 Okay, welcome back everyone from the break We're going to Just pick up on some questions Out of there on the chat just before we went for break so They'll be asked a question. Is it helpful to personalize the promises of God to build my faith So that I can pray according to God's promise Yes, right, so we Take the promise of God the promises of God for that situation and you begin to Personalize it you begin to you know Feed yourself with the promise of God and see that promise happen in your life in your circumstance in your situation So that's very important, right? So It's not just a Promise that's in the word for everybody. It is true, but it's now you're saying it's for me It's mine and expecting it. That's a good thing to do Thank you. Thank you best Isaac, thank you. You're welcome Isaac's question. How can we explain what happened to Peter? At the time he wanted wanted to began to walk on the sea He started to walk in a few moments. He felt he was sinking. All right, so good question Isaac So if we look there in in Matthew the 14th chapter just just to you know See what happened as Peter began to walk on the water in Matthew chapter 14 Uh Verse 29 says he walked on the water to go to Jesus. So Jesus had given the word. He said Peter come You know and so Peter was confident The Lord Jesus spoke in the word and Peter's walking on the water But then in verse 30 of Matthew 14 Matthew chapter 14 verse 30 it says He saw the wind That the wind was boisterous He was afraid and beginning to sink so He saw and obviously heard he felt so the the the the senses kicked in What he saw the waves what he could hear what he could feel And that overwhelmed The feelings the senses overwhelmed him and Made him fearful. So fear is the opposite of faith Right, so this is Matthew chapter 14 Roslyn Matthew chapter 14. We're just uh Matthew 14 we are looking at So thank you John so Peter saw the waves and obviously he Felt the wind and he could hear the sound of the waves. So the senses are kicking in And the senses are overwhelming the fact that Jesus had given a word The word that Jesus gave us come Peter, which means You can do it come But when he saw the wind and the waves and all of that His senses began to question his faith Knights of faith We walk by faith not by sight we walk by faith not by the senses And what happened when he let the senses dominate it says verse 30 He became fearful So fear is the opposite of faith when fear comes in faith goes out so We must Choose we make a deliberate choice To walk by faith And not by sight. So this is what happened in Peter's case Isaac as As he started to walk on on the water. He was walking by faith. He started and started out in faith But then He let the senses over right and Weakness faith so The last point that I want to talk about in that lesson So we've talked about we talked about faith hope and love So we talked about faith and hope And in talking about faith. We also talked about faith and feelings And we talked about faith and doubts when doubts come, you know, we have to reject the doubts choose to believe And the last thing I want to talk about is faith and love Okay And somebody read Galatians chapter 5 verse 6 Galatians 5 verse 6 Uh for us, please Galatians chapter 5 and verse 6 For in christ jesus Neither circumcision nor uns Uncircumcision has any value Only thing that count is faith expressing itself through love Man, thank you So Look at that phrase faith working through love or Faith expressing itself Through love So here's the very important key faith works through love Which means If there's no love faith cannot work So we need to guard our heart against Things that destroy love hate, of course, it's the opposite of love strife jealousy pride bitterness All of these things Cancel out love in our hearts. They work against love And if there's no love Faith can't work because faith works through love So you can imagine this You can imagine faith as being the conduit It's being the channel Through which sorry love being the channel Through which faith works If there is no love Faith cannot be released. It cannot work so In everything in everything whether you and I are exercising faith Uh When you you you and I exercise faith for ourselves or for other people We got to guard against these things. I'm just uh type it out hate bitterness jealousy pride hate bitterness jealousy pride strife Yeah, so we have to guard against these things So whatever So love should be our motivation Okay You're believing god that god will make you very fruitful in life You know example like we said in the beginning Maybe you have this hope of becoming a wonderful pastor Of becoming a wonderful, you know minister of god Or being a wonderful businessman a successful businessman or being a wonderful Educator or whatever, you know, whatever The hope is And now you're going to exercise faith for it wonderful But there's love should be a motivation love Of course love for god But more importantly here is it's it's love for people So say god I want to be a good pastor fruitful pastor. Why because I want to bless people Not because I want to be better than the other guy or the Or not because of pride You know, I want to be this this this superhero man, you know Those are not the right motivation. Those are motivation that destroy love Faith will not work But the motivation should be God I want to bless people I care about people that's why I want to be a good pastor That's why I want to be a good businessman I want to be a good Whatever, you know, whatever that that you you personally are Desiring for to do or become based on the promise of god Love should be the motivation love for god and love for people I mean love is what is motivating us whatever whatever And love is what is motivating us the bible says faith works through love And you know first Corinthians the 13th chapter we are Familiar with this first Corinthians 13 you know Paul says look if even if I have faith to move mountains, but I don't have love I'm nothing So I could say in my heart I got faith I got faith I got faith to two big things, but if I don't have love It's nothing it will result in nothing And he closes off that chapter in first Corinthians 13 now abides faith Hope and love. So we're talking about these three things says now remains so right now There are three important things that remain in the life of a believer that are important in the life of a believer faith Hope and love and then he says the greatest of these is love Why? Because without love Faith is useless hope is useless can't work faith the twins cannot work faith and love faith and hope cannot produce where there's no love and in the future We won't need faith and hope because when we are with Jesus The only thing will matter is love You know, we don't need faith. You don't need hope because we are seeing Jesus We are with him so Both in this life And in the life to come The greatest thing is love Loving people Loving God, of course loving God and loving people And if I love people Faith and hope will work You can move mountains You can see miracles You can see the promises of God fulfilled all those things will happen, but love must be the motivator love must Be the channel or love has must be there only then faith and hope will work so always Check your heart We have to check our hearts God What is motivating me? Is it pride? Do I want to be a big man? Is it jealousy? Do I want to do better than the other person and I'm jealous of the other person It's a bitterness You know, if there is bitterness if there is hate Faith can't work So protect protect your heart From these negative things, you know, don't give place to Hate and bitterness and jealousy and pride and strength now. They will always be opportunity To hate somebody To be jealous of somebody To be proud Or get into strife with people that will always be there Opportunities will come But you don't accept them You say no, I am not going to hate anybody I'm not going to get into strife with anybody. I'm not going to be jealous of anybody Why because you know that these things will if these things get into your heart and there's no love Then faith cannot work So every time you go to exercise faith Do a quick check Why am I doing this? Am I motivated by love? If I'm not if love is not there get it there first say God Help me to do this because I love the people Help me to do this because of love for you and love for people get it in first Because when you have love Then faith and hope Can work So in this lesson it's a very simple lesson We talked about faith hope and love How they are connected They're very three important things but they're all connected They all work together First most important Is love and you have love Faith and hope can produce Okay, so we're going to stop with this lesson with that lesson here Any questions before we go to the next lesson? Everybody has been following following along Things okay Okay All right, thank you. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Okay, don't hesitate. So How is this interpreted in marriage? Yeah Okay, so first Corinthians chapter 13 if you look at it It's not a chapter on marriage but uh The most common place where verse current in chapter 13 is read Is during the marriage ceremony? But actually it's not about marriage verse current is 13 right it's it's it's put in between two chapters chapter 12 and chapter 14 that are actually talking about the gifts of the holy spirit and it's actually talking about the operation of the spirit Yeah, and it's in that context that paul is writing about love but of course love The walking and love applies to every area of life including that of marriage So in Ephesians 5 we know You know it says husbands Love your wives even as christ loved the church And gave himself for it. So husbands you've got to walk and love towards your wife And uh in titus Titus also says wives love your husbands Now of course the greek words are different there, you know Uh in in Ephesians 5 it says husbands love the word agape Titus he says wives love your husbands the word there is phileo which is more like be a friend uh to your to your husbands Uh, I'm just giving you the exact yeah, that's titus chapter 2 and verse 4 So the word in titus 2 4 is phileo Vives love your husbands be be a good friend So but agape is a stronger word which means you know sacrificial love But anyway, uh, so love has to be there in marriage And why is it's one of the you know one of the scriptures that really tell us why That love in marriage is so important is first Peter chapter 3 And he says in verse 7, you know, he says first Peter 3 verse 7 he says husbands You dwell with your wife with understanding Giving honor to your wife honor her Uh, you know as a as a as a weaker vessel And as being heirs together of the grace of life. So you honor her You know as a weaker vessel in me you treat her with uh extra care and you Uh You're at air together So husbands and wives husband your wife husband wife your heirs together your co heirs So the wife is not lesser than the husband the wife and the husband are co heirs of the promises of god So Peter says the husband you treat her wife like that Otherwise so that your prayers may not be hindered first Peter 3 7 see that's very strong If a husband does not treat Walk in love here Prayers will not be answered You know, so faith will not work basically So, you know, that is just a quick quick response to the question there On how this is interpreted marriage. So The reason first one is 13 is used often in marriages because in other places It says, you know, husbands and wives walk walk and love and Yeah I hope I answered your question, john. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Go off on something else. Okay Rebekah So disciples saw a very miracle of jesus many times they spent with jesus. So how peter thomas lost their faith How okay, so here's an interesting question You know, the disciples were with jesus for three years. They saw the miracles that he did Uh, and how was it possible for them? To lose their faith, you know, uh on many instances Uh, you know, how is it possible? Uh, I don't have a complete answer but What I can think of is that most likely They let their they let the situation, you know, what they were facing Seem bigger than The master so For example in peter's case that we just saw, you know, he saw the winds of the waves And at that moment to him The winds of the waves seemed bigger than jesus or jesus had spoken although he had seen jesus do all the miracles He had seen jesus do amazing things but at that moment It seemed like the wind of the waves were bigger than jesus Same thing, you know when They couldn't cast the demon out from that little boy Uh The bible doesn't tell us clear clearly, but i'm thinking that maybe they felt it this demon is too much bigger than jesus Or when thomas doubted He's like maybe the situation is too big. It's you know, jesus is gone. I don't think he can come back So this is what I This is you know, i'm not giving this as a Absolute answer, but i'm just saying this what I think That they may have in those situations felt That what they were experiencing was more bigger than jesus And so then you know When that happens we tend to lose faith Instead of believing in jesus as word is promise He let the situation begin to dictate What we believe Okay, shawney your question, please Yeah, my question is back from john 20 um 24 20 24 29 we talk about thomas having doubt But he said now let's I can touch the I guess his hands and his side So i'm kind of confused because didn't jesus appeared to him in the form of the spirit So how could he be able to touch his hand and his side? Okay, interesting question so After jesus rose from the dead was resurrected he Had what we call as a glorified body or We would call it a spiritual body now It is the same kind of body you and I are going to have You know in first Corinthians chapter Let me just put this down here post Corinthians chapter 15 also in first john three one two three, okay both these places The bible talks about when christ comes our mortal will put on immortality The corruptible will put on incorruption. That means our our bodies will be changed. The bible says in the twinkling of an eye Our bodies which are flesh and blood bodies will be changed Into spiritual bodies. You also read this read about this in philippines chapter three Let me give you the exact words Yeah Philippians 3 21 So it says in Philippians 3 21 that when christ comes he will transform our lowly body That it may be conformed to his Glorious body that means our physical body flesh and blood body Will become like his glorious body. So when christ rose from the dead he had this glorious body a spiritual body now What can we say about the spiritual body? This spiritual body Was of a different material than what you and I have on our planet It's a very interesting material because it could pass through walls So jesus walked into the room The doors were closed It is a body that travels against gravity. He ascended And yet it is it is a body that is tangible that means it is material But it is made of her different kind of materials or we just call it a spiritual material So Even when jesus met the disciples in john 21. He sat with them. He ate with them John 21 he could be prepared a meal for them so This spiritual body this glorious body is made up of spiritual material, which we don't know about, you know It is tangible And yet it is very different Okay, yeah Yeah, okay, so that's kind of what we know and and our bodies will become like that when we are resurrected Okay Yeah, so any other questions and faith hope and love and this in regard to what we just spoke about All right. So what we're going to do now is we're going to go into the next lesson We'll just get it started and we will continue into next week So the next thing we want to emphasize is That walking by faith affects every aspect of our life here Right, so I will just You know try to follow the notes um Yeah, the believers walk of faith right so faith holds An integral part Integral place in the life of the believers very important very important for us And we're just going to run through some important aspects, right? So first we know that we are saved by grace through faith so Ephesians chapter two eight and nine It is for by grace the grace of God you have been saved through faith And then out of yourselves it's not the result of our works But salvation it's the gift of God Not of works less any one should post so the experience of salvation Is a combination of grace God's grace and faith on our part so How do we experience salvation? It's given to us by the grace of God. God gave it to us freely by his grace And we received it through faith And then we experienced salvation I want you to think about this if the greatest work of God in our lives Which is to save us salvation Took place on the basis of grace and faith Then I think it's safe to say that everything else that takes place in our lives Is going to take place because of grace and faith grace and faith God gives it to us freely as a gift of grace We receive it by faith and not by works so If I've been saved by grace through faith And everything else Healing from God Deliverance from God protection from God Provision from God Everything everything everything else from God It's going to come through the same means Grace faith God gives it as a gift out of his grace I receive it by faith not based on works It's always grace and faith so Romans 10 9 and 10 I think we will study that a little later Now the second important truth that we must understand and the believers walk of faith is That everything must be done in faith. God wants us once at that way He says hey, whatever you do in life, whatever you do, whether even if you eat and drink Do it out of faith in me faith in God so everything Must be done in faith in God Second Corinthians 5 7 and we just look at these scriptures second Corinthians 5 7 it says We walk by faith not by sight the word walk simply means, you know, we our entire existence on earth Everything we do the way we live life The way we may be conduct life or not. We walk by faith We live out life on on earth by faith And not by our side. Of course, we do use our sight We do use our Physical senses that God has given to us But there's something that supersedes that and that is faith So there are times When we lay aside our senses to live by faith mean For example, when you're crossing the road Yeah, of course, you have to you know, look look either way and make sure the traffic has stopped and The light is turned green and the walk signal has come on and you can cross the street Okay, that we have to do we have to use our senses And do that That's not the time to Say i'm walking by faith. No, you have to walk by sight But there are times when Okay, I think somebody's mic is on so it's a coin. Yeah There are times when Our faith supersedes What comes to us in senses? Right, so that's when we say, okay, I'm at this thing. I'm going to handle by faith You know, I I am aware what my senses are telling me but I'm going to handle by faith So our life on earth Is conducted out of faith in God Some other scriptures here for a romans 117 He says for in it that's in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed From faith to faith from, you know, the faith is growing from level to level from faith to faith or It could also be understood as from from generation and generation faith to faith and As it is written the just shall live by faith So We who have been justified We who are right in the eyes of God We live by faith And you know over in romans 14. I just put this verse here. It says You know, whatever you eat Don't doubt Which you eat from faith for whatever is not of faith is sin Everyone's even in your food, you know, you know regular things of life food eating He says you eat in faith. You trust that God is blessed and God will bless it to your body and keep your body well And do it like that. Yeah, whatever you do Do it from faith Because whatever is not from faith is sin. That means if you and I are not living by faith Then We're not pleasing God. We're not doing what's right in God's eyes right, so everything Should be done by for God. I thank you. Your word is true in this situation. You know, you operate out of that place of faith in God trusting him and believing what he has promised Okay, I think we look at one more version before we stop number three one point faith is key To receiving from God So let's look at James chapter one verse five through seven. Somebody could read this for us. Please James one five through seven Somebody could read it for us If any of you lags Let him ask of God Go ahead Yeah, if any of you lags wisdom, let him ask of God Who gives to all liberally and without reproach and it will be given to him But let him ask in faith with no doubting For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord Okay, thank you Now look at these verses It says if any of you lack wisdom right so So there's a there's a need on my side And he has specifically he's talking about wisdom So it says if you lack wisdom You lack understanding in a situation. He's you know Since you ask God I want you to notice something he starts of he starts these verses by talking about wisdom, but he's ending it by talking about anything So although he starts talking about specifically about wisdom Whatever he's telling us about wisdom about how to receive wisdom Is also the same thing that he that applies to receiving Anything from the Lord so Whatever he's telling us here how to receive wisdom He says this is the same way you're going to receive anything from the Lord Even if you lack wisdom Let him ask God. Okay, so there's a need on my side. What do I do? I ask God What about God? Who gives to all So God gives to all That includes me includes you God is not partial God gives to all So you can be sure God will give to you You have not been ruled out. You have not been excluded in any way. You are included God gives to all And he gives liberally. How does God give? God gives liberally He gives very generously. So God is not miserly in his giving us. Oh I can't give him. Sorry. I ran out No He gives liberally God is a generous God. He's a bountiful God He gives to all He gives liberally And without reproach That means God doesn't Scold you or make you feel bad when he gives to you You know, some people may give but then make you feel really miserable that they gave you something But the God is not like that So what about God? God is a God God is a God Who gives to all He gives liberally And without reproach without making you feel bad without scolding you Without reproach Why is this important? You see our faith is in God and we must know who God is many people don't have The correct picture of God. They think God Is a partial God. He gives to some and he doesn't give to others Then God has favorites But that's not what the Bible says. He says God gives to all Some people think God is a you know a very Miserly God. He has his good days and then he has his bad days And if you happen to get him on his good day, you'll get it If it's a bad day, your prayer will not be answered No, but that's not what it says. The Bible says God gives liberally. He's a very generous God Some people think God is you know a very judgmental type of God He will scold you and then give you he will You know, he will Test you out and then give you now Bible says God gives without reproach There's no judgment there in his generosity So this is get it. We must have a good clear picture of God. This is my God. He gives to all He gives liberally. He gives without scolding That's who That's the one you're going to when you're asking When you're asking God You're going to a God Who gives to everybody He gives generously And it gives without scolding So if you lack wisdom ask God And notice this it will be given to him There is no ambiguity in this promise It doesn't say You know, if you lack wisdom Yeah, just go and ask God and perhaps you just might get something It's not it doesn't say that It says if you lack wisdom you go to God Because God gives to everybody. He gives liberally. He gives without reproach and you will get it It will be given him You will get it. What wisdom What wisdom And if you look at it the context is look you're going through difficulties You know count it all the preceding verses says, you know count it all joy brethren when you fall into diverse temptations Knowing that the trying of your faith works patience and let patience have a perfect work that you may be perfect Lacking nothing perfect and complete lacking nothing. So what is the context the context is you're going through difficult situations So when you're going through difficult situations, what do you want to do? You want wisdom Like God, I really don't understand what I'm going through I really don't I just need some wisdom God. How do I handle this? What am I supposed to do? How do I you know walk through this? Okay Ask God for wisdom God is a God who gives to all he gives liberally gives without reproach it you will get it with respect to the trials the diverse trials you're facing But when you're asking If you and I we have to ask in faith, so it says look this is The This is the way it's going to work. You ask God you will receive But for that to happen is what's required Ask in faith No doubt don't doubt with no doubt Because if we doubt we like this the way it comes and goes, you know, it's like you're being tossed to and fro It's you you know, it's basically saying you're you're you're unstable and such a person who's doubting He's not going to receive anything From God. So it's not just about wisdom It's about receiving anything So what he's told us he has a key You're asking faith no doubting Knowing that the God whom from whom you're asking Is a God who gives to all or gives liberally without reproach so Ask in faith That's a key receiving from God Not only wisdom but anything Because our faith That God gives to everybody he gives liberally without reproach So one of the things we're going to learn in a future lesson is How to how do you and I exercise faith? And be asking God, right? How do you do that? The practical side of it, but here I'm just in this lesson. We're just emphasizing You know look faith has to be used in all areas of our Christian experience or all areas of our Christian life Including when we want to receive from God's whatever you're going to receive whether it's wisdom or anything else We are going to learn how to ask in faith without doubting so We'll stop with these three points today We talked about Saved by grace through faith everything in our Christian life is grace and faith Grace and faith God gives it to us by grace as a gift We receive it by faith not based on works We must do everything in faith live by faith When we're receiving from God we receive By asking in faith Any questions before we Close out You all with me so far Okay. Any questions Shani Yeah, I know you had mentioned earlier where it had the You mentioned something about in terms of food you have Faith for I guess everything even in terms of your food because you know your food is fine So I've been thinking about this for the past week I but it was a scripture that says if you drink anything daily it won't a world by no means hurts you So I applied it to my food too So what's the point of blessing your food every time if you have faith that when you drink it I mean drink, you know you eat and drink and that's going to harm you why bless your food then right one aspect one aspect of blessing our food Is really giving thanks to God It's basically saying God I thank you for this right So you read about this in first Corinthians the 14th chapter and also in First Timothy chapter 4 So he says in first Corinthians 14 and Paul is of course speaking talking about speaking in tongues and all of that But he says, you know when you give thanks When you you know giving thanks for your food was Corinthians chapter 14 versus 16 and 17 Okay, so you're giving thanks your food you know so part of our our praying and giving Over the food is just to give thanks the other scriptures first Timothy chapter 4 and verse 3 In both these places This whole thing about you know blessing the food is really giving thanks to God. So you're just pausing and saying God I am thankful I'm thankful for it Yeah, it's just a moment, you know, of course you can eat it and also thank God for it However, but we just saying God, I thank you. I'm thankful that I have this thing food to eat I'm grateful to you. Thank you for your provision So part of that is thankful and the other part of course is It's a way to express faith Right, so there are many ways you could just speak the word. You're just saying God. I thank you I'm grateful to you for this food and also thank you that thankful. I'm exercising my faith. This is blessed for my body Right, so why do we do this each time? We just exercising our faith One you're giving thanks to God. We're grateful to God to It's a moment to exercise faith and say that look I believe that this is going to be a blessing to my body And an nourishment to my body Okay, thank you. Yeah. Thank you Anyone any other question, please Okay All right So today is Friday. Thank God it's Friday Get to have a weekend enjoy your next class enjoy your weekend And uh, you know, let's uh, continue growing strong in the Lord. Okay I just want to request somebody to please pray and we will close and dismiss Anybody can pray very father we thank you lord for teaching us precious things today How to have faith and hope Hope and faith faith are important and also how faith will not work without having love in us towards our Thank you lord for this precious teaching Lord, we are said to Thomas Blessed is he who has not Seen and yet believed Lord That this kind of faith in your promises father So that we may pursue all their promises believing Even when we Do not see Thank you lord for this precious impartation Lord Whatever we have heard today That is go deep down into our hearts and spirits So that it will remain within us throughout our life That we will be fruitful in this world We will be fruitful in your ministry Bless a pastor for teaching Bless a pastor for teaching his precious things to us Bless everyone who are here In Jesus name Amen. Amen. Thank you Thank you everyone. God bless. Have a good break and then get ready for your next class. See you again soon. Bye