 Okay, welcome everyone. Let's pray and then we will begin. Would anyone like to lead in prayer? If you have, there's no mic. There's no mic over there. Okay, fine. So then the online students, if you may lead, that will be really wonderful. I want to request one of us to please lead. Anyone? Esther? Esther Clement? Yes. Praise the Lord, sister. Just a moment. Yeah, sure. A gracious, loving, heavenly Father God, we praise and thank you for your loving presence amidst the first this morning time, O Lord God. As we begin our journey to learn, O Lord God, and learn from your revelations, O Father God, Lord, you take over our thoughts and our hearts, O Lord God, that we may imbibe and Lord richly, Lord God, be blessed by the word and the learning we get from our faster, O Lord God, bless her mightily, Lord God, for the wonderful service and Lord God, fill us all with your divine wisdom, Lord, with the spirit of excellence be upon us, Father God, we commit and dedicate this day into your mighty hands. We pray this prayer in the most precious name of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Esther. And this morning as we go through our next subject or the next topic here, I will require people to read scriptures. And since we don't, we are not using a mic here on campus, I want to request the online students to be prepared to please read us some of the scriptures as we go along. And I hope that's okay. All right. So in the last class, we began to speak about faith and the fact that the Lord Jesus taught us about faith. So even though we examined the concept of sovereignty where God is able and can do anything, he always depends on man's faith or he has chosen to depend on man's faith. In other words, we must demonstrate faith to receive from God. We must demonstrate faith to see certain things happen. Without faith, those things will not happen. Even if God is able, even if God is strong enough or capable to do those things, our faith is very, very important. And we saw how Jesus taught about it. And Jesus said, remember, I made all of us repeat, have faith in God. It was Jesus who said, have faith in God. When we have faith in God, there are things that are done or accomplished, which cannot be done otherwise. So we looked at what Jesus did regarding faith or his association with faith and what he taught about faith. So that is what we are looking at right now. So we are in chapter three of our notes and we went section by section. And the first one we said is that Jesus recognized and responded to faith. So whenever he went some place to minister, he could identify faith. So from his inner being, he could sense the faith that someone carried within them. So that is noticed everywhere in the ministry of Jesus. He recognized faith and whenever he found faith, he responded to faith. And then in the next section, we said that Jesus was the one who asked people to have faith in order to receive. So even when he knew what people needed, he expected them to tell him, what is it that they wanted from him? And we saw some examples like the blind men, when they came to Jesus, he asked them the question, do you believe that I am able to do this? So he knew that people had heard about him and all that, but he tested the faith. Like, what is it that you believe regarding this matter? And when they told him, yes, Lord, we believe that you can heal us, then he went ahead and said according to your faith, let it be done for you. So it's as if the Lord Jesus was asking people to have faith. It's when people had faith that something will be released to them. So even today, as we look at our own lives, there are so many things that we want to see God move in. So many areas of our lives where we want breakthroughs, we want deliverance, we want healing, we want miracles, we want blessings, but God is looking for faith. It's as if he's asking us, do you believe this can happen? And it's when we respond saying, yes, Lord, we believe, or I believe you can do this. That's when Jesus would say, okay, according to your faith. So whatever is your faith, you receive according to that faith. So Jesus asked for people to carry faith in their hearts. The other thing that we saw last class is that the Lord Jesus encouraged faith even in hopeless situations. The daughter of Jairus had died and the people around said, why do you even want to ask Jesus? Like, let him go because your daughter is already dead, but Jesus encouraged him. Jesus said, you know, believe, don't be afraid, you just believe. Similarly Lazarus, when Lazarus died, same thing, Jesus said, if you believe, you will see the glory of God. So in a seemingly hopeless situation, if we find that Jesus is encouraging hope, encouraging faith, okay? So that really shows us that when we have faith, even in a hopeless situation, God can do something. And in both these cases, what had happened to the people, Jairus's daughter and Lazarus, what happened to them? They died, okay? So it's a really hopeless situation. The worst that, you know, one would expect to happen when they go for ministry, but even in the midst of a hopeless situation, the Lord Jesus encouraged people to have faith and when they had faith, there was a breakthrough. So now let's see what are some of the other lessons that we can learn regarding faith and why, the reason why we are learning about all this is so that we can use faith in our relationship with God, in our walk with God and understand how faith operates. Because all of us have to apply faith, isn't it? We all need to apply faith in daily circumstances. We need to apply faith, not just when there is a crisis. In every circumstance, we must apply faith and when we have faith, mountains are moved, doors are opened, okay? So faith is essential, faith is very important. Jesus encouraged, the fourth section here says, Jesus encouraged people to act their faith. So there is something about taking a step in faith. Now we may carry faith in our hearts, but there are times when God says, if you have faith, you've got to do something about it, okay? So there is an incident where 10 lepers came to Jesus. This is in Luke chapter 17 verses 11 through 19 and they came and they, you know, begged Jesus to heal them. And what did he tell them? He told them in verse 14, go show yourself to the priests and it continues. And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. So there are the lepers who came to Jesus and they're asking Jesus to heal them. Jesus could have said a word or Jesus could have touched them or Jesus could have, you know, maybe rebuked the leprosy, so many things Jesus could have done, but he depended on their faith. How did he depend on their faith? He told them, go your way, show yourself to the priests and the scripture says, as they went, they were cleansed. So it just goes to reveal that when we carry faith in our hearts, sometimes the miracle will come when we step out with the faith. Now these men, lepers, they could have stood there and said, we won't go. What if they didn't go? What would have happened if they didn't go? Exactly. So they will, they would not have received their miracle, which is healing from leprosy if they didn't go. But because they went, what happened? What happened? They were healed, they were cleansed and the miracle took place. So what was Jesus's expectation for the 10 men to put action to their faith? Okay, now there are other instances as well. There's a noble man who comes to Jesus and he asks Jesus to come and heal his child before his child dies and Jesus tells him, you go on your way because your son lives and the scripture says in John 4 verse 50, that the man believed and he went and his son was healed. So there is an action when God tells us something, we may not have all the answers about how it is going to happen, you know where it is going to happen. Imagine if the lepers and this father, the noble man, if they had stood there and asked questions to Jesus, how will I be healed? How will she be healed? How will he be healed? What are you going to do? What are the steps that you want to employ? Jesus would have been like, okay, you know, I can already see your faith. But instead of standing there and questioning Jesus, not that having questions is bad or wrong, but the point I'm making is acting on your faith. Instead of demonstrating unbelief in a given moment is very, very important. So both these people or both these testimonies reveal that people acted on what Jesus said. So sometimes God wants us to take a step before we can see the manifestation of the promise. I mean, in my own life, I'm just trying to think there are so many examples where I've had to take the step first and then the miracle comes. Before obeying, it's quite scary that God is asking you to do this, but what could be the outcome? And you know, you're wondering, but when Jesus says something, when God says something, you just have to take the step. And as you take the step, the healing will come, the wisdom will come, the understanding will come, the resources will come. And so many wonderful miracles begin to take place. So I was just thinking of the time when I had to do my higher studies and it was a really challenging season because I made a choice of a particular subject that I wanted to study and the place where I want to go and study. But all the paperwork to go to that place, it just got delayed. I needed to leave on the 12th and it's already the 7th and I don't have the letter that they stamp and say, you can go to even travel. I don't even have that approval in my hand, still the 7th of the date. But it was as if God was telling me, you have to go. You just go. Okay. And it's the funniest situation that I have been in because I was packing my bags and I was, you know, getting ready and all with nothing, but things still not done. And it was amazing how things fell in place. But it was when I was moving towards what God had told me to do. So it always reminds me of how God comes in and he ministers when we take action on what he is telling us to do. I remember another incident of one of our students in the location where I minister, she had a very similar situation. She had applied for her higher studies and she was going, same thing. Like she was not getting her papers on time and even after she went, there were many things which didn't really work out for her to get a job on the university campus. The portal was not opening and it was pretty, you know, very sort of discouraging. But I remember even her fate journey, how she was taking step after step to just do what God is telling her to do. So right from here, like she would message me and say, the portal is not opening. Can you agree with me? Let us pray together. So I wrote down a prayer for her, sent the message to her and said, okay, agree with me. We both are going to pray this prayer. You prayed over the computer in the name of Jesus. Log in, prayed over the computer. I know it sounds really crazy, but you know, prayed over the computer in the name of Jesus. Command it, you will open in Jesus name. I am going to do this. I'm going to sign up. And it's amazing because after we send the prayer, she tried, she had tried for two days or something and it was not opening. After she said the prayer and she logged in, it opened. And she texted me back saying, pastor, it's opened, you know, and I'm just going to apply now. And she got the, you know, part-time job on the campus. So step by step expressing your faith and just moving forward. But you need to take action. Imagine if we say, yes, God told me that I'm going to do this course, but it looks like a closed door. And I'm not going to do anything. Whenever he wants to open, let him open. Whenever he wants to teach me this, let him teach. You know, whenever he wants to give me that opportunity, let him give. And if I sit down, nothing will work. So there are times when we have to put our faith to action. If I believe, you know, God has called me. God is the one who is moving me in this path. What action is God expecting me to take? Okay, I will take that action. Right? So initially, it may not feel comfortable. You may think that, oh, am I acting too fast? What am I doing? But when God is leading you, there are some circumstances and situations where he will ask us to act. You first act and as you do it, the miracle will come. Okay? There are times in church, we'll, you know, go to all these things later, but I'm just giving you some practical examples when maybe there is a word of knowledge when we call out and we say, oh, God is healing pain in the shoulder. Okay? Generally, what we say along with that is, move your shoulders, check. Right? How does it help to move the shoulders and check? Because you're putting action to your faith. So as you believe and as you move your hand, what happens? Sometimes that's when the, that's when the healing comes. That's when the miracle happens. You have to act on it. Till we act on it, nothing will happen. Right? So faith to be expressed through action and Jesus taught that there were times when he expected the people to do something. You have faith? Okay, show me, do something. That's how he demanded faith from people's hearts. So when we say that we have faith, we need to take action. So that is, you know, something that we observe in scripture. Another example given here is from John chapter nine, when there is a blind man and Jesus mixes, you know, some clay, puts it on his eyes and he tells him, you go and wash in the pool of Siloam. So till that man went and washed in the pool of Siloam, what happened? Healing didn't come. But once he washed, then the healing came. So though we say we have faith, we've got to show our faith with action. Right? So it's, it's like saying, okay, I believe God has called me for this ministry. Okay, what are we doing if God has called us for that ministry? What are the steps we are taking or God has called me for this career? What are the steps that we're taking in order for us to serve in that role? So as the Lord leads, take the connected or the corresponding action that reveals the faith which we carry in our hearts. Okay, so let's move on. The next point here is that Jesus demonstrated that faith could affect nature. There was a situation when Jesus and his disciples encountered a storm. They were in a boat and they encountered a storm in Luke chapter eight and at that time the disciples, what happened to them? They got scared, they were fearful, looking at the storm and they come and they wake Jesus up and imagine, you know, Jesus is so calm that even in the storm, he is sleeping. They come and wake up Jesus and they ask him to help them and in verse 24, they come and say, Master, Master, we are perishing then he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water and they seized and there was a calm. So they received their miracle by getting Jesus' attention. They woke him up and then Jesus woke up, he spoke to the winds, he spoke to the waves and it calmed down. Okay, but the next thing that we see in verse 25 is Jesus was quite upset and it's not a happy situation when Jesus is upset. So he's telling his disciples now, the storm has ended but in verse 25, he says to his disciples, where is your faith? Why do you think he said, where is your faith? Okay, someone from the online batch would need to answer me today. Yes, so thank you Akhil for that. Jesus had told them that they will go to the other side. So what was the promise of God? That they will reach the other side as they travel on the boat. But when the storm came, they lost their faith. They got so scared that they thought they're going to sink or they're going to die. They woke Jesus up to save their lives. But it was as if Jesus was asking them, but I told you, you'll be fine. Where is your faith? Some small circumstance happened and they all got scared. So Jesus is saying, I thought you trust me, even when things go wrong, that you're going to be strong. But look at the way, you're getting scared and look at the way you are revealing your unbelief. So that is why he's asking them, where is your faith? What happened to your faith? What else does he say? So he asks them, where is your faith? Now, where is your faith was more like a rebuke. Rebuke is a scolding. When somebody says, what? I told you to do this. You didn't do it. It's like a scolding or a rebuke to the disciples. Another reason why Jesus rebuked them is because when the storm happened, he expected them to use their faith to calm the storm. So ideally, what should have happened is when there was a stormy situation, the disciples who have been with Jesus for so long, they should have known that they can also speak to the winds and the waves and it will calm down. But nobody carried any faith in their hearts in order to do this. They had already seen Jesus showing his power over nature. They had seen how Jesus could multiply food, how Jesus turned water into wine. They had seen or rather in Jesus's life, we see him dealing with nature quite powerfully. He walked on the water. So even when it came to nature, Jesus demonstrated his faith and he released the power of his faith by issuing a command. So what do we learn from this? The same thing is applicable today because when we look at nature, there is, as per God's design, when we release faith, it affects nature. So this is applicable when it comes to the weather or it is applicable when it comes to, there are so many things that you can look at in nature, but even when we speak healing to the body, we can speak. You must have seen this. People say commands like, I speak to the circulatory system or I speak to the respiratory system, be healed in Jesus' name or years you will open in the name of Jesus. I speak to the eyes, be healed in Jesus' name. One of the reasons why we do this is because it works. We've seen that in the ministry of Jesus. We can command nature and natural things will respond to commands or issues of, commands of faith. So this is for our application and Jesus did quite a lot of that and in fact, to teach his disciples regarding faith in Mark chapter 11, what he does is, he looks at a fig tree. Most of you will know this incident. There was a fig tree and when Jesus went looking for figs, there was no figs. So what did he do? He rebuked it. He cursed the fig tree. Now what happened is that after Jesus cursed the fig tree, the very next day Jesus and his disciples were walking past the same fig tree and one of the disciples looked at the fig tree and said, Hey look, it's dried up. Okay, it's like within 24 hours, Jesus cursed it the previous day and now within 24 hours, what has happened? It dried up and so the disciples are shocked and they are amazed and they're wondering how did this happen? That's when Jesus, Mark 11, 22, he says, have faith in God and then he goes on to talk about how if one has faith in their heart and they speak to the mountain. Okay, so having faith in our heart and speaking is connected and we observe that even nature responds to our commands and wherever required in our faith journey, there may be times when we have to use this to be able to speak to the nature, the winds, the waves, the clouds, the rain but what we understand from scripture is that when we carry faith in our hearts, even these things are possible and Jesus actually expected his disciples who were in the boat with him to make those commands but they didn't do it. That is why he rebuked them and he said, where is your faith? You could have done it. Why did you wake me up? You could have commanded and so today you and I can apply this and we can speak even to nature. So as I'm sharing all these things, I don't want us to keep this as knowledge in our heads and think that okay, some time in my life I'm going to use it but you can practice it on a day-to-day basis. So if there is a situation where you would need to speak, whether to your own body, somebody's body or you know some weather condition situation, go ahead and speak and you will see the result of it. So I don't know if it is too much to digest for some of us but it's in the scriptures and this is how Jesus worked. Now let's move on. What else did we see Jesus do with faith? In the section number six here, we find that Jesus accommodated people outside of God's agenda in response to faith. Now in the previous class, I think I mentioned that when Jesus did his ministry, he had a mandate or he was commissioned by the Father to bring salvation to the whole world. However, when he was demonstrating healings and deliverances and all, he had still not gone on the cross, isn't it? So once he went on the cross, salvation is for all of mankind but before he went on the cross, we would find him ministering only to the Jews because he was acting on the covenant or the promise which he had with Abraham. God had promised Abraham that I am going to demonstrate my power in your life and in the lives of your descendants and so you find Jesus only ministering to Jews. But there were two incidents where non-Jews came to Jesus and they asked Jesus for a miracle. So one is the Centurion who came the Roman Centurion in Matthew chapter 8, his servant was sick okay? So he comes and he asks Jesus and we've seen his example. He says, Lord only say a word and my servant will be healed. Now this Centurion was not a descendant of Abraham. So what must Jesus do technically? He must refuse the miracle because he's not from the lineage of Abraham. But when there was faith in the heart of a man, Jesus did the miracle anyway. It's a very big thing. Somebody is outside of the covenant. All the promises are for the people of the covenant but here comes a man with what in his heart? Faith in his heart, to Jesus and he's not even part of the covenant and he says, Lord I know if you say one word my servant will be healed and Jesus is amazed. He says, wow what faith I've not seen this kind of faith, great faith. He appreciates him and he says okay you go your servant will be healed and scripture says, in that same hour immediately the servant was healed. So God moves wherever there is faith. Even when Jesus was supposed to minister only under the covenant, he still did a miracle for people who were outside of the covenant because of faith. One man carried faith and the miracle happened. In the same way in Matthew chapter 15, there is a lady, she comes to Jesus and she says, you know my child is tormented, oppressed by demons. Jesus, you need to set my child free. You know what Jesus tells her? The bread which is to be given to the children cannot be given to the dogs. What do you think he meant? It's quite hurtful to hear something like that. Imagine we go to Jesus and we say you need to heal my child or my loved one and Jesus says the bread which belongs to the children cannot be given to the dogs. It's as if Jesus is saying you know you're not a child okay and it's as if he's saying you know you come under the category of or you know like you're not accepted. So when you hear something like that what would be our first reaction? We're so upset. I came all the way to talk to Jesus and look how he's talking to me. You know he's so he's being so rude but think about the lady. She was so desperate. She didn't care about the comment. She said Lord even the dogs eat the crumbs meaning she had decided in her heart whatever he says I don't care. I want my miracle. I will take my miracle and only then go. So she doesn't get angry. She doesn't get upset. She shows her faith by saying even the dogs get the crumbs Lord and Jesus is like amazed wow. I can't believe you're still standing here and talking to me even after I said that the bread only belongs to the children. So think about this. She was outside of the covenant. She's like a Syrophoenician, a woman, Canaanite woman but on that day she got a miracle. So God did a miracle outside of the covenant because there was faith in a woman's heart. So it really tells us so much about God that when God finds faith it's as if he kept the rules aside and said okay there are rules but I'll keep it aside because you have faith. Let me do a miracle in your life and there are so many people even under the old covenant when you see people like Nama and Ruth. These are all people who were outside of the covenant but God did amazing miracles in their lives. Rehab, they're not people who are from the Abrahamic lineage but what was so special about these people they had faith. So when we have faith God will pass over a crowd to do a miracle for the person who carries faith. So this is how Jesus worked. He accommodated people even if they were outside of God's agenda and he responded to their faith. Are you all with me? Okay fine. So let me just look at some comments here. Lucy says God's word for the Gentiles and Jews too. He wanted people to understand this. Okay, yes Lucy. So God wanted everyone to understand the word but when it came to the covenant there were I mean there are certain restrictions. So it's only the people who are part of the covenant who can receive of the covenant blessings. So which is why Jesus was trying to stress and say that the Jews were the rightful, you know like heirs or they were the rightful people to receive the blessings and yet people who carried faith from outside of the covenant still receive their miracle. Okay, so I really hope that clarifies some things. Now let's move on to the seventh section here where it says Jesus helped people when they struggled in faith. So there are times when people were finding it difficult to have faith in God but in these times Jesus did not push them away. Instead he said don't worry, you know he encouraged and he said it's okay, you can have faith in me and you know he sort of kept them in trust and in faith and miracles happen. So there was a man whose son was demon possessed and he was struggling to have faith in Jesus. You know what he said in Mark 9-24 he said Lord I believe but help my unbelief meaning I have faith in my heart but there's also like a struggle that I'm going through Jesus. Please help me and Jesus helped that man. So even in our lives there could be times when you know we may feel like oh I don't have faith as big as a mountain or I don't have great faith, I don't have faith that will impress Jesus like this man who's looking for a deliverance for his child. He says yes Lord I believe but I also am struggling with unbelief, help my unbelief but in this case Jesus delivered the child anyway right. So when we seemingly lack you know the kind of faith that we should have we find that Jesus doesn't push us away. He still helps us. Think about the time when Jesus was you know in he the disciples were in the boat and Jesus was walking on the water. Matthew chapter 14, Jesus is walking on the water and in that situation what happened Peter says Lord you know have me come to you and so Jesus is very impressed. Imagine who would tell Jesus. Peter and the disciples are on the boat. Jesus is walking on the water. Among all the disciples there was only one man Peter who said Lord you ask me to come to you. He even imagined that it is possible for him to walk on water that itself would have impressed Jesus. He would have thought finally one guy one guy got it great you know. So one person Peter he says Lord ask me to come to you and Jesus is so happy he says come. Then what happens next? Peter steps out of the water and it's like a movie scene right in our minds. So he's walking on the water. It's amazing because till now none of the disciples have walked on the water. Jesus he's walking. Coolly he's walking on the water right. So there's this great demonstration of faith where Peter says ask me to come and Jesus says come. Peter steps out. He starts to walk on the water but what happens in the next scene? Peter looks here and there. He realizes oh my goodness I'm on I'm standing on water. How can this happen? This is not science. Okay the moment he thinks he looks here and there he starts to sink. So he's falling into the water. What should Jesus have done? Very good. You need to sink because you didn't believe in me. Did you do that? Thank God you know he didn't do that right. He gave his hand and he helped him up right and said hey Peter why did you doubt why did you doubt oh you of little faith why did you doubt you were walking so nicely but you looked at the situation circumstance got scared and then sank right. So it happens even in our lives sometimes we start walking with God full of faith you know miracles all supernatural everything is happening but suddenly we look around we get distracted and it affects our faith and we start sinking and we think how did this happen? I was walking so nicely I was walking so well with the Lord and now I'm sinking what will God think about me but in this situation Jesus is not you know letting him sink and you know suffer instead he gives his hand and he says okay come on come up okay and he teaches him a lesson of course he gives him one small rebuke oh you of little faith you know one scolding does happen after that but then he says why did you doubt you should have believed all along not just in the beginning you have to believe all along right only then Peter would have been able to walk throughout and in a particular sermon they put it this way and they said when Jesus said come right one word is enough how did Peter walk it's as if he walked on that one word and God gives us a word a word of promise we need to hold on to that word and sometimes we are walking only on that one word yeah there's water there's storm there's everything happening around but you're walking on the word of God and the word of God is sustaining you in that situation so never forget that one word if God could only say one word and say come or do this do that I'm calling you something all we need is one word you hold on to that word we can even walk on water right but unfortunately distraction doubt and Peter looked around God scared but thank God Jesus doesn't push us away even when we fail in our faith he still gave his hand and said okay come on Peter come back up and you know things went on he taught him a lesson so even today just for us to remember there could be areas where we are struggling in our faith but know that God doesn't push us away he wants us to develop our faith but he encourages us to develop our faith okay so he helped people who struggled in their faith okay let's go ahead we will take a 10 minute break right now we'll come back and discuss more okay thank you thank you everybody