2- Beyond Ordinary - Leaving Our Boats - Beyond Faithfulness

There is something beyond faithfulness… something beyond holding down the fort, so to speak.  There is faith!  I think its’ possible to call someone faithful, while there may be very little faith present.  But it shouldn’t be so, should it?  Faithful should mean to be full of faith.  It seems to me that we don’t quite mean “full of faith” when use the word faithful.  We mean steady.  We mean consistent.  Steadiness and consistency are wonderful qualities, especially in a culture that seems to be falling away from the principles of yesterday, where we would say what we meant and do what we said.  Steadiness and consistency are to be honored.   But when we speak of faithfulness (faith – full – ness), there is something more for us!  There is actual faith.

I’ve seen people faithful to attend prayer meetings, and those same people lacking in faith that God hears and will move.  I want to call you into more than prayer meeting attendance.  I am here to call you into faith.  We are beloved children of the God who hears and moves.  We are connected to the God who acts!  I know some people would say that’s it’s impossible to be steady without faith, and there may be some truth to that.  But I can say with assurance that I have been faithful to pray for sick people, without possessing faith for their healing.  And if you are honest, you may admit that too.  The desire of God is to fill you with faith.  I’m all for steadiness… but let’s be steady IN FAITH. 

I.  THE FORM OF FAITHFULNESS THAT DENIES FAITH

2 Timothy 3

[1] But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. [2] For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, [3] heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, [4] treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, [5] having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. [6] For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, [7] always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

A.   There is a form of faithfulness that actually rejects true faith.  There is a form of godliness that actually denies power.  How does this work?  When we pray for comfort instead of praying for healing.  When we pray for the strength to let sickness ravage us while being a good witness for Christ, instead of contending for real deliverance.  We must be very careful in this!  We are ambassadors of the impossible.  We are conduits of the power of God! 

B.    It’s not loving to side against God and His expressed Word.  It’s not loving to disbelieve the work of the cross.  Either Christ has paid for all sins, sickness and burdens, or He hasn’t.  What do we really believe?  There are things we know and there are things we possess.  And there is a difference.  I want to provoke you to keep pressing in until the things you know become the things that follow you. 

Mark 16

 [15] And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. [16] Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. [17] And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; [18] they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

[19] So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. [20] And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.]]

C.    We have been given a Gospel of power, not a gospel of pity.  There is a compassion that denies power, a mercy that denies power… these are forms of godliness.  The Gospel we have received is power, or it is not the Gospel!  God has not sent us out to pity the lost, but to save the lost. 

Luke 4

[16] And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. [17] And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

            [18] “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

                        because he has anointed me

                        to proclaim good news to the poor.

            He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

                        and recovering of sight to the blind,

                        to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

            [19] to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

[20] And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. [21] And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

D.   We have not been given the ministry of prison visitation… rather we have been sent to set the captives free! (Obviously, I believe in prison ministry and am grateful for this ministry, I am referring to spiritual captivity.)  We aren’t called to sand down trees limbs to form into walking sticks… we are called to heal the blind!  The Gospel we believe and that we have inherited, the one that’s been passed down from Jesus to His apostles, down through the early church…this Gospel is power. 

II.  DETROYING THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL

A.   Jesus is not willing to cohabitate with Satan.  He’s made His claim on the earth by coming in the form of the man to redeem through His sinless obedience, what was lost by Adam in the garden even by his disobedience.  Christ has been victorious!  The title deed of the earth belongs to Him (Revelation 5:7-8).  Satan has been disarmed and defeated by the cross.  He’s been put to open shame by the cross (Colossians 2: 13-15)! 

Acts 10

[38] how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

B.    The ministry of Christ (which is ongoing in us) is more than words… it’s action.  He went about DOING.  He went about HEALING.  The phrase, “healing all who were oppressed by the devil,” should tell us something about sickness.  Sickness is not from God.  Oppression is not from God and is not part of the ministry of reconciliation.

1 John 3

[8] Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

C.    Sin opens the door to destruction in our lives.  Sin is in it’s essence, a refusal of reconciliation with God.  That’s what it is and that’s why it has destructive effects in our lives.  Reconcilation with Christ is salvation, literally eternal life.  Refusal to be reconciled is death.  Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.

III.  TRESSPASSOR OR LEGAL TENANT?

A.   Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and His ministry is effective.  The issue of freedom from sin, sickness or deliverance and how that can play out in our lives and through our lives and ministry, is a legal spiritual issue.  I’m going to read you some very troubling scriptures, but my purpose is not to trouble you, but to bring you into peace.  So, let’s not be afraid to look into these things.  They will bring us into liberty and faith if we will submit.

1 Corinthians 11

[23] For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, [24] and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” [25] In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” [26] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

[27] Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. [28] Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. [29] For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. [30] That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. [31] But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. [32] But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

B.    Why…. Because communion is about communion.  Communion is about receiving the cost of Christ’s sufferings as your sacrifice for sin.  His broken body is your reconciliation.  It took the violence of the cross to reconcile you for your sins.  Do we understand this?  How do we receive communion in an unworthy manner?  Embracing our sin while hugging Christ.  This is a betrayal and there are spiritual consequences but Paul also says that there are physical conseqquences!  Satan has legal right to our bodies when we are in unrepentant sin claiming communion.

1 Corinthians 5

[1] It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. [2] And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

[3] For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. [4] When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, [5] you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

C.    We see that Satan is given authority over the flesh, but even then the purpose of God is for ultimate reconciliation of the soul.  Is God bringing the sickness?  NO!  Who is the destroyer of the flesh?  Satan.  Satan has been given legal access to those who are in the world, and to those who will not walk in reconciliation. 

D.   But Christ has something better in mind for us!  Salvation is for body, soul and spirit.  So, what do we do when there is sickness and demonic oppression in the life of the believer.  We speak the word of faith and believe for the action and power of God to manifest!  This is our Gospel, and we have no other!  Our Gospel is the power of God to bring us into wholeness. 

E.    When the devil trespasses into our lives, we can’t give room to it.  We must kick him out!  We don’t make his bed, and get him milk and cookies at night.  No!  We turn him out.  There is a witness in our spirit that he has no legal claim on us and we step into more than faithfulness… we step into faith! 

John 10

[17] For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. [18] No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

F.    We can’t afford to be confused about things such as healing and deliverance!  God may call us to lay down our lives for Him… but it is a laying down.  There is a chasm of difference between laying down our lives and having our health and joy stolen! 

John 10

[10] The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

IV.  FAITH-FULL

A.   I believe we are about to come into some real fulfillment!  I am asking the Lord to release signs and wonders in the house.  I am believe He is leading many of you into a new reality of the supernatural expression and manifestation of His kingdom.  Some of you are going to start believing and proclaiming.  Some of you here are going to find yourselves FAITH-FULL.  I see rivers coming out of you!  No longer stagnant ponds…. Rivers of life.  Life in your homes.  Life in your job.  Life!

Luke 18

 [2] He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. [3] And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ [4] For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, [5] yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” [6] And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. [7] And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? [8] I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

B.    I’m so glad to be still praying with many of you.  Learning how to discern the will of God in a community of people has been the most rewarding of my life as a believer.  The transition we are stepping into is about looking for the God who answers!  Prayer meetings don’t change the world….it’s faith in the God who hears and acts on our behalf that changes everything.  With God all things are possible.  Let’s believe!