Transcription
Let's lift it up again. We give you all. We give you all.
The glory. We worship you, Lord. You're worthy to be praised. Take the glory, Lord. Take the glory, Lord. Take the glory, Lord. Oh, be enthroned on our praise. Being enthroned on our praise this morning. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen.
How many of you know we serve a great, great God? He is Jehovah. He is Yahweh. He is all of this and more. And he is so great and greatly to be praised. We're going to get into some praise. Yeah. Are you ready, guys? Come on. Let's wake up this morning. Yeah. Come on. Clap your hands like this. Come on. Hey, clap your hands like this. Come on. Yeah.
Oh, you're great. Jehovah, the Lord. You're sovereign God. Yeah. Sing. You are God. You are God. And you're in, and you're in control. Seated high. Seated high. You are Lord. Great. I am. Great. I am. Sovereign. Lion of Judah. You are God. You are God. So we sing, you are God and you're in control. Seated high. Seated. Yeah. You are great. I am. Sovereign. Lion of Judah. Lion of Judah. You are. You are God. So we sing.
Things will change. Things will change when we call. When we call on the name. On the name. Great Jehovah, things will change when we call. When we call on that name, that name. Great Jehovah. Things will change when I call, when we call on that name. Great Jehovah. Things will change when we call. When we call on that name.
Come on everybody, clap your hands like this. Yeah. If you know that He's in control, we're going to praise Him this morning. Oh, you're sovereign Lord. You are great Jehovah. Let's sing it from the top. Yeah. Sing.
You are God. You are God. And you're in, and you're in control. Seated high. Seated high. You are Lord. Lord, great. I am. Sovereign. Lion of Judah. You are God. So we say, things will change. Things will change when we call. When we call upon your name, great Jehovah. Things will change when we call on you. On the name, great Jehovah. Things will change. I know things will change when I call upon the name of the Lord. Things will change when we call on that name.
Oh, I sing, I sing, I sing. Great Jehovah, you're good and we won't stop praising. Oh, great. You're good and we won't stop praising. Help me sing. Great Jehovah. Great. Sing. You're good. You're good. And we won't stop praising. Oh, great. You're good. You're good. You're good. You're good. And we won't stop praising. We sing great. Great. You're good. You're good. And we won't stop praising. Great Jehovah. We praise you. Jehovah. Yeah. Stay right there. And we won't stop praising. Yeah. And we won't stop. We won't stop. We won't stop praising because you're worthy of it all. We won't stop praising and we won't stop praising. We won't stop.
Let's go back. Let's go back. It says, "Hey, things will change." Things will change when we call. When we call on the name. Do you believe, Great Jehovah? Things will change when we call on your name. We call upon your name, Great Jehovah. Things will change when we call on you. When we call on you, Great Jehovah. Things will change when we call that great name on the name. Oh, we call upon you, Lord. Hey, things change when we call you Jesus. Things change when we call that name. Woo! Things change when we call you Jesus. Things change when we call you. Said things change. Things change when we call you Jesus. Things change when we call that. Yeah. Things change. Things change when we call you Jesus. Things change. Things change when we call. Yes. I'm free when I'm free when I call you. I'm free when I'm free when I call your name. Something changes when I call. When I call you. Yeah. Please call upon His name. When I call your name, said when I call your name, when I call your name, oh, when I call your name, when I call your name, something shifts when I call. When I call your name. Oh, when I call your name, call your name. Oh, you hear me, you hear me. When I call your name, you deliver. You deliver when. When I call your name. Yeah. You save me when I call your name. I call your name. Oh, when I call your name. When I call. Yeah. I come alive. I come alive. When. When I call your name. I'm healed when I call. When I call your name. Chains break when I call. When I call your name. When I call your name. When I call your name. Said things change. Things change when I call you, Jesus. Things change. Things change when I call your name. Yeah. Things change. Things change when I call you, Jesus. Things change. Things change when I call your name. Said I'm free when. I'm free when I call you. Is there freedom in the house this morning? When I call your name. Said I'm free when. I'm free when I call. When I call on Great Jehovah, sing Great Jehovah. Great Jehovah, you're good. You're good and we won't stop praising. Great Jehovah. Great. You're good. You're good and we won't stop. Two more times. Great Jehovah. Great. You're good. You're good. And we won't stop. Come on. One more time. Great Jehovah. Great. You're good. You're good. You're good. Yeah.
Praise the Lord, all ye people. Lift up your shout to a great God. Hallelujah. Oh, He saves us. He redeems us. He cleans us. Oh, Father, we need Your presence. Father, we need Your power to manifest in our lives. Oh God, we need more of You. Father, we call upon that name. When we call Your name, You come. When we call Your name, You answer. When we call Your name, You fill us. When we call Your name, we come alive. Thank You for the name that we can call. The name that we can run to. Oh, Father, we ask for more of You in this house this morning. We want more of You. That's our prayer. That's our prayer.
Let's call on the name of the Lord. Ra. You shiro.
I don't manifest himself. Oh, let's sing it together. Sing Yahe. Sing rahim. Oh sh. Oh J. Adoni. Adonst. We need You here, Lord. We need You here, Lord. Yahe. Yahe. Raa, come and heal us. Come and heal us, Lord. You are the Great I Am. You are the mighty God Almighty. You're my provider. My provider. Will manifest. We need You. We need You. We need You. Sing your way. That's who we serve. Yeah. Lim. I don't know. Come and manifest yourself. Come and manifest. Come and manifest yourself. Come and manifest yourself among Your people, Lord. Come and manifest yourself. We need You. We need You. Come and manifest yourself. Come and come and. Hallelujah. He is a holy God. Just continue to open your mouth and just ask Him for more of Him. More of His presence. More of You, Lord. More of You. Help us to see You rightly. Help us to bow and worship You rightly. Help us, Lord, to see You as who You are. You are holy. You are holy. You are awesome. Everything You do is great. Lord, holy are You, Lord. All creation. Call You God. All worthy is Your name. Yeah. We worship Your majesty. You're an awesome God. How great Thou art. You are God. Mighty are Your miracles. We stand in awe at Your holy name. Lord, we bow and worship You. Let's call Him holy. Holy are You, Lord. Holy are You, Lord. All creation. All creation. Call You God. Call You God. All worthy is Your name. Worthy is Your name. Is Your name. We worship You. We worship You. Oh, Your majesty. You're an awesome God. Awesome God. How great, how great Thou art. You are God. You are God. Mighty are Your miracles. We stand in awe of Your holy name. Father boword bow and worship. Oh, You're an awesome God. Awesome God. How great Thou art. Way. Yes, You are God. You are God. Mighty are You. Holy are You. Oh, worthy are You. We stand in awe of Your holy name. Lord, we bow and worship. Sing, Lord, we bow. Lord, we bow and worship You. Lord, we bow. Lord, we bow and worship Your holy name. You're worthy of this response. Lord, I bow. Lord, we bow and worship You and worship You. We worship You today. Lord, we bow. Yeah. Stay there. Personalize it. Sing. Lord, I bow. Lord, I bow. And worship. Yes. Lord, I bow. I bow my heart. I bow my mind. I bow my will. Lord, I bow. I bow. You're worthy of it all. I worship You. Sing awesome God. Awesome God. How great Thou art. Great God. You are God. You are God. So mighty, so great. All Your meers standing up of Your holy name. I'm in awe of You. And worship You. Oh, for You are great. You do miracles so great. There is no one else like You. Oh, there is no one else like You. For You are great. He'll do miracles so great. There is no one like You, Lord. There is no one. You're holy, Lord. For You are. You do miracles so great. Oh, You save me and You heal me. Like You. There is no one else. For You are great. For You are great. Yeah. You do miracles. He's a mighty man of war. You've never lost a battle. There is no one like You. There is no one. But You are great. You do miracles. So great. So many miracles. There's no one else like You. There is no one else. There's no else. Yeah. Sing that to Him. Nobody like You. So we sing. There is no one else like You. No one like You, Lord. Yeah. Sing Your song to Him. No one like You. There is no. There is no one else. One more time. There is no one. There is no one. In a thousand. There's no one like You. You. You're beautiful, Lord. You stand out from the rest. There is no one like You, Lord. There is no one. My beloved. It is the most beautiful amongst thousands. Yeah. And thousands. My beloved, it is the most beautiful amongst thousands. Yeah. And thou my beloved myst. You stand out from the rest. You stand out from the rest. Lord. Thousands. Thousand. Let's call His name. Yes. Yes, You. Oh, sing to Your lover this morning. Oh, He's the lover of my soul. Oh, sing Yesu. Yes. Oh, yes You are. Yes. Yes. Yes. Sing. I'm stuck here. What a beautiful name it is. What a beautiful name. What a beautiful name. Yeshua. Yes. Nothing sweeter than the name. He wants to hear You sing to Him. Let's sing it again. Yeshua. The name that saves. The name that heals. The name that covers. Yeshua. Yes. Most beautiful. Most beautiful. Dearest Father, friend, most beautiful. Most beautiful. You are my dearest Father, my closest friend, most beautiful, most beautiful, dearest Father. Dearest Father. Closest friend. You are most beautiful. Just reverence Him today. Most beautiful. You're my dearest Father. Dearest Father. Oh, my heart longs for You. Most beautiful. There are no words. There are no words. There's nothing left. There's nothing left. My love. My love to You. Oh, there are no words. No words are sufficient to describe You. My love. There. There's nothing left. My love, my love to You. My heart, my heart. There are no words. There are no words. There's nothing left. My love. My love to You. Oh, run away. There's nothing left. My love to You. Run away. There's nothing left. My love to You. I'm so in love with You. You're beautiful. So beautiful. We'll fix our eyes on You, Lord Jesus. I'll fix my eyes on You. You're beautiful. So beautiful. So beautiful. I'm so in love with You, Lord Jesus. So, so beautiful. So beautiful.
Father, we thank You. I'll fix my eyes on You. Lord God, You're beautiful. So beautiful. Father, we are grateful. Father, we are grateful for another day, oh God, to gather at Your place. It is our desire, oh God, to fix our eyes on You. It is our desire, oh God, to delight in Your presence. And that is all that we have come to do. To bring You all that we have, oh God, so that You can fill us. And let us go before the Father in thanksgiving as we get into prayers. Thank Him that we are gathered here again. Thank Him for seeing us through the past week. Thank Him for sustaining you. Thank Him for providing for you. Thank Him because it is not by your power. It's not because you know how to to to like just come to church. It's not because you know the way alone, but it's because the Lord has kept you. Father, we thank You. Your mercies have kept us. Your grace is all that we are receiving. Oh God, we thank You, Lord, that we we have that opportunity to call on You. Lord, we thank You. Let us go before Him in thanksgiving. Let us thank Him for the past week. In the week that we just completed, we got to get into a new month. So, let us thank Him for bringing us into the month of October. Let us thank Him for the first Sunday in this month. Let us thank Him that His grace, His grace is all that we receive. His grace is the reason we are here today. His mercy have kept us. Let us just get into thanksgiving mode and say, "Father, I thank You. I thank You for all the days in the past week. I thank You that I am a recipient of Your mercy. I thank You, oh God, for guiding me. I thank You, oh God, for walking with me. I thank You, oh God, for surrounding me with Your favor. I thank You oh God for shielding me oh God. I thank You Father because You are my refuge for Thou oh God are a shield for us. Oh yes, we thank You oh God. Let us commit the week that we are getting into into the hands of the Father. Let us begin to speak words into this week that the grace of the Lord will go with us into the new week. That the mercy of the Lord will make way for us in every day of this week. Let us pray that the Lord will be our shield. He will guide us. He will protect us. Father, we thank You. We thank You that every day in the new week is blessed. Oh God, we thank You, Lord Jesus, that You will make a way for us. We thank You that You will guide us every step of the way. We thank You oh God that nothing missing, nothing broken will be our declaration in this week. We thank You oh God because everything in our life is working together for good. We thank You Father. We thank You oh God. Father, we thank You. Father, we thank You. Yes, we thank You.
God's word says in the book of Second Timothy, He says, "For He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind." I believe this is speaking to someone this morning. You're not sure how to get yourself out of whatever it is that is troubling your heart. But I've come to remind you today that you will sing this song for you have tasted and seen of His goodness. I want you to pray and ask the Lord to take out fear from your heart. To take away anything that represents fear just so that your gaze will be upon the Father. So that your gaze will be upon Him. You do not know how to get yourself out of it. But I've come to remind you this morning that there is a God that will never forsake you. And that is the King of Kings. That is the Almighty God that we have all gathered here today to worship. I've come to remind you. He will never leave You. He will never forsake You. Whatever fear that is in your heart, I want you to ask the Lord to take it out of You. After all, His word says He has not given You the spirit of fear. So whatever the Father God gave to You, I want You to let go of it. I want You to let go and let God. I want You to let go and allow the Lord to make a name for Himself out of Your life. I want You to take away fear. October will not see the end of You. No, the glory of the Lord will be made manifest in Your life. And I decree to everyone this morning, this month will be a life-changing one for the good for You. It will be a life-changing October. It will be the month where You get to experience the goodness of God in ways that You have never experienced it. Father, we thank You that fear will not get in the way. Doubts will not get in the way. We will not think that You cannot fix all all that it is that is troubling the hearts of the ones we're praying for, including ourselves. Heavenly Father, we thank You. Father, we thank You. We give You all the glory, oh God. We give You all honor, Lord Jesus, because there is none like You. You will do just what You said You will do. For that we are grateful. You will do just what Your word says. For that we honor You, oh God. Thank You, Father.
I want us to hold them to whoever is beside us. Please, I want us to speak words into their life as we pray as one church. Let us commit the ones we're holding into God's hands or whatever they they're looking onto the Father for that even if their heart is saying they don't know that God can do it. Let us pray that just as His word says He has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. They will be daily reminded that that thing is not bigger than the God we are calling on. Whatever it is that they are looking onto God forever. Whatever it is that they are trusting the Lord for, let us begin to pray and ask the Lord that He will supply all of their needs according to His riches and glory. Let us pray and ask whatever they are trusting God for, be it a spiritual awakening, healing, provision, preserve, everything that they asking the Lord for. Let us pray that He will do just what He has said concerning their life. Let us pray that there will be a performance of all that the Lord has said concerning the life of the ones you are praying for. Lord, we are grateful. We give You all glory, Father. We give You all honor. Now, I want you to direct that to yourself and pray for yourself. Pray and ask. Father, all that I'm looking on to You for, Lord, I pray that I will know that You are able to do it. Your word says, for with God, nothing is impossible. I pray and ask that You will make that be my heart's posture that I know that I serve a God that will never fail me, that will never forsake me. Father, we thank You. We thank You for our lives. We thank You for prayers this morning. Lord, even as we sit to listen to Your word. We pray, Father, that it will bring light to our lives. Oh God, we thank You for the vessel. We thank You for um the testimonies that will follow this. We ask, oh God, that daily as we live, oh God, our lives will be an expression of Your grace. Thank You, Father, for prayers that are answered. For it's in Jesus Christ's name we pray.
Good morning, church. Good morning, church. Good morning. Okay, that's better. All right. Um, so right now we're gonna have our testimonies. Do we have any testifiers in the house? Really? Does anybody want to testify? Okay. Yeah. This testimony is more like I have to come report myself because most of you must have been hearing about my job, job, job four months now and I went from not having a job for months to begin a 20-hour contract. The 20-hour became any hours, you know, God was bringing the testimony gradually and finally I finally find a permanent role. Um, yeah, God has been awesome. The the thing about even this role is it's almost like everything just aligned. The interview process was one of the most interesting interviews I've had in my life. I was at some point I felt like I was interviewing them. Um, it was just interesting. I finished the last interview and I told my wife, they if they don't hire me, maybe they hire the Superman. I don't and and that was it. and and and and not attributing all of that to myself, but just when God wants to give you something, He gives you effortlessly. You don't have to sweat. You don't have to struggle. And that's my testimony this morning. And I pray yours in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You probably should have completed that by saying um, thank God for healing for us cuz in September the entire house was sick. Like it was just from one thing to another. Really started like end of August into the whole of September. Um, but thank God for a healing. Everybody's fine now. All right. Thank you. Uh, thank you for the testimonies and Okay, Sister D. All right. Okay. I said I wasn't coming, but I just had to testify. Um, I just want to testify to God's goodness. Um, to this month, the Lord is going to add another year to my life. And you know, when you think about the journey of life, it's by the grace of God that you are actually each day that you wake up, you're here, you are healthy. Um, you know, a few days ago, my friend was telling me how she took a shower, she was getting the kids ready to go to school and she slipped in a bathroom and broke her leg. So, like, you don't have to, you know, accident, you know, issues of life does not have to be outside a home. Like, we tend to take for granted the grace of waking up and just being able to move. So, I just wanted to just say thank God for another year. He has been so grateful to me and my family. All right. Thank you. Do we have any any more people? Okay. Um, let's take a moment to pray for everyone that has given their testimony. We pray that their testimonies are permanent and that everyone that is looking up to God for any reason that the desires of your heart will be fulfilled according to His will. Pray for in Jesus' name we pray. All right, as we all know, today's our first Sunday and it's Thanksgiving time. Also, as the Thanksgiving goes on, um, I think media will display our information for Thanksgiving offerings. So, all right. Praise the Lord.
Are you ready to give God praise today? Let me see you on your feet. Let me see you on your feet. If you're ready to give God praise today. There's no one. There's no one like Jesus. There's no one. There's no one like Him. There's no one. There's no one like Jesus. Come on, I see your hands. Say there's no one. There's no one like Him. Everybody say. There's no one. There's no one like Jesus. Nobody. Nobody. Nobody. Nobody. Nobody. Nobody. There's nobody. There's no one. There's no one like. There's no one like Jesus. There's no one. There's no one like You. One more time. There's nobody. There's no one like. Nobody else. Nobody else. Nobody else. Nobody else. Nobody like You. There's no one. Nobody else like You, Jesus. There's no one. There's no one. Now say I s. I look around. I look around me. One more time. Say, say. No one. Oh, I look around me. I go to America. There's no one. There's no one like You. Say, I go to White House. No one. I go to London. No one. I went back to Nigeria. Nobody like Him. Father, to You, Lord. Let me see You. To You, Lord. To You, Lord. Be the glory and adoration forever. Everlasting Father, to You, Lord. Be all the glory. Say to You, Lord. Be all the honor. To You, Lord. Be all the glory and adoration. And adoration forever. One more time. Say to You, Lord. We are the glory. To You, Lord. To You, Lord. To You, Lord. We are the. Say to You, Lord. We are the glory. Forever. If you're grateful, let me hear you sing. There's this song I want us to sing. Boy, just so you know you're grateful to God. You sing from the bottom of your heart. I don't know how you see it, but I see it somehow. Say, Lord, I thank You for sunshine. Thank You for rain. Thank You for and thank You for the. It's a beautiful day. And it's a beautiful day. Have you se. Say, Lord, I thank You for sunshine. I thank You for rain. I thank You for joy. I thank You for pain. It's a beautiful day. It's a beautiful day. Lord, I thank You. I thank You for. I thank You for joy. I thank You for pain. It's a beautiful day. Oh, it's a beautiful. For the last time. Say. I thank You for. I thank You for joy. I thank You for pain. It's a beautiful day. It's a beautiful day. Oh, it's a beautiful day. Glory be to God. All right. Thank you, Refuge, for that. Awesome. Okay, so before we recognize our special friends with us today, um, we have a few announcements for you. We can have our seats. Good morning, church, and happy Sunday. We're thankful You're here. Our Sunday services are from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., but we encourage You to join us earlier at 9:30 a.m. for Sunday Huddle. At The Way, we're all about the word of God and fellowship. So, here are our weekly services. Every Wednesday, we have our weekly Bible study called The Pavement. We also hold a corporate fast every other Wednesday, and we encourage You to break our fast with us at 6:30 p.m. One of the principles that we are intentional about here at The Way is prayer. So, join us every single Thursday at 8:30 p.m. for our weekly prayer call. Every first Friday of the month, we encourage You to spend time with family and friends and cultivate those relationships. Every second Friday of the month, we hold Friday Fellowship. This is a time for the church body to get together and spend intentional time with one another. On the second to last Friday of the month, we host Dwell, which is a prayer and worship night. Finishing up our Friday services, on the last Friday of the month, we hold Alternative, which is the night life that edifies. If you're a man looking to find friends in the faith that will hold You accountable and break bread with You, join us every first Saturday of the month for The Finders Fellowship. And if you're a woman in the faith looking for biblical sisterhood and women that will uplift You, join us every last Saturday of the month for Empower Her. To find out more about The Way Fellowship or if You have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask a friendly face around You and get plugged in. Follow us on social media to be updated on everything The Way. And again, we're so thankful You're here and we hope You're blessed by the rest of the service.
Praise the Lord. Okay. Do we have any new friends in the house this morning? All right. I'm only going to need three things from You. Need Your name, how You found us, and a fun fact about You. Good morning. My name is Sheree. We're new here from St. Louis. I found You from Google search. Um, okay. Can You give us Your favorite Bible character? for 12 years. And the reason why I'm going to testimony about to roll on into. I suffer from Crohn's and colitis. It's a disease that affects Your digestive system and I I have severe Crohn's but for 12 years I suffered with it in and out of job, in and out of hospital, everything like that. Early this year, um, God put me in remission. Thank You. And it it was 12 years and it took me a while to realize that and put everything together. And when I did, I was like, "Oh my goodness, now I know what feels like." And I know about the power of healing and being consistent in prayer. So that's it. Glory. Glory. Thank You. Hi, my name is Deja. This is my mom. You can sit, Mom. Um, We she found a church and we're trying to find a new church home. So, we're here. Um, and a fun fact about me is um, I'm also born in October. So, yeah, my birthday's next week. All right. That's it. All right. No, Libras are the best. All right. Well, thank You so much for worshiping with us today. Okay. So, thank You for worshiping with us today. And um, we do hold a Bible study. It's called The Pavement on Wednesdays at 6:30 to 8:30. It's always a wonderful time in God's presence. And um, also our service starts at 9:30 here. So, we encourage You to worship with us more often. And after the service, please do not leave in a hurry. Our hospitality team has something special for You. And also, if You're born in October, please stay behind as well. We have a cake for You. And lastly, we'll be having a trivia, a Bible trivia fellowship this Friday at 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Sister Damy's residence. Okay? And the address will be shared on our WhatsApp groups uh later. Okay? I think it's about. Okay. Um, can we all rise up as we uh welcome our pastor to the podium? Thank You. Let's just welcome each other also one more time. Just find at least four or five people and slap them a high five and say You're welcome this morning. You're welcome. You're welcome. Hallelujah. You're welcome in this place, mighty God. You're welcome in this place, Father. You are worthy of our praise. To You our lives we raise. You are welcome in this place, mighty God. You are welcome. You're welcome in this place, mighty God. You are welcome in this place. Aba Father, You are worthy of our praise. To You our lives we raise. You are welcome in this place, mighty God. Eternal rock of ages. Lord, we welcome You. Lord, we surrender everything to You this morning. Lord, we ask, oh Lord, as Your word comes out, Father, please reveal Yourself to us afresh, in a new dimension, in a new way. Father, we thank You for the testimonies of Your children. Father, we thank You because these testimonies are permanent. Lord, we thank You because through these testimonies, You will draw more people to Your kingdom in the name of Jesus. And You give us the boldness and the faith, oh Lord, to share this testimony to as many people as You bring across our ways in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You, everlasting Father. Lord, now we ask, oh Lord, that You will touch our hearts. You will prepare our hearts. And Lord, I ask that You will increase in me and every flesh in me will be subdued to Your control in the name of Jesus. Lord, once again, speak afresh to us. Teach every one of us today in the name of Jesus. Lord, we remember our members that are traveling to Dallas, those that have already traveled. Father, please grant them journey mercies. Lord, please be with them. Let the wedding be successful in the name of Jesus. Thank You for the new home. Father, we ask that Your blessings will be upon their homes in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, King of Glory. In Jesus mighty name we have prayed. Amen. Amen. Let's somebody shout Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It's good to see everyone this morning. We thank God for His faithfulness. We thank God for what God has done. And we'll go straight into the word. But before we go into the word, just kind of a recap of last month. Last month we talked about our identity in Christ. Our identity in Christ. We talked about how God's perfect design. God designed each and of each and every one of us with a perfect with a mindset of perfection. But the enemy came in and the enemy sowed seeds and lied to us and said, "Have we not know?" told Eve, "Did God really tell you this?" And we say, "Sometimes the enemy will drop stuff in our heart that will make us to do things that are against the will of God." Eve and Adam fell and sin was introduced into the world. And God knowing that His perfect design had to be restored, sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for you and I. And through the Son, His Son, we had the opportunity to become sons and daughters of the Most High. And He didn't just stop there. He sent His Spirit, God's Spirit to us that we may be partakers of the inheritance of the God Almighty Himself. So please tell to your neighbor and said, "Neighbor, I am truly a child of God and the inheritance of God," that's a big word, "the inheritance of God belongs to me and also you." And truth so shall it be in Jesus' name. So as we work in this inheritance, there are some things that we have to do and that that is what gave birth to the theme of this month is my faith is faithfulness. My faith is faithfulness. We can see that in 2 Timothy chapter uh 2:13. Maybe we'll read from verse 11. 2 Timothy chapter 2:11-13. It says, "This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. This is the crit, the verse that we want us to focus on. If we are faithless, He remains faithful. He cannot deny Himself." So if faith in us or the faith that God has put in us, if we don't live up that faith, God will still be faithful to do what He wants to do. But then the faith that He has given us is expecting us to activate that faith so that what He will do, we will also be partakers of that blessing. And I pray that in this series, in this month, as we talk about our faith and His faithfulness, God will challenge each and every one of us to go even beyond our normal day-to-day things in every aspect of our lives. So in this month, you will hear some teachings about looking at the foundation of faith. You will hear about faith being tested. You will hear about because it says if we are faithless, that means it's a that we have to choose. So you talk about, and He also said if we deny Him, that He will never deny Himself, but He says if we deny Him, He will deny us, but He will never deny Himself. So, we'll look at some of the things throughout this month, and this will be brought up to us by several people in the church. Next week, you hear from Sister Dami. I know it's kind of strange. We've never heard Sister Dami preach on Sundays, but she's going to preach on Sunday next week. So, encourage her. Encourage her. Encourage her. The week after, we hear from Brother Sh. All right. Brother Sh will speak to us more, a little bit more. Hallelujah. Encourage him. Encourage him. And then the last week, we hear from our sister, that another one of our sisters, but we've never heard preach on Sundays, Sister Hamid. Hallelujah. So, it's it's a packed month. I want you to please just put on your seat belt. Let's go for the ride and we pray that God will bless us in the mighty name of Jesus. One thing for today, we will focus on just the, we we will touch a brief aspect of God's faithfulness, but the main conversation of today will be our faith. So there goes the topic. Therefore, that gives us a topic for today. The theme for the month is our faith is faithfulness. But the topic for today is faith. It's all about us. Faith, it's all about us. The Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 2:8. Ephesians 2:8. I'm kind of going over, kind of jumping around my notes, but we'll come back. It says, "For by grace we have been saved through faith." Ephesians 2:8. For by grace we have been saved through faith. That means the fact that we've given our lives to Christ and we've come to the understanding that our identity is in Christ by faith, through grace, by fa by grace through gra faith, we've been saved. We accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and personal savior, savior. And when you look at Romans 12:3, Romans 12:3, it says, "To each and every one of us is given a measure of faith." So, you sitting in here today is a step of faith. For you to come to church and said, "No, I'm going to come to church. I could have just sat home all day. I could have just sat down sleeping or whatever, but you took a step of faith to come to church." And I pray that God will reward your faith in the mighty name of Jesus. So let's kind of start with the beginning. Let's review God's faithfulness first. God's faithfulness. God is faithful. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 13:8. Hebrews 13:8 says, "God the same yesterday, today, and forever." So, He was faithful in the years of Abraham. He was faithful in the years of Moses. He was faithful even in the in the years of the apostles. And guess what? He's still faithful today. God's faithfulness never changes. He's a constant God. Open with me to Deuteronomy 7:9. Deuteronomy chapter 7:9. Deuteronomy chapter 7:9. It says, "Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments." He is a faithful God that keeps His covenant. It keeps His covenant for thousand years and thousand years. We sang the song says, "My beloved this morning is the most beautiful upon thousands and thousands." So God is faithful. He is a faithful God that never changes. His constant is the same. It's not like a man like you and I that when we make promises, depending on the condition or the circumstances, how we feel, whether we decide to keep those promises or not. The Bible tells us in Numbers 23:119. Numbers 23:119, it said, "God is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent. As He said it, will He not do it? As it spoken, and will He not make it good?" God is ever faithful. He's ever faithful. When you look at the definition of faithfulness, faithfulness means is having a trust. Having um, I'll say, having a trust and having a belief in a statement. When you look at the root word faithful, it comes from the same root word as amen. The when we say in Jesus' name and you will say amen. Faithfulness and amen come from the same Hebrew root word. And it means again, to be dependable, to be trusting, to be loyal. So every time someone says in Jesus' name and we repeat amen, we are putting our trust and reemphasizing the faithfulness of God by saying amen. So I want to encourage you during prayers when someone says in Jesus' name or they pray for you, take it and say amen because it's amen means you are trusting in God in that pronouncement, in that proclamation that has been said over your life. So God's faithfulness is never, it never changes. It's the same. God is faithful in every single thing. Let's see how God, how faithful God is, or let's see how we know God is faithful. When you look around you, you see the faithfulness of God in the nature, nature around us. His faithfulness is not just an attribute, it's ver, its own very being. Faithfulness is revealed in the go in the character of God. When you look at Psalms 89:1-2. Psalms 89:1-2, it says, "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations." It says, "For I have said, mercies shall be shall be built up forever. Your faithfulness You shall establish in every heavens." God's faithfulness is all around us. His faithfulness is all around us. Sometimes I imagine or I just kind of ponder how the birds that don't have the ability of you and I that we have to go to work and make the money to feed ourselves, are the birds fed? Where do they find place to sleep? Where do they find place to rest? Just the nature around us. God in His faithfulness makes a way that the birds can soar and fly and move around freely without an ounce of trying to figure out where my food is coming next from. God's faithfulness in nature. When you look at Psalms 36:5, or let's before we go that, since you're already in Psalms 89, let's read verse 8. Psalms 89:8. It says, "Oh Lord, God of hosts, who is mighty like You, oh Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. He is full of His faithfulness." In Psalms 36:5, Psalms 36:5, it says, "Your loving kindness, oh Lord, extends to the heavens. Your faithfulness, Your faithfulness reaches the sky. It reaches the clouds." So God's faithfulness is all around us. Just Friday, I was sitting in the office, bright and sunny day, no clouds in the sky, nothing. And within, I started hearing something that I thought maybe my AC came on. And I look outside and it's pouring, literally cats and dogs, for an hour without no clouds, without nothing. The rain just came and I asked myself, "God, You only can do, You're the only one that can do this." And believe me, after that one hour that it poured really hard, the sun and the and the sky came out blue again, as if it never rained. It shows you how God's faithfulness is. God can just decide and say, "You know what? I'm just going to open up the windows of heaven upon You and pour You out a blessing." His faithfulness. His faithfulness. So, we see His faithfulness in His nature. We see His faithfulness in the nature around us. We see His faithfulness in His character. The other day, I think it was two weeks ago, we're coming to church and I was coming with the kids from Ebulmont and we can see the most beautiful, well-pronounced rainbow. You know, sometimes you see some rainbow and it's faint in the sky. No, no. This was very, very pronounced. And I, it just took me back to God's promises about His covenant not to ever flood the earth, destroy the earth by flood. His covenant with Noah. So God's faithfulness always shows up. We see it all around us. Sometimes it just takes a little bit for us to dig deeper to see His faithfulness. And I pray that God will help us in the name of Jesus. God's faithfulness is seen in His word. His faithfulness is demonstrated in God's promises. His faithfulness is demonstrated in His word. His faithfulness is demonstrated in His promises. Isaiah 55:10-11. Isaiah 55:10-11. It tells us, it says, "As for for as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and
"Do not return there, but watered the earth and make it bring forth, bring forth, and that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater." Verse 11, it says, "So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth. It shall not, it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please it, and it shall prosper in the things which I sent it."
God's faithfulness shows up in his word. It shows up in his promises. God has promised us a lot of things in the Bible. Doing research, someone said there's about over 5,000 promises in the Bible. 5,000 promises in the Bible, and God's desire is that every one of those promises is ours. That's his desire. So he has promises, his faithfulness is shown in his word. Every word that he says is reliable, is dependable, is trustworthy. His word cannot return back to him void.
In 2 Corinthians chapter 1:20, 2 Corinthians chapter 1:20, the Bible tells us, it says, "For the promises of God find their yes in him." A version of the Bible, Nick King says, "For the promises of God in him are yes, and in him are amen." So when we say amen to the promises of God, he says, "I will not leave you nor forsake you." Amen. It says when we say amen, those promises are meant for us. Remember, amen has the root word of trust, dependable, reliable. His promises for you and I is to be the head in anything that we do and never be detailed. In church, in our workplaces, in our careers, in our marriages, in our homes. That is God's desire for you and I. His promises are for us to prosper, not just in every aspect of life, but in health. To prosper in health. So, God's faithfulness is seen in his word. It is seen and is demonstrated through his promises.
Even when the world around us changes, the environment that we live in changes, his word stands forever. Matthew 24:35. Matthew 24:35. It says, "Heaven and earth will pass away." That means your surroundings will change, your address will change, your schools will change, your careers will change. But it says his word by will by no means pass away. His word will always remain faithful. When you look at the historical context of how many people have tried to destroy the Bible or tried to burn, ban the Bible, or tried to, I'll say, disprove the Bible in history, they've never been successful. His word will never pass away. His word will never pass away. And that gives me hope for our own generation because there are people that God has given them the grace to teach the word. So I strongly believe the word of God will never pass away. No matter how they say Gen Z is lazy, or Gen whatever, whatever, no, the word of God will remain until it comes.
So God's faithfulness shows up in his word. 1 Corinthians chapter 19, 1:9. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 9 says, "God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with his son Jesus Christ our Lord." He's faithful. He's faithful. So I want us to have the basic understanding, which a lot of us do, that God is faithful, and he's faithful through his word. He's faithful in his character. He's faithful in his nature. And he's faithful. It can be seen all around us.
Now, if God never changes and is faithful, how come some of us, and his, and is faithful through his promises? We go through life, or we go through situations, and we, we feel like we are far away from the promises of God. God said this, but I don't see the evidence of what he said in my life. I don't see the evidence, or we don't see the evidence of his promises in our lives. We go through struggles. We go through difficulties. We go through challenging times. We go through sorrows. Why are we not seeing the promises of God in our lives? That's where our faith comes in. That is where our faith comes in. I already told us that to each and every one of us, because we've believed and we've given our lives to Christ, God has put in us a measure of faith. A measure of faith. No matter how big or how small that measure of faith is, that faith can move mountains if we activate it. And we will see that shortly.
Hebrews 11:1. Let's see what's the definition of faith. Faith, according to the Bible, in Hebrews 11:1, it says, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." I like the way the NLT puts it. The NLT says, "Faith shows the reality of what we hope for." It says, "It's the evidence of things we cannot see." It is the evidence of things we cannot see. So when we put our faith, or have our faith in God, we may not see the evidence immediately, because the faith, the purpose of faith is that we cannot see it, but we know it's coming. So when it comes, you can now testify to the goodness of God.
Faith, in other, in other terms of definition, is believing and receiving God's revelation. What God has already revealed to you and I. It's believing it and receiving it. When we believe it and we know it's from God, our faith is activated. Our faith, our faith is activated. And when God sees our faith, his faithfulness comes to life in us. When you look at 2 Samuel chapter 22:26, the New Living Translation of 2 Samuel chapter 22:26, it says, "To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those who with with integrity, you show integrity." If you're faithful, if your faith is activated, God has no choice but to show his faithfulness to you. He has no choice but to show you and I his faithfulness.
How do we show our faith in to God? Proverbs 3:5. Simple. That's the best way. It says in Proverbs 3:5, it says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." We've gotten to the point where we've gotten educated, sophisticated, whatever word that you want to use, that we believe we've gotten there by our own selves. I went to the best school. I've got the best job. I've married the best wife. We think all that is by our own doing. But the Bible says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." When we trust him, we put our faith in him. And numbers, in first, in 2 Samuel 22 verse 26 that we read, when we put our faith in him, he will show himself faithful to us.
So in life, we get to choose to have faith in all circumstances of life, in all areas of life. What we choose to have faith in determines the outcome of that faith. In Numbers 23:19, we read, "God is not a man." If you put your faith in man, a man can only lift you so much up. A man can only carry you so much. A man can only promote you so much, that even that man himself will get tired, and then the same man that lifted you up may be the same man that will put you down. For example, look at Jesus, right? The same people that was saying, "Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest," were the same people crying, "Crucify him." So if you put your faith in a man or a woman, or a boss, or a pastor, that same person will disappoint you. It's just human nature. But when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he will never disappoint you. I'll even bring it up. A lot of us have faith in the government. What happened three days ago? When you put your faith in a situation or in a, in an organization, the organization will disappoint you. Our faith should be onto God himself.
So the thing I love about God, no matter how small the faith is, that faith is mighty. Let's look at Luke. Actually, let's look at Matthew chapter 17 verse 20. Matthew chapter 17 verse 20. It says, "So Jesus said to them, 'Because of your unbelief, you are for surely I say to you, you have a faith as a if you have a faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. Nothing will be impossible for you.'" When we have faith as small as a mustard seed. I don't know if you've ever seen a mustard seed. A mustard seed is tiny. Um, let me see. I've seen an orange seed. Take an orange seed and divide it like into six places. That's how small a mustard seed is. A mustard seed, if you plant it, that mustard seed goes into the ground and it becomes a great tree. A great tree. What makes it so someone to think that small thing can become a great and mighty thing? It's faith. Because when you look at it, you like, "Why should I plant this?" You toss it outside. So Jesus is saying, if you have a faith as small as the mustard seed, that that seed can grow to become a powerful tree, and it can do that just to illustrate the power of faith. The faith may be small, but it is very, very powerful. It is very, very powerful. It doesn't have to be the, the size of the faith. You don't have to be the pastor for you to have faith that can move mountains. You don't have to be the general overseer before you can have a faith that can move mountains. I will even say this. You don't have to know every verse in the Bible for you to have faith that can move mountains.
Mountains represent whatever obstacles that's preventing you from moving forward. Mountains represent whatever challenge that's blocking you from your God-given destiny. Mountains can even represent your history that is trying to prevent you from your destiny. But if you have faith, and have faith, small faith, that say, "You know what, I forgive that person for what they've done, and I truly mean it, and I'm going to truly forget it." You begin to have healing in your heart. You begin to have a fresh light in your heart, and you begin to move forward. So small faith, that's all you and I need. It says, "He has given us a measure of faith." That's all we need. The smallest faith possible.
I like the testimony that sister shared. The woman with the issue of blood. She's gone everywhere. But she said, "If I can only touch the garment of his robe, the, the hem of his robe, touch the hem of his robe. If I can only..." That's the faith that she had. So your faith can be small, but that small faith is because can produce mighty results because of the fact that it is based and founded and anchored in the Lord, in the Lord Jesus Christ. If the small faith that you have is not anchored in the Lord Jesus Christ, it does nothing. Let me repeat that. If the small faith that you and I have is not rooted and anchored in the Lord Jesus Christ, it does absolutely nothing. And I will say this, you can have the biggest faith, and it's not anchored in the Lord Jesus Christ. It does absolutely nothing.
Let me give us some illustration. Sometimes we pray and say, "Lord, I know I'm the head. I'm never detailed. This exam that's coming, I'm going to, you've said I'm, I'm ahead of it, and you've poured into me your excellent spirit." And then the next morning, you go and talk to your friend, I'm like, "Man, that exam is going to be very difficult." You just negated everything that you said you put your faith in, right? If you say, "You know what, God, I'm healed," and you pray for healing, and then the next day you go to the doctor, and the doctor tells you, "Nothing has happened." Amen. What did I pray for? You just negated that faith. So the things that we say is important. And that's why when Jesus said, "With that small faith, and it's anchoring me, if you say something, he says, 'Say that mountain will move.' If you say, 'Move mountain, move from this point to this point,' and you have no doubt in your heart, he said, 'It will absolutely move, and nothing will be impossible for you.'" So when we have faith that's anchored in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we say it, and we believe it, and we don't let the doubt of the enemy, the lies of the enemy creep in, God will make himself faithful for us in the name of Jesus.
That faith has the potential to grow. It has the potential to grow. The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 10:17, Romans 10:17. It says, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God." Faith comes by hearing. He has given us a measure of faith because we are his children. We've identified with him. But that faith, that mustard faith can grow by hearing the word of God over and over and over and over again, by dwelling in the word of God. That faith can grow. That faith can grow. That faith can be activated by doing the word of God on a consistent basis.
In Mark 4:30-32, Mark chapter 4, 30-32, it says, "Then he said, 'To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it?' He said, 'It is like a mustard seed, which when it's sown into the ground, on on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on the earth. But when it is sown, it grows up and becomes a great, it becomes greater than all herbs and shoots out large branches so that the birds of the air may nest on under its shade.'" Your small faith anchored in the Lord Jesus Christ can grow by nurturing on the word of God. Nurturing on the word of God daily. Nurturing on the word of God continuously, that you, that you have that small faith, God can take that small faith and use you to affect the entire world. You may think you have small beginnings now. But when you put your anchor in the Lord Jesus Christ continuously, God will take you from just being a blessing to the way fellowship, or a blessing to yourself, from a blessing to yourself to your family, from a blessing to of your family to the church, from a blessing of the church to the entire world, when you put yourself and anchor yourself in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Luke chapter 16:10, Luke chapter 16:10, it says, "He who is faithful in very little thing is faithful also in much." If you're faithful in the little things, God will make you, and you'll be faithful even to a much, much more larger group. So the seed, the small seed of faith can grow. So let's nurture it on the word of God. Let's devote ourselves to the word of God and pray that God will use us to influence others and nations in the name of Jesus.
In that Matthew 17:20 that we read, it says that faith can speak. It speaks boldly. Faith must be exercised. There are three ways in which we can release our faith. You can release your faith by praying. You can release your faith by saying. And you can release your faith by doing. Saying, praying, saying, and doing. When we pray and we truly believe it, God will begin to show himself mighty and faithful to us. When we say it, we proclaim it, we say it consistently, continuously, it will be part of us. And when we do it, it comes to life. Bible says, "Faith without works is dead." In James chapter 2, "Faith without works is dead." So saying, praying, saying, and doing. And I pray God will help us in the name of Jesus.
The best illustration I can give us, even before I get to that, I was listening to one of our own, um, TJ Saks, one of his music called "Confess." And I like, I finally understood the meaning of Saks. Saved and redeemed by the cross. Saved and redeemed by the cross. And that song "Confess" is based on Proverbs chapter 18 verse 21, where the Bible tells us, it says, "Life and death is in the power of the tongue." So when you pray, when you say, you're using your tongue. So with your little faith, with your mustard faith, begin to pronounce and proclaim positive things over your life. Positive confession. Don't look at the situation you are in. Don't look at the circumstances you're in and begin to cast doubt on yourself. Begin to cast blame on yourself. No. No. You are the child of the Most High. Begin to say it. The power, the power of life and death lies in the tongue. So please confess positive things.
Let's look at an illustration in Mark chapter 11. Mark 11:12-14. I think I'm going to have to open there real quick. I didn't think I gave technical that one. Mark 11. So, this is going to force us to open our Bibles. Awesome. I like it. Mark 11:12-14. It says, "Now the next day, when they had come out of Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, he went to see it to see if perhaps he will find something on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not for the season for figs." In in 14, it says, "In response, Jesus said to it, 'Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.'" Jesus proclaimed to this fig tree that was supposed to have some leaves in it, some faith in it, because when Jesus came, when he needed it, it wasn't available.
In verse 20, it says, "Now in the morning," of that same Mark chapter 11, 20-24, says, "Now in the morning, as they passed, they saw the fig tree dried off from its roots. And Peter remembered to him, 'Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered away.'" When we don't use our faith that God has given onto us, the measure of faith that he has given onto us, it's like just standing like that fig tree, not blessing others, not using it to activate the body of Christ. And I pray that we will not be withered away like that faith, like that fig tree, in the name of Jesus.
So individually, God has given us a measure of faith. If I tell you that even better than your individual faith, your personal faith, something that I think is much better and greater, it will be a collective faith. Collective faith. When your faith meets with my faith, we can do so much more for the kingdom of God. The Bible tells us, it says in Ecclesiastes 4:9, Ecclesiastes chapter 4, >> sorry, >> Exodus 4:9, it says, "Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. Two are better than one." In Deuteronomy 32:30, Deuteronomy 32:30, it says, "How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight?" Your mustard seed faith combined with my mustard seed faith can do exponentially more than what you and I can do individually. So collective faith helps us to be exponential in the things that God has for us, and there to be exponential in the promises that God has for you and I.
Collective faith is a, it's a, what we call a corporate faith, a corporate dimension. We can ask ourselves, how can we together? How can we all come together to express the kingdom of God to the church, to our city, to our nation? You imagine if all believers truly come under one umbrella of a collective faith, the agendas of hell over this nation will never stand. I truly believe that. I think the reason why the, the agenda of the, of the devil has been propagated through our nation is because we as believers, we've acted individually and not collectively. When we come together as a church, and we unite together, there is no limit on what we cannot do. Even from this room, we can take the city of Houston together when we unite our faith together.
Let's open to Acts 12 verse 5. Acts 12:5-11. Actually, we don't even have to read it. This is Peter in prison. Peter was in prison. In Acts 12:5-11, Peter was in prison, and the church came together to pray for him, to pray for him diligently, to bring their faith together. And the Bible tells us, the angel of the Lord went into that prison that was completely guarded by men and army and whatnot. The angel of the Lord went in and called Peter, woke him up, broke the chain off his feet, and Peter walked out of the prison. By the time he realizes it, he woke up and be like, "Man, I'm out of prison." Why? Because the collective prayer of the church came together and activated heaven on behalf of Peter. So when we bring our faith together, it performs miracles that you and I can never think of individually. When we bring our faith together, it increases or strengthens the weak among us. You know, there are people that amongst us that have faith, but for some reason, the enemy tries to penetrate through them, and their faith just shrinks and or goes down and goes down. When we come together in collective faith together, the person that's, their faith is going down, for some reason, they can see the collective faith come together, and then they will be energized. It says, "Iron sharpens iron." That means somebody's iron can always go door. No matter how well or sharpened that iron can be. It can be the iron of the pastor that can go door, and your faith together and saying, "Pastor, we got you. We're going to lift you up. We're going to show up for you. We're going to support you." That re-energizes the pastor. And it could just be the smallest person that's quiet in the church, that their faith is going down. But if you reach out to them and say, "We got you." So your, our faith, collectively faith can increase us together. And I pray that God will help us in Jesus name.
The illustration I'll give you is the illustration in Mark chapter 2, verses 3-5. Mark chapter 2:3-5. There we see a bunch of four men who came together to carry one of their friends that was paralytic. And they came in to see where Jesus Christ was, and they, it was crowded, and they could not find a way to get in. But they had the boldness. They had the faith that they went to the roof. In verse 4, it says, "And when the men could not come near him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was." Imagine this house being packed because Jesus is here. And these people wanted to have a miracle happen to their friend, a healing to come to their friend, and they could not get him. Protocol, whatever, whatnot. They went, climbed the roof with somebody that could not walk. Not just climb the roof, decided to break the roof open. You can imagine how long or what energy it took them to climb. You can imagine what energy it took them to break the roof. And then they came down. And you can imagine the energy that they spent to come down. And Jesus said this. It says, "So when they had broken through, they lay him down. They laid, let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying." In verse 5, it says, "When Jesus saw their their faith, not the faith of the paralytic man, he saw their faith, the faith of the friends, collective faith." When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." The paralytic man, God performed miracles because of the faith of his friends. So when we come together as one with our faith, we strengthen the weak, they receive miracles, and we advance the kingdom of God. We advance the kingdom of God.
So Jesus understood this approach of collective faith. In John chapter 17, verse 20-21, John 17, which I truly call the Lord's prayer, because that's Jesus praying for the church. The Lord's prayer that we think is the Lord's prayer, to me, it's Jesus teaching us how to pray. So I call that the disciples' prayer. Because that's Jesus teaching us how to pray. But his prayer, the Lord's prayer, in my opinion, in John chapter 17, Jesus prayed for the church. He says, "I do not pray for this alone, but I also also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all, that they all may be one as you, Father, and as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me." That's the Lord's prayer for us collectively, that we will believe together in him, in him. So if we have a mustard seed, and our mustard seed combined with my mustard seed come together, we can very be, we can really provoke God's faithfulness to each and every one of us.
But we have to be careful because fear, I've mentioned it several times, fear is the opposite of faith. Fear is what keeps you and I from reaching or activating our faith. Thank God for the word that came through in prayer. He said, "He has not given us the spirit of fear, but of boldness and of sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7. He has given us the spirit of love, of power, and of sound mind, not of fear. So don't let fear come into our lives. Don't let fear keep us or doubt us or get put out. "What if it doesn't work? What if I don't receive my healing? What if I, what if I don't pass through that exam? What if?" Don't let this fear of "what if" keep us from reaching God's purpose.
In conclusion, I'll give us this. When the children of Israel left Egypt and they came across the Red Sea, fear came upon them. That's why they said to Moses, "Moses, why have you taken us away from Egypt where we thought everything was good, and now we can't move forward because of the Red Sea? Now the Egyptians are upset. They are running after us. Why did you just let us die in Egypt then in this foreign land?" They had fear come upon them. Moses had faith in God. Moses spoke to God, and God told him and said, "Raise up your rod and see what the Lord will do for you." If Moses didn't have faith, would I say, "God, are you really sure about this?" Remember, Moses is the one that was arguing with God when God said, "Go and let my people go." Ah, God, I can't. I'm, I'm a stammerer, you know, like. But it got to a point in his journey, he had faith in God. And he did what the Lord told him. Because of the faith of Moses, a single man, the entire clan of the Israelites were able to walk through the Red Sea without any issues.
Now think forward ahead. The same set of people, by this time Moses has died. Joshua has taken over. In Joshua chapter 3, they came across River Jordan, a sea, a river, completely different scenarios. But they had to cross River Jordan because River Jordan was preventing them from actually getting to the promised land. Remember God's promises for you and I. So because of one man, Moses, they were able to make it through the Red Sea. The analogy I will give you to that of Moses is the Lord Jesus Christ came to die for you and I. We said, "By grace we've been saved through faith." Through the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was that faith, was that man that had the faith to do what the Lord asked him to do. Because when he was about to die on the cross, even the enemy tried to come in within him, that he had to say, "God, man, if this cup can pass through me." But he said, "Not my will, but thy will be done." Jesus Christ died for you and I so we can have faith.
I'll go back to Moses and Joshua. When Joshua and the Israelites got to River Jordan, they could not cross. But there's one thing that happened. If you read in Joshua chapter 3, I know our time is spent. It says, "And the, and God told Moses, uh, Joshua and the people of Israel, he says, 'Step into the river.'" Remember in the Red Sea, they didn't step into the river with the water moving before it parted. God parted it. In Jordan, God commanded them to step into that. That step that they took is a step of faith. That know as we enter this river Jordan, it will sweep us away. Jesus Christ has died for you and I. We have the faith through his faith. We've, we've been saved. Now, in our journey of life, God is asking us to take a step forward so that we can reach the promises that he has for you and I. Every day, I want to encourage us with this. Take that step of faith. Every day, take the step of faith. You may not see the results yet, but keep taking that step of faith because as you take that step of faith, you are trusting and relying on God. And as you trust and rely on him, his word will be yes and amen for you in the name of Jesus. It will be yes and amen for me in the name of Jesus.
So with all bow, with all eyes closed, I want to give you an invitation. If you think that the level of your faith is not where you think God wants it to be, because maybe we've let doubts come into our hearts, maybe we've let the lies of the enemy, maybe we are focusing on the failures of yesterday, and our history is preventing us from taking that step of faith. I want you to pray unto the Lord this morning and say, "Lord, I am believing you in your word, because your word never comes down void. It never comes, it never comes down on the earth without doing that which you've said it to do. And your word for me is, I'm your child. I'm your son. And you have given us the grace and the ability to trust in you, to lean on you, and not lean on our own understanding. Father, I'm choosing this moment to trust, to have faith, to activate that mustard seed faith, that anything that has to do with doubt in my life, Lord, you will take it away in the name of Jesus. That my choices, oh Lord, to have faith in you, to be anchored in you, will be activated in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank you everlasting Father. Thank you. Of this, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed."
I want us to take this prayer and say, "Father, if you don't mind, I want everyone to stand up." We talked about collective faith. When Sister Olamid said we should hold hands this morning, I was thinking maybe she peeked into my notes a little bit, but I want us to hold our hands together and just join our hands together in faith that, "Lord, I'm standing together collectively with my brother, with my sister. Lord, whatever they are trusting you for, whatever desires, Lord, they are reaching out to you for, Father, please, oh Lord, because of my faith, or joining my faith with their faith, Father, please, oh Lord, let it be done in the mighty name of Jesus. You said two shall chase 1,000. I mean, one shall chase 1,000 and two shall put 10,000 to flight. And you said if two people agree, that it shall be done. Lord, we are coming in agreement. He said where two or more come together, Lord, we say you are there. Father, we have come together as one, as one collective this morning. Father, please touch every heart, oh Lord. Every life, oh Lord. Every desire of our, of our hearts, everything that we're trusting you for, Father, please do it in the name of Jesus. Please pray for the brother next to you. Pray for the sisters. Pray that, Lord, please, oh Lord, touch their hearts, oh Lord, that Lord, that which they are trusting you for, there will be testimonies, oh Lord, by the reason of our faith coming together. You saw the faith of the friends of the paralytic man, and Lord, you healed that man. You healed the man because of the faith of his friends. Lord, we are coming together as one, as one church. Lord, that, that which that we're trusting you for, whatever, how big or how small it may be, Father, we ask, oh Lord, please do it for us in the name of Jesus. Thank you everlasting Father. Thank you. Of this, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed."
I want us to pray that anything putting doubt in the life of your brother, of your sister, that you're owning the Lord Almighty, please, you are the Almighty God, please remove all doubt, remove all doubt, remove all doubt. That anything that will cause my brothers, my sisters to deny You, Father, please remove it in our lives in the name of Jesus. Remove it from us in the name of Jesus. Remove it from us in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank you everlasting Father. Thank you. Of this. In Jesus mighty name we have prayed. And lastly, I want you to pray. Lord, please, it is the topic is faith. It is all about us. Lord, please help us to anchor our faith in you in the name of Jesus. Help us to anchor our faith in you in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, please let us trust in you and not trust in the sweetest thing, but trust in you, holy Lord. Please help us, oh Lord, in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank you everlasting Father. In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
There is a song in my spirit, says, "Cornerstone, weak made strong, and the Savior's love through the storm is God, Lord of all." And the reason that song is in my spirit is some of us may be going through storms, but our faith collectively together today, God will show up in your storm in the name of Jesus, and it will calm the storms of our lives in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank you everlasting Father. Thank you. Of this. We bless you. We glorify you. In Jesus mighty name we have prayed. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let somebody shout Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
I want us to take a second to pray for our pastor. Let us pray for him that as he has blessed us with his words, that they will take root in our hearts, and that the Lord will replenish him for his labor of love over us. For in Jesus name we pray.
All right, it's offering time. Second Corinthians 9:7 says, "God loves a cheerful giver." Thank you in advance for your generosity. There are a few ways to give. You can give via Zelle. Our email is giving@thewayhouston.com. You can also give via Cash App. Our username is dollar sign thewayhouston. If you would like to give via SMS, simply text the number 8324477088 and enter the amount you want to give. If you have a cash offering, there is a yellow envelope located at the back of the seat in front of you. Please make sure to fill out your name, and an usher will come around and collect your offering. Lastly, if you would like to give to our hospitality ministry, you may do so via Zelle. The email is hospitality@thewayhouston.com. Again, we thank you so much for your generosity. We pray that as you are giving, the word blesses you abundantly.
[Music] and res. >> Praise the Lord. All right. Um, Father, we want to thank you for this offering today. We ask that you replenish the pockets of everyone that has given to you today. And for those that are unable to give, we ask that you bless them. Thank you, Lord, for answered prayers. For in Jesus name we have prayed.
Can we rise up as we share the grace in fellowship? Okay. Um, can we share the grace and fellowship? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, now forever. Goodness and mercy follows all the gates of our lives. We shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen. I hope we all have a fantastic week. And for our first-timers, please do not leave immediately. And if your birthday is in October as well, we have a cake in the lounge for you. Peace.