Have Faith, Doubt Not Part 1 – Lawson Perdue
Have Faith Doubt Not Part 1
Have Faith Doubt Not part 1 from Pastor Lawson Perdue. On this episode of Grace For Today, discover how you do not have a faith problem! You have the same faith as Jesus Christ. Learn how to overcome doubt and unbelief so you can live out what Jesus provided for you as a believer!
Destined to Win
When Jesus saved you, your destiny changed completely! He radically transformed us and brought us from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and from defeat to victory. Pastor Lawson goes through the book of Ephesians in detail and shows us exactly why we are destined to win. We are no longer fighting to be overcomers, we are made victorious through Jesus and any weapon formed against us will not prosper! Jesus came to give us life and have that life more abundantly! Because of God and his great love, we are destined to win!
Have Faith Doubt Not Part 1 Transcript
Praise the Lord, friends. I’m so glad that you tuned in. We’re gonna be talking about “Have Faith, and Doubt Not.” Do you know you, as a believer, do not have a faith problem. You have the exact same faith as Jesus. The problem that you have is a doubt problem or an unbelief problem. And so, we’re gonna be talking about how you can pull the flood on doubt and unbelief and begin to release the faith of Jesus that’s in your spirit as a born-again believer. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us today. I’m sharing a great series this week on “Have Faith, Doubt Not.” We’ve actually been sharing for the last three weeks on the subject of faith. We talked about “The Spirit of Faith.” We taught about “Four Keys to Faith.” We taught about “World Changing Faith,” but I’m teaching this special message, because I think sometimes, we are focused all on the faith, but we don’t realize what the challenge is. And the challenge is the realm of doubt. And many times, believers are focused on the same information, they’re feeding on the same information that the world is, and they wonder why they’re being challenged in their faith. You know what, you cannot feed yourself the same information that the world has and expect different results. I recently had a really good friend, and they had returned from a doctor, and they had very, very negative information that they shared at the doctor. And this is not uncommon, because, you know what, the doctors are just focused on the natural realm. And we cannot just focus on the physical realm, on the natural realm, on the outside realm, we have to focus on the spiritual realm, we have to focus on what the word of God says. And so, if you’re really gonna overcome and win in the realm of faith, you have to learn to focus on what the word of God says more than what the world says. My good friend, Andrew Wommack, said years ago, “You can look into the mirror of the word and focus on that, “or look in the mirror of the world and focus on that.” And he said faith, essentially, is a decision. You’ve gotta make a choice, that I’m gonna believe what the word of God says more than what the world tells me. And many times, Christians are just focused on the same information as the world. They’re focused on the stock market. They’re focused on the interest rate. They’re focused on all these different things. In fact, I have another friend, he’s a good minister of the gospel, but many times, if you listen to him, he doesn’t sound very much different than the liberal media or than the liberal politicians. And it’s because he’s focusing on the outward realm and on challenges and different things. And I’m not saying that we have to be ignorant of it, but I’m saying you cannot make your major focus on what the world says and really be victorious in the realm of faith. You have to learn to focus on what the word of God says. You have to learn to keep your focus in. Jesus actually talked about this in Matthew 21:18-22. It says, “In the morning “as he returned into the city, he hungered. “And when he saw a fig tree in the way, “he came to it and found nothing there on, but leaves only, “and said to it, “‘Let no fruit grow on you from this point forever.’ “And presently, the fig tree withered away. “And when the disciples saw it, they marveled and said, “‘How soon is the fig tree withered away!'” Actually, if you read this account in Mark 11, he went by one day and cursed this fig tree. And then he came back. And when he came back just about 24 hours later, the fig tree was dried up from the roots. It looked like it had been dead for 15 years. I can just imagine the bark falling off of it, no leaves. I mean, it is completely dead. And the disciples were marveling, they were shocked. And Jesus said, “Have faith in God.” Now, in this instance, “Jesus answered and said unto them,” in verse 21, “Verily, I say unto you, “if you have faith, and doubt not,” Matthew 21:21. “If you have faith, and doubt not, “you shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, “but also if you say unto this mountain, “be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, “it shall be done. “And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, “you shall receive.” And so, thank God, you know what, we can ask, we can believe, and you know what, God answers our prayer. And so, he says, all things, whatever you ask in prayer, we go to God and we ask, he says, “All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, “you shall receive.” But see, doubt is the enemy of our faith. And when he makes this statement in verse 21, “If you have faith, and doubt not,” you know, doubt will hinder your faith. And if we are feeding on the same information that the world is, that information, many times, is not feeding our faith, but it is feeding in the realm of doubt. So we’ve gotta choose to believe the word of God. We’ve gotta choose to believe what the word of God says. You know what, if we had two giant flasks here, one, we’ll say it’s faith, and we’ll say it’s full of black material, faith that puts you in the black, it’ll make you overcome, praise God. Another one, the same size that’s full of red. And we’re gonna say that’s doubt. What you’ve gotta do, or that’s unbelief, you know what, you gotta pull the plug on doubt and unbelief so that faith can take over. And if you don’t feed the realm of faith, and you feed on doubt, if you feed on what the world says, do you know what, you’re gonna have the same results. It’s like, if you had, let’s say we have a white horse and a black horse, and we’re gonna call the white horse faith. We’re gonna call the black horse unbelief, and say they’re workhorse, if you feed the white horse and you starve the black horse, you could imagine these big-ol’e workhorses like my great-granddad farmed with, did you know what, the white horse, if you feed him and take care of him, he’s gonna outpull the black horse. But if you feed the black horse, and you starve the white horse, the black horse will outfeed, outproduce the white horse. He’s gonna outpull him. And so, Dr. Lester Sumrall used to close every program, and he’d say, “Feed your faith “and starve your doubts to death.” Well, we’re saying the same thing. What you gotta do is you gotta pull the plug on unbelief. You gotta pull the plug on doubt, and you’ve gotta feed your faith. Now, how do we feed our faith? We feed our faith by focusing on what the scripture says. And if you’ll focus on what the word of God says, for instance, I talked about the doctor’s report, you gotta focus more on what the word of God says, “By Jesus’ stripes, I’m healed.” You’ve gotta learn to focus and look at what God says and constantly look at what the scripture says. “He sent his word,” Psalm 107:20, “And healed them and delivered them from their destruction.” But if you constantly feed on what the world is saying and what the natural situation says to you and what your body says to you, did you know what, you’re not gonna get anywhere fast in the kingdom of God. In fact, you know what, the devil wants to destroy you. Kenneth E. Hagin said this years ago, he said, “There are two realms that I constantly believe God in, “that I’m constantly speaking the word in. “First of all is the realm of health. “Second of all is the realm of finances.” Because he said, in those two realms, what the devil wants to do is rob you of your health and rob you of your finances, because he wants to hinder you from fulfilling what God wants you to do, where God wants you to go, so on and so forth. And so, we’ve gotta constantly feed our faith and starve our doubts to death. And you know what, we can feed on the word of God. The word of God will help us overcome every time without fail, I believe that we can have the victory. Jesus says this, when we look at this scripture, he says, “If you have faith, and doubt not, “you’ll not only do which is done to this victory, “but you’ll say to this mountain, “be thou removed and be thou cast in the sea. “It shall be done.” And then in Matthew 21:22, he says, “And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, “you shall receive.” Whatever you ask in prayer, all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, praise God, you gotta keep believing. And that faith has to be unhindered. We don’t have a faith problem as believers, if you really begin to understand this. What we have is an unbelief problem. And your spirit, when you were born again, the Bible says this, in Galatians 5:22-23, it says, “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, “longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, “neatness, and temperance.” And so faith is a fruit of the spirit. And when you study that out in the Greek, the Greek word is faith. You have the exact same faith as Jesus in your spirit the moment that you’re born again. Galatians 2:20 says, “I’m crucified with Christ, “nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, “and the life which I now live in the flesh, “I live by the faith of the son of God.” You know what, you have the exact same faith of Jesus, it’s in your spirit. You do not have a faith problem as a born-again believer. Now, if you’re gonna really operate in that faith, you gotta develop it, and you have to use it. It’s like a baby, when a baby is born, it has every muscle it will ever need in its body, but those muscles have to be used, they have to be exercised, they have to be developed, so that baby can grow into what God wants it to be, so on and so forth. If you’re gonna be what God wants you to be in the faith realm, you have to use your faith. And faith is developed as you use it. And so, we have it in our spirit. It’s perfect, it’s whole, it’s complete, but by the use of it, you develop it. And so, we need to keep walking in the realm of faith. And so, Jesus says, “All things, “whatsoever you ask in prayer, “believing, you shall receive.” When we look at this same instance in Mark 11, we’re gonna look at verse 22, when the disciples came back and saw this tree after Jesus had actually went into the temple, he cursed this tree before going into the temple. And then when he got to the temple, he threw the money-changers out, turned over the table, said, “My house should be called a place of prayer, “but you have made it a den of thieves.” And this fig tree is figuratively speaking of Israel, but he comes back, and they marvel that this fig tree is dried up, that Jesus had cursed, and Jesus answered and said to them, in verse 22, “Have faith in God.” One translation says it this way, “Have the God kind of faith.” One person says it this way, “Lay hold on God’s faithfulness.” Jesus said, “For verily I say unto you, “that whosoever shall say unto this mountain.” Here’s how your faith is released. He says, “Be thou removed, and be thou cast in the sea, “and shall not doubt in his heart.” You see, Jesus says you can’t doubt in your heart. Again, doubt will hinder your faith. And it’s not you don’t have a faith problem as believers, you have the exact same faith as Jesus. You have faith as a fruit of the spirit. You have the exact same spirit as Jesus, the same spirit that raised up Christ from the dead dwells in you and quickens your mortal body, Romans 8:11. So you have the spirit of Christ, you have a spirit of faith, but also, you’re not a hundred percent spirit. You see, you have a soul and body. And if you feed on the same information that the world feeds on and expect different results, that’s completely crazy. And so, if you wanna get different results, you’ve gotta begin to feed on different information. You’ve gotta begin to feed your faith and starve your doubts to death. And the way that you do that is by feeding on the word of God, by meditating the word of God. The scripture actually says, in Romans 10:17, “Now then faith comes by hearing, “and hearing by the word of God.” And so, you have the exact same faith as Jesus in your spirit, and it comes as you meditate the word of God. It comes as you meditate on what God has said. And so, if you want your faith to work, as a believer, you’ve gotta focus on spiritual things. You’ve gotta focus on the word of God. You gotta choose to take your focus off of the world, and off of the problem, and off of all these challenges and difficulties that you’re facing in the world, and focus on the word of God, and believe the word of God above every problem. I’m gonna be back right after a short break, so stay tuned, blessings. Friends, this week, we’ve been sharing on faith in God will change your world. And I am so happy to be sharing with you this “Faith Package.” I have this book from my good friends, Mark Hankins, Mark and Trina Hankins, on “The Spirit of Faith.” We have “World Changing Faith,” one of my best series. We have “Four Keys to Faith,” and then finally, we have “Have Faith, and Doubt Not.” These are some of my very, very best teachings on the realm of faith. And if you begin to understand faith, I believe it will literally change your life. It’s changed mine, praise God. It’s changed my financial position. It’s changed my spiritual condition. It’s changed my physical condition, and it’s all good. God wants to do good things in your life. And he does it through grace and faith. So if you wanna get this teaching, just give us a call today or check us out online. Thanks so much, and blessings. Friends, I’ve been teaching on “Have Faith, Doubt Not.” And we talked about, in our spirit, when we’re born again, we have the exact same faith as Jesus. Praise God, it’s the exact same faith, we have the same spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelling in our mortal body. That’s what the scripture says in Romans 8:11, “And the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, faith,” all these different things, faith, praise God, faith is a fruit of the spirit, Galatians 5:22-23 says that. So if you have the exact same spirit as Jesus, and faith is a fruit of the spirit, you have the exact same faith as Jesus. You have the Spirit of Christ, and you have the faith of Jesus Christ in your spirit. So as a believer, you do not have a faith problem. The disciples came to Jesus and they said, “Lord, increase our faith.” And Jesus said, “If you had faith “as a grain and mustard seed, “you would say to this sycamine tree, “you would say to this mountain, “be removed, and be thou cast in the sea, “and it would obey you.” See, you either have the faith of Jesus or you don’t have it. You’re either born again, and you have the exact same faith as Jesus in your spirit. Now I’m not talking about in your soul, not talking about in your body, I’m talking about in your spirit, the part of you that was recreated when you believed on Jesus. And if you have the faith of Jesus, praise God, you don’t have a faith problem. However, many people who are born again focus more on what the world says, on what the natural situation says, they focus more on what the media says, they focus more on all these reports that come from the world, the doctor, the attorney, all these different reports, than focusing on what the word of God says. And so, you gotta make a choice that, “I believe the word of God,” over every negative circumstance. The Bible actually says this in the Book of Jonah, I think it’s chapter 2, verse 8, I may be wrong on the verse, but it says this, “Those who observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.” Do you know what, God has made grace available to you in the promises of God, in the word of God, in what Jesus has accomplished for you. But if you observe lying vanities, if you observe what the world says, what the natural situation says, what the physical realm says, and you observe that and focus on that more than you focus on what the word of God says, you will not have results that you like as a believer, praise God. So if you wanna change what you receive, you gotta change what you focus on. You say you believe God, you say you believe the word of God. You know what, if you believe the word of God, you start believing what the word of God says above what the world says. There are many people in the church that have been born again, that have believed on Jesus, that have the exact same faith of Jesus in their spirit. But they have never renewed their mind with what the word of God says. Do you know what the average person in the body of Christ says they believe is pathetic about situations. I’ve had people fight me over what the Bible says over the promises. Friends, it’s not my idea that matters, it’s not your idea that matters, what matters is what the Bible says. You say, “Where do they fight you, Pastor?” They fight you in the realm of finances, in the realm of feeling. Now, I said before that that’s two areas that we always need to believe God, because in these realms, the devil will try to fight you and hinder you from fulfilling God’s purpose and God’s plan in your life. So we need to make a choice that, praise God, “Not only do I believe that Jesus is Lord “and he died for my sins and God raised him from the dead, “but I believe that the Bible is the word of God. “I believe the scriptures are inspired, “and I have made a choice that I’m gonna believe the Bible, “I’m gonna believe the word of God above everything else.” We talked about this, but in Romans 10:17, the Bible says, “Now then faith comes by hearing, “and hearing by the word of God.” The literal Greek of Romans 10:17 says something like this. “Now then faith comes by declaration, “and declaration by the mouth of God.” That’s why not all preaching builds your faith, because not all preaching, people aren’t declaring what God said to be so about himself. And if you go to the Old Testament, the Old Testament is a progressive revelation of who God said that he is. And there are seven redemptive names of God in the Old Testament. The first one is found in Genesis 22, where God revealed himself to Abram, or Abraham at that point in time, as “I am more than enough, I am Jehovah-Jireh.” He goes on, in Exodus 15, and says, “I am Jehovah Rapha, I’m the Lord your provider, “Jehovah-Jireh.” Exodus 15:26, he says, “I am Jehovah Rapha, “I am the Lord who heals you.” When the Bible says that, “By his stripes, you were healed,” in Isaiah 53:5, it’s a prophecy of Jesus Christ. The word for healed is “Rapha,” the same as in Exodus 15:26, where the scripture says, God said that, “I am the Lord who heal a few.” It’s the same verse and same Hebrew word in Psalm 103:3, when he says, “He heals, he forgives all of our iniquities, “and he heals all of our diseases.” “Rapha” is the Hebrew word, he heals all of our diseases. Praise God, he is the Lord, our healer. And the reason that we have promises for healing is because God said, “This is who I am.” And so, when you begin to understand who God said that he is, faith comes by declaration, and declaration by the mouth of God, that will cause faith to arise in your heart, and you can begin to receive the promises of God in your life. You gotta begin to focus on God’s word more than anything else. And if you’re gonna pull the plug on unbelief and let that old tank of unbelief run out and let the faith of God that’s in your spirit take over, you gotta just unplug sometimes from the world, you gotta quit watching. My wife recently wrote something on how to be happy. And you know what, the way to be happy is unplugged from the world. Quit feeding yourself on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and sometimes, even Fox News. You know what, you feed on all what the world says. And sometimes, the conservative media is just as negative as the liberal media. And so, you know what, I’d rather watch conservative aspect of news than a liberal aspect. I can’t even stand the liberal aspect of news, but at the same point in time, did you know, sometimes, the conservatives are just full of negative information, because they’re just focused on the natural situation. And we gotta begin to focus on the word of God and believe the word of God, believe the word of God. You know what, if gas goes to $10 a gallon, I’ll have $10 a gallon to buy it. And you know what, I don’t like what the liberals have done. I don’t like these different things that are happening in the world. But at the same point in time, I believe the word of God in any challenge that I face in this world. The scripture says, in John 16:33, “In the world, you shall have tribulation. “There’s gonna be trouble, there’s gonna be difficulty, “but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” And thank God, we have faith in Christ, and faith helps us overcome the world. Now, we said God said, “I am the Lord, your provider,” Genesis 22, Exodus 15, he said, “I’m the Lord, your healer,” Exodus 17, he says, “I am Jehovah Nicci. “I’m the Lord, your banner. “I’m the Lord, your protector. “I’m the Lord, your deliverer.” Praise God, he is the Lord, our defender, our protector, our deliverer, praise God. He says, in Leviticus 20:8, “I am Jehovah M’kaddesh. “I am the Lord who sanctifies you.” We go on, in Judges 6, he says, “I am Jehovah Shalom. “I am your peace and your provision.” We can go right on down through the scripture. “I’m the Lord, your provider, your healer, “your deliver, your protector, “your peace and your provision. “I’m the Lord, your sanctification.” Then he says, in Jeremiah 23 and Jeremiah 33, “I am the Lord, your righteousness, Jehovah T’sidkenu.” Finally, he says, in Ezekiel 48, I believe it’s verse 35, the very last verse of Ezekiel. He says, “The name wherewith he shall be called “is the Lord who is there, Jehovah Shammah.” Do you know, you study that, and you get a revelation of who God is. Now, faith comes by declaration, and declaration by the mouth of God, Romans 10:17, that’s the literal declaration. So when somebody comes and preaches to you, that God said, “I am the Lord, your provider. “I am the Lord, your healer. “I’m the Lord, your defender and your deliverer. “I’m the Lord, your sanctification. “I am the Lord, your peace and your provision. “I am the Lord, your righteousness. “And I’m the Lord who’s there,” that builds faith in your heart. And then when you go and look at the gospels, Jesus came to put a face on God. The scripture actually says, in John 1:18, that, “No man has seen God at any time, “but Jesus has come,” praise God. Jesus is the revelation of who God is. And you know what, when you look at Jesus, Jesus represents all these things. When you look at what he did, he provided, he healed, he forgave, all of these different things, he delivered. Jesus is the physical representation. He’s the visible representation of the invisible God. And then when you go to the gospels, you find out, you see God said, “This is who I am,” and then put a face on him in the person of Jesus, he’s God manifested from the flesh, but then you begin to understand in the epistles that Jesus took up residence on the inside of you, and praise God, you are healed by the stripes of Jesus. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. Now, you may not look very healed in the physical realm. You may not look very righteous in the physical realm, but if you start believing what God says you are, who God says you are, you’ll start living that out. Praise God, and so, praise God, when you begin to understand what the word of God says, “Faith comes by hearing, “faith comes by declaration, “and declaration by the mouth of God.” And you begin to hear, “This is who God said that he is.” You start believing it. It will literally change what you are receiving in this life, when you believe what the scripture says, praise God. I am so glad that you’ve tuned in today. I’m so glad that you have taken the time to be with us, praise God, to take your focus for a few minutes off of what the world is saying, off of what your flesh is saying, off of what the devil is saying, and put your focus on the word of God, and see what God says about you. God says, “You are healed by the stripes of Jesus.” God says, “You are blessed.” God says that he provides all your needs according to his riches and glory, by Christ Jesus. God says no weapon formed against you shall prosper, but every tongue that rises against you in judgment, you shall condemn. You know what, if you’ll begin to believe what God says about you, you can begin to receive it. Friends, if you need prayer, I wanna encourage you to give us a call today, we have trained prayer ministers that are waiting to receive your call. Thanks so much for staying tuned and being a blessing, bless you.
[Narrator] What is faith? Do I need more of it? And how do I exercise what I have? In this package containing Mark Hankins book “The Spirit of Faith,” and CD series “World Changing Faith,” “Four Keys to Faith,” and “Have Faith, Doubt Not,” you’ll learn the answer to these questions and more. You can get to special package for $59, when you call 719-418-4000 or visit charischristiancenter.com.
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