GOD PLEASING FAITH

Setting The Focus On Faith

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Faith Is Now Not Was

0:18 SPEAKER_01: I'd like you to turn to the book of Hebrews, the 11th chapter, and I'm going to talk to you today about God-pleasing faith.

0:26 SPEAKER_01: We read the word of the Lord often, and many times we're searching for things from God and we're asking God questions, and especially when we have great needs ourselves.

0:38 SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's from sickness or other forms of tragedy, and we're trying to release our faith.

0:46 SPEAKER_01: And in those times, I'll tell you it takes every bit of energy within us, but the greatest strength that I have found is in the word of the Lord.

0:55 SPEAKER_01: I have found that when we read the word of the Lord, many answers are there for us.

1:01 SPEAKER_01: Today I'm going to talk about God-pleasing faith.

1:05 SPEAKER_01: The kind of faith that pleases God.

1:08 SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could please God all the time?

1:12 SPEAKER_01: Like, we want to.

1:14 SPEAKER_01: Nobody wants to have God upset with them.

1:16 SPEAKER_01: We want to have that assurance that God is pleased with us, that we're making the right decisions, we're making the right moves.

1:26 SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to go to Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1.

1:33 SPEAKER_01: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

1:40 SPEAKER_01: You're not a believer too long until that scripture starts becoming very real and very relevant to you.

1:48 SPEAKER_01: You read these verses and you look at them, and suddenly something just starts standing out to you.

1:55 SPEAKER_01: And the thing that really hit me this week when I was looking at this, now faith is, not faith was.

2:06 SPEAKER_01: A lot of times people try to make faith was.

2:10 SPEAKER_01: It was there when I was 16 and I needed that.

2:13 SPEAKER_01: Or that was okay for the 1930s and the 1950s, and that's okay for some people in some of these countries because in these other countries they can find God so easy.

2:26 SPEAKER_01: But I have found that faith is the same, and it's no harder, it's no more difficult in Canada than it is in Uganda.

2:36 SPEAKER_01: It's no more difficult in Japan than it is in Bolivia.

2:40 SPEAKER_01: I'm here to tell you today, faith is, not was.

2:46 SPEAKER_01: And Hebrews chapter 11 talks about various heroes of faith in the Old Testament.

2:55 SPEAKER_01: Let's go down into verse 3.

The Creative Power Of God’s Word

2:58 SPEAKER_01: Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

3:10 SPEAKER_01: All things visible that you can see with your eye have been made possible by the Word of God.

3:23 SPEAKER_01: The cherry tree, the whale, the mountains, you, your relationship with the Lord, everything that you see was prepared or was made possible by the word of God.

3:44 SPEAKER_01: That if we need a miracle, if we're believing God for an impossible situation or whatever we find ourselves face with, wanting to go on in the Lord, wanting to find the Lord, wanting to be filled with the Holy Spirit, whatever it is that we are seeking, we will find that if we apply the Word of God to that situation, it will come to pass.

4:13 SPEAKER_01: All things were prepared by the Word of God.

4:18 SPEAKER_01: The Word is creative.

4:21 SPEAKER_01: And that's what faith does.

4:23 SPEAKER_01: For faith to happen, we are expecting and believing for God to create an answer.

4:32 SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna say, how is that possible?

4:34 SPEAKER_01: Here I am, maybe a young believer, only a few months in the faith.

4:38 SPEAKER_01: Maybe a believer has been saved 50, 60 years.

4:42 SPEAKER_01: And you're gonna say, what do I do?

4:45 SPEAKER_01: How is this possible?

Speak The Word To Activate Faith

4:47 SPEAKER_01: The word, according to Romans chapter 10, verse 8.

4:51 SPEAKER_01: Think about this, it's in our mouth.

4:55 SPEAKER_01: When it says it's in our mouth, it's talking about our tongue, and our tongue is going to speak this word.

5:03 SPEAKER_01: The word of faith is in our mouth.

5:06 SPEAKER_01: That means that we have to make the decision that we're going to speak it and we're going to say it.

5:11 SPEAKER_01: Even though we don't have it, we're going to say it.

5:15 SPEAKER_01: Now, there are thousands, tens of thousands of authors who've written about the word of faith.

5:24 SPEAKER_01: The Bible talks about the word of faith.

5:26 SPEAKER_01: We hear people, oh, faith is happening and this is taking place, and they're stepping out and they're believing God and speaking it into existence.

5:35 SPEAKER_01: All of that is wonderful.

5:37 SPEAKER_01: But when we need a miracle, we must speak the word.

5:43 SPEAKER_01: That's why when we come to the Lord, and it says in Romans that if we'll confess with our mouth and believe in our hearts, we will be saved.

5:51 SPEAKER_01: We have to speak it out.

5:53 SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, I need you.

5:55 SPEAKER_01: I ask you to come into my heart, forgive me of my sins.

5:58 SPEAKER_01: That's what we do.

6:00 SPEAKER_01: We speak it out.

6:01 SPEAKER_01: It has to be spoken out loud.

6:03 SPEAKER_01: Isn't it interesting that God would have us speak it out loud?

6:10 SPEAKER_01: Verbally.

6:11 SPEAKER_01: We could think it in our heads, and you would think that would be enough.

6:16 SPEAKER_01: But the reason that you have to speak it out is because that's how faith activates.

6:22 SPEAKER_01: It comes by hearing.

6:24 SPEAKER_01: And we have to hear it.

6:26 SPEAKER_01: Literally, faith comes by hearing.

6:29 SPEAKER_01: Romans 10, 17.

6:32 SPEAKER_01: That's what it says.

6:33 SPEAKER_01: Faith comes by hearing.

6:36 SPEAKER_01: And hearing what you have to say on the matter, that pleases God.

6:44 SPEAKER_01: Hearing what you have to say about the matter.

6:48 SPEAKER_01: And most of us, especially when you're alone.

6:51 SPEAKER_01: When you're alone, you're thinking, like, how ridiculous does this sound and appear?

6:56 SPEAKER_01: I'm all alone.

6:57 SPEAKER_01: You're saying, oh God, I speak this into being.

7:02 SPEAKER_01: You know what that does?

7:04 SPEAKER_01: That builds you.

7:06 SPEAKER_01: So hearing by the word of God.

7:11 SPEAKER_01: That's what you're hearing by.

7:13 SPEAKER_01: People speak a lot of words, but when you're having to break free from something that you're entangled in, something that is gripping on you and won't let go of you, you have to speak it.

7:25 SPEAKER_01: And do I?

7:26 SPEAKER_01: Yes, I do.

7:29 SPEAKER_01: And I speak it.

7:31 SPEAKER_01: And when I speak it, I believe that the word of God is going to manifest.

7:36 SPEAKER_01: All that I know is that if I speak the word of the Lord and I follow on to do the word of the Lord, I'm expecting the result of what I speak.

7:46 SPEAKER_01: That's what faith is.

7:48 SPEAKER_01: Faith is the result of what you speak.

Hearing Builds Faith In Solitude

7:52 SPEAKER_01: 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 2.

7:56 SPEAKER_01: But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

8:16 SPEAKER_01: We cannot handle the word of God deceitfully.

8:21 SPEAKER_01: We cannot make the word of God and manipulate it and thinking, as soon as I get better again, and as soon as I get everything all back and get my money and what I need, in our mind, we're going to believe God now.

8:34 SPEAKER_01: But as soon as I get it, I'm going to go back and I'm going to do the same things I've always done.

8:40 SPEAKER_01: But they don't want to tell God that right away.

8:42 SPEAKER_01: They come into this realm and they'll say, Oh Lord, yes, I believe you and I stand upon your word, and Lord, I'm your child and do it.

8:51 SPEAKER_01: But inside of their heart, they're speaking that word deceptively, with really no intentions of allowing repentance or change to take place.

9:03 SPEAKER_01: And what they try to do is they try to corrupt the word.

9:08 SPEAKER_01: They try to corrupt the principle.

9:11 SPEAKER_01: They try to put things in there, these thoughts, and their heart is not pure toward that.

9:18 SPEAKER_01: Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6.

9:21 SPEAKER_01: We all know this one, I think, those of you who are believers and read the word.

God Rewards Manifested Faith

9:26 SPEAKER_01: But without faith, it's impossible to please him.

9:31 SPEAKER_01: For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Integrity In Handling Scripture

9:39 SPEAKER_01: Now, these rewards, sometimes we can think that these rewards are going to be when I die and I go to heaven and I got all those rewards there.

9:48 SPEAKER_01: I'm going to tell you, God also has rewards for right now.

9:52 SPEAKER_01: And God will reward you.

9:55 SPEAKER_01: And what would we think would be the great reward?

9:57 SPEAKER_01: A new house, a new car, money to go on a vacation to our favorite place in the world?

10:04 SPEAKER_01: What is it going to be?

10:06 SPEAKER_01: No.

10:07 SPEAKER_01: The reward is your faith is going to produce, or your faith is going to manifest.

10:14 SPEAKER_01: That is going to be the reward that I see applied because this is what we're talking about here in this chapter.

10:21 SPEAKER_01: When God rewards it, I believe that the manifestation of our word that we spoke, that is the reward.

10:30 SPEAKER_01: That is the answer.

10:33 SPEAKER_01: Pleasing God is vital for a Christian's walk.

10:38 SPEAKER_01: We cannot think for one moment that we can continue to go our own way.

10:43 SPEAKER_01: No, pleasing God is absolutely vital.

10:47 SPEAKER_01: And that's why we'll get the teaching on denying self.

10:52 SPEAKER_01: For he that cometh to God must believe that he is.

10:56 SPEAKER_01: So when I look at this word here, it tells me that faith answers are going to come.

11:03 SPEAKER_01: It's not a question of hit and miss.

11:06 SPEAKER_01: It's a question of every time I believe it's going to happen.

11:11 SPEAKER_01: If I fail to do that, if I fail to look for a response or look for an answer from God, if I fail to do that, I'm going to be not completing the full walk of faith and bringing it out.

11:27 SPEAKER_01: In Hebrews 11, 13, these all died in faith.

11:32 SPEAKER_01: He talked about Abraham and Moses and various other individuals here.

11:37 SPEAKER_01: They all died in faith, having not received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

11:53 SPEAKER_01: Now look back at the beginning, not having received the promises, but they all had faith.

11:59 SPEAKER_01: All that you need to activate your faith is in verse 13.

12:04 SPEAKER_01: Verse 13 has all the characteristics that you have faith.

Four Steps From Hebrews 11:13

12:11 SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes I'll hear people say, brother, you've got faith.

12:14 SPEAKER_01: And I had a sister that had faith.

12:16 SPEAKER_01: And I know this preacher.

12:18 SPEAKER_01: Oh, is he a mighty man of faith?

12:21 SPEAKER_01: But they cannot seem to understand and realize that they themselves must understand that it's all given to us right here in verse 13 of what it takes to activate faith.

12:36 SPEAKER_01: It's all right here in verse 13.

12:39 SPEAKER_01: Number one, having seen.

12:42 SPEAKER_01: Seen what?

12:43 SPEAKER_01: You see the revelation.

12:45 SPEAKER_01: You got the word, you see the revelation.

12:49 SPEAKER_01: God working in other situations where people say, there's no way that would have happened.

12:54 SPEAKER_01: That was a miracle.

12:55 SPEAKER_01: This should not have happened.

12:58 SPEAKER_01: When you get ready to go into a meeting, I was preaching in Guyana, South America, a number of years ago.

13:06 SPEAKER_01: Actually, I was in a church that they normally just had a small congregation, 20 on a Sunday morning.

13:14 SPEAKER_01: I was there, we had 400 people, maybe more.

13:18 SPEAKER_01: You couldn't count them.

13:19 SPEAKER_01: It was in the dark, they were everywhere.

13:21 SPEAKER_01: The building was jammed outside.

13:23 SPEAKER_01: And I said, Oh God, tonight, just let everything flow.

13:27 SPEAKER_01: And we had to have a microphone because people were outside, even though my voice was loud and there was a street.

13:33 SPEAKER_01: And so I was grabbing the microphone, and the pastor who was sitting at the organ, or at the time they had an organ there, and he was sitting and playing the organ for the meeting, and he's sitting there, he tells me this afterwards.

13:47 SPEAKER_01: He's just sitting there and bouncing because I'm using this microphone and this amplifier, and he was telling me, he said, Don, he said, there's no way that amplifier would work.

13:58 SPEAKER_01: He says, That amplifier has not worked for years.

14:01 SPEAKER_01: We just never bothered throwing it out.

14:03 SPEAKER_01: And he took me, he showed me, and it in those days had all these tubes in it, and he showed me all the tubes that were missing.

14:10 SPEAKER_01: It was impossible for this thing to work.

14:13 SPEAKER_01: But I grabbed the microphone.

14:15 SPEAKER_01: I'm moving, faith is charging in the meeting, and I'm grabbing this microphone and I'm preaching, and the sound is coming out.

14:23 SPEAKER_01: If you've got faith, nothing's gonna stand in your way.

14:26 SPEAKER_01: It's going to happen.

14:28 SPEAKER_01: You just move for it.

14:30 SPEAKER_01: You have to see that God can make the way for you.

14:34 SPEAKER_01: You gotta see that.

Miracle Story: The Dead Amplifier

14:35 SPEAKER_01: You gotta see that it's possible.

14:38 SPEAKER_01: If you can't see it, you ain't gonna get it, as the old fellow says.

14:43 SPEAKER_01: So the second thing that I am able to share with you out of verse 13 is having seen afar off, they're not near you, they're in another dimension.

14:58 SPEAKER_01: Actually, your answer is in another dimension.

15:01 SPEAKER_01: And somehow you got to connect the answer to your need.

15:04 SPEAKER_01: But having seen afar off, now I know it's talking about the promises of God, but it's also, remember, this whole chapter is talking about faith.

15:14 SPEAKER_01: Look at this next thing we have to understand.

15:17 SPEAKER_01: Persuaded.

15:20 SPEAKER_01: See it, and now you have to be persuaded it's going to happen.

15:30 SPEAKER_01: Persuaded.

15:32 SPEAKER_01: I know the mind of God, I know what God wants me to do, and I'm persuaded, I am persuaded He's going to do it.

15:42 SPEAKER_01: Lots of times people hope.

15:44 SPEAKER_01: Lots of times people say, I might get lucky and it'll work this time.

15:48 SPEAKER_01: No, be persuaded.

15:50 SPEAKER_01: Many times people are shocked because that happens.

15:55 SPEAKER_01: I'm shocked if it doesn't.

15:58 SPEAKER_01: Do you understand?

15:59 SPEAKER_01: Like, you have to have that understanding of faith.

16:02 SPEAKER_01: Now you're not going to get here overnight.

16:04 SPEAKER_01: You're going to start off just like anything else.

16:06 SPEAKER_01: You're going to be taking those baby steps, you're going to be stepping out.

16:10 SPEAKER_01: But I'm going to tell you, as you exercise, as you take authority, and as you begin to put the word of God into action in every situation that you're faced with impossibilities, and believe God.

16:25 SPEAKER_01: It works.

16:26 SPEAKER_01: This is the kind of faith that pleases God.

Seeing Afar Off And Being Persuaded

16:30 SPEAKER_01: So you see it.

16:32 SPEAKER_01: Secondly, this is all in Hebrews 11, 13.

16:36 SPEAKER_01: You have to be persuaded.

16:39 SPEAKER_01: In other words, your mother's not going to talk you out of it.

16:44 SPEAKER_01: Okay?

16:45 SPEAKER_01: Your best friend isn't going to tell you that there is no God and this kind of stuff doesn't work.

16:52 SPEAKER_01: You get the picture.

16:56 SPEAKER_01: Persuaded, being persuaded, not going to be, not was, being.

17:04 SPEAKER_01: Present tense.

17:06 SPEAKER_01: That word being, English wasn't my top subject in school, but I do think that I'm fairly close here.

17:13 SPEAKER_01: Being is present tense.

17:15 SPEAKER_01: Everything about faith is present tense.

17:20 SPEAKER_01: It produces on the spot, makes the way for you.

17:24 SPEAKER_01: Right there.

17:26 SPEAKER_01: Being.

17:29 SPEAKER_01: Persuaded.

17:30 SPEAKER_01: Verse 13.

17:32 SPEAKER_01: You were persuaded of them.

17:34 SPEAKER_01: And then the next step, there's four of them.

17:37 SPEAKER_01: The next step is embracing.

17:41 SPEAKER_01: Take it.

17:43 SPEAKER_01: If you need a thousand dollars, see yourself counting out the thousand dollars.

17:51 SPEAKER_01: Embrace it.

17:53 SPEAKER_01: Look for it.

17:54 SPEAKER_01: See it happen.

17:54 SPEAKER_01: You're fully persuaded.

17:56 SPEAKER_01: You're going to go and you're going to get that bill paid or you're going to purchase whatever it is required.

18:03 SPEAKER_01: You see it.

18:04 SPEAKER_01: You see it in the realm of the Spirit.

Embrace And Confess Your Answer

18:07 SPEAKER_01: I'm preparing right now to go into meetings in Central America next week.

18:12 SPEAKER_01: And listen to me.

18:14 SPEAKER_01: I've already seen myself.

18:16 SPEAKER_01: Yes, I already see myself preaching in churches that I've never yet been in.

18:23 SPEAKER_01: And I've got meetings lined up and I'm going to be there.

18:26 SPEAKER_01: But I actually see myself in the meetings.

18:29 SPEAKER_01: I see myself speaking.

18:32 SPEAKER_01: I see that.

18:34 SPEAKER_01: I'm persuaded it's going to happen, no matter the opposition.

18:38 SPEAKER_01: And I embrace it.

18:40 SPEAKER_01: I seize a hold of that.

18:42 SPEAKER_01: And I don't see myself doing anything else differently.

18:46 SPEAKER_01: I see that happening right then.

18:48 SPEAKER_01: I have the faith for that.

18:49 SPEAKER_01: I see people coming to the Lord.

18:54 SPEAKER_01: I'm just talking about where I am and what I'm needing right now.

18:57 SPEAKER_01: I see the money that I need coming in.

19:00 SPEAKER_01: I see that.

19:02 SPEAKER_01: I don't see God arranging and setting up and me going someplace and God not speaking to people.

19:08 SPEAKER_01: Like I just see it happening.

19:11 SPEAKER_01: Amen.

19:12 SPEAKER_01: I've given my life.

19:13 SPEAKER_01: This is what I do.

19:14 SPEAKER_01: You might have a job where you're a high-paid construction worker or welder.

19:19 SPEAKER_01: You know, you may be high up in some company, but I serve the living God and I embrace his purpose in my life.

19:32 SPEAKER_01: And I embrace this faith.

19:35 SPEAKER_01: I live it.

19:37 SPEAKER_01: It's mine.

19:39 SPEAKER_01: Nobody can take it away.

19:41 SPEAKER_01: The devil can't come and tear it away from me.

19:44 SPEAKER_01: I embrace it.

19:45 SPEAKER_01: It means I've taken a hold of it.

19:49 SPEAKER_01: It's mine.

19:52 SPEAKER_01: I will not be robbed.

19:54 SPEAKER_01: Let's go on to this next one here in verse 13.

19:58 SPEAKER_01: Let's see this.

20:00 SPEAKER_01: They all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them.

20:10 SPEAKER_01: They believed that was what was going to happen.

20:13 SPEAKER_01: And embraced them.

20:15 SPEAKER_01: And one more thing.

20:17 SPEAKER_01: And confessed.

20:20 SPEAKER_01: See, persuaded.

20:24 SPEAKER_01: Embrace.

20:26 SPEAKER_01: Confess.

20:28 SPEAKER_01: It works every time.

20:30 SPEAKER_01: No matter how you mix it up or how whatever language you speak it in, no matter how your mind works, it's all here.

20:42 SPEAKER_01: The word of God has all the answers there for us.

Salvation Healing And Spirit By Faith

20:46 SPEAKER_01: Let's face it, most people would have needs pretty well every month or every week or something.

20:53 SPEAKER_01: And especially in their walk with the Lord.

20:56 SPEAKER_01: See, it's the same way when people come to the Lord.

21:00 SPEAKER_01: They have to make up their minds.

21:02 SPEAKER_01: They have to say, can I do this?

21:03 SPEAKER_01: Can I embrace this?

21:05 SPEAKER_01: Am I persuaded that this is what I need?

21:08 SPEAKER_01: I'm going to confess.

21:10 SPEAKER_01: Yes, I need the Lord.

21:12 SPEAKER_01: That's how it works to get salvation.

21:14 SPEAKER_01: And it works that way to be healed, to be full of the Spirit.

21:18 SPEAKER_01: That's how it works.

21:20 SPEAKER_01: God moves by faith.

21:23 SPEAKER_01: Confess.

21:26 SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 14 of Hebrews chapter 11.

Declare Plainly And Possess Now

21:29 SPEAKER_01: Look at this.

21:31 SPEAKER_01: For they that say such things.

21:38 SPEAKER_01: Declare plainly.

21:41 SPEAKER_01: And I'm looking for this place.

21:42 SPEAKER_01: And I want to be in this position where I possess that which is needed right now.

21:47 SPEAKER_01: And that's what you need right now.

21:51 SPEAKER_01: God pleasing faith.

21:55 SPEAKER_00: For more ministry podcasts, visit our website and subscribe to doncarpenter.ca.