If you ever wonder why we come together
corporately in large numbers, it's for very nights
like tonight for corporate outpouring and corporate encouragement,
corporate hearing of the voice of God.
And I believe the things that the Spirit
of God wants to say through his word
through me tonight are going to further on
what's happened already in our midst.
I just want to let our community know
about something that will be happening this week
at school.
We really felt that it's a critical time,
that there's so much that's happening before us
in terms of the move of the FIRE
campus and base to Charlotte, ongoing plans with
the FIRE church plant here in Pensacola, ongoing
developments with our school in New York City,
the ongoing need for release of funds, release
of direction.
Many have been pressing in and seeking the
face of God for many months now, and
we've had some times over the past year
of corporate prayer and fasting, but just felt
the need for another focused day.
So we just want to encourage all of
you whose heart prompts you.
We're going to be fasting at least 24
hours together, so whatever you want to add
to that on either side, go for it.
But from dinner to dinner, Wednesday to Thursday,
just as a community, and if we have
gatherings at homes or different things on Wednesday
night, it'd be great to spend extra time
in prayer.
But then the schedule Thursday is this.
In your homes, wherever you are, I'd encourage
you to spend extra time in prayer, just
for breakthrough, for the releasing of everything that
God has for this moment, and bringing us
right where he wants to bring us.
And if you're normally part of the 8
a.m. prayer over at the New Hope
building, then by all means be there.
That'll be the official corporate start of things,
8 a.m. Thursday morning, this coming week.
If you are a student in the school
and you have an elective on Thursday morning,
show up for the elective, but there won't
be regular classes.
We'll just be spending the time in prayer.
And then students, you're invited to get there
early during the day to seek the face
of God with us, and then all of
our normal classes will be canceled through the
day, and we'll be spending, as a student
body, spending the day in prayer, seeking the
face of God together.
So I just want to encourage you, wherever
you are, however your schedule permits you to
join in, to please do that, and those
that are currently students of the school or
grads will be having that focused time gathering
together.
God is faithful, and it's going to be
extraordinary to see the things that he does
as we take him at his word.
Amen.
Well, let's pray.
Father, we thank you, O God, for the
outpouring of your joy in our midst tonight.
We thank you, Lord, for the outpouring of
encouragement in our midst tonight, for the way
you've spoken to us and the way your
spirit's moved on us.
Now, I pray, O God, through the preaching
and teaching of your word that further clarity
would come, that further foundations would be laid,
that you would take us deeper into your
presence, into your eternal holy reality.
Give us ears to hear what your spirit
is saying, Father, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Turn with me to the 11th chapter of
Hebrews.
I had been praying during the day about
which direction to go tonight, been meditating on
some things, and when some of us gathered
for prayer just to agree before we came
out for the service, suddenly something else completely
different dropped into my heart, and it's been
a direction that the whole service has gone
in many ways.
I don't normally think in terms of special
days, holidays, calendar days, but we do know
that this is a day that set aside
around the world for people to remember the
resurrection of Jesus.
And often people are thinking about this more
at this time of the year.
And everything that I say tonight ties in
with this divine reality that Jesus has risen
from the dead.
And I want to open some things up
to you regarding faith, regarding some things that
are happening in our midst and are about
to happen by the grace of God in
our midst.
I want to give you a message to
deepen your understanding of faith.
Other messages have been coming in recent weeks
that I believe have been pushing us, encouraging
us to take hold of many of these
truths.
And now I just add my voice to
that.
But not only is it a time for
a deepening of understanding, it's a time for
us to grow in faith.
It's a time for us to grow as
people of faith.
It's a time for the foundations that have
been laid to be built upon further by
the word and by the spirit.
I'm going to be reading from a different
translation.
It's the English standard version, new translation that
just came out a couple of years back.
Some months ago, my friend Sid Roth gave
me a call and asked me if I
had heard of this and I didn't even
know about the translation.
He was curious to get my opinion about
it.
And I got it and started reading it
and was really pleased with the style of
it and the accuracy of it in many
ways.
So I just decided to bring it and
read it tonight.
It's not for any specific insight into any
specific verse.
So if it reads exactly the same as
what you have in front of you, that's
fine.
But I'm just telling you, that's what I'm
reading from Hebrews 11.
Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped
for, the conviction of things not seen.
So what the word of God is telling
us here is that we're hoping for something.
It hasn't happened yet.
If it's already happened, we're not hoping for
it.
We're not hoping that Aaron and Holly will
have a baby soon because they just had
a baby this morning.
We're hoping for things that have not yet
materialized.
We're hoping for things that we've not yet
experienced.
We're hoping one day for the resurrection of
our bodies and to be with the Lord
forever and ever.
And faith is what gives us the assurance
that the things that we've hoped for will
actually happen.
Faith locks it in so that hope is
a reality to us.
It's the conviction of things not seen.
It's not a matter of, you know, it
would be nice if these unseen things were
true.
It would be nice if there was this
other realm, if it would be nice if
God was really there.
I like to think about it sometimes.
No, it's an absolute conviction.
It's an absolute knowing.
It's as if legal evidence has been presented
that cannot be refuted.
And we know that we know that the
things that we don't see are real by
faith.
Faith is not fantasy.
Faith is not creating another reality.
Faith is taking hold of what is truly
real.
Excuse me.
We've said this before, but just remember when
Jesus rose from the dead, you can read
in the ends of of the different gospels
that some of the disciples were still not
believing the reports.
The reality was he had risen.
Faith was not to manufacture that a dead
man was alive.
Faith was not denial of reality.
Faith was simply taking hold of reality.
Unbelief was denying reality.
Sometimes we think of it differently and the
world looks at us like we're crazy, as
if we're living in a fantasy world or
living in some kind of denial.
But the fact is, those who are unbelieving
are living in a fantasy world and are
living in denial.
And those who take hold of faith are
taking hold of reality.
We don't create this.
We don't just decide what we're going to
believe.
But when we put our trust in what
God has said, when we put our trust
in who God is, that is taking hold
of reality.
That is faith.
And as we were exhorted earlier in a
word that was spoken to lean on the
Lord so that we'd we'd fall over if
he wasn't supporting us.
That's what faith does.
Faith is not one option out of many.
Faith squarely, completely puts itself in God and
says, this is it.
I'm not talking about an emotional state.
I'm not talking about presumption, but we just
think if I'll just step out, then God
will be with me.
It doesn't make it happen.
If you think, well, if I just go
in this direction or if I just believe
this or if I just say this, it
will happen.
No, friends, that can mess everything up.
Our faith is always a response to who
God is or to what God has said.
Our faith is simply a leaning on what
he has revealed as true.
So faith is the assurance of things hoped
for, the conviction of things not seen for
by it, the people of old receive their
commendation.
By faith, we understand that the universe was
created by the word of God so that
what is seen was not made out of
things that are visible.
Scientific evidence may one day validate things that
God says, but that has nothing to do
with faith.
Being mentally convinced of something has nothing to
do with faith.
Faith is a spiritual transaction.
It is not simply now I am convinced
logically or rationally, but I am convinced because
of God.
So even though I don't see it, even
though we talk about God being the creator
and none of us have ever seen him
in an earthly way, touched him in an
earthly way, we were not there when the
universe was made by faith.
We declare that's how it happened.
And we consider everything else unbelief, folly that
says that the universe was not created by
God.
By faith, Abel offered to God a more
acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was
commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting
his gifts.
And through his faith, though he died, he
still speaks by faith.
Enoch was taken up so that he should
not see death and he was not found
because God had taken him.
Now, before he was taken, he was commended
as having pleased God.
And without faith, it is impossible to please
him.
For whoever would draw near to God must
believe that he exists and that he rewards
those who seek him, those who diligently seek
him without faith.
It is impossible to please.
When you go through scripture, when you read
through the New Testament, when you look at
the Gospels, it's impossible to get away from
the central importance of faith.
When you read the epistles, when you read
the teaching of justification, it's impossible to get
away from the centrality of faith.
And when you read all the lessons in
the Hebrew scriptures in the Old Testament, it's
impossible to get away from the centrality of
faith.
Faith is not the only thing.
If you have faith, but you don't have
character, you're not going to make it.
If you have faith, but you don't walk
in love, you're not going to make it.
If you have faith and you play games
with sin, you're not going to make it.
But on the flip side, without faith, you're
not going to make it.
Without faith, you can't even please God.
Because the most fundamental thing must begin with
that you believe he exists, you believe he
is, and you believe that he rewards you
when you seek him.
You believe that when you go after him
and you believe him, not by our works
of righteousness, but by dependence on him, that
that pleases him, that he will reward, that
he will answer.
This is fundamental.
I'll say again, faith is not fantasy.
Faith takes hold of eternal reality.
When Paul writes to the Corinthians and says,
we don't look at the things that we
see, but at the things that we don't
see, because the things that we see are
temporary, but the things that we don't see
are eternal.
He is speaking truth.
He is not in denial.
Circumstances change.
Circumstances do not determine what is ultimately real.
Often circumstances can be deceiving.
Circumstances can look one way one minute and
another way another minute.
Circumstances can change based on what our perspectives
are.
But faith doesn't change.
If you're moved by circumstances, then there's something
lacking in your faith.
Walk with God.
If you're moved by emotions, if you're moved
by what happens and how things look, then
something is lacking in the foundation of your
faith in God.
And I don't say that to discourage.
I say that to encourage, because God is
here to be believed in and adored.
God has been inviting us through the night
to call out to him and believe in
him.
He desires to reveal himself to us.
You say, is there any particular reason that
you're bringing a message like this now?
Well, on the one hand, we always need
it.
On the one hand, it's always true.
On the one hand, as long as we
are in this world, we need to be
reminded.
We need to be encouraged.
If we were going through severe persecution, like
some of our brothers and sisters are around
the world, hey, we need to be reminded
about it.
Our light and momentary affliction, Paul writes about
it.
He said, works for us are far more
exceeding an eternal weight of glory.
Paul says, I consider the sufferings of this
present age are not even worth comparing with
the glory to be revealed in us.
Maybe believers going through severe persecution and hardship,
separated from family, put in prison, tortured.
Sure, they need to be reminded of the
eternal reality of things.
But then we also living here in the
midst of luxurious America, some others visiting from
Europe and other parts of the world.
We here who have so much at our
fingertips, who can look at the things of
this earth and think this is it.
We need to be reminded also.
We need to take hold of eternal truth.
But I also feel that that we are
again at one of these moments and it's
been spoken through others prophetically tonight.
I believe the spirit has been speaking with
one voice through different people tonight and that
it is time for many of us to
be getting out of the boats and walking
on the water.
It is time for many of us to
to step into things that we've not stepped
into before.
Again, I'm not talking about presumption.
I'm not talking about some carnal pressure that
we feel as if we have to conform.
Faith never comes out of trying to prove
something to somebody.
Faith never arises out of feeling some earthly
pressure to do what everybody else is doing.
But on the other hand, we can encourage
one another in faith.
We can believe God and your faith in
God encourages me and my faith in God
encourages you.
And we say one to another, be strong
in the Lord of good courage.
We say, like Paul said in Acts 27.
They're in a dire situation, it looks miserable,
it looks like everybody on this boat filled
with prisoners and soldiers, everybody's going to die.
Who knows what it's like to be in
a miserable storm like that out at sea
and day and night.
There's no light day and night.
It looks like you're about to go overboard
day and night.
Everything is shaking literally.
Then an angel of the Lord appears to
Paul and based on a word from God,
not based on a change in circumstances, based
on a word from God, he says, I
believe everybody's going to be all right.
I have faith in God that he's going
to do what he said.
Paul writes to the Corinthians and explains how
the spirit works in different ways in different
people's lives through the body.
And one of the gifts, one of the
manifestations of the spirit he speaks of is
the gift of faith.
You say, well, don't we all have faith?
Of course, without faith, we can't be saved
without faith.
We don't overcome the world.
He who believes in his baptized shall be
saved without faith.
It's not going to happen.
But then there's a gift of faith.
There's a supernatural working.
It can be something that comes up over
and over in someone's life.
It can be something that manifests itself at
a given time in a given way.
But at those moments, it seems as if
you are jet propelled by God, just like
every one of us can pray for healing.
And according to Scripture, the elder should be
able to pray the prayer of faith for
healing.
There's also a gift of healing or gifts
of healing where there are supernatural dimensions where
we're instead of just being sporadic, it's like
a river, it's like a flow.
I believe God wants to manifest gift of
faith in the hearts and lives of different
ones here.
And on a certain level, I'm not making
doctrine out of this, but just talking on
a practical level.
On a certain level, there are seasons.
We are we are all carried together on
a wave of faith.
There are seasons when it seems like God
is just there in such a dimension that
it's easier to believe that in fact, it's
hard to not believe.
You say, well, if you're trying to encourage
us to faith, then how come you're so
serious instead of preaching a message that has
us all shouting, amen, because it's not a
matter of getting you worked up.
This is not some carnal battle cry.
Emotionalism gets worked up over nothing.
Or people who think if they just say
something that they can create reality by just
saying something.
I didn't fail the test.
I got an A.
All that is is delusion.
But on the flip side, when we keep
the word of God before us, when we
keep it in our hearts, in our minds,
on our lips, when we listen to the
voice of the spirit of God, faith rises
as a natural consequence because we're hearing God's
perspective.
We're hearing what he's saying.
There was a word spoken out during the
service tonight from Jeremiah 33.
Many of us know the promise called to
me and I'll answer you and show you
great and mighty things that you don't know.
When was the promise spoken?
When was the promise given?
It was given in Jeremiah chapter 33.
Let me just read you the background to
the promise.
This is what's written Jeremiah 33.
One, the word of the Lord came to
Jeremiah a second time while he was still
shut up in the court of the guard.
He's a prisoner.
Things are not looking good.
In fact, the Babylonian armies are marching against
the people of Judah and the temple's about
to be destroyed.
It's one of the darkest days in Judah's
history.
Thus says the Lord who made the earth,
the Lord who formed it to establish it.
The Lord is his name.
Call to me and I'll answer you and
we'll tell you great and hidden things that
you have not known.
What a time for a word like that.
Just as the storm is breaking out and
Jeremiah is himself a prisoner.
God says, I'm going to show you wonderful,
sunny, beautiful days to come.
For this says the Lord, the God of
Israel, concerning the houses of the city and
the houses of the kings of Judah that
were torn down to make a defense against
the siege mounds and against the sword.
They are coming in to fight against the
Chaldeans and to fill them with the dead
bodies of men whom I shall strike down
in my anger and my wrath.
This is not exactly what you're expecting when
God gives you a good word.
He's saying bad stuff's going to happen, but
that's not the end of the story.
I've hid my face from the city because
of all their evil.
Behold, I will bring it to health and
healing.
I will heal them and reveal to them
abundance of prosperity and security.
I'll restore the fortunes of Judah and the
fortunes of Israel and rebuild them as they
were at first.
I will cleanse them from all the guilt
of their sin against me and I will
forgive all the guilt of their sin and
rebellion against me.
And this city shall be to me a
name of joy, a praise and a glory
before all the nations of the earth who
shall hear all the good that I do
for them.
They shall fear and tremble because of all
the good and all the prosperity I provide
for it.
This is the Lord in this place of
which you say it is a waste without
man or beast in the cities of Judah
and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate
without man or inhabitant or beast.
There shall be heard again the voice of
mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice
of the bridegroom, the voice of the bride,
the voices of those who sing as they
bring thank offerings to the house of the
Lord.
Give thanks to the Lord of hosts for
the Lord is good for steadfast love endures
forever for our restore the fortunes of the
land is at first.