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
Faith Makes The Impossible | Pastor John Greiner
This message dives into the power of faith to make the impossible possible, drawing from the story in Mark 9 where Jesus heals a boy oppressed by a spirit. The teaching highlights that faith isn’t just wishful thinking — it is substance and evidence that brings unseen realities into the present. Through scripture, practical principles, and personal testimonies, listeners are reminded that faith must be rooted in God’s Word, spoken with a good report, and demonstrated with corresponding action. From healing testimonies to stories of provision, the message challenges believers to rise above fear, anchor themselves in God’s promises, and act boldly on their faith to see breakthrough in every area of life.
Get our Bibles out, get them up in the air and let's wave them around like we do around here, and make Jesus glad and the devil mad. Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, I'm so glad for Wednesday night because I am hungry for the Word. I just can't get enough and I'm soaking the Word up and the Holy Ghost has filled me to overflowing and the Word and the Spirit are giving me the victory day by day. This truly is a milestone year. In Jesus' name, amen, praise God, let's turn in our Bibles to Mark chapter 9. Please. Mark chapter 9. And we'll start reading with verse 17.
Speaker 1:And one of the multitude answered and said master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit. And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him and my margin says he dasheth him. He teareth him and my margin says he dasheth him. Just think about dashing a child. How horrible that had to be. And he foameth and gnasheth with his teeth and pineth away. And I spoke to thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not. They couldn't, didn't say they would not, said they could not, they could not cast him out. He answered him and saith oh faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? How long do I have to put up with this? It's another way he could have said it Bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him. And when he saw him straightway, the spirit tear him and he fell on the see, this is Jesus speaking. He asked the father how long ago has this came unto him? And he said of a child. So obviously this child is maybe like a teenager, you know, since a child, and oftentimes it had cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. If you can do anything, just listen to this father. If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And Jesus said unto him if thou can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And Jesus said unto him If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears Lord, I believe, help thou, my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit saying unto him thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried and rent him sore and came out of him and he was as one dead, in so much that many said he's dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose.
Speaker 1:And so tonight, let me read to you out of the Amplified or actually it's another version, I didn't write this version down, but verse 23,. You know, when he said if you can believe, all things are possible in him, that believeth I like this version. You know when he said if you can believe, all things are possible in him, that believeth I like this version. You know, it's not a question of whether I can do anything. Rather, it's a question of whether you can believe, for if you believe, then anything is possible. And so tonight, that's what I want to speak about faith and the impossible.
Speaker 1:And so tonight, that's what I want to speak about faith and the impossible. Faith makes the impossible possible. That's what Jesus said. Faith makes the impossible possible. Praise God. And you know, faith fed the 5,000 with a little boy's lunch. Faith cleansed the lepers. Faith, you know, raised the dead. Faith opened the blind eyes and deaf ears. Faith cast the devil right here, this deaf and dumb spirit that had an effect on this child, like something like maybe, uh, you know, other kinds of diseases, you know, just just terrible, throwing him over in the fire and all of that. It was more than just being deaf and dumb. That was the spirit it was. I'm not sure it doesn't say whether he was actually dumb or deaf, but that spirit would throw him into dangerous places and tear him. And faith cast that thing out. Praise God. And faith cast that thing out. Praise God. And faith walked on the water. Little faith walked on the water. Oh thou of little faith. Talking to Peter, you know Peter's little faith walked on the water.
Speaker 1:You know the Bible says in Acts 10, 38, that Jesus was a man anointed by God. He was anointed by God who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. So the notice you know God. You know Jesus was a man who, who did works. He did good works. He healed and delivered people. He did works and uh, and he told the disciples, before he was crucified, he said the works that I do shall you do also, and greater than these, shall you do, because I go to the Father. So the church, then, is charged with really working in the area of the impossible.
Speaker 1:You know, we're in the God class of being. And when I say why, do you say that? You know? A lot of times people put so much distance between themselves and God. They put God up here and he is there, and they put themselves down here as if they don't have this same anointing in this same power. We may not have the same measure, but we have the same kind, because we are sons and daughters of the most high God. We're one with Christ. We're in the God class of being. We're not in the animal kingdom, we're not like a cow or a goat, or even just a Gentile, someone that's unsaved. No, we are a new creature and we're made in the image and likeness of God. We have power in us to do great things in the name of Jesus. Greater works, jesus said, the works that I do shall you do also. And greater, greater works, greater, greater works. I believe we're living in the days when the church must rise up and begin to perform these greater works, and so that we can get a mighty harvest out of the earth. So if we believe, then we will do the greater works because we have his faith and we have his anointing.
Speaker 1:Everybody say I have a God kind of faith and I have the same anointing, the same kind of anointing. See, don't get all hung up about the level of it. I mean, you know you still, you have the power of the Holy Ghost. You have a measure of it. You know Jesus was filled with the Spirit without measure, so that kind of indicates that we have a measure. Okay, that's all right. Just a measure is all it takes. We don't have to have, you know, an immeasurable measure. We can have what we have and we can do greater works. Somebody said well, I don't have that kind of faith. Well, you can have it, you know, it's up to you.
Speaker 1:The Bible says in Romans 12, 3, just hold our place there. We'll get back there in a little while. I like Romans 12, verse 3. It says for I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, see, everybody say that means me, man or woman, every person, not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath given to every man the measure of faith. Every man, every believer, has been given or dealt or assigned the measure of faith.
Speaker 1:What is that measure? The measure it took for you to get saved, and I want to say that you probably will never see a greater miracle than the miracle of the new birth that is. It's just amazing. I mean you were lost and now you're found. You were dead and now you're alive. You lived in darkness and now you have light. I mean this is a huge miracle and it came by faith that God gave you. He gave you just enough faith in the beginning to get saved and then, after that, the Bible says that where's more available? I mean faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. I mean faith can, can, can grow, and if it does grow, it's because you've made an effort to place yourself in a in a position to hear the word more and more, like you have tonight.
Speaker 1:We've got people that came here to church tonight and be part of the service and most of you are watching by live stream. If they wanted to be in on it, they wanted to get here and they wanted to hear it in person, because they're hungry for more, they want their faith to grow, they want their anointing to increase. And so here they are. They put themselves in position. It's faith to grow. They want their anointing to increase. And so here they are, they put themselves in position. It's important to them. You know, I was just reading this morning in my normal reading, I read 2 Thessalonians 1, 3. And let me take you there.
Speaker 1:Paul was riding to the Thessalonians and he congratulated them and he said to them we are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meat, because that your faith groweth exceedingly. And the charity, or the agape see the word charity, that's a poor translation in the King James. It means agape, see the word charity, that's a poor translation in the King James. It means agape love, your love of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth. So what was he congratulating? That their faith groweth exceedingly, see.
Speaker 1:So you know it's really up to us. You know we can put ourselves in position to hear the word and hear the word. Sometimes we have to hear it and hear it and hear it until the light turns on and we begin to act in faith about the word that we've heard. And so your faith. You might not have that kind of faith to cast out a deaf and dumb spirit, you might not have the kind of faith it takes to overcome the obstacle that you're facing tonight, but you can get that kind of faith. That kind of faith can come, and so Romans 10, 17,. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. So I wanted to let you know then too.
Speaker 1:I say this often, but faith begins where the will of God is known. I mean, if you don't know what the will of God is about a certain situation, then you can't have faith to overcome that situation. It's just that simple. I mean, if you're in doubt, if you don't understand, why is this all happening to me? What's going on? Oh, maybe God's trying to test me. Maybe God's trying to prove me. Maybe God sent this for some high and holy part. No, see, you're ignorant of the word. You need to get into the word, because there's no temptation, test or trial. Taking such is common to man. But god, his faith of who will not allow you to be tempted, tested, to try it above what you're able to bear, but will, with the temptation, test or trial, also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear up under it. See, he's the one that gets you out of the trouble. He's not the one that sends the trouble. I have to say this over and over, because people sometimes they in the heat of battle. Sometimes I've noticed that people forget temporarily what they used to know very well. It's easy to let things slip when the devil turns up the pressure and you're faced with something that's sudden, and so you've got to. You've got to. Your faith begins where the will of God is known. That's so. The will of God is his word. His word is his will. He's one with his word. I mean God and his word are one.
Speaker 1:Brother Hagen used to make this, this, this uh example. You know he talked about one time he was on the road traveling and, uh, you know, he had this. Uh, he was on the road traveling and he had this 55 Chevy Cameo carrier. That's kind of a classic pickup. Now, if you had one it'd be worth a lot of money if it's in good shape. But he was dragging a trailer behind it because he was traveling church to church and these little towns they didn't have a good place to stay and he couldn't always stay at the parsonage and so he just drug his own transportation, you know, behind him and uh, you know, and he had to get a v8 because, you know, they came out with a nice v8 back in in that year of 1955. So he bought that new truck with a v8 so that he could pull that trailer up. Those some of those places he went to had were in the mountains and he had to pull it up, upgrade, you know, and uh, and he got someplace where it was hot and he's sweltering in that little trailer, you know.
Speaker 1:And so he called and there was a guy in the church that was an air. That. That was his business, air conditioning business. He said, brother hagan, I'll put an air conditioning, uh, in your, in your trailer. I won't even charge you for the installation, I'll give it to you at my cost. And it was a good deal. And he knew what they cost because he'd already been pricing them and it was a good price.
Speaker 1:So what did he do? Well, he didn't have the money with him. So he called the bank, his banker back home in Oklahoma, and he said, mr Banker, I've found a man that'll put me an air conditioner in my trailer. He said I want you to put that money in my bank so I can on my account, so I can write this man a check for that. I'm going to write him a check tomorrow for this whole thing and then when I get home I'll sign the paperwork. He's done. He said I didn't worry about it. He said look at all the trust. That had to happen. First of all, I had to trust the man to do what he said he'd do for that price. I trusted him and he delivered. And then I had to trust the banker to put that money in my bank account, and he delivered. And then the banker had to trust me to do what I said. And when I came back home I signed the loan papers and he had to trust me to pay the loan back.
Speaker 1:Look at all the. Isn't God's word more trustworthy than a banker? Isn't it more trustworthy, than you know, than an air conditioning repairman? I mean, listen, we can trust God. God said it. That settles it. I believe that that settlesles. That's the end of the discussion.
Speaker 1:Come on, lift your hand right now that God. God is reliable. He backs up every bit of his word. His word is his will. Once you have the word on something, that's where faith begins. Faith begins you knowing what the word says about your problem or your circumstance. So that's what I like to say Whenever you're facing something maybe it looks impossible Find out what the Word says about it, and that's where your faith begins. Oh, I tell you, praise God. I love preaching on faith. You know it's going to take some faith for you to receive your milestones. We've got a quarter of the year left now. September has hit. So we know we've just got four more months or hell, third of the year and a third of the year left, and so we're going to believe with you for your milestone. You know faith. So God's word is his will and Hebrews 11.1,. Let's turn over there and find out what the definition of faith is. This is one definition and I like it Certainly. I like it because it's in the Bible, hebrews 11. I call it the Hall of Fame of Faith, chapter Hebrews 11 one.
Speaker 1:Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So faith is substance and evidence. It's tangible, it's spiritual, but yet it's real. See, when you have faith for something, it's as good as having the thing that you're believing for. You ought to be just as happy when you have the faith for the thing you're believing for as when it shows up later. I mean, let's just say you're Brother Hagin and you have faith that that air conditioner is going to blow coal tomorrow. Well, you know he got happy about it before the air conditioner ever was installed. Why? Because he knew it was going to blow coal tomorrow. Well, you know he got happy about it before the air conditioner ever was installed. Why? Because he knew it was going to happen. He knew he had it. He knew it was a lead pipe cinch. My bad dad used to say that all the time. I never really understood what it meant. It's a lead pipe cinch, it's done, he's happy. He's thinking oh boy, tomorrow night I'm going to sleep in the cool. I got one more night to sweat and tomorrow night I'm going to be cool.
Speaker 1:Faith is substance and evidence and, for those that you know, if you believe God and so so, so is fear. See, fear is the same thing. Fear is believing what the devil said, but fear is believing the circumstances. When you believe the circumstances, well then then there you go. You know it's going to come to pass. Whatever you believe in the negative, it's going to come to pass. So we need to make sure that we don't let fear rule our mind and don't let fear rule our decision making.
Speaker 1:Tonight I wanted to give you one, two, three, four, five faith principles so that you can make the impossible possible. You know, sometimes we just need a little bit of a refresher. I mean, most of you have heard these things before, but God told me a number of years ago preach what you take for granted. And so I'm always when I study my Bible, you know, yes, I read it for me, but I read it mostly for you. I read looking for things that I can help you with, things that God's helped me with, things that you know revelation. Whatever I can do to feed you, my job is to lead, feed and guard you, and tonight I'm feeding you, I'm feeding you God's good word and it will grow your spirit, it will grow your faith. So some faith principles to make the impossible possible.
Speaker 1:So the first one I've already read about in Hebrews 11, faith deals with the unseen. Faith deals with the unseen. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Not seen, see. If you can see it, you don't need faith for it. That's kind of obvious, isn't it? But sometimes we forget. I mean well, I don't see any improvement. I don't see any improvement in my bank account. I don't see any improvement in my health. Well, you know, you need faith. Faith deals in the unseen. Don't get intimidated by the unseen. Faith is acting against the unseen. Faith is what you need when you don't see it. Faith is what you need when you don't feel it. Faith is what you need when you don't know it in your brain. You know it in your spirit. Are you with me now? Faith deals with the unseen. See, it's so simple, but sometimes we forget when the devil turns up the pressure. Faith deals with the unseen.
Speaker 1:And then the next one faith must begin with hope. It must begin with hope. Faith is a substance of things hoped for. So you first, you hope for it. And what is hope? Well, hope is a positive expectation. It's future tense. It's going to happen. Oh, I have hope that that will happen. I have hope that my health will improve. I have hope that my finances will improve. I have hope that my marriage will improve. I have hope that my children will do better than they've been doing. I have hope. Well, you've got to have hope before you can have faith, because faith gives substance to that which is hope. For If you have no hope, then faith is void.
Speaker 1:You have nothing for faith to take hold of, to bring to the present time. So faith takes what you're hoping for and brings it into the now. And suddenly you've got to quit talking about the future. You can't talk about your health like that anymore. Once you have faith for healing, you don't say, well, I thank God, god's going to heal me. No, that's not. You've got a positive expectation, but that's not faith, that's hope, and hope won't do it.
Speaker 1:You need faith. You need faith, and faith brings the future into the present tense. You become so fully persuaded that that's God's will for you that you call yourself well even when you feel sick. You call yourself well even when you, you know, have symptoms. You call yourself blessed even when your bank account is breathing on fumes. You see, it's not lying, it's taking God at his word. See, you're bringing your hope into the present tense. And how could you do that? Because you know the will of God. God's will is his word, you've got his word on it. I mean, is he as dependable as the banker? Is he as dependable as the air conditioning guy? I mean, yes, of course he is. If they did what they said they'd do, amen, he'll do what he said. He'll do so again.
Speaker 1:If you don't have any hope well, you know, I'm just so hopeless Well you know, your faith then is not going to work because you don't have anything for it to give substance to. I mean, let's get ourselves straightened out mentally. Here we're looking at things in the dark tunnels. That's not what we should do, and so fear gives substance to those things that you dread. It's going to work in the opposite side.
Speaker 1:I just think about Job. I mean Job, you know he had these kids. If you read the book of Job, he, he had, you know, big family and and he had a wife and family and his kids were rich. Because he was rich, he left him a bunch of money and he didn't make any requirements. They sat around all day, uh, doing nothing, having parties and just sitting around doing nothing, and he, he did not raise his children.
Speaker 1:If you read between the lines and see what all happened, and I mean you know, the devil saw an opening to attack him because his kids were not serving God the way that Job did, and so he just went and destroyed their houses. With them in it, big wind came along. You know, kind of reminds you of the three pigs. You know the wolf and the three pigs. I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down. That's what the devil did. He huffed and puffed and blew their house down and killed them all. And Job said the thing that I greatly feared has come upon me.
Speaker 1:So instead of dealing with that fear by going over to his son and daughter's house and knocking them upside the head with a two before and saying look, I'm affixed to take all of the money back and I'm going to appropriate this back onto my property and I'm going to kick you off if you don't start working the cattle and if you don't start working and do what I taught you to do, you're not serving God. I'm not putting up with this. He should have been a daddy, even after they're grown up. He could have gone and used his influence, but he didn't do that while they were growing up. So he was not a good father. I'm sorry. Well, how could you say that? Because look how they wound up and they died, the thing that I greatly feared.
Speaker 1:So fear opened the door. He was going around trying to make all kinds of sacrifices for them. He was burning animals for them and praying God would bless them, and all of that, instead of correcting them and getting his finger in their face and say you're not going to live like this and keep my name. You know, we have influence over our adult children. Don't let them just live for the devil and quit paving the way, praying for their blessing. Start praying, in the Holy Ghost, for God to do whatever it takes for them to turn around. I mean, sometimes we pray, blessing, blessing, blessing when a child really needs correction, correction, correction, so um so faith begins with hope. That is possibility and no hope. There's nothing for faith to give substance to instead fear. Give substance that which you dread. So get dread and fear out of your life. How to make the impossible possible? All right.
Speaker 1:Number three we find in verse two, for by it, that is, by faith, the elders obtained a good report. The elders obtained what A good report. Faith has a good report. Faith has a good report. Faith has a good report. What is your report when you believe? I believe I've received that thing. I believe I've received my healing Back when I prayed Hallelujah. Thank God, I count myself healed, I call myself blessed, I call myself well.
Speaker 1:Years ago I tell this story on a regular basis. But I just moved back, my family, family, from Corpus back to Houston and I'd lost my business, home building business and now the company I went to work for laid me off and the next six months I lost just about everything I owned, had to move in with my sister. I mean we were broke, unemployed and had a lease car. We didn't even leased car, it's the only thing. We didn't even own the car and it had way over the miles that was allowed on the lease. I mean, you can't get any further below zero than I was and my family. As far as finances. Thank God we had our health.
Speaker 1:But you know, I got back to Lakewoodwood and I was in front, you know, kind of before the service started somebody came up and said how you doing, john? Oh, I'm hanging in there. How you doing John, how you doing Mr Griner? Well, I'm hanging in there, I'm plugging along. I just I must've said that a thousand times and I knew that confession was important, but somehow I just couldn't say I was blessed. I just couldn't say it. I couldn't get it out of my mouth. It's like it stick in my throat.
Speaker 1:One morning, after I'd said I'm hanging in there about a thousand times, I said that again to somebody hey, john, how you doing? I'm hanging in there Did they care? Well, no, they didn't really care, they're just being polite. So I just said I'm hanging in there, and they just kept walking. And I heard this audible voice. I thought everybody in Lakewood heard it. I mean, it seemed like it reverberated off the walls, yeah, and your fingernails were about to break. And I knew that that was a chastening of the Lord. I knew that the Holy Ghost had spoken to me audibly to correct my confession. You know, yeah, your fingernails are about to break. You're hanging in there you think about the old cartoon Felix the Cat, you know. And he's hanging on to the ledge with his claws.
Speaker 1:And so I turned around and I ran and caught that guy. I said wait a minute, let me correct what I said I. I said I I'm doing better and better. And he said what. He didn't even know what I said. I mean he wasn't even listening really, he just greeting me. He didn't care what I said really, but I care. And so from that, I mean that's been 40, some odd years ago and I'm I mean, you asked me how I'm doing. I'm going to say I'm doing better and better. I mean I do not say I'm plugging along, I do not say I'm hanging in there.
Speaker 1:Amen, faith has a good report. It's not wrong to say thank God, I'm blessed, thank God, I'm well, thank you, and you know you. Just, you just have to train your mouth to always bring a good report. See, I believe I receive when I pray and then I'm able to say I have that thing that I'm believing for. Faith has a good report. Get anything out of this. So we're down three of them One, two, three.
Speaker 1:The fourth one here, let's look at verse 11 in Hebrewss 11, the hall of fame of faith. These are, these are powerful, uh, men and women that lived in the old testament and, uh, you know they, they made this book as examples of having faith. And each one of these there's 20 times it says by faith. It says by faith Abel by faith, enoch by faith, noah by faith, abraham. 20 times it says by faith. And one version says by an act of faith, by an act of faith. See, faith is an act. So let's look at verse 11. Let's look at verse 11.
Speaker 1:Through faith Also, sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age. Why? Because she judged him faithful, who had promised. She judged him faithful who had promised. So faith number four how to make the impossible possible. Faith looks on the promise and the one who promised instead of the circumstances. Faith looks on the promise and the promise keeper and the promise maker instead of the circumstance.
Speaker 1:You know I don't know if you've ever seen this, but I've seen a lot of times when people know so much about the disease they're facing, they can tell you every detail. They can tell you all about what the doctor said, what the MRI said, what the nurse said. They know all the history. They know they said there's nobody in history who's ever had this disease. I'm only the third one in history. I mean they know more about the disease than they know about the Word of God. That's a danger, that's dangerous to look on the report of the doctor or the. You know they might know all about their balance sheet if they're got a. You know they know all about their profit and loss statement. I mean you know they might know all about their balance sheet if they're got a. You know, they know all about their profit and loss statement. I mean, you know, I don't know if you've ever talked to somebody.
Speaker 1:I had a guy one time. He's you know, he was an engineer and his wife was real sick and he would bring me a picture of her latest PET scan, show me the cancerous tumors and show me. I just act like I was looking at it, but I never look at it. I don't want to look at the devil, I don't want to look at a cancer. I don't care what that says. I'm not going by what that says.
Speaker 1:I'm going by what this says. This is the only MRI I need. This is the only doctor's report I need. I don't need that. I mean, you got to go through. I understand when you go to the doctor you're going to go through.
Speaker 1:We've gone to lots of doctors too. I've had to look at MRIs and and and, but I don't stare at them. I don't, I don't consult them for the expert opinion. This is the opinion that I'm going by right here. This is the opinion, and so this is what she did. I mean, she knew by experience that she's past childbearing age and she just didn't care about that part. It says that she was past age.
Speaker 1:See why? Well, god said it. I mean, he's faithful over his word. He said I'm about this time next year, I'm going to have a child and I'm aiming to have a child. I know, you know, abe and I are going to have a baby. I know I'm 90 and he's 100, but we're going to have our baby, that's all. There is a child of promise. How many of you know? She had him. Glory to God. So faith looks on the promise and the one who promised, or the promise keeper, not the circumstance.
Speaker 1:You've got to train yourself, especially when you're in the medical deal or even when you're in the business world, when you're dealing with bank, especially when you're in the medical deal, or even when you're in the business world, when you're dealing with bankers and you're dealing with numbers and you're dealing with financial reports. You've got to learn how to not be persuaded by negative uh news like that. You've got to be. You've got to learn how to latch on to your confession of faith built on the work. Well, you know what all I know is. The word says given it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, shaking together, running over? Shall men given to my bosom? I know there's men out there going to give to my bosom. I know there's a big debt here but, praise god, I've got the money to pay it off because, because I've s my seed and I've been generous in the past.
Speaker 1:I've told this story recently. But I mean I needed a car one time and I had no credit. There was no possibility for me to go and borrow the money to buy a car. I couldn't do that at that time. My credit had been ruined. I'd had a bank repossession on a house. It was against my credit report. I hadn't gone bankrupt, but it went against my credit report. There was no way I could go borrow money to buy a car. But I needed a car. The car I was driving is used up and I was going to be signing a contract to build another house 57 miles from my back door to that job site and each way, so that's 114 miles a day.
Speaker 1:And I knew that car wasn't going to make it. At some point it's going to break down. And then what do I do Then? I don't even have the money to have it towed. I don't have the money to have it fixed, much less replace it. You see, I'm in a situation that seems to be impossible.
Speaker 1:Except see, I know I've sown my seed, I know that I've given cars, and so I began to go through and make a demand on the covenant. I said, god, you said you're giving unto me Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. Given unto me Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. Lord, when the call came, I gave my car. I gave a 40 Cadillac to Lakewood. You told me to give it, I gave it. I gave my 77 Chevy van to my brother-in-law. You told me to give it, I gave it. There was a family. I don't think I've ever told this story. There was a family. They were going through some situations, ever told this story. There was a family. They were going through some fast situations. They had a bunch of kids.
Speaker 1:I knew the dad and mom pretty well and we had just bought a brand new honda four-door accord when they first came out 1981. They came out with a four-door accord, pretty little silver one with red interior, five speed it was. It ran like a sewing machine, man I think. It was so smooth and quiet you couldn't even hear the motor run and it wasn't but about three months old. I had about 2,000 miles on it and God says I want you, you can loan that to that family. I said loan it to him. Yeah, well, I'm not going to ask you to give it to him, that's a lot of money to give, but you can loan it to him. I said okay. So I loaned it to him and man, it didn't come back. It didn't come back. It was six months later. I'd loaned that car and I brought that up. I said, lord, you know, I loaned that car and they kind of took advantage of me. They kept the car six months. They kept it so long they had to buy a new set of tires for me. They had I think it had 20,000 miles on it. When I got it back it wasn't new anymore, just about wore it out. I said I'm counting that one, lord. I sowed and I don't hold it against them, I'm just reporting. Now I'm not bitter about it, but I'm just saying, lord, I've got seed in the ground. You know, a month later I got me a car.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, you know you can put pressure on the word. Praise God. I looked at the promise and the promise keeper. I took the word of God at face value and receive Amen, all right. The last one, and this is important, number five, let's go through them again.
Speaker 1:Number one tonight faith deals with the unseen. Faith must begin with hope. Faith has a good report. Faith looks on the promise and the one who made the promise. And the last one faith has corresponding action. James, chapter two, verse 20. And the Weymouth says faith without corresponding action is dead being alone. You have to have corresponding action.
Speaker 1:Words speaking. Yeah, faith, you've got to have a good confession. Speaking is the initial action of faith. You speak as if it's done. You speak, you speak, it's done, it's, it's it's. Faith is always now, not future. And uh, but faith, words are not alone. You know, there's not enough. You have to actually put something with that, with your words. I like what, uh, uh.
Speaker 1:Smith Wigglesworth said you know, faith is acting on the word. One Bible teacher said faith is acting like the Bible is true, that's really so. You can speak like it's true, but then you have to act like it's true. In other words, if I'm believing for my healing and I'm saying, oh, thank God, I'm healed and I'm laying in bed all day long and won't get out of bed. Well, what do well people do?
Speaker 1:When Dodie Osteen was believing, you know she went to heaven recently, 91 years old. But when she was much younger, you know that's been 44 years ago, so she was 47 years old when this happened. She was diagnosed with metastatic cancer of the liver. Doctors gave her weeks to live. There was nothing they could do for her in those years. They sent her home to die and the doctor said you know, pastor, talking to Brother Osteen, pastor, it'll take a miracle for her to live. He said well, we believe in miracles. Well, you're going to have to have one. He said we're going to get one.
Speaker 1:But it didn't come easy. It came by her taking the word of God, just like I'm talking about and refusing to act sick. Every day she got up, whether she felt like it or not. Many times she didn't. You got liver cancer. Man, you feel terrible. I mean, it takes all the strength out of you. She had wasted away to 89 pounds. She was so small she's a small woman anyway and then she had hardly anything left of her Gone. Never missed a service.
Speaker 1:She came to church Sunday morning, sunday night, I think, most wednesday nights. Sometimes she'd stay with the kids. She had kids in school, she'd cook their breakfast, even though it made her sick cook smell the food. She stayed, she, she purposed that she's not going to go to bed. She said, no well, people don't go to bed in the daytime. I'm going to stay awake, I'm going to do, I'm going to do my chores. I, I mean, she just acted, healed, even though she didn't feel like it. Oh, there's such power. There's such power when you act on the word like that, your faith is going. Her faith killed that cancer. It drove it out of her body. She lived another 44 years.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, don't tell me, the word doesn't work. You know the word works. So your word has to have corresponding action. You know, do something lest you do nothing. Brother Bill Dierman used to be his faith, his favorite thing to say. He said oh, you got to do something lest you do nothing. Do something lest you do nothing. And if you do nothing, well then you don't give anything for God to get involved with. You're not really. Your faith is not active. You're not acting like you really believe what you're saying.
Speaker 1:See, I mean, if your actions and your words don't line up, you see, people are going to go by your actions more than your words. I mean, if your actions and your words don't line up, you see, people are going to go by your actions more than your words. I mean, who's going to believe somebody that's all sunk in cheeks and 89 pounds laying in a bed? I saw my aunt, you know, waste away with cancer. She didn't look like, I didn't even recognize her. She wasted away. You know if she'd have said, oh John, don't worry about me, I'm healed, I say I wouldn't have believed. Why? Because she's laying in bed. That's why she's hooked up with all kind of, you know, tubes and everything else. She died of cancer in her 50s and so, listen, you're not going to believe somebody like that. Why? Because they're not acting healed. They're not acting their faith.
Speaker 1:Listen, we got to act our faith, so do something lest you do nothing. One of the good ways to pray when you're facing an impossible situation. Once you've prayed and you've got God's word on it and you know what you're going to do, then you say all right, now, god, how do I act my faith? How do I act my faith out? What action do I need to take? You know, the Holy Ghost will help you. Take an action that will prove that your faith is working. And now you've got something working where you're moving in a direction that's going to bring you victory over that impossible situation. So faith makes the impossible possible.
Speaker 1:Amen, come on, lift your hands and receive the word of God tonight. Hallelujah, thank you, jesus. We so praise you tonight for giving us this wonderful word. Lord, you're reliable. You watch over your word to perform it. Father, you're not a man that you should lie in or the son of man that you should repent. If you said it, you'll do it. If you spoke it, you will make it good. And, lord, we thank you for that tonight. In Jesus name, praise God.