Saints of God, If you were not at church on Friday you missed the sermon for people of faith, what a deep teaching we received from the prophet in this city. Our DP Pastor Lavy taught on the twin of faith, patience, you really need to order a copy of this sermon for your collection and your spirit. Faith and patience are inseparable. If you have one and not the other you are not yet done. Hebrews 6:11-18 This is known as the book of better things. Most scholars have not agreed on the writer but traditionally some have accredited it to Paul but in all his other letters he introduced himself as the author and in this book he does not introduce himself. Some think it was Barnabas as it is said he was a good man, full of faith and knowledgeable of Jewish customs. But most people agree it was Apollos as he was the one who was so prolific and educated and had an understanding of the law. Despite all this we know that the Holy Spirit inspired this book. Even though people have argued on who the author is but they agreed it is inspired of God. It is the book of better things. We see that Christ is better than angels, better than Moses. We see the superiority of the ministry of Jesus and the superiority of his blood which speaks better things than the blood of Abel. We see the superiority of the Priesthood of Jesus over that of Aaron. The author is writing to the Jews in the diaspora who had scattered in different nations because of the persecution of Nero and had begun to lose hope saying Jesus is lord but why are we suffering persecution at the hands of the leaders. They were being tempted to go back to Judaism but the writer writes to encourage then that Christ is much better than Judaism. He shows them the antidote against persecution and not to give up as in is Heb 11:2. He says faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. He says if you are a man of faith you might be going through challenges but your focus is not on that but on what is not seen. I am just going through. He says in order to endure what your are going through your eyes must not be focused on what you are going through but on something better. (yho) Many times we go through pain and if you are not a man of faith you will give up. Jesus for the joy that was set ahead of him he endured the cross. Jesus saw the joy through faith eyes and was able to endure the cross. What must propel you to keep you going is the focus of your faith. There must be something you are ready to live for and die for. There must be something that makes you have goose bumps even you do not have it physically but what you are seeing. I do not rejoice because of what I have but what I see with my spiritual eyes. What you are seeing is about to release you to what you are not seeing. You are in problems but rejoicing because of what you are seeing in the spirit. If you do not want to give up in life you must be a man of faith. The things that are happening right now are not here to stay but they shall pass. The jut shall live by faith. The bible says Moses forsook Egypt choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. The man of faith stopped the mouth of lions. They lived by faith. They made mistakes but the thing that is outstanding in their lives is faith. David said “I know I was anointed to be king and even Saul wants to kill me” but he declares “I will not die, I will live to declare the work dos the Lord”. He was talking by faith. See yourself making it even when you are sick and broke. Faith is the substance and evidence of things not seen. If I give you car keys I have given you the evidence it is as good as giving you the car. You must rejoice over the evidence. When God wants to deliver something to you he gives you evidence and that is his word and that is enough because his word is himself. When God says I will do this, when God promised Abraham he gave the evidence his word and made an oath. People in old days used to swear by dead people trying to give assurance of what they will be saying. They want to confirm their statement with an oath. So when God wanted to give the assurance he made an oath but found no one greater to make him answerable for the oath so he made an oath by himself. The oath cannot be reversed. All the promises of God are yes and amen, when God speaks a word he does not go back on his word. His word is enough and you can celebrate it because it is as good as himself. What God has said about me will not change no matter what. The word of good will prosper it will surely come to pass. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. If you cant rejoice over the word I do not know what you will rejoice about. If you cant rejoice for a promise of God but you rejoice when you are called for an interview. Your physical condition does not change the truth about the word of God. By two unchangeable things: 1. His word. God says I have honoured my word above my name. Job says I have honoured your word more than my necessary food. You can believe the word. You can doubt any person but the word you must believe. It has no record of failure it prospers. God says to Jeremiah what are you seeing and he says I see an almond tree and God says I am watching over my word to perform it. God released a word to Moses and it didnt matter how pharaoh was hard but he would deliver the children of Israel. If it means parting the Red Sea God will do it just to fulfil his word. It took them 40 years to get to Canaan but they still entered Canaan. Whenever God wanted to kill the children of Israel Moses would say God remember what you said and God would say I will take you in there not because you are holy but so that I will not be considered a liar. Moses says if you destroy these people the Egyptians will say you failed to take them in and God says I do not want that record so I will do it on account of my word. We have the word, it will come to pass. 2. Character of God. He is holy and righteous, pure and does not change. His word is made so strong because of his character. You believe a person’s word because of their character. If they always have a lying character if its a boy when he says I love you, you will think he is joking. When God says something he does it because his power backs him to do it. When no one is backing you he will do it. It doesnt matter the laws of the country God will do it. You may have run out of ideas but God does not. The fact that you are limited but our God is unlimited. Our God is infinite. God never said you will do it but he says he will do it just trust him. He changes things but yet he is unchanged. He is sovereign, great, the only wise one. Moses says you said you will give us meat where will it come from and God says my hand is not short. The problem is that God has revealed to you a few ideas and you think those are all he has. Mary thought a child could only be had through a man and a woman. God can work outside your experience. God does not consult your ideas or experience to do miracles. Your ideas are not the peak of God. What you know is just a fraction of what he can do. All your experience when you say God you are great its just a fraction. God’s character makes his word to be trusted. And when he gives you his word he says you can bank on my character. Politicians have failed us yet we still vote for them. The word of God and his character strengthens our faith. They make our faith so strong. Faith is not an emotion. It is a by-product of your knowledge of God. The depth of your knowledge of God determines the strengths of your faith. Trust must hold on to something concrete not just hanging in the air but the unchangeable character of God. The foundation of our faith is unshakable. When Job was attacked by the devil he was not after his life but wanted to know where his faith is hanged on. The devil is not interested in you but whatever is attached to you he attacks so as to see where you faith is. When your faith hangs on money when the money goes the faith becomes shaky. Faith is always tested. That is when the twin brother comes in, if God speaks something and we are not able to be patient and rejoice over his word them we do not believe and our faith is shaky. Faith and patience move together. From the time he received the word to getting the promise he had to be patient. It is difficult to speak about patience to this microwave generation. We used to cook hinds all day but this generation has designed pressure cook they do not want to wait for things. By faith and patience Abraham inherited the promise. The man by the poor of Bethsaida remained in the same place for 38 years and was still in the right place. He still believed one day I will go in. Yet you want to get things quick, 3 weeks coming to the prayer line and you are not healed already you are looking for another church. God spoke a word to David at 17 but he only reigned at 30. We must develop patience. As we wait for the word of God to pass we must have patience otherwise we will be like Sarah who wanted to help God to fulfil the vision and gave Hagar to Abraham. Sometimes things will happen that will make it look as if what a God spoke will not happen that is when you begin to doubt God’s word and his character. By faith and patience wait for the Lord it is coming. Some people tried to engineer it so it comes to pass and they ruined their lives. Some girls thought this marriage is delaying I will bring mine to Christ and we have seen it fail. It is one thing to have a wedding and another to have a marriage. It is one thing to have a man and another to have a husband. You will have one where there is no rest in your life if you engineer it yourself. Sometimes we want to do it in our own wisdom we think we know and try to engineer for ourselves but wait upon the Lord. God says you will carry that baby for mine months be patient otherwise you will give birth to something else. My God, Our God is a good God. What a deep teaching from our beloved DP Lavy on faith and the twin brother patience. I will never be the same again. We must inherit the promise through faith and patience. Our God is a good God. Let us pray for our DP’s Lavy and Praise Mlilo who God has given to our district as shepherds of his dear flock and for the great apostles Ezekiel and Eunor Guti the patriarchs of our time. Heb 6:12 “We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 09:31:50 +0000
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