♪ (Music playing) ♪ Good morning, class.
Class: Good Morning. Hi, I'm Keith Moore, and we
welcome you to Faith School. Faith School is the place where
our spirit gets fed, our faith is nurtured and begins to grow
and continues to grow, and we learn how to live the
victorious, overcoming life that God intended for us to live. It's not all up to Him. He told us that, "Man doesn't
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of
the mouth of God." He told us that our faith can
grow exceedingly. So we need to be taught, we need
to be disciples of the Master, continually feeding, and
learning, growing, developing. Which is why we saved you a seat
right here in the front. Get your Bible, get something to
take notes on. Come on in. Let's pray, release faith, and
get exactly what we should get today from the Master Teacher,
the Holy Spirit. "Father, we look to You and ask
you for utterance, and anointing, and direction, and
answers, exactly what we need for today and now. We ask it in Jesus' name. We believe we receive it, we
thank you for it. Amen." Turn in the Textbook again to a
Scripture that we've been looking at for a number of days
and classes now, 2 Corinthians chapter four verse thirteen. Second Corinthians 4:13 says,
"We having the same spirit of faith," spirit of faith,
"according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I
spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak." Living faith involves more than
believing. James said faith without action
or doing is dead. Faith must be expressed, and the
number way you express your faith is through what you say,
through your words. It's how you become born again;
it's how you are saved. "For with the heart man
believes, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation," Romans ten verse eight, nine, and ten tell us. Go with me to Hebrews eleven. We got into this on yesterday's
class. Hebrews 11:1, the great
definition of faith. In the NIV translation says it
like this, Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is being sure of what we
hope for, and certain of what we do not see." The Good News translation says
it like this, "To have faith is to be sure of things we hope
for. To have faith is to be certain
of things we cannot see." Do you hear this language? To have faith is to be sure,"
sure of what you expect, certain of what you don't yet see, or
feel, or experience in the natural. Sure and certain. As we've covered already in
previous classes, you can't be in faith in that area as long as
you're questioning God's will about that area. Maybe you're in faith in other
areas, but if you're still questioning God's will about
your healing, for instance, if you say, "Well I don't know if
it's God's will to heal me or not," then it's impossible for
you to have faith to be healed. You can't have faith to be
healed while you're still questioning God's will. Now you may have faith in other
areas. You can't have faith for God to
meet your needs if you are still questioning whether or not it's
His will for your needs to be met. How does faith come? It comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. And while you're hearing the
anointed Word of God, God's will in those areas is being revealed
to you. And if you hear enough of His
Word until, like Abraham, you're staggering no more, you are
fully persuaded about that thing now. You can pray prayer of faith. Now you can make a declaration
or confession of faith. The Bible is full of examples of
this. Anybody, any man or woman in the
Scriptures that there was a great exploit of faith, a
miracle received, something great done, you will see the
same spirit of faith. And you'll see this same bold
confidence, this knowing the will of God, and declaring it
boldly, and acting on it, you'll see it every time. One of my favorites of all time
is the one we have on the graphic for Faith School. Anybody know what that is, the
little guy with the sling, and the great, big guy with the
spear? It's David and Goliath. Go back with me to 1 Samuel
seventeen. First Samuel seventeen, let's
see if David had faith, and let's see what that faith looks
like, and what it sounds like, and if it's in agreement with
what we've been talking about all these days about what faith
is. Say it out loud while you're
turning over there. Say it out loud: "Faith is being
sure. Faith is being certain." See, we are quoting parts of
Hebrews 11:1. Faith is being sure. Was David sure about anything in
this situation? Was he certain about anything? Well what happened here in 1
Samuel seventeen is that the Philistines who were the enemies
of the Israelites at the time had come out against them, and
the armies of the Israelites, and the armies of the
Philistines were kind of at a standoff. And they were on two different
mountain slopes, and there is a valley in the middle, and they
are preparing to fight and have the big battle, and maybe there
were already some skirmishes and things. But during the course of this a
champion of the Philistines, called Goliath, came out into
the valley and laid down a challenge to anybody in the
Israeli army. And now this guy Goliath, he was
no ordinary soldier. If you look at the figures and
figure them into English or metric, whatever you're familiar
with, you'll find he is one big dude. This guy is what, possibly nine
foot tall or taller. This guy weighs five hundred
pounds or something. I mean, he is just massive. Forget seven foot basketball
player. This guy makes these guys look
small. And he has been a warrior from
the time he's a boy. This is his life. He is a killing machine, and he
is giant, and that's not an exaggeration. And so he comes out and he says,
Hey [it'd be a lot deeper than that], Hey, I'm a warrior;
you're a warrior. Let's do some one-on-one here,
and if you defeat me, we'll say, That's it. You won. We'll serve you. But if I defeat you, that's it. We won; you are our slaves and
servants. And no takers. Nobody would come, week after
week, week after week. He lays down this challenge. He calls them chicken, he says
bad things about their mama. I mean, this goes on for weeks,
and weeks, and weeks. And worse, he blasphemes God. He blasphemes God. Well David was not there. His three older brothers were
there, but David wasn't there. He was out keeping the sheep;
he's younger. And his father says, go down to
the battle, check on your brothers, and take some of this
food with you. See how they're doing. So the Bible said, "He left the
sheep in good hands with a keeper," he did what his daddy
told him. He got there. And just about time he got
there, here comes Goliath - I guess maybe he did this every
day at a certain time. He comes out and he says, I'm
still here. Still no takers? You bunch of yellow-belly
chickens! He's daring them; no takers. And David when he heard this he
was surprised. Skip down with me to about verse
twenty-three. First Samuel 17:23, "As he
talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the
Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, he spoke those words:
David heard them." And verse twenty-four, "All the
men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were
sore afraid." I mean, all the warriors ran
from this guy. "And the men of Israel said,
have you see this man that is come up? Surely to defy Israel is he come
up: and it will be, that the man who kills him, the king will
enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter,
and make his father's house free in Israel." Man, there were some big
incentives to anybody that would dare to fight this guy. He said, You're going to have
money, you're never going to have to pay taxes another day in
your life, and you know the king's pretty daughter? You get to marry her. But still, no takers. Of course, you know, none of
that does you any good if you're dead. And verse twenty-six, "And David
spoke to the men that stood by, and he said," what's that, what
do you get, "if you kill the Philistine, and take away the
reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised
Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" You know, it matters how you
talk about your problem. They talked about him being a
nine-ten foot, five hundred, six hundred pound killing machine,
and David said he was an uncircumcised Philistine. That means a no covenant nobody. It may be big and bad in the
natural, but compared to God what is it? And so he went on to say, The
people answered and said, this is what happens whoever kills
this giant: he gets to marry the pretty daughter of the king, he
gets all this money, never has to pay taxes again. "And Eliab, David's oldest
brother, when he heard him talking, his anger was kindled
against David." It made him mad. He said, "Why did you come down
here, and who did you leave the sheep with?" Well, if you read the earlier
portion, he left them with somebody responsible. He is doing what his daddy told
him to do. He said, "I know your pride, and
the naughtiness of your heart. You came down here to see the
battle." It ain't true. He is doing what his daddy sent
him to do. But here's the thing: faith
irritates unbelief. Come on, can you see this? Faith irritates unbelief. Courage irritates cowardice. Can you see this? This is what's wrong with him,
because baby brother has come here and is acting like he is
not afraid. Baby brother is speaking faith
and courage, and it's showing everybody up, making them look
bad. And so David said, "What have I
done? Is there not a cause?" In other words, somebody ought
to do something. And verse thirty, he just turns
around to somebody else - and this is what you do when
somebody doesn't like your faith - you just talk to somebody
else. He said, Tell me again. What happens to the guy that
kills this big lug? Oh money, pretty girl, no taxes. What happens? Oh yeah, sounds good to me. And so because this was making
such a - so noticeable it got back to king, the King Saul. And Saul sent for him. He said, What is this I hear? Somebody is talking about going
and fighting Goliath? And they brought him. "And David said to Saul," now
here we've got David and Goliath on the Faith School graphic. Was there any faith involved in
here? Listen and see what you think. "David said, let no man's heart
fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with
this Philistine." I'll go. I'll go. Is this courage? Is this faith though? Keep reading, "Saul said, you
can't go fight against the, you're just a youth," you're
just a teenager, "he has been a man of war from his boyhood and
youth." And David said to him, "Your
servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and there
came a bear," and he was big too, "and they took a lamb out
of the flock: and I went out after him, and I smote him, and
delivered it out of his mouth: and when he rose up against me,
I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him." See, here is how faith works. You don't just start out with
Goliath. You use your faith on smaller
things, and then it gets bigger and bigger. And if you'll use your faith on
the small things in life, then when Goliath pops his head up
someday, you'll be ready. You'll be able to talk like
David. Verse thirty-six, he said, "Your
servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this," notice he
didn't say this ten foot tall, six hundred pound killing
machine. No, "This uncircumcised
Philistine," this no covenant, nobody, "will be as one of them,
seeing he has defied the armies of the living God." Now notice, I want you to notice
something, and every time you see it I want you to say it out
loud with me. Tell me the next two words in
verse thirty-seven, "David said." Say it out loud: "David said." What does the spirit of faith
do? "I believed, therefore I have
spoken. We have the same spirit of
faith. We also believe, therefore, we
speak." Did David have faith? Did he say something? What is he saying? Verse thirty- seven, are you
there? "David said moreover," I will go
and do the best that I can, and if it be God's will I might
survive. But if not, thy will be done. We wouldn't be reading about
this if that had been what he said because there would've been
no faith in that. I'm not mocking submitting to
the will of God, but there are different kinds of prayer. And if you are going to pray a
prayer of faith or make a declaration of faith to change
something, that's different from submitting to the will of God
that you don't know is the will of God. He had to have become convinced,
sure, certain that it was God's will for somebody to take care
of this loud mouth, blaspheming, no covenant, nobody. And since nobody else was ready
to do it, He must've become convinced God could do it no
matter who he might use, even using a boy like him. And God had already used him to
take down a bear, and to take down a lion, and why couldn't
God use him to take down this big lug? "David said, the Lord that
delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of
the bear," come on, help me out. Read it out loud. What did it say: "He will
deliver me." Come on, say it out loud: "He
will deliver me." Is there any if it be thy will? Any we'll try, we'll do our
best, we'll see? See, that is not faith. If you don't know the will of
God you can't be in faith in that area. But when you know the will of
God, when you're convinced, you're bold to say it. He is bold. I mean, he's just speaking right
out loud so much so that it's making his brothers mad. It's making other people upset
with him. Why? Because they're like, "What do
you mean He will deliver you? What makes you anything
special?" Well the truth is, He would've
done it for other people too. But what did he say, "He will
deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." And here is something that is
amazing to me. Saul said, "Go, and the Lord be
with you." Why? He's just a kid. Because there was something
about the way David was talking. There was something in the tone
of his voice, in the look of his eye that King Saul said, I think
this kid maybe could do this. What was he seeing and hearing? The spirit of faith. Come on, do you see this? The spirit of faith. Keep reading. Saul tried to put armour on him,
in verse thirty-eight, and David put it on. He said, I can't even walk in
this. No, get this stuff off of me. And he took the things he knew,
that he had experience with; his, verse forty, his sling, and
the stones, and he went out, "And drew near to the
Philistine." Verse forty-one, "And the
Philistine came on and drew near to David; and the man that bare
the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked
about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a
youth, and ruddy, and of fair countenance." He's a good looking kid, not a
warrior. "And the philistine said to
David, am I a dog, that you come out to me with a stick? And the Philistine cursed David
by his gods. And the Philistine said to
David, come to me, I will give your flesh to the fowls of the
air, and to the beasts of the field." Verse forty-five, tell me these
next words. What happened, "Then said David
to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword, and a spear,
and a shield: I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied," and stood
out here all these days and blasphemed and cursed. Verse forty-six, come on, what
did it say? "Today the Lord will deliver you
into my hand; and I will smite you, and I'm going to take your
head from off you; and I will give the carcases of the host of
the Philistines this day to the fowls of the air, and to the
wild beast of the earth; that all the earth may know that
there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly will know
that the Lord doesn't save with sword and spear: for the battle
is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands." You couldn't say it any more
definite. Can you? Is there any vacillation? Any ambiguity? Any false humility if it be thy
will? Not any, and that's why this
story is in the Book. That's why it's on the graphic,
right? Because we aspire to have this
same kind of faith. We do have this same kind of
faith, and we aspire to developing it to these same kind
of levels. Maybe it's not a Goliath,
literally, that we need to face and deal with, but there are
some big issues in everybody's like at some point and some
time. And you cannot lay, and cry, and
feel sorry for yourself, and whine, and complain, and beg
God, and have a victory like this. It just doesn't work. You've got to seek God about His
Word and about His will, and feed on it until it gets in your
spirit. Can you see faith was working? When David first got there, and
he hears this big mouth giant carrying on and saying all this
stuff, and then they're saying, Do you hear what the king said
he will do for whoever will take care of this guy? And he says, Really? Tell me again. Can you see what's going on? Something was stirring inside
him. Can you see that? Faith was stirring in him. Which is why - I think he
understood the first time they told him what you get. But why did he keep asking? Because something is stirring -
this is how it works in our life when faith begins to form in you
something stirs. And you need to say, "Okay, tell
me about that again. Tell me about that again." And then as you hear it, it
stirs in you stronger, and it stirs in you stronger, until it
rises up and you know. You've got a knowing inside you,
and that's when he comes up and says, I'll go fight him. I'll do it. And then he begins to say, The
same God that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and the
bear, He will, oh come on, did you hear this language? He will deliver. Then when he's facing the giant,
he tells him face to face, I'm going to kill you today. I'm taking your head off today. It's going to happen. God will deliver you into my
hand, and in fact, you and all your buddies too. Is that right? We're taking all of you, and
sure enough, if you read the rest of the story - well, let's
just look at it. It said that he ran, "He put his
hand," verse forty-nine, "into his bag, he took a stone, and he
slang it," [sound effects] he turned it loose, and man, like a
forty-five caliber bullet that thing zinged through the air and
hit a spot where his helmet wasn't covering him. I believe there was an angel got
involved in this probably. Probably when that stone left,
that the angel just reached out there and just boosted it a
little bit, gave it a little boost and caused it to find the
right spot. Boom! It's like somebody shot him in
the head. He's out of it. He just falls and hits the
ground. Everybody is trying to figure
out what kind of battle this is going to be. It's over. You know, probably the guys back
- David's brothers over there are covering their face going,
"I can't watch this. I can't watch this." It's over. It's over. How many know God can do that in
your life? Things that were so awful and so
bad, you be bold enough to declare it and decree it, and
something that people thought would take another five years or
whatever, boom; it's done. It's done, and God gets the
glory. God gets the glory. And, "So David prevailed over
the Philistine," verse fifty, "with a sling and a stone, and
he smote him." He didn't have a sword, so he
just - Goliath wasn't using his so he just took it out and
finished the job. And then verse fifty-two and
three, "The men of Israel jumped up and shouted, and they pursued
the Philistines," and they won the entire battle that day. And it was a glorious day of
victory. Can you see the spirit of faith? Can you hear the spirit of faith
in what David declared and decreed? No ambiguity. No if it be they will. And here's the great news, we
have the same spirit of faith. Say it out loud class - I mean,
we're out of time again. Say it out loud: "I live by
faith. I walk by faith. I overcome the world by faith. I'm strong in faith giving glory
to God." Praise God. Well, that's it for today. We'll see you next time in Faith
School. Hello friends, I've really
enjoyed being with you in
Faith School again this week, and
just want to remind you that all of the previous weeks of Faith
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have received, freely give." Praise God. Until next time, we'll see you
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overcoming, and we are pleasing God.
