 Okay good morning and welcome everyone we continue with our study on the subject of faith we've completed nearly three fourth I think so in case we are able to finish before time then you can take some of the class times for your assignments later on but let's see how it goes depends on you know how many questions you have and all of that so we can pray this morning and then we'll continue let's pray together heavenly Father we thank you Lord for your grace your mercy Lord towards each one of us thank you for being in our lives thank you for leading us continually strengthening us Lord and Father as we Lord spend time in your word we pray that Lord you will continue to lead us Lord give us understanding give us wisdom help us Lord to apply whatever we are learning in our lives that we may be able to fulfill the purpose of God for our lives of God Father we surrender each one into your hands we speak blessings upon all of us of God all faculty all students and Father we pray God that we will experience your presence Lord at all times we give you all the glory all the honor in Jesus name we pray amen man okay so it's really a joy to see your enthusiasm I want to appreciate all the students for first of all the assignments and you've completed it and even the e-learning students you know they were posting in the discussions where is the assignment where is the assignment they're so eager so I had to push myself it's a different format but I had to push myself to get the assignments posted for them also so everyone is following along everyone is working hard and that makes it nicer for us to teach so please keep that enthusiasm level high and today we will talk about faith but you know how to really apply our faith so in the last week we talked about using our faith what was the main way in which we can use our faith or apply our faith last week what did we learn just flip the pages turn the pages and have a look the power of confession okay the power of confession the power of declaration we said that faith is in the heart but one way of expressing it one way of affirming it one way of holding on to our faith is to speak our faith and I told us to get a copy of that book speak your faith and begin to learn how to make declarations it's a huge part of the Christian life to be able to speak our faith so we need to learn early and keep building ourselves up in confessing the Word of God we also saw that when we declare what we are doing is we are in agreement with what God says what God says about me what God says about different circumstances what God says about you know his his nature so we are affirming all these things through the Word of our confession so that's the reason one must do this and we said that though confession is powerful we should avoid the attitude where we become proud because you know when we confess we are bold in our confession and the Bible says we need to be bold in our confession we are confident that God will do it but there is a thin line between arrogance and boldness so we should not slip into arrogance and you know be like defiant is the word so confession must be in the boundaries of God's Word and we must still carry on with an honorable attitude so these are the things that we learned about confession so after that we said that faith faith is there in the heart but how to demonstrate it the second way is action faith without works is dead James says if anyone says you know show me your faith I will show you my works or show me your works I will show you my faith these two things are not separate it doesn't work like that so a person who has faith should have actions if we have faith action should follow otherwise if we just say no faith is in my heart I have no actions faith is just in my heart I'm just waiting on the Lord it doesn't work like that faith and actions go hand in hand and that is something that we must understand so we said faith and confession faith and action so we'll see there are few things that can help us express our faith what are these things that's what we are going to take time in so today we will look at praise praise okay and we will look at patience how one needs to be patient in order to see or receive the promise and then of course determination determination is an attitude where we we are holding on like never give up that is determination so these are all consistent attitudes that we need in ourselves to release the faith that we are carrying in our hearts so let's look at praise we talked about the life of Abraham if you recall we said that Abraham waited upon the Lord Abraham waited for one promise for you know like 25 years but as he was waiting we saw the steps of faith isn't it first he believed then he counted God you know faithful and God will do it then he did not waver in faith so we saw all these steps he became stronger but one of the things that we said is he gave thanks to God he gave thanks to God so thanking God was in the journey of faith so he came to one point in his faith where he was sure that yes God will do it it's a matter of time so he went from praying maybe he went from praying prayers like God help me to believe you all that he went from those kind of prayers to thanking God where he said God thank you I believe you've already done it you're going to perform this in our lives and so he went to thanking God so thanking and praising God is what we do when we are we are convinced convinced or persuaded convinced or persuaded so in our faith walk initially there is that place where we are still you know not clear where we are still wondering is it going to happen is it not going to happen slowly giving our hearts to the promise of God and becoming strong in that but once our hearts are settled right we need to also come to a place of praising God thanking God now that also is an expression of our faith so imagine in a tough time if we are praising God that shows that we believe God is stronger than that situation that God is more powerful than what we are going through have you ever seen anyone praising God in a difficult time yes yeah I think all of us have we have seen you know people who are like in our own lives maybe you know our parents or our spiritual leaders we've seen their life example even in a tough situation they choose to praise God now that is an expression of faith and it's really you know it's so powerful isn't it when we witness somebody doing that now in the Bible Acts chapter 17 is a very good example because we find there that Paul and Silas they went to ministry to a place called Philippi and in Philippi all they did was cast out a demon they when they cast out a demon but when they cast out the demon through that demon came in a in a slave girl there was a man who was making money out of her because she was doing fortune telling and he was able to make money but the moment the demon left she was no longer able to do that fortune telling so he was so angry with Paul and Silas you know he went in complaint and the authorities came caught them put them in the prison can you imagine they did a good work isn't it so they did a good work but where are they finally they're in the prison so in the prison what do you think when we get into we're doing the right thing but you know we are being put into a difficult situation even though we did the right thing what can be our response what can be the thoughts in our minds yeah I'm hearing anger anger okay okay why did this happen okay so we may be angry the you're right what else what else could be the normal natural response questions depression yeah you feel sad you know or maybe I don't know if people ask questions like why God why me you know these kind of questions people may ask so this is the normal natural response that one may have but we read that Paul and Silas in the prison what were they doing that during the midnight and they had been beaten badly beaten chained their hands their feet it's a terrible situation anybody in that situation will say why am I here I did the right thing but why am I here but what did they both do the Bible says in the midnight hour they were they were praying they were praising God they were thanking God can you imagine can you imagine you know how can somebody praise God in a very very difficult situation because they carried faith in their hearts that's what faith does and faith believes yeah this is a tough situation but it will work out for the glory of God God has a greater purpose God can deliver us then what happens instead of our normal natural reactions like we said anger depression questions don't know whether initially they had those thoughts we don't know but ultimately both of them they were singing in the in the prison that all the prisoners could even hear them praising God have you heard that song I raise a hallelujah yeah we all have heard that song it's also translated into many languages but you see even in that song so beautifully they've listed it out that in all kinds of difficult situations I raise a hallelujah meaning praise praise because praise demonstrates faith if there's no praise instead of that if we are singing you know let's say oh how horrible my situation is so horrible you're talking about the tough situation it shows what we are carrying in our hearts there's no faith there's complain complaint grumbling the people of Israel they are the best example of grumblers God gave so much but they were grumbling about the things that they left behind in Egypt but God was not happy with them right so there are two attitudes but the attitude that one who is carrying faith in their hearts requires is praise praise should be there on our lips where we say God we thank you you are going to take us through this problem God we thank you you are able to deliver us from every work of the evil one God we thank you because you have promised in your word that you are our covenant healer so what when we begin to speak like this God we thank you because you are the God of increase you will give the increase we thank you you are the God of hope you give all hope to us so when our prayers are like this all of them are based on scripture what happens is we are praising God in the midst of a difficult situation and that shows that we have faith in our hearts and that was the testimony of Abraham Abraham gave thanks to God before Isaac was born so in the waiting there was thanking there was praising okay so that is something that we can develop we can practice now what what any hindrances do you think there can be any any problems in praising God when we are trusting him any issues that we may need to overcome when does it become difficult okay Angeline says frustration yeah sometimes we can be so frustrated right like I'm doing all the right things it's still not working what's wrong maybe I'm doing something wrong you get into all these things but faith faith will journey with God but once we are convinced no this is what God said he will do it no matter what is happening around me and faith gets to that place the next thing is praises thanksgiving okay so we have to cross all this maybe emotional I think emotional emotions can be a hindrance if we don't know how to manage them isn't it because our emotions as a first reaction we may have these these things like anger and frustration and depression okay but we have to overcome have you seen the there is a quote by Smith Wigglesworth in our dining area it says that what I'm not moved by what I feel or I don't I'm not moved by what I see but I'm moved by what I believe so in the natural realm with there are things that we can see there are things that we can feel we must not let those things dictate our lives we must only let what we believe dictate our lives did we understand yeah so we are not moved by what we see what we feel sometimes even our emotions can be so it can be deceiving like let's say for example you know we we want to do what God wants us to do or I was giving you an example for ministry if there are ministry opportunities and we are serving God somewhere you know in our emotions we may we may say that I don't feel like you know I don't feel like serving today I don't feel like praying for anyone maybe supernatural are and we are saying I don't feel like praying for anyone why are they going on saying pray for somebody pray for so don't go by the emotional feeling because feeling will come and go if we make choices on the basis of our emotional feelings somewhere we give that a higher place than the faith in our hearts so there are times whether we feel like it or we don't feel like it we have to do it in you know we need to serve God we feel like it or we don't feel like it we have to do the right thing we may not feel like you know blessing someone or being kind to someone or you know giving to someone but if that is the right thing to do over and above our feelings we need to step into that same thing applies for praise sometimes maybe when we are sick we don't feel like praising God we feel upset we feel you know like one of you said depressed don't go by feelings go by faith so faith will acknowledge that God God can heal me right so then you go by faith and maybe you begin to thank the Lord or begin to sing a song and praise the Lord okay so sometimes our feelings can be the issue we decide more on our feelings than our faith okay now also as we grow in the Lord we will understand that there are certain feelings of the spirit man okay so it's okay to give into the feelings of the spirit man so the spirit man will will feel a sense of you know joy peace or a sense of urgency so there is a difference the natural feelings and the spiritual feelings so we need to recognize if they are spiritual feelings then we can go ahead with it but if it's only a natural feeling then be little careful about that so sometimes when we go by just our natural feeling that may hinder our praises but we must praise anyway no matter how we feel you know get into praising God so that's a little bit about a praises but any thoughts about praises any questions about praising come we can praise God when things are going bad how how how can we praise him any any idea wouldn't it be wrong or wouldn't it be like we are trying to pretend or something like that okay depends on what we are showing from inside okay so though it is difficult I think we are going by our belief right like we are believing yeah so we are believing and that is why we are praising okay fine so that's genuine we are believing so we are praising yeah any any other reason sister sister yeah sister if you know who you are trusting who your God is and his nature and character you will not doubt yes yes thank you for that so that's what I had in my mind also see the thing about God is anytime we praise him it's correct because think about heaven the Bible says every moment angels the elders what are they doing they are they are worshiping God and they are saying holy holy holy you know and he is worthy so he has always been worthy he will always be worthy so we can't go wrong when we praise God because no matter what any single one of us are going through he's still worthy he's still holy he's just still just he's still good he's still faithful so praising is one thing it's always appropriate any moment we praise God is still worthy so it can't be wrong you can't go wrong with praising God okay so with that in our hearts we can just say God no matter what I'm going through you are worthy right now you are worthy I joined with the hosts of heaven who are bowing down before you I joined with them and I say holy you are holy you are holy the Bible says every moment they are crying out holy holy holy okay so this is Pastor Roshan's forte but I won't get into that but you see why is it that they're crying out holy holy holy all the time yeah because he's holy that's true but all the time the Bible revelation says every moment fine there's no sorrow there's no problems in heaven that's why they are crying out so then we should not is it because there are sorrows problems on the earth yeah he's holy we know but why every minute every moment what is the need to keep saying holy holy holy all the time he's worthy of it okay sure he's worthy of it good yeah anything else okay we can look at it like this we can look at it like this see every time God reveals something about himself okay think about this whenever in our journey also we read the Bible and we suddenly experience or we understand something about God you know maybe we're reading an incident about Jesus and how Jesus healed so what happens in that moment is we understand something about God so I'm just going to use the word revelation it's already there Jesus is like this but that day we understood that oh Jesus is like this so you know how our natural response is when you find out something great you say wow isn't it so it's something like you know God's goodness and greatness is immense immeasurable every time we see a part of his nature something in us says wow you got it so that is why in heaven as they are looking at God as they're looking at you know the the greatness of God the cry holy holy holy is holy is like that one of those vows that they can't help it but each moment they have to praise God because he's so great that you can't keep quiet his goodness greatness is being revealed moment by moment and even the hosts of heaven cannot keep silent they have to acknowledge what they are experiencing and so they just bow down before God and you know they cry out holy same thing for us why do we worship why do we praise when we see how good he is how great he is so the revelation of God is important for worship so the more I know who he is what is the meaning of his name you know so many things sometimes you just feel like those of you who can play an instrument you just feel like strumming a music a tune those of us who can sing we just feel like singing those of us who can paint we just feel like painting because he deserves it it's a response it's a sort of a design response that all of us have to worship God we can't hold back okay it's because of who God is and the revelation that we get about his goodness that we begin to worship him we begin to praise him okay so yeah that's a little bit about praise and how praise is also a demonstration of our faith in God so if there are any thoughts or questions we can answer that and then I will move on to the next one here okay sundry says we can either worry which comes from a place of fear or we can worship which comes from a place of strength in the spirit that's true Lucy says we have been created to glorify him and sister Gertrude says he's enthroned on our praises okay he's enthroned on our praises yeah true so the word of God has to say that so when we praise God it's like we are making him bigger and bigger in our in our lives okay so any other thoughts about praise before we move on to patience okay I think it's fairly simple we are familiar with it so we can then just jump to the next chapter here which is regarding patience so we said if there is faith in our hearts one is speak it second is do it third is praise now the fourth one is patience we talked about how sometimes what God promises happens immediately sometimes there is a delay in the fulfillment of whatever God has promised now there are so many things about that concept we won't we have discussed it you know why is there a delay is it God is it us so there can be so many reasons why there is some sort of a delay in a promise being fulfilled now as we are waiting for the fulfillment of the promise when we give up we lose have you ever watched and you know in the Olympics or any other major sports event an athlete they're running okay and everyone is running but maybe a little close to the finish line some of them just stop okay they just stop for whatever reason when somebody stops without touching the finish line they technically have not completed the race okay so all that practice for the event and all that hard work to go to the event and finally participate is actually not bearing fruit because they never finished we don't finish till we finish you know what I mean so participating is okay but why is why are all the players there or why are all the athletes there they want to finish so those of them those of you know the athletes who maybe they had a sprain or you know they fell okay something happened they fell but some for whatever reason they just stop that will not allow them to you know complete what they were looking at all of those you know years that they were practicing for the race now even the Bible teaches us there's something that God expects on our part to receive or walk into what he has planned for us what are those things there are two things Hebrew 6 and verse 12 it is there in our notes you can look at it it is chapter 14 it says that you do not become sluggish but imitate those who through faith and patience in the premises so two things faith and patience faith we all understand faith yeah you need to have strong faith build your faith nurture your faith all that is great but when we are journeying there is one more element that is called as patience patience is to just endure endure or in other words not giving up so we can have faith but if we don't have patience even then it is difficult for us to walk into the promises of God and that's what the writer of the Hebrews is saying he was saying look at those who through faith and patience inherit the promises of God so think about you know the Israelites they did not have much patience so to the extent that God said you know what you will never go I will not send you into the promised land let the next generation go so there are people like Joshua Caleb with a new attitude they had a different attitude from this older generation older generation known for grumbling disobedience lack of patience but the new generation known for their faith known for their patience so this young generation they also would have waited a long time before they actually entered the promised land so faith is one thing but the ability to hold on the ability to be strong in God and wait till you see the results that is patience that is also needed so a combination of the two faith and patience is necessary to inherit the promises of God now tell me when we are waiting for God's promise to be fulfilled what are some challenges that we may face let's say it's taking a long time so what naturally what what what does it that we go through sense of insecurity insecurity doubt we may start questioning ourselves if God really say did I hear it right maybe I'm not good enough maybe I'm not doing the right thing okay fine insecurity doubt that's you know that's a space it's a little bit of a dangerous place that if you're not careful enough then we can slip into that great yeah what else anything else which can be a struggle when we are waiting hopelessness yeah you lose all hope you have nothing to look forward to you know if God does let him do have you ever heard people say that if he does let him do if he doesn't do let him not do it's okay I will be faithful it's like saying we are more righteous than God you know yeah so hopelessness no expectation that can happen when we are waiting for long time tell me what do we face nobody has waited is it you don't seem to know any answers regarding waiting worries yes sister sister I'm still waiting for a promise okay so what are some challenges actually I had a vision and God I promise and he also gave me an opportunity but I missed on that opportunity mm-hmm so I'm still waiting for that promise okay so then what are some challenges that you face as you wait on God sometimes you feel whether you're doing the right thing whether it will happen because it's been so long yeah knowing our God and his faithfulness I believe it will happen okay okay okay so yeah just questions and maybe even as you know we heard here insecurity doubt these things can happen anything else when we are waiting upon the Lord yeah correct so people who are around us yeah they can also make us they can discourage us right yeah so that also can happen so you see we have to be so strong right when we are convinced about God's promise we have to be so strong in holding on to God and not give up so these are all the challenges that one may face when we are waiting so look at the Hebrews 10 verse 35 it says therefore do not cast away your confidence which has great reward for you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God you may receive the promise so the writer is saying don't cast away your confidence or in other words don't give up okay don't give up it's when we don't give up that we actually receive the promises of God if we give up you know like that athlete run so well very close to the finish line but they give up no point because you're close to the finish line but not touch the finish line so giving up is never helpful we will not get what God intends for us so the writer of the Hebrews is saying don't do not cast away your confidence so both faith as well as patience is required and to keep moving on this way we can look at you know people like Abraham how they trusted God and the things that they did so you know they they kept their faith in God they thank God okay these are all things that they did to hold on to the promise of God they did not they did not let go of their affirmation or their confession of what God is going to do so even though we may not tell in front of people right like for example in the Bible you have Joseph right so Joseph has a dream and in that dream he sees that you know all his brothers are the sheaves about I don't exactly know the words but then they are bowing down before him and he is sort of exalted in the midst of his brothers now this is what God is telling Joseph I'm going to do this in your life in the future confession the confession that he could have had is yes God is going to raise me up God will lift me up among my brothers now because we are saying confession it doesn't mean that you know we go around telling people that you know what this is God is going to lift me up I'm going to become greater than you is it correct it is actually correct because God has revealed through a dream but it is not wise to go and make confessions you know before people and tell them this is what God is going to do this is what God is going to do because people may not be in that place of faith where you are so it's not about telling people keep it in your heart you have that confession personally and you say yes one day the Lord will raise me up according to what he has shown me so also being wise with our confession when we are waiting what may happen as you know the picture just said is people around us may say what is this why are you doing all this maybe you should do something else you're wasting your time so when there are people around us and then imagine we start telling them no you know what God is going to raise me up God is going to do this they may or may not believe our words so when we say confession hold on to your confession but maybe we can keep it personal right and maybe we can we can just speak to ourselves and say yes my faith is in God and God will do it and not be unwise to go and keep telling people when we tell people they may laugh at us or you know in the case of Joseph what happened his brothers became jealous of him imagine if he had not gone and told them they would have not known but when he went and did that they got jealous of him and then they tried to sell him so you know a lot of things happen so when we keep saying confession we need to be wise with our confession also so keep a confession before the Lord or in in the appropriate circles and hold fast to that confession so why is it that you know sometimes we have to wait what is what is God's intention when we he you know gives us that time to wait building yeah building our faith we'll also see a scripture which says that when we wait upon the Lord it actually strengthens our character okay it builds up our character character is you know who we are in the depths of our being okay so God is more interested in our character than you know just the outcomes of let's say you know our ministry or things like that so once our character is strong everything else will glorify God but if our character is not strong and we you know we are underdeveloped in our character it's very problematic okay because even if we go to great heights we will not be able to glorify or you know honor God for simple example will be Saul David and Saul remember Saul God chose him to be the king and God anointed him to be the king but so unfortunate he never kept up to God's expectations because in his character we can see a couple of things like pride disobedience you know the the need for fame so there were so many things that he desired within himself his character that finally God said you know I feel so sad I feel so sorry that I picked a man like Saul what was the issue not that he was not strong or you know God picked a really strong personality Saul he was he was a great leader right but the character is the problem so for us sometimes when we are waiting and it's so difficult it's because God is building our character character is very very important for God and when we have the right character we will be able to serve God in the right way so let's go ahead and take a break now and we'll come back in 10 minutes and continue on the same subject of patience thank you