Turn please, to Romans four. Romans four. We've been on the subject of
faith. Anybody heard about faith? We've been on the subject of
faith for some time now, and don't expect that to change
anytime soon. And we shifted gears a little
bit recently and we're talking about what we're calling
Exceeding Growing Faith. How our faith grows and
develops. In Romans 4:19, talking about
Abraham who is called the father of faith, and we are called his
children by faith in Jesus. It said Abraham, "Being not weak
in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was
about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of
Sara's womb," he was not weak because he considered not the
wrong thing. He didn't consider. So much of faith is tied to what
we choose to look at. Think about. Talk about. And since we can choose what we
look at, think about, listen to, talk about, then we can choose
whether we grow in fear and doubt or whether we grow in
faith. It is in our hands. If we are weak in faith, it's
because we've continually chosen to look at the wrong things. Think about, talk about the
wrong things. But that can be fixed. I said, that can be fixed. I didn't say it was always easy
because when you have glaring issues and problems in your
life, they cry and demand for your attention. Don't they? But can you turn away from them
and focus on something else? And talk about something else? And if you do, you will starve
your fears and you will feed your faith, oh hallelujah, and
you will come up to a different place. And what does that mean? God is able to move in our life
according to our faith. And the stronger that becomes,
the more He is able to move. I know some people don't like
that language, "He's able to move." People say, "God is God. He could do anything He wants
to, anytime He wants to." That's technically true but He
has ordained that things happen a certain way and He's not going
to violate that. And He has ordained that we
receive not according to what He can do, not according to even
what is His perfect will, but we receive according to our faith. Many don't believe that, but
it's Bible. It's all over the New Testament. Verse twenty, "He staggered
not," everybody say: "He considered not and he staggered
not." See, "stagger" is the same word
for "wavering." How do you keep from wavering? Don't consider the wrong stuff. If you're looking at the wrong
stuff, talking about the wrong stuff, you're going to waver. Can we control what we look at? What we listen to? What we think about? What we talk about? That's good news. I said, that's good news because
if you will think, talk, focus on the right things, your life
is going to change. Your faith is going to come up. "He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief; but was," what? "Strong in faith, giving glory
to God; And being fully persuaded that, what He had
promised, He was able also to perform." We've seen Scriptures that Jesus
talked about people that had no faith. We've seen in Scriptures where
He talked about people that have little faith. But here we see strong in faith,
and that's what I'm signing up for. How about you? Somebody say put me down to the
strong faith brunch. That's the group I want to be a
part of. Fully persuaded and strong
faith. And actually you will see this
phrase in the Scriptures: great faith. Great faith. Which is what we have been
looking at. And we see two specific
instances in the Gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John where Jesus referred to a person's faith as great: it's
the centurion and the Syrophenician woman. He called both of their faiths
"great." He marveled about it. Now when you have the Master
marveling about how strong your faith is, is that where you want
to be? You know, at one point He said
when they brought the man who had his son who was having the
seizures and Jesus sounded exasperated. He said, "How long will I put up
with you? How long am I going to be with
you? How long before you believe,"
He's talking about. No faith. Faithless. Unbelieving bunch. That's not a good impression. He was impressed, but not in a
good way. But then in this example, He
marveled and turned around and told His staff and told
everybody with Him. He said, "I haven't seen faith
like this in the whole country." Right? Well, that would include them. That includes His Own staff. Now think about who it is - a
centurion, a soldier and a Syrophenician. Neither one of these would you
have just selected at who you would've thought would have had
great faith. Which is insight - you find
great faith in places many would not expect. And places where you think you
would find great faith, you often don't. Places where you think, I didn't
even know they knew God, and not only do they know God, faith
that just shows most of the church world up. This is revelation that great
faith is not the result of great knowledge. Is everybody listening? Great faith is not the result of
great exercise in religion or so-called piety. Great faith is not the result of
these kind of things. Well, how do you get great
faith? That's why we're talking about
it this morning. Right? If it's not this through
advanced knowledge, how do you get it? If it's not just through extreme
church attendance and prayer, great faith is not the result of
extended prayer. Are y'all listening? It's not. A lot of what people call prayer
is actually a waste of time. It's worry sessions where you
mentioned God once in a while. You need to remember when you
begin prayer, nothing you're going to tell Him is news. He already knows. Right? And He's not going to be
shocked, and He's not going to have to scramble around. He's not going to go, you need
how much? By when? Michael, Gabriel, how come
nobody told Me about this? What are we going to do? Anybody got an idea? No, you are thinking about
yourself. No, He knows the end from the
beginning. He has already made the
provision before you knew you had a need. He's not surprised by it. I'm going to say that again real
slow. He has already made, provided
abundant provision before you found out you had a bill or a
need. So it's a good way to start off
your prayer, right? "Father, so glad I know You. Because I know that You already
know - You already know what the problem is, You already know
what the answer is, and even though I don't know it yet, I
know You love me, You're going to take care of me, You are
going to show me what I need to see, give me what I need to
get." But see, that's faith. Now you are talking faith. Faith, instead of just reacting
in shock and fear. Oh friend, being a real
believer, actually living by faith and walking by faith is
awesome. It's amazing. Hallelujah. And it opens the door for actual
miracles. Real miracles in your life. Thank You Lord. Go to Matthew eight. Matthew eight. You know, it pays - I know you
do and I thank you for it, it pays to pray for your ministers
because what comes through them affects you. Right? It does. Matthew eight, talking about the
centurion, we saw he had great faith. We'll just take time and read a
little bit of it. This man is a centurion, a
soldier who is over some one hundred soldiers. And he got promoted to this rank
through accomplishment. And the Roman army was the world
power of the time, and their military was disciplined and
effective beyond any by far that had existed before then. So you do not advance through
the ranks by being sloppy or by not getting the job done. So this is a man who has seen
combat. He is a man who has lived
through combat, and back then it was eyeball to eyeball. Blade to blade. And so he has been bloody, he
has been muddy, he's been in the ugly parts of it. And he advanced and now he is
over other men. He knows how to give orders and
he knows how to receive orders. And he has heard about Jesus. And he's got somebody that helps
him that's been sick and been in a bad way. Matthew 8:5, "And when Jesus was
entered into Capernaum, there came to Him a centurion,
beseeching Him," now, they're occupied country. He could've come in demanding. He's just a Carpenter, an
itinerant Preacher and the Romans are in control. But he came beseeching Him. Now one thing that you'll see
the keeps coming up over and over again, great faith is
inseparable from great respect. Honor and faith go hand-in-hand. You cannot separate them. So this begins with him showing
someone who in the natural he does not need to kowtow to. When he goes around town with
his - and especially if he is moving on some business for the
army with his hundred soldiers, people get out of the way. These are not just men, they are
trained killing machines. They can take you out with a
couple of blows. And they have the authority and
power to do what they want to in the community, but he comes to
Jesus and beseeches, we'd say pleads, pleads with Him. So there's the right tone. There is the right body language
and attitude. He beseeches Him. Verse six says, "Lord, my
servant lies at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus said to him, I will
come and heal him." Oh, I like those words. Do you know Jesus never said I
won't come? Do you know He never said I
won't heal him? You have people that will tell
you sometimes it's not His will, sometimes He won't come,
sometimes He won't heal. They are misrepresenting God. They are trying to explain why
things don't happen. And they are wrong. You might as well say why
doesn't everybody get born again? Would you believe if somebody
didn't get born again and died lost, would you say well, then
is not God's will to save everybody? No. Just for whatever reasons, they
didn't receive it. Well, the same thing is true
about all the blessings of God. You have failed to receive some
things, I failed to receive some things, but it doesn't change
the will of God. Jesus said - don't you like it? "I will come," I'll come, "and
heal him." This is not a pastor He's
talking to, this is a scarred soldier. And, "The centurion said, Lord,
I am not worthy that You should come under my roof," he does not
have to humble himself in front of this man, from any natural
reason. But can you see he is
acknowledging something that not everybody saw? God allowed him to see - he
probably didn't know Jesus was the Messiah, but he heard about
what had been happening with him and he believes he's a Man of
God. And he believes that God is
using him, and he believes these things can happen. He believes in Him. Like we said, you will find
faith in places you didn't expect to. There's folks that have sat in
church and heard it for years and still don't believe it. And you have somebody that has
lived a rough life and they hear it one time and they go, "I
believe that. I believe that." And they can get a miracle just
like that. Great faith is not the result of
extensive experience with church and religion. I'm going to say that again. Great faith doesn't come by
extensive church experience. Or prolonged prayer. I know we're kicking some sacred
cows, but let them moo, let them go down. They need to go down. Great faith is not the result of
advanced knowledge. You don't believe God with your
head, your intellect. "For with the heart man
believes," the scripture said. He said, "I'm not worthy that
you should come under my roof; But," just give the order. Give the order. "Speak the Word only," oh,
somebody say: "Speak the Word only." Now let's stop right here. Does he have respect for what
Jesus might say? He has respect for Him, he has
respect for what He can say. He has respect for what He can
do. Doesn't he? We know this is an example of
great faith. What makes great faith? What constitutes great faith? One thing you will always see:
great respect. Great honor. Honor, to honor means "to
value." To put a great weight of worth
and value on something. And if you believe some thing is
important and valuable, you treat it differently than you
treat something you don't think is important. Which is why he is treating
Jesus the way he is. He's not demanding, he's not
barking orders; that would show a lack of faith. He comes with respect. He comes asking. You know, a lot of times you
need to examine it - are you asking or are you telling? Because if you are telling and
your attitude is wrong, it shows your faith is lacking, or not
even there. We live in a crude, rebellious,
defiant, disrespectful world. And many have grown up not being
taught honor and respect like they should. Their parents weren't taught it,
their parents before them weren't taught it. Some things have been lost. But, we don't have to be
conformed to the world. One thing that I'm excited about
our children, they are getting some things about the honor of
God. Oh, that ought to make you
shout. They are getting some things
about the honor of God, and it is changing their lives. It's possible for an entire -
this entire next-generation to be changed, the Lord tarries His
coming. It starts with us. We don't just need to talk about
it, we need to demonstrate it. Somebody say: "Demonstrate it." We need to demonstrate honor and
respect. It's not about making a big deal
out of people. You treat people differently
because you honor Him. If He called them, you respect
that. If He uses them, you respect
that. You're not making a big deal out
of the flesh, you're making a big deal out of the One that
called and anointed and used. He said you don't need to come,
but if you would just give the command, "If you just speak the
Word only and my servant shall be healed." That's what got Jesus. Can you see this? That's what got Him. He has been wrestling against
unbelief, He has been preaching everywhere, and even His Own
staff has heard the most amazing faith messages you ever heard
month after month, and then they still come up and go, "We didn't
take enough bread." And they have seen
multiplication of the loaves and fishes multiple times, and their
faith just is not there. It's not there. And here He is traveling from
one place to another and here comes this rough guy, this
soldier, this centurion, and the respect - it's just right up
here. The honor is just right here. And the faith. You don't need to come to my
house, no Sir, no Sir. Look at me. I'm not a preacher. He doesn't see himself as a
spiritual guy. And yet he is. And yet he is. He said, if You would please,
Sir, give the command and my servant shall - that's what got
Jesus. If you'll give the command. Now, we need to back up. This was not a fairytale. What was wrong with his servant? What did it say was wrong with
him? Grievously vexed. Is that right? Grievously vexed. My servant is laying at home
-palsy is paralysis. Grievously tormented. And he's in a lot of pain. Can God heal paralysis? Phew. Verse seven, He shall I'll come
and heal him, verse eight, speak the Word only, verse nine, just
give the command please, Sir. He besought Him, pled with them. And my servant shall be healed
because, I understand orders. I have people who have rank
above me, I am under their authority. And then I have soldiers,
obviously we know he has at least a hundred under him. "And I say to this man, Go," and
in the Roman army you did not say, "Do I have to?" "You know, I just don't feel
like it." No. By the time he says go and you
get yes Sir out of your mouth, he needs to see some dust. He needs to see some dust coming
off of your heels. "Go," and what happens, "He
goes." I tell another one, "Come," what
happens then? "He comes," I tell, "my servant,
Do this, and he does it." Oh, thank You Lord. Here is why he can believe for
his servant like he can; his servant is submitted to him. Can you see this? We live in a society that
despises submission. Despises it. You mention the Word, you may
lose half your crowd. It's seen as an archaic - "We
got delivered from that. Submission? I don't submit to anybody." That includes God. Submission to God is shown,
demonstrated in submission to men. Folks don't like that either. But one of the reasons why
people are not able to help others with their faith is
because the submission and respect is not there. But he knows he can use his
faith, whether he understands it or not, I'm sure he didn't; he's
a soldier. He's not a theologian. But he just knows he can, why? Because when he tells his
servant to do something, he does it. So He's not going to argue with
him and tell him he can't leave for his healing. "I tell my servant do this,"
what happens? "He does it. When Jesus heard it, He
marvelled," the Master marveled. It would be like us saying,
"Wow!" "And said to them that followed,
Verily," we'd probably say I'm telling you the truth, I'm
telling you, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in
Israel." Now that probably didn't make
everybody happy, because they also despised the Romans. They were occupied by them. No doubt there are a lot of
atrocities have been committed by them. And here's a guy who is a priest
with extensive higher education in the law, and you're going to
tell him that a Roman soldier has way more faith than he has
ever demonstrated? "Jesus marveled and said I have
not found faith so great, no, not in Israel." Verse eleven, "And I say unto
you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit
down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of
heaven. But the children of the kingdom
shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth." Just because your parents were
Christians doesn't make you a Christian. Just because you have been to a
church a bunch doesn't mean you love God and respect God. It's not the same. And what He is saying is what we
have been talking about. There will be people who you
would have thought would have been in for sure, and they're
not. Never were born again. And there are other people you
would think, no, how in the world would they even know how
to believe God? And they're going to demonstrate
some of the greatest faith you have ever seen. Verse thirteen, "Jesus said to
the centurion," oh, this is what he wanted to hear. What does he want to hear? Give the order. Please Sir, give the order. Give the order. Jesus said, "Go your way," what
do you think happened with that centurion? He braced, he came to attention. Go your way, "And as you have
believed, so be it done to you." Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah! He said you don't need to come
to the house, I don't need to hear a big prayer, I don't need
to see anything, You don't need to touch him. Would You just give the order? And He did. How many think what happened -
what did the centurion say? When I tell one soldier go, what
happens? He goes. What I say come, what happens? So when Jesus said go your way,
what do you think happened? As he was hollering thank You
Sir, you could see dust coming, is that right? Is gone. He's out. And what happened? Come on, what happened? "And his servant was healed in
the selfsame hour." Of what? Paralysis. And pain, incurable stuff. Within the hour, his servant is
up saying, you want something to eat? Let me polish your breastplate
for you. Is that right? Does your sword need sharpening? The best use of a healing is
service to God. The Lord strengthens you and
heals you, don't waste it doing nothing, get up and start
helping somebody do something for God, is that right? That's the best use of your
healing. Oh, hallelujah. Go with me back to Romans, we
were over there during offering time. No, I'm moving too fast again. Say, "Lord, help him not to move
too fast." Are you still in Matthew? Notice this again and then I
want us to put up another verse on the monitor, the screen. Matthew 8:13, "Jesus said to the
centurion, go your way. As you have believed, so be it
done to you." As you have believed, why? We said you can't separate honor
from faith. First Samuel two is where these
words that are up over the stage area here come from. First Samuel 2:30 the Lord said,
"Them that honour Me I will honour," I want to hear the
similarity in this. "As you have believed, so be it
done to you." Could you see it like this: you
have honored Me, I'm honoring you? How? As you have believed - if honor
is inseparable from belief and faith then you could say it, as
you honor Me. Did He honor him? He did. And did the Lord honor him by
giving the command? Yes. The two are inseparable. Now go with me to Mark six and
you'll see such a perfect example of this, and then I
think we'll make our way to Romans. Mark 6:1. I am so thankful for this
revelation. I've seen pieces of this
throughout the years, but I see it clear today than I've ever
seen it before. Thanks be unto God. It also answers questions why
faith is weak. It's because disrespect is so
prevalent, including church. Folks in so many cases don't
know how to act. I was in a place a while back
and the pastor and I were walking around the church. He was showing me some of the
new stuff that they had. And the Spirit of God was giving
me some things for him and we were talking about it. And some people came up and they
interrupted us, rudely and callously. And he didn't say anything, I
didn't say anything, because it's not my church, not my
place. This has been a couple of years
ago. And then I noticed we never got
back to what the Lord was saying about that. And it left me. And He never brought it up. This is not okay. People will stop important
things because their child interrupted them, for nothing. Did you hear me? When it would be a perfect
example to teach the little one, "No, not now baby. We are doing this. This is important." And then adults have never have
been taught things. Now, you don't go around walking
around on egg shells, you don't go around afraid you're going to
say and do the wrong thing. You just want to be aware that
if something important, something of God is going on,
you don't interrupt that. You don't interfere with that. Right? You wait until it's done. You support it, you help it. You don't hinder it. Come on, are y'all with me? Would you like to learn more
about this? Just lift your hand right now
and say: "Father God, forgive me for being calloused or
disrespect all of You, Your things, Your people. Teach me what's important to
You. Where I should show respect. How I should show respect. Enlighten me, help me to in
Jesus' name, I ask it." Glory to God. That's good. He's going to answer that
prayer. He has already begun. Amen. Just pay attention if something
is going on and He checks you, He tugs on you, then just stop,
quit talking, look, listen. Pay attention. See what's going on. And I've noticed this, I've been
traveling, Phyllis and I've been traveling now over thirty years
all over the country, other countries, we have been all kind
of churches, different denominations, and it is
consistent, every place you go, everything you do, the more they
respect God and the things of God, the more He gives you, the
stronger the anointing. The more revelation. The less they respect Him - and
the thing is you will see some good people with good works that
just are sadly lacking in respect for God. They don't see it, they don't
realize it, because they just haven't been around it enough. Didn't learn it at home, their
parents didn't know it. But you'll see - I can tell, you
can sense it because it's tied in with faith. People that respect - for one
thing, they're not trying to tell you all about themselves
nonstop. It's not just, "I... I... I did this... I did that... I think this... I feel this... I like this... I... I... I don't like this... I... That's not being respectful. But people that really do
respect the things of God, by the time - you're not around
them any length of time, God will start giving you things. Start giving you things. Talking about as a minister. You see this right here with
Jesus Himself. Mark six, verse one. Jesus, "Went out from there, and
came into His own country," this is His hometown where He grew
up. His home area, county, whatever
you would call it. "And His disciples," were there
with Him, they, "followed Him. And when the Sabbath day was
come, He began to teach in the synagogue," He's been in this
synagogue many, many, many times. His neighbors go here, His
kinfolks go here, His family is here. This is where He grew up. And He is teaching in there. "And many hearing Him were
astonished," and this is not in a good way and they are,
"saying, where did this," Guy get, "these things?" What is this? This is disrespect. "And what wisdom is this which
is given to Him, that even such mighty works are wrought by His
hands?" Because we know that He would
use the passage out of Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is on Me
because He has anointed Me," and they had heard things that had
happened in other places, and He gets there and talks to them the
same thing that He did in the other towns, and they are going,
"Who does He think He is?" This is blatant dishonor. And it's so common that nowadays
people wouldn't even think much about hearing that. "Boy, He really thinks He's
something, doesn't He?" Is it that He thinks He's so
much or that you don't think it's enough? That your respect is so low, or
not even there? They said, "Is not this the
Carpenter," this is Mary's Boy. I mean, my cousin works with His
brother James down at the factory. "And Joses, and Juda, and
Simon?" I mean He fixed a plow stock for
me last month. And His sisters are here. My sisters and cousins go
shopping with them and washing. And they were what? "Offended at Him." At what? He's saying He's too big. He's thinking He's something. He forgot where He came from. We know Him. He grew up right over there. Somebody say: "Disrespect. Disrespect." Now look at the rest of it. "Jesus said, A prophet is not
without honour," what's the problem here? Lack of honor. "But in his own country, and
among his own kin, and in his own house." His own brothers and sisters are
probably there. His cousins, John tells you His
Own brothers and sisters didn't believe in Him back then. So what are they thinking then? They're thinking, Bubba has got
Him an entourage and it's gone to His head. He thinks He's some big deal
now. He is a big deal. And it's not that He's thinking
He's too much, it's you're not thinking He's enough. And what happened? What happened? "He could there," that means
couldn't, He couldn't, "do mighty work," there. Jesus couldn't do mighty works
there. Most theologians don't even
accept this verse. It upends their theology. They try to do something with
it. He couldn't. Except, "He laid His hands upon
a few sick folk, and healed them." Why? There must've been a few there
that had some respect. Right? I don't know if they met Him run
the corner when He left and said, I'm so sorry, the way they
talked to You. But, if You could just touch me
right now. And a few of them got healed. Somebody say, "Glory to God,"
for the truth of His Word. "He could there do no mighty
works safe He laid His hand on a few sick folk, and healed them. And He," did what? "Marvelled," see, we see in
marveling about the centurion's great faith. But just as radical in the other
direction, He's marveling at them. At what? Their unbelief. Which is inseparable from their
disrespect. Oh, can you see it? Can you see it? You show me unbelief, I will
show you lack of respect. They are inseparable. "Marveled because of their
unbelief." How do you fix this? How do you fix this? This unbelief? This dishonor? This disrespect? "He went round about the
villages, teaching." What do you do? Get the Word, get the Word out. Some will listen, some will
receive it, some will repent for their hard hearts and their
rebellious, disrespectful attitudes. Keep telling it, keep talking
it. Our father in the faith, Brother
Kenneth Hagin, told us this numerous times. Sometimes people would get upset
with him, not sometimes, a lot of times. One of the first Crusades he
took us with him on over in the Northwest. When we got to church that night
I was so thrilled, Phyllis and I were so thrilled to be in the
car with them going to the meeting. Which comes back to what? Respect. A person asked me one time, "How
did you believe to be a Rhema teacher?" I didn't. I didn't. "How did you believe to wind up
overseeing healing school?" I didn't. You know how it started? I was there for three months,
the first three months I was there, nobody knew me. We were little country folks
from nowhere, nobody knew. And they announced they were
going to build and open a prayer and healing center, and Brother
Hagin was going to teach and train folks to minister to the
sick. "Divine healing technicians" he
called them. I heard that and I thought, oh,
would that be something else. I esteemed it. Didn't realize what I was doing
at the time. I was just, oh! And I looked around behind me
and I thought, man, would it be amazing to be a part of that. And I looked around, there's
like five hundred people behind me and I thought, I'm sure they
all feel the same way. And who am I? Less than a year later, I was
one of two that was selected to start it. How did that happen? Decades later the Lord corrected
me. He said, "When you looked around
and said I'm sure everybody feels this way, you were wrong. Everybody didn't feel that way. They didn't feel the same way." "Them that honor Me, I will
honor." If you value it, if you treasure
it, if you'll use it to the best of your ability, God will give
it to you. And if you do good with that and
you keep on honoring and respecting it, He will give you
more. And He will give you more. You get to the place where you
despise it and don't respect it anymore, you're going to lose
it. You will lose what you have. That includes each other. We need to appreciate each other
and value each other and respect - the Bible says esteem each
other better than yourself. Didn't it say that? You need to eww and ahh over
them. Right? And don't get mad if they don't
eww and ahh over you. That's not your job. That's not your job. What happened? I guess a few years after that,
Brother Hagin took us on some Crusades with him. Let me have a part, let me speak
in them. And this is one of the very
first ones. Phyllis and I were in the car,
boy, I was grinning like the cat that got the canary. I thought look-a here, look- a
here. Because you could feel the
presence of God. You could just sense the
anointing. The facility was packed. God was there. And we get to the outside of the
place and there's these yayhoos walking around with signs
talking bad about Brother Hagin. Ugly stuff. And they had not a clue. Some of the signs I thought,
where in the world did you get that? He never said anything like
that. That's how the enemy works. Disrespect. What is the enemy trying to do? He's trying to get people to
disrespect the ministry, the anointing, the Word. If he can get them to do that,
he can take away the power. If Jesus couldn't do mighty
works there, then you're not going to either. We've had some folks that have
gotten irritated with us in times about how we do things at
the church. Why doesn't just anything go? It's not a matter of being
rigid, it's a matter of showing respect. And it's not just shown respect
for people or flesh, it showing respect for Him. We've had people all the time
try to get us to rent our facilities out to them to do
events, to do this and that. This is a holy place. It's His place. He gave it to us. We're not just supposed to have
a bunch of ungodly stuff happening around here, is that
right? We tell people don't try to
solicit business on the grounds. Are y'all with me? Don't try to do business deals
on the grounds. This is a holy place. If you need to talk about that,
go somewhere else. We say zero strife around here. I don't care who's right, who's
wrong, no strife. Zero. Why? God is good to us. He has given us a church,
churches and partners. He has given us facilities and
abilities. We should take care of it. We should treat it a certain
way, is that right? We should treat each other a
certain way, and it's all part of honoring Him, and what did He
say? The more you honor Me, the more
I am going to honor you. Go with me in closing to Romans
ten. I sure hope you can come back
because we didn't get to half of what I had in mind. But I believe we got to the part
we should have today. Thanks be to God. The centurion, Jesus marveled at
his great faith. What did we see? Great respect and honor. We see marveling in His Own
hometown at their unbelief. What was connected to that? Sarcasm. Watch out for sarcasm. It's disrespectful. "Well, I guess they think
they're all that." You should not talk like that. You are a believer, you should
not talk like that. If you can't show respect, just
change the channel. Right? Don't talk about it, don't focus
on it. And especially when it comes to
the things of God - how many understand you could be cutting
up and acting silly or whatever, but when the holy things of God
come up, we need to see a change in you. I'm not talking about fear, I'm
just talking about respect. Treat it like it's important,
because it is. Treat it like it is
life-changing, because it is. Like it's precious, because it
is. And in so doing, you will be
exhibiting the same kind of great faith that caused Jesus to
marvel. In Romans ten, we read the first
part of this. Romans 10:15 let's look at it
again. "How shall they preach, except
they be sent?" You would have never given an
offering unless you valued something, and the reason you
can part with money is because you value that more than you do
the money. Is that right? "How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of
good things!" Does that sound like respect? You're saying, those are some
beautiful feet that brought you to preach that good Word to me. Right? If somebody is getting upset
because they think the preachers shoes are too nice, what is
that? Now don't misunderstand me,
preachers can be crooks, just like any other profession. Lie and steal, ain't nothing
right about that. There's nothing okay about it. One of the first houses Phyllis
and I got there in Tulsa, we had been believing for fifteen years
for a house. We went from a crummy little
apartment in a bad part of town to a better apartment on the
third floor that you had to walk down to the basement to do your
laundry and tote everything up three flights of stairs. We believed God to get into what
most people would call an average apartment, but to us it
was a big step up. And then finally, we got a rent
house. Had our own washer and dryer. Whoa! Hallelujah, hallelujah! And a garage. A garage. And our own washroom, oh, praise
the Lord. And then, we were able to get a
pretty good little house of our own, and then for ten years
after that, we were believing for a certain kind of house, a
vision house, nice house. And ten years had gone by. We had sown seed, we're
believing and expecting, and the Lord helped us to get it. It was miraculous. It was on an acre and a half of
land in a very nice part of town. It covered - you know how a
cul-de-sac will kind of make a curve, it curved around that
whole side - it had a tennis court. It had a great giant pool. It had a seven car garage. Marble floors. This place is okay. And we didn't know it was for
sale. We drove by it and had a witness
we should look at it. No sign or anything. Come to find out it was in
foreclosure. And the Lord dealt with us while
we were out in a meeting, "Make them an offer of this." It was a crazy, low offer. They came back within ten
thousand of this crazy low offer and God through a number of
other things - we needed money, we weren't able to pay for it
and get it at that point, but to get in it we were sitting in a
parking lot, you remember that? I know you do. And somebody called us - this
was the same day we were going to the bank, same day we were to
go to the bank and we didn't have money. Somebody called us in the
parking lot, we were thanking God for cell phones that day. And this is back decades ago. And they said, "The Lord dealt
with us to send you X amount of money." Oh, it was our offering, that's
right. Excuse me, it was our offering
from that meeting, and it was way more. It was a Wednesday night
offering. And you talk about a Wednesday
night offering, man, and it was more than enough to put us in
that house. So we got in there. Now we were traveling so much
back then that somebody came and saw the house two years after we
moved in and they said, "Did y'all just move in?" Because the pictures weren't on
the wall, the boxes were still unpacked, because we were only
there a few days and we're gone again. We were on the road. But I went to get my haircut not
long after we got that house and the lady that was cutting my
hair, she said, "You know, Brother Keith, somebody came by
here today, just made me mad." I said, "What?" She said, "They talked about you
and your house and said they drove by your house and said it
just made them sick. Made them sick. What in the world did you need a
house..." Now of course they don't know
that we probably paid less for that than they paid for their
house that was a third the size. They don't know that, and they
don't care. If you don't even try to find
out, that means you don't care. You just want to be mad. But I tried to calm her down and
I said, "Just don't pay any attention to it." But what struck me about it -
what's the thing? They are saying that's too good
for those preachers. Aren't they? That's too good for them. Now, what is honor? It's value. So what they are saying is that
that house and stuff is way more valuable than us. And of course if you lied and
stole and got the house that way, that's dishonorable. It's being a crook. But if you got the right way, if
the Lord added it to you, He is honor you. And that's somebody's going to
despise what God did, you are despising God who honored it. The Bible said, "We are to count
those that labor in the Word and doctrine worthy of double
honor." Double honor. That's not just so that the
preachers can live good. If there's double honor - oh, I
don't know if you got this today or not, there is double faith. There's double faith, that's
going to affect the revelation that flows. That's going to affect the
healings that happen. It's going to affect the
provision. Every thing. It's not about making a big deal
of people. It's certainly not about playing
big shot. I know y'all know me a little
bit but you're looking at a fellow that cares the least in
the world about playing big shot of most anybody you have seen. I just despise it. I don't care about people seeing
and knowing me. Somebody said, "Why are you all
over the TV and everything?" To get the Word out. To get the Word out. To get the Word out. I tell you, I would rather do
this than eat when I'm hungry see somebody get an answer. See somebody get set free from
some confusion and ignorance and darkness. See somebody find out their sins
are all washed away. See somebody find out they are
healed. Oh, glory. Now that I care about. That I care about. And I'm convinced you can't
spend too much money on that. Can you? You can't spend too much on
doing the work of God and doing it at the highest level, and
doing it right. So some people think completely
wrong about these things like people in Jesus' hometown. And the Lord is unable, can't,
do mighty works in their midst because of it. People that should know better,
people that grew up around it. And you have some rough scarred
guy, you got the Syrophenician woman, oh, dear me. They were known for their
carnality and ungodliness. Show up and just believe God and
blow everybody out of the water. Why? Show respect. Finish reading this with me,
please. Verse sixteen, "But they have
not all obeyed the Gospel. For Esaias said, Lord, who has
believed our report?" Phyllis and I saw the same thing
when we were first married, we got our first tapes on faith and
redemption and prosperity. We got so excited we shared them
with our friends and most of them were unimpressed. We were just ecstatic and I
remember I shared with some people and I saw them the next
day and I said, "What about it is more" They said, "Oh, I
haven't listened to it." I said, "Man, listen to that. It's going to change your life." Saw them a week later. "Did you listen?" "A part of it. I don't go for all that," they
said. Twenty years later, our lives
are totally changed. We were in a different place we
ever imagined we would be. Twenty years later, they were
right where they were. It's not because we are so
amazing, it's because by the grace of God, we chose to
respect it instead of despise it. We kept feeding on it instead of
going I ain't got time for all of that. "Who has believed our reports?" Somebody say: "I believe it. I believe it. I believe it." "So then faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God." What I want to see as He is
talking about respect. He's talking about the feet of
them that bring the Gospel, and notice the rest of it. Verse eighteen, "But I say, Have
they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went
into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the
world." Has this words not been
available to other people? It is available. It's been all around. Verse nineteen, "But I say, Did
not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will
provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a
foolish nation I will anger you. But Esaias is very bold, and
said, I was found of them that sought Me not," He's talking
about us, "I was made manifest unto them that asked not after
Me." He's talking about us. "But to Israel He said, All day
long I have stretched forth My hands unto," what? "A disobedient and gainsaying,"
gainsaying is back talking, back talking "people." What's this got to do with
faith? Verse seventeen He told you how
faith comes. It's in the middle of talking
about respect and honoring the feet that brought the messenger,
or the people who just kept on being disobedient and back
talking. You cannot separate great faith
from great honor. You prayed the prayer a few
minutes ago. Branson prayed a prayer,
everybody online prayed the prayer. I believe something tremendous
is already working inside of us. I believe we're going to
recognize things we haven't recognized before. We're going to see disrespect. Now, let me caution you. You're going to see it, you're
going to notice it more than you have. It's not your job to correct
everybody. It is your job to fix yourself. Don't go around correcting
everybody about it. You correct you. Everybody hold your finger out
like this. Now turn it around. This is what we're going to do. I'm serious, don't you go out of
here and abuse this holy Word and start trying to straighten
everybody around. You'll just cause problems. No, right here. If you see something you haven't
been doing but they're doing, you just need to make a note I'm
not going to do that. By the grace of God, I'm not
going to do that, I'm not going to talk that way. Take it for yourself. Be the student, be the disciple. The learner. Stand on your feet, if you
would.
