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
Reason vs. Revelation
Faith isn't a product of reasoning—it's revelation. This powerful principle forms the foundation of our spiritual journey, yet so many believers find themselves stuck in the cycle of logical thinking when facing challenges. Through a close examination of Matthew 16, we discover how Jesus rebuked His disciples for their reliance on reason rather than revelation. When He warned them about "the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees," they immediately began reasoning among themselves about forgotten bread—completely missing His spiritual message. Jesus called this "little faith," highlighting a profound truth: faith operates from revelation, not logical deduction
Just take our Bibles and let's get into the Word of God together tonight and let's lift our Bibles up, like is our custom, and let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, I praise God for Wednesday night. I look forward to the Word of God and for the Holy Spirit to enlighten me on that Word so that my faith will grow, that my spirit may develop and that I will overcome every obstacle. In Jesus' name, amen, praise God. All right, let's turn in Matthew, chapter 16, please, matthew 16, and we'll start reading with verse 5. Jesus is speaking, verse 5, and when his disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them take heed and beware of the leaven of Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves saying it's because we've taken no bread which, when Jesus perceived, he said unto them O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand either? Remember the five loaves of the 5,000, and how many baskets you took up? The five loaves of the 5,000 and how many baskets you took up Neither. The seven loaves of the 4,000, and how many baskets you took up. How is it that you do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, but that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Then understood they how that he had bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And so tonight I just wanted to share a message entitled Reason versus Revelation. Message entitled Reason Versus Revelation. Reason Versus Revelation.
Speaker 1:The disciples, jesus said the disciples, had little faith. You know, they were reasoning in their carnal minds. It is the Greek word, theologisomi. I'll get it right. It's a little bit difficult, isn't it? But that's the Greek and it means to think something through logically. To think something through logically. Well, you know, I like what Brother Osteen used to say all the time God is wiser and smarter than we are. There's really no point in trying to get our brains engaged and reason, because you know that's not what you know faith. Faith is of the heart, faith is based on understanding of the word. So you know, to think something logically.
Speaker 1:They, you know, he, he was talking about something totally different. He's talking about talking about the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and they're thinking that they didn't bring the bread. And so after seeing two miracles of the loaves and fishes and to actually reason in their mind, their logical reasoning, saying oh, he's worried about the bread, we don't have any bread for him. Oh, he's worried about the bread, we don't have any bread for him. I mean, he wasn't too worried about food. I mean, you know, he knew how to go through things without worrying about that type of thing.
Speaker 1:So actually, in the verses right before this, in verses two and three and four, jesus is rebuking the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees and the Sadducees and they were wanting a sign. And he said you can read the signs of the skies, you can tell when it's time to, when the weather's going to change, but you can't understand the signs of the times. I'm not going to give you any sign. No sign shall be given you, except the sign of the prophet Jonah. And so he had rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees. So what he was saying is that don't be like them, don't let them rub off on you, don't believe like they do, don't act like they do. They're religious. Don't let them rub off on you. It was a teachable moment to mature them and they just went completely off the rails until they finally said, oh, that's what he was talking about. Oh, now we get it.
Speaker 1:So you know, jesus was always looking for faith. He was always measuring faith and you know he would say oh woman, great is thy faith. He was always measuring faith and uh, you know he, he would say oh woman, great is thy faith. I have not found so great a faith, no doubt in Israel. Uh, how is it that you have no faith? Oh, ye of little faith. I mean, he was always measuring and looking for faith, because the Bible says in Hebrews 11, 6, without faith, it's impossible to please him.
Speaker 1:You see, faith and reasoning are not compatible. You know, you can't logically approach things with your brain. You've got to operate on the area of revelation, on the area of revelation. So I like what Smith Wigglesworth said one time. He said you know, faith is an act, faith is a leap, faith jumps in, faith claims, and faith has an author and his name is Jesus. And so that's really so true. I mean, it's not about a logical train of thought. You know, we do too much thinking and we need to do a whole lot more drinking. You know, I like what Brother Mark says about that. And so faith is not a product of reason but of revelation, or we could say, a product of understanding. Now, verse 12, now we understand, now we get what you were saying.
Speaker 1:And you know, since the first of the year I've been meditating on a lot of things about it's our 30th, we just finished our 30th anniversary, celebrated it together, and 30th anniversary of our church, and I just think about the thousands of faith actions. You know, if faith is an act, there's been a lot of actions. If faith is a leap, man, we've leaped a lot of times. If faith is jumping into something man, this church and I, we've jumped into a whole lot of things over the 30 years. We've claimed many things and it's amazing to me when I just meditate on where we are today and how we started, and literally thousands of faith actions and leaps and jumps and claims based solely on revelation, based solely on receiving God's perspective on something that was before me and before us as a church. You know, you have all kind of contrary emotions, but it's not about emotions. Really, emotions can cause you to start thinking too much and you start to miss God's perspective on what's in front of you. You know, I think about in 2008,.
Speaker 1:We'd been in this building about three years, and when we built the building, we used all of our faith. We built as much of this square footage of a building as we could believe for, and my thinking at the time was to have the maximum seating capacity and make sure we had plenty of seats for the main sanctuary. But then we knew that we did not have the maximum seating capacity and make sure we had plenty of seats for the main sanctuary. But then we knew that we did not have the corresponding office space or children's church space or youth space. We were undersized in those areas. And so I knew that we would probably have to have a phase two, that we would probably have to have a phase two, and so, in 2008, we began to analyze that and we began to look at that, and so we began to count the cost. You know, jesus said you ought to count the cost before you get started, lest you run out of funds. You know, you get started building something. You didn't count the cost. That's not too wise.
Speaker 1:So we started, you know, investigating what how to add on to the church, how much square footage, how it would look, we hired an architect, we started spending a little bit of money to investigate, we took some bids, we we found out some bids, we found out some figures. And then in the meantime, you know, in the meantime, you know, obama took over and we had a stock market crash, we had a raising of interest rates, we had inflation. This is a Canadian building. We had inflation. This is a Canadian building. We bought this building, this sprung building, from Canada and we were going to build another add-on to this kind of construction, a vinyl building, aluminum frame it's called a stress membrane and the Canadian dollar had gotten so strong with the American dollar that their prices went way up. And so here we were and it looked like that the interest rate and the prices and everything was much more money. The interest rate was way up.
Speaker 1:And so I went back to the Lord. I said, lord, you know I really don't know exactly how to proceed. This is a lot. You know the Bible says to count the cost. I've counted the Lord. I said, lord, you know I really don't know exactly how to proceed. This is a lot. You know, the Bible says to count the cost. I've counted the cost. It looks to be very, very expensive. Is this the right thing to do? Is this the right time to do this? And I'll never forget.
Speaker 1:A couple of days went by and thank God for the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost spoke to my heart and he said you know, it's time to count the cost of doing nothing. I still laugh when I hear about that, when I think about that, it's time to count the cost of doing nothing. Well, you know what I didn't know? It was going to cost us to do nothing. I was so shocked. I thought you mean, it's going to cost us to do nothing. I was so shocked I thought you mean, it's going to cost us if we do nothing. And so I knew what he meant by that. We were going to stop walking by faith, we were going to stop leaping, we're going to stop jumping. You know, we're going to start reasoning, we're going to start being controlled by what it looks like and the emotion and even the fear of that. You know, the uncertainty is really a sort of fear, really. And you know, thank God, I'm so glad we proceeded.
Speaker 1:We did wind up building a metal building which was much lower in cost and so much lower that we were able to build twice as much square footage as what we were going to be able to build with a sprung structure, and the rest is history. Here we are now, all those years later. That was 2008, today's 2025, 17 years later. We we had our land miracle, we've had our miracle of supply and we're debt free and we have 10 acres free and clear and 50,000 square feet of of church building paid for. And you know, god knows what he's talking about. You know, we need to have understanding, we need revelation. We don't need to reason things out and go logically, you know, and try to plot a course that makes natural sense. No, god is a supernatural God and faith is supernatural. And so, um, uh, another time, you know, in 2010,.
Speaker 1:You know, after Obama had been in office and we'd begun to, you know, begin to pray against some of his. You know, I remember specifically praying against Obamacare. It passed anyway, but we prayed against it. We cried against some of his. You know, I remember specifically praying against Obamacare. It passed anyway, but we prayed against it. We cried against all of the terrible policies that he set into place. He basically lied about a lot of things. He acted like he was for marriage when he wasn't. And you know, he said anything and everything it took to get elected. And then he changed everything when he got elected. And so we, we cried against his policies all the way through. And uh, you know, you think what? What good is it? Well, I look back and I believe that we did a lot of good. I believe that we hindered him and I believe we stopped the spirit of antichrist, we restrained him from doing all that he could have done.
Speaker 1:But anyway, I was reading in 2 Samuel, chapter 5, after David became king of all of Israel, you know, he was first king of the southern kingdom of Benjamin Judah, and then, seven years later, there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, and the house of David waxed stronger and stronger, the house of Saul and the house of David. The house of David waxed stronger and stronger, the house of Saul weaker and weaker, until eventually the all of Israel came under David's kingdom. And it says there in 2 Samuel, chapter five that David perceived that he was king, and one version of that is it dawned on him. It dawned on him. You know what God is faithful. He did make me the king. You know. He spent a lot of years running, from Saul trying to escape murder. And then you know that got over. And then you know, then there was still war, there was still conflict and finally there came a day he perceived, it dawned on him that he was king. And you know that when I read that it dawned on me, your pastor, it dawned on me that God had called this church to be a regional center. And that's what we were doing. We were doing regional center business and we were a force to be reckoned with. And my faith started looking at that rather than at circumstances. So let's look here at Matthew 16. We're still there. Let's look at verse 13 here, matthew 16, 13, talking about reason versus revelation.
Speaker 1:So when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying Whom do men say that I, the son of man am? And they said Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He saith unto them well, who do you say I am? And Simon Peter answered and said thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Now you know Simon Peter.
Speaker 1:He was known to be a jumper. I mean he's a plunger. I mean he. He jumped over the side of the boat when nobody else would do it and uh, I mean he. He was the first to say you're the, you're the son of God, and uh, you're the Christ, the son of a living God man. He was bold to say that and the rest of them didn't know what to say. The rest of them might have thought that, but they were afraid to say it. But he wasn't. He said it and Jesus immediately said he said. Jesus answered and said unto him Blessed art thou, simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven, and I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, which means little stone, and upon this great stone, this rock, what is that? That's revelation. On on the rock of revelation, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Speaker 1:And so Peter had revelation. He had a realm change out of reasoning. You know, when you go back to where Jesus warned them, they're not to be like the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Many times the Pharisees and the Sadducees would try to catch Jesus in some kind of controversy and he would mostly turn around and ask them a question for which they had no answer. And they'd sit there and they'd reason and they'd say well, now, if we say this, he'll say that, and if we say that, he'll say this. And they said one time well, we can't, we can't tell you the answer, well, neither do I tell you the answer of your question. Then, so you know, instead of being mealy mouth and and like that, uh, peter had a realm change. He jumped, he leaped into that confession, said thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. He changed. He had a realm change out of reason into revelation and spoke that revelation out and Jesus congratulated him for it and used it as a teachable moment.
Speaker 1:This is how the church is going to be undefeated. It's going to be built upon the rock of revelation, knowledge. My church is a supernatural church. It's not a church that comes by educating the brain. I'm not against education, but educating a brain has nothing to do with revelation. Revelation is between you and God, it's in your spirit, and so the rock of revelation is how I'm going to build my church. That's what Jesus was saying.
Speaker 1:The gates of hell cannot prevail against your faith that's born of revelation of God's word and that cannot prevail against Glorious Way Church. It cannot prevail against Global Aid Partnership. It cannot prevail against my God V partnership. It cannot prevail against my God votes. It cannot prevail.
Speaker 1:These things were God ideas. These, these, these things that we've done through thousands upon thousands of faith, steps and leaps and jumps. You know what? How did we do it, we? We were very, you know, we were just very, very careful to stay until we had a revelation. Then we did the jump and we didn't jump first and then ask Amen. And so, you know, faith is built when it's exercised against obstacles. I mean, we have overcome so many obstacles in this church in 30 years. It's just amazing.
Speaker 1:And I look back, and I spend a lot of my time looking back. Why do you look back? Well, because we're facing obstacles today, and there are significant obstacles that we're facing today. And so I have to look back and see how God has delivered us, how God has delivered his servants. In the Bible, you know, and I see how, that when God's people had a realm change out of the realm of the natural into the supernatural, out of the realm of reasoning, into revelation, that is when they got the victory. So you know, 1 Samuel, chapter 30, let's go go there. I hope you're getting something out of this. Tonight I like to teach on faith because our faith needs to be built up. A lot of you are are facing some challenges. You're facing some circumstances. I'm telling your faith will make you whole, your faith, your faith in God's word. You just need to get God's perspective. First, samuel 30.
Speaker 1:I was talking about David earlier. He and 600 of his men were coming back from being with the Philistines. They had kind of told him to leave their presence. They didn't trust him to go out for the rest of the battles that they had in front of them. They were nervous about David. They didn't trust David and David was still hiding from Saul. Saul was after him and so they faked being allies of the Philistines. They faked it and actually David had a pretty good relationship with the head of the Philistines, achish, and Achish loved David, achish, even though he was a Philistine.
Speaker 1:You know they try to get tickled at. You know everybody talking about Trump being a kind of a lackey for Putin. Well, he doesn't. He's not friends with Putin, he's not friends with Xi, he's not friends with anybody. He just sees the value in having a relationship where you can talk. How dangerous it is what we've had before, where you've got people that are so arrogant they won't even pick up the telephone and call a world leader and consult with them and try to talk them out of what they're doing, just talk bad about them in front of a camera. That's. That's not a foreign policy.
Speaker 1:But anyway, getting back to david, um, they come back to ziklag, which is where where they, their wives and children and all their stuff, that was their home base. And they found that the amalekites had passed through there and burned the city and taken the women and the children and all the stuff and and it left town. And I'm not going to read all of that, but you can read it later. And so then they all just had a pity party, they all just went to pieces and they all started bawling and squalling and just having all kinds of conniption fits about what had happened and they cried until there was no more power to weep verse 4. And I mean David's two wives are gone and his kids.
Speaker 1:Verse 6, david was greatly distressed and then the people, in their anger and their grief and all of that, they started speaking of stoning him. I mean, you know that's what people do. They're always looking for somebody else to blame for their trouble and usually they blame the pastor. Don't blame God, that's all I can. You can blame me if you want to, but don't blame God for your trouble, because God didn't send the trouble. He's your deliverer out of trouble. But anyway, they thought about stoning him. And because the soul of the people were grieved, they were bitter. Every man for his sons and for his daughters.
Speaker 1:But David, he encouraged himself in the Lord, his God. He arrested that, he got out of that emotional place. I mean, you know your emotions can get you into your reasoning and get you out of the revelation that can deliver you. The longer you let your emotions run away with you, the longer you indulge yourself in a pity party, the longer you allow yourself to blame others or even blame God. I've seen people blame God. Oh, that's about the dumbest thing you can do to blame God. God's not the author of problems, he's the deliverer. And so he encouraged himself and the Lord, his God, while everybody else is still indulging their flesh.
Speaker 1:And verse 7, david said to Abiathar, the high priest Ahimelech's son I pray thee bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought hither the ephod to David. Now, what is the ephod? Well, that's the way that David in the old Testament can contact God and get an answer. He can pray and get an answer through this ephod. It's the umim and the thumim, and I don't have time to teach on all of that, but it's it's. It's they didn't have the Holy spirit on the inside, but yet God, because of he, because he's anointed as a king and he is a captain over them, then he has access to God's will and God is able to communicate to David.
Speaker 1:And so David inquired of the Lord, saying shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he, god, answered him pursue or you shall surely overtake them and, without fail, recover all man. What a word from God. Everybody else is crying and God has told him yeah, go ahead, go after them.
Speaker 1:Now, when he rises up and begins to rally his army, he's got remember, he's got 600 mighty men. I mean, these are warriors, but only 400 of them was there in any shape to do battle. There were 200 of them that were just too wiped out. You know, it's kind of hard to say. Were they too depressed? Were they too sad? Were they too sad? Were they too mad. They just couldn't go. They couldn't go. And so he went with two-thirds of his army. And see, I mean, you know, instead of being concerned well, you know, I've only got two-thirds of my army, maybe I better wait a few days.
Speaker 1:No, god told him that pursue and're going to overtake them and you're going to, without fail, recover all. He had a word from God. He had a realm change out of his pity party into revelation of God's plan to recover everything. And that's exactly what they did. They went after the Amalekites. They got their wives and children back, all their stuff. They got all of that back. Not one thing perished, not one thing was harmed. They annihilated the Amalekites.
Speaker 1:Praise God, because? Why? Because David had to have a realm change. He had to get out of reasoning and into revelation. You know what does God have to say? God said pursue, overtake and recover all. Have you lost something? Well, god says the same thing to us. We can pursue, overtake and recover all. If the thief be found, he's going to restore sevenfold. I'm, I'm going to take it out of the devil's hide, everything he's stolen from me. Devil's hide, everything he's stolen from me. I'll tell you, the devil's a liar. Now, all of this happened 72 hours before David became the king over Judah and Benjamin. He was installed as king because right 72 hours later, saul was killed and Jonathan and he was made king. And then, of course, seven years later, he became king over all of Israel.
Speaker 1:And so many times, the greatest fight you have is right before breakthrough. The greatest fight you have is right before the things that you've been believing and confessing for a long time are about to come to pass. The devil will try, all the way to the 11th hour, to try to shortchange you and to short circuit your miracle. So, reason versus revelation. So three things I want to leave you with tonight.
Speaker 1:Number one real Bible faith is a product of revelation, or that understanding of the word you know. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. That word, hearing means understanding, it means revelation, it means the light bulb comes on in your spirit. It's not a brain thing, it's not your brain. Really, your spirit knows what your brain yet doesn't know. That's why I tell people all the time look to your heart, look to your spirit, because faith is of the spirit, it's of your heart. And then the second thing about faith is that faith is an act.
Speaker 1:Faith leaps, faith jumps in, faith claims. You know, if your mouth isn't moving, your faith isn't moving, you're going to have to claim some things. Quit begging God for things and start claiming them. I mean, you know what belongs to you, claim what belongs to you. Find out what belongs to you, claim it. I mean, you know, jump with both feet into the pursuit. I mean I like what David David didn't put. He jumped with both feet into into the pursuit. I mean I like what David David didn't put he, he jumped with both feet, he jumped.
Speaker 1:Faith is a jump, faith is a leap. He leaped on his, on his, uh, I guess he rode a camel. I don't really know what they had for battle, I guess they had horses. So they, he jumped on his battle horse and went after the Amalekites and caught them and recovered all. I mean he didn't wait. He didn't wait for things to improve, he didn't wait for a vote of confidence from his army. You know, two-thirds of them were good enough to go with him, but one-third had to stay home. So Bible faith is a product of revelation or understanding of the Word. Faith is an act, it's a leap, it's a jump. It claims.
Speaker 1:And then finally, number three when the gates of hell try to prevail against you, don't faint at the gate, don't reason at the gate. Have a realm change, get out of your emotion, Get out of what it looks like, feels like, seems like, and listen for revelation and destroy that gate. Praise God. Reason versus revelation Hope you got something out of this tonight. Let's lift our hands, father. We thank you that you've given us your word. We thank you, father, that the Holy Ghost is in us to help us to get out of the realm of reason into the realm of revelation, to where we can hear what it is that you have for us. We can always see your perspective, hallelujah. You know God's perspective is the right way to look at things and God has a side. Let's get on his side. Let's get on his side and stay there. Praise God.