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 Is The Victory | Mark Hankins
This message focuses on the power of faith-filled prayer and the authority of the believer, rooted in Scriptures such as Ephesians 1, Mark 11, Romans 10, and Acts 16. It emphasizes that faith is not passive belief but active trust expressed through words, teaching that believing and speaking work together to release God’s power. By declaring God’s Word with confidence, believers can overcome obstacles, move mountains, and change the scenery of their lives. The message encourages listeners to hold fast to their confession of faith, agree with what God says rather than circumstances, and live daily with bold expectation, knowing that faith spoken from the heart brings victory, freedom, and supernatural increase.
Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_01:Amen. We're going to pray a prayer in Ephesians that I encourage everybody to pray on a daily basis. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 17 through 23. So I encourage everybody to pray that life-changing prayer. And let's pray it now. I'll pray it and you agree with me. Father God, today we are asking you. You are the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we're asking you to give unto us the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of God. That the eyes of our heart would be flooded with light, that we may know what is the hope of your calling, what is the riches of the glory of your inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of your power towards us who believe, according to the working of your mighty power which you wrought in Christ, when you raised him from the dead and set him at your own right hand in heavenly places, far above all principality and power, might, dominion, every name is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And you put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things, to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in all. So we thank you, Lord, today for that spirit of wisdom and revelation. And we trust the Holy Spirit to give us further light and further application of the Word of God in our lives. We thank you that 2026 will be a year of increase that will increase in our faith, increase in being a blessing to others, will increase in the will and the plan of God for our lives. That we thank you, Lord, for supernatural increase, that new doors and new opportunities and new things will spring forth in our lives. So we're not looking back, we're looking forward to those things that are ahead. Thank you for your amazing grace in Jesus' name. Everybody said amen. Woo! You can be seated if you want to. Praise the Lord. Amen. This morning we're going to talk about 1 John 5, 4. It says, Whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. So you can just write under that. Faith is the victory. All right. I'd like to know if anybody's winning. Well, if you're living by faith, you are winning. Amen. And so faith is the victory. And so I learned from an older gentleman who came to my dad's church when I was 17 how to live by faith. Four times the scripture says, the just shall live by faith. Amen. And then four times the scripture says, God is no respecter of persons. He is a respecter of faith. But he's no respecter of persons, means if he ever did it for anybody, he'll do it for you. Amen. And so learning how to live by faith, I learned from Kenneth E. Hagin, uh teaching on faith. And the scriptures he used the most, I'm going to give you those this morning. And we're going to actually exercise our faith. And the scriptures Dad Hagin used, 2 Corinthians 4.13 and Mark 11, 22 and 23. So if you have your Bible, you can look at that, 2 Corinthians 4.13. It says, we having the same spirit of faith. We have the same spirit of faith. In other words, the Apostle Paul is talking here, and if you saw the adversity and challenges that he went to, you'd say, How in the world did you make it? Paul said, Well, let me tell you what I have. May not be the smartest, may not be the most talented, may not be the best looking, but I do have something. Don't look at anybody when I say that. I said, I do have something. What do you have that keeps you from collapsing, keeps you from quitting, enables you to go forward? What do you have? Paul says, here's what we have. We have the same spirit of faith. The spirit of faith. And he says, and here's how the spirit of faith works: I believe and I speak. So really only two ingredients to the spirit of faith is number one, be a believer. Be a believer, but it's not enough just to believe. He said, I believe and I speak. Somebody said, even the devil don't care what you believe if you'll be quiet about it. And so there's something supernatural that happens when you as a believer say what you believe. Well, I believe God, I believe in the power of the blood of Jesus, I believe the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. So it's not enough just to believe, I believe and I speak. Or as Dad Hagin taught us, uh, believing and speaking opens the door to the supernatural. In other words, if you're tired of natural results and you want supernatural results, believe God, believe the word of God, and also do what? Speak. All right, I like to say it this way. If your faith is not strong enough to move your mouth, try it one more time. Come on, I believe and I speak. So if your faith is not strong enough to move your mouth, it will never move your mountain. All right, go to Mark 11.23, because this is what Jesus said about faith, and we know each one of us have a measure of the God kind of faith. We know that measure of faith can actually increase. And we can be stronger in faith. And so in Mark 11, 22, Jesus answered, said to them, Have faith in God. Jesus said what? So if Jesus was here today, how many think we would have had a better crowd? Anyway, but if Jesus was here today, maybe not, huh? If Jesus was here today, he wouldn't tell you anything different than what the word says. And so no matter what you're facing, or no matter what you're expecting, or no matter what you're believing for, Jesus just says, have faith in God. Right? Now my dad would tell us there is a God and I'm not him. That basically meant he was not going to be giving us no money. Anyway, so my dad said, there is a God, and you need to learn to have faith in God. So to have faith in God, um, Jesus had just spoken to a fig tree. If you look at that chapter, Jesus had just spoken to a fig tree, and the disciples came by later and they said, Lord, that tree is withered up. You didn't kick it, you didn't cut it, you just talked to it. Right? And so Jesus said what? He said, I'm Jesus and you're not. No. Jesus could have said, That's a deity trick I learned in heaven, and don't any of you earthlings try it. If you get it wrong, it'll blow the lips off your face. No, Jesus didn't say that. So Jesus had just spoken to the fig tree, and the disciples were impressed with the authority and power of his word. Matter of fact, if you study Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John the four gospels, the most impressive thing about Jesus Christ was his word. There's absolutely no comment in the four gospels of anybody that said, I like his teeth. He has got a pretty grill. I like his teeth. Nobody ever said he's got such beautiful hair. Nobody ever said we like his donkey the best. Nobody said, wonder where he got those sandals. And uh the most impressive thing about Jesus Christ was his words. They said, when he speaks, storms stop, demons leave. In other words, he speaks like someone who has authority. And so when it comes to faith, we call this the authority of the believer. In other words, you don't have to be a preacher. We're talking about the authority of every believer. You don't have to be a preacher, you don't have to be an apostle, you don't have to be a prophet, don't have to be a bishop or a son of a bishop, you don't have to be an evangelist, don't have to be a TV preacher. Somebody woke up on that one. Said, what that a bishop? So don't have to be a TV preacher. All you have to do is do what? Be a believer. Do we have any believers in here? All right. Now he said, here's how the authority of the believer works, or here's simply how faith works. I'm glad Jesus did not say, have faith in God, and the next verse say, Figure it out. Or good luck. No. So the next verse, Jesus makes faith so simple you actually need a theologian to get confused about it. So here's what Jesus said about faith. How many of y'all think he might be an expert? So Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, and here's how faith worked, that whosoever shall say, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain. Now, why did he say mountain? We were already impressed with the tree. Why did he have to crank it up a notch? I believe he did that for like theological, uh Bible colleges, seminaries, and cemeteries. I believe he did that just to make everybody wonder for the next 2,000 years, what did he mean by that? Basically, when he says a mountain, he says, anything that looks too big for you. Anything that looks permanent, never gonna change, it's always gonna be there. But Jesus said, your faith will change the scenery in your life. Let's try this out over here. Your faith will change the scenery in your life. Amen. So he says, a mountain represents anything too big for you, and a lot of times the devil will throw mountains in your path to try to hinder you from getting to your destiny. I'll try to block you from the blessing of God in your life. So he says, Here, you have authority as a believer. You don't just have to camp out by the mountain, you don't have to live by the mountain. He said, You can move that mountain. Let's try that one more time. Your words give you authority over devils and disease and even changing circumstances in your life. You have authority as a believer, so you don't have to spend your life as a victim. A victim means that the wine never leaves your voice. Or you could say it this way the spirit of faith will take the victim out of your voice. Amen. And put what confidence or boldness in your voice. And so he says, you say to this mountain, what are you going to tell the mountain? He didn't say just call up your friend and describe the mountain to him. He said, You talk to the mountain. Don't just talk to God about the mountain. You have authority, you talk to that mountain. What are you going to tell it? Be removed. And what? Be cast into the sea. Why did he say cast into the sea? Because if it goes into the sea, that means it ain't coming back. Alright, let's try that one more time. In other words, sometimes people have a situation in their life that seems like it's always coming back, always coming back. But he said, you have authority for that thing to move and never come back.
unknown:Goodbye.
SPEAKER_01:Not only will it move, but he said, There'll be no evidence it was ever there. All right, let's try this out of her. I said, there'll be no evidence it was ever there. Matter of fact, when people look at you, they'll say, Yeah, but you're doing so well. You say, but let me describe where I was a year or two years ago. But I learned about Jesus and the power and the authority of the believer, and I learned to exercise that authority. And now mountains have been removed. No evidence is ever there, and it's not gonna come back. Come on, get a little bit of boldness on your face right now, a little bit of confidence, like, boy, the scenery is gonna change. So faith works the same in every area of your life. We know that's how you got saved and received eternal life, but faith also works the same in every area concerning your health, your healing, your victory over problems that you're dealing with, your finances. Amen. So here's what Jesus had to say about it. Whosoever shall say, Whosoever shall say, This mountain be removed because he shall not doubt in his heart. All that means is don't entertain doubt. Because doubt sure can come to your mind. He just said, Don't doubt in your heart. In other words, don't entertain that doubt, don't let it infiltrate your inner person. So you don't entertain doubt. He says, do not doubt in your heart, but believe. Believe those things which you say will come to pass. In other words, it may not look like it right now. You're saying, I believe and I speak, and it will come to pass. Or I have what I say, not what they say. Amen. So you heard what people are saying. Well, I have what I say, I don't have what they say, anyhow. So, and then Jesus throws in another phrase here. He said, He shall have whatsoever, he said. Now, I was 17 years old, Dad Hagin taught faith, and uh and I finally figured out where my problem was. It was right underneath my nose. How many know at 17 years old? Because Dad Hagin would say, uh, if you're not happy with what you have in life, check out what you've been saying. Not just at church. Check out what you've been saying. If you're not happy, well, I was 17, I wasn't happy. You don't have to wait until you're 40 to be unhappy. You don't even have to wait until you get married to be unhappy. In other words, in other words, I was unhappy at 17, and then I found out here's something that I'm not just waiting on God, God's waiting on me. So here's something I can do to exercise my faith to change my life. Even though I was saved, even though I've been filled with the Holy Spirit, I still had to learn how to live by faith. So he said, Whosoever, who does that work for? Everybody, anybody. Whosoever. Y'all know what really whosoever means? Because Jesus didn't say everybody's gonna do this. But he said anybody can do it. All right, let's try it one more time. Everybody won't do it, but anybody could do it. And somebody's gonna do it. That's what a whosoever is. You're like, I'm gonna do that. Amen. So instead of just describing the circumstances in my life, I'm gonna change those circumstances by the authority of the believer. So Jesus said, Whosoever, anybody can do this, and he ends on whatsoever. All right, let's try that one more time. Whosoever, whatsoever. This will work for anybody, and it'll work on anything. Now you can't hire nobody else to do that for you. All right, I like to say it this way: your mountain needs to hear your voice. In other words, you need to hear the preacher or your pastor's voice, but your mountain needs to hear your voice. Your voice is your address in the realm of the Spirit. The moment you lift up your voice, God says, I know that voice. That's a voice of faith, and now the power of God will come to that address. Amen. So, what you need to do every morning, every morning, if you're gonna live by faith, every morning, you're gonna have to what? I like to tell people, look in the mirror and say, I'm fixing to say a few things. Look in the mirror and say, Don't look down while I'm talking to you. Look in the mirror and say, I'm tired of your attitude. In other words, look in the mirror and do what? Come on, release your faith. I believe and I speak. Now, my mom's favorite passage of scripture, very powerful, but my mom's favorite passage of scripture was Psalms 27. So I'm in the house with my mom, and you could hear her say Psalm 27 regularly. Anyone here know Psalm 27? Anybody here believe Psalm 27? The interesting thing about Psalm 27, it don't work because you believe it. It works because you say it. Alright, let's try that one more time. So, y'all know Psalm 27? Here's my mom. You could hear her saying this in the kitchen. The Lord is my light. All right, now, y'all still with me here? It's not enough to believe that. All right, y'all still with me? I said it's not enough to believe that. He said faith works by believing and speaking. So Psalm 27 is gonna have to come out of your mouth. So the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Let's try that one more time. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Come on, when the enemies, my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. The host should encamp against me, I will not fear. The war should rise against me, and this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle, he shall hide me, and now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me. Therefore, in this tabernacle will I give sacrifices of joy. Somebody let's have a sacrifice of joy. Woo! Lord is my light. That's my mom's, my mom's favorite song. How many of y'all believe it? But who's it gonna work for? The ones who say it, all right? So in Mark 11, 23, go back there real quickly, uh, when Jesus says, say, say, say, you've probably heard me teach on this before, but Dad Hagin set me free from the fear of repetition. In other words, in Mark 11, 23, Jesus mentions the saying or speaking part of faith three times and the believing part only once. Say three times, believe once. So Dad Hagin taught on faith, you know, many, many years, and he got a lot of criticism primarily from other preachers. Other preachers would criticize him and say, you know, you are over-emphasizing, you know, all that speaking and confession of faith. You're over-emphasizing that. So he said, I was just gonna back down some. Sometimes you get criticism, you know, and he said, I'm gonna back down. So he said he went to church to pray, had his Bible open on the altar, and while he was praying, he said, the Lord said to him, How many of y'all know this story? The Lord said to him, Did you ever notice? I love this story, so please forgive me. The Lord said, Did you ever notice that in Mark 11, 23, the speaking or saying part is in that verse three times, and the believing part is only in there once? He said, I never noticed that. So he got his Bible out and he read it. Sure enough, in reference to the believer, say, say, say three times, and what? Believe is only in there once. So he told the Lord, y'all ready for what he told the Lord? He said, Lord, I've read the New Testament through 150 times and I never saw that. The Lord said, Son, there's a lot of stuff in there you never saw. So I read the New Testament through 150 times. So I don't know if you're on your first time, tenth time, or twentieth time, but Dad Hagen, 150 times, and he never noticed Mark 11, 23. So he realized the saying part was in there, so the Lord told him, you'll have to do three times more teaching on the saying part than you do on the believing part. All right, let's try this out over here. You'll have to do three times more teaching on the speaking or the saying part of faith, or you could call that the confession of your faith. He said, You'll have to do three times more teaching on that, or my people will never get it. Are y'all still here? He said, You'll have to do three times more teaching on the saying part of faith. Are y'all still with me? Or even what we would call the confession of your faith. The confession of your faith. Amen. So while we're touching on this, actually, this word, say, is in three different Greek words. One word means to be bold, like you have authority. First one means you have authority, speak with authority. The second one means use your voice and speak out. Come on, your thinking is very important, but Jesus said you're gonna have to speak out. Say that. Come on, you're gonna have to speak out. You're gonna have to use your voice. Or you'd say the authority is in your voice. Alright, let's try that one more time. Y'all stretch out your hands and pray for me. I'm I'm trying not to go too fast. You're gonna have to use your voice if you're gonna change your world. Or if the scenery is gonna change, you're gonna have to use your voice. Amen. And I like to say, get God's word, put it in your mouth, and say it. Because the word of God did not come out of God's pen, it came out of God's mouth. It was spoken before it was written, and it was written so it could be spoken. Amen. So you take the word, y'all got your Bible or your phone, whatever. Amen. When you take God's word, put it in your mouth, then you inhale. You breathe in the life of God. I said you breathe in the life of God. You breathe in the faith of God when you take the word and put it in your mouth. Amen. Or you could even say it this way: this is how you got saved by faith. How did you get saved by faith? All right, go to Romans chapter 10, verse 9 and 10. Whew, I'll come back. Y'all want to know what the last say is? I'll tell you after church. No, I'm gonna tell you tonight. I'll see if you'll come back. So tonight, what time? Six o'clock? Six o'clock tonight? I'm gonna tell you what the last word is. I'm kidding, I'll tell you right now. But if you don't come back, I'm gonna hunt you down. So uh the last word is he shall have whatsoever he saith. That last word is the Greek word Lego. Legio. You say, what's Lego? How many of you ever bought the little toys for your kids? A box called Legos, right? And on the on the pick on the front of the box, you may have a battleship or something on the front, but if you open the box, there ain't nothing in there but what? A bunch of little blocks, little plastic blocks. If you ever step on one barefooted, we will find out if you are sanctified. Anyway, so all the kids love it. They got Lego sets, you know, grandkids, Lego sets. But the word Lego means a systematic set discourse. In other words, it's not just something you said once, it's a systematic set discourse. In other words, this is the way you talk at home. Not just the church. And then the Lord said, if I would have added uh two words to the end of Mark 1123, everybody would be a great faith champion. I said, What two words? He said, if I would have said in church at the end of Mark 11.23, because most people can control their mouth for an hour and a half or two, but he didn't say, you'll have what you say in church, you'll have what you say. Come on, do you want to have that? Then quit saying that and quit saying it. All right, let's keep going here. Quit saying it and quit saying it. Are y'all still here? So I was 17. What I was saying was as big an issue as what I was saying. All right. He should have whatsoever he saith, our Lego, systematic set discourse, or picture would be the battleship. I'm not gonna give you the battleship, but I'm gonna give you the building blocks that it's made out of. So God said, I'm not gonna come on, bring the house down from heaven, but I'm gonna give you the building blocks that it's made out of. So you take the word, systematic set discourse concerning your body, your family, your finances. Amen. Dad Hagin taught us to say, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Does anybody here believe? 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And then he said, add this. I do not lack for ability. I do not lack for opportunity. I never lack for money. He said, say that twice. I never lack for money. Come on, the money will come. Because he said, if you talk and whine about lack, it will keep money from coming to you. Are y'all still here? So when you're facing a challenge, what are you gonna say? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I do not lack for ability, I do not lack for opportunity, and I never lack for money. I never lack for money. I'm blessed coming in, I'm blessed going out. My God supplies all of my need according to his riches in glory. I thank you, Lord, that I have more than enough and I'm well able to be a blessing to others. Now say that happy. Amen. All right, go to Romans chapter 10, real quickly here, because we're gonna cover a little bit more here. Praise the Lord. Romans 10, what's it, verse 8? Romans 10, 8 says. What saith it, the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth. So the word's got to be two places to work for you. He said, the word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we preach. Paul called what he preached the word of faith, because it produces faith and it's activated by faith. So the word has to be where? Two places to work, in your mouth and in your heart. Y'all still with me? Because we're interested in that word bringing us results or changing things, so it cannot just be an intellectual thing. Come on, it's got to get beyond your peanut brain, beyond your intellect. Come on, and the eyes of your heart flooded with light. In other words, revelation has to capture your imagination. All right, let's try that one. We call that meditation. Well, you're meditating on that word, then that revelation captures your what? Imagination, or you start seeing different. The eyes of your heart are flooded with light. Amen. So faith comes by hearing, but here he says, also your eyes, the eyes of your heart are flooded with light. You know what that means? That means you get lit. Let's try that one. I said you get lit. If you ain't lit, let's try this out. I said, if you don't get lit, let's try this out over here. If you don't get lit, then you have head faith, not heart faith. Head faith sounds like faith, it just won't change the scenery. Heart faith is when that word gets on the inside of you and you get lit. Well, that means, as Dad Hagin would say, you get thrilled with the word and it will work for you. Whoo, y'all to get happy right now. Praise the Lord. Come on, that's when the word, come on, the Holy Spirit, do a work in your heart, and the eyes of your heart are flooded with light. Come on, now I'm a preacher and teacher, you know, so I travel around. And so I look, you know, sometimes at hundreds of faces, sometimes thousands of faces. And I can tell when somebody gets lit. Other people, I mean, they maybe may be mowing the yard back at the house. You don't know where their head went. But but when somebody that word hits them and the eyes of their heart are flooded with light, they get lit. They're just like the illustration always uses one of our presidents, said he smoked marijuana, but he did not inhale. So I don't know how he did that. He must have been at a party and everybody's smoking marijuana. Come on, he got a little, but he held it in his mouth. He did not inhale. So he must have been faking it. He's like the other people they inhale when they're getting the full benefit. So when he said that, I just laughed. I thought that happens at church all the time. I said, you know, some people you go, praise the Lord. Other people they inhale and they go, My God, we're fixing to move some mountains, baby. I mean, we're gonna put the devil on the run. I'm tired of him chasing me down. In other words, in other words, the word works on the inside, and you get lit when you get lit. That's the difference between the doctor's report freaking you out, and you saying that mountain's gonna have to move. Hallelujah. Woo! All right, look at this. Romans 10, what's he say? Eight words near you is in two places. What? Eyes, it's in your uh mouth, in your heart, and then uh the eyes of your heart flow with light, and then look at Romans 10, 9, and 10. Are you ready for this? That if thou shalt confess, confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. So this is not the confession of your failure. This is not the confession of your sin. This is what you call the confession of your faith. You know, but some churches they have like a confession booth. You go into the booth. So I had a Catholic, you know, priest, friend. I said, Well, I I can't I'd like to use your confession booth. So you go in there, you say, Yes, I need to say a few things. I need to confess that I'm more than a conqueror through him who loved me. I'd like to confess that I'm washed in the blood of Jesus and my sins are washed away. And you say, Are you still in there, Father? Anyway, so so you're you're not you're not just sin conscious, but you become conscious that Christ has redeemed you with his blood, so now your confession is what? Jesus is Lord. What happens when you say Jesus is Lord? He said, You confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Believe in your heart that what happened? God raised him from the dead, and you shall be what? Anyone in here say? How'd you get saved? You got saved by confessing Jesus as your Lord and as your Savior. In other words, it is that confession. Now read Romans 10 10, because Paul says, I'm gonna tell you how it happens here in Romans 10 9. But he says, just to make sure you understand it, let me repeat it in Romans 10 10. What's it say? For with a heart, man believe unto righteousness. And with a what? Mouth confession is made unto what? Salvation. Or you could say it this way the confession precedes the experience of salvation. So the law of that confession is you confess you have a thing before you consciously possess it. Or I like to say it this way. God will call you things there's no evidence it exists. He calls things which be not as though they were. So all you do with your confession is you say, I'm gonna agree with God, no matter how I feel or how things look. I'm gonna say what God says about me. So God will call you things, there's no evidence it exists. The greatest example of that is Gideon in the Old Testament, and the angel of the Lord comes to Gideon and says what to Gideon. He says, You are a mighty man of valor. And Gideon is there is no evidence that exists. All right, let's try that one more time. God told Gideon, you are, he didn't even say you have great potential one of these days. He just said, I call you that right now. You are a mighty man of valor. And Gideon says, I come from the worst tribe, the worst family in the worst tribe. I'm the worst child in the worst family in the worst tribe, living in a hole in the ground, and you call me a mighty man of valor. God knows things about you you don't even know about yourself. Come on, if God calls you a champion, you must be a champion. God created you, He knows you. So Gideon's whole life changed when he did what? Agreed with God. All right, let's try the word. His whole life changed when he did what? Agreed with God instead of his circumstances, instead of his feelings, instead of his past. He said, I must say what God says about me. Come on. And when you're redeemed by the blood of Jesus, you're washed in that blood. You need to agree with God. No matter how you feel. Praise the Lord. Amen. So let me give you these scriptures real quickly here. He says, confessions made unto salvation. In other words, the law of the confession, or Dad Hagin would say, uh, this is one of the most significant, valuable, and important. Teachings in all the Word of God, and we know so little about it. You know what I meant. Now, in this church, y'all know more about it, but a lot of churches you may never even hear a sermon like this. I learned, I'm I'm not smarter than nobody else. I just learned from Dad Hagen. Fight a good fight of faith. Amen. So Abraham Lincoln, you know, talked about a guy in his village that had a little dog that could whip all the big dogs. You live in the country. It's important that your dog don't get whipped by the neighbors off. None of y'all live in the country? I live out kind of out in the country. Matter of fact, I just uh harvested two nice eight-point bucks in my backyard. How could the Lord arrange such an amazing thing for me? They come in out of the woods in my backyard. I feed them. Then I eat them. People say, Well, you shouldn't be putting out bait. I I put up a sign. When we throw out the corn, I put up a sign that said, This corn is strictly for squirrels. Any deer caught eating this corn will be shot. So it makes some people mad, you know. Facebook I put a big picture of a big buck, I just killed. So that makes them real mad at me, and I have to explain to them. This is something we have done in Texas for many years. If killing bothers you, we call it harvesting. My dad took me deer hunting when I was just a little kid, you know. So it's just uh I still got that, and I got all kinds of guns and stuff. My friends come to our conferences from Europe and other places, and I say, hey, they want to see my gun room. And they're like, My God, I said, just in case war breaks out, we are ready. All right, let's get away from that. So now what was I talking about? Abraham Lincoln, come on. All right, so Abraham Lincoln in his village, come on, had a little dog that can whip all the big dogs. So they asked the guy, how come your little dog can whip all the big dogs? He said, Because your big dog ain't ready to fight until the fight's half over. He said, My little dog stays mad. Now, let me just explain it to you this way. If you're gonna live by faith, you better stay mad. You know what I mean by stay mad. In other words, daily, you're exercising your faith if you're gonna live by faith. You're constantly thinking about what the word has to say and agreeing with God. That's your confession of faith. Amen. So we are instructed in Hebrews 4.14, Hebrews 10, 23, Hebrews 3.1, Hebrews 13, 15, we are instructed as believers to hold fast to our confession of faith. Why would he tell you to hold fast? Hold on tight. Amen. So if you're talking to believers instead of asking them how they're feeling, some people you don't need the Holy Spirit to tell you how they're feeling. You can just look at them. You don't need the Holy Spirit. So instead of asking people how they're feeling, you ask them, what is your confession? Because it is your confession that's going to bring you into possession. What is your confession? All right, and sometimes people say, What is your confession? I say, Well, I know the Lord is touched with the feelings of my infirmities, but my confession is this I'm feeling the same way Jesus was feeling when he overcame this feeling. Y'all understand what I'm saying? I'm not denying that I have the feeling, but Jesus overcame that feeling. So I'm gonna declare what Jesus has done for me, I'm gonna agree with him. Or you could say it this way: if you study the four gospels, Jesus was constantly confessing his identity and his destiny. All right, I'm gonna say that one more time. Jesus was constantly confessing his identity. This is who I am, his destiny. So a lot of times people say, Well, I just want to be like Jesus. Well, look at Jesus. How did he do it? In other words, I'm sure he had some feelings. Nothing more than feelings. You know? So I did that far side comic book years ago and had these uh gorillas playing the piano and banana peelings all over the piano. And they were singing peelings, nothing more than peelings. So, in other words, instead of living by your peelings, live by your faith. Now you understand this is like a like a 52-week series, and you're getting it now before 12. All right. All right, go to uh Acts 16 and I'll finish with this right here. Acts 16. I love Acts 16, 25. I love Acts 16, 25. Woo! Everybody say Jesus is Lord. When I confess he is Lord, what does that mean? That means the devil can't dominate me. Sin cannot dominate me, bad habits cannot dominate me. Sickness cannot dominate me, depression cannot dominate me. Jesus is Lord. Jesus set me free. Now I'm holding fast to that confession. Jesus is my Lord. Jesus said, if you'll confess me before men, I'll confess you before the Father. All right, Acts 16.25, because my time's just about up here, and it's my birthday, so I don't have to work hard on my birthday. All right, Acts 16.25. Y'all ready? At midnight, Paul and Sides prayed and sang praise unto God, and the prisoners heard them. What's the next verse say happened? Suddenly there was what? Earthquake, foundation of prison were shaken, all the doors were open, and everybody went free. All right. At midnight, what happened? Darkest hour. They've been beaten, backs are bleeding, embarrassed, deepest part of the prison, at midnight. They're hurting, they're in pain. At midnight. They could have said, now whose stupid idea was it to come over here anyway? In other words, there's a lot of things they could have done, right? They should have, they could have just went, Oh, I'm hurting. Are you hurting? Now we know you're hurting, but at midnight, what did they do? Spirit of faith. At midnight, what did they do? Says they prayed, they lift their voices to God, then they did what? They started doing what? They started praising God.
SPEAKER_00:Praise the Lord. Thank you, Lord. My father's greater than all. Thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01:And what happened? Earthquake, baby, shook the whole place, all the doors came open, and everybody went free. So when I get to heaven, I'm gonna check out this video. You know they're gonna have a video library in heaven. You go in there at any event, you just go, Oh, I'd like to see Moses splitting out Let's see one more time. So when I check out the video, I'm gonna go to Acts 16, 25. Paul and Silas, powerful men. But here they are at midnight, their hands are bound, their feet are bound, backs are bleeding. So I'm gonna check out the video, but I can imagine what happened. They said, Mr. Devil, you did a good job. Devil, you tore us up. Hands are bound, our feet are bound, our backs are bleeding, but Mr. Devil, you made one mistake. You should have taped my mouth shut. Come on, you should have taped my mouth shut, because if I can move my mouth, if I can lift my voice, no matter what situation I'm going through, if I can lift my voice, if I can start pressing gum, I'm a summer team, come and gumber came, shut up.
SPEAKER_00:Hallelujah. Can anybody move your mouth? Can you move your mouth? You can move a mouth, then if you can move your mouth.
SPEAKER_01:Stand up on your feet, everybody, hallelujah. Let's lift our hands up to heaven and we say thank you, Lord, for your goodness. Thank you for your mercy, your loving kindness. Thank you for the precious blood of Jesus. That we are redeemed and we're delivered from the power of darkness. Christ has redeemed us. We boldly confess Jesus is Lord. Jesus is my Lord. Sin cannot dominate me. Satan cannot dominate me. Jesus has set me free. I hold fast to my confession of faith without wavering. On Sunday, on Monday, Tuesday, every day I lift my voice. Jesus is my Lord. Give the Lord a shout. Come on up here, Pastor. God bless you.
unknown:Praise the Lord.