 You are one act of faith away from a miracle. You are one act of faith away from your deliverance. You are one act of faith away from a breakthrough. I believe that one act of faith can completely transform your circumstances. You can go from where you are now frustrated maybe, living in lack, living in confusion, living in depression, anxiety, powerlessness, priorlessness, and you can go to a place where there is abundance, where there is peace, where there is joy, where you can experience the fullness of all that God wants you to experience, where you can do all that God wants you to do. You are one act of faith away. Hello, I'm David D. Hernandez and you're watching Spirit Church here on EncounterTV. As you can tell, we are not on our set right now. So we've improvised with a set while we are traveling and next week I'll be back in studio to teach from there. But I want to talk to you today about the act of faith and I'm going to share just a couple Bible stories with you and it's going to be a very simple but very encouraging message today. It's not really a teaching, it's more of a message that I want to share with you. And Stephen Maktizuma has recorded some worship for this edition of Spirit Church. So you're going to worship with Stephen right now and then we're going to come right back and get into this message on the act of faith. Here is Stephen Maktizuma. Now before I get into this message on breakthrough or the act of faith, I want to emphasize something here because too often is the message of breakthrough, is the message of miracles, is the message of blessing abused and taught in a way or presented in a way that incites greed and self-absorption with people. People become too self-absorbed. So I want to emphasize something here. The Gospel is and always will be about Jesus. The Gospel is about Him, the Gospel is about God's will, the Gospel is about sacrifice, the Gospel is about picking up your cross, denying yourself and following Him. Having said that, I do believe that there is a time and a place to believe God for the miraculous, for your own breakthrough. Now it's important to keep the right perspective here. We believe for blessing, we believe for miracles, we believe for breakthrough, we believe that God is going to accomplish the calling that He has placed on our lives and it's wonderful when He does those things, it's wonderful when He blesses us, it's wonderful when He does give us a miracle or a breakthrough. But it is important to remember that God does those things for us, not just for ourselves, not just so we can, as James describes, consume it upon our own lust. But so that we can become God's ministry, God's influence, God's kingdom, God's will in action in the earth. God wants to bless you so that you can expand the kingdom. God wants to give you a breakthrough and a miracle so that you can expand the kingdom. It's all about the spreading of the Gospel. So even your personal breakthrough, even your personal miracle, even your personal blessing in God's master global plan is not about you. It's about the Gospel. It's about Jesus. It's about Jesus reaping the reward of His suffering. You know, I preached the Gospel, number one, my number one priority in preaching the Gospel is not the winning of the lost. Now, I know you have heard me say many times on Spirit Church and on EncounterTV and our other programs that my why for the ministry is souls. And that's true. It is souls in the practical sense. We're winning souls. That is our mandate to win souls. But in a much deeper sense, it is primarily about my love for Jesus. It's primarily about our love for the Lord. I win souls firstly because I love Jesus and secondly because I love souls. I love Jesus so much that I want Him to reap the reward of His suffering. I want Him to have His way. His heart is for souls. His heart is for people. And He wants to receive those souls because He loves them. And secondly, I don't want to see anybody, not one. That's God's will that none should perish, not even one. God is willing that none should perish. I want to see not even one soul. Enter into eternity without hearing the gospel. It's something that it burns within me and it's the driver of this ministry. It's the driver of why we do what we do but remember that it's all about Jesus. So as I talk today and I share this short and simple message with you on the act of faith and receiving your miracle, receiving your break, the receiving your blessing, I ask you to keep that in mind, that proper perspective. And I plead with you to not make the gospel about receiving and about blessing and about prosperity. Those things come with the blessings of God, yes, but that cannot be the focus. We must remain in the pursuit of God's heart and never in pursuit of God's hand. When you pursue His heart, you get it all. If you pursue His hand, then you get into trouble. So I want to go now to Matthew chapter 12. I'm going to begin reading at verse number 9. Matthew chapter 12 verse number 9. The scripture says, And he answered, Yes, the law permits a person to do good on the Sabbath. Then he said to the man, There was a man in the synagogue who had a withered hand. And Jesus took notice of him. Now I personally believe that the Pharisees had placed this man in the synagogue to try to trap Jesus. But they weren't aware of the fact that they were actually setting up this man for his miracle. So there he is in the synagogue. He walks in, his hand is withered. He's unable to stretch it out, unable to use it for normal activity. He was handicapped, he was crippled. And Jesus takes notice of him. And the Pharisees question what's going to happen. They ask the Lord, Lord, is it lawful for you to heal on the Sabbath? Because the scripture to them had declared that they should not work on the Sabbath. And Jesus tells this story about a sheep and compares that to the situation, emphasizing that this man is much more important than just a sheep. So Jesus turns to the man. He tells that man, Stretch out your hand. Hold out your hand. Now I thought this was interesting because the very fact that he has a withered hand means that he can't stretch out his hand. The Lord is asking him to do something that he is unable to do. The man with the withered hand up until that point was not able to do the impossible. So what was the difference? What made the difference? It was the word. It was Jesus speaking a declaration. Stretch out your hand. It was a command. So the difference between the impossible and the possible. The bridge between the possible and the impossible is the word of God. It's the promises that he has made. It is the declaration of the Father. The bridge to the impossible is the word. So Jesus turns to him. He says stretch out your hand. And the man has the faith to attempt to do what he knows he cannot do. I love this. He has the faith to move in a direction that his natural mind told him he could not move in. The command of Jesus was obeyed by faith. What is the Lord asking you to do that you think you can't do? What is the command of God concerning you? What is the situation for you? The command of Jesus is stretch out your hand. Stretch your faith. Take a step. Act. Some of you watching this may be fearful. You may be thinking, well, I know I'm called to preach the gospel, but I just don't know what to do next. And the problem is you're waiting for certainty. But where there is certainty, there is no need of faith. Only where there is risk is faith required. If where you are going does not require faith, then where you are going is not the will of God. This man was told stretch out your hand. Do what you cannot do. If you will do the difficult, God will do the impossible. If you will do the possible, God will do the impossible. How difficult must it have been for this man to stretch out his hand? Not just the physical limitations is what I'm referencing. I'm referencing also the mental and the emotional issues that he may have had with this command. When Jesus said stretch out your hand, do you think possibly it was difficult for him to attempt to do so? Maybe out of fear of being disappointed? Are there things you avoid doing because you're afraid of being disappointed, of being let down, of being rejected, of being alone? Are there things that God is calling you to do that require you to stretch out your hand? That require you to do what you don't think that you can do? But here's the thing. Where there is the word of God, obeyed by faith in action, the miracle is always born. When God speaks it and man responds to it, that's when the miracle happens. That is the partnership of miracles between God and man. It's the command of God met with man's act of faith. And God's commands met with man's act of faith will always produce a miracle. Will always produce results. So wherever you are in your life, with your ministry, with your finances, with your relationships, with your business, with your walk with the Lord, maybe even in your holiness, you're struggling and you're wondering, God, how am I going to get out of this? How do I get from here to there? How do I get from what seems to be a season of frustration and lack to that season of abundance, to that season where I know God is with me? Well, first of all, you know he's with you in every season. But second of all, you get to the season of abundance and breakthrough by an act of faith. You get there by saying, Lord, it's not something I think I can do. It's not something I've been able to do. And it's certainly not something I can do on my own. But because you said to do it, because you commanded me, because you sent forth your word, your faith, I'm going to stretch out my hand and I'm going to say, Lord, I believe you. I believe your word. I believe that you are able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that I could ask or even imagine. And God, if you say to do it, then I believe I can do it. And so this time was different. The man was able to stretch out his hand. He was completely made whole. He was completely healed. In the presence of those who didn't really want to receive his miracle, who were actually enemies. In the presence of those who doubted the work of the Lord. Not that they doubted that he could. They doubted whether or not he should. Some people may doubt what God is able to do in your life and some people doubt if God should do something in your life. Nevertheless, Jesus tells us, stretch out your hand. Hold out your hand. Do what you could not do before. Act in faith. So many times we come to the Lord and we act as though we just come and you do your thing. I'm here. That's not how it works. The miracle always comes as a result of faith. And faith is action. Faith is movement. Faith is heading in a certain direction. I've been a services that I couldn't even tell you how many services I've done now, but I've prayed for a lot of people who need miracles. And many times I'm approached by people, they'll come to me and they'll literally just stand in front of me. They won't close their eyes. They won't lift their hands. They won't seek God. They just come up. They stand in front of me and they look at me and they don't say a word. It's a little bit awkward. I just put my hand on their head and as I'm praying for them, we're both just looking at each other. And that's it. Then they go and they walk away. They receive nothing. And I can tell they're not engaging. They're not working to engage in faith. They're not acting. They're not pursuing the Lord. In fact, I had this one instance where I was doing a miracle service and the place was packed. There were seats outside of the building. People could not get inside. And there was a long line of people who needed healing, a long line of people who needed miracles. And so one by one, the people start coming and I'm praying for them and God's moving. And this one gentleman comes up to the front and he's facing me right there on the platform. I'm not kidding. He actually said this. He gets up to the platform and I ask him, what do you need God to do for you? And I put the microphone to him and he said this. I'm not kidding. He goes, I want you to tell me what I need from God. Now, at the time the Lord wasn't speaking to me about ailments. He wasn't really flowing through me in the word of knowledge in that service. And I said, well, I have no idea what you need from the Lord. Can you tell me? And right there on microphone, I gave him the microphone again and he says right there, he goes, then you're not blessed by Jesus. And he dropped it, turned around and left. And I was so stunned by it that I didn't even have a chance to have an emotional response. I was just, I was amused that someone would come up and do that. And I thought that was interesting. He came up and he just expected to just come up and do absolutely nothing and you take care of it. You have faith for me. Well, at some times, God does allow in his mercy for us to engage in faith on behalf of others. And there is power and corporate faith. We need to have faith of our own. We need to take responsibility and say, God, I'm going to take responsibility for my part and I'll leave the rest to you. I'm going to step out in faith. I'm going to stretch out my hand. Now go to Matthew chapter 14. I'm going to read you another short story here. Matthew chapter 14, verse number 22, a very famous scripture, a portion of scripture. Matthew chapter 14 verse number 22 says, immediately after this Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake until he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills to pray by himself. Night fell while he was there alone. Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land for a strong wind had risen and they were fighting heavy waves. At three o'clock in the morning, Jesus came forward to them walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In fear they cried out, it's a ghost. But Jesus spoke to them at once, don't be afraid, he said. Take courage, I am here. Then Peter called to him, Lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you walking on the water. Yes, come, Jesus said. So Peter went over the other side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. When he saw the strong wind in the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. Save me, Lord, he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. You have so little faith. Jesus said, why did you doubt me? This is a very famous portion of scripture and I would be foolish to think that I'm going to tell you any new perspective on this portion of scripture. I mean, I could say things like, well, Peter actually had faith to get out of the boat and people criticized him so much and other cliches concerning this portion of scripture. So I'm not going to try to get too creative with this, but I do want to point something out here. The fact is that Peter left the safety of the boat to experience the miraculous. He walked on water, but he had to leave the boat in order to do that. He had to leave the place of security. He had to leave that which he relied upon. He had to leave the familiar. He had to leave what he considered stable, at least in the natural. In order to pursue the presence of Jesus, to pursue God, to pursue Jesus, you will always have to head into the supernatural. For Peter to get closer to Jesus, he had to step out of the natural and into the supernatural. Peter pursued the Lord on the water. Peter walked on the water toward Jesus. When we pursue the presence of Jesus, it will naturally take us from the comfortable to the risky. It will naturally take us from the familiar to the unfamiliar. Whenever you pursue Jesus, hear this what I'm saying, whenever you truly pursue the Lord, he's always going to set himself in a place that is hard to reach on your own. Whenever you pursue God, he's always going to set himself in a place that's impossible to reach without a miracle. And he does this so that you rely solely upon him. He does this so that you seek him and not the miracle itself. So Peter has the faith to step out and I ask you, what is your boat? What is it that you're relying upon? What is it that you're holding on to? He didn't take a safety line. I was just talking with our friend Steve yesterday and he was telling me this from the Scripture. He said, you know, Peter didn't take a rope. He didn't say, hey guys, tie me up. I'm going out and hold on to me just in case. He just went out with nothing. That is true abandonment of self. That is true faith. That is truly acting in faith. Now Peter comes to the place where he's looking at the winds and the waves, looking at the storm. I think he was just observing the miracle. He was focused on the fact that he was actually walking on water. I don't think his intention was to examine the storm itself. I think his intention was to examine the fact that he was walking on water. And when he did that, he saw the storm. Don't focus on your miracle. Focus on Jesus. Don't focus on your circumstances. Focus on Jesus. And so Peter, when he takes his eyes off the Lord, we know the story, he begins to sink. You have to consistently look to Jesus if you're going to stay on stable ground. The walk of faith is sustained by focus on the person of Jesus. Whatever begins in faith must continue in faith or you sink. Whenever you take a step of faith you have to continue to take steps in faith or you will sink. But Jesus asked Peter a question after he sank and Jesus reached out and grabbed Peter. He says, you have so little faith why did you doubt me? Peter, you were with me when I fed the 5,000. You saw all the healings. You saw me drive out devils. You've heard me teach with the authority of heaven. You've seen what I can do. You're beginning to know who I truly am. Why did you doubt? In other words, there is no reason to doubt. Has the Lord ever abandoned you? Has God ever taken you somewhere that he couldn't keep you? Has the presence of Jesus ever drawn you to a place that destroyed you? But there's no reason to doubt. The act of faith is faith in the person of Jesus, in the promises of God. What waits for you on the other side of your obedience? What waits for you on the other side of your act of faith? Look, I'm not making any unrealistic promises, but consider this. Do you know what the next 24 hours hold concerning you? You have no idea how quickly the Lord can turn a situation around, or maybe you do. Act in faith. What is he telling you to do? Has he called you to preach the gospel? And you're saying, Lord, I don't know what to do? Has he called you to give into a ministry? And you're saying, Lord, I don't know if I can. Has he called you to forgive difficult? If you will do the difficult, God will do the impossible. If you will surrender and lend yourself to faith, to the promises of God, he won't let you down. Stretch out your hand. Get out of the boat. Pursue the presence of Jesus and whatever steps of faith you have to take to Him, take those steps. Act in faith. I'm going to pray with you now. Like I said, this is simple, but I believe it's stirring something in you. Let's pray that the Lord would give you the faith to act and that you would act on it. So that's going to be your choice. I'm going to pray that God would stir your faith and then you have to choose to say, Lord, I'll respond. Now you see sensitivity to the voice of the Holy Spirit isn't just about how clearly you hear Him, but about how quickly you respond. Delay is disobedience. Act, act, act. Step out, step out, step out. You're called to preach the gospel, act. You're called to start a business, act. You're called to give to a ministry, act. You're called to forgive, act. You're called to live holy, act. Step out in faith. What is keeping you? Why do you doubt? Why do you doubt? Has the Lord ever led you wrong? Has He ever taken you to a place that was ultimately against you? I doubt. Why doubt Him? He's come through time and time and time again. There's no reason to doubt. Act in faith. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, I pray for that one watching right now. And Lord, I ask Father, I ask that you touch that one's faith. Stir that faith to overflowing. Father, let boldness well up within their soul. Father, I pray in Jesus' name, the faith of God, the faith of the Holy One would rise within them. Lord, let that fire of faith grow in Jesus' name. Give us the boldness. Give us the faith to act in Jesus' name. I feel the anointing and I want you to say it. Amen. There is so much that God has for you. Don't be afraid. I know it's scary sometimes. I know it can make you nervous. I know it can make you uncomfortable. Have a reason to doubt them. Act in faith. Move. Do something today. Somebody's watching right now. You've just been healed. You've just been healed. I'm trying to get an image, but the Lord just told me healing's flowing. I'm trying to get an image of you. I see you in a hospital bed. God's touching your body. Have the doctors check you again. Have them check you again. I really believe God's doing something here. The anointing is flowing. Thank you Lord. Someone with severe depression. I was going to go over to the spirit church memories, but I'm telling you it's flowing again. Somebody with severe depression. You're supposed to go and talk to somebody about an issue that you've not talked about. That's an act of faith for you. There's somebody else watching me. You've been struggling with a sin. I'm not talking. I'm not saying that you mess up now and that I'm saying that this is a sin you've embraced and you're actively living in it. You're not doing anything to try to stop it and you're just trying to hide it is all you're doing. You need to go and confess that sin. The scripture tells us confess your sins one to another that you may be healed. First John 1.9 Confess it to God that you could be forgiven. And then 1 John 5.16 or 5.17 says No, not 1 John. James chapter 5 verse 16 or 5 verse 17 says that we confess our sins one to another that we may be healed. If you act of faith, go and confess your sin and you're going to find a breakthrough in healing. Not that man forgives, but man holds us accountable and we can find healing and restoration through that. Jesus, I thank you, Lord, for all that you're doing right now. I thank you, Lord. There's someone you've been wanting to start a business. And in fact, you may already have one but it's not going where you need to go. You have a vision. It's time to sow. In fact, the Lord told you to sow into this ministry and He gave you an exact number and you've not done it yet. You're withholding from it. Act in faith now. Don't be afraid. I thank you, Lord, for what you're doing in Jesus' name. And everyone said, say it if you believe it. Amen. Well, that's it for the lesson in the ministry portion. I want to welcome now the new members of Spirit Church. There are your names up on the screen. Take a look. See your name. Thank you for joining the Spirit Family. We love you. We are praying for you. I always say that because I always mean it. And if you'd like information on how you could join the Spirit Church or the Spirit Family, go ahead and click on the link that's just about to appear over my head. If that link does not appear, then just use the information at the bottom of the screen to join the Spirit Family. You sign up. It's free. You receive weekly teachings from me and I believe those teachings will bless you. We also offer prayer support. All you have to do is reply to the emails and you get to join in a church that's attended online by people from all over the world. Now to your comments. Bless Grace writes, Thank you so much, Pastor David. I just discovered you on YouTube and I'm really blessed. Your videos give me hope and energy. May God bless you abundantly. Sister Letitia from Virginia. We thank you for writing into us and for starting to watch our videos. I'm glad you enjoyed that video. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit in this week's teaching and that's where these comments are from. Kevin Suresh writes, Praise the Lord. Thank you, Pastor David, for the video. It changed my perception of the Holy Spirit and has made me more sensitive to him. God bless you. Well, it is important, Kevin, that we do not grieve the Holy Spirit and I'm so glad that the Lord has revealed that through that teaching. Another commenter writes, Thanks for revealing things about the Holy Spirit. That he has a heart, mind and will. Let his friendship, grace and love be forever. May God bless your ministry, church and your family. Praise the Lord writing from India. Well, writing all the way from India, we're so glad that you watch EncounterTV all the way out there. And yes, if you're hearing these comments, this teaching will open your eyes. So I really recommend you go and watch Don't Grieve the Holy Spirit. It's a teaching on the person of the Holy Spirit. I go over the fact that he is a person. I show that from Scripture and then I talk about his heart and how not to grieve him. Another commenter writes, I love the clear way that you teach. God has truly blessed you with a wonderful gift. We like to present the gospel in a simple way. And I believe in taking the truths of Scripture and giving them to you in simple and applicable ways that can actually affect your life. Another commenter writes, This is a very anointed and prophetic message on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is so gentle to forgive us even after grieving him. Lebanon, wow, watching all the way from Lebanon. We love you. We appreciate you. Thank you for your comment. Laurie Sloan writes, Thank you. This teaching made me realize the sensitivity I share with the Holy Spirit. Divine Spirit in Truth. I deeply appreciate and support these teachings. God bless you. Well, thank you guys so much for writing into us. If you'd like me to read one of your comments, go ahead and leave a comment on this video below. Your comment is more likely to be read if it has to do with the subject. If it's concise. Maybe ask an interesting question. And if you leave your location from where you're writing from. Well, I want to talk to you now for a second and don't turn off the video. This is important. This is important that I share this with you because we are winning souls together. That's what we are about is winning souls to Jesus, preaching the gospel and expanding the kingdom of God. And we do this through our ministry, the worldwide television, international events and global discipleship media. We do just a few things with excellence rather than many things with mediocrity. And so because we have such a simplified plan, it's easier to funnel resources right into those plans. And we are seeing results. Just go ahead and watch a World Changers Update video to see behind the scenes look at the ministry and the results and the testimonies and the statistics. All of those are prepared every quarter. But I want to challenge you now to begin to support this ministry. Here's where we are in our campaign. Remember, we needed a thousand new $30 a month partners to expand our reach. And this expansion includes a new TV network and includes a new facility. It includes Sunday night meetings. It includes, here's my favorite, more events in more places and more often. So as we increase that support, we're going to be able to do more things. On bottom line, we can just win more souls and build more believers. I know I've said this to you several times, but I want you to really consider today becoming a supporter. Maybe the message challenge you and it's time for you to step out in faith. Become a $30 a month supporter or give a one-time gift. Help us reach this level of expansion. And after we get this level of expansion, we're going to expand and then we're going to expand some more. It never stops. There's always something to do. But our motive, our why is always souls. So stop delaying it. Stop making excuses. Stop saying, I don't really know if I should do it. You know, this reveals the heart. The scripture says where your treasure is, there where your heart be also. Your heart is in the gospel. This is a good place to sell. So go ahead and do that right now. Become a monthly partner or give a one-time gift. We really would appreciate it and help us continue to take the gospel all around the world and win souls, win souls, win souls, win souls. That's what we're about. Well, that is it for this edition of Spirit Church on EncounterTV. Until next time, remember, it's impossible with God.