**Believing Beyond the Test**
And this morning we talked a lot about the fact that faith is tested to prove its existence.
And I want to open this session with understanding where faith comes from and what faith should be in. What is the object of your faith? The kingdom of God is a country. It is an actual country. It's called the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is like any other country. It has a king. It has citizens. It has a law book, a constitution, which is what you have in your hands, some of that law. It also has an economy. It also has a social system. It has a currency, which we'll talk about tonight.
What is the currency of the kingdom's economy? We want to focus on that. Because that is what you learn. That is what you live on. As a matter of fact, living in your country, whether you're from the Bahamas or the United States or any other country represented here, you know that in your country you live by a currency. You cannot do business and exchange service in the community without a currency.
This is why all countries create what they call a currency. The currency is the standard of measure in a community by which that currency is used. That nation trades. It trades with each other. It trades, for example, when you go to work in the morning, you are trading. You trade to the company your time and your talent, and then they give you a salary. So there's a trade.
When you go to the food store and you use that salary to buy a tin of beans, there's a trade going on. They give you the beans, you give them some of the money. And so this currency is used for all the trading. You cannot live in a country without the currency.
When you go to a country that doesn't use your currency, what do you do? You have to exchange your currency and get their currency. Otherwise, you can't really function in that country. Now, some countries allow the currencies to cross the border and they accept that currency, but it has to be on their standards.
For example, you can go to the United States, I mean to England. You can take U.S. dollars and you may not have to change them. But if you do change them, you won't get the same value in your country. They will give you probably less value for the U.S. dollar because their currency has more weight.
In other words, you can sometimes use a currency in another country, but it's not the same value. So all countries control the trading or the activity in the country with currency. And without currency, there can be no living in a country.
Everybody got the picture? The kingdom of heaven is a country. It has a government, it has a king, it has a constitution, it has laws, and it has an economy. And the currency that we use to live in the kingdom of God is a standard currency. The currency of the kingdom of God is faith.
You cannot do business in the kingdom of God without faith. You must use faith to exchange for anything in the kingdom of God. Nothing works in the kingdom of God without faith. Faith is not really a doctrine. Just like love is not a doctrine. Faith and love are elements in the country of heaven.
As a matter of fact, faith and love are connected in the kingdom of heaven. So I hope you get the picture here. The same way you got to live by your currency in the earthly kingdoms, you have to live by faith in the heavenly kingdom. That's why the just shall live by faith.
Do you know what a poor person is in your country? Simple. A person without the currency. And the more of the currency you have, the more you can trade in the country. Am I right? Yes. The more wealth you have in your country, the more you can buy, the more you can accomplish, the more you can do, and the less you have, the less you can accomplish.
That's how valuable faith is to your life as a kingdom citizen. You cannot live without faith any more than you can live in your country without your money.
Now, what's the source of this currency? This first statement: The source of your faith determines the quality of your faith. Well, that's true of all currency.
Okay. My wife and I were in England a couple of weeks ago. We had U.S. dollars. Then I realized how poor we were. Because a U.S. dollar is half of a pound now. The British pound at this moment in history is two U.S. dollars. So I am as wealthy as the source of my money. Where did I get my money from? Where I got it from? I got it from America.
So when I got into England, my value dropped. And I could not trade. I could not do business the way I used to do business. I was able to purchase less. Because of what? The source. Where do you get your faith from? That determines the quality of it.
Number two: The object of your faith determines the quantity or the size of your faith. What you put your faith in determines how big it is. There was a story on the news recently of people who had money in a bank. Remember that story? And what happened? The bank collapsed. The people went and the door was closed.
This is a real story. This happened four weeks ago. And the people's money was gone. Now the government of the United States now has to find some way of protecting the people's money. Question: What failed? The bank? Not really. You know what failed? That which was backing the bank.
This is very important. See, every bank that you're working with is supposed to be backed up by an insurance company. You know, in the United States they got the federal government. And they got a federal, what do they call that thing? Monetary reserve fund, right? And what that does is it protects the banks.
If your bank in America collapsed, the government has the money behind the bank to save your currency. So here's the point. Your money is only as valuable as what's backing the bank. You're all too quiet. Let me try it again.
Okay. You take your money and you put it in your local bank. That's no guarantee you get money. What guarantees that you get money is how strong that bank is. What's backing that bank? And there are other banks that are collapsing.
Now in America recently, some of you heard the story about the housing collapse. Well, because the bank collapsed. The companies that backed the banks that loaned the money to the people that get the houses, that company collapsed. Your faith in your money is only as strong as the institution you put its faith in.
Do you know why they call it a trust? A trust fund? No, they call it a trust company. What is faith? Trust. Am I getting too technical for you? Okay. So your faith, write it down again. Your faith is what? It's as strong as the object that you put it in.
How big is the reserve that you're putting your money in? Do you know that insurance companies are the same way? Your insurance company is only as strong as the funds that are backing it. So when the hurricane hit Florida and wiped out most of the houses, they were insured.
But when the people went to collect the insurance company, remember, it's called an agency. Agencies ain't got money. They are fronting for someone who's supposed to be backing them up. If who's backing you is broke, I don't care how many premiums you paid, you can't get any money.
Why? Because they say, well, we ain't got no money because they ain't got no money. They collapsed. Am I coming home? So here you are. Every month you pay your premium because you got money. Faith in the insurance company.
And the faith begins with the agent. The agent says, sign here and give me $120 every month for the next 60 years. And you trust this agent because the agent trusts her boss, because the boss trusts the company, because the company trusts the fund that backs them up.
Everybody got to trust somebody. And if the fella at the back of the whole thing collapses, it doesn't matter how much you fight and argue and go to court and all this stuff. You ain't got nothing. Why? Because what you had your faith in collapsed.
I'm trying to get you to take your faith out of everything. Your job is not worth trusting. Your family is a bad reserve. Your spouse, you know what I'm talking about. You cannot put your faith in people.
And that's why we become angry, you know, because the bank door is closed. And you ain't got your money that you trusted all these years. You put faith in this thing and it's gone.
Object of your faith. What you put it in determines how big your faith can be. Do you know Bahamians are amazing people? They don't ask the right questions. We trust too easily.
Listen, the next time you go and someone says, look, invest in our bank or invest in our insurance company, the question you ask is, who's backing this organization? You've got to find that out. And then the second question, how much are they backing it?
How many banks you heard in the Bahamas collapse every year with people's money? You don't even hear about it. They're in court all the time. Why? Because these folks come along and they sell you an idea and then you put your money in this thing. All of a sudden it's gone because it wasn't backed by security that was trustworthy.
You buy insurance from a company. And let's say the fund that's backing it is a billion dollars. But you realize that a hurricane could wipe out a part of the Bahamas and it's worth two billion worth of repairs. Then that company may not be strong enough for you.
Because one hurricane, they're broken. You ain't got no more money coming from them. You ever heard of a company in London called Lloyd's? Okay. That's one of them companies. See, Lloyd's is a big deal because Lloyd's is like the Federal Reserve.
What's it called? Fannie Mae and Jenny Mae and Mary Mae and all the maids, yeah? The Bahamian maids, right? Yeah. Okay. Fannie Mae. These are the companies that back the banks in America. And so when they collapsed, the banks couldn't handle the mortgage.
So you lost your house. How big is your Fannie Mae? Who are you trusting? Who are you putting your faith in? What's the object of your faith?
Here's another one to write down. Your faith is as secure as what your faith is in. Don't put your faith in a church. Don't put your faith in a pastor. Don't put your faith in a bishop. Don't put your faith in a denomination, please.
Don't put your faith in a doctrine. Don't put your faith in healers and miracle workers. Don't put your faith in television evangelists and famous people. Stop it. Sometimes we don't worship God. We worship personalities.
I like her. I like him. Oh, he's good. What are you trying to tell me? That means if he's absent, you won't show up. Well, I ain't going to church today because Pastor Miles isn't there. See, that's your problem. Your faith is not in God speaking through this podium. It fits in a personality.
You are in danger. I learned a lesson years ago. Can I teach you a simple lesson? It's a good lesson. Here it is. You can never be disappointed in what you didn't expect. David says this years ago. I read this years ago. He says, Lord, all of my expectations are of thee.
I read it at 18 years old. I wrote it down. Now I forgot it. I said, that is what I want. All of my expectations are of thee, oh Lord. In other words, I don't expect nothing from anybody. He was protecting his disappointment level.
Your faith is only as secure as what it is in. Please write this down. Your faith is as stable as the object you put it in. Remember the bank? Yeah. You take a hundred... By the way, I just heard this past week that, you know, the bank that collapsed, they say that only the people who put over $100,000 in the bank are the ones who actually lost the money.
The ones who put the most lost. Thought it was the other way around. I had to listen twice. That's what they say. They said the one who put the most. That means if you went over... My God. I was... Personally, I'm nervous now.
But, you know, you think about it, you'd think that they were secure. It was the opposite. How secure is your faith? How stable is your faith? Your faith is as stable as the object it is in.
Here's something I want you to think about. What is your faith in? I think some of you got a lot of testimonies. Some of you all got great experience now. Because you've been through some stuff. People let you down.
Matter of fact, some people have lost their trust in humans. They've been so wrecked. They don't trust nobody. That's a horrible thing. But, you know, people get there. Because they had so much faith in the wrong object.
What is your faith in? Here is the kingdom object of faith. Mark 11, 22. Jesus' words. Jesus said, "Have faith in God." Simple statement. Finish. Period. What a beautiful statement.
Have faith in who? God. Tell your neighbor, have faith in God. Tell your neighbor, make God the object of your faith. Let me tell you something. There's one thing about God. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
And with Him, there's no shadow of turning. That means He is stable. He's not Fannie Mae. He's not Lloyd's Bank. Because even Lloyd's could go bankrupt. Fannie Mae proved that. Billions of dollars wiped out in a day.
Have faith in God, Jesus says. Have faith in who? God. Say it with me. Have faith in God. Say it again. Have faith in God. Say it. I have my faith in God. I have my faith in God.
Notice He didn't say have faith in God's works. That's where I want you to get to. Because we have been really encouraged to believe a gospel which is built on what God does. And we have not been building a faith on who God is.
What if God does and does? You got to take your faith even out of God's blessings and put them in God. I used to think that I knew what good was until I ran into God. I don't know what good is.
Is it good to be thrown in the lion's den? Yes. In God's eyes. That's good. So He put man in there. Now to me, that's a bad idea. God said, this is a good idea. I'm going to use this to prove my power.
And you're like, let's find another way. Is it a bad idea for God to throw you in a big burning furnace? That's a bad idea. But to God, it's a good idea.
So when the young man came to Jesus. The young, you know, Bill Gates came to Jesus in the New Testament. Bill Gates says, remember he's very rich, right? I call him Bill Gates. He says, good master, oh Lord, you are a man sent from God.
And before Christ answered him, Christ corrected him. Jesus said, why do you call me good? You don't know what good is. There's only one who knows what good is. And it's the Father in heaven.
He said, now what do you want? Why? The end of that encounter depressed that young man. Remember how it ended? Christ told him to sell all that he had and give it to the poor. He walked away very depressed.
Why? Because to Jesus that was good. The guy says, good. He said, okay, let me see if you know what good is. Take everything you have and give it to the poor. He said, no, no, no, that ain't good. I can see you later.
You know, you see, I thought, you know. So in other words, Christ is no longer a good master. My question is, is he a good master no matter what? What's your faith in?
Please let me just say this quickly because I don't want you to think that we're supposed to glory in God in tribulation, you know, like as if it's, you know, that's the way we live. You know, can't be supposed to live, you know, always fighting kind of thing.
No, you are victorious saints. You are, you will prosper. You will be in health just like your soul prospers. You're going to live an abundant life. You're going to have more than enough. That's what he promised you.
But he also says those that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Let's keep that. Keep life real. You know, sometimes as a citizen, lights go off.
So what do you do? You light your candle. You don't run up and down the road cursing BABC out and getting mad and throwing rocks at BEC. What do you do? You go get your candle.
In other words, when things don't work out as a citizen, you adjust for a little while. You know, you don't get mad. You just kind of make it work. Why don't you do that in the kingdom of heaven?
Things don't work out for a while? Just adjust. Don't say, well, you know, God ain't real and this doesn't work and God's word is a failure. And what they teach in there, right?
No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Lights just went off. That's all. You can't take a little darkness. Have faith in God.
Okay. I want you to write this down. Unshakable kingdom. Trials and tests are designed to strengthen and purify your belief. This is the real issue of tests.
I told you in our last session this morning that tests and trials do not work. They do not come to destroy. They come to prove. And that word prove means to validate.
Tests and trials are designed to strengthen and purify your faith. You know, in the book of Hebrews chapter 12, and we read this tonight in chapter 11, but chapter 12 verse 26 says, once more, I will shake not only the earth, the Lord says, but also the heavens.
Watch God now. The words once more indicate the removing of the earth. The removing of what can be shaken. That is created things so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
Look at that verse again. That's a deep verse. Look, if it's shaken, then it is shakable. If it is a created thing, don't trust it. Is your car a created thing? Then you could lose it. God could shake it.
Is your house a created thing? Yep. You could actually lose your house. Are the clothing that you're wearing, are they created? Yes. God can remove them. He can shake that.
The verse says, if it can be shaken, he will shake it. And he's going to shake it so that you will put your faith in what cannot be shaken. Are you getting this? Very powerful statement.
He says, look, don't you trust the blessings? Because every blessing is something I created. And I could shake it. By the way, you know, this doesn't work too well with those positive thinking, only charismatic people like you.
Not you, the one sitting behind you. You know, I'm blessed. I'm blessed. I'm blessed. I'm blessed. God said, okay, I'm going to shake this blessing. Let me see what you're going to do after that.
Because you only got faith in the good things. I want you to put faith in me. No thing else. If it can be shaken, I will shake it. So that the only thing that will remain is that which cannot be shaken.
And only God cannot be shaken. Can I hear an amen? We live in an unshakable kingdom. That's why you should stay in the kingdom of God. Study it. Read about it. Try to get to know it.
Why? That's the only thing that is unshakable. The kingdom of God. Look at verse 28. Let me prove it. Read out loud, please. Everybody go.
"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire."
He consumes stuff that can burn. Okay. Look at that verse. You are receiving what kind of kingdom? Now notice the verse before that. He says, I will shake everything.
Ladies and gentlemen, sometimes you look back and you go, I had the perfect life. Think about it. Everything was perfect. And now you look back and you go, wow. Everything that was perfect is gone.
And I still got to wake up in the morning and keep going. God says, you know something? I allow the shaking so you can keep trusting in me. I don't shake. He says, look, and the kingdom doesn't shake.
Hallelujah. Your denomination is not the kingdom. I don't care what belief you have. If it's not the kingdom, it's shakable. You know, my dear friend, who I love so much, who I went to school with.
His faith was shaken. And now he's gone off into some strange belief system. And you sit and you go, my God. And God says, you better be careful too. Put your faith in the kingdom.
Because your doctrine ain't safe if it isn't kingdom. Look at it again. He says, we are receiving a kingdom. Not going to receive. We are receiving a kingdom.
We are receiving a kingdom now that cannot be shaken. We are receiving a government, a lifestyle, a culture, an entire society that cannot be shaken. Glory. Hallelujah.
Oh, I just felt something. God says, look, I want an entire people that cannot be shaken. Our culture cannot be shaken. He said, are you tough? Are you really part of the kingdom of God?
What makes you turn back? What makes you quit? Have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And he says, and I'm going to shake some things. I'm going to shake.
Look at that promise. That's a promise. I will shake not only the earth but heaven. What is heaven? That's the atmosphere. We are praying that we don't have a hurricane, okay? We pray.
But there's no guarantee. Because he might decide to shake the heavens. So what are you going to do? You have faith in the middle of a hurricane. You believe God is going to deliver us.
He's going to preserve my people. And, you know, when Jesus told the story about faith, he said, it's like a man. Two men. Two men. He said two men. One built a house on sand. One built a house on rock.
He said, and the storm came against both houses. The wind blew against both houses. The water rose against both houses. Let me tell you why that's important.
Because you maybe have been taught somewhere in your mind that once you come into the kingdom of God, there'll be no storms. That's not what he said. Remember I told you this morning, the issue is not the test. It's how you handle the test.
What are you built on? What is your faith in? Do you know that the only thing you've guaranteed in your house you built on? Is the foundation? The faith of a house is in the foundation.
So if the foundation begins to crack, the whole house becomes lack of value. It falls in value. It becomes useless. And eventually the government will condemn the house.
Because the entire house's value is not in the $50,000 chandelier. It's in that concrete you can't see. What is your faith in?
Is this good stuff? Everybody say, kingdom faith. It's not afraid of anything. I want you to be people whose faith will not fail no matter what you face.
See, we are tough people, man. I want the devil to just kind of tell God, I tired working on them. Why? They keep coming back. Give God a praise. This is a tough cookie.
Every time I knock him down, bam, hello, I'm back again. He says, you worship God? Worship God. What do you trust in? Kingdom faith should be in the creator, not the creation.
That's what Hebrews just said. Don't trust the creation because it's shakable. You know, there's this idea we have in our head. The idea is if you are anointed by God, appointed by God, you are a righteous saint, you are holy, you are God's man, God's woman, then you're going to have plenty.
Well, then how do you explain Paul in Philippians chapter 6? And Paul says, I have learned to be in want. I have learned to have plenty. I have learned to abound. I have learned to be in lack.
He says, and in all these things I rejoice because my God shall supply. Amen. All of my needs according. Now, that verse that you quote precedes, I mean, it's preceded by the other verses.
Okay. Let me say, some of you in this room right now, you are financially on the edge. You know, you're there. And some of you are thinking, does faith work? No, faith doesn't work. You got to work it.
Your faith should not be in what you have or don't have. Your faith should be in God. Who has everything and also has the nothing also. By the way, nothing is something. He's the God of nothing.
Nothing does exist. So he can do what he desires. And Paul says, I've just learned to rejoice when I'm in lack. Why? Because I know tomorrow I could be in plenty.
So my faith is not in the lack nor the plenty. My faith is in the God whom I serve. That's why Paul says, what can separate me from the love of God?
He says, can sickness or disease? Well, that's a good question. If God loves you so much, then why am I still sick? Well, the issue is not the sickness. The issue is, what is my attitude in the presence of this situation?
I still trust God. Because God, the God I serve, my faith is not in whether he heals me or not. He could if he wants to. And I expect him to. But if he doesn't, I don't lose my belief in him.
Are you with me? Be encouraged, rejoice in tribulation, Paul says. Look at Psalm 20 verse 7. David said, some trust in chariots. Tell your neighbor, he's talking about you.
And some trust in what? Horses. Tell your neighbor, he's talking about you. Now tell your neighbor, but I trust in the name of the Lord.
David, now to understand this verse, you got to really go back 3,000 years. Because 3,000 years, for you to be a victorious military general like David, you had to have two things: horses and chariots.
Why? That was the mode of fighting. Without them, you will lose the battle. It's impossible to win a battle in David's time without chariots and horses.
And David says, I don't trust none of them. Let me ask you a question. What do you need this week to make it? What do you need this year to finish the year good? What do you need?
Whatever you need, David said, don't trust it. That word trust is the word belief. Amen. Amen. Belief. Faith. My faith is in God who made the horse.
My faith is in the God who made the wood and the metal they made the chariot from. Just in case the chariot failed, I still got the God of the chariot. Glory, hallelujah.
Somebody ought to slap a high five and give God praise. He says, don't trust anything. Trust in me who makes the things. Just in case the things don't work, you still get me.
You're going to be good this year. You're going to end the year with confidence and strength. Because it doesn't matter what happens in September or October or November, December.
You're going to do it your life. Why? Because you will put your trust in the Lord, your God. And God is the same in December as he is last December. Hallelujah.
Boy, what a powerful statement. That was a king, head of an army, saying, I don't trust none of these army fellows. You know, I wonder why David won all of his warfare.
David was actually the most successful king in the history of kings. That's why God actually, you know, let me put it another way. David was so successful, I think this was a secret right here, that the Bible says when David was old, there were no more battles to fight, for David had conquered all of his enemies.
Listen to this now. David says, the secret to my success is I never trusted the soldiers. I never trusted the swords. My secret is I never trusted the horses. I never trusted the chariots.
While they were fighting, I was praying. Lord, let me win this one. And if I lose it, it's still okay. My trust is in you. Put my trust in the Lord.
Where's your faith? Put your faith back in God. Take it out of your boyfriend, girlfriend, family, business, job, school. Take it out of them. Put your faith back in God.
And say, God, it doesn't matter what happened today. I win. Because if God be for me, who can be against me? Here's one.
Oh, Job. Boy, I tell you, Satan did a job on Job. I want to just mention Job again. It says, the devil left the presence of the Lord, Job 2:7, and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. Scraping all the scales of the sores. The guy had problems. His wife said to him, watch their wives now.
She said, Job, are you still holding on to your integrity? Your belief in God? Are you still true to God? Look at your body. Are you still attending Bible and faith ministries?
That's the kind of question we'll ask you. What have you done? You're so blessed. How come you broke? How come your business ain't doing well? How come it is?
And all you got to tell them is, tomorrow is your day. Your day coming. So I'm going to pray that your faith fail not. Curse God, she says. And then just die. Commit suicide, is what she's saying.
If it doesn't work, quit God. That's what she's saying. Now keep in mind, you know, her husband was a righteous man all her life. The Bible says that in chapter one that Job was the most righteous man in the whole land.
So she was living with a man who she knew, prayed every day, you know, fasted, you know, paid his tithes to God, all this stuff. She knew. And now, she looks at her husband and he's full of sores and boils and, you know, all this stuff.
And, you know, he's losing his cattle, losing his house. And maybe, there's something to that, hey, ladies. I mean, your husband not paying any money, all of a sudden, he's not losing the money.
You begin to think, you know, you're under the will of God. Maybe this faith thing doesn't work. All this prayer you wasted your time on is not profiting you, Job.
I mean, all this singing you're doing, you can't find a job. What are you doing? You still believe in God? See? And she was telling him, forget God. It ain't working.
I love Job's answer. And Job replied, you are talking like a foolish woman. Listen, ladies and gentlemen, now don't say that to people when they talk to you, you know, because that's not going to be too, but just at least think it.
Just think it. You are talking like a foolish person. And Job explains why he thinks she is foolish. He said, shall we accept only good from God and not bad and trouble also?
And there's one that you won't preach too well. Job says, look, I've been with God for a while and I learned something, he says. Good or bad, he's still God.
Woman, you ain't learned no lesson from me. You're supposed to learn a lesson from me, he said. Do you remember when we was broke, lady? We had no cattle, remember?
When you married me, we was renting, remember? Right. You see this big farm and that big house and all them cattle? Right. God gave me them.
And if he want me to take them, he can take them. I love God with cat or no cat. Tell your neighbor, I want that kind of faith.
You getting it right now? Faith comes by what? You're getting that faith right now. You're going to be okay, but you know, when you, when you have, you know, 90 years old and you're walking around with your cane smiling, how y'all doing?
And you go, fine. You say, give me five. Say, man, you still looking good at 98. Yes, sir. Same God that kept me in town, my color corner. He's still keeping me.
Glory, hallelujah. Through many dangers. You all know the song. Toys and snares. I have already come. Will you still be standing?
Don't serve God for things. Shall we accept just good? What a verse. Shall we only accept good? God is good. Yeah, but we got to define what good is.
It might be a furnace. You need to remember the statement of Job. When someone asked him, you, all this trouble you're catching, you still believe in God? Your answer, shall I only accept good from God and not trouble?
My God is bigger than trouble. We can handle trouble. Trouble is always temporary. Me, I'm going to be okay. And then leave their presence quickly because they don't have your faith.
Let them watch you win. I said, let them watch you win. I said, let them watch you win so they can be encouraged and strengthened. Amen. Amen.
It says, and all of this Job did not sin against God. By what? His mouth. You know, you shouldn't say anything negative, you know.
Well, the difference between negative and honesty. Negative is, is where you kind of, you criticize God. You attack God. That's negative. He didn't sin.
He said, look, if it's good or bad, blessings or trouble, I accept it as part of the promise of the program. Amen. And I'm going through because my faith is bigger than good or bad.
Amen. I remember the Lord said to me one time, I'll never forget this. He says, some people cannot survive success. That's why God will always reduce you to bankruptcy before he gives you plenty.
And then if you forget him, he reduces you again to bankruptcy to remind you that you used to be bankrupt. Are you with me? Yeah.
Because he's more concerned with your character than he is about your coins. He can give you anything he wants, but he can't give you. You have to develop that through tests and trials.
All right. Let's wrap this up on a couple of thoughts here. Job said this in chapter 3, 25. When I, what I feared has come upon me. What I feared has come upon me.
Some people have been teaching that, you know, as being a negative. But what Job is saying is, you know, the thought crossed my mind a number of times that what would happen if I lose everything? That's what he means.
How many of you ever thought that, Ms. E. Hanks? Matter of fact, I thought, living without my wife, I said, I'm thinking, suppose my wife is driving one day and she gets killed. What would I do?
Suppose my son and daughter who's not even here, they're in America. Suppose I get a phone call and I say, you know, my daughter got killed or my son wrecked in a car and he's, you know, he's dead.
Those things crossed my mind. That's not a negative. Put it another way, you got everything you need right now. Have you ever thought whether you would trust God if you didn't?
Have. That's what Job is saying. Will you still believe God? You know, I kind of like this statement because it means that Job rehearsed his faith. Write it down.
Can you rehearse your faith? Rehearse means I've already checked my faith to see if it is in God or the things he gave me. Just in case the things are shaken.
Do you only believe in God because you're blessed? Or do you define blessing only as the goodies and the, you know, the plenties and not the furnaces and the lion's dens?
Yes, I will bless you. Everybody say bless you. That sounds good, doesn't it? Guess what the blessing was? 20 years of waiting. No, 25.
Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait now. I thought you told me you're going to bless me. Yeah, but my definition of blessing is not yours, Abraham.
No, 25. That's a blessing because tomorrow you're going to hear this coming through the teaching. What was the blessing? The blessing was not just the child 25 years later.
The blessing was the 25 years of him believing. That's why, oh, please hear me. See, the 25 years is what God is using to teach us.
Oh, you missed it. If the baby came in nine months, we would learn nothing from Abraham. What made him the father of faith, my daughter, is the 25 years.
Are you with me? So the blessing was the whole package. It was the 25 years of holding and then the nine months at the end of a baby.
The whole thing was the blessing. What you're going through is going to be a benefit to other people who are observing you and they're going to say, you know, I was watching you from a distance and you know, I couldn't believe you just stayed steady.
I knew what you were going through on this job. I know what they were doing to you and I was just saying, oh, she believes in that word and that God thing.
Let me see how God works now and I couldn't believe you stayed steady for nine years in this job. My God, I believe in your faith. Teach me that faith.
That's your witness. When I feared most has come upon me, he says, what I dreaded has happened to me. Dreaded means I thought about it.
I thought, you know, boy, if I lost everything, what would I do? What would happen if my house went out tomorrow morning? And ladies and gentlemen, believe me, I think this way myself.
I think if I lose my house, what would my faith be like? We heard a testimony of a lady tonight. She said, the Lord shook her up, moved her back home and said, you know, she's all just thrown up in there, you know, kids one place and God's just watching.
And she landed in a teaching on faith. And God got a sense of humor. And God said, you're going to be okay. I'm going to give you some food to eat, to strengthen you.
This is food. He's saying, you ain't abandoned. I'm just shaking to see where your faith is. Shake everything. I have no peace.
Anybody ever been there? I have no quietness. Anybody ever been there? Do you have faith where there's no peace? Still believe God.
No quietness. Nothing calm. Everything uprooted. God says, let me see what you're going to do. Do you know, it's amazing.
I don't know what you're going to face this week. I really don't know. And you don't either. But this message tonight is enough for the week.
Take your right through anything. Come give him a big hand. You're going to clap. Praise God. It will take your right through it because your faith doesn't depend on what happened or what doesn't happen.
I have no rest but only turmoil. But then Job screams this out because kingdom faith, write it down, is unconditional.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the kingdom faith. This is not a religious faith. Kingdom faith is not conditional. God, I love you if you do this for me.
Lord, I'll serve you if you do that for me. No condition in kingdom faith. Job says, I ain't quiet. I'm not restful. I'm in turmoil.
I got problems. Nothing's going to be working. And even my wife is against me and tell me to curse God. But Job said, he says, but though he's...
That's the next verse. You are strong. Say it. I am strong. You're strong, man. We are tough citizens. One little water bill and light bill can't disturb us.
One mortgage payment being missed doesn't wreck our faith. What's going on here? And no one can lay me off unless the Lord got something else to lay me up on.
You know, it's just, what's going on here? David says, hey, I mean, Job said, wait a minute. Even though everything's falling apart, yet will I trust him.
I will have faith in him. I will surely defend my ways to his face. Boy, that's a powerful statement. In other words, this is a good place to close.
Job said, God, nee, nee, nee, nee, nee, nee. In other words, you got to try better than that. I still ain't leaving you. That's what he means.
Right this face. I don't care. I still love you. Come on, man, that's a good way to shout right there. Job said, I don't care what the devil does. I love you.
Right this face. Still ain't going. Still ain't moving. I ain't going back. No. Go ahead and say it too. If I feel like just saying it.
Let's just say it your own way. Lord, I ain't going nowhere. Come on. Just tell him. Tell him to his face. I don't care.
Come on, devil. Do better than that because I ain't leaving God. God. What's going to turn you away from God? Job said, I don't care. You are my trust.
Boy, you can imagine how excited God got. I can imagine God saying, wow. Satan, check that out. Look at that. That's my boy. That's mine.
You hear that, devil? Listen to him. That's what God was saying. Can God say that to you this week? I will defend myself to his face.
I finally figured out why God had to bless him. You understand me? He almost embarrassed God. Can't say devil. The brother is so committed.
I'm going to give him seven times what he lost. Lord, right now, I want to qualify for seven. Time. Anybody want to join me? Qualify for seven times more.
And to do that, you got to defend him to his face. I'm not going back. I found the ways of life. My faith is in you.
My children died. My stocks fell. My house is burned. That I trust. He says, indeed, this is a man who just lost everything, but he had an interesting fate.
His fate was in the one who made everything he had, and he knew that he could make it again. Can you say that?
Why? Let's pray. Father, what a blessing. We feel faith rising on the inside because you are a powerful God, and you want powerful children.
You don't want no jelly back, wimps. You want strong, steadfast citizens who can handle a good fight, even get a little bloody and still win.
Thank you, tonight. I pray your hand be upon each one of these beautiful citizens for God. Help us to trust you everything, not for everything, but in everything.
on Aug 28, 2024
