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
Lock Out The Doubt 3 | Living By Faith Without Wavering | Pastor John Greiner
This episode recounts a powerful testimony of faith in action as Pastor shares how the church went from needing five acres of land to believing God for sixty-three. He describes the journey from small faith to bold faith — from looking at 5 acres, to asking for 10, to receiving a handshake promise for 63 acres — all without a contract or payment upfront. Through visions, prophetic words, and unexpected favor, God confirmed that the church was called to be a “regional center”—not just a local congregation, but a place of spiritual authority and influence. The story highlights the cost of obedience, the resistance of others, and how faith grows when tested. At its heart, it’s a message about trusting God beyond logic, stepping into divine opportunity, and recognizing that miracles often begin with a single act of faith and a willing heart.
Reach down and pick up our Bibles, please. Let's get into the Word of God together today. Hallelujah. Let's pick them up, wave them around, make Jesus glad and devil nervous and mad. He's getting more and more nervous every day. He sees the day approaching. We do too. He's grieving and we're rejoicing. Praise God. Let's say this together. Say, Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blood of our covenant. We're here to be instructed in the ways of the covenant so that we become steadfast in the covenant. Not as Israel, who wavered at the time of trial. They doubted. But Lord, because of the word of God and the Holy Ghost, we're instructed in a better way. We learn from their mistakes. We're going to look at what they did wrong. We're determined to do things right, to do things your way, and we have the victory in Jesus' name. Amen. Praise God. All right, you can be seated. Hallelujah. Matthew chapter 14. We're going to continue on lock out the doubt. Matthew 14 is our jumping off place where Jesus had just fed the multitude and sent the disciples away. Verse 23, verse chapter 14, Matthew. And when he'd sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It's a spirit. And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spoke unto them, saying, Be of good courage, be of good cheer, it's I be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And Jesus said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. Everybody say Peter walked on the water. Sometimes we forget he actually walked on the water. He actually walked on the water. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased, and then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth, thou art the Son of God. So we're speaking and preaching a series, lock out the doubt. Don't let doubt rob you of God's best. God has something in store for you, and doubt will rob it from you. Doubt will take it from you. See, don't let doubt rob you of God's best. God's got the best for you. Now Peter walked on the water, but doubt robbed him, and he began to sink. And I'm convinced he really didn't begin to sink. He just thought he was sinking. Because why? He said he saw the wind boisterous. Now the wind is kicking up the waves. You can't see wind. Wind is you see the effects of the wind. So what he saw was waves that were kicking up. They're hitting him. Think about the waves. I mean, I've meditated on these verses so many times, and I think about walking on water like this. Are you gonna go up and down, you know, like that, like a cork? I mean, you're probably gonna go, you know, more or less level, and the waves are kind of gonna break over the tops of your feet and hit you in the shin bone and splash in your face. If the wind's blowing like I think it was blowing, to be contrary to a big boat, then that spray is gonna hit you in the face. And you're, you know, there's a lot of things combining to make you think, oh, I'm sinking when you really were walking all along. See, he got what? Distracted. That's the devil. The devil will, he'll use every kind of way in the world to get you to doubt. He'll he'll make, he'll he'll distract you, you know, he'll deceive you. Amen. It wasn't, listen, if he'd have just kept going, if he'd have just said, you know, I'm walking on the water to Jesus, he'd have just kept right on going. But instead he said, Oh, Lord, save me. It came out of his mouth. What comes out your mouth can sink you, or it can keep you going. So doubt robbed him. He began to sink. Jesus caught him. They walked all the way back to the boat, so Jesus had enough faith for the both of them. And uh doubt robbed the eleven, possibly. But I mean, the eleven are watching him. I mean, you know John wanted to get in there, but he was too chicken. John and Peter, I mean, I, you know, I've thought about them a long time. They're in competition with each other. They're just like you and me. I mean, they get rival, they have rivals. You know, like AM in Texas. Thank God for AM. They're 7-0 for the first time since 1997. Can't even remember when they were undefeated. But anyway. So uh they're rivals. And so, you know, he wanted to get in there, but when he saw him failing, well, he I knew that was too good to be true. You can't prove that. I know it. I'm just giving you kind of a way to think about things. Let's not put these people up on such pedestals that we don't include ourselves with them. I mean, Jesus didn't say, oh, little darling, don't you dare try to get out of that boat and walk on this water. This is just for me. You can't do this. I, you know, you just stay over there, little darling. No, he said, come, which means all of them could have come. And they got robbed the same time Peter got robbed. Are y'all with me now? I mean, our lives affect more than just us. There are people watching you. They're watching your stand of faith, they're watching you. And you don't know it. You might not even know who they are, but they're watching you. And then when you stumble and fall and give up and faint, willing, they just say, eh, I knew that Christian, Christianity business was just a bunk. And they uh they don't, your your witness becomes ineffective. So doubt robbed even uh not only Peter but the eleven, and doubt comes from fear of circumstances. And faith comes what? From revelation of God's word. I mean, you know, he saw Jesus walking, and when Jesus gave his permission said, Come, that's all Peter needed. Simple faith to get over the side of that boat. He had more faith than the rest of them. The rest of them didn't get over the side of the boat. All of them heard him say, come. He didn't say Peter come. If somebody was across the lake and somehow could have heard Jesus say, Come, they could have come. I mean, he just opened the door. This is the supernatural doors are open in front of us, and he's inviting us. Come on. Walk on the water with me. Glory to God. So faith begins where the will of God is known, and doubt comes from uncertainty about God's will. That's why we've got to get certain about God's will. And uh faith sees, we talked about that. Faith sees. You know, a five senses. All doubt comes through your five senses. Your body has five senses, but your spirit has five senses. And the Bible talks about the eye of faith, or the vision of faith. Faith sees what other people other people don't see. Faith people see things beyond the natural into the supernatural. Faith sees healing when other people see sickness, faith sees prosperity where other people see loss and damage. Faith sees, and then faith receives. So we could say it this way: the hand of faith takes hold of what the eye of faith sees. So we need what? Hand-eye coordination. I mean, if you see it in the word, you better get ready to take it and catch it right now because faith is now. Faith is not later, faith is now. We believe we receive when we pray, we believe when we we receive when we say, and then we shall have. It's gonna take a while for the having, but we receive it right now. Whenever we see it, we receive. Everybody say, I see what I receive what I see. And then it shows up. See, that's that's how it works. Hand-eye coordination. We talked about the wide receiver for the Texas years ago that I talked about, how he would catch with one hand passes. And uh so faith sees the promise and calls of things that be not as though they were. We talked about the language of faith and the language of doubt. See, we've got to lock out the language of doubt. Lock it out. Lose it. Don't allow the language of doubt coming out your mouth. You know, and we 1 John 5 4 last week. Faith, uh, he that uh this is a faith, this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. So faith is the victory that overcomes the world, then doubt is the victory that that overcomes the believer. See, doubt is the victory that overcomes the believer. The devil wins when we doubt. We win when we believe. Alright, so this week, let's turn over to Hebrews chapter 10. I open the service with these verse, some of these verses. Because it's in me and I it's in my normal reading. I just, you know, Brother Osteen taught me this years ago. You said you feed on the word and then and what what you feed on, feed the church. I mean, I don't I don't try to come up with some fancy sermon and some kind of tricky alliteration and all of that kind of thing. Sometimes I do have a prophetic kind of aside to the to the messages, but but really basically I feed you what I feed on. What blesses me, what what gives me strength, I just turn around and give it to you. And so here in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23, it says, let us hold fast the profession or the confession of our faith without what? Wavering. For he is faithful who promised. So we don't have to waver. He doesn't waver. He's not one way one day and another way the next day. God is always consistent. God is not random, he doesn't do random. A lot of people just think something shows up, well, God just got was in a good mood today. No, God's always in a good mood. But he's not in a good mood when he sees unbelief. It makes him angry. You better figure that out. I mean, if you want to please God, you never please him by being a doubter. He loves every child, but he's not pleased with every child. Because faith pleases God. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. I mean, you know, it just says it. Point blank. And so we're gonna please our heavenly Father, we need to be faith people. So he said, you know, hold fast your profession of your faith without wavering. He's faithful to promise. And down to verse 35, cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. Look at that word, great recompense. Great payback. What? Confidence. Don't fling away, cast away, throw away your bold confession. See, confidence is your bold confession. He's doubling down on your confession. What you say about anything, what you say about everything, counts, whether it's positive or whether it's negative. I mean, when you say something negative, you just undid all the positive. You erased it off the board. Think about that one. I didn't say when you thought about it, I said when you said it. See, you can have all kind of negative thinking in your brain. I mean, we're, you know, look, a lot, all the thoughts that you think, they're not all from you. Some of the thoughts that come into your mind are from the devil. He'll throw a thought at your life at your mind and see if it'll stick. How does he know it sticks? If it comes out your mouth, and he knows, all right. I got them now. I knew they'd bite on that one. See, he knows your issues. He knows you. He's got, he we call them familiar spirits. They're little demons that are that accompany every life that's born on the earth. They have what we call familiar spirits. It's similar to DNA, it's similar to your family line. Your mother had a family line that she inherited from her parents and their parents and their parents, and then you get married to this person, and they've got a family line, and then they get together, and now you procreate and you create a child, and that child has got all these people that are make up their physical uh DNA, but they also have a spiritual DNA. They have a spiritual demonic power that runs down that line and they will try to influence. And that's why you see certain things run in families. You see suicide running families, you see cancer running families, you see heart disease running families. Why can't we have healing running families? Why can't we have salvation running? Well, we can. That's what I'm talking about this morning. I'm talking about you can have what you say. That's what Jesus said. So then it says here, uh cast not away, therefore, your confidence, your your bold confession of faith, which has great recompensive reward. For you have need of patience that after you've done the will of God, you might receive the promise. See, a lot of times we just get a little impatient. He says you need patience to walk by faith, because faith is not instant. Faith is never instant. We don't get things just like that. It takes seed time and harvest. Faith is like a seed. You plant the seed of faith with a confession of faith today and you reinforce it tomorrow and the next day and the next day, and at some point in time it comes to pass. So, in between that first day and the time it comes to pass, let's we have need of patience. See, that's what that's talking about. Have need of patience after you've done the will of God, you'll receive the promise. Yet a little while he that shall come will come and will not tarry. The word he there can also mean it. What you were believing for. It's not just talking about the coming of the Lord, it is talking about the coming of the Lord. He's gonna come. We might get tired of saying he's coming soon because soon can't runs into decades. We've been saying he's coming soon since I got saved. I thought he was gonna be, I thought rapture was gonna happen right after I got saved. And now it's been 40 years. And now he hadn't come yet. So well, one day with the Lord's a thousand years. A thousand years is one day. You gotta get used to his timetable. It's useless to look at the clock and the calendar. Are y'all with me now? Forget a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith. And if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Now that's not talking about your spirit. Your spirit saved. This is written to born-again believers. What's he talking about saving the soul? The soul is the mind, the will, and the intellect. The soul has to be reprogrammed. Your brain thinks like the world thinks, it thinks like everybody else on the world. It thinks negatively, it's programmed negatively, and it takes a lot of work to bring our confession back in line with God's word and go against the normal way of thinking in your mind. Are you with me now? That's called saving your soul, and it's a process. And you have everything to do with it. All right, so uh let's turn over to Galatians chapter six now. Back a few pages here. Galatians six. Verse nine. And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season, everybody shout, due season. We shall reap if we faint not. In due season we shall reap if we faint not. Look at the if that's a big if. If we faint not. See, fainting, giving up, losing hope. Saying, well, this faith, you know, I've been standing in faith for this thing for a long time. I've been calling the thing that be not as though it were for a long time. Nothing's changed. I can't see anything change. And then you start talking against what you've been believing. What did that happen? You fainted.
unknown:That's right.
SPEAKER_00:You fainted and you dug up everything you planted. You dug it up, it's never, it's not going to come to pass. Now you've got to start over. If you're going to start over, I mean, man, it might, you know, you know, you you can start over growing chives, growing basil, some, some little, little, some of these, these, these plants, they grow almost overnight in your windows, in your in your window box, in your kitchen window. You can grow herbs and they spring right up. But if you're going to plant an apple tree and get an apple that you can actually eat from an apple seed, you're going to have to pack a lunch. It's going to take a long time. And if that thing grows up and it's starting, it's about six foot tall, it's not putting on apples yet. It's just six foot tall. And it's tired of waiting on. I'm just going to cut this thing down and use it for firewood. And then you repent. Oh, I wish I hadn't done that. Well, guess what you're going to have to do? Start over. You might die before it comes. You might run out of time before it. Are you with me now? Some people go to heaven. They go to heaven because they couldn't maintain a consistent confession of faith when they're fighting disease. I'm telling you, it's not as easy as it looks. It takes determination. Are you with me now? Everybody say I'm not a feiner. Alright, and then let's look at James chapter 1. Go back to Hebrews and turn over a few more pages to James chapter 1, verse 5. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, which giveth liberally to all men, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. See, wisdom is God's will. You don't ever have to wonder if God will give you wisdom, because God will give you wisdom every time you ask for it. It's his will. But it got this this verse goes along with anything that's God's will. You don't even have to ask for healing because healing already belongs to you. He already got it for you. You don't have to get it. You just receive it. Are y'all with me now? But let him ask or make a demand. See, the word ask means to make a demand on the covenant. Let him make a demand on the covenant in faith, nothing wavering. Here's that word again. See, faint, waver, faint. They all mean the same thing, basically. It means doubting. Wavering means unstable. It means, you know, you're just kind of in and out, up and down. It's all about emotional, how you feel in a particular day. I feel saved today. I don't feel, oh, I'm lost. I think, oh, I've disappointed God, I must be lost. No, we're going to teach you how to stay out of the emotional realm. You have them, but you're not led by them. You're not controlled by them. Some people are just too emotional for their own good. They just they just go off what we used to call half-cocked. You know, a gun is kind of dangerous if it's half-cocked. All right, so uh. So any lack of wisdom or lack of something, you ask God, and he gives it to you. Doesn't bicker with you about it. It'll be given him, but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers, he that doubteth, is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord. You know, God is so mean. No, he has a certain way, he deals with everything, and it's by faith. The just shall live by faith. We are designed to live by faith. Faith is the default way a believer should live at all times. And when we live not by faith, when we live according to the emotion, when we live by all this other stuff, it comes and goes in our lives, then we're not pleasing God, and God is not. I mean, it won't work. You can't get what God paid for already. You can't get your, you don't have a seat on the train. Your seat on the train and get, you're not sitting there, you're out in the, you're still out in the terminal. I heard about somebody visiting the uh the big train terminal there in Washington, D.C. I think it was Jesse was talking about, he was in that terminal there where that, and we've been there in that terminal to catch the the subway, the trains. They've got a really beautiful, uh, beautiful, gorgeous uh Grand Central Station, sort of like building. And the last number of years have been filled with the garbage and graffiti and nasty. Now it's all sparkling clean since Trump sent the federal troops in there. They've been doing more than arresting these crumb balls. They've been out there spit polishing the tile in the Grand Central Station and kicking all the criminals out of there. But uh anyway. Thank God. You know, we we we're designed to live by faith and not by sight, up and down, up and down, in and out. No wavering. If you waver, you don't you don't have any right, you're not you're receiving nothing. When I think about wavering, I think about not having a systematic discourse. Remember, Jesus said, uh, whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Mark 11, 23. Whosoever shall say or speak words to his mountain, be thou removed, be that cast into the sea. A mountain's a pretty big. Why did Jesus use the word mountain? Who moves mountains? See, and he used large words to describe the principle of faith. Because your words can move huge things out of the way. Things that you would not be able to move. I mean, you're gonna move a mountain, you're gonna move it one bucket full at a time or something. I saw a mountain of mulch out here on Thursday. I drove by the church. There's this big old mountain of mulch that was delivered to the church right in front of the children's playground, and I knew that we were gonna replace the mulch. It's all worn down and hard surface, and we want a nice soft surface for the kids in case they, you know, fall out of the playground equipment. They're gonna fall on something easier than concrete. But that was a big old huge mount. I said, Oh, thank God we're gonna have a mountain of, we're gonna have a flurry of people to come spread that because that's gonna take a work day to get that done. You know, Saturday, we had a bunch of guys out here, and I salute all of you guys that showed up, but I mean they they took that that big old mountain of of mulch and spread it on that on that playground. It looks, I mean, it looks like a million dollars. I mean, they moved that mountain. Well, you know, it took a lot of work to move that mountain. But your mouth can move the mountains out of your life. Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, be thou cast unto thee, and shall not doubt in his heart, heart, not mind, doubt in his heart, it won't doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass. He shall have whatsoever he saith. So you have the word say or a version of the word say three times. The Greek is lepo, epo, lepo, lego, epo, lego. Lego just means speak. Epo means in the middle, having a systematic discourse. In other words, what you say continually, what you say about it tomorrow, what you say about it the day after tomorrow, what you say about it at midnight when you wake up, what what you say about it at daylight, what you say about your mountain. If you're saying, oh, bless God, it's gone in Jesus' name. Ha ha ha. And you do that over and over and over until he shall have whatever he said. Are y'all with me now? See? So some they just get tired of weary of calling things that be not as though they were. They faint. Some just get impatient. You know? They get impatient. But look, the default way of life is living by faith. 2 Corinthians 5, 7, we walk by faith, not by sight. We walk by faith, not by seeing what seems like, looks like, feels like. Walk by faith. Romans 1:17. The just shall live by their faith. And what we read here in Hebrews, the just shall live by faith. See, that's our default. That's our default, living by faith. And you you're gonna have to get used to living by faith. You're gonna have to get used to living in the way of ignoring what your five senses tell you about your circumstances. And let me tell you, that takes more than just a casual glance at the word of God every great once in a while. You're gonna have to feed on this word on every day. You're gonna have to have a word life and you're gonna have to have a prayer life, especially now. Especially now. Because the devil has got all kinds of distractions. He's got dumpster fires here, dumpster fires here. Anything to get you distracted. Here you are, you're the wide receiver, the quarterback. Jesus has thrown you a pass, it's coming right for you. And all of a sudden the dumpster fire, you look over here and bing, there you go. Thing you were believing for, you didn't. You took your eyes off the ball, you took your eyes off the prize, you took your eyes off the word. Are you all with me now? Everybody say, no wavering.
unknown:No wavering.
SPEAKER_00:So some get weary of calling things that be not as though they were, and they get just, they just they they they say it, and then it grates on them, you know, because why? Well, they're hanging around the wrong people, for one thing. You're hanging around a bunch of unbelievers that are talking speaking. You're casting your pearls before swine. Be careful who you share what you're believing with. Don't don't bother uh speaking your faith to unbelievers. They don't understand faith. Be a witness, but don't start trying to get them to agree with you about your trouble. They'll talk you right back into it. Because why? Because that's how they're programmed, that's how they live. You're living different. All right. So don't let doubt rob you, lock out the doubt. So some people get impatient and get ahead of God and they act in foolishness or presumption. See, we're supposed to act in faith. You know, years ago, I don't know how many years ago, a long time. Dr. Frederick K. C. Price, Dr. Fred Price, you know. And uh he was on television. He'd come on Sunday afternoon, right before Gladys and I'd have to get in the car and go back to Lakewood. And she we'd have the TV on, hear uh, you know, Fred Price preaching. And he started a series on faith, foolishness, and presumption. Man, I mean, I heard the first message on that, and I couldn't I couldn't hang around to hear the whole thing because we're going to church and all that. So I ordered a six tape series, years and years. Years cassette tapes. And man, I listened to that teaching on faith, foolishness, and presumption. Man, it was so good. I mean, that guy was, you know, he's in heaven now, but I mean he was a great Bible preacher and word of faith. Solid word of faith. He and Brother Hagin were real close. Brother Hagin preached at his church. Crenshaw.
unknown:Christian center.
SPEAKER_00:Huh?
unknown:Christian Center. Crenshaw Christian Center.
SPEAKER_00:Crenshaw Christian Center. 10,000 seats. He had a 10,000 seat auditorium before anybody in the whole country had one. And that place was packed. And he was entertaining. And of course, you know, if you were heavy sitting on the front row, he would make fun of you. And I, you know, that I thought, how did you ever pack out of church making fun of his own members? But he'd get up there and just, but he, you know, it all turned out fine. He was he was not really mocking people. They all laughed. He had a great sense of humor. But what is presumption? Well, you know, you go off and you go on, you presume that something is God's will. It's not a sin. It's not outside the word of God. It's just like, you know, you need a car and you presume that you're going to buy Mercedes bins. And you go out and make that happen, and you can't really afford a Mercedes Benz, and you can't pay for the, and the first time you take it in for service, you can't pay to have it serviced. And was that God, was that faith or was it presumption? See? Well, what wasn't that foolish? Well, no, because it's not a sin to need a car. It's not a sin to believe for a car. It's presumption to get one that's bigger than what you can take care of. You need to count the cost. You need to look at and be and be reasonable. Pray about what God has for you. God's got something for you that'll be a blessing and not a curse. Are y'all with me now? And then, of course, there's foolishness, which you have no, you have no right to the thing that you're saying you believe for. What would that be? Well, that'd be like uh, you know, I'm married, but uh I married the wrong woman, and and and and you know, Lola over here is the right woman. And God has given me her for my wife. See, I've heard this, I've seen this in church. Don't look so innocent. I and then, you know, people get deceived. That's foolishness right there. Or else, you know, you decide that you want to get married and you marry an unbeliever. Well, that's pretty foolish because the Bible forbids that. The Bible says, do not be uh unequally yoked with the unbeliever. See? Glad as sin when she married me. She should have turned me down flat. She'd been paying for it ever since. No, she hadn't. Thank God I got saved. Thank God she listened to me and not the Lord. I can't believe I said, All right. I might need a ride home. Lock out the doubt. See, that's that we're we're the just shall live by their faith. We're we're developing our faith all the time. God gave us the original faith when we got saved. And uh and what we do with that amount of faith, faith can grow, faith can increase and should. And so that's all up to us. All failure in life is a faith failure. You might as well just add it up. All failure is a faith failure. So uh faith begins where the will of God is known. Don't fling away your confidence, your bold confession, and don't let the language of doubt rob you. Believe and receive, or doubt and do without. So uh I haven't given this testimony in quite some time, but I I failed to give you a part of uh the I can't give the whole thing today because it's too long and involved, but I'll give you the first part about uh where we are this morning. Why don't you look down at the floor and say, I'm sitting on a miracle? Look around this building. I'm in a miracle. See, this is a product of faith. And this is what faith produced. But back in 1996, we were in our first building on 1960 where the super target is right now, and uh we were crowded. We had no more room for growth inside or outside. The parking was, we didn't have enough parking, we didn't have enough room, and uh we were discussing what to do about it, you know. And I brought my I my land, we've had three landlords in the history of this church. This was our first landlord, businessman here in the area who owned a lot of properties and and stuff. He was a developer and a land speculator and also a stock trader. He he made a lot of money in the stock market. And his office was right on 1960 in a bank building. Whenever I would go to pay our lease payment, I never mailed it. I always took it in person. I'd walk in his office, his secretary would say, Is he available? And and I could see him, and if he didn't look my way, I'd just give her the check. But most of the time he'd look my way and wave me in, and I'd go sit down and talk to him, and just talk to him like he's a believer, talk to him like he's a spirit-filled believer. I'd tell him about miracles on my latest missions trip. I'd tell him about something happened. Anyway, one one time I brought our lease, our lease money was$5,000 a month. That was the lease. And uh it was a year and a half, it was June of 96, and we'd been in the building six, you know, 18 months, and he saw the progress at John. He said, You're crowded down there. I said, He said, Let me let me I got a proposal for you. I've been thinking about you. He said, you know, I've got some tracts of land, here's a map. I've got several five-acre tracks and one 10-acre track. Why don't you go take a look at those those tracks of land and decide, and I will build you a 15 to 20,000 square foot building on one of those tracks, and if you sign a five-year lease, I will keep your lease payment the same as what you're paying right now,$5,000 a month. Now we're we're in a 9,200 square foot building. So he's proposing to double our square foot for the same money. Are y'all with me now? I mean, how many of you would just go ahead and go, wow?
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Which I did go wow, and I thanked him for that such a generous offer. I said, you know, I you know, I gotta go pray about this and find out what God wants me to do. It sure sounds great, though. Thank you. Because I saw it as a great opportunity and I and I prayed. God said no. And I could, I said, are you sure? Anyway, don't ask innocent. He said no. I thought, uh, you know, and uh I kept praying, you know, and and you know, he basically gave me leeway to buy the property and start the process of building our own building without a lease. He didn't want a lease. And so I said, All right. So I went back to our landlord the next month. I said, Thank you for that. That was such a generous offer, but God won't let me do it. I said, I got a blockage on it. But I said, I am interested in buying a tract of land and building our own building. He said, Fine, I'll I'll sell you a tract of land. He said, Here, here, here they are. I got three five acres and one ten acre. I'll sell it to you for twelve thousand dollars an acre. I said, Wow, really? Yeah, I'll finance 100%. Nothing down. If you can't make any payments, I'll just not have any payments for a year or two until you can make payments on it. And then I'll just charge you interest only. We can amortize it on 15, 20, even 30-year amortization if you want to. If you want to go 30-year amortization, you know, and lower the payment and give you a five-year balloon note at the end of five years, then you've got to pay me. And if you can't pay me at the end of five years, well, we'll work it out. We'll work out, you know, whatever you need, because I don't want the money land back once you've paid interest on it. I'll I'll work with you, but I can't, you know, I have to have a five-year balloon to handle my. I said, Oh, you're generous. That's awesome. That's a that's a deal.$12,000 an acre. Listen, I'm a builder and a developer out here. I know what land costs, and it's he's given it to us wholesale. Wholesale. It was a deal. And so I've got the favor of the Lord, and we're going out to look at the first track on Hanes. Now, Haynes is a little road, if you ride off 1960. The street is so narrow that two cars cannot pass without both cars getting one one one set of tires off of the pavement. They have to you have to drive off the pavement part to get two cars to pass. That's how narrow the street is. So it wasn't very impressive. And one was on Shiloh Church, one was on Haynes, and one was on Theol. Ten acre track on Theol. So I started on Haynes, and I'm standing, I parked, you know, kind of halfway in the car. I didn't want to go all the way in the ditch, so I've got part of my car parked on the road, you know, to look at the place. I had a couple of people from the church with me, and Gladys and I, just four of us. And as I'm looking at this property, you know, just looking at it, looking at it, I saw something above me, and I looked up and I saw a circle with a star. Big old huge circle and a star, and I'm reminded of, in fact, the first thing that came to my mind is Matt Dillon. You know, gunsmoke, Marshall Dillon. Don't look at me so innocent like you've never watched it. I wouldn't miss an episode when I was a kid, but I watched all, you know, Matt Dillon, and I thought I kind of chuckled and I said, What is that, a new sheriff in town? I mean, you know, I didn't. And it came and it lit on the property right in front of us. Like that. Just like that in the center section, about that big, maybe bigger. And I'm looking at this, you know, and I, and I'm just kind of didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. And then suddenly it's like I'm on a, I go up, up, up, and I'm looking down on this little tiny circle with a star, and it looked like a like a map would denote Austin or Washington, D.C., or any other state capital or national capital, capital of anything, is a circle with a star on it on the map. That's what I saw. And I said, Lord, and out loud, I said, Lord, what are you saying to me? Are you gonna make us a capital? And he spoke two words regional center, which I'd never heard of. And so, I mean, I I left there and I didn't look at any more land. I went back and started praying, and uh I thought, what are you saying? What does this mean? And he let me know. You know, Lakewood was a regional center. It's a place, it's not a local church. People come from all over, and that was true of our building, even in our very first service. We had people from all over town come to our first service and always did. We were not really truly a local church. We had people come from every part of town. They came came from Conroe, from Kingwood, from Tosca Cita, from, I mean, you just name it, uh, you know, uh Southwest Houston, uh all over town. And so uh, and this thing about the capital, I I knew God was giving us executive, legislative, and judicial authority, which is housed in the capital of your where your government is. It's governmental authority. I didn't understand it. I didn't know what it meant. And but I was, I was, I realized that five acres wasn't enough. See, I I went out with five acres, everybody say five acre faith. And with one revelation, which was a spectacular guidance, it was a vision from heaven that I received and didn't doubt, as from the Lord, and a word from God, regional center. I had that word, come, go. Are you with me now? Talking about faith now, that just shall live by faith. And so with that faith, I thought, well, I need 10 acres, at least, and then really I need 20 acres. I'd like to, and so I thought, you know, I'm gonna go back to my landlord and say, look, if you've got a 10-acre piece that I can buy, and then 10 acres next to it that I can buy an option. In real estate, you can buy an option. First right of refusal will buy you a certain option for a certain length of time. And so I went to him with that proposal. And I said, Yeah, I looked at that five-acre, but now I think I need more. I think 10 with an option for 10. He said, and he just he never even answered the question, do you have that? He said, Have I shown you my 63-acre track? And I almost fell out of the chair. Because he's got more faith than I do. I've got 10-acre faith, maybe 20-acre faith. And he's got 63-acre faith. And remember, he says 12,000 an acre. And multiply 63 times 12,000, that'll kind of knock your socks off. And so I said, uh uh, he said, well, let me show it to you. And so he laid out the plaid on the on the thing, and he said, I see this this road here is Richie Road. It comes right through this this 92.7 acre tract, and it's divided between 63 acres that fronts, you know, on Ritchie Road and this other uh tract. Uh they both front on Richie Road. He said, I could sell you either one, and you'd have frontage on Richie Road. He said, you know, you really ought to buy both of them. In fact, really, you've ought to buy the track down the street. I've got a track down the street, I'll sell you for 16,000 an acre. It's right on the corner. Right. This is the track that he was talking about back then, back in 1996. He was talking about this track back then. But I said, oh no, no, I I think the 63, I man, I'm I'm I'm my mind spinning. I'm gonna have to go back and pray some more. How soon do you need no hurry? No, no, I don't have anything going on there. I'm they're just they're available. He said, there's nothing happening. So I I took a couple of months and I prayed it out, and I I went from five-acre faith to ten-acre faith to sixty-three-acre faith. I went back and I said, Okay, I want that 63-acre track, but I can't pull the trigger yet. That's just too big a bite to take where we are at. I mean, I I can't, I know I you've offered this wonderful terms, but yet at the same time to obligate the church at this stage is a little, this is way up above what I was thinking before. I said, What would it take for me to buy an option for this 63 acres? That I would have first ride of refusal. He said, Shake my hand. I said, Shake your hand. You don't want any money, no. I give you first ride of refusal. If I get an offer on this, I will call you first, and you'll have you'll have first ride of refusal at the price that's offered. And I just shake my hand. And we shook hands. We didn't even exchange money. Well, a year later, are y'all getting this now? I'm talking about the just shall live by their faith. I'm talking about, you know, praise God. I announced to the church we're a regional center. We just bought 63 acres of land. We shook hands on it. And I had a bunch of men in the church that didn't go with me. They didn't like it. They didn't, I'm gonna tell you something, not everybody is, I had no choice. I needed to put this out in front of, but God used it as a place to prove people out whether they would line up with their pastor or not. Line up with the anointing or not. Not everybody's gonna go with you where you're going. Not everybody's gonna go as high as you're gonna go. Not everybody's gonna go beyond where where you're gonna go. You're gonna go all the way. You're gonna go beyond, you're gonna go higher and higher and higher. We were singing about it this morning. Not everybody that you know is gonna go with you. So um uh in about a year later, we had a businessman in the church who had was in the oil tool business and manufacturing business, and his testimony was this that when everything was crumbling, when the church had started back in the early 90s, oil was way down, and they couldn't, they had to lay off all their guys. They had very little business, and what few wells were going, him and his partner would go to the shop and create and ship out the products that they needed. The working real hard just to keep, and they they got into debt. They were they were uh, I think it was four million dollars in debt. The bank wanted their money, and and his partner slammed the keys down, says, if you can do any better at this business, here, it's yours. We'll we'll walk away. And he slid the slid the keys over across the table. He was not a believer. This guy that came into our church was a believer. And uh and the bankers, oh no, no, don't take us. We're we're here to work with you. And he he gave him the keys back, and they worked with them and and finally wound up forgiving part of the debt, and I mean, just basically walked away from the loan that they had loaned, and and and then oil started going up, and about the time he said, Pastor, would you get an agreement? We've got our business for sale, and it sold for$12 million. Or excuse me, it sold for$8 million, which was a$12 million turnaround in two years. Can you say miracle? So they they split$8 million,$4 million went to him,$4 million to the partner. He brought a$400,000 tithe check to the church, Glorious Way Church,$400,000 and laid it at the apostles' feet. Now that's a tithe. A tithe is not for a building program. The tithe is not to go buy land, the tithe is to go in and pay the salaries of the staff, which included Gladys and I and Jay and uh Claire. We didn't have a staff. I mean, with all rights, if I was as guilty as the men that left and lied about me and lied about my family, if I was like that, I would have taken all that money and put it in my pocket. But we put 200,000 with that 400,000 and made a down payment. So I called the landlord. I said, okay, I'm ready to do business. He said, Oh, John, I meant to call you. I almost dropped the phone. He said, I've got two offers on that land. And I said, Oh. And he said, Don't worry about it. I'm honoring, I'll honor. I'll I just want you to know though, it's 92.7 acres because the county has changed their mind on that, and they're not going to put Richie through that property. So if you want frontage on Richie Road, Richie Road is going to be where Bourgeois is, and if you want frontage on it, you'll need to have all 92.7 acres. Now I'll sell you part of it, but you you won't have frontage. I said, I let's talk about it when I get there. So I had the 600,000 to put down, and we're still gonna owe then on the total$650,000, so$1.25 million for 92.7 acres. I had a witness to go forward. We bought 92.7 acres. So I want you to see the faith went from five acres to 10 acres to 20 acres to 63 acres to 92.7 acres. And I don't have time to tell the story about how that happened from here to here, but now we're here. Now we're here because we're here because God wanted us here. God provided the way, the means, he will provide the means for you if you'll decide to lock out the doubt. I had a lot of naysayers. I had a lot of naysayers. Oh, pastor's gone crazy. Whoever heard of a church three years old buying 92 acres of land, he's out of his, he's trying to enrich himself, he's trying to get rich. No, I'm trying to get you rich. I've already got one guy that's richer than I mean, he's rich now. He got, he blessed the church with his money. Are you with me now? Don't let doubt rob you. Lock out the doubt. All right, three things real quick. Number one, be hungry and thirsty for God and his best. See, his best. God's not trying to give you leftovers, he's not trying to give you used, he's not trying to give you used up. He's trying to give you the best. He's trying to give you something good. He wants you to have success. He wants you to have blessing. He paid the freight on all of it. Everything you need is paid for. Everything you need. Jesus' blood is purchased. So take time to eat of his word and drink of his spirit. Take time. Psalm 37, 4 says, Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Years and years ago, I've heard that, you know, ministered, but what God showed me is if you'll desire, if you'll delight yourself in the Lord, he will implant in you his desires for your life. You will want what he wants for you. See, it won't be about you wanting to fancy this or a fancy or nice or that. That's not really in your heart. You just love God. And then he will put desires in you that are beyond what you would even want for yourself. Well, where's your word for that? Well, how about Solomon? Have you ever heard of him? Because Solomon was king. David made him king, God made him king, and David couldn't build this temple, but Solomon built the temple, and when he finished the temple, he had a dream. And in the dream, God asked him, in the dream, not in the reality, in a dream at night. He's asleep. And in the dream, God said, Ask away what you would want. And he said, Lord, I need wisdom. This is such a wonderful people that I'm king of. And I and I just coming in and out of you like a little child. I need wisdom to rule your people. And he said, Oh, you've done a wonderful thing. Because you didn't ask for riches and honor for yourself. I'm going to give you that which you've asked for, but I'm going to give you rich and honor in such abundance that no one has been as rich and no one has been as honored like you ever before or ever again. Oh, glory to God. Come on. I mean, God implanted that in his heart because he was a what? Worshiper. You start worshiping God, and God will have you desire things. And I thought, where did that come from? It came from him. So spend time worshiping him. Be hungry and thirsty for God and His Word and His eat of His Word, drink of His Spirit. Number two, keep the door open for God. Resist doubt continually. See, don't talk sickness. Don't talk lack. Don't talk defeat. Don't talk it. Remember, everybody say this. Faith's confessions. Everybody say it together. Faith's confessions create realities. See, well, also, doubt's confessions create realities. You can it goes both ways. That's the kind of that when we got saved, we're in the God class of being. And so when we speak in a negative way, it's it's self-fulfilling. It will come to pass what we're saying. It'll come to pass because you convince yourself you're the greatest preacher you'll ever hear. What you say, you your spirit, it's it's it's scientific fact that your heart hears what you say quicker because it's inside of you. So what you say, you're you're feeding on what you say. That's why it's so important to have a profession of faith and not waver in that profession. Are you with me now? Praise God. Don't talk sickness, don't talk lack, don't talk defout, uh, don't talk defeat. Faith people are full of joy. I mean, you know, I mean, do whatever it takes when you're in a trial, do whatever it takes to laugh. I mean, laugh, if you can't do anything, laugh at the devil. But sometimes, you know, it doesn't hurt to go watch I Love Lucy or, you know, the three stooges, whatever, what you know. I like watching uh old episodes of uh Tim Conway, what's her name? Uh Carol Burnett. I mean, she tickles me. I mean, at least it's clean. There's not any cussing, there's not any nastiness in it. You can't watch normal television now without, I mean, you know, even the ads are unclean. I mean, every ad they've got. Two men kissing each other and all this, selling all these AIDS drugs and stuff. I mean, it's it's like it's like all the time. No, I mean, whatever it takes for you, I mean, uh laughter doeth good like a medicine. I mean, learn to laugh, get some joy, let some bubble joy, you know, pray much in other tongues. You know your mind is gonna doubt certain things. My mind argued with me about 92.7 acres, especially when I had to write that check every month,$5,700, to go on top of the lease payment that we're paying leases on the leased buildings, you know. With leased buildings, I think our last one at Seventh Day, that lease was like$16,000 a month plus$5,700 a month. How would you like to have to write that check every month? And believe God for the money to come in. See, everybody say faith. See, we walk by faith, not by. Did my mind argue, yeah, my mind would, but I wouldn't let it come out my mind. Let uh out my mouth. I mean, you know, uh doubt dies stillborn if it's not coming out your mouth. It's dead. Whatever doubt hits your mind, don't pay a bit of attention to it. Just keep speaking your faith. And then finally, quit looking at the clock or the calendar. In due season you shall reap if you faint not. If. Everybody say if. See, feigning is up to you. Feigning just means giving up, losing heart. No, you sometimes you just gotta talk to yourself. You just say, you know, God said I'd reap if I faint not. I'm not a fainter. I'm not about to faint on this thing. I'm believing God all the way. I've come this far, I'm not going back. I'm living the life of faith. Bless God. There ain't no feign in me. See, get learn to talk to yourself. I mean, get strict with your mind, get strict with your body, and require it to trust God with everything that's in you. Lock out the doubt. Come on, lift your hands and receive today. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Come on, let's rejoice this morning. Hallelujah. Right in the face of the trouble, right in the face of the bad report. Come on, let's just let's just rejoice this morning. Hallelujah. Glory to God with joy unspeakable and full of glory. You know, one thing that I've done over the years is just when I start having my mind bombarded. I know I'm uh nobody's ever had their mind bombarded with negative thoughts, but but I have, and when that happens, I just start praying another tongue. I start praying another tongue. And I just pray in other tongues another five minutes, another ten minutes, another 30 minutes, another hour, maybe another two hours. I mean, you know what? If you're gonna mess with me, I'm gonna pray in tongues all day long, and I'm gonna knock your lights out. I mean, you know, well, I don't have time. Well, you've got time to fail. You got time to die, you got time to go broke, you got time, I mean, you can you've got time to for the devil to do anything he wants to do, but you can put this, I'm telling you, you can lock the door and stop doubt and get the victory. Hallelujah. Father, we thank you.