Grace Haven Church

0:00 And I want to continue to build on the messages that we have been, Mark has been sharing over the last two weeks, which is on overcoming doubts.

0:11 And you know, often we ask people, and even as a staff we do this every single Tuesday, we go through what was our one thing.

0:20 One thing from the service that actually stood out to us, like that scripture stood out to me.

0:25 And what I think this helps me do, in any case, and I'm sure it will help you, it helps to actually think of one thing.

0:34 To actually think, what is that line in the song?

0:36 What is that something that Robert might have said in the MC time?

0:40 What is it something that Jules has shared as she encouraged us in tithes and offerings?

0:44 What is something from here, the word that I'm going to speak today, that is going to stand out, that you're going to ponder on, meditate on, and not just move on from, but actually give due diligence to this week.

0:56 And one of the things when talking to people that has stood out for people is this one line, which is starve your doubts and feed your faith.

1:07 Stave your doubts and feed your faith.

1:10 So it's to that end today that I want to encourage us from the word of God.

1:15 And I want you to take courage, take courage today, knowing that, you know, whether you've got doubts and worries and concerns, you don't have to stay there.

1:26 You don't have to stay there.

1:27 If you're doubting, there's no condemnation at all.

1:30 We're in good company, OK?

1:32 We're in good company because we're in the company of each other.

1:34 But also we have testimonies of old like Thomas, the disciple Thomas, who we've heard about, who actually doubted.

1:41 So when Jesus was resurrected from the dead and he appeared to the disciples and they told Thomas who was not there, I'm not sure what Thomas was doing, but he wasn't hanging out with the crew.

1:52 He was off somewhere else.

1:53 And when Jesus appeared, he wasn't there.

1:56 So maybe there's been times where you think, well, that doesn't happen to me.

1:58 I don't get text messages.

2:00 I haven't felt the presence of God.

2:01 You weren't there.

2:01 But hold on, hold on.

2:04 Hope is on the way.

2:05 Hope is on the way.

2:08 Because it's different for all of us, right?

2:10 It's different for all of us.

2:12 But Thomas then was with them eight days later.

2:15 He probably thought, I'm not going to miss out again.

2:17 If Jesus turns up, I better get myself there.

2:19 I'm hanging out with the rest of the crew, so it's good to be together.

2:23 So Thomas was there eight days later when Jesus appeared.

2:26 And then Jesus said, see my hands, touch my side.

2:31 And Thomas believed.

2:32 He believed.

2:33 And he said, you are my Lord and you are my God.

2:35 And that's awesome.

2:36 But Thomas still took physical confirmation.

2:39 And Jesus actually said to him, you know, Thomas, you believe because you have seen, but blessed are those who have not seen, but still believe.

2:49 Blessed, blessed are those who have not seen Jesus's hands and feet, nail-scarred hands and feet and side, but still believe.

2:59 You are blessed because you believe having not seen him physically.

3:03 Some people have.

3:04 I personally have never.

3:07 But that's not what our faith is in.

3:09 Our faith is in Jesus Christ.

3:11 It's not based on the physical.

3:13 It's based on that spiritual revelation that he is Jesus Christ, the son of the living God.

3:18 Amen.

3:19 And the good thing is it didn't end there for Thomas.

3:21 So maybe Thomas didn't believe and then he believed because he saw, but Thomas went on to be an amazing man of faith.

3:27 You know, it's said that Thomas actually went to India and preached the gospel and all the Indians said, yay, am I the only Indian here today?

3:36 Oh, are you all in the 11 o 'clock?

3:38 Okay.

3:40 But he went and preached the gospel from 52 AD to 72 AD, 20 years of preaching the gospel, spreading the good news, and ultimately blessed him being martyred for his faith.

3:55 So he went from no faith to being willing to die for his faith.

3:58 So wherever we may be, it's okay because he may have doubted initially.

4:03 You may have doubts now, but that was not the end of his story and it does not need to be the end of your story.

4:09 It's just part of our story.

4:12 Amen.

4:13 Times of doubt are not your story.

4:16 Because there is an antidote.

4:19 There is an antidote to doubt and that antidote is found in the gospel.

4:24 The antidote to doubt is found in the good news, the truth that Jesus brings to us.

4:29 It's found in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

4:32 Amen.

4:33 The gospel deals with doubt.

4:36 That was one of my one things, the gospel deals with doubt.

4:40 You know, faith in Jesus Christ enables us to access what grace has made available to us.

4:46 And God has actually given us everything we need to overcome doubt.

4:51 Amen.

4:52 So in order to stop our doubts, we actually need to feed and cultivate our faith.

4:59 And you know, when we cultivate something, if you're cultivating a garden, or any gardener's over here, Constantine's here, I've seen him, he's a gardener.

5:07 If you are cultivating, it's not just much about what you put in, it's also about what you need to pull out.

5:13 And so I think in this moment now, would you be open to the Spirit of God just speaking to you and saying, this is what you need to pull out?

5:20 Because I believe he will drop it into your heart if you're open to him.

5:23 This is what you need to pull out and this is what you need to put in.

5:26 It's going to be different for each and every one of us, but that's what the Holy Spirit does.

5:30 He ministers to the individual.

5:32 So cultivating our faith, because you see in Hebrews 11 verse 6, we're told without faith, it is impossible to please God.

5:41 The message translation puts it this way.

5:44 It says, it's impossible to please God apart from faith.

5:48 And why?

5:49 Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.

5:59 I think that is beautiful that God cares enough to respond to those who seek him.

6:06 But that is seeking him.

6:09 You know, that is seeking him.

6:13 That's not being passive.

6:16 What does it mean for you to seek after the Lord?

6:20 What could you do this week coming that will show that you are seeking after him?

6:27 Ponder on that and think what that could be.

6:30 Because faith is a key element, a key element in our relationship with God.

6:36 And we need to learn to live by faith because this is vital.

6:39 The fact is we're called to live by faith.

6:43 Galatians 2 verse 20 says, I have been crucified with Christ.

6:47 It is no longer I who live, in Jesus' name, but Christ lives in me.

6:54 And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

7:06 I live by faith, not in my own doing, not in my own strength, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

7:16 Oh my gosh, what a love.

7:18 What an everlasting love that has been poured out towards humanity, towards you and I. I wrote down here that if we don't intentionally feed our faith, if we don't intentionally seek after him and feed our faith, we will automatically default towards unbelief.

7:41 Seriously, it's just the weeds are going to grow if you do not attend to pulling them out.

7:48 You know, we've got a ground floor apartment at the back, because I always thought I'd live in the English countryside.

7:54 I have lived in Sydney, I have lived in London, and I have lived in Berlin.

7:57 I have not lived in the English countryside except in my twenties.

8:01 But you know, everybody talks about getting a mansion in heaven.

8:04 I'm so not up for the mansion.

8:05 I want a cottage with a fireplace, thanks very much.

8:08 So in any case, oh my gosh, what did I say that for?

8:12 The garden.

8:13 The garden, the garden.

8:14 Yes, and we've got this garden.

8:15 We're a ground floor apartment and I always wanted a ground floor apartment with a possibility of making it into a garden.

8:21 So even though we moved there and there was nothing except concrete, my dear husband who knows that I always wanted to live in the English countryside has made me the loveliest English country garden in Berlin in a ground floor apartment at the back.

8:36 But he has to work very hard at keeping it to my expectation.

8:42 And we had some of these lovely plants, Bucks plants, I think you know what they are constantly.

8:48 In any case, the caterpillars got to them.

8:53 But he had to pick all the caterpillars off and put some special stuff on it and he's had to give it a lot of attention, a lot of attention because we have to work at keeping that garden.

9:06 And it's the same for you and I. We have to be intentional about our face journey, otherwise we will automatically default to unbelief.

9:15 You know unbelief?

9:16 Other words that can describe that are uncertainty, suspicion,

9:23 hesitation, confusion, insecurity.

9:25 Oh my gosh, the list is too long.

9:27 I had a look.

9:29 The list is way too long.

9:32 And so we don't want to live like that when Jesus has died to give us a grace-filled life, amen?

9:37 So let's just have a look at Hebrews because Hebrews is often referred to as the book of faith and chapter 11 is often referred to as the chapter of faith because it highlights the importance of faith and it also gives us some amazing examples of women and men who actually were great examples of living lives by faith.

9:57 And I'm going to read Hebrews 11 verses 1 and 3 and it says in the amplified version, Now faith is the assurance, title deed, confirmation of things hoped for, divinely granted and the evidence of things not seen, the conviction of their reality.

10:17 Faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses.

10:23 Verse 3, By faith that is with an inherent trust and enduring confidence in the power, wisdom and goodness of God, we understand that the world's universe ages were framed and created, formed, put in order and equipped for their intended purpose by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are

10:48 visible.

10:49 And I've asked the team to keep that scripture up so that the highlighted words there, like assurance, title deed, confirmation, hoped,

11:01 divinely guaranteed, the evidence of things not seen, the conviction.

11:07 And then going on to verse 3, an inherent trust and enduring confidence.

11:14 Like all of these words are the complete opposite to unbelief and doubt.

11:21 And this is what faith can do for us.

11:25 Amen?

11:25 This is what faith can do.

11:28 And I believe that I am in a room of people who want to live this way, regardless of what is going on in the world, your personal or the world at large, that we want to live by faith.

11:44 You see, the world here we can see, the world, the mountains, the galaxies, the stars, the earth, the sea, the oceans,

11:52 they are physical things that we can see with our eyes, but they were created by the invisible word of God.

12:01 And there may be things that you are seeing in the physical.

12:06 Maybe it's health issues.

12:09 Maybe it's relationship issues.

12:12 Those of you that came forward for prayer, there may be things that you are seeing in the physical, but the word of God can go forth and actually hover over them.

12:24 He can actually go forth and bring healing and bring hope and bring health.

12:29 Amen?

12:29 That is what our faith is in.

12:32 Our faith is not in our circumstances.

12:34 Our faith is in the word of God, the word of God, Jesus.

12:39 In John 1, we see that the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.

12:45 That is Jesus.

12:47 Jesus is the word.

12:48 Amen?

12:51 So throughout scripture, we've got many examples of faith, some of which I want to bring today.

12:57 And the first one in Romans 12 verse 3, we see that God has given to each of us a measure of faith.

13:07 So he's given to every single... There's not one person here that does not have a little bit of faith.

13:12 He's given a measure of faith to everyone.

13:15 And yes, of course, there's natural faith.

13:17 There's natural faith.

13:18 You all sat down on your chair.

13:19 None of you went, not sure.

13:21 There's a natural faith.

13:22 Sit down on the chair.

13:23 Those four legs are going to keep you up.

13:25 We all get a big shock if one of the legs give way and we fall off, you know?

13:28 Like we've got a natural faith that if we get on a tram, that it's going to take us to where it's meant to take us,

13:37 ideally without breaking down.

13:38 I'm not sure.

13:39 I've never been on a tram that's broken down.

13:40 I'm sure some of you may have.

13:42 I mean, I've been on trams that have not been on time, but maybe not broken down.

13:47 When you put the key in the ignition of the car, I have an expectation it's going to turn itself on, you know?

13:53 So there's that natural faith.

13:55 But God has given to every one of us a measure of faith.

14:00 Take heart with that.

14:02 Wherever you may feel now, if you know, I just don't have enough faith for this.

14:06 You've got a measure.

14:07 You've got some.

14:08 You've got a portion.

14:10 In Ephesians 2 verse 8, we see that salvation is received through faith.

14:16 It says, for it is by grace, God's remarkable compassion and favour drawing you to Christ that you have been saved, actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life through faith.

14:30 And this salvation is not of yourselves, not through your own effort, but it is the undeserved gracious gift of God.

14:39 So salvation is received through faith.

14:42 Then we see in Matthew 8 verse 26, little faith.

14:46 And we see Jesus saying to his disciples who got all panicky because the storms of life were coming.

14:53 They were literally in a boat and there's a storm.

14:55 They thought they were going to die.

14:56 They were going to drown and die.

14:58 And the waves were just taking over.

15:01 And I think that's the same for many of our lives.

15:03 Sometimes life can hit you and you feel like, gosh, there's another wave.

15:07 Now I've just got myself up and out of the other one.

15:09 Oh, here we go again.

15:10 Well, that's how the disciples felt.

15:12 But Jesus, he was sleeping.

15:14 The Prince of Peace had his head on a cushion.

15:16 He was having a good old snooze.

15:18 And then he got up and he calmed the storm.

15:22 And they were all amazed at him.

15:24 But he turned around to them and said, oh, you of little faith.

15:28 I think there might have been a little bit of frustration in the dear Lord's voice and tone that day.

15:32 Oh, you of little faith.

15:33 He could have kept sleeping and they could have calmed the storm is probably what he was thinking.

15:39 But it doesn't matter if we get it that way where there's things that we could do.

15:44 Jesus is still going to be there to calm the storm.

15:47 Amen.

15:48 So no condemnation.

15:50 Oh, you of little faith, he said.

15:52 But then we see in Romans 4 verses 19 to 21, we see strong faith.

15:58 And this is where we read about Abraham who has a promise from God that he's going to bear a child.

16:07 He's going to have a son in his ripe old age.

16:10 And his wife who also is of ripe old age is going to give birth having never, you know, conceived, had been barren all her young life where she could have had children naturally.

16:21 No, she was going to have a child.

16:22 And this is what it says in verse 20.

16:24 Yet he, Abraham, did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.

16:35 Verse 21, Abraham was fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

16:43 He did not waver.

16:45 He was fully persuaded.

16:47 I think, gosh, when you know that you're fully persuaded, you definitely sound different.

16:52 You speak differently.

16:54 The sound of praise and worship that comes out of your very being is different.

16:58 When you are fully persuaded that God has not abandoned you, that he will never leave you, he will never forsake you.

17:04 When you are sure without a shadow of a doubt that he goes before you, you can be confident that he's gone before you, then you are fully persuaded.

17:13 And Abraham was fully persuaded.

17:14 And you know, the fruit of that was that Jesus came from the lineage of Abraham.

17:20 He was fully persuaded.

17:22 And we know Jesus Christ.

17:24 We have come into this amazing relationship with our Heavenly Father because of Jesus.

17:30 And I thank God for Abraham being fully persuaded.

17:34 Sometimes we need to get a bit feisty.

17:37 What is it in your life or in the life of somebody that you love that is just not okay?

17:42 It's time to get fully persuaded with the Word of God.

17:45 It's time to actually roll your sleeves up and get to work in declaring what God says over the situation.

17:53 Amen.

17:53 Declaring what God says over our city.

17:56 Declaring what God says over our kids.

17:58 Declaring what God says over the youth of today.

18:01 Declaring his truth.

18:03 Declaring his promises.

18:05 And then we see great faith.

18:07 Great faith.

18:08 In Matthew 8 verse 10, the centurion came asking Jesus to heal his servants.

18:15 And Jesus was like, yes, I'll come and heal him.

18:17 And then he was like, no, no, no, no. You don't need to come.

18:22 He basically said, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof but only say the word and my servant will be healed.

18:32 And it says in scripture that Jesus was amazed.

18:34 Can you imagine amazing Jesus?

18:35 Can you imagine Jesus go, whoa, wow.

18:39 Can you imagine amazing Jesus?

18:42 Well, you know what?

18:42 We can with our faith.

18:45 We can amaze him with our faith.

18:46 I would love to amaze Jesus.

18:47 I would love to go, oh my goodness, that's awesome.

18:51 Let's do it.

18:52 Let's have a go.

18:54 That's amazing with our faith.

18:55 He was amazed and this is what he said, I have not seen such great faith.

19:01 So we see that there is measure of faith, little faith, strong faith, great faith.

19:08 And this is the one that really gets me excited.

19:11 This one here, growing faith, which means there's hope for all of us.

19:16 Wherever we may be, little, lacking, whatever, we can all grow in our faith.

19:22 And in 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 3, it says, brothers and sisters, we cannot help but thank God for you, which is only appropriate because your faith is growing and expanding.

19:35 And because the love demonstrated by each and every one of you is overflowing for one another.

19:42 So what we can see here are two very outstanding characteristics of the church here.

19:48 One, that it was growing in their love for one another, which is hallelujah, praise the Lord.

19:52 Great, fantastic.

19:53 Because in John, John 13, it says that they shall know you, are my disciples, by your love for one another.

20:00 And too many times, believers can go around just conflicting with each other on all the things that they cannot find unity on instead of focusing on the thing that we do have unity on.

20:11 And sometimes within a family, I mean, gosh, you know, we've all got families, families.

20:16 Like it just can be a few people and a couple of dogs and there's stuff that needs to be navigated.

20:21 Do you know what I mean?

20:21 Like I have a few people in my family and we have a few dogs.

20:24 So, you know, there's always something to navigate.

20:27 There's always something to do.

20:28 But this church was growing in their love for one another.

20:31 So they must have been walking in love and forgiveness because you can't just be with people without forgiving people.

20:37 Do you know what I mean?

20:37 So godly love.

20:38 And I think that's a good thing.

20:40 May we be known for a church that loves each other, takes care of each other.

20:43 That's there for each other.

20:45 Amen.

20:45 But the second thing is they were growing in faith.

20:48 They were growing spiritually and maturing in their faith.

20:52 And you know, maturity isn't an age thing.

20:54 It's not because you've been in church.

20:56 I've been going to church since I was four days old.

20:59 And you know, I'm 61, as Mark keeps telling everybody.

21:01 And so I've been going, but I am not mature in the things of the Lord because I've been going to church from being four days old to being 61.

21:10 I'm mature in the Lord or maturing in the Lord because I give tension and time to developing my faith.

21:17 It's never ending.

21:18 There's always more.

21:20 You know, the only thing that matures with age are wine and cheese.

21:23 And whilst we like wine and cheese, that's not going to grow our faith.

21:28 It might grow our stomachs, but it will not grow our faith.

21:31 So maturity isn't an age thing.

21:34 And you know, when I first met Mark, you know, like I say, I've been going to church for four days old.

21:40 Mark gave his life to Jesus when he was 23 years old.

21:43 And I remember the pastor's wife coming up to me and saying, you're going to be so good for that young man.

21:49 And I was like, yeah, I know the Bible.

21:53 I'm sure I will be.

21:55 And you know what?

21:57 Because I know that the book of Job is not called the book of Job.

22:01 I know.

22:02 Because Mark thought it was called the book of Job.

22:03 And then, and he, I remember him calling me and saying, oh my gosh, I've been reading about this amazing poor old man.

22:08 Like, oh my gosh, but he still loved God.

22:10 He was, he's called Job.

22:11 What a funny name, Job.

22:12 I'm like, I didn't have the heart to tell him then it was Job, but I told him later.

22:16 And then I remember also him going back to the bookshop at church and saying, excuse me, I've got a dodgy Bible here.

22:22 Because when the pastor so-and -so said to turn to the scriptures, there's no scriptures.

22:26 There's the Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and all that, but there's no scriptures.

22:29 And they had to explain to him the whole Bible is the scriptures.

22:32 Right.

22:34 So here I am, you know, thinking that, yes, I'm going to come along side and just, you know, and to be honest, it was my brother Stephen and his wife that really took Mark under their wing.

22:43 And then six months later gave me, gave him my number.

22:46 And then the rest is history.

22:49 So there he goes.

22:50 Before the data mobile, so it was landline.

22:51 He had to call me on a landline.

22:53 Very purposeful call.

22:54 Yes, there we go.

22:55 In any case, you don't need to know that, but I just thought I'd share it.

22:59 And so, but I remember with Mark praying for some people and he came up to me afterwards and he said, Joyce, when you're praying, he said, it just seems a little bit like, I know, toddlerish kind of prayers.

23:13 I was like, because he was so on fire for Jesus.

23:16 He was talking to everybody about Jesus.

23:18 He was praying for anything that moved.

23:20 He was like, you know, anytime there was a light on in the church, he would just go in, whether it was the elderly ladies having tea and coffee or whether it was a business meeting.

23:26 He just turned up to everything.

23:29 And so he said, just a bit toddlerish.

23:31 He said, like, you know, just praying the word of God.

23:33 And I'm like, okay, okay.

23:35 And then something else happened.

23:36 And he was like, have you prophesied over anybody this week?

23:39 I'm like, prophesy?

23:39 You do prophesy, don't you?

23:41 Oh my gosh, Joyce, you should be prophesying over people.

23:46 He literally read what he read in the Bible and he put it to practice one way or another.

23:51 Bless him.

23:52 He was, he was so in, so mature.

23:56 And it was good for, ended up being good for me.

23:59 It ended up for me to not take for granted and have just a familiarity with what I'd been used to.

24:08 And so I started to go more into the things of the Lord.

24:12 So that's what I'm saying.

24:13 You may have been in the house of the Lord all your life.

24:15 You may know Jesus since she came out.

24:17 You know, I know one of the families who gave birth when we first started here.

24:20 She gave birth to her fifth child and she came from the hospital to church because it was on a Sunday when she was going home.

24:25 She didn't even go home.

24:26 She has a fifth child.

24:26 I can do this.

24:27 So she came to church.

24:28 So you may go to church from being born but that's not necessarily going to make you a mature Christian.

24:34 It's actually giving due diligence to the word of God.

24:37 Amen.

24:38 Growing in our faith.

24:40 So I've shared a few things there, haven't I?

24:43 So in any case, the encouragement is that we can all keep growing in our faith and live lives of faith regardless of the circumstances.

24:52 Because faith does not deny the circumstances.

24:55 I often say it's in spite of the circumstances.

24:57 The fact is in 1 John 5 verse 4,

25:01 it strongly implies that there are going to be things that we need to jolly well overcome in this world.

25:06 And that's never going to change.

25:08 That is not going to change.

25:09 We live in a fallen world.

25:11 So until Jesus comes or we go to be with him, we are always going to have something to overcome.

25:16 It actually says, for everyone born of God is victorious and overcomes the world.

25:22 And this is the victory that has conquered our continuing, persistent faith in Jesus, the Son of God.

25:31 Our continuing, persistent faith in Jesus, the Son of God.

25:36 And you know, the shield of faith that is described in Ephesians 6.

25:41 The shield of faith.

25:43 Paul was riding that in prison.

25:44 He would have been surrounded by centurions.

25:47 He would have been surrounded by people who had armour on.

25:52 And that shield of faith helps us overcome the world because you know, that physical shield was a piece of equipment that when put together, it could actually protect an army.

26:04 And then on this shield, there was this big round metal part that was called the boss, actually.

26:11 And with that, not only could they protect themselves while being under attack, they could also advance with that.

26:18 And this is what we are called to do in faith.

26:21 That's why we need the shield of faith.

26:23 That's why we need to grow in our faith and develop our faith so that, yes, we can be protected against the fiery dance of the enemy.

26:29 But we can also, in those moments, still be advancing, still seeing salvation, still seeing people getting healed and set free.

26:36 Amen.

26:38 I often think of Jesus in his darkest time in the Garden of Gethsemane when he was sweating drops of blood and saying, is there another legal loophole way in which this can be done, Lord?

26:49 If not, however, not my will, but your will be done.

26:52 I often think of him, how he actually went to the cross and how he was advancing even when under attack.

26:59 He not only just advanced for himself, he advanced for all of humanity.

27:04 Who are you going to advance for, even whilst you are under attack?

27:08 Amen.

27:11 The shield of faith.

27:13 Advance.

27:13 Let's be a church that advances and takes ground in this city.

27:17 Let's see the Spirit of God and the name of Jesus glorified in the streets of Berlin.

27:23 The question is, my dears, what is our faith in?

27:27 Is it in Jesus or is it in ourself?

27:30 Is it in what we can achieve, what we can do, what has been said, what has not been said, what has been done, what has not been done?

27:36 What is our faith in?

27:39 Is it faith in your experience and your current reality?

27:45 Is your faith in hoping that the world is going to get better, that the wars are going to stop and then we'll be okay?

27:51 We need to advance while being under attack, in Jesus' name.

27:55 Because what we put our faith in really, really matters and it makes such a massive difference.

28:02 In 2 Corinthians 5 verse 7, we're called to walk by faith and not by sight, living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in Jesus Christ and confident belief in God's promises.

28:16 Amen.

28:17 So here we are, we see in 1 John 5, 4 that we're persistent in Jesus, the Son of God.

28:22 We see in 2 Corinthians 5, 7 confident belief in God's promises, the complete opposite to doubt.

28:30 So then the question is, how are we going to develop this?

28:34 Well, I'm so pleased you asked because I have a few points.

28:37 How are we going to develop and grow in our faith?

28:39 Because, you know, if we are to feed and cultivate our faith, we need to consider and honour His word.

28:46 We need to consider His word, His truth.

28:50 Jesus is the Word.

28:53 Jesus is the Word, our Saviour.

28:57 God's perspective comes from His word, not from the era in which we live.

29:02 God's perspective comes from His word and not the situation we are currently experiencing.

29:08 So I've got three things that I really pray in the name of Jesus we will all do, basically, this week.

29:16 Come on, let's stir it up.

29:18 Let's stir it up.

29:19 Let's give the Holy Spirit something to work with.

29:22 Amen.

29:23 And the first thing is so easy.

29:25 It's to make room.

29:26 To make room to read, to study, to meditate on God's word.

29:32 Proverbs 4, verse 20 to 22 says, My child, listen carefully to my teaching and to everything that I tell you.

29:41 Never forget my words.

29:44 Keep them safe in your mind.

29:46 They will give true life to anyone who takes hold of them.

29:50 They will give health to your whole body.

29:53 So what promises do you need to be reminded of today?

29:59 Where is there doubt in your life?

30:03 What are the things that you are not believing in?

30:07 Where is there doubt?

30:08 Where is it you think, oh, I doubt that could happen?

30:10 What is bothering you?

30:12 I wonder if you would write it down.

30:15 But next to it, put another column.

30:19 Because where your doubts are will also be an indication and area of where you can grow.

30:26 Where you can grow, where your faith can grow, where you can expand.

30:33 Because God's perspective of your life is far greater than your reality.

30:43 It is.

30:45 It's just far greater and far better.

30:49 It's exceedingly, abundantly above anything we could ask, hope, or imagine.

30:54 And what we have done today is we've actually got a QR code here, which basically anybody that puts a prayer request in, we actually have a list of scriptures that you can access.

31:07 We've had it for years, but I really want to make it available more and more.

31:12 And not just put it out on the Wednesday notes.

31:15 Like you can get all my notes and the scriptures on Wednesday if you sign up for the notes.

31:20 But here is a QR code with scriptures for healing, for relationships, for depression, for fear.

31:28 Literally the word of God.

31:30 So I love that so many of you got your phones out taken.

31:33 Because on there, you will have scriptures, the life-giving word of God that you can use and practice using and speak out.

31:41 Stand in front of the mirror and read these scriptures.

31:44 Speak the word of God out over your life and over the situations that you are facing right now.

31:50 Because that's really what number two is, to practice the word of God.

31:55 To be doers of the word, not hearers only.

31:58 James 1 verse 25 says, So do not just listen to God's message and then forget it.

32:04 It is a completely good message that makes people free.

32:08 Free.

32:10 Look at it carefully and keep it in your mind.

32:13 Do what it tells you to do.

32:16 God will bless anyone who lives in that way.

32:21 So when we do what the word of God does, we strengthen our faith.

32:25 We strengthen our faith muscle.

32:28 And if we're going to grow and expand, we need to strengthen our faith muscle.

32:33 You know, the challenges we face, they're not there to take us out.

32:36 They're not there to like, you know, they're not there to take us out of the race.

32:43 And when we get to act on God's word and allow our faith, it will enable our faith to get stronger.

32:49 And in that we can see that again in James 1 verse 3.

32:52 James is a great scripture.

32:54 I mean, he says things like, count it all joy when you have trials, which I don't really like.

32:59 But it's true, isn't it?

33:01 We can still be joyful in the trials because joy is a spiritual force.

33:05 Happiness is about what's happening.

33:07 Joy is a spiritual force that can come up and out of us in times of challenge.

33:11 James 1 verse 3 says, be assured that the testing of your faith through experience, the only way our faith can be tested is through experiences we go through, produces endurance, leading to spiritual maturity and inner peace.

33:26 So it's kind of like, you know, Sonia was telling me she was at the gym and she took Eva and Paula there on Friday.

33:32 Like she was there and over a while she's been able to build up some resilience.

33:36 But then when she took Eva and Paula there on Friday, they had not had all that time to build up some resistance and it was pretty full on.

33:43 But, and they're still aching today.

33:49 But when we do this, when we build, we build up our resilience.

33:53 We build up our faith and we build up our endurance and we mature spiritually.

33:59 Amen.

33:59 And isn't it wonderful when we do that, we experience inner peace.

34:02 Faith enables us to experience inner peace.

34:08 I know for you this could simply be by getting water baptised.

34:12 That's what it says in the Word of God, I'm going to do it.

34:16 It could simply be praising God, writing a thankful heart journal when you're in a difficult situation because that is doing what the Word of God says.

34:26 It could simply be worshipping God which is acknowledging him for who he is and then responding to his majesty and glory.

34:34 That's what worship is.

34:36 It could simply be by praying and asking God to be part of this, inviting him in to your situation through prayer.

34:45 It could simply be coming to the front to be prayed for, taking that step of faith to come to the front.

34:52 And then the third thing, which is what I'm quite excited because I didn't realise that we were doing the Holy Spirit in Discovery this Thursday.

35:02 But the third point that I have here was to invite the Holy Spirit into this time.

35:07 Make room for the Holy Spirit to interrupt you.

35:11 You know, I've been reading Hebrews because last week Mark just said, you know, encourage people to read Hebrews.

35:15 So I've been reading Hebrews and my plan was to get through Hebrews.

35:18 But in moments I just said, you know Joyce, make room for the Holy Spirit to interrupt you.

35:23 And he did.

35:24 And he highlighted a few individual words that stood out to me, but he also highlighted sentences that have literally put courage into my soul this week.

35:36 So make room for the Holy Spirit to interrupt you.

35:39 Don't be so quick to tick a box to fulfil the law, but make room.

35:45 Allow him.

35:46 You know, in John 14 verse 26 it says, but the helper, comforter, advocate, I like the amplified version because it gives a lot more words.

35:55 So the helper, the comforter, advocate, intercessor, counsellor, strengthener, standby, the Holy Spirit.

36:05 He is all those things.

36:06 Whom the Father will send in my name, in my place to represent me and act on my behalf.

36:11 He will teach you all things and he will help you remember everything that I have told you.

36:20 His words.

36:22 And you know, the Holy Spirit is there to help us.

36:25 Will we make room for him this week?

36:28 Will you make room for him even now to help you?

36:32 My Father used to say the Holy Spirit is always there and he is.

36:35 He's the standby.

36:36 He's the comforter.

36:37 He's the intercessor.

36:38 He's just standing there waiting.

36:40 But he said he's also a gentleman and he will never force his way.

36:44 The Spirit of God is a gentleman.

36:46 He will not force his will or his way or his strength.

36:51 He will not force any of that on us.

36:53 It's purely by us inviting him in.

36:56 Will we be humble enough to invite the Holy Spirit in?

37:03 So as I bring this message to a close, I just want to say again, you know, Thomas, bless him.

37:09 He didn't stay that way.

37:11 But it wasn't just Thomas.

37:13 You know, all the disciples when Jesus was taken and crucified, when he was captured, all of them fled with doubt, confusion and pain.

37:22 Their hopes absolutely smashed.

37:28 They fled.

37:30 But when the Holy Spirit came on them, when they waited and made room as we read in Acts, the Holy Spirit came.

37:39 He ministered to them.

37:43 He actually set them on fire.

37:47 They became supernaturally, spiritually charged and they went out to the world that they had run from with the message of good news, the gospel message.

38:00 And they were a group of people who went from fleeing and running in fear to going back into the world.

38:05 And in that time, to the then known world, they spread the gospel.

38:11 And you know, when you and I make room for the Holy Spirit, he will do something in our lives.

38:17 They became anchored in the glorious hope of the gospel.

38:21 The glorious hope led them to spread the gospel, the good news.

38:26 So as we allow the gospel to deal with our doubts, as we invite the Holy Spirit to speak and to minister, my prayer is that we too will be witnesses of Jesus, of the good news, of the gospel.

38:40 And by doing so, with our faith in him, we will extend an invitation to others to come and experience salvation, an invitation to others to make Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior, an invitation to others to encounter a Heavenly Father who loves them, who will never abandon so that they too can say, I am a child of God.

39:02 So I pray that this will be a season, dear church, that we will be so intentional about starving our doubts and feeding our faith.

39:11 And may it all be to the glory of God.

39:14 In Jesus' name.

2025-07-15 - Feed your Faith - Joyce Wilkinson.

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