Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
The Action Of Faith
What happens when faith transcends belief and manifests through action? Join us as we explore this profound question, starting with a faith-building affirmation and diving deep into the teachings of James 2. We'll unravel the remarkable story of the man with palsy from Mark 2, whose friends' determination and tangible acts of faith led to his miraculous healing. Their extraordinary efforts didn't just reflect their belief—they were the physical evidence of their unwavering faith, ultimately bringing about divine intervention.
Pick up our Bibles, as our custom, and lift them up and wave them around and make Jesus glad and the devil mad. Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, I give thanks for Wednesday night. I'm a word person and I know that my faith is being built by hearing and hearing the Word of God. I never tire of being taught the Word. I never tire of being taught the word. I'm ever learning and I come to the knowledge of the truth and I inherit it into my actions and I keep on growing. My faith is growing, my fruit is growing and I give all glory to God in Jesus' name. Amen, praise the Lord.
Speaker 1:All right, let's look at James, the second chapter, james, chapter two, and we'll start reading with verse 14. Got three verses, they're not all together. We'll start with verse 14. James is writing to the church and he says what does it profit my brethren, though? A man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him? Verse 20,. But will you know, o vain man, that faith without works is dead? Verse 26,. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. And one version of the Bible says faith without corresponding action is dead, being alone.
Speaker 1:So tonight I wanted to share a message entitled the Action of Faith. The Action of Faith, real believing, is acting on God's word. You know, believe is an action verb and people say I'm believing God. Well then, what is your action now? We all, we all know that we believe in our heart and the initial action of our believing in our heart is our confession with our mouth. So confession is the initial action of our believing in our heart, is our confession with our mouth. So confession is the initial action of faith. But it's not the only action. There's always another action there. You know, the simple definition of faith is faith is acting on the word. Or I like to say it this way Faith is acting like the Bible is true. And so many say that the word is true. Many admire the word, many agree mentally that it's true, yet their actions belie them. They aren't moved to actually act on the word and to act like the Bible is true. See. So then what's going to happen? Well, they're not going to receive what they say they're believing for. It's not going to work. Why? Because they really don't have Bible faith. Whatever they've got is dead. They might have some faith there, but it's dead. Why? Because they haven't acted, they hadn't had the corresponding action. That goes with faith, and so then, therefore, they don't receive God's promise. You know, I know you've heard all these things before.
Speaker 1:We had such a glorious weekend. Sunday was so. Dr Gipe and Ilko were here and they brought such a demonstration of the Spirit. We had lots of people healed, lots of people delivered. I mean we had so many words of prophecy. I mean there's going to be lots of opportunity for everyone that was ministered to to act like what they heard was true.
Speaker 1:You know you're going to have to. You're going to have to have a. Your faith is going to have to have a corresponding action and, uh, or otherwise, the man of God I mean it doesn't just come, come automatically. You know we have a part to play, and one of my favorite testimonies in the Bible is found in Mark, chapter two. So let's turn over there and we can see corresponding action as it's recorded here in Mark chapter two. It's talking about a man that had palsy. He was sick of the palsy. Palsy was a horrible disease. It was a terminal disease for which there was no cure at the time. When you got the palsy, you died and it was a slow, painful, gradual death. You just slowly got more and more paralyzed until you couldn't breathe and then you just go. I mean it's horrible. And so this record here that's written in the Bible, I like what Brother Mark says.
Speaker 1:The man with the palsy had four crazy friends that didn't want him to die and they wanted to bring him to Jesus meeting. They heard about Jesus was in the house, down the road somewhere. We don't know how far far the journey was, but they put him on a stretcher and the four of them bore him to the house where Jesus was preaching. And when you read that, mark, chapter two, you find out there wasn't any way for them to get in the house. It was crammed full of people and so they were determined. You know, I tell you a lot of times we don't really get what God wants us to have because we're just not determined. You know, we give up before we let our faith work. Faith is a faith that operates over time. Faith works over like a seed. It's not instantaneous many times, and so then when they got to the house they could have just given up. Oh, I'm so sorry, fred. You know we really wanted you in this meeting, but it's just too crowded in there. No, they decided let's haul him up on the roof. Just think about a man on a stretcher who's paralyzed, and how do you get him up on the roof? I mean, we'd love to have a video of that. But they got him up on the roof somehow Must have involved ropes. I mean they had to have ropes to pull him up there. And then they broke a hole in the roof and they lowered the man down. So there again, how are they going to lower him down without some rope? And I believe they just let the rope fall. I believe they planned on him walking home.
Speaker 1:And the Bible says when Jesus saw their faith, when Jesus saw their faith. And so faith is a spiritual thing. You can't see it, but you can see the effects of it. In other words, when Jesus saw their action of faith, and not only the action of the four, what was their act of faith? Well, first of all, taking him there. Second of all, getting him up on the roof. Third of all, breaking a hole in the roof and fourth of all, lowering him down. I mean, that's a lot of acts of faith.
Speaker 1:Jesus didn't see all of that, but he saw the results of it, and not only the four but the man who's got the palsy. He had to have some faith to consent to their plan. He could have been afraid. He could have said oh no, I'm afraid you'll drop me on the way, I can't fend for myself. That's a long journey. I don't know. I don't know. And can you imagine what he thought when he's being hauled up on the roof and then what he thought when he was being lowered down into the presence of Jesus? I mean, he had some faith, he was determined.
Speaker 1:And so the Bible says here in verse five, chapter two of Mark, when Jesus saw their faith. You know you, you know he saw their actions of faith. You can't see wind, but you can see the action of wind, you can see the results of wind. You can see the waves, you know. You can see. You know damage, you know wind, storm, you can see that. You can't see the wind, but you can see its effects.
Speaker 1:Jesus saw their actions by their as their faith. And Jesus saw their faith. He said, under the sick of the palsy, son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Well, you know that offended all the group in the house. Who does he think he is. Nobody can forgive sins, but God alone. And Jesus just took the opportunity.
Speaker 1:See, this man needed to be forgiven because he's got a blockage to his healing. He didn't come there for forgiveness, he came there for healing. But Jesus had to deal with the sin first. Many times, you know, if we don't deal with the sin, we're not going to get our healing. But Jesus dealt with it. And then, of course, he turned and he said well, you know, just so you know that I've got power on earth to forgive sins. Which is easier? Say, sons, your son, your sins be forgiven. You are, rise up and take up your bed and walk. What's what's easier, so that you can know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins.
Speaker 1:I say unto thee, here in verse 10, that you may know. See, he's talking to the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Woodensees, the Couldnsees, the doctors of the law, all the religious crowds in the house. It's almost like he healed this man just to show up religion. But he said that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. He saith to the sick of the palsy I say unto thee, arise, take up your bed and go your way into your house. Man, oh man. And so the verse 11, verse 12. And immediately he arose, took your faith can bring forth strange things that blow people's minds, but I want you to see something about this man's faith. You know they had faith to be in the meeting.
Speaker 1:But when Jesus said, I say unto thee arise, take up your bed and go your way to your house. Now you know it says immediately he rose up. Well, you know he rose up, but he didn't just jump up. You know he had to get up. You know I can't imagine he's laying on this stretcher. He hadn't walked in.
Speaker 1:Who knows how long, we don't know how long he's been paralyzed, but he must have gotten up on one elbow. He must have kind of shifted his weight. He must have lifted up a knee. He must have put his hand down. He had to get up off of the floor. I mean, he had to make his way up. He had to.
Speaker 1:My point is he had to have effort. He had to put forth an effort to do what Jesus told him to do. And if he had just laid there, and if he had just laid there, if he had just laid there, see, he would have just laid there and he wouldn't have gotten healed. Well, wait, wait, jesus. Yeah, I know Jesus told him to rise up and walk, but he had his part to play. Jesus did his part. He had to have faith with corresponding action. He had to act like Jesus' word was doable. See, sometimes we just, we hear a word from God and we just, well, yeah, I believe that, yeah, god, you're going to do it. No, you're going to have to act like it, you're going to have to act like it's true, it's corresponding action, action. So, and it's amazing to me, I mean, you know, not only did he get up and walk out the door, but he carried his bed and he walked all the way back to the house where he had been carried Just a little while before that. He had to be carried all the way from his house to that meeting, and now he's walking back carrying a bed on his shoulder. What a testimony, everybody, I mean, can you imagine there might have been somebody on the street and they might have seen him carried to the meeting and maybe they knew him, you know? And the next thing, you know, he's walking back with a bed on his shoulder. I don't know about you, but I love to just reenact these testimonies. I like to be there. I like to be an observer on the scene. I like to imagine what it would be like to watch something like this happen. I'm talking about the action of faith, and so my point is he had to make an effort and then the miracle was consummated and he walked all the way back to the house carrying his own bed. Glory to God.
Speaker 1:You know, in the early days of Pentecost there was a healing evangelist that was preaching, and where he was preaching there were four wheelchair patients in the meeting. They were all four lined up in front of him, and so he had the altar call and he went down to each, starting on on one side, all lined up one, two, three, four, and he went to the first one. He said in the name of jesus christ, rise up and walk. And the person got up out of the wheelchair and walked out. Went to person number two in the name of jesus, rise up and walk. Same thing happened. Third one, in the name of jesus, rise up and walk, got up and walked, went to the fourth one In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk. And the person said well, didn't you see me come in? I can't walk, that's why I'm in this wheelchair. There's no way. There's no way.
Speaker 1:And somebody in the audience started asking the question. You know he healed the three. Why didn't he go ahead and heal the fourth one? What was wrong? Why couldn't he have just healed the fourth one? First of all, he didn't heal anybody. Jesus did the healing and he healed everyone that had faith, but the one that didn't receive and that didn't have any faith, he didn't get the healing. You know, it's not a lack of compassion, it's just there are spiritual laws at work. Faith without corresponding action is dead. You know, the the preacher had the faith to say what he said. But then, on the other side of that, it took each person in the wheelchair to get up, just like the man with, you know, uh, with a palsy. He had to make an effort to get up off of that stretcher and stand up.
Speaker 1:And so another time, you know Brother Hagin talks about when he was a young Baptist pastor. You know he hadn't been very long, he was about in his teen years, 14 to 16. He was on the bed of sickness. He had blood diseases, he had paralysis, he had a malformed heart, any one of the blood diseases I think there were like six or eight blood diseases, any one of them would have killed him and then the malformed heart and he was paralyzed. He couldn't walk and he received his healing through faith in God's word. Reading Mark, chapter 5, the woman with the issue of blood Daughter go your way. Your faith has made you whole. And the Holy Ghost spoke to Brother Hagin and says you know, her faith made her whole. Your faith will make you whole. And so within the hour he was walking he was up out of his bed.
Speaker 1:But if you study his life, you find out that there were many times that he had to contend. Even after he originally was healed as a teenager, he had to contend for that healing. There were times when he had serious, alarming symptoms in his body. One time he was concerned. It was so bad, it looked like he was going to go to heaven. The symptoms were so bad and he had that dream about the parade ground and the lions came up and sniffed at his feet and he stood his, stood his ground and he told those lines in the name of Jesus. He stood against them. I stand against you in the name of Jesus. When he woke up he ever symptom had gone. But you, you read his life and you find out, just because he got healed as a teenager, he had to contend for that healing over and over again way for decades after that and so this. So this testimony I'm telling you tonight about him was just a couple of years after he had been healed and he's not yet married.
Speaker 1:He's a single young man pastoring a community church in his town and he wakes up on a Monday morning after Sunday service and he wakes up and he looks in the mirror and when he smiles he's got a smile. On the right side of his face it goes all the way across, but on the left side it's dead. He's got stroke symptoms. The left side of his face is dead. It doesn't have any feeling and it's not moving. He's not able to move his smile. This is half of a smile, and so where he was with his faith at that time is you know, he said. You know what. I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to go down Wednesday night, today's Monday morning, wednesday night, I'm going to go down to Full Gospel Tabernacle because I know that pastor prays for the sick, and I'm going to have him anoint me with oil and pray for me, and when he does, I'm going to receive my healing. Now, that's where his faith was at that time and he aimed his faith for that next Wednesday night.
Speaker 1:Here it is Monday morning, so Wednesday night he's in the service and the preacher's preaching and he got through and the preacher didn't call anybody up to pray for them and he said well, we're going to close the service now. And he said yeah, you know. And he lifted his hands, pastor, so-and-so, he said before we leave, I'd like you to pray for my healing. He said, okay, soon as I dismiss, will you come on up here? So he went up there after they dismissed the service wasn't even part of the service. He anointed him with oil and prayed and he said all I listened for was amen. And I knew as soon as he said amen, I was going to release my faith and I was going to believe I received my healing. And so, when he didn't even listen to the prayer, he just did what he said he was going to do I'm going to go have him pray for me, lay hands on me, anoint me with oil. He did anoint him with oil. And he said, when he said amen, he said I believe I received.
Speaker 1:And so he left with a group of other young people. And so they go walking down the street and they get you know. Hey, we saw you, kenneth Hagan. We saw you go up for prayer. Did you get your healing? He said I sure did. He said, well, do you feel any different? You sure don't look any different. Do you feel any different? He said, well, not that I can tell. Well, how do you know you're healed? He said I don't know I'm healed. I don't think I'm healed, I know I'm healed. Why do you think you're healed? I don't think I'm healed, I know I'm healed. So he had to repeat that all evening. See, he had to hold on to his faith, you know, because it had not manifested yet. They think he's lying, they think he's proud. See, sometimes, you know, our faith doesn't look like. We're in our right mind when we're standing on faith, standing and believing.
Speaker 1:And so the next morning he gets up and he goes to this girl's house Imogene was her name and she invited him to come to breakfast. And he comes to breakfast and nothing has changed. The next morning he's still got the same dead face and so she starts in on him. You know why? Do you think you got healed? I don't think I got healed. I know I got healed and the mother cautioned her daughter Imogene. She said Imogene. You know, there's some things this young man knows about healing. I remember when the doctors all gave up on him and the Baptist preacher gave up on him and he got healed. So if I were you, I wouldn't be too critical of him. He knows some things about healing that you and I don't know about. Mama, you know, has been around the block a few times. She knows better than to criticize somebody. But to make a long story short, by the end of that day every symptom had left, you see, because he knew how to act like the Bible was true, regardless of whether his face responded right away.
Speaker 1:You know, sometimes we give up too quick. Sometimes we just think it's supposed to be instant. Our faith is going to cause something to happen instantaneously. Well, thank God when that happens, but it doesn't always happen. In fact, it's more often that we have a time where we have to just hang on to God's word and hang on to our confession. So I'm talking about the action of faith. Our faith needs to line up with our confession. I mean, you know, if you're going to talk the talk, you got to walk the walk. Amen, that's the bottom line.
Speaker 1:You know, this past weekend, with Dr Gee and Yilka, we got a wonderful word of restoration, acceleration and speed. I mean, it seemed like the whole church responded so well and we, we got a word. You know, even for the church's you know Glorious Way Church, and many of you got individual words. Many of you got prayer for healing and many of you got prayer for your finances and restoration. Well, you know we have a part to play in that. You know we believe we receive.
Speaker 1:When the man of God spoke it out and we came up for prayer and hands were laid upon us, hands were laid upon me and I believed I received. When I fell out right over there, I believed I received sevenfold restoration. All the devil is stolen and, and I believe I receive it and so I'm acting like it. So what do we do? Well, we, we have to have corresponding action, corresponding action. So I sowed a seed along those lines and I and we continue to sow seed or praise God. I tell you we blessed, blessed our brother with a really good offering and he shouted over the phone he was so glad to get it. You know I'll talk more about it on Sunday, but I just want you to know that we're standing with you on those words that came forth.
Speaker 1:But we have to have the action of faith. We have to act like the Bible is true. We have to act like the man of God spoke the truth, because he spoke the truth and we believe we receive. So the action of faith. Faith without corresponding action is dead. So we need to believe in our heart. Our initial is to speak with our mouth and then we have to act on the word. Act like the Bible is true, the action of faith. Let's lift our hands and receive tonight Glory to God, and I believe all of us are learning how to more perfectly act our faith in every circumstance. Hallelujah.