Transcription
Welcome, YouTube family. My name is Joanna, and thank you for tuning in today. If you haven't already, please subscribe to our YouTube to stay up-to-date each week. We believe God has a powerful word for you today. So, let's dive into this amazing message.
If you're taking notes, the title of my sermon is "My Faith Is Pleasing." My faith is pleasing. And why do I say my faith is pleasing? Because my faith is pleasing to God.
My faith is pleasing to God. And God wants you to have faith. God desires for you to have faith. And God is going to use your faith to do incredible things in your life. As a believer, we always hear this term, "We need to grow." We need to grow in God. We need to grow. We need to grow. We need to grow. I agree. We need to grow. But when you break down "need to grow," what exactly does that mean? Does that mean you get taller? Like, does it mean like, like what's actually growing? The thing that actually grows is your faith.
When you grow, it's because your faith grows. It means that you trust God more today than you did yesterday. You trust God more this year than you did last year. Growing is trusting God more.
So when you want to grow in Jesus, all you have to do is just grow in faith. Do you trust God more today than you did yesterday? And the hope of my sermon is you will leave trusting in God more, believing in God more, having faith in God more, having assurance in God more. Do you trust in God? Faith is trusting in God. I have a question that I'm going to preach to you. Do you trust in God?
Do you trust Him? Absolutely. Do you believe in Him? Do you believe He is who He said He is? Do you believe He can do what He said He can do? Oh, come on. Can we just give Him a shout of praise if we trust in Him? Come on.
The thing that the devil is after most is your faith. Because if he can stop your faith, he can stop you from being everything God has destined for you to be. He is the thief of faith. He's the killer of faith. He don't want you to have faith. And he will use everything that you see to come to contradict your faith. But my faith is pleasing to God, and the enemy won't rob my faith. Come on, somebody.
If you have your Bibles, go to Hebrews chapter 11. One of my favorite chapters in the Bible. I just love the book of Hebrews. It reads like butter. If you never read the book of Hebrews, just go read it. It's one of It just reads so smooth. It reads like butter. A lot of people say the Apostle Paul wrote it. A lot of people say Apollos wrote it. I don't know. I don't know which one I think. Um, Apollos was really poetic in his writing, and Hebrews to me, it just reads smoother than all the other epistles in my personal opinion. So maybe Apollos did write it, maybe Paul. I don't know who wrote it, but I love the way it reads. It reads like butter. If you get some time, go read the book of Hebrews. It's incredible. But let's go to Hebrews 11 and we'll get ready to jump into it. I love it. I can do a whole series just on chapter 11, but we'll just kind of dive in and see where God takes us today.
Hebrews 11, verse one. Like, you got a second when you're there, say "Ready." You ain't there. You ain't ready. You ain't ready. You don't know how to find the You don't know how to find the stuff. See, y'all ready 'cause y'all got those digital Bibles. Mine's only digital 'cause I can't see that. Well, I love a physical Bible. I got like 25 of them. But up here, I used to preach in my physical Bible. When it was time to read, I'm like, and someone's like, "Just wear glasses." No, you wear glasses. I can see good enough. And I, I'm rocking it out. And when I can't, then I wear glasses. What about context? I don't want nothing in my eyes. Okay. I can see you kind of. I can see barely. No, I'm playing. All right.
Hebrews 11, chapter 1. It says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it, the elders obtained a good testimony or a good report. By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. But by faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And through it, he being dead still speaks. By faith, Enoch was taken away so he did not taste death. So this guy named Enoch, he didn't die. There's two people in the Bible that didn't die. Elijah and Enoch. They were just taken. God was like, 'Man, y'all are so phenomenal. I'm not even gonna let you die. Just come with me.' And then at the end, I'll send you back to die. But I ain't even like, He didn't even let him taste taste death. So Enoch was was that guy. He was like that dude. So by faith, Enoch was not taken away so that he didn't he was uh taken away so that he did not taste or see death. So Enoch never died. God was just like, 'I'm going to come get you,' so you didn't even have to experience death. Like, 'cause dying is scary, like, you know, you like, ah.' Like Enoch didn't experience that. And was not found because God had taken him. For before he was taken, he had he had this testimony. Here's Enoch's testimony before he was taken, that that he pleased God. Oh, come on, somebody. That he pleased God. If you have any testimony, don't just have your testimony like, 'Oh my gosh, I overcame this or that.' That's cool, but you better have the testimony that you please God. Come on. That's a testimony we all want.
But without faith, it is impossible to please God. Which means without faith, you can't please God. So if you're here like, 'I don't have any faith,' you can't please God. You got to have faith to please God. For he who comes to God must first believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Can we give God a shout of praise for that?
So I want to start here. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Which means when you diligently seek God, He rewards you. He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Not just those that seek Him, those who diligently seek Him. When you seek God with diligence, He actually rewards you. And why does God reward those who seek Him with diligence? It's because God wants you to know something. He's not just a ruler. He's a rewarder. And a lot of people see God as a ruler. He's mean. He's controlling. He just wants me to do everything right. These girls are cute, but God don't want me looking at him 'cause He just ruling. And He needs. And why is God doing all this? He's a rewarder to those who diligently seek Him. When you diligently seek God, He rewards you. But you can't just be a seeker. You have to be a diligent seeker. He's a rewarder. God rewards, which means that there is benefit to seeking God. There's something to get. There's an ROI. There's a return on seeking God. He rewards those who seek Him. Are you a seeker of God? Because if you seek God, God will reward you. Come on, somebody.
Now, I'mma cut through this word. I'mma cut through it like butter. The Bible says faith is the substance. It's the substance. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. It's the substance. Everyone say substance. Everyone say substance. I feel the teaching anointing this morning. Faith is the substance. What is substance? Substance is ingredients. Substance is ingredients. Which means substance is something. Substance. Substance is something. It's ingredients. Um, if I was going to make spaghetti, I would need substance. I can't make spaghetti out of nothing. I got to make spaghetti out of something. Yeah. What if your wife was like, "I'm going to make some spaghetti. I don't need nothing. I just need a pot and some air." You're like, "That ain't spaghetti." You need substance. You need ingredients. You need meat. You you you you need uh uh those sticks that my mama be breaking. Those those uh those sticks. She be breaking them sticks. I YOU AIN'T HAD SPAGHETTI WITH THOSE STICKS. You need those sticks. Noodles. Those noodles. But them sticks. We call them those sticks. We got real hungry. be too on them sticks. Dan, our sound guy. Dan, can you wave? Are you back there, Dan? Is Dan here? I don't think Dan's here. Okay, Dan's our sound guy. And like, Dan isn't just like white. He's like real white. You know, there's white and then there's real white. Dan's like real white. So, I go to Dan's house. He's making steak and all of a sudden he pulls out this red can of Lory seasoning, y'all. I'm like, "Dude, what you know about that? What you know about that, man?" He put that Lory's on the steak. Steak was so good. Can't eat it with your shoes on. And then when I got ready to leave, he was like, "You want the extra steak?" I said, "Boy, you must think I'm crazy. I want that steak, y'all." He put it on a he put it in a on a plastic plate and he wrapped it in foil. I said, "This is dandom, man. What you know about this foil?" They said, "I don't come to the cookout and get a plate. I'm giving out plates." Dan was handing out plates. I'm like, "Am I invited to the cookout?" Like, okay, I'm invited in. But you can't have spaghetti without that Lory sauce. Like, like if you don't have that Lory seasoning, then you just can't have spaghetti. And spaghetti, it comes from ingredients. And those ingredients is what's what's used to make spaghetti. And God says that you having a hope comes from ingredients. And the ingredients of your hope is faith. So God takes your faith and He cooks with it. And He uses your faith as material to make you a miracle. He uses your faith as material to make you a miracle. So your hope is made out of the material of your faith.
And here's what scares me in this world. I be talking to people that be like, "I just got faith. I just got faith. I just got faith." But they don't include God. How do you have faith without having God? You can't just have faith in faith. You got to have faith in God.
So faith is composed of two things. Faith is composed of the word of God and your belief in it. So God's word and man's belief creates faith. That's why the Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing what? The word of God. Which means you cannot have faith without a word from God. And you cannot have faith if you don't believe the word in God. So the word of God in itself ain't just faith. It's your belief in His word that makes it faith. And the problem is if you don't have a word from God, you do not have faith. You have fantasy.
It's fantasy. If you don't have a word, it's fantasy. If you don't have a word, yeah, I'mma get a bigger house. That's fantasy. Where's the word? Yeah, I'mma get more money. That's fantasy. Unless you have a word from God, it's not faith. It's fantasy. You need a word from God. So faith comes by hearing it and hearing the word of God. So there's a lot of people that's disappointed and frustrated because you got faith in what you wanted, not in what God said. I can't just want something and have faith. There's I want to be successful. I got faith. No, you don't. You got a fantasy and you're a fool 'cause you need a word from God. I can't just have faith. I have to have a word. So the ingredients of faith is a word from God and my belief in it.
So faith is the substance of things hoped for. It's a substance. It's a substance, which means it's a material. God doesn't just do magic, He does faith. And when God does a miracle, do you know a miracle without material is magic? And you know magic is witchcraft, right? That's it. So if God did something in your life without you first believing in His word, it would be witchcraft. Well, God, why won't You just heal me? Because it would be witchcraft if I healed you because you didn't get my word and believe it.
So faith is so big that when the lady with the issue of blood touched Jesus, Jesus said, "Daughter, your faith has made you well." In other words, He said, "I ain't got to heal you 'cause I already healed you because once you receive my word and believed it, your faith made you well."
What was Jesus saying? Hear me closely. Hear me closely. He was saying in order to heal you, it requires a word and belief. Yeah. So when Jesus walked around doing miracles, He was the word and the belief in the word, which means He didn't need your participation to heal you. But if you have the word and you believe it, you don't need Jesus's participation to get healed. She touched the hem. He didn't even know who touched Him. But He said, "I don't have to know because if you believed in my word, your faith will make you whole. You can sneak up on God and just touch on Him and still get a miracle because your faith has made you well."
Faith requires material, and the material is His word, because the Bible says heaven and earth will pass away before My word. Why? Because the word of God is the only thing that connects the seen and the unseen realm. Wow. His word is the only thing that connects heaven and earth. His word works in heaven. His word works on earth. His word rules heaven. His earth, His word rules earth. It's His word. So His word is the byproduct that ties the two together. It's His word. It is substance. It is material.
Um, I run a business in town called Lone Star Graphics. Free promo. We make jersey shirts, banners, all that. Free promo. You need something, holla at your boy. Shop with your boy. But I ain't just up here using God's platform to promote my business. I got an illustration. Check it. But if you want a buy-buy, hey, I'mma tie it on this Lord. What's up? But check this out. I get a a reoccurring call from the workers at my shop. One of them is Kaylee. She works. I get a call and they're usually freaked out and they say, "We're running out of material. Can I get a Can I do a one-day ship? It's going to be $200. We need more material." Because they forgot we needed material. Why? Because everything we make requires material. We can make you an amazing jersey, but we need material. We can make you a banner, but we mean we need material. We can make you shirts, we need material. We can make you hats. We need material. Why? Because if we have material, we can do a miracle. But we cannot do a miracle if we don't have material. And God is saying if you want Him to do a miracle, He's going to need material. And He hasn't done a miracle 'cause you didn't bring material. What material do you bring to God? Your faith is material.
So you have to bring God that material and then He bends it into a miracle. But you don't get a miracle because you don't have material. Your faith is the substance. It's the material of things hoped for. Which means if you hope without material is hocus pocus, not faith. You need material.
So He says faith is the substance of things hoped for. And then the evidence of things not seen. Everyone say evidence. Evidence. Everyone say evidence. Evidence. What is evidence? Evidence is proof. Evidence is proof. Which means God is saying faith is the proof. It's the proof. Well, well, well. How is faith proof? How is faith proof? Because in the physical world, we use something different as proof. Our proof is gauged by our eyes. What do we say? Seeing is believing. Not in the kingdom of God. Not in the kingdom of God. Seeing is not believing in the kingdom of God. So we use proof with what we can see. Even if someone come to you like, "Man, God blessing me. God blessing me." Pretty soon you're going to be like, "How?" You get a new car, you get a new house, you upgrade your bank account. Did you move? Did you get a new job? How is God blessing you? You're just like, "Well, nothing different. He just blessing me." No, He not. You cursed. Like, like I need to see something to believe someone is being blessed. Why? Because we believe that seeing is believing. But in the kingdom of God, seeing is not believing. It's not. Because actually in the kingdom of God, the Bible says walk by faith. Not by what? Which means God put an attack on sight. He says, "I need to shift you. If you're going to operate in the kingdom of God, you have to have a shift. You have to shift from sight to faith." From sight to faith. From sight to faith.
Which means that if you're going to operate in the kingdom of God, you have to move from the rim of sight to the rim of faith. And do you know that faith requires something that did not does that does not include your eyes? Faith requires your ears. The Bible says faith comes by what? Hearing and hearing the word of God. In other words, God says, "I don't use your eyes to bring faith." I don't even use your eyes. I don't require your eyes. I don't need your eyes to bring faith. All I need is your ears.
And here's the issue. Most people are being robbed out of their faith because of their sight. Because what you see is always going to be an enemy to what God said. Let me say it again. Let me show it now for those in the back. What you see will always be an enemy to what God said.
Which means that God has vetoed the rights of sight to Satan. Let me say it again. God has vetoed the right of sight to Satan. Come on. Which means whenever God shows up, it never looks good. Yeah. It never looks good. Read your Bible. It never looks good. Matter of fact, I would say in order for it to even be God, it got to look bad.
When Lazarus died, when Lazarus died, his death and his resurrection was so incredible. Um, the reason why Jesus had to resurrect in three days is because by Jewish law, if someone was dead longer than three days, they believed that the person was unclean, they couldn't come back, and it was over. And Jesus had to fulfill all the Jewish laws in His resurrection. So, He had to come back in three days because He would have violated all the principles and the promises and the mitzvah and everything that was put in place. He had to come back in three days. He said, "But I want to show you that I don't have to abide by these rules in Lazarus's resurrection." Because after three days, the body starts to stink. And that's what she told Jesus. She said, "Jesus, my brother can't be resurrected. It's been four days." Translation: He already stinking. Or if you're in Texas, you might say stinking. He already stinking. He too late to be resurrected.
And ain't it like God, He don't show up until stuff starts to stink. He don't show up until things get ugly. He don't show up until things get out of order. He don't show up until things fall apart. He don't show up until things are discombobulated. Right when your situation starts to stink, that's when God shows up. He shows up when everything stinks. When it looks like there's no way out. When it looks like there's no breakthrough. When it looks like there's no promise. When it looks like there's no healing. When the doctor has nothing else to say to you. When there's no more medication that can be prescribed. That's when God shows up and He does His best work. Because He don't operate by sight. He operates by faith.
Thank you, God. He operates by faith. In other words, if you're going to have faith, you need to close your eyes and open your ears. 'Cause your eyes will lie to you. They will lie. They'll lie. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. All right. So, let's cut this scripture deeper. Can I cut it deeper?
Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. So, He said, "Hey, faith is evidence." Faith is evidence, which means that your proof doesn't come when God does it. Your proof comes when God says it. Your proof doesn't come when God does it. Your proof comes when He says it.
Thank you, God. Because evidence is invisible until it's visible. God, it's invisible until it's visible. So, God gives you evidence. Um, my wife and I, we love booking Airbnbs. And when I book Airbnb, I get a little nervous 'cause we spent a couple thousand dollars for something four months from now. And I'm like, "How we even know we got a house? We ain't never been to this city. How we know the house there? How we know this ain't a fake picture?" She's like, "Be quiet. It's Airbnb." I ain't being quiet. I'll pay for this. I need some evidence, some proof. We need to fly out there, see the house, shake the people's hand, fly back, and then I'm good. And all the way up into the Airbnb, I am I'm nervous. I'm driving. Did we miss a turn? I'm like, "See, I knew they didn't have." I'm worried like, and and I'm nervous, and she is fine. She's sleeping good. She already talking about what she going to cook in the house, what she going to put there. I'm like, "How you know there is a house?" And she said, "Because I have evidence. I have a confirmation number." Come on, somebody. And though I didn't see the house, though I'm not in the city, though I didn't walk through the doors, I have a confirmation number. I want to tell you something, church. Faith is your confirmation number. You ain't been healed yet, but you got a confirmation number. You haven't had a breakthrough yet, but you have a confirmation number. You feel like God hasn't moved in your family, but you have a confirmation number. 'Cause if God said He's going to reach your kids, guess what? Your kids just reached. If God said He's going to heal you, guess what? You're already healed. If God said He's going to do it, guess what? It's already done. Every battle is won because faith is your confirmation number. If you say, "Faith is my confirmation number," give God a 10-second praise break in this place. Faith is my confirmation number. I don't have to say it if God said it.
Faith is my confirmation. It's confirmed because God said it. It's confirmed because God said He'll do it. It's confirmed because God said He would move. Faith is my confirmation number. Faith moves heaven.
And let me show you why faith is so powerful. It's because God set up this world in such a way where there is a seen realm and an unseen realm. But everything in the seen realm came from the unseen realm. God says everything that appears comes from what don't appear. Which means that what we can see is less real than what we don't see. Okay, let me break it down to you. What's more real, the shirt I'm wearing or the people that made the shirt? They're more real. Just because you don't see them, you see what they made. Which means the thing that's more real than our world is the thing that made our world. Because what is seen came out of what is not seen. Which means that when I see this shirt, I know something. At some point, somebody had an idea. Yeah. You cannot get a shirt without an idea. Somebody said, "Man, it'll be cool to have a shirt with buttons and it needs to be blue and these pockets on the front." Somebody had to have that idea before we could have the reality of this shirt. And before we can have the reality of you, somebody had to have an idea. And God had an idea. You were God's idea. You're not just here by a mistake. You're not an accident. Saying you're not just here by happenstance, that you were fearfully and wonderfully made by the hands of the Creator. You were God's idea. Yes. And when I see the idea, I know the person that had it is just as real, if not more real, because you can't have an idea without you can't have a manifestation without an idea. God says the proof of Me is you. Many of you guys saying, "I don't believe in God 'cause I never seen Him." God said, "Idiot, you should believe in Me because you seen you." I don't need to see God because by God I see everything else. I don't need to see Him. I see you because of God. I see the world because of God. I see me because of God. So, it's not that I need to see Him. It's because I see it's because by Him I see everything.
Uh, there was a disciple and you guys call him Doubting Thomas. And Jesus had resurrected, and He saw the disciples, and Thomas went there, and they told him about it, and he said, "You know what? I don't believe it until I see it. And he said, 'I need to put my hands through the holes in His hand and I need to touch His side to know He's real. Other than that, I ain't going to believe.'" Come on. Come on. And then Jesus rolled up on him and he was like, "Oh my gosh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus." And Jesus is a straight-up gangster. Jesus didn't pull up like, "Hey, I'm here." Jesus said, "Bro, go and put your hands in my Go put your hands in there. Then go put your hand. No, Lord. No. No, Lord. Put your hand. You said you need to put your hands in there. Put your hands through the holes in my hand. Jesus. No. No. Nah, bro. You acting hard. Go ahead. Be hard." Then and then Jesus hit him with the most powerful truth bomb. Jesus said, "You believe because you have seen. He said, but blessed is but blessed are those who believe that haven't seen." That's it. In other words, He said, "There's a blessing to people that don't have to put their hands through my hands and their hand through my side. Blessed are those who believe that haven't seen. And if you could believe a God that you have not seen, blessed be to you. There's a blessing released. There's a miracle released. There's power released. Blessed are those who believe who haven't seen." Blessed. There's a miracle to believe who hasn't seen.
And why does Jesus bless people who believe who haven't seen? It's because believing in God and not seeing Him is the highest form of intimacy you can have in Him. He said, "He that comes to Me must first believe that I am." Yeah. Which means here's the problem with the atheist and the agnostic: they want proof. He says, "When you believe, then you'll have proof." God said, "I'm not about to perform because if I give you proof before you believe, now I'm performing." I'm not about to perform. He says, "He that comes to Me must first believe that I am." Which means you can't even see God until you believe God. He will be invisible to you until you believe Him. You have to believe, then you will see. You have to believe, then you will see. You have to believe, then you will see.
So the Bible says without faith, it's impossible to please God. It's impossible. You have to have faith to please God. I thought that my worship would please Him. Nope. I thought my preaching would please Him. Nope. I thought my giving would please Him. Nope. I thought my evangelizing would please Him. Nope. Because you can do all that and not believe. You can preach the Bible and not believe. They're going to say, "I prophesied in Your name, but I cast out demons in Your name." Dude, I never knew you. And the reason why I never knew you is 'cause you never believed in Me. I can't even know you until you believe in Me. See, you believed in church. You believed in the program, but you didn't believe in Me. So I don't know you. I can't know you because I operate off this economy thing called faith. Which means if you don't have faith, you don't even exist. Faith is what ties earth and heaven together. So it's impossible to please God without faith. You can't please Him. If you're in this room, you say, "Man, I just want to please God." You got to have faith. And if you say, "I don't have faith." Well, you don't please God.
The Bible says Enoch had this testimony, and it's the greatest testimony. It's put it's put right here in Hebrews 11 in the Hall of Faith. And it says Enoch had this testimony that he pleased God. So I said, "Well, if this brother pleased God, I need to see what he did to please God. I want to do that, too." So I went to Genesis, and here's what Enoch did. The Bible says he walked with God. He walked with God. Do you want to know the greatest thing you can do as a believer? It's walk with God. There's nothing greater. It's better than snotting. It's better than throwing up. It's better than crying on your knees all day. It's better than anything else you can do is walking with God. Because do you want to know what walking with God means? It means He's real.
That God's first idea for humanity wasn't a sermon. And it wasn't a song. It was a walk. Didn't that sound good? It was always a walk. You want to please God, it ain't just singing to Him or praising to Him or preaching to Him. It's walking with God. It was always a walk. All the way. The Bible says we walk by what? Faith. We walk. It was the walk that God desired. He always desired to walk. And here's how you know He always desired to walk because you go to the hermeneutics principle of first mention. The first thing God did with humanity, what did He do with Adam? He walked and talked with him in the cool of the day. It was always a walk.
And Enoch walked with God in such a way that if you saw him walking with God, you would have thought he was a fool. 'Cause Enoch was walking and he was talking. And if you would have saw him, you would have thought he was talking to himself, but he was talking to God. Enoch was dining. He had two chairs, one here and one there. He was sitting in one and God was sitting in one. And if you would have saw him, you would have thought he was eating by himself, but he was eating with God. Which means if you would have saw Enoch talking, you would have thought he was talking to himself, but he was talking to God. If you would have saw Enoch eating, you would have thought he was eating by himself, but he was eating with God. If you would have saw Enoch dancing, you would have thought he was dancing by himself, but he was dancing with God. He was a friend of God, and he walked with God. Wow.
And sometimes we forget that God desires relationship. See, I love worshiping God and I get emotional and I and I get before God, and He loves it. But at some point, if that's the existence of your walk with God, you ditch Him down to this emotional emotional expression, this worship expression, and you took away His personhood. God wants to be a person, too. Yeah. Which means imagine if you had a spouse and they're just like deifying you and worshiping you and blowing incense at you. You're like, "You weirdo. Can we go eat? Can we walk? Can we talk? Can we dance? Can we have fun? Can we laugh? Can we joke?" This is why you can't over-spiritualize God. Yes, there's a place for that. Yes, there's a holy place. But I had someone ask me, and I and I remember the Smith Wigglesworth quote. They said, "How long do you pray, pastor?" I said, "Not very long. Not very long." Why? 'Cause I'm not a creepy person. Now, if you call the intercession, that's cool. But the reason why I don't pray very long is because I practice His presence. I don't pray from a place of distance. But I spend time with God from a place of proximity. Smith Wigglesworth, he he's done the most modern miracles of any man. He said, "I never pray longer than 30 minutes, but I never go 30 minutes without praying." Why? Because it's relationship.
I can imagine if your child came to you like this: "Thou shalt, Daddy. Daddy, thou shalt right now in the name of Jesus, I pray. Can you get out of my house? Get out of my house." I'm a person. "Daddy, I'm hungry." Got you. "Daddy, I want to go play." Got you. Why do we feel like over-spiritualizing? Over-spiritualization moves God. Because you can sit there and say, "Lord Jesus," and have no faith. And you can say, "Lord, let it be done," and be full of faith. Come on, somebody. Got to do all that. I got relationship with God. And stylistically, if that's how you do it, cool. But I'm just saying, you don't have to. You have relationship with God. He's my Dad. And throughout the day, we just walk and we talk and we talk and we walk and we walk and we talk and we talk and we walk and then we laugh. God has a sense of humor. I know you put Him in this little genie religious box where He don't have a sense of humor. God makes fun of me and we laugh. Why? Because I'm a friend of God. How can you have a friend you can't laugh with? You, if I can't laugh with you, you're not my friend. We got to be able to laugh. And if you can't laugh with God, you have you have bottled Him up to this religious rhetoric instead of a Father that loved you and died for you, that resurrected for you, and ever lived to make intercession for you. God wants a friend. The Bible says Abraham walked with God. Abraham was a friend of God. And all the miracles they did in the Bible was by faith. In other words, God does the heavy pulling, not us. It was by faith. The Bible says by faith the elders obtained a good report. What is the Bible saying? The Bible said by faith they had a good report card. In other words, by faith they had a good report card. You take away the faith, they got all Fs. But you add in faith, they got all A's. Why? Because they didn't get a good report card by their own merits and their own deeds. They got a good report card by faith. And God says, you can have a good report card by faith. It is by faith. It is by faith.
And let me tell you why God made it by faith. Catch this and never miss it. Slow it down. I want to make sure you don't miss this. Most important thing I'll say all day. Faith is the only thing in this world that is fair. Say it again. Faith is the only thing in this world that is fair. The smart can do it. The dumb can do it. The skinny can do it. The heavy can do it. The old can do it. The young can do it. The pretty can do it. The ugly can do it. The righteous can do it. The ratchet can do it. The holy can do it. The ungodly can do it. The the the the pure can do it. The promiscuous can do it. Every single person can have faith. It's the only thing that's fair. And God said, "If I made it by money, some of you guys can afford it. If I made it by virtue, some of you guys can do it. If I made it by holiness, some of you guys already blew it. If I made it by knowledge, some of you guys can learn it. But because it's by faith, all of you can obtain it." Can we give God a 10-second praise break in this place? It's by faith. It's by faith.
And there's not a person on this planet that can't have faith. You can be handicapped and have it. There's not a person on this planet that can't simply believe in God. So He said, "Faith is the only thing that pleases Me because it's the only thing that everybody can give Me equally." All the way to the point He calls it childlike faith. Now, my daughter, as small and cute as she is, she has faith. She'd be like, "Daddy, Jesus going to do it." And at that young age, she can believe just like her parents can. Come on. Because faith is fair. That's so good. Faith is fair. You can be uh you can be of the religious elite or you can be a woman with an issue of blood crawling through the crowd saying, "But if I could just touch the hem of His garment, I could be made whole." And it works for you just like it worked for Jesus. Just like it worked for Moses, just like it worked for David. Just like it worked for Joshua. Just like it worked for Daniel. Just like it worked for Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. Faith works. No matter who you are. No matter who you are, faith works. It is by faith. Yes, God. It's by faith.
Everyone in this room, thank you, God, can have faith because all it requires is a word and you believing in it. Can we give God a shout of praise in this place? Come, everybody, stand to your feet.
Wow, what a powerful message. We hope it blessed you. Make sure to share with your friends, your family members, and your co-workers so that they can be blessed as well.