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Posts Tagged ‘Substance and Evidence’

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Scripture reading: Mark 11:24

Brethren, let me tell you a secret today. Do you know that you have the power to create? Do you know that God has put in our hands the power to create that which is not, to make it be? He said in Mark 11:24, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” If you can believe, then you shall have it. Not may, not probably, but SHALL. So if you can believe, it creates the thing! Yes! It creates the thing. But one of our problems is that sometimes when we ask for the thing and God gives us what we need, we find a gap between what we want and what we need. But God is going to give us what we need! Amen.

I’ve heard some people who ask God for a husband or a wife, and after they get the husband or the wife, they start wondering if it was God because they are running into deep waters. That’s a crime! Anytime your heart is satisfied that it is God, then it is God! For God will not allow you to be deceived believing it is God! What am I saying? I am taking you into deep waters. If you believe without the shadow of a doubt that this is what God says and God doesn’t tell you that you are wrong, you are right! Of course, I am speaking to the pure heart now, because people do deceive themselves. People deceive themselves! But God gave us a promise in the Word. This promise is in John 7:17, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” I hold God to it! It is a bit not too clear, but what Jesus actually said was that if any man desires to do the will of God, the responsibility is no longer his, but it is God’s to know what to do. Do you understand? You desire with your whole heart to serve God. I know, and God knows, and you know that you won’t serve God perfectly today, if you just get the desire. But you got the seed, that’s the first step in desire. Do you understand? You must have a godly desire, and the desire must be of God. The desire must be pure, the desire must be perfect. In other words, you have no “maybe” or “probably.” “I desire this, but maybe…” No, God says anyone who wavers is like the waves of the sea and he will receive nothing from the Lord (James 1:6). If you waver you will receive nothing from the Lord.

God said that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). You must have the substance before you have the evidence. So, what you need to do is to get the substance. “Lord, how do I get the substance?” I get the substance from God when I open myself to God. For example, when you sing, you open up yourselves to God (or at least, that’s what you should be doing). You begin to sing and open up to God and let the Spirit flow through. The thoughts of the song begin to form something in you, that is, you are being made, you are not finished. None of us is finished; we are being made. So, YOU must actively begin to seek the substance to make your house right for God. Things will come to you; God will show you things that are wrong with you in particular. And sometimes you don’t have to tell anybody. You don’t go around and say, “Brother So-and-so, I’m a thief. Sister So-and-so, I’m this. Brother So-and-so, I feel this way bad against you, and the other one…..” No, no, no, no. Go to God. Let God heal His temple. For God is coming into His temple, and within a few years, not many years from now, when the destruction comes, God is going to hide us in His pavilion by incorporating us with His Spirit. But we have to start from now. If we don’t start now, we are going to be left behind. We have to begin to believe God.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, September 8, 2002, pg. 7-10)

Thought for today: You must have the substance before you have the evidence. So, what you need to do is to get the substance.

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[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Hebrews 11:1

Today, I want to talk to you a little bit about faith, what it really is and how to walk in it, because sometimes you know a thing but you don’t know how to do it. That is a real problem. We will look at Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is the substance of things that we hope for and when you have the substance, you have the evidence. In other words, when you go to court, the first thing they ask you is, “Where are your evidences?” You have to have different people come and say, “I saw so-and-so,” and then the judge believes it. But God is saying that faith is not only a substance, but it is also evidence.

Now, let us consider what kind of a substance this is. Let me give you an example: if you want to make a podium here, you have to go and get wood. After you get the wood and get it all cut into the right place, you have to get a cover for it, maybe something laminated. You had to get the substance for this particular thing. But when you have the substance, you don’t have the podium as yet, do you? But you have to use the substance to produce the podium with some labor. It does not take just one BAM and the whole thing comes at one time, but you have to walk it out. You have to get the nails, the fasteners, whatever it is, and you have to walk it out.

One day in the service, many, many years ago, before some of you were born, the Lord spoke and said, “Faith is an unseen light that shines more and more every step of the way you venture to take!” Now, that’s not in the Bible but the Lord said it. Faith is an unseen light. If you can see it, it’s not faith. If you make a plan to get so much and to do so much, it is not faith. It is a plan. But God is talking about raw faith.

God said that faith is the substance. Brethren, I am going to ask you a very serious question. Do you walk by faith? Come, let’s get back to this morning. You got up, you had so and so to do, so and so to look after breakfast, clean house, do this, do that. Do you really walk by faith? God is challenging you. Walk by faith! Do you know what it is to walk? Let me show you how people walk; maybe you forgot. You go right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot; that is how you walk. But what if I jump forward? Did I walk? No, I jumped! Some of you believe that, because you have faith, you must jump from one place to another. God says, “Walk by faith.” Do you understand what that means? It means that you must make little steps, step by step, step by step, step by step. You are not going to be all good the same day, but you must walk by faith.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, September 8, 2002, pg. 4-6)

Thought for today: Do you really walk by faith? God is challenging you. Walk by faith!

Read Full Post »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Mark 11:24

Brethren, let me tell you a secret today. Do you know that you have the power to create? Do you know that God has put in our hands the power to create that which is not, to make it be? He said in Mark 11:24, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” If you can believe, then you shall have it. Not may, not probably, but SHALL. So if you can believe, it creates the thing! Yes! It creates the thing. But one of our problems is that sometimes when we ask for the thing and God gives us what we need, we find a gap between what we want and what we need. But God is going to give us what we need! Amen.

I’ve heard some people who ask God for a husband or a wife, and after they get the husband or the wife, they start wondering if it was God because they are running into deep waters. That’s a crime! Anytime your heart is satisfied that it is God, then it is God! For God will not allow you to be deceived believing it is God! What am I saying? I am taking you into deep waters. If you believe without the shadow of a doubt that this is what God says and God doesn’t tell you that you are wrong, you are right! Of course, I am speaking to the pure heart now, because people do deceive themselves. People deceive themselves! But God gave us a promise in the Word. This promise is in John 7:17, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” I hold God to it! It is a bit not too clear, but what Jesus actually said was that if any man desires to do the will of God, the responsibility is no longer his, but it is God’s to know what to do. Do you understand? You desire with your whole heart to serve God. I know, and God knows, and you know that you won’t serve God perfectly today, if you just get the desire. But you got the seed, that’s the first step in desire. Do you understand? You must have a godly desire, and the desire must be of God. The desire must be pure, the desire must be perfect. In other words, you have no “maybe” or “probably.” “I desire this, but maybe…” No, God says anyone who wavers is like the waves of the sea and he will receive nothing from the Lord (James 1:6). If you waver you will receive nothing from the Lord.

God said that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). You must have the substance before you have the evidence. So, what you need to do is to get the substance. “Lord, how do I get the substance?” I get the substance from God when I open myself to God. For example, when you sing, you open up yourselves to God (or at least, that’s what you should be doing). You begin to sing and open up to God and let the Spirit flow through. The thoughts of the song begin to form something in you, that is, you are being made, you are not finished. None of us is finished; we are being made. So, YOU must actively begin to seek the substance to make your house right for God. Things will come to you; God will show you things that are wrong with you in particular. And sometimes you don’t have to tell anybody. You don’t go around and say, “Brother So-and-so, I’m a thief. Sister So-and-so, I’m this. Brother So-and-so, I feel this way bad against you, and the other one…..” No, no, no, no. Go to God. Let God heal His temple. For God is coming into His temple, and within a few years, not many years from now, when the destruction comes, God is going to hide us in His pavilion by incorporating us with His Spirit. But we have to start from now. If we don’t start now, we are going to be left behind. We have to begin to believe God.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, September 8, 2002, pg. 7-10)

Thought for today: You must have the substance before you have the evidence. So, what you need to do is to get the substance.

Read Full Post »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Hebrews 11:1

Today, I want to talk to you a little bit about faith, what it really is and how to walk in it, because sometimes you know a thing but you don’t know how to do it. That is a real problem. We will look at Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is the substance of things that we hope for and when you have the substance, you have the evidence. In other words, when you go to court, the first thing they ask you is, “Where are your evidences?” You have to have different people come and say, “I saw so-and-so,” and then the judge believes it. But God is saying that faith is not only a substance, but it is also evidence.

Now, let us consider what kind of a substance this is. Let me give you an example: if you want to make a podium here, you have to go and get wood. After you get the wood and get it all cut into the right place, you have to get a cover for it, maybe something laminated. You had to get the substance for this particular thing. But when you have the substance, you don’t have the podium as yet, do you? But you have to use the substance to produce the podium with some labor. It does not take just one BAM and the whole thing comes at one time, but you have to walk it out. You have to get the nails, the fasteners, whatever it is, and you have to walk it out.

One day in the service, many, many years ago, before some of you were born, the Lord spoke and said, “Faith is an unseen light that shines more and more every step of the way you venture to take!” Now, that’s not in the Bible but the Lord said it. Faith is an unseen light. If you can see it, it’s not faith. If you make a plan to get so much and to do so much, it is not faith. It is a plan. But God is talking about raw faith.

God said that faith is the substance. Brethren, I am going to ask you a very serious question. Do you walk by faith? Come, let’s get back to this morning. You got up, you had so and so to do, so and so to look after breakfast, clean house, do this, do that. Do you really walk by faith? God is challenging you. Walk by faith! Do you know what it is to walk? Let me show you how people walk; maybe you forgot. You go right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot; that is how you walk. But what if I jump forward? Did I walk? No, I jumped! Some of you believe that, because you have faith, you must jump from one place to another. God says, “Walk by faith.” Do you understand what that means? It means that you must make little steps, step by step, step by step, step by step. You are not going to be all good the same day, but you must walk by faith.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, September 8, 2002, pg. 4-6)

Thought for today: Do you really walk by faith? God is challenging you. Walk by faith!

Read Full Post »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Mark 11:24

Brethren, let me tell you a secret today. Do you know that you have the power to create? Do you know that God has put in our hands the power to create that which is not, to make it be? He said in Mark 11:24, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” If you can believe, then you shall have it. Not may, not probably, but SHALL. So if you can believe, it creates the thing! Yes! It creates the thing. But one of our problems is that sometimes when we ask for the thing and God gives us what we need, we find a gap between what we want and what we need. But God is going to give us what we need! Amen.

I’ve heard some people who ask God for a husband or a wife, and after they get the husband or the wife, they start wondering if it was God because they are running into deep waters. That’s a crime! Anytime your heart is satisfied that it is God, then it is God! For God will not allow you to be deceived believing it is God! What am I saying? I am taking you into deep waters. If you believe without the shadow of a doubt that this is what God says and God doesn’t tell you that you are wrong, you are right! Of course, I am speaking to the pure heart now, because people do deceive themselves. People deceive themselves! But God gave us a promise in the Word. This promise is in John 7:17, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” I hold God to it! It is a bit not too clear, but what Jesus actually said was that if any man desires to do the will of God, the responsibility is no longer his, but it is God’s to know what to do. Do you understand? You desire with your whole heart to serve God. I know, and God knows, and you know that you won’t serve God perfectly today, if you just get the desire. But you got the seed, that’s the first step in desire. Do you understand? You must have a godly desire, and the desire must be of God. The desire must be pure, the desire must be perfect. In other words, you have no “maybe” or “probably.” “I desire this, but maybe…” No, God says anyone who wavers is like the waves of the sea and he will receive nothing from the Lord (James 1:6). If you waver you will receive nothing from the Lord.

God said that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). You must have the substance before you have the evidence. So, what you need to do is to get the substance. “Lord, how do I get the substance?” I get the substance from God when I open myself to God. For example, when you sing, you open up yourselves to God (or at least, that’s what you should be doing). You begin to sing and open up to God and let the Spirit flow through. The thoughts of the song begin to form something in you, that is, you are being made, you are not finished. None of us is finished; we are being made. So, YOU must actively begin to seek the substance to make your house right for God. Things will come to you; God will show you things that are wrong with you in particular. And sometimes you don’t have to tell anybody. You don’t go around and say, “Brother So-and-so, I’m a thief. Sister So-and-so, I’m this. Brother So-and-so, I feel this way bad against you, and the other one…..” No, no, no, no. Go to God. Let God heal His temple. For God is coming into His temple, and within a few years, not many years from now, when the destruction comes, God is going to hide us in His pavilion by incorporating us with His Spirit. But we have to start from now. If we don’t start now, we are going to be left behind. We have to begin to believe God.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, September 8, 2002, pg. 7-10)

Thought for today: You must have the substance before you have the evidence. So, what you need to do is to get the substance.

Read Full Post »

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