Faith Part 3

Hello all. Today we are still talking about faith. After you get saved and filled with the Holy Ghost, this is probably the greatest subject you can study, next to righteousness. We will be taking our text from Romans 10:17; so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. When you are walking by faith, faith has to have a goal[hope]. There must be a goal for your faith. What has God spoken to you recently concerning your faith? Let's look at this scripture ; Faith comes by what you hear and not by what you heard. This "hearing"must be continual, not occasional.

Faith does not come from reading the bible, it comes from hearing the Word of God. Faith doesn't come by memorizing scripture, it comes from hearing the word of God. In Mat 4, the devil is quoting scripture to Jesus, and yet nothing happened, this is because the devil is using intellect, and that's it. Jesus was the Word made flesh[john 1:14]. You really can't speak the Word, unless you know the Word. Jesus was the Word, speaking the Word. In this passage of scripture[mat 4] everytime Jesus spoke to the devil, he released some of himself into that arena. The reason why the devil[satan,serpent] left him, was because the His Word of God overrides the devils' intellect. In this confrontation with the devil, Jesus didn't see the devil, he heard him. The devil took Jesus to these places[pinnacle of the temple, top of the mountain, etc] in His mind. First of all, Jesus is not going to follow satan anywhere. How is faith working in this passage of scripture? As Jesus was speaking to the devil, Jesus is hearing himself speak , which is strengthening His faith. You can even say that He "is hearing" the Word of God

What was the devil trying to do? He was trying to plant a vision in Jesus mind. This is what satan said" I'll let you rule the world, all you have to do is bow to my system". The opposite of faith, is fear and worry. How is satan going to plant fear in Jesus heart? Satan
is saying that it is impossible to rule this world without satans help. Satan[eph 2:2] was the god of this world[2cor4:4], and the power was on the side of the oppressors[ecc 4:1]. Jesus is coming into this world, not to take sides, but to take over.

command these stones to be made bread] In other words, if you are God, then change the purpose of these two things. Why would satan say this? Satan was trying to appeal to the part of Jesus that dealt with sight, not faith. Hunger is the emotional part of man[ taste,touch,hearing,smell,sight]. All of these are in the realm of sight, and not faith. If satan can get people to be concerned about how and what they will eat, he can actually drag them off of faith, and get them onto sight. Many christians are in this place right now, in the middle of what is going on in this country. Jesus came back with the Word[faith] man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth[ not proceeded] out of the mouth of God. Why did Jesus use this scriputre, which is also found in[Deut 8:3], God made everything, including food;
so why not go to the source of it all and get your need met. Satan has no revelation, if he understood scripture, he should have known that Jesus was both rock and bread. When we are in fellowship with Jesus we are eating the bread that came from a rock. I will take something that is "HARD" to understand, and make it easy to digest. Jesus knew what He was saying

The devil taketh him up to the pinnacle of the temple] [IN HIS MIND] if you are the son of God, cast yourself down. let's deal with what Satan just said; If I can get Jesus him to make a public spactacle of himself, i've got him. If I can get Jesus to be the center of attention, and bring the focus on himself, then i've got him. the root of every showoff in the body of Christ, is rooted in this passage of scripture. Many people today are doing just that; fight for position in the church etc. making themselves out to be something they are not. PRIDE. If anyone would go into the temple, they would see Jesus standing at the top of it. This was satan's idea. It's interesting that many traditional church buildings have steeples on them, and they are located at the pinnacle of the temple. How is all of this , tied to faith? People in the body of Christ, who resist pride, are walking by faith. It takes action to"RESIST" pride. Finally, Satan is thinking" if I can get him to commit suicide", i've got him. The devil starts quoting scripture[psalms 91:11-12]. Although it is in the bible, it is not word. The only one qualified to speak the Word, is the Word. If you have been filled with the Holy Ghost, You have been given the seed of the Word of God .

[Mat 4:7] Jesus said, don't tempt the Lord Thy God. Jesus was admitting himself that He was satans ' God. This is not just in reference to Jesus, this also applies to us. We are heirs to God and joint heirs with Christ[ the mantle][romans 8:17] This means that instead of us confessing that the devil is after us, or anything like that, we are acutally Satans' god. He must do what we say, and it is not open to his freewill, he must obey us. The key word in this scripture is "tempt". If I can get Jesus out of the God-classinto the man-class, i've got him. Temptation is designed to try to get you off of the God side of you, and empower the flesh side of you that deals with [taste, touch,hearing,smell,sight. ]. If you can resist temptation you will remain in the GOD-CLASS. Temptation doesn't come from God, but he allows it. He uses the apostle,prophet,evangelist,pastor,teacher to teach you[eph 4:11] the word " temptation "is not in eph 4:11.

Mat 4:8 and the devil taketh him up to a high mountain and show him all the kingdoms of the word and the glory of them: There is one little word and the beginning of this scripture, it is the word" Again". In the verse before that, the devil taketh him"UP". Anytime the devil taketh you up, it is to infuse you with pride. You can't operate in faith and pride at the same time!
Remember that all of this is taking place in Jesus mind. What was the devil trying to do here? He is still reminding Jesus that satan is still in charge of this world, and that all governing bodies cities, nations etc, are a result of his handiwork. If I can get Jesus to partner with him to govern these nations, i've got him. To understand this passage of scripture, you must look into the old testament in Psalms 75:6, that promotion comes from the Lord, and Proverbs 21:1, that the heart of the kings is in the hand of the Lord; so the reason why these kingdoms exist, is because God set them up, satan just perverts what's been set up. Why would the devil even make mention to this; as if the devil didn't know already? Let's bring you into this picture, for better understanding. This earth belongs to the Sons' of God. It is an inheritance. Why would we be fighting to gain control of what we already own? You can't own an nation by sight, you must take possession by faith. All demonic kingdoms are subject to me, as I subject myself to the will of God. Although I've never been to Iran, if I pray in the Holy Ghost, for Iran, The Holy Ghost will intercede for that Nation, in tongues. You don't know what you are praying for, but the Holy Ghost will pray the perfect will of God concerning Iran, and He will not miss . You take ownership of all nations, by praying for them, as you are led to pray for them. Faith works quite well when you pray in the spirit about things you don't even know about, so you don't have to worry about getting them wrong. You also must go to Daniel 2:31-45 and find out about nebuchadnezzars' dream. The Kingdom of God, represented by a stone, crushed all other kingdoms and grind them[the image] into powder[chaff]. We are come to take over. i don't have to ask for your permission to drive my car, because I already own it. I drive it when I get ready.


Lastly: I will give you all of these kingdoms, if you will fall down and worship me[mat 4:9] This falling down, in the old testament was in reference a physical bowing down of ones body. In Daniel 3, once the image that nebuchadnezzer built was finished, everyone had to bow to it, as an act of obedience. In the new testament, this is not a physical action. This is a bowing down of ones' will to another. You can replace the word" worship" with "obedience" . In satans' kingdom, bowing comes before worship. In the kingdom of God, Bowing is worship, and thus cannot be separated. It takes faith, to bow[submit] to the word of God. By not submitting to the word, you automatically submit to satans' kingdom, by default.. Jesus comes back with this word" Get behind me satan: Why didn't Jesus banish satan back to hell right then and there? Because satan was being used to eventually bring Jesus face to face with the cross. You see, Jesus is telling satan what to do, in satans' mind. . The last part of this is that Jesus said" You shall only worship and serve the Lord your God. Worship and servant hood is synomonous and can't be separated, it must be done in faith.

2nd closing] mat 4:11] the devil leaves Jesus and then the angels came to minister to him. As a result of Jesus operating by faith, it caused satan to leave him. The most powerful weapon you have against satans attacks is the Word of God, mixed with faith. I've heard christians screaming at the devil with such force, that they almost lose their voice. You have to be careful with this, because if you use to much of your body[whether it's screaming, or shaking, or yelling at the devil], you are now trying to couple your faith with emotions, and that will backfire on you. When I rebuke, or cast out a devil, I don't have to yell. My faith tells me that once I release the Word out of my mouth, it is as as good as done. I could sing it if I wanted to ,and it will still manifest. No physcal sweat or labor invloved.

The angels came after satan leaves: In Psalms 103:20, the angels hearken to the voice of His word, so everytime Jesus released the Word, angels showed up; but they didn't come and minister until Jesus stopped talking. What did the angels minister? whatever is needed to strengthen Jesus back up. When you are in combat with the forces of darkness, you don't need angels to help you fight. The word that is spoken ,with summons them, but they are not coming to help you fight, they are coming to minister to you so you can keep fighting. Close your mouth and listen, they are the ones who bring the word to you, so you can speak the word and get victory. They will not talk over you, or talk louder than that radio you've got blastin all the time. They will wait until you r quiet. The weapon of the Word mixed with faith is all you need.

3rd closing: The reason why they hearken to the voice of His word is because when you speak the word, the angels can't tell the difference between you and God, because you are saying what God says. The angels more concerned about what God sounds like verses what he looks like. You may be 250 Lbs and 3 ft 5 inches tall, or you may be 7 ft 3 inches and 120 Lbs, It makes no diference.

The angels are coming for one thing, "the spoken Word". In psalms 147:4, He calls all the stars by name[stars are angels]. Their names are synomonous with the word that you speak. Every scripture that God has spoken,has an angel assigned to it, that when a person speak that scripture, in faith according to what God has said concerning that scripture, then is goes from being scripture, in being Word. Angels are then activated to go to work for you, to bring that Word to pass. The Key is this; angels are only activated by a rhema[right now] word. So if you think you can activate angels by just quoting scripture, your wrong , or the angels would have come to minister to satan! I look forward to your response