 If you followed Jesus for comfort, somebody lied to you because following Jesus is an adventure. So the scripture talks about three types of faith. Number one, the measure of faith. Romans 12 3 says, For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Now this can't be saving faith because we all have a different measure of it, but this is the measure of faith God has given to you in life for your assignment. Then there's the gift of faith, 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9. The same spirit gives great faith to another. Now this particular gift of faith cannot be faith for yourself because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7 that each gift is given to us that we might help each other. So the spiritual gifts are others centered. Therefore the gift of faith is the ability to stir faith in others. So the measure of faith, the gift of faith, and then the scripture talks about the spirit of faith. Watch this now. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 13 says, It is written, I believed therefore I have spoken. Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak. Now here the Bible is not directly talking about the Holy Spirit himself. Rather this is talking about the spirit of the believer. But remember that the scripture declares that he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Therefore whatever is happening in my spirit is happening as a result of my walk with the Holy Spirit. Therefore this faith spoken about, this spirit of faith, this stirring of faith comes by the Holy Ghost. You know you're walking with the Holy Spirit if you have radical faith. Look Jesus never promised that your life would be perfect. See some of us think that God's will for our lives is that we have everything that we could ever want. That everyone we know is perfectly positioned in the exact same way we want them. That all of our dreams will come true. That God's going to clear everything out of our way so that we can have all of our desires. And that's just not what Jesus said. That Jesus actually said you're going to have persecution. You're going to have trouble. People are going to hate you, reject you, revile you. He promised love, joy, and peace. And he promised oneness with God. He promised forgiveness of sins. But he did not promise a perfect life. So radical faith will require, hear me now, radical faith will require at times that you step out and do something that's outside of what makes you comfortable. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say, well that didn't feel right in my spirit so I didn't do it. But when they say it didn't feel right in their spirit, what they actually mean is I was afraid and I wanted to spiritualize my fear. Now I understand that the Holy Spirit does prevent us from doing certain things. We saw that when the disciples tried to go into Asia and the Spirit of Jesus prevented them from doing so. So we know that the Holy Spirit does have preventative work where He corrects our paths and closes doors. And I thank God for the closed doors just as much as I thank Him for the open doors, even though I may not like the closed doors as much as the open doors. Regardless, the Holy Spirit will sometimes call you to stretch outside of your comfort zone. Listen to me now, people of God. If where you are doesn't require faith, you're not in the will of God. If where you are doesn't require faith, you're not in the will of God. If what you're doing doesn't require faith, you're not doing the will of God. God will never just leave you in a position where you don't need faith in Him. God will never just leave you and abandon you to the ordinary plain settings of mundane life. God will always call you higher. God will always pull you into the greater. God will always purposefully pull you into your destiny and help you to walk along the path with the Holy Spirit that you might reach the assignment and accomplish the assignment that He's given to you. You have to learn to step out in faith. I have to learn to step out of a look. Like I mentioned earlier, our ministry is expanding operations. Now, you know what I would love to do? And I told Steve the other day, remember Steve? I said, wouldn't it be great? We just kept it as it is right now. Everything's fine. Everything's fine. Things are good. We're reaching people. The money is stable. Our families are comfortable. They're well positioned. We have people and churches and everything's just as it should be. Everything's just so, but we sense the Holy Spirit calling us to do more. So therefore, we're taking a big risk, a huge leap into the hands of God and saying, Lord, you spoke, you promised, you directed and will respond. That's what radical faith does. We have to stop thinking that Christianity is just this boring, lifeless, dull existence where we just go from the day to day. The Christian life is a great adventure. The Christian life is full of ups and downs. The Christian life has risks involved with it. Why would I need faith if it wasn't risky? Now, I'm not talking about being presumptuous and just doing everything and saying, okay, God, you take care of the rest. I'm talking about responding to the voice of God. Somebody asked me, well, what's the difference between faith and foolishness? When is it foolishness and when is it faith? I'll give you the simple answer. The only difference between faith and foolishness is whether or not God has spoken. I'll say it again. The only difference between faith and foolishness is whether or not God has spoken. I remember I did something by faith in a service. The Holy Spirit told me, I think it was to pull this woman out of a wheelchair. I don't remember exactly the scenario, but it was something like that. I pulled this woman out of the wheelchair and don't do these things unless the Holy Spirit speaking to you. And I remember I pulled her out of the wheelchair and God healed her. It wasn't because I did anything. I just followed the instructions. Pretty easy to do. It's the Holy Spirit who does it. So you just follow him. And I went to the back room afterwards after the service and one of my pastor friends told me, he said, that was pretty bold. I said, well, I believe it was the Holy Spirit. He said, well, good thing she got healed. He said, I thought either he's really anointed or he's really stupid. And he says, and now I know it was the anointing of the Holy Spirit because the miracle occurred. So the only difference between faith and foolishness is whether or not God has spoken. But when God speaks, you're not always going to feel comfortable about it. Oh, this didn't sit right. And oh, they'll say this thing. I didn't feel peace. What does that really mean? What is that? Where in the Bible? Hold on. Where in the Bible does it say that when you obey God, you're always going to feel peace about it? And that if you don't always feel peace about it, then it's not God. The peace doesn't come from exterior circumstances. Well, that situation makes me a little uncomfortable. So I didn't feel peace on it. So I didn't do it. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Peace is a fruit of the spirit, not a result of our circumstances. Therefore, peace is always overflowing from deep within me, no matter what the circumstance is. So the measure of whether or not we obey God shouldn't be, well, did I feel peace about it? Because that's not what the scripture says. Do you think Paul felt? I'm not talking about the inner spiritual peace. Inner spiritual peace, you're going to feel that no matter what happens. But do you think Paul felt perfect peace when he stood before people who could take his life? I promise you he was at least a little bit nervous because there's the human side. Why did Jesus sweat drops of blood in the garden? Because he was deeply anguished. Why did he say, Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done. Well, why did the Lord say that? You see, I think sometimes we confuse peace for comfort. And what we're actually saying is I'm not completely comfortable with that. Wow. That's the reality, guys. And so radical faith is a part of the Christian's life. You need to be taking steps that make you a little nervous. And again, the difference is whether or not God has spoken. So there's a difference between peace and comfort. Often when people say, I didn't feel peace, what they're really saying is I didn't feel comfortable. There is definitely someone watching right now. There's definitely someone watching right now who knows they need to take that step of faith. But they're afraid of what the future might hold. They know God has spoken. They know God has given them the instruction, but they're afraid. Don't be afraid. If that's you, here's an altar call for you. I want you to put in the comment section right now. I'm stepping out. Type those three words. I'm stepping out. Let this be a public declaration that now is the season. This is the time now to obey God. This is the time now for radical faith. No more half measures. No more just barely getting by. No more reservation when the Holy Spirit speaks. It's time to respond and say I'm stepping out. Thank you for watching EncounterTV. Don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell. Also, help us spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. 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