(Music) JERRY: Hello everyone,
I'm Jerry Savelle and thank you for joining me today. It's an
honor and a joy to be able to share the word with you. I'm
believing that as you hear the word your faith is going to
go to another level. Remember, your faith will overcome the
world. We're talking about the word of faith this week. Now
I'm going to you into one of our services here at Heritage
of Faith Christian Center in Crowley, Texas. Church I founded
a number of years ago. Pastor Justin Bridges is our Senior
Pastor. Occasionally I get to speak there, and every time I do
I have to say to the audience, "Hello, I'm Jerry Savelle.
I'm your visiting Pastor." It's because I'm gone all the
time. I'm always out somewhere preaching. But it's always a
joy and an honor to be able to preach to our own congregation.
We were talking about the word of faith and I made this
statement right at the beginning, you'll see that as
you go into this program that's been recorded from there I made
this statement: "As I travel around the world today I find
that so many Christians have still yet to hear the basics of
the word of faith." That's the reason I think it's so important
to go over these things. Not only to rehearse them for
people who have heard them, and for people who
have let go of them, but there's so many new people
that are just now hearing these things for the
very first time. So, we dealt with some of the basic
elementary principles of the word of faith and I know
you're going to enjoy it. So, if this is your first
time hang on to every word, take notes. Also, I want to
encourage you to begin to believe God this year. The word
that the Lord gave me was it going to be a year
for marvels, miracles, and signs, and wonders, and
extraordinary manifestations of the greatness of our God. We're
going to learn through these programs today, and next week,
how to have faith for those things taking place in
your life. So watch now, and I'll be back in just a
few moments. JERRY: Got your bibles
with you? CONGREGATION: Yes. Let's open them,
first of all, to the Book of Job Chapter 5. I've
mentioned to you in the last several times I've
had the opportunity to speak to you that Job Chapter 5 has
become one of my favorite verses. Particularly from the
Message translation. Job Chapter 5 verse 9 speaking of God,
"Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvelous things
without number." Let me say it again, "Which doeth great
things and unsearchable; marvelous things without
number." The Message translation says, "He's famous for great and
unexpected acts and there's no end to his surprises." The bible
says that God is famous. Now, you become famous for doing
something over and over and over and over repeatedly, and you get
good at it. Amen. God is famous for doing great and unexpected
things. He's famous for surprises. Another word for
marvelous things is the word extraordinary. I want to
give you some definitions for extraordinary because I want to
talk to you today about faith for the extraordinary.
CONGREGATION: Amen. JERRY: Believe in God for extraordinary
things in your life. God said to us this year that it
would be a year of marvels, wonders, and extraordinary
manifestations of the greatness of our God. But we also
know that without faith it's impossible to please God.
Because everything God does it's wrapped around faith. Amen.
The just shall live by faith. If you're going to receive anything
from God you're going to do it with faith. Amen. It's difficult
to experience great things from God aside from faith. Can you
say amen? CONGREGATION: Amen. JERRY: So, we're going to talk
about faith for extraordinary things. Now, let me give you
several definitions here. You got something to write them
down? Because I want you to begin to expect this. There's
several definitions I want to give you. Extraordinary: beyond
or out of the common order or method. Beyond or out of the
common order or method. Not in the usual. Customary, or regular
course of things. Not in the usual customary, or regular
course of things. Exceeding the common degree on measure.
Remarkable. Uncommon. Rare. Wonderful. Special.
Highly unusual. Exceptional. Remarkable. Far more than is
expected. Hallelujah. Ephesians 3:20 says that our God
is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we can
ask or think. Far more than we can expect. It also means
over the top. Outside the order. Astonishing. Astounding.
Marvelous. Sensational. Stunning. Phenomenal.
Spectacular. That's just a few definitions. I think that'll get
you started. Praise God. God's been doing stuff like that for
me of 50 years. I could give you stories all day long.
But let me say this, aside from faith I would
have the stories. I said, aside from faith I wouldn't have
the stories because faith makes it happen. Can you say amen?
CONGREGATION: Amen. JERRY: Give the Lord a shout if
you receive that, praise God. Now, I won't go over
those definitions again but just keep them handy and begin to
decree them on a daily basis. That these kind of things are
going to start happening in your life. If they haven't
they're going to start, if they have you're going to
experience them more and more. Amen. I'm not done, now, after
50 years I'm not putting my faith aside to say, "Well,
I've experienced enough." No, I'm going to a higher level.
We sang about it this morning. Higher and higher, hallelujah.
Can you say amen? CONGREGATION: Amen. JERRY: Praise
God. Now, another word, once again, for
the word marvelous, "He does marvelous
things without number, is the word extraordinary. I
gave you the definitions for that. Psalms 77:14 says, "Thou
art the God that doeth wonders." Wonders is also another word for
extraordinary. He's the God that doeth wonders.
Notice it didn't say, and there are some scriptures
that talk about what He's done in the past, but
here it didn't say, "He's the God that did wonders."
He's the got that doeth wonders. So that means that He not
only did them in the past, He's still doing
them. Amen. Say, my God. CONGREGATION: My God.
JERRY: Is the wonder working God. CONGREGATION: Is the wonder
working God. JERRY: The Message translation says, "You're the
God who makes things happen." You're the God who makes things
happen. I love that. Amen. Now, the Book of Daniel 6:27 says,
"He worketh signs and wonders in heaven and on earth." Amen.
He works signs and wonders. Extraordinary things. He
not only does them in heaven, but he does them in the earth.
The Message translation says, "Astonishing miracles."
Then Psalms 40:5 "Many, oh Lord my God, are your
wonderful works which you have done." Now that's talking about
past tense. But remember Psalms 77, "Thou art the God that doeth
wonders." So that means present and beyond. Now, the
Message translation says, "Nothing, and no one, comes
close to you." I start talking about you, telling what I know
and quickly run out of words. That's how
amazing our God is. So, if He's done wonders and marvels
and extraordinary things in the past, so many that
you can't even count, then do you suppose He still
wants to do them for us today? CONGREGATION: Amen. Yes. JERRY:
Amen. I believe he does. Now, why aren't more believers
experiencing more extraordinary things? Well, I believe one
of the reasons is James 4:2, "You have not because you ask
not." You have not because you ask not. Perhaps we should
pray the prayer that the early disciples prayed in the
Book of Acts. Acts 4:30, "That signs and wonders may be
done by the name of thy holy child Jesus." That's the prayer
they prayed. If you keep reading the next few chapters you will
find out the signs and wonders were wrought continually. Why?
Because they asked for it. They asked for it. How many of you
are actually asking God for signs and wonders an marvels and
extraordinary manifestations of His greatness? CONGREGATION:
Amen. JERRY: Amen. You know, it just doesn't happen without
communication with God. It doesn't happen without
exercising your faith in Him and in His word. Some people think,
and I believe this is major deception, "Well, if God wants
to do extraordinary things in my life He'll just do it." That's
wrong. That's wrong thinking, and that's deception. Amen. It's
not a question of God wants to. He wants to, but he's not going
to do it apart from what He's put in His word. He's not going
to violate His own word. Amen. CONGREGATION: Amen. Jesus said,
"What things soever you desire when you pray." Amen. Pray.
Bible says from Jesus' well men ought always to pray and not to
faint. So prayer. Prayer is a vital part of your walk
with God. A vital part of you experiencing the things of God.
Can you say Amen. CONGREGATION: Amen. JERRY: So it
doesn't just happen. Now, the Message
translation says for Acts 4:30, "Stretch out your
hand to us in healings, miracles, and wonders." That's
the prayer they prayed. Stretch out your hand to us
in healings, miracles, wonders, and you could add
extraordinary things. Then dare to believe that you'll receive
when you pray. Can you say amen. CONGREGATION: Amen. JERRY: Now,
once again I'm talking about faith for extraordinary things.
As I have traveled over the years... Now, when I first
started 50 years ago the message of faith was not well
known. There were not many men, or women, who were teaching the
message of faith in those early days. There were a handful.
Kenneth Copeland came into it in 1967. Brother Hagin
has been known as, some people refer to him as
the Father of Faith for our generation. Father of the Faith
message you could say. Oral Roberts taught faith, TL
Osborn taught faith. But, we're talking about a handful of
people. When I first started the term Word of Faith Church didn't
even exist. There was no such term. When Brother
Copeland came to Shreveport, Louisiana where
Carol and I grew up, and preached the
message of faith in 1969, the first time I heard it. I'd
never heard anything like it. Yet, even though I had never
heard anything like it I knew it was true. I mean, I grabbed hold
of it with everything in me. Not a whole lot of people did.
Now, there was a church full of people who heard the
same message that I heard, that Carolyn heard, but the
whole church didn't receive it. In fact, some of them fought it.
It went cross grain with their religious tradition. But I
didn't have any religious tradition. So, I didn't
have any reason to doubt it, or fight it. I
received it. In fact, I thought it was the best thing
I'd ever heard in my life. Amen. So, Brother Copeland would
preach the message of faith. Back then they would record
on reel to reel tape. I got my hands on all those messages that
he preached there in Shreveport and began to study them day
and night. Then he kept talking about this Kenneth Hagin. So I
got material from Kenneth Hagin, listened to it day and night.
Brother Hagin had a handful of books, Brother Copeland didn't
have any back then. I'd get those books and study faith.
Then Oral Roberts would announce on his television broadcast he
had a new book on the subject of faith. He'd say, "If you write
to me and ask for it I'll send it to you free."
I'd say, "Carolyn, here's one we can afford. Order
it." Soon as I'd get it I would consume it. I'd read
it over, and over, and over, and over, and over
again. Then it became a part of my life. At first it was me
quoting what they said. But then eventually it became my
revelation. Praise God. Now, from time to time I'm getting
opportunities to share. Back then we did home bible studies.
People would open up their homes and they'd move all the
furniture against the walls and put chairs in the middle.
Someone would sit and teach everybody that would come. I was
being invited to come and teach on the subject of faith. The
more I taught it the bigger it got on the inside of me.
It was working for us. Now, we didn't see everything we
were believing for manifest over night. But it was working.
Praise God. First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn
in the ear. I loved it when the blade came up. Hallelujah.
Because I knew I was on the right track. Eventually, Brother
Copeland had heard from the Lord about me coming and being a part
of his team. He and I traveling together. So we moved to Fort
Worth, and that put me with him everywhere he went. He went no
where without Jerry Savelle. When I first came the meetings
would last about three weeks. Three services a day for three
weeks. Now I'm sitting there listening three times a day to
messages on faith. Amen. As soon as he would get through
preaching them I'd take the recording of it to my hotel room
and I'd run copies off so that people in the meeting if they
wanted a copy of it they could purchase a copy of it. So, it
meant I heard the message the first time he preached it, and
I heard it in my room another time. If somebody
else ordered it, if it was three
people ordered a message, a copy of the message, I
listened to it three different times. We could only run one
copy at a time. I'd be up all night listening to
that same message over, and over, and over. What's
the bible say? Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word
of God. Amen. So I'm hearing it, and hearing it, and hearing it,
and I'm doing it. I'm acting on it. I had the privilege of
having someone who knew more about it than me show me how
to do it. Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. They were living it.
Carolyn and I were following the example. And praise God,
eventually we were getting the same results that
they got. Amen. Now, by the time I launched
out into this ministry, I'm being invited to come all
over the country and teach on the subject of faith.
Even then, by 1973, 74 it's still relatively an
obscure message. The reason the Lord told me to leave
Brother Copeland was he said, "I want to enable the team to
cover twice as much territory with the same
message." So, I launched out, Brother Copeland went this way
and I went that way. We're both teaching on the subject of faith
everywhere we went. But then, over a period of time people
began to grab hold of it. Next thing you know about 1976 was
the first time I ever heard the term Word of Faith Church. You
know where I heard it? I started one. Amen. Right here in Fort
Worth. We called it Overcoming Faith Center. People started
coming from all over to hear the word of faith. In
fact the Lord told me, He said, "You don't go to the
people and ask them for a place to preach. You provide for the
people a place where they can hear the word of faith
consistently." So that's what we did. Then all of a sudden
then the message of faith, it was catching on all over
the world. It was exciting. Believers
conventions started. Boy, when they first started I tell
you people they'd sit outside waiting for that
auditorium to open. I mean, sometimes two hours before. In
Anaheim particularly. I always had a room right above the
convention center. I could see the convention, the front door
of the convention center from my room. And I'm an early riser,
I'd get up and I'd go look out the window and there'd be people
lined up. Sitting out there on the grass waiting for those
doors to open. When they finally opened you had to
pray for the ushers, because brother I want you to
know it was a mad dash to the front row. People were so hungry
to hear the word of the faith. But then over a period of time
I didn't see quite the hunger. People started looking for
something else. Something that would tickle their
ears. Whims of doctrine, Paul calls it in
Ephesians. Even today, even today there are not as many
hungry people for the word of faith as there was back in the
'70s. But I believe that's about to change. Amen. The reason I
say that is because people are finally realizing all this other
stuff doesn't work. Amen. I mean, this is where it all
counts. When your babies are dying, when your
husband's dying, when your wife's dying, when
you can't meet your obligations, the economy's bad. You going to
try religion and see if it'll work for you. You go try
something that sounds good but is not quite accurate, see
if it works for you. No, what you are going to discover
is it takes the word of faith to change things. Amen.
CONGREGATION: Amen. JERRY: It takes the word of faith
to overcome. JERRY: Now, I'm criticized for still
teaching the word of faith. In some circles I'm an
outcast. In fact, some of them don't want to hear
me anymore because they know that's what I'm
going to preach. But, I'm old school. When I find
something that works I don't change. CONGREGATION: Amen.
JERRY: Amen. I don't change. I've preached for a lot of
the fathers who started these churches years ago. Now they've
turned them over to their sons, and many of them they don't want
to hear us anymore. We're not relative. We're not in the in
crowd. I am not wearing tight jeans. My legs are too skinny to
fit tight jeans. Look at that, isn't that pitiful? I'm not
wearing holey jeans. I got delivered of holes in my jeans
a long time ago. I'm not going back to it. I'm not going to
wear my shirt tail out. I'm not going to spike my hair. I'm
going to preach the word, that's what I'm going to do. I'm
going to preach the word. Now, I'm not trying to be critical of
those who go for all that. But at the same time, and I'll
say it just as nicely as I can, when all hell breaks loose your
tight jeans is not going to get you over. You better have some
word on the inside of you. Amen. Amen. But, I've noticed that
even though I'm not being asked to come to those kind of
churches I can't get to all the places that do ask me to come.
It hasn't hurt my ministry at all. Not at all. Amen. I believe
we're finally coming to a place to where people want stability.
Amen. Longevity. They want to hear people that have been
doing it for a long time, have never changed and it's
still working for them. Not everybody's that way yet, but
it's going to get that way. Can you say amen.
CONGREGATION: Amen. JERRY: So, for this purpose I was really
impressed of the Lord this week to teach you like you've
never hear anything about faith. CONGREGATION: All right,
let's do it. JERRY: Some of you haven't. Some of you you're so
new to this that you haven't even learned the basics yet. So,
I want to talk to you about the basics of faith and how to apply
them for extraordinary things in your life.
Can you say amen. ANNOUNCER: Your
faith is the title deed to God's promises. It
doesn't matter what mountain you might be facing, by faith you
can overcome. In his timely book Life of Faith Jerry Savelle
shares insights from the bible and over five decades of his
own faith journey. In its pages you'll learn how to release
your faith and see beyond your present circumstances. Discover
that your faith has the ability to grow, to sustain not
just yourself but you can be a blessing
to others. It is impossible to please
God without faith. In the powerful three
CD teaching Life of Faith Jerry teaches spiritual
truths every believer needs to learn. Living a life of
faith will produce your greatest adventures. Nothing is
impossible with God. Don't wait any longer. Call or go online to
jerrysavelle.org and request The Life of Faith package, including
the book and three CD teaching. Living by faith is a biblical
command. You can live by faith, overcome the world by
faith, and be the winner that God has
called you to be today. JERRY: Well, I trust you
learned something today, and I want to encourage you to
join with me again next week as we continue this message from
Heritage of Faith. I believe, praise God, that it will
continue to inspire your faith. You know, our
theme at our church, Heritage of Faith, in Crowley,
Texas making winners in life. That's what God wants you to be,
a winner in every area of your life. I've said before
on previous broadcasts, I always enjoy reading
testimonies from people who have watched our
broadcast, learned the word, exercised their faith, and God
is honoring it. I like to also say, if God would do it for them
then why wouldn't he do it for you? So I trust that this will
inspire your faith. Here's one that says, "I asked for support
in prayer this past summer for reconciliation between myself
and my husband. I just want to report to you that God has done
a beautiful work and we have been reconciled." Praise God,
that is so good to hear. Here's another one it says she asked
for prayer for her brother and the doctors had told him that
there was a spot on his kidneys and they decided that it was
cancerous. But when they ran more tests the spot
was nowhere to be found, he was totally healed and we are
praising God. Here's one that says, "I recently sold an
additional $300 seat into your ministry and I asked for prayer
about the finances for my own ministry. I had been listening
to Brother Jerry's story about needing and believing
God for $30,000 for a project overseas, and
I too was believing for $30,000. I put that check to you in my
mailbox, then went to the post office to check
on my own mail and I picked up a letter. In
that letter I received for my ministry a check in
the amount of $25,000 and then a couple of
days later the remaining $5,000 came in. Praise God, I know
that God can do and I know what God can do and I just wanted to
share this praise report with you." I'm telling you, Pam, we
are so excited to hear that it's working for you just like
it works for us. Once again, if it worked for them,
and it worked for me, then it'll work for
you as well. Finally, here's one that says someone had
cancer and we've been praying for them, but now there's no
sign to be found in their body anywhere and we're praising God
for the good report. We rejoice with you as well.
Praise God. Once again, before we leave the air, don't
forget our resources this week. My book on the life of faith,
and then right along with it three CDs on the same subject,
the life of faith. If you want to learn how to live by faith,
you want to learn how to take your faith and overcome the
world these are the resources you need to get and you need to
get them right away. Join with me again next week as we
continue this message on the word of faith, and how that you
can believe God for miracles and marvels, and extraordinary
manifestations of his greatness in your life this year. I'll
see you next week. (Music)
