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 Marks Of Faith
What can the apostle Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders teach us about unwavering faith in today's world? Join us as we uncover the spiritual insights embedded in Acts 20, examining Paul's heartfelt departure and his steadfast dedication to his ministry. Through his example, we unravel the essence of true discipleship, focusing on the virtues of humility, repentance, and faith. We emphasize the critical need to remain vigilant in our spiritual journeys and support one another as we face life's inevitable challenges.
I want to get into the Word with you a little while, and then we'll let the Holy Ghost move, if he wants to, in whichever fashion that he wants to, in a little bit. But let's lift our Bibles up, wave them around, make Jesus glad and the devil mad. Say this together, say, heavenly Father, I'm so glad to be alive in these days. We're living in the last days and you selected me to live in these in this age, and I will stay awake. I will stay awake to confront the spirit of antichrist, to bind him in Jesus name and to be a witness of your goodness in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:Let's look at the book of Acts, chapter 20. Acts 20. I was reading this recently and this is one of my favorite passages of scriptures. I'm going to be reading a number of verses. We'll start with verse 17, and I'm going to read all the way through the end of the chapter. So quite a bit of the chapter, but Acts 20, 17.
Speaker 1:And from Miletus, he, that is, paul, sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church and when they were come to him, he said unto them you know from the first day that I came into Asia, asia minor, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying and weight of the Jews, and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you, publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I go, bound in the Spirit, unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me or wait for me, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which the Lord Jesus, which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I have gone Preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more, wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock Over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock, and of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Therefore, watch and remember that, by the space of three years, I ceased not to warn, every one night and day, with tears, and now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified. I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Yeah, you yourselves know that these hands have ministered under my necessities, and to them that were with me, I have showed you all things, that how that, so laboring, you ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus. How he said it's more blessed to give than it is to receive. And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all, and they all wept sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more, and they accompanied him into the ship. And so tonight I wanted to share a message entitled the Marks of Faith.
Speaker 1:The Marks of Faith this is one of my favorite passages Paul sharing his heart with leaders, totally transparent. He said he had never held anything back. And here he continues not to hold anything back. And what stands out and the reason I'm just sharing this is just his, his, uh, his faith in Jesus, his love for for God stands out. He's real and he's communicated. Clearly. He's not speaking in code, he's not. He's not speaking in religious religiosity. Religious religiosity, I mean, he's laying it on the line and uh, and he gave him his warning.
Speaker 1:I'm struck that not one of the elders came to him and cried and wept for their sins. Not one of them cried and wept and asked him to pray for them. Please help me. I, I failed you, I have not done what I should do. I pray. I'm not one of the ones, you see, that's going to allow these wolves to come. Not one of them. They cried because they're not going to see him anymore, and I just think about what kind of faith he had to have in Jesus to leave them and say you're not going to see me anymore, I'm, I'm done. In other words, he, he, he ran his race, he, he said I'm going to finish my course with joy, I'm going to finish. And the ministry, he said I'm not going to let you rob my joy. I mean, you know, really, he could say he failed If you go back to 19,.
Speaker 1:I mean, he spent years pouring into these people, raising these leaders up. Remember, you know he was in the group and people spoke evil of this way. So he separated them, went to the school of Tyrannus and for the space of two years he preached and he had special miracles by the hands of God, wrought, special miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs and aprons and all of that. I mean he poured and poured and poured his life into these people that he's about to depart from and about. All they can say is oh, we hate that, we're not going to see you anymore. Well, you didn't. That's the least of your problems. Look what he said. And he didn't rebuke them. He didn't say well, I'm washing my hands of you, I hope God slaps you upside the head. No, he just told him what was going to happen.
Speaker 1:See, his faith did not exclude the truth. Faith and truth go together. So, anyway, his faith had marks and characteristics, and I'm mindful that we stand on not only Jesus. You know Jesus is the chief cornerstone, but then you've got the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone, he's the name one, but then you've got the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone, he's the main one, but then you've got these other apostles and prophets, that the men and women that discipled me and poured into me stood on their shoulders and I'm standing on their shoulders. I mean, this is where we are. We we're not here just because of ourselves. We're. We're here for a long line of people of faith, preachers and teachers that had marks of ourselves. We're here for a long line of people of faith, preachers and teachers that had marks of faith. They had characteristics, and I want those characteristics to be in me and in you, same ones that he had, so that one day we won't hear well, you know, I've already seen that there's going to be wolves coming here and not spare the flock. I don't want to say that, I want to make sure there ain't no wolves going. That's where the wolves are going to be. They'd be piled up.
Speaker 1:Anybody remember Wolf's Corner? I guess I'm too old now I'm getting so old. I remember all the old landmark. Anybody know Wolf's Corner there? Tom knows where Wolf's Corner is.
Speaker 1:Was it Clay Road in 1960? Somewhere right in there. It used to be country. I mean Jack Rabbit Road was two lanes. It went all the way from I-10 to I-45, two lane road. It's called Jack Rabbit Road and you know you drive for miles. You drive on that. I mean I could make it. I could make it from I-10 and 1960. Does anybody know where that is? I-10, 1960. I could make it from that intersection to I-45 in 22 minutes. Can't do that anymore. And along the way you're sailing through these and there's only about three stop signs you stopped at. You know you stopped at 290. You stopped at. I mean there's very few stop signs, you just drive.
Speaker 1:Anyway, there was a place called Wolf's Corner and it was a big ranch out there and they had this sheet metal cutout of a wolf up on the fence and you'd go by there and there would be wolf hides Not coyote hides, wolf hides laid on the fence where they would shoot the wolves because they you know you don't let your wolves eat your cows. So those ranchers out there, I mean they, they would put their trophies up there on wolf's corner, I mean, and they're hanging, and of course it's all developed now shopping centers, and you could would never know it. That's how it was. But uh, I tell you, you, you know, we're going to build this church and build the faith in of god, in you. I'm going to pour much as much of myself in you and and what I've gotten out of this word, so that we're strong and we don't allow the wolves to come in here and, uh, do their evil work.
Speaker 1:So the marks of faith, and and I've got here a number of them, I get one, two, three, four, five, seven. We can go through seven. Can y'all stand? Seven marks of faith, all right, let's get. The first one Is in verse 20. And in Acts 20, verse 20, he said I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you.
Speaker 1:The first mark of faith is the value of faith. It's profitable and I guess the longer I go in the ministry and the longer that I live, the more grateful I am for what I know, for what, how. I know how the word was taught to me, how the word of faith, specifically, yes, full gospel, absolutely. But the word of faith that you can have what you say, that you can call the things that be not as though they were. I mean I value that and I love that and I'm I'm not willing to depart from that for any reason. I mean we're going to keep preaching that because it's it's what Jesus preached, it's what Paul preached and that's not lying. You know, to call the thing that be not as though it were is not lying. And you know, a lot of times you're not healed by what you deny You're. You know you can deny well, I don't have cancer, I don't have cancer, I don't have cancer, well you're. If you've been diagnosed with cancer, well, you know you. You you're not healed by denying it. What you, what? You're healed by confessing that you're healed. Yeah, I've been diagnosed with it, but I'm healed. Ha ha ha. And so the value. That's why I invite people to give me a year of their life. It takes me at least a year to teach them anything. It's valuable, I mean, especially if they only come once a week. I mean I've only got 52 weeks to hit them with the word. That's really not enough.
Speaker 1:I had a lot more opportunities when I was at Lakewood. I mean I had a whole lot more than that. I went to two services on Sunday morning when they had two services and I went, came back Sunday night and then I came back Wednesday night and then I had other things that I did and I went to every meeting. If brother Hagen was in town he'd do a meeting every day and then every night to two for at least five days and sometime for two weeks, 10 days. I went to every one of them. I mean I wouldn't if he was anywhere in town. I went to his meeting and people you know have kind of mellowed out now in today's day and they don't have quite the capacity anymore that they used to have. But I'm going to keep teaching it. I say, you know, give me a year of your life, it takes me.
Speaker 1:You know I was talking to Betty Miller, betty. Betty just celebrated her in September. She, she told somebody I didn't hear about it until the other day but it was in September. She came across her notes. September she started coming to this church, her and her husband Walt Walt's in heaven now. But 20 years ago, this past September, she came here intended just to visit. She was looking for a church and she never left, she just got.
Speaker 1:I think Walt had a lot to do with that, though, didn't he? I remember Walt when we went to Lakewood. He was, he was a law enforcement and he would escort people across the road East Houston road you had a parking lot over there and then he would out there, you know, to halt the traffic and let you come across. I got to know Walt way back there and I mean it was such a joy when I saw Walt and Betty come to this church and it just like it just really got me, you know. And he told me one time he said don't tell anybody, but he said I really like your preaching better than brother Osteen. I said, oh, I won't tell anybody, now I'm telling everybody. So, whatever, y'all keep it in confidence. Well, I'm glad. I'm glad he got excited. He got excited about the word of God, or he's in heaven. Now I'm telling you he's having a time All right.
Speaker 1:The value of faith in verse 24, he says here, you know, I know I've got trouble in every place, everybody's telling me I've got trouble waiting for me, but he said none of these things move me. The confidence of faith. Nothing moves you. You're unshakable with persecution. You're unshakable when people speak ill of you. You're unshakable when there's a bad report.
Speaker 1:Unshakable when our granddaughter, thea, had a car accident on 2920 coming home from school. I didn't know any details. All I got was a phone call. Thea's been rushed by live flight to the medical center. That's all I had. I didn't have any other detail. I didn't know if it was a car wreck. I didn't know if she collapsed at school. I didn't know. You know, athletes collapse all the time. I mean, there's all kinds of things that happen to young people. And I had no detail. All I knew was she's in a life flight on her way to the medical center. I said, honey, thea's on a life flight right now.
Speaker 1:And so we started praying in other tongues and, you know, the first thing I started doing was laughing God protects our assets. Ha, ha. You can't take her. You know, confidence, the confidence. I couldn't have done that, I don't think, if I hadn't been taught the way I've been taught, if I hadn't lived the way I've lived. Didn't start out that way. You don't. Nobody starts out that way. You grow into it. You, you, just, you just learn by doing. It's just like when you start walking. You don't start just walking across, you start by crawling and then a little kid finally gets the guts to get up and then they stumble around. It's so funny.
Speaker 1:I came across a video of Thea when she was just crawling in our living room and I put the phone down there cordless phone down and she saw that phone and man down. And she saw that phone and man, she starts crawling toward that phone and she just she's crawling and then she started going backwards and she couldn't quite get her coordination. She'd go forward and then she went backward and she got kind of fussy and so I moved it a little closer to her and then then she know she started crawling and she got her hand on that phone and she started punching those buttons. I mean, they're born with electronics, they know electronics. Two months old, three, however old she was, I thought about her going to Life Flight. Yeah, she came back five hours later with no ill, I mean with a Tylenol and a Band-Aid for her head and that was it. I mean a car wreck where she should have had traumatic brain and really did have traumatic brain injury, but she got healed before she ever went anywhere because her parents had that same resolution, that same confidence of faith. They didn't get unnerved, they didn't break down and just have a pity party. Are y'all with me now?
Speaker 1:The value of faith, the confidence of faith, verse 22, the way of faith. Now behold, I go, bound in the spirit, under Jerusalem, not knowing, not knowing. All he knew was go to Jerusalem. He didn't know the things that shall befall him. He doesn't know, he couldn't, he couldn't know. I'm sure the devil would try to fill in the blanks, the devil would try to paint a picture, but he went the way of faith. Faith has a way, it has a pathway. You follow it, you have that peace, you have that confidence. It doesn't matter what the circumstances are, it doesn't matter what the threats are.
Speaker 1:I think about Abraham left not knowing he. God told him leave your father and mother and their house and go to a place I'll show you later. He didn't even know where he's going, didn't even have a destination when he left. I think about my God votes. We go out and we start making steps and we don't know how it's going to happen. We don't know how in the world we're going to accomplish what he's told us to do. But all of a sudden, when we make that step, all of a sudden it's all prearranged and and here are these people ready and willing and able to get hooked up with us and and they're wanting to help us and they're wanting to uh, you know, get involved with us. I mean it's just amazing, after all these years of struggle, I mean I, I did everything I could in the city to wake people up.
Speaker 1:Nobody cared about Oral Roberts' book. They didn't want to hear about Oral Roberts' visitation, they didn't care about waking up, they didn't want to hear me, they didn't want to invite me to say anything to them or to their leaders. I mean, it was just like nobody cared. And now, oh man, the fullness of time, everybody say the way of faith. Verse 19,. He said I'm serving the Lord with all humility of mind, with many tears and temptations the word temptations. There's temptations, tests and trial. Who could have more than him? 94, no, five times 39. How much is that? 194 lashes. How do you have a back stay in one place that's been hit with 194 lashes, beaten with rods three times? They still do that in the Middle East. They'll take a rod like sometimes it's wood, sometimes it's steel half inch and they'll just beat somebody on the back with that rod.
Speaker 1:I saw a picture of Saddam Hussein, one of his henchmen. This poor guy was caught saying something he shouldn't say about the gracious leader and they started beating him with that rod until his kidneys started rupturing and bleeding and his entire back turned red. Where the blood was coming out of his kidneys I guess they beat him to death. I just couldn't take it anymore. I just flicked it off. I didn't want to watch it.
Speaker 1:But the Lord said I want you to watch what they're enduring in Iraq. I want you to see what kind of people these people are. I mean, you know, you go back. And this is what we had with the Japanese. They were just as ruthless. The Nazis were just as ruthless. They were horrible people. Why? Because they're demonic. That's the devil.
Speaker 1:Oh, thank God for America, the humility of faith. You know, he said. You know, I don't count my life dear unto myself. You know just to be poured out in the service of the master. That's all it cares. Lord, you want to pour me out by letting me be a witness to Caesar. So be it. You just go ahead and pour me out. You poured me out here in Ephesus. I poured out into them. It doesn't look like it was very profitable. It didn't look like it took.
Speaker 1:You know, jesus poured himself into a lot of people. It didn't take with him either. I mean, he appeared to over 500 people after the resurrection and only 120 showed up in the upper room. So that meant, you know, all the rest of the people that saw him after the resurrection didn't show up to get filled with the Holy ghost. Are you kidding? You saw Jesus raised from the dead and you went on along your merry way and you said well, okay, well, I've got a bar mitzvah to go to. Sorry, we've got Shabbat. We got a big Shabbat celebration this Friday. I can't make it. It's inexplicable, but it's just how it is. So we're not measured by that, we're measured by on our side Are we going to serve him, no matter what we're going to pour? We let him pour out through us, no matter what the results are, the humility of faith. You get anything out of this.
Speaker 1:And again, you know, in the same verse, versus the fight of faith he had to overcome all these temptations, tests and trials. You know, at first the Jews were just giving him trouble upon trouble upon trouble, I mean everywhere he'd go. The Jews would send ahead. After he'd leave them, they'd find out where he's going and they'd send and they'd stir up the Jews in the next town. And in 2 Corinthians he said you know, I besought the Lord three times.
Speaker 1:He said there was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me. A thorn in the flesh does not mean sickness and disease. And you go back in the old Testament. The thorns and the briars were people. If you don't get rid of the ites, they're going to be thorns in your eyes. They're going to be, they're going to be. Stick you in this in your sides, you're going to be affected negatively.
Speaker 1:He's not talking about sickness there. In fact he says what it is the messengers of Satan to buffet me. I besought the Lord three times. Oh Lord, let this, let this be taken from me, let this take be taken from me. And what would the? What did the Lord say? He said my, you know, my grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. In other words, he didn't say, he didn't refuse to do anything. He basically told him you've got the authority to overcome all of that. You don't need me to take them away, you just need to go anyway. You need to overcome. See, so many times we want all the everything to be rosy, peachy king, but really God is looking for us to do what Overcome he's using. He wants us to do what Overcome he's using. He wants us to use our God given authority. Are you with me now?
Speaker 1:The fight of faith. And it's a good fight because we always win if we don't quit. Everybody say the good fight of faith. Man, he had to overcome the thorn in the flesh by the grace of God, through faith. And even here, here in these verses, he could see that they were not going to make the grade. He could see that he had not really successfully reproduced himself in the leadership of the Ephesian church.
Speaker 1:That's got to be kind of hard. If I had to say that about Glorious Way Church, it'd be kind of a tough thing to have to swallow. But for him I guess there's been times when I thought, man, are we going to make it? I mean, it's this church. I've got all this fighting and I've got all this division. I've got all these people lying. I've got all these people saying things that I've never said and supernatural hearing in the wrong direction.
Speaker 1:I believe in supernatural hearing. When you are out there and you love and you trust, then God can take whatever I say and turn it around and you can hear exactly what you need to hear. But when you're suspicious and you're backbiting and you're murmuring and complaining and you're talking about me, then the same thing happens in the negative and you start hearing me say things I never said. Did you hear? What he said Goes in the wrong direction. But thank God, you know, here we are 30 years, we're coming up on 30 years. Come on, let's lift our hands for thank God, for 30 years.
Speaker 1:I'm glad that we overcame. I'm glad we just kept on going. I mean, all I knew to do is just keep on doing what I'm doing, like Paul. You know I had to read these many times. I had to read these many times, read these, meditate on these verses so many times because I was living kind of similar, not bad as him, never was bad. I never got beat, nobody ever whipped me, nobody ever beat me, I never spent a night and a day in the deep, never had a shipwreck, I never suffered 194 lashes. So you know, I got it pretty good.
Speaker 1:Everybody say the fight of faith. See, he warned them anyway and he prayed with them. He knelt down and prayed with them and committed them to God and the word of his grace that's able to build you up. You know he didn't say it this way, but he could have. I hadn't been able to get you where I want to, but the word will get you where you need to be If you'll just commit to it. You know you've got an inheritance here. If you'll just follow it, you can. You can get it. And then he left and they wept over him because he right reason. See all right, verse 24,.
Speaker 1:None of these things move me. Neither count on my life dear unto myself that I might finish my course with joy and finish the ministry with joy that I've received of the Lord Jesus to testify of the gospel of the grace of God. So the rest of faith, faith has a rest. And after all of that he could have been frustrated. After all of that he could have said well, you're just a failure, you didn't get your mission accomplished. That's not what he said. He said I'm going to finish my course with joy. I'm not finished, I'm going to Rome. Affliction abides me there, it's waiting for me. I know that, I don't know exactly what form, but I'm going to go. God told me to go and be a witness to Caesar. If he chooses to pour my life out being a witness to Caesar, so be it. I'm just his vessel. I've got the rest of faith.
Speaker 1:You know, faith has a rest. Faith has a cessation of struggle. You know, we do the believing and he does the performing. I mean, that's why we don't have to stay up all night long, sweating blood, sweating bullets, crying, weeping, gnashing our teeth. Oh God, oh God. What am I going to do? What am I going to do Now?
Speaker 1:Faith, real Bible faith, has a rest and we can have joy. We can just have joy, we can just laugh. We can have joy in the midst of all kinds of persecution. We can have joy in the midst of all kinds of contrary circumstances. Nothing can steal my joy. I found out, you know, when, if I ever let the devil steal my joy, I'm in bad shape. I mean, you know, I'm kind of a type, a personality, so when I don't get things like I want them, sometimes I can get, you know, and I just had to learn to rest. Something about staying in ICU for about 15 days will make you want to rest. You know, everybody say the rest of faith, the rest of faith, all right, verse 18, the last one. So what are the marks? Well, you know the value of faith, the confidence of faith, the way of faith, the humility of faith, the fight of faith, the rest of faith. The last one is the demonstration of faith, verse 18,.
Speaker 1:When they were come to him, the leaders, the elders, he said unto them you know from the first day that I came into Asia what manner I have been with you at all seasons. There's just seasons of life, there's seasons of ministry. It's not talking about spring, summer and fall, he's talking about seasons, timeframes. His church has had many seasons, varying seasons. What is he saying? He said you know, you've known what kind of a person I was. I lived in front of you in all kinds of seasons. Some seasons were contrary kinds of seasons. Some seasons were contrary, some seasons were difficult, some seasons were rewarding, some seasons were you know one thing or another, but in all seasons, what manner of person I've been with you.
Speaker 1:And then he says here in verse 33, he said I've coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Yeah, you yourselves know that these hands have ministered under my necessities and and and to them that were with me, his associates. Now, he had to have associates, he had to have traveling, he had to have an entourage in a sense. I mean he had to have a staff, he had to have people to help him. He couldn't travel by himself, he couldn't go down the road by himself. He had to have help. And when you read between the lines, it means that they didn't support him, it means that they didn't give him squat. He's their father in the faith. And he said I have not coveted your money, I haven't coveted your apparel, I haven't coveted it. I, these hands right here, have ministered to my needs and the ones that I have with me. Again, he didn't rebuke them, he just made a statement.
Speaker 1:When you read that, you realize, man, they hadn't been in order in a long time. They hadn't even gotten the basic thing of what it means to be a partner in the ministry. He had other churches that were supporting him. One verse in one gospel, in one letter he says I've robbed other churches to supply your lack of service toward me. I've robbed other churches. He didn't quite say it that way, but he just said look, you know, I've lived this way in front of you in all kind of seasons. You know some of those seasons were pretty skinny, some of those seasons were tough, and you know they didn't give him anything. And so he had to just work and preach. He had to make tents. He was a tent maker by trade, home builder. See, I've always related to these verses, always related to them. They're precious to me.
Speaker 1:The hallmarks are the marks of faith. I mean, he, he, he carried his faith and even though that was the case, you couldn't tell it by his ministry. He, he gave them everything. He did not shun to declare to them all the counsel of god, whatever was profitable. He didn't close up and say, well, you're not giving anything. Bless God, find yourself another preacher, find yourself. I'm going to move on. I mean, I've got an offer down the road here. Another church wants to hire me. Something like 80% of pastors would leave their church for a better offer. That does not exist here. I ain't leaving, I was here first. Hallelujah, the marks of faith.
Speaker 1:Did you get anything out of this tonight? It's kind of tender, you know. I know I'd like to rev up and give you a big positive. But I mean I just want to. We're living in those days and we're in another season now. I mean I just want to. We're living in those days and we're in another season now and Gladys and I are living in front of you in this season. We're not hiding. We try to give you as clear a picture of what we're going through as best we can, without being negative. But I tell you, it's a season and that season's coming to an end. When it hit me last Sunday, it was four months since she's been here. I hadn't thought about it that way. I just don't let myself think about how long it's been. But thank you for standing with us in this season and we've got better seasons ahead of us. Come on, lift your hands and receive.