your life up in a few failures, but He sums your life up in the end of it, from the fruit that comes from it? God can say in absolute truth, "He never staggered." Why? Because it wasn't based upon the failure of the moment. It's the life of failure that makes you less than victorious, less than a man or a woman of faith. You only lose if you quit, but "To he that overcomes will I grant to be seated with Me on My throne." If you endure to the end, you shall be saved. You will reap if you faint not, praise God!

So, here's Abraham being strong in faith and hoping against hope. Now, what did it mean to not be weak in faith? Look at verse 19. He considered not his own body. Interesting word, this word "considered." It means literally "to fix your eyes or your mind upon something." It doesn't mean that he didn't entertain negative thoughts. It means that he wasn't fixated; it didn't dominate his thought processes. Those thoughts will come through periodically. What does the Bible say? It says that we're to tear down evil imaginations and every thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Those thoughts are going to come. What do you do? Tear them down. How do you tear them down? "It is written." You'd better have what God has to say about the situation. It says Abraham "considered not." He didn't fix his thought processes or his eyes upon his own body (look at the next two words) "now dead." You see, he had been trusting in that body. He used it for the glory of God, to effect the purpose of God, when he went into Hagar and fathered that child. "All of my strength I'm using for God!" God wants your weakness, because that's where His strength is seen.

Abraham, being emptied now of all his own ability, staggers not. He considered not his own body now dead when he was about 100 years old. Look at these men--Abraham, 100 years old and strong in his body; Moses' eyes dimmed not, neither was his strength abated, praise God! That's exciting stuff! These dudes didn't need Geritol, man! They were moving in the promises of God. Do they still make Geritol? Is anybody here old enough to remember it?

So, here he was, walking in this promise, hoping against hope, and not considering his own body now dead, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. When you begin to read the detailed narrative over in Genesis 17 and on, you'll begin to really get an appreciation of how God came and began to speak to Sarah and what caused her to make the Hebrews 11 hall of fame. Sarah and her laughter of God. God will just frankly tell you some stuff that'll make you laugh--that kind of laugh like, "Yeah, right!" "Why did you laugh?" "I didn't laugh." "Yes, you did; but I want to tell you something. It's going to come to pass, because I cannot deny Myself. You can deny Me, but I can't deny Myself." So, we have that scriptural promise.

Abraham now is neither considering his own body nor the deadness of Sarah's womb, and the Scripture says here that he staggered not at the promise of God. That's where we need to come, beloved. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. When we consider Romans 10:17, we've shared this with you in the past, but this is just to refresh your thinking. When we talk about faith coming by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, faith does not come by reading the Bible. There are a lot of people that read the Bible and have no faith. Faith comes by obeying the Word of God, by trusting in the person, the object, of our faith.

You remember I told you about Kenneth Copeland being on Paul Crouch's program that one time. He said, "Kenneth, many people talk about God being the object of faith. What are your thoughts on that?" Kenneth Copeland said, "Ob-ject? I don't understand ob-ject." Well, I do; it's God. God is the object of our faith. Copeland believes that faith is a power, an entity separate from God, originating from God but separate from Him. The Bible doesn't teach that. There must be the object of our faith, of our trust, and of our assurance. You cannot have faith in faith, or you'll fail. Your faith has to be in God--the Immutable, the Eternal, the All-sufficient, El-Shaddai--the person, the relationship--and not in a formula. When you come to that place, you can hope against hope. You can be strong in faith, giving glory to faith. Is that what it says? Be strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that what faith has promised, it is able to perform. Is that how your Bible reads? What does it say? "And being fully persuaded that, what he [God] had promised, he [God] was able to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him [Abraham] for righteousness."

We see, then, that as God is bringing us into this place of absolute trust, reliance, and assurance. That's what the definition of faith is. And that trust, reliance, and assurance is in direct correlation to your relationship with Father--choosing the better part (like Mary) and sitting at His feet, and not (like Martha) running around and serving Him based upon your own initiative and what you think God wants. "I'm just helping the Lord out. I'm waiting here, and I'm bringing Him some coffee, and bringing Him some pie, and I'm serving." Just sit down and listen to what the Master wants you to do! Your little projects, if they initiate in you, have no eternal value. They can make you feel good about yourself, they can cause other people to be appreciative, but they have no eternal value.

Now, Abraham staggered not. That word "staggered" is very interesting. It literally means "to judge between two." The Scripture speaks of that when it talks about the double mind. The Bible says that he who is double-minded is unstable in all of his ways. Abraham staggered not; he judged not. He didn't go back and forth between natural and supernatural, my strength and God's promise. He came to that place where he finally was convinced of the promise of God. He staggered not. He settled upon God's promise and didn't allow unbelief to take root in his heart. Now, the evil heart of unbelief of Hebrews 3 and 4 came because they did not mix obedience with the Word that was given to them. He said, "Don't fall after the same evil heart of unbelief as those that were destroyed in the provocation." Don't provoke God through the lack of being able to move against all natural circumstances, understanding, or provision. Be strong in faith. What's the next phrase say? Giving glory to God. We're talking about what strong faith is. Strong faith gives the glory to God. Strong faith recognizes God as the source. God is the object; God is the purpose.

God doesn't bless us to bless us. God blesses us because He's God. It's His nature. He has no selfish motives; He has no ego problem. The fact of the matter is: if you understand the infinitude of God--what a statement that is! Let me try to word that a different way. If we can come to understand that God is infinite, then everything that transpires is for Him; it's about Him and not about us. Only God is infinite. It's about Him; it's not about us, so deflate your ego. When God blesses you, it's for Him. It's not for Him because of ego; it's not for Him because of selfishness. It's for Him because He is infinite. It's for Him because He's God. It's Who He is. Nothing can transpire that doesn't come from Him and return to Him.

Abraham is in that school of learning about the infinitude of God. He's having to make this decision. Finally, he comes to the place where he no longer is staggering (judging between these two things) in unbelief, but his faith was strengthened as he glorified God, as his attention was turned from just accomplishing this task. Listen; this is a very important part. His attention changed from just accomplishing this task of having a son to the purpose of the son--and not only the purpose of the son, but that it went far beyond the miracle of the birth of Isaac; because the promise was not in Isaac but in the Seed, Christ. When he came to that revelation, it allowed the "strong faith" of Romans to become the "perfect faith" of James. The words "strong faith" are used about the birth of Isaac. The words "perfect faith" are used about the offering up on Moriah of Isaac. Hopefully, we'll be able to contrast that as we go on in the study. Let's see what we can do about winding this thing down for this evening's session.

He staggered not but was strong in faith--obedient faith, Hebrews 11 calls it. Obedience is what strong faith is. And he was fully persuaded, fully persuaded. This "full persuasion" is when faith becomes settled once-for-all. In fact, it's even the aorist tense, which establishes that aspect. Fully persuaded: once-for-all convinced that what God has promised, He is able to perform--without me, without my understanding, and without all of you, God's little helpers. The promises of God are yea and amen, and it's to the glory of God by us, the agents, the vessels that He's chosen. By us, the Scripture says--earthen vessels, just old broken drain tiles--so that men could see our frailties. They can see our weaknesses, and then when they see the promise manifest, the Bible says, it comes through earthen vessels, so that the glory and the excellency is of God and not of us.

What is strong faith? It's dying to your own glory and giving glory to God. What is strong faith? It's not considering your own abilities. What is strong faith? It's hoping against hope, trusting, and having favorable expectation beyond your understanding and your capacity to help God. Where does that faith come from? Romans 10 says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. (We'll pick this up in our next session.) Where does that faith come from? Not from just reading the Bible, but from doing it. There's general revelation, and there's specific revelation. If you'll study it out, you'll see that the Greek for "hearing" here really means "a court hearing or an audience." It means to have an audience with God. Faith comes when you encounter God and He decrees a thing to you.

When I say general revelation, I don't mean an intellectual reading of the Word of God. Faith only comes by revelation. General revelation from the Word of God is something that we are all required to do at all times. Specific revelation is something that is to you individually for this momentary act. It may be the replicating of a general revelation, or it may be something that is unique that's in agreement with the general revelation. Revelation is the source of faith. As we're reading the Bible, it becomes real to us. When we read and it says, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel," and that becomes a reality to us, then guess what? We become preachers of the gospel, and every one of us here should be. When it talks about loving our neighbor better than ourselves, that becomes a reality. Without faith, you can't do that, because we're all selfish. When it talks about loving your wife as you love your own body, that's a miracle, because men are selfish and self-centered. When it talks about submitting to your husband as to Christ, you can't do that in the natural. It's impossible for a woman to do that without the grace of God. When you read that in the Scriptures, and you choose to obey it (remember, we said faith is a choice), that becomes real. "That's true; that's what God expects of me. I will do that by the grace of God." When I make that statement, the faith and the enabling ability accompanies my decision to obey. Now, the capacity to bring glory to God is by God and for God.

So, faith comes by an audience with God, His Word becoming real, the audience, the decree. The Judge has said, "Here's My sentence: you will love your wife as your own body. Here's My sentence: you will lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Here's My sentence: whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them." Then (bless God!) we can't do anything else but believe when we pray! A lot of people pray without believing. The mandate is: you believe when you pray. The mandate is: you love. The mandate is: you serve. The mandate is: you prefer others.

What does this mean? It means I've got to spend a lot of time in the Word so that God can talk to me. It means maybe you'd better spend some of the time you've been using on yourself and hear what God has to say. You'd better be able to explain the mysteries of God.

Somebody here in the fellowship asked me today, "Are you going to go see 'Matrix II?'" Is it called "Matrix II," or "Son of the Matrix," or something? I said, "I don't know. I haven't figured out what the first one was about!" They proceeded to explain to me what that was all about. I thought, "If you can understand that, why can't you understand this?" I won't tell you who I was talking to, but this is simple. All you have to do is get in here and read it, and spend some of that time in the presence of God, and you'll have an audience. Faith will come, and you'll be able to bring glory to Him.

Father, we thank You for your Word tonight. As we continue our study, we just ask that You would receive all of the glory as You strengthen our lives. Father, we're not interested in walking in the supernatural to put on a show for anybody. We have no desire to consume it upon our own lusts, to become rich or famous, or to start a new "Barnum and Bailey." We just want to know You. We just have a hunger to live in the kingdom that was created for us, the kingdom of light. Lord, there are so many counterfeits today. We want to be a people who truly know You and can represent You, so that light in this dark world can be seen, and You'll draw people to Yourself that should be saved. Father, the day that's on us is so vile that, unless we come to this understanding of walking in the Spirit, we will fulfill the lust of the flesh. And You said those that are bound will not inherit the kingdom. Make it real, Father. It's a choice. It's an appetite. It's choosing the better thing. It's having audience with You. It's tasting the goodness of God. Give us the appetite and fulfill our hunger that we might be strengthened to work for Your glory. We ask this, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord. As Gary plays for us, let's take just a moment and allow the Holy Spirit to stir our hearts tonight. What's He said to you? What have you been trusting in--your own ability, your own strength? What do you do when all hope is gone? What do you do when you've been totally emptied of yourself? I've lived my life openly before you in these last months as I've been broken. When you're poured out, and you're emptied of yourself, can you just stand up and give glory to God, being fully persuaded? Oh, don't think this has been of me! It has nothing to do with me. If anything good does come from this, it will be God. You've got to go back to the Word. You just go back to the Word and say, "I know Whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. I know Whom I have believed! He's the Judge of all the earth, and He does right." Now you're a candidate for that faith and the miraculous to flow through you to bring glory to your God.

What have we learned today? When called, we have to obey. We seek a kingdom, a city whose builder and maker is God, not our own agenda. When it looks like all hope is gone, we give glory to God, fully persuaded that what God has promised He is able to perform. In the realm of general revelation, that's preaching this gospel to every creature. It's laying hands on the sick and seeing them recover. It's praying prayers of faith. In the specific realm, it's whatever God is directing you in your course right now to effect the general revelation. Specific revelation is always for the purpose of effecting general revelation, because it's about God, not you.

Let's sing this together and just worship Him tonight; thank Him for His goodness. "In Your presence, fullness of joy..." Hallelujah! That the glory would be of God and not of us.

You know, we've received a lot of negative comments over the years based upon our stand on the integrity of the Word of God and our refusal to compromise. But God is wanting to move in our midst, that His name can be glorified. One of our young people was out the other day sharing the gospel. This young person was sharing, and he shared what ministry he's fellowshipping with. And this guy said, "Oh, I've heard of that place. Isn't that like where they can pray for blind people and they see, and that kind of stuff?" Say, "Yeah, that's the place." That's the reputation we want, that God's here among us, praise God! The dead are raised, the blind receive their sight, and the lame leap as a hart. The hungry are filled with His supernatural presence, and Jesus is all-in-all, praise God!

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Don't stagger at the promises!" Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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