 Okay welcome and hope you're ready to dive deeper into the subject of faith once again so we will pray and then we can begin. Let me just pray. Heavenly Father we thank you for giving us this occasion and opportunity to understand what you want us to know about faith. Father we pray that the truth of your word will be Lord engraved on our hearts, in such a way that Lord it will become the anchor of our lives oh God. Father we thank you once again for the power of your word Lord. We commit each one of us into your hands. We pray for Lord understanding by the Holy Spirit of God that Father we will be able to apply these truths into our lives and see Lord your wonderful works. We give you praise, we give you glory, honor in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay so we'll get back into our study. We were at chapter 3 where we started learning about the teaching of Jesus regarding faith and we said a couple of things. We understood how the truth of God's word is established and in the Bible we also see that the word of God is established in the heavens in the psalms says that which means that the word of God is unshakable. Times may change, situations may change, circumstances may change but one thing which will not change is the what is the one thing that won't change the word of God. Heaven and earth will pass away but God's word will never pass away. So it is the truth of God's word which is already established and which is unshakable. So we saw in the last class how even though our experience can change, isn't it? Our experience in faith may change because we are growing in our faith. So sometimes we see that we have the fulfillment of the promises but sometimes maybe the prayer we prayed did not receive an answer but that doesn't mean I have to alter or change the word of God. So that is something we should never do because our experience can be positive, our experience can also be negative but my experience should change on the basis of the word of God. Okay, I should not change the word of God on the basis of my experience. If that happens that's incorrect because I am trying to change what should never be changed, the standard of God's word. So even in our faith journey we may find sometimes that we receive answers immediately, sometimes we may not receive answers immediately or the results may even be opposite. But does the truth change? Does God's word change? It doesn't. So maybe there is something with regard to the way I am going about my faith which has to change. You understand? So never change the truth of God's word, instead begin to trust God to raise your experience to the level of the truth. Understood? So that is something that we discussed and then we also talked about the fact that when we carry faith in our hearts all things are possible. God does things that are unusual, miraculous, supernatural because the Bible says with God all things are possible. So we must allow for the impossible in our lives through faith. If there is no faith then we only go about life in a very calculated, logical, practical way where there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with it. That's the right way to live but because we are believers and because we believe in the truth of God's word the Bible teaches us that God is the God of impossibilities. So it gives us the opportunity. Each one of us we can just live our lives the way we think in our finite mind but it gives us the opportunity because we are believers that we can apply faith and the outcome of our lives, the outcome of our life journey can be very different because so many things can happen with God. Who would have thought that Ruth who is she has nobody but she is now in the lineage of Jesus Christ. That's almost an impossibility. So as you think about the life of different people, David, Shepherd boy, musician, worshipper, who would have thought that he will be the next chosen king but it happened. Things like this we don't even imagine the Bible says in Ephesians 3 20 the things that we've not imagined, we've not thought that which we've not considered God is able to do those things and not just that like if you look at scriptures like 1 Corinthians 2 verse 8 9 you know that passage it says no I has seen no year has heard no mind has conceived the things that God has prepared for those who love him. So it's just saying that there are all these special and wonderful things that we can walk into that God can you know do in our lives when we apply faith. When there is no faith we won't be able to see those things but if we apply faith the impossible can take place. I'm just reminded of William Carey William Carey as you know he is called. I have you heard of his name anybody here? Yes William Carey. There's also one of the photographs that we put up of William Carey. He's known as the father of modern missions and his life story is something that we must all study. A famous quote that he made is expect great things from God and attempt great things for God. Expect great things from God attempt great things for God. Now he was missionary to India and if you study about his life you know that he was instrumental in preaching the gospel he was instrumental in social reforms. Social reforms means there were a lot of practices at that time which were harming the society but he also involved himself in social reforms and not just that he was into propagating the word of God so he spent a lot of his time learning Indian languages okay and I don't even know the exact number of the Indian languages that he learned but one of the primary languages that he learned was Sanskrit. Can you imagine a foreigner coming those days settling down here and learning many Indian languages you know Bengali so many other you know Hindi so many languages and not just that translating the Bible into those languages. Does that sound almost impossible? Yeah back in those days you know you don't even have Google translator nothing so he would have rarely had to work hard to study the languages I mean who imagined you know Sanskrit for a foreigner but he did that so many Bible translations happened during his time because he did it through the life of one man okay this is unimaginable you know that somebody during those times would make the effort to learn new languages rewrite translate the Bible so that the Bible will be available to common man so I'm just talking about the impossibilities through our lives so I'm not saying that all of us have to you know translate the Bible each of our journey is different but we have to open up to the possibility from where does this come faith in God because the word of God says with God nothing shall be impossible okay there are so many such stories you know if you study the story of Ida Skudder the Christian CMC the the hospital right in in Vellore which exists today and which is very renowned in the country of India it was started by a lady known as Ida Skudder she came down to India and she was so moved by the the condition of people she was not even a medical student but she trusted God she said you know what I want to do something in the area of medicine so she goes back to her place and applies to study medicine can you imagine what a resolve in their heart she's not even a student of medicine goes back studies medicine and comes back to start clinics to help people and today everyone talks about CMC it's a you know like in Asia it's one of the most renowned institutions where people travel from all over the country to go for their medical checkups to go for their you know consult consultations but how is it possible one lady who thought this can happen but what does it need to do these things or step into the impossibilities of God faith otherwise rationally if you think about it very rationally we'll just come to the conclusion it's too much you can't do this I mean who can do this how can I do this my lifetime I'm already you know I already did something else now who will go back study medicine all over again but faith will help us trust in a God who does the impossible okay so there are stories like this of many people who just had faith in God and they did something the way William Carey said expect great things from God attempt great things for God but this can only happen if we have our faith in the God who does the impossible because that is who he is but another very important point which we shared last time is you know faith is important the power of faith is important however faith is powerful because of the God in whom we have faith so just faith itself does not you know it's not powerful on its own another example is you know these days we have so many so many concepts philosophy philosophies where people teach us self like motivation isn't it there are teachings that say if you believe in yourself you can do whatever you want to do or you know if you believe in yourself the universe will will accept you so there are all these teachings people have faith in these concepts I'm talking about faith we are all talking about faith and we are saying faith is so powerful we should have faith now what about this kind of faith where we just believe I can believe anything I want to believe okay I can believe anything isn't it but is that okay because faith is powerful so can I believe anything that I want yes okay so some are saying yes I can believe anything I want anyone says the opposite of that yes what okay so yeah Akhil is saying no because everything may not necessarily be true isn't it for example just an example I can believe that you know I'm six foot five inches tall I just believe it but is it is it true but faith is powerful right so let me believe what's the problem all of you are laughing at me so you see the thing is faith cannot just hang in the air it has to rest on something I can't just believe whatever I like to believe because faith is powerful there is power in faith faith can move mountains let me believe it doesn't work because without God without the truth of God's word faith is nothing you know what I mean so there is a support or an anchor to the faith which we have and that is what God says if God has said it in his word I can believe it then yes if I believe that I you know for example if I believe I am blessed okay maybe I don't have one rupee in my pocket but I am believing that I am blessed is that okay okay more heads are shaking positively so yes I can why but why can I believe that I don't have one rupee in my pocket or maybe for the international student one dollar in my pocket it's okay to believe that I'm blessed why okay blessings need not be monetary or financial always that's true yes any other reason why it's okay to believe that way okay get through it says God will provide okay so yeah now I may not have but later I may have so God will provide any other reason why everyone agrees right it's okay for me to believe that way why is it okay to believe that way okay so the reason why we can believe that way is because the word of God says so okay every Sunday we hold the Bible up in the air and we make the declaration this is God's word this is God speaking to me I am who God says I am you know I'm blessed healed saved delivered redeemed prosperous triumphant how can you say all this how can we say all this because it is in the word of God so if I believe what the word says then my faith is valid but if I believe whatever I like it's nowhere close to the word it won't work because faith as a force is only powerful because of God and his word okay but without that if I just take the principle of faith and try to apply it it does not work maybe it may work a little bit because it's somewhat you know like positive thinking when you think positive about yourself it's helpful okay to some extent even that is biblical so it may work but you can't stretch it to the extreme or to the maximum so faith as such is powerful because of God because of God's word okay now if we are clear about that we can go on to the next point these are all teachings of Jesus okay that we can have faith in God we can believe God for the impossible faith is powerful if we can believe right scripture says all things are possible but when it says all things are possible let's understand that all doesn't mean random all it's got to be in line with the word of God only then it is possible now let's look at the next truth here which says we will receive according to our faith we've already touched all this but you know I'm just going over it again so we said that as much as we believe God can do for us so we are limited by our faith so if we believe little we'll get little but if we believe more we'll get more from God so it's important to increase my capacity to believe or increase my faith so when my faith rises up I can receive so much more from God okay so if I want to receive from God what should I work on I want to receive from God okay I want to fulfill the purpose of God for my life I want to do everything that God has called me to do what should I work on is there something I should work on faith I need to work on my faith okay maybe right now I'm struggling I'm falling it's too difficult it's not happening I'm not seeing the results don't worry as long as we are working on faith sooner or later that stability will come when we are able to believe and then once we are able to believe how much faith do we need as big as Mount Everest God made it so easy for us he's saying don't even worry I'm not even asking you build your faith so big yeah you can build it that big but even if you have faith as small as a mustard seed what are you believing God for small right this much you're believing you can move Mount Everest okay faith is not that big but little faith can move the big mountain so that's what God is asking us for so we will receive according to our faith so I've said this earlier always check faith level how much is it you know how much how much does my tank show is it half is it full or am I running on reserve no faith but still you know how we try to manage riding our bikes on reserve I hope Lord please let it not stop but don't do that all the time I understand sometimes we are on reserve but we can't be on reserve all the time our faith tank always needs to be full keep it full work on it to be full okay next point we said is our will and desire is involved in the exercise of faith so when we talk about faith we said that desire what do I want from God that matters God does not go against our will or our desire think about this Jesus was born okay through whom Mary Jesus was born through Mary so the messenger angel comes to her Gabriel and says you will bear the Son of God everything and she says how can this be and all that conversation happens finally what does she say be it unto me according to your word okay let it be to me let this happen in my life as God has spoken so her willingness is there to go ahead with what God wants to do in her life imagine if Mary would have said that day hey I'm sorry find someone else okay sorry God I'm busy I have other things going on this is too big for me I can't handle it I can't believe it how can you do this find someone else you see God will not work contrary to our will and desire sometimes he is sovereign we use the word sovereign we discuss that right sovereign means God can do whatever he wants to do but generally what does he do he wants our will so if I don't cooperate with God if I don't if I say I don't want it God that's not my desire faith will not work so my mind my will my desire very important so again I need to check my will what do I want where is my heart my heart should be where God you know God is indicating I want you to desire these things but it has to come from me you understand so Jesus taught this he himself said you know you that you would receive let it be to you as you desire so I'm just reading the words of Jesus we've given some scriptures but I'm not going to go through it he said let it be to you as you desire what do you want me to do for you want is what God I want I want to be well I want to be healed I want to be blessed I want to be victorious we all want these things right so when we want or when we desire it's actually helpful because faith can work when we desire for the good things the right things now if we desire for other things it won't work because we are desiring outside of the word of God but as long as faith is concerned God wants my will I should say okay yes God you do it I agree with you even I want you to do this then faith will work okay so will and desire are very important for the working of faith and that is why sometimes God has to we say right prepare my heart prepare our hearts maybe my heart's desire is something else but as I am praying as I'm waiting in the presence of the Lord as I am studying the word of God what happens my heart starts to change like that garden of Gethsemane where Jesus suddenly he said because of his pain Lord take this cup away from me but as he is praying as he is submitting to the Father finally his heart changed and what did he say not that it changed but you know he he kind of submitted to what God was saying he said okay God not my will yours be done so Jesus started desiring what the Father wanted that's when things started moving so the same is true in our lives my desires matter so we don't really find you know that God can do much when we are in disagreement think about Jonah God told him hey I want you to go to Nineveh and I want you to preach but here's a preacher who's running away he's saying okay I'll just hide God won't find me I don't know what he was thinking how can you hide from God wherever he was God found him he didn't have the desire God wanted something he wanted something else but finally thank God you know he said okay God you know fine I'll go but you know Jonah has a different case God had to kind of work on him a little bit for him to even come to that place of desiring so we do I mean that is exception sometimes that happens but in general the promises of God are very much delightful to our hearts okay the psalmist also writes about it in the he says God I love your promises I love your word I love your law because when God says something it's usually connected to our hearts and we rejoice in what God wants us to do okay but the thing is to have that desire there are things that are taking away the desire to really get rid of those things so desire matters so last time we said what if we don't desire and we say okay let God do whatever he wants to do generally it doesn't work like that okay we must desire and we must ask we must pray even for prayer this is how it is we can say right God already knows everything why am I wasting half an hour every day or one hour every day telling God my list God you know everything okay you do what you want to do prayer is only one minute if you pray like that but that's not how Jesus taught us to pray he said what do you want you tell me I want to know what is your desire so when we tell God our desire it's the way he has designed and we begin to see God working in that situation okay fine so our desire is very important now let's move on we'll go to point number four here faith is key to seeing God's glory manifested okay faith is key to seeing God's glory manifested so it basically means that what is glory anyone what is the meaning of the word glory glory any idea sister making God yes sister optimum of its kind of its kind of its kind of its kind yeah okay sure okay optimum of its kind okay um in the context of God what would be glory in the context of God so we say right God's glory blessings honor fear fear favor fame okay fame okay okay fine God's fame so did you mean God's fame nani okay God's fame what is God's glory miracles okay God's glory miracles dig dignity dignity okay dignity of God okay dignity of God praise and thanks okay okay fine so um some it all the answers are somewhere there okay but uh uh you're kind of faith praise praising okay okay sure so anyway I know where you're coming from and what you're trying to say so let me just share in a very simple way what the glory of God means the glory of God means the um you know it is basically who God is and what he does so glory is who is God and what he does okay or um knowing God for the person that he is and what he brings for example this this is not a close example but for our understanding if we go to a doctor what will be um what can he do for us yeah he'll advise us for our health he will guide us for better health so from a doctor you will get health right hopefully uh if you if we go to let's say a computer um technician or engineer what will we get some solutions for the computer because when the person comes the computer engineer comes they they know about computer so they will help us with regard to computer now if we call a sound engineer they will help us with the mic with the audio if you call a musician they will help us with the music so when each of these people come they bring what they carry isn't it and they give what they carry who they are what they do now think about God who is God the nature of God okay the names of God the purpose of God he is Almighty God I shared about a few professions and what those people can do but God is you know greater than all of these people so when he comes what can we expect everything that God brings isn't it God brings his power God brings like you know Asapu just said he said miracles why because that's who he is if he comes he'll come with miracles if he comes he'll come with power he'll come with healing he'll come with deliverance he'll come with breakthrough he'll come with truth right he'll come with peace he'll come with joy so you see that is the glory of God who God is everything that God is I can expect God you do who you are so we we when we develop our understanding about God our expectation from God rises if we don't know who God is then we don't expect much because we don't know what he carries who he is all about we have no understanding but when we develop the understanding then our expectation starts to rise and we say oh he can heal okay God I believe that you can heal so when he comes I expect God I know you will bring healing I know you will bring your goodness I know you will bring your favor because this is who God is God carries all these things so glory of God is who God is and what he does because of who he is understood so that's what we say like even when we worship when the presence of God comes and a heightened presence of God is known as glory sometimes so that glory in that glory what happens miracles happen healing of the heart happens lives are changed we receive peace we receive direction we receive God's wisdom how is all this happening because God has come and he is manifesting manifesting means presenting or giving his glory that's who he is so he has to give what he is all about so that is what God's glory is so faith is key to seeing God's glory manifested so when we believe that God can do according to who he is then things take place so the scripture given here is from John chapter 11 verse 40 where Jesus told those sisters who you know Lazarus had died so he had gone after Lazarus was in the grave but he tells one of the sisters he says did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God so what do I need to see the glory of God faith if I have faith in my heart it is like you know it's like it pulls or another word you can use it it makes a demand on the glory of God God is there God is everywhere right and God is there for all of us but we see in let's say mark chapter 5 in a crowd so many people were there and one lady came and she touched the hem of Jesus garment hem of Jesus garment is the edge right of his cloth she touched him a lot of people were touching him but the power of God flowed out only when she touched the hem of his garment what is the difference faith yes because her heart carried faith and what did faith do when she touched God with faith the power flowed out understood same thing happens in our lives when we touch God with faith power will start to flow but if we are just you know no faith okay I have to pray I have to worship I have to read the Bible if there's no faith nothing will flow are you all getting what I'm trying to say yeah so faith is like you know we say faith pulls God has all the blessings but when I have faith like that lady it drew or it it brought out the healing virtue of God it touched her body and the Bible says she was healed immediately the fountain of blood dried up immediately immediately how faith that's what Jesus is saying if you believe you will see the glory of God so we must approach God with faith in our hearts and the faith that we carry will present or it will manifest the glory of God so why is God's glory not manifesting in my life we may ask that question don't worry just keep moving with faith it will manifest because Jesus told he only said if you believe you will see the glory of God so carry faith in your hearts to receive from God um the next point here says when things go from bad to worse only believe and we have discussed this in contrary situations in very difficult situations we must carry faith in our hearts okay and you know we've all been through so many such situations in our own lives there are many testimonies that you know we can all share from here there are two incidents given in the lives of Jairus whose daughter died and when the daughter died people said don't even bother Jesus don't waste his time because the situation is hopeless now she was sick earlier there was some hope to raise her but now she's dead she can't come back to life and similarly Lazarus he was in the tomb uh but in those moments is when Jesus invited the family members to believe he said don't worry let them say whatever they want to say but you believe do you believe don't be afraid just believe right and when we do believe we see that as I told you earlier faith will pull draw demand present the glory of God because um the manifestation will come when we believe in our hearts okay so even when situations are really bad we can believe okay I was just thinking whether I should share or not but maybe I will share so this is a personal experience which I have had and this is when um okay my mother went home to be with the Lord but before she did there were a couple of years that she was quite ill because suddenly she was diagnosed with the final stage of cancer and it all happened in a few days so it was very like devastating for us as a family to go through these things so one particular thing that happened is um the the doctors found out that it had affected her bones and the way the bones uh kind of you know like what you say uh because of the progress of the disease uh the the chest bones had changed their shape so even when you breathe right uh you can't you your lungs don't expand like you can't keep the air inside so it was a very critical situation and they said that even if we you know there's so many details to the whole story like we give her the medication or um I see you all the equipment it is not going to help because the chest just can't expand so we just give two days right so if you want to spend time with her you can spend time and you know you it's something like that so anyway the the story goes like she lived you know a couple of years beyond that so a miracle happened that's what I'm trying to tell you so when we heard this okay so you remember all this gyrus Lazarus and also that the time was like that for us because all the reports around us are saying that not more than two days because nothing can help medicine cannot help the machines cannot help right but something amazing god did uh what he did was that uh uh you know we we all pray together and we we just like trusted that god you can do a miracle so even when the doctors came and told me uh she won't survive more than two days somewhere within me right I respect the doctors I honor what they're saying and I admit the facts yeah it's true what you're saying is true but faith in my heart I I thought to myself I didn't tell anybody but I thought to myself Jesus can still heal you know she will live I don't care what they're saying because she's going to live I know it so that confidence I can't explain it in words but I know that that is faith right I've experienced it in one of the toughest situations uh that I've ever had to walk through and the long story is that we just asked my mom to make a declaration there is a declaration in the book of Ezekiel because it it has to do with bones okay so there's a scripture it says oh e bones hear the word of the lord god will cause breath and spirit to enter you and you shall live so there is a declaration of you know the spirit of god working on the bones so one good thing is she was able to speak and she had a little bit of memory so we told her repeat after me right say this verse come on start saying it start saying it and she never stopped saying it she kept saying it and saying it and saying it but the miracle that happened is without any medication at that point without any machines her her oxygen saturation started rising it just started rising and the pulmonologists came and all the doctors came and they're looking at each other they're like there's no reason how this can rise because we didn't do anything to help her improve it but the saturation levels went up went back to normal okay and uh in a few days they discharged us okay there were other issues like you know um she still needed to take long term oxygen so many things were there but the point is something like this when you're hope there's no hope right it's so true that jesus you know the word of god speaks to us and says you can you you can and it is possible do you believe if you believe you will see the glory of god and for me it's that experience i can never get it out of my head because that day we believed right and she lived for you know quite some time after that and even up until you know she passed away it was fairly okay the the life that she lived and everything some of the things that she wanted to see happen it was possible so uh even if we come into a circumstance or a situation where it feels like this is the end you can't go past this what does faith in your heart tell you listen to the faith in your heart right and proclaim what that word says so the fact may be either they can't be healed they can't live you have a few days whatever whatever whatever that's okay but what does faith say the faith says jahore rafa is my healer amen by the stripes of jesus i'm healed my body is a temple of the holy spirit so begin to make declarations begin to say okay fine your facts we accept it but the faith in my heart says this will happen amen so i just want to encourage you i and you know the the reason i'm sharing is not to prove oh i have great faith or anything but you know there are times when i've not had great faith but everyday life whatever we are talking about is for everyday life isn't it so apply it and say god help us lord to build our faith that we may be able to walk in these things so even when situations go from bad to us we can still trust in the lord and see we can see the results of our faith um let's quickly move on to the next point here where jesus taught us that faith is released through the words spoken out of a believing heart you remember i shared um the incident about the victory jesus cursed the victory right mark chapter 11 he cursed the victory next day when the disciples came that side they saw the victory and they were shocked they were like oh my goodness the tree actually died jesus told jesus spoke to the victory and the tree actually died so when we speak it's a way of releasing our faith and things take place things happen so we that's why jesus said if you believe in your heart and don't doubt you speak to the mountain what are you doing releasing your faith then what will happen the mountain will move right or the mountain can be you know um uprooted and cast into the sea whatever but what's the point what you believe you've got to speak it and those things take place so how do we release our faith we have to speak it okay that's the manner in which we can see the glory of god or the power of god so let's do one thing we will probably stop here let's take a small break come back and then pick up from the top section of page 32 uh let's come back at 10 o'clock okay we'll stop for now thank you