Service Date: 10.18.18 8PM

[Music]

and while we’re standing I just want to

jump into the word is an honor to bring

the word today then let’s just jump into

it I’m gonna be speaking from Hebrews 11

verse 1 and 6 and so verse 1 says now

faith is the substance of things hoped

for the evidence of things not seeing

verse 6 jumps to say but without faith

it is impossible to please him for he

who comes to God must believe that he is

and that he is a rewarder for those who

diligently seek Him

father God we thank you for your word we

thank you for a moment in your presence

Lord Jesus that we are gathered not to

hear from man but to hear from you so

Lord God I think you I submit myself to

you as your vessel may the word that you

released through me speak to every heart

and mind in this house everyone watching

Lord God that you would activate faith

in this house in Jesus name Amen

just greet the person next year saw them

they look good

view the phone so that scripture I think

that scripture has so much weight to it

it says without faith it is impossible

to please God now it’s it’s very

interesting because without faith you

know faith is what creates room in our

lives for God to move in and through us

faith is when we create capacity for God

without faith with when there were there

is no faith rather it is the evidence

that there is the unawareness of the

knowledge of God concerning our lives

and so if we are unaware of God’s Word

concerning our lives we cannot partner

with him because we would not recognize

his resources or what they are for and

so without faith we cannot glorify God

because our lives does not look like

what he envisioned when he sends us on

the earth and so I find it also

interesting how the scripture talks

about the faith of a mustard seed would

move mountains we see that great men of

faith in them and in the Bible day they

would change a community they would

transform a nation miracles would break

out they would transform their families

and their lives and so my question is

what is this faith what is the faith

that God is speaking of that he says

without this you cannot please me what

does that look like in my experience I

have learned what it is not and I was

sure story this story might not sound

like a true story but it very well is

many years ago I say that like I’m 70

but but many years ago this was I for

three of my friends and I we were

casually talking about in this house who

would like to win the Mega Millions the

lottery come on somebody look at that I

am NOT alone so this is a very funny

very family so we were casually talking

about wow you know what happens if we

win the lottery and we were not talking

about gambling we just believed because

personally I believe God can do anything

and so we were like you know what we

should really pray that God will give us

the numbers to win the lottery

and so we all came together we’re like

man this thing we could be like just you

know 100 million dollars richer in about

a week so we can’t forget that we were

really serious because we just knew that

like God could really do anything so we

came together we’re like you know

obviously I didn’t come in here on the

jet so you should know how the story

ends but we came together and we said

yes you know we’re gonna pray about this

we’re gonna believe that God is gonna

give us the numbers and so everyone was

you know is responsible to put numbers

together and they need to all be in

alignment when we meet up and so we all

went our separate ways or like God we

just thank you that you are gonna give

us the numbers and so we were just me oh

we did this we wrote the numbers down we

met up and some of the numbers were not

clashing so we’re like you know we just

need to go deeper in our faith and let

the Lord speak because we were not

trying to gamble we said no but this is

a hit one get one so we went back we did

the whole thing again we checked the

numbers so we were like you know what

maybe the numbers that do match those

are the ones we can pick and just figure

out the rest so we did that we went we

play the lottery we did not win so we

came back together we were like okay

this is not right because we believe God

so we were like you know let’s go into

fasting and prayer and I was like you

know what we just have to exercise

greater faith we don’t even need to

check if we won we should know we won

and uh-oh where this story so we went

into like a 7-day fasting we were

praying every night God we just thank

you we without the vision for the money

we were like okay we’re gonna pay tithe

we’re gonna help the Lord’s work we’re

gonna give this money to the church we

allocated what we’re going to do with

our families this was a real thing and

so the time came we bought our ticket we

said nobody should even check online

because we just knew that we won we

called all our family members and I

remember I called my mom I said mom I

have great news I just won the Mega

Millions my mom was like you’re joking I

said no tell the family we told our

pastor we said you know what we just won

the Mega Millions they’re like we say

yeah we got it everyone and it was we

were like you know we just have to

believe God we have to put it all on the

line and know that God can do it so we

go to the office the lottery office

we’re so confident we’ve told our

families my mom is already planning a

new jet you know we go to the office we

have our ticket we’re smiling we’re

joyful

we’re going to the office we’re like oh

we came with the winning ticket the

woman scans it and she’s like I’m sorry

this is not the ticket real like no

check again the machine must be faulty

okay

and she checks it again it’s not we were

like oh no we need to go online and so

we went online it was not the numbers it

was devastating

I said i’ma go call my mother I said mom

this was a lie I wasn’t too sure so we

were like we took a moment we’re like

wait what are we supposed to do because

for us this was us having faith that we

said God you can do anything but this we

were not trying to gamble and buy 10

tickets every day no we said god this is

hit 1 get 1 okay

and when we left that place I was so

discouraged because I’m like God your

word says that whatever to agree on it

will be done for them we were 4 we

doubled up when that’s

Cosette I don’t understand this is not

adding up

okay and so we I remember calling my mom

and my mom was my brothers everybody was

just upset because they’re like how do

you play this kind of foolish games the

pastor thought we were crazy it was a

mess and we went back and I’m like God

how is that possible we had faith we put

it all on the line we said we’re willing

to look foolish for you and it did not

work how many people have ever felt

disappointed by what you thought you put

your faith on you see when I look back

on that it taught me two things about

faith the first thing is that the

Scriptures tells us that faith is the

substance of things hoped for it doesn’t

say that faith is things hoped for there

is a difference between substance and

things hoped for there’s a difference

between substance and expectation now in

the scripture substance can also be

translated to foundation now in in

construction we know that the strength

of a building lies in the foundation the

foundation is what anchors a building is

what it’s what you know bears the weight

of the building without a strong

foundation a structure would collapse if

there is a earthquake or any kinds of

disaster because there is nothing strong

enough to hold the weight against

natural disaster and so if substance is

speaking of foundation and it says that

faith is the substance of things hoped

for and then there is a kind of

expectation you would have that God

would back it up with substance that the

foundation that we speak of you see the

Bible talks about how faith comes by

hearing and hearing by the Word of God

now the word of God does not mean that

you know God is gonna come in and

audible and tell you exactly what you

need to do but it means that this word

of God can come by the way of

inspiration it can come by the way of

instinct it can come by the way of

divine strategy it can come by the way

of creativity wisdom anything that

pushes your expectation to the place of

manifestation but God is responsible for

this God is responsible for the

foundation when the expectation is what

he’s building and I began to learn that

when we isolate the two when we isolate

substance and expectation we recognize

that expectation can come from many ways

expectation can come from the Spirit of

God but expectation can also come from

fear expectation can come from societal

pressures it can come from so many

different outlets that it’s outside of

God and so when I look back and I

wondered I said you know what let me

look back on all the times that I felt

disappointed by God and to be honest

every time that I felt disappointed by

God something about my expectation was

rooted in fear at that time of our lives

the four of us we all had something in

common

we were very uncertain about the future

we had a fear of what God was going to

do with our lives moving forward because

we could not see it and so it was almost

as though deep down the reason we wanted

God to give us the megamillions was for

something to give us meaning to our

lives for something to say we have

arrived oh you can see me now that’s

something about there was not cha you

know you don’t see me with a jack

Ellison value but something about that

was about the idea that something

external could add value to me and

because that was not rooted in in God he

had no ties to back it up no matter how

foolish I wanted to make myself look

oftentimes we are we are running away

from our fears

and passing up the issue to God in the

context of prayer we pray about things

we don’t want to confront and then we

get disappointed when they don’t happen

you see one of the wants something I

used to fear greatly was death of a

loved one and so for many years I would

I never I kind of had a wall with how

close I get to people because I didn’t

want to get so close to you and then you

die this is weird but that was my fear

and recently the Lord said that showing

me to make me understand that grief is a

part of life some of us have

disappointments in God because of the

loss of a loved one and we felt like God

they should have been here you took them

away but when the Lord showed me that

you you must understand that the same

way that laughter is a part of life

grief is a part of life and sometimes in

society grief has become so foreign to

us that even the very symptoms of grief

is now being medicated that you lose a

loved one and instantly they say you are

depressed but it is normal there are

some in some cases you cannot medicate a

human emotion

you will only suppress it and so because

we are so accustomed to this idea that

you know I have to be on at all times

even the Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes

3 that there is a time to weep and a

time to laugh even God understands that

no this is a part of life that it might

have been their time it’s ok to take

some time to mourn their memories to

mourn the fact that you can just call

them but recognize it as a part of life

and instantly that fear broke off of me

and I wasn’t afraid anymore of if a

loved one died because I understood that

this is a part of life and so it’s not

gonna be that I’m gonna be praying from

a place of fear because when the Bible

tells us that God has not given us a

spirit of fear but a spirit of love of

power and that’s

sound mind you see power means that you

cannot add to me to make me more

powerful I just AM and so nothing

nothing I do is based on what could add

to me it’s just what it is you see a

sound mind means that I don’t rush into

projects because of how it looks I I

have vision I have clarity I have

focused I’m not rushing into things

because there is emotional instability

you see God is saying that when you are

moving from my spirit there are signs to

show you what it looks like love is

always serving other people it’s not it

doesn’t have a selfish agenda and so we

have to examine the ways the things that

shape our expectations in God the second

thing that this taught me you see

there’s a scripture in the Bible and

some of us we could read this

during our prayer time when Jesus said

you know whatever you ask for in my name

I will do that the father may be

glorified in the son that was one of the

scriptures I used in my prayer doing my

lottery run I said Lord I’m not asking

in anybody’s name I said the Lord Jesus

Christ of Nazareth I said I’m gonna make

it clear as day I say no more even point

the scripture that where you were born

come on somebody so and so sometimes we

wonder because these are scriptures in

the Bible and it’s like but you said

whatever we asked for in your name you

would do whatever means whatever and the

second thing I learned looking back at

the things in life that brought me

disappointment was that sometimes when

God is speaking to you it is a you that

you have not yet become you see Gideon

there was a man in the scripture named

Gideon and when an angel encountered

Gideon he meant he identified him as a

mighty man of Valor meaning a man of

great courage

but when you read what was happening

when the angel even encountered him he

was more of a

any man of timidity you know of fear he

was doing a lot of things that just did

not look like courage and so it shows us

that sometimes the version that God is

speaking to even though Jesus is saying

whatever you asked for it might not be

are you that you are yet because the you

that he is speaking to is a you that is

moving in his spirit that your

expectations are formed by his spirit

they come from his spirit it’s not

coming from your fear or your pride or

your ego or your need it is coming from

the Spirit of God and so if we don’t

look at these things we would easily

have this weight of discouragement and

disappointment that God I put my faith

on it and it did not work and the Lord

did say no you put your expectation on

it

faith is what I work with you on that’s

not you you can you can put expectation

on something but the Lord has no ties to

it unless it is what he is building and

so the question now comes that how do we

identify maybe sometimes it might be

confused at God okay what is this you is

this me how do we truly identify what is

from God and what is not and it’s to

question two questions I want everyone

to ask themselves you see the scripture

I mentioned earlier that says when Jesus

said whatever you ask for in my name I

will do it that the that the father

may be glorified in the son the first

question you want to ask yourself if

this happens who does it glorify the

most Jesus for me and this is not to say

that God is like power hungry that he

doesn’t want you to have pleasure in the

things that you do but he does not want

the things that you do to have you who

does it glorify the most and the second

question if it does not happen who hurts

the most because if you have a mindset

of loss if you think that if this thing

does not

but in my life something is being taken

away from me that mindset will blind you

from the leading of the Holy Spirit

because no matter how many times you

wanted to say that God I surrender if

you think that’s your your ability to

surrender is gonna cause loss in your

life subconsciously you would not

believe that God does not want you to

walk away that God wants you to walk

away if he does because you will not

believe that God would want to cause

loss in your life and so we have to

examine who hurts the most in this thing

this very thing I’m asking for does it

hurt the kingdom of God more than it

hurts my life Oh am I too involved in it

emotionally that I cannot allow God to

show me that maybe this is not the way I

have for you does it hurt the people are

signed to me more than it hurts my

agenda or does it hurt my agenda more

than it hurts them and so I want to just

hug it and say oh no no I’m not letting

you go it’s like in the Lord of the

Rings the little guy crashes and so now

sweetie

speaking about activating faith many of

us we have a word from God and we are

aware that there is something in us that

we can’t just shake off but yet we feel

as though we lack the motivation to move

forward we lack the motivation to go

after in boldness the very things that

we feel like God you have put this

desire in my heart the scripture tells

us that faith without works is dead and

so they can be they can be faith present

but it’s dead where there is no works

and so there are three things that I

want us to just three ideas when

thinking about activating faith and the

first thing is that God heard you the

first time

I’m saying this because oftentimes we

get discouraged in prayer we get

discouraged that God you gave me a word

you gave me this idea you gave me this

vision you gave me this dream and I feel

like I’m just hitting roadblock after

roadblock after roadblock and then we go

into prayer and fasting and we’re

praying that God make away God make away

and nothing is happening and it’s almost

as though who in this house has ever

questioned God do you even hear me yeah

and we’re wondering God why is it that

this is what you gave me to do but you

are not opening any door it seems and

somehow we think that maybe after the

50th or the five thousandth time God

will say oh check mark i’ma answer you

now and you see what I’m learning family

is that we you have heard this before I

believe that sometimes prayer is not

about changing the situation but it’s

about changing you because God I mean

God is God first of all it doesn’t he

doesn’t even need a second to move but

he needs a person to receive and to

carry the weight of the outcome you say

sometimes we’re so focused on the

outcome that we don’t realize that every

blessing is a responsibility every

blessing has a weight attached to it

it’s not just about us because every

time God blesses you you become a vessel

to bless another person and so if the

Holy Spirit and the resources of heaven

is gonna back up your life God sometimes

will allow circumstances to exercise

your muscle of endurance so exercise

your muscle of patience because when he

opens the door if those things are not

worked in you the moment because if your

if your only goal is the finish line

when you get to the finish line you’re

gonna go home but there are other things

to do at the finish line and so if you

don’t have patience in you if you don’t

have endurance in you if you don’t have

a

relentless nature about you when the

blessing comes it will become a burden

to you you see there’s a scripture that

that Jesus said do not cast your pearls

before swine and what that means is do

not give what is valuable to the ones

who will not appreciate it for the

resources of heaven so back your life

God needs to know that you are committed

you are actually in this the Holy Spirit

will not partner with someone that is

unfaithful and so when we read

scriptures like if you are faithful in

little God will make you ruler over much

it is not just for us to feel good and

have more influence because the Lord is

saying okay if you have found the

ability to endure in this thing and he

even says it is little so you obviously

know it is little you obviously

recognize that something about this may

even be below what I believe about

myself you see I’m thinking about David

although when we think about David we

think of a man who killed a lion and a

bear and then he killed Goliath but the

truth is when David killed the lion and

the bear he had no Goliath in mind all

he knew was that he was taking care of

sheep that was it he was not thinking of

when I killed this lion and when I

killed this bear God is gonna elevate me

to kill Goliath there was nothing like

that in mind and he was taking care of

sheep too a father that did not even

really value him the task that he had in

front of him was something that could be

recognized as little but he but God used

that position to build his muscles of

endurance that he could put his life on

the line for sheep without the future

promise of anything else and so

sometimes the circumstances in your life

is not because God did not hear your

prayer it’s not because God did not see

your sacrifice he heard you the first

time but there is something that he’s

working in you there is far greater than

the outcome happening right now because

when we believe in who God

the outcome is set but we must recognize

that blessing is also a responsibility

attached to someone else’s life and God

is concerned about that the second thing

I want us to just the second thought I

want us to think on is that forget about

your haters we live in a culture that is

so consumed about haters we see them on

Instagram we try to clap back you know

instead of just blocking them one just

one click but okay you see why I say

this there’s a story about a

twelve-year-old girl in the scriptures

who died and when she died Jesus said

she’s not dead but she’s sleeping when

he came into the room and he’s like oh

yeah she’s not dead she’s just taking a

nap and the people are laughing at him

and they’re mocking him because clearly

they’ve checked they have done their due

diligence to know that this girl is dead

and then what Jesus says you know Jesus

is like you know I’ll tell these people

to get away from me so he puts them out

he tells a little girl arise and then

the Scriptures tells us that her spirit

came back into her but what happened

after this is what I find the most

fascinating because right after Jesus

instructs the parents and commanded them

tell no one of what just happened and

what I’ve always wondered like why would

he say tell no one what happened and

this revealed to me his heart posture

that he could care less about proving

anybody wrong you see if you are so

confused about your haters you will only

be motivated by what they see the danger

in this is that life it’s not about what

people see everything that you see is

the result of countless hours that

happen on seeing and so if your

motivation is only about proving your

haters

you’re gonna lack motivation for the

rest of your life because the work that

God has called you to do in the

beginning it is unseen and when

frustrations hit when circumstances come

against you you would feel like this is

not even worth it ain’t nobody know what

I’m going through and you will literally

drop it because and without knowing

because you see sometimes we don’t have

the words to articulate what we feel but

we thought you recognizing your

motivation has always been about proving

people wrong proving your family wrong

proving your ex-boyfriend wrong that he

shouldn’t have left me or proving your

ex-girlfriend wrong I have no clue but

the thing is if you are so focused on

proving people wrong you will only be

motivated by what they see Jesus careth

could care less he said do not tell

anyone about what happened I don’t care

if people thought she was dead all that

matters is that right now she’s living

live your best life people don’t have to

know and not know stop focusing stop

giving your energy to dead things and

the third thing family is that allow God

to be your strength

you see we’re gonna have moments of

weakness that’s normal but a moment

should not define your life a moment of

weakness should be a time where we bring

it to God and say God this is what I’m

going through it doesn’t change my

belief in you there was a certain man

that said God I believe help my unbelief

he recognized that belief is present but

unbelief is also present help my

unbelief

whatever this is rooted and I may not

know it is shocking what would happen

when you present to God and say Lord be

my strength it is shocking what can

happen in your life in that moment but

oftentimes in the times of weakness we

almost want to sit in it and complain

and just dwell in it rather than coming

before the Lord and say God this is

what’s going on I’m not sure about this

you know there was a time for me I like

most of my fits are really with God

because at least I know I can trust that

he will bring me back to sense but one

day particular I was very confused but

the thing is that confusion never shakes

my reality of who God is because I’ve

recognized that the problem in life

would never be God it will never be God

because he is complete he is whole he is

love that is just who he is and so for

me when I’m confused I’m like God you

need to show me what is wrong here

because I know it’s not you but I feel

like there is a there is a

miscommunication about maybe what I’m

doing and so I was in a moment where I

was just I just felt like God I feel

like I’ve given you everything and I’m

just confused about this season and no

lie I remember when I was just like God

what else do you want from me and this

was not a moment I didn’t want to call

anybody because sometimes calling people

might just either encourage you in

nonsense or just have you suppress the

pain and so I said I just want to talk

to you God about this right here right

now and so I remember this story’s a

little crazy but I remember and I was

like what else do you want from me do

you want my blood is that what you want

how cuz I was just I was just live it

and I remember I went to the kitchen and

I and I was not trying to do anything

crazy this was just me raging and I took

a knife I’m like what do you want to

speak so I took the knife and then I was

like trying to like just a little cut

because I’m afraid of pain I said and it

wasn’t working I was like okay let me

get a razor because at least sometimes

you just cut yourself accidentally and

so I picked up the razor and the moment

I picked it up I heard him say what are

you doing

and I threw it away and I just broke

down in tears and I my god I just needed

you to tell me what is going on and it’s

easy you know but in that moment of

weakness it was not about looking for

outside source to either give me a

temper because sometimes your moment of

weakness looks ugly that’s why I’m

sharing this story it’s not always

pretty it’s not that you always come to

God and you kneel and you just you know

get your prayer shawl and you’re like

father sometimes this is a mess it’s

like where the knife at okay what you

want Laura I’m tired and so this brought

me to a moment where I just felt so much

comfort because I don’t hide anything

that he already knows and so it brought

me so much comfort so much peace so much

clarity to know that Stephanie this is a

time to just diving deeper in your trust

so diving deeper and knowing that I’m

needing your every step and after that I

just I cried I laughed I was like I

don’t know what the heck I was doing but

lord I love you but let God be your

strength let God be your strength know

that he is your refuge and in these

moments even in the face of unbelief you

can your your belief can overcome

whatever is causing that roots in your

life I believe that God wants to

activate faith in this house that the

areas in your life the words that you

have lack motivation on that there is a

fresh fire that is going to come in you

and that fire must be flamed that fire

must be flamed and it is not to look at

God like he’s ever the problem because

God will never ever be the problem one

thing I’ve recognized if you have that

resolve in your mind you will never look

at it as though God this is your fault

you would always have an understanding

that God even though I don’t understand

this now I believe that is

work together for my good but I can come

to you I can come to you and I can trust

what you’re doing in me family can you

stand to your feet

thank you Jesus

I just want us to take a moment in

prayer if you know that that word was

for you I just want you to lift up your

hand as we pray thank you Jesus thank

you Jesus thank you Jesus

father God you see every hand raised you

see every heart Lord God I says that

there are some in this house that they

have they don’t they they feel like they

don’t know how to share their pain

because they don’t want to look less

spiritual they don’t want to look like

they don’t believe in you but they do

but there is a pain that it has just

been suppressed and suppressed over time

and they’re saying God help me in the

area of my weakness lord I thank you for

every word that you have spoken to your

people I thank you Lord God that in this

house that you are giving them a new

fire that even now Lord God they would

feel it from the depths of their belly

that there is some it would literally

feel like what Jeremiah said like fire

locked up in my bones that that you are

giving them fresh inspiration fresh

creativity fresh strategy to action Lord

God that they would act on the word that

you have given them lord I thank you

that you are your your increasing their

discernment of self

the Lord they would recognize when an

expectation is of you or when an

expectation is of fear or anxiety and

Lord they would know that it’s okay to

release it I break every lie in this

house that says that’s something that

left them caused them loss because Lord

Jesus you are not a waster you use

everything nothing that can be taken or

added can change the value of who we are

in your eyes and so I thank you Lord God

that your people would have to courage

great courage Lord God to go after the

things that you have said despite what

looks like disappointments in the past

despite who walked away despite who

stayed that Lord God their hearts will

not be tainted by their history

father God have your way I speak to

every mind that is suicidal I speak to

every mind Lord God that they would

release their pain onto you they would

release their pain onto you I speak to

your children Lord God that they have

seen grief as a foreign thing and in

wanting to escape grief they’re looking

at suicide Lord I can so that in this

house in the name of Jesus I can’t see

that over anyone watching in the name of

Jesus Lord may you minister to them that

grief is a part of life it is not

foreign to us and it’s okay to take some

time to mourn it is okay

Lord we thank you we thank you that you

met us in this house we thank you that

you spoke to our hearts Lord Jesus seal

this word that came forth in the hearts

and minds of your people in Jesus name

Amen

[Music]