Let's open up our Bibles today We're gonna talk about faith and the word They're

inseparable You can't have one without the other Faith and the word it goes hand in

hand It's like the wet with the water You cannot have faith apart from the word

because it's the word of God that builds our faith It's the word of God

that strengthen our faith So that's what I want to talk about today Faith and the word of

God trusting what God has said In our past lessons we've been talking about the

word of God since the beginning of the new year We've talked about how we

can depend and rely on the word and that the word is true because the author

of the word is God and God's word is true and all scripture was breathed

out inspired by God And we also talked About how God revealed Himself in the person of

Jesus Christ who is the logos the living word of God And we talked about how the word was

inspired and how it was written down so that we could be taught and passed on from

generation to generation Although we have confirmed the origin of the word We confirm the

authority of the word and we confirm the validity of the word We still have

to believe the word We still have to have faith in rely on depend on what

it says The word of God in our faith is inseparable You can't have one

without the other The believer's life should be based on the truth that what God speaks faith believes what he

says That's why it's imperative that's why it's important for you and I to know that our

faith is based on the word of God not anything else because it's only the

word of God that's going to stand it's only the word of God that's gonna

last So our lives should be based on On that truth that God speaks and faith believes what he says

And that builds our confidence in the scripture And we will no longer have confidence in our

feelings we'll no longer have confidence in our circumstances we no longer will have confidence in our human

reasoning because the word of God is greater than all those things The more that we get into

the word of God the our feelings and circumstances and human reasoning will matter And all of

this has been revealed in the word the Bible So in order for our faith to work we must

be connected and stay connected to the truth that's found in the word So let's look at why

is it important for our faith and the word to work together If you want to live the more

than abundant life that Jesus promised us in John 10:10 our faith and the word must work together Our

faith must be built upon the word of God Number one we need to know and understand that our faith

begins with hearing God's word Our faith grows by knowing what God has spoken in the word Romans 10:17

faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God You cannot build your faith upon something

that you do not know You cannot trust in promises that you have never heard Faith comes by hearing

and hearing by the word of God Now when we talk about hearing we're talking about hearing the

word of God over and over and over again The more we read the more we study the more

we hear and meditate on the scripture the more we learn to rely on God

rather than the philosophies and traditions of men So that's why it's important that you hear the word the scripture

That's what we should be putting in our minds each and every day Not what man says about the word

but the word You never want to become dependent upon what somebody else said about

the word You're walking a very dangerous line when you do that because now the lines will

get blurred You don't know if it's the word of God or is it the philosophies and traditions of men

So now we're believing the philosophies the traditions the religion of man and our faith never grows because

we're putting our faith in a system a man-made system instead of God's word God's system And what that

will produce is a weak word life which produces weak faith When we put our

faith in a man-based system that has no power that's based on human philosophies traditions rituals and not the word

you will have a weak word life and that weak word life will produce weak faith However a steady daily

diet of scripture produces confident trust in God and in His word That's why we

have to make sure that what we're hearing that's going to bring forth faith is the word of God The

word that you should be hearing is the word that connects you with the scriptures that connects you

to the power of God So it's no longer about what man can do but what

God can do And when you do that you'll have a strong word life When you do that you'll

have strong faith because the faith and the word working now together And you can build upon

it What we hear and listen to daily is what's going to grow our faith Jesus said this

in Luke 8:18 pay attention be very careful how you hear Especially in the context of receiving

spiritual truth because what we hear we're going to believe and What you're hearing is either the truth or a

lie So you're either gonna be hearing the truth that's gonna produce life or you're gonna believe a lie

which is gonna produce death That's why we gotta be careful about how we hear

because how we hear is going to influence how we think and how we think is going to determine our

faith walk with Christ Either we're walking in harmony in alignment with Christ or we're

walking opposed to Christ So the question is is what you're hearing is it leading you to a deeper walk

with Christ or is it leading you away from Christ to another Jesus with a different message

with a different doctrine Is it building your faith or is it weakening your faith Faith begins with hearing

God's word and we have to make sure it's God's word that we're hearing because it's only

God's word that's gonna grow our faith and lead us to a deeper walk and relationship with Christ The second

thing I want to share with you this morning is that we believe God's promises because

we trust who He is That's why we can believe the word That's why we can trust

God's promises because we trust and know who He is We're talking about the character of God

the attributes of God all the things that we've studied here in this ministry We can trust the word

because we know who God is based on what he's revealed to us in His word Numbers 23:19 says

God is not a man that he should lie So we know that God is truthful that's one of

his attributes Romans chapter 3 verse 4 says let God be true and every man a liar That's why

you cannot trust the word of man We have to make sure that the word of man lines up with

the truth of God's word because the scripture says let God be true and every man a liar

And because God is not a man and he does not lie we can trust What

he says Hebrews chapter 6 verse 18 takes it even further It says it's impossible for God to

lie It's not possible for God to lie This is why we can trust what he

says in his word Psalm 11989 says his word is settled forever in heaven standing firm and

unchangeable This is why we can trust the word This is why we can put our faith in what God

said because his word is settled forever not man's word God's word is settled forever in heaven And

it's God's word that's gonna stand firm It's God's word that's unchangeable Our faith grows when we realize

who God is God is perfect God is truthful God is consistent and God is faithful So we can believe

the promises of God we can believe the word of God because we know and trust who he is

And now our faith can grow because of what the perfect truthful consistent faithful God has said in his

word And if God has said it his character who he is guarantees it That's why it's important

that we know what God said because if he said it he's going to guarantee

it He's watching over his word to perform it If God said it he's gonna guarantee it And we can

believe it because we know who God is because we know what his word says

So we can put our faith and trust in the word and grow Number 3

faith means taking God at His word We know all these great things about God

We know that His word is settled forever We know that God is not a man that He should lie

We know all these things Now we have to choose to believe what God says We have

to take God at His word That's what faith means Biblical faith is choosing to believe what

God says even before we see the results Biblical faith is choosing to believe See

you and I we have to choose to believe God's word or we can choose to reject God's

word That's why we're called believers because we choose to believe what God has said in his

word even before we see the results 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7 says we walk

by faith not by sight See that's the mindset of a believer We walk by faith not

by sight Unbelievers they wanna see it first then they'll believe it See that's the

world's philosophy I'll believe it when I see it That's what they say But the believers' mindset is we

walk by faith we walk by what we do not see because we trust God we trust his word We

put our faith in what God said It's just the opposite of the world's thinking We walk by what we

don't see not by what we see Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 says that faith

is the substance of things hoped for the evidence The proof of things not seen

That's what true faith is That's what biblical faith is Faith is being misconstrued out

here in the church world today because the only thing that we're connecting faith with is getting stuff from God

You want a car have faith You want a house have faith you want money have faith No the

Bible don't teach that True biblical faith is choosing to believe what God said Did God say those things about

name it claim it And the answer is no They are misrepresenting scripture They're taking scripture

out of context They're making the word says something that the word never says Therefore

God does not honor that because God did not say that I'm putting strong emphasis on the fact that what

we hear has to be based on what God said not what people said God said The Bible

says in the last days we're gonna be flooded with false prophets false teachers and

false teachings And they're gonna use the scripture they're gonna twist the scripture they're gonna manipulate the scripture in

order to lead you away from God not towards God True Bible faith and that's what I'm

talking about a faith that connects you with God We believe before we see the results

Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Hebrews 11:6 says without faith it's

impossible To please God So here we are putting our faith in something that God did not say

thinking that God is pleased In reality God is not pleased because what we're putting

our faith in God did not say So that's why the scripture says without faith it's impossible to please God

Because God is only going to honor faith that's put in what he said Over

and over again in the scriptures it talks about believe trust faith in what God has said And

when you believe what God has said now we can receive the promises of God that's found in his word

Throughout scripture we see God blessing people not because they were perfect but because they believed what God

said Romans chapter 4 verses 20 to 21 is a good example Talking about Abraham and how he did not

waiver at the promise of God but was fully convinced fully persuaded that God could perform what he promised

Abraham didn't see it first didn't believe it No God made a promise to him He promised

that he'll be a father of many nations Abraham didn't live to see that He promised him

that he would have a son at a ripe old age He lived long enough to receive the promise

but faith had come because at the time the promise was made both Abraham and his

wife were beyond childbearing age So it seemed like the promise that God made was impossible but

The scripture says Abraham did not waiver at the promise of God but he was fully convinced fully

persuaded that what God said he would do and what God had promised When our faith connects with

the word of God we too can be fully convinced But see what separates a believer from

a non-believer is that a believer is fully convinced We're Talking by faith not by

sight Whereas a non-believer cardinal Christian they wanna see first then they believe That's not how faith works We

trust what God says even before we see the results Faith says if God promised it that settles it

That's the believer's mindset If God said it in his word that settles it Now what do I

do I wait for the promise that God made I'm settled in my mind because

his word is settled in the heavens Therefore I can believe what he says Watch this even though I

don't see the results Hebrews chapter 11 has a whole list of names the hall of faith of people

who believe God and never saw the promise come to fruition in their life But it came to

fruition because it's written in scripture It came to fruition Because it's written in the word But the people they

believed God and the promise of God even to their very last breath they went to their graves believing that

what God said he would do he would do And God did it even though they didn't

see the results That's true biblical faith We might not see the promises of God fulfilled in our

life but it will be fulfilled in our children's life It will be fulfilled in our children's children's life

because God cannot lie If he said it he's going to do it But you and I

we have to be fully convinced of that and never waver and never let doubt

creep in because our faith now is built on what God said and God cannot lie So we

have to take God at His word in order for faith in the word to work Number 4

God's promises belongs to those who trust Him That's the bottom line of this teaching Now they're available

to all but God's promises will only be fulfilled in the lives of those who

trust Him And we see that over and over and over again in the word Mark chapter 9 verse 23

All things are possible to him who doubts No all things are possible to him who believes Believe what

What God has said in his word 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 20 says that all of the

promises of God how many All of the promises of God are yes in Christ Everything that God

said in the word are yes and amen Psalm 37:5 assures us that we can commit our

ways to the Lord that we can trust Him and He will act on our behalf

Trust in the Lord commit your ways to the Lord When you commit something to the Lord that means you

trust Him That means you have faith in Him Commit all your ways to the Lord He

will do it By faith we commit our ways to the Lord We have to trust by faith that

God will open up a door for those who trust Him How many of y'all know that

God opens up doors Not only does he open up doors he closes doors But we

have to trust that whatever door God's open whatever door God closes is for our

benefit We have to have trust faith in what God says in order for him to

work in our lives And what faith does it positions our hearts now to receive

what God has already promised in his word We live life now with a mindset and the

attitude of expectation We don't know when God is gonna deliver but we know that he's going

to deliver We don't know how God is going to open up that door but we live with

a mindset each and every day that our door is gonna be open Why Because God promised it

his word said it Faith now positions us Position our minds to receive what God has already

promised Unbelief however closes the door to God's promises Here God is wants to get something

to you He wants to bless you he wants to open the door Unbelief closes the door that God wants

to open So we can't walk around here with unbelief but we have to have

an expectation built on what God said in His word Unbelief will close the door that God's going

to open in your life However faith will keep that door open The word of

God strengthens our faith daily That's the next thing I want to share with you Joshua chapter 1

verse 8 God told Joshua to meditate on the word day and night so that you may prosper

and succeed Meaning we're supposed to meditate on the word consistently and then we will prosper and

succeed in life God does not want us to fail He wants us to succeed See but

success has to come God's way not man's way We know there's no prosperity and

success in life separate from God and His word That's why we have to meditate on the word consistently constantly

so that we may prosper and succeed in life Psalm chapter 1 verses 2 and 3 says the one

who delights in God's word day and night becomes like a tree that produces spiritual

fruits and has stability in their lives John chapter 8 verse 31 to 32 Jesus tells the Jews who believed

in Him if you remain in my word then you are truly my disciples Then you

will know the truth and the truth will make you free Jesus spoke to those who

believed him So if you don't believe Jesus if you don't believe the word this

promise is not for you But Jesus told those Jews who believed in Him if you remain

in my word not in and out But if you remain in my word if

you're consistent in my word if you're meditating on the word day and night like

the scripture says if you remain in my word then you are my disciples and the truth will

make you free The reason why there's a lot of believers in spiritual bondage It's because they don't believe the

word they're not remaining in the word they're not a disciple or follower of Jesus Christ Therefore they don't

know the word And because of this they're in spiritual bondage But the scripture promises that if you believe

the word if you remain in the word if you follow the word then you'll

know the truth and the truth will make you free So continuing in the word brings true freedom based off

the truth that's found in God's word Faith is not just believing God exists Faith

is believing what he said So we can be a doer of the word and not a hearer only

deceiving ourselves That's the true essence of faith God has spoken it his promises are sure and

his word is trustworthy and true So the question is not whether God will keep

his promises We've already established that All of his promises are yes and amen The question is

whether we will believe them and act on them That is the question Hebrews chapter 10

verse 23 says this let us hold fast Let us maintain a firm grip on our confession of

our hope without wavering For he who promised is faithful We have to put our faith in the one

who promised and that promise is found in his word And when we connect our faith

in the word he is faithful to fulfill what he has promised We have to hold fast to that

We have to maintain a firm grip on that Never wavering always believing that he who promised is faithful Amen