♪ (Music playing) ♪ Good morning, class. Class: Good morning, Brother
Keith. Hi. I'm Keith Moore and welcome to
Faith School. Faith School is the place where
our faith is fed, our spirit grows stronger, and we learn how
to be overcomers. We've saved you a seat right
here in the front. I want you to join us. Get your Bible, get something to
take notes on, and come right in and join us in this class and
get ready to be changed. The Scripture says when we
behold like in a mirror, the glory of God, that we are
changed into the image we are beholding. We are changed from glory to
glory by the work of the Spirit of the Lord. It's transformative to focus on
and listen to the anointed Words of God. It gives you faith, it changes
you from the inside; that affects the outside. So, let's release faith and come
up to a higher place in Him today. I'm confident that in these
classes day after day, week after week, your faith is
growing, you're getting stronger, and what used to seem
unreachable is getting within reach. What used to seem too hard to
deal with, you can see, "All things are possible to him that
believes." "Father, in Jesus' name, we
agree together, faith class all over, everybody that's watching,
we're agreeing, asking for utterance and anointing, for
Your good Word, for Your good Spirit, for answers and exactly
what we need right now. Open our ears, our hearts, our
minds. Help us to see things we hadn't
seen before. Remind us of anything you've
shown us that we let get away from us, and show us how to put
it into practice. And we purpose not to be
forgetful hearers, but to be doers of it, in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank You, Lord." Turn with us in the Textbook
again today, to that great Book of Hebrews and the eleventh
chapter and the first verse. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen," or as the Young's Literal translation says, "Faith is of
things hoped for a confidence, and of matters not seen a
conviction." Previously in the tenth chapter,
that flows right into the eleventh, he was talking about
confidence. If we back up to verse
thirty-five, chapter ten, verse thirty-five, he said, "Cast not
away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of
reward. You have need of patience, that,
after you've done the will of God, you might receive the
promise." Verse thirty-eight says, "Now
the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in Him." Faith, the word "faith," we
found is used interchangeably with the word "confidence." It's sometimes also translated
"boldness." Abraham was said to be fully
persuaded, so, if you say I have faith for something you're also
saying I'm confident about this. You could also say I'm sure. If you're in faith about a
thing, you are sure about what God's will is concerning that
matter. You are sure that God's heard
your prayer. You are sure that your request
has been granted, and you are sure that you will see and
experience what you're talking about. That's a lot of being sure. How can you get that? In a world full of unsurety this
is very different, and we're supposed to be different. We are in the world but we're
not of this world. We're supposed to be really,
very different from the world. We saw earlier in Romans twelve,
"We're not to be conformed to this world, but we're to be
transformed." How are you transformed from
being just like the world? "Transformed by the renewing of
our minds," to what end? "So that we can prove what is
that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." What makes the difference
between us just being like all the rest of the unsaved, ungodly
world? We have become mind renewed to
the will of God. Many are saying. "Why are we here? Why was I born? What purpose do I serve? Is there life after death? Is there anything past this? Nobody knows. Nobody can know. Nobody can be sure." Not true. If you accept the Textbook, it's
got the answers. And we don't have to say, "I
don't know," on the test. "I don't know... I don't know... I don't know..." We don't have to try to guess on
multiple choice, thank God. He not only gave us the
Textbook, He gave us the key of the answers to the tests that we
had faced in life daily. This is a pretty good school
when you got the answers for the test, right? This is pretty good school. And that's how God set it up,
and we're not going to change that. Look with me-in talking about
this, go to 1 John the second chapter. First John chapter two and look
at verse twenty. Let's see, I'm moving a little
bit too fast here, but that's alright. First John 2:20 says, "You have
an unction of the Holy One, and you know all things." Does that sound good to you? Let's say it out loud: "I have
an unction," and that means-that word "unction" means
"anointing." I have an anointing of the Holy
One. And by that anointing, we know
all things. Now of course, that that doesn't
mean we're all knowing. Knowing everything about
everything right now like God does, that's not hard to figure
out. But what does it mean? It means all things that we need
to know, we are caused to know them by the anointing. And it's a comforting thought
that the answer to every question is inside us, in the
Person of the One Who does know everything about everything. And so really, we do have access
to unlimited knowledge. We have access to unlimited
understanding, unlimited wisdom. Does that sound good? Oh, it's wonderful, it's true. And something that is good to
remember, it happens through a knowing. Did you see that Word? "We have an unction of the Holy
One and we," what? Know, we, "Know all things we
need to know." Now see, that's akin to this
idea of confidence and being fully assured and being fully
persuaded. We know. You cannot have faith in an area
until you know something, until you know the will of God in that
area. That's why praying every prayer
with an "if it be Thy will" winds up praying without faith
time and time again. When God has revealed His will
to us, for us to keep saying "if it be Thy will" is to be
willingly ignorant. It is to ignore what He has
shown us and told us. If you were here with us for
previous classes we saw, for instance, it's not God's will
that any should perish. Well, then if you pray about
people perishing in a situation, "Lord, intervene. Do something for them if it be
Thy will," well, you're being willingly ignorant. Because you saw what He said and
He told you it's not His will that any should perish, and
you're still saying, you know, implying it might be His will. No, that would prevent faith. Faith is based on a foundation. A foundation of knowing it's
God's will. If you look in the fifth
chapter, 1 John five, 1 John 5:14 it says, "And this is the
confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything," what? "According to His will," what
happens? "He hears us." Thank You, Lord. Verse fifteen, "And if we,"
what? "Know that He hear us, whatever
we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of
Him." Now this is very different than
the way a lot of people pray. A lot of Christians pray-I've
had people tell me, you know, "Would you please pray for me,
Brother Keith, for my healing?" or, "Would you pray for me, you
know, that the Lord will help me with my finances? Would you pray with me." And I ask them a simple
question. Well, do you believe it's God's
will for you to be healed? And many times people have
looked at me and said, "Well, I hope so. I wish it would be. I want it to be." Well see, we're not ready to
pray. Because if I'm praying confident
that it's God's will but they're not convinced it's God's will,
we're not in agreement. There's no basis for faith. And that's what has happened too
many times. There are many times that people
say, "Pray for me about this," or, "Pray for me about that,"
but the truth is, they're not ready to pray. They need to come to Faith
School. They need-and I'm not just
talking about just this Faith School, but in the school of
faith where He teaches you and shows you what His will is. We need to spend more time in
the Textbook. Can you agree with that? We need to spend more time,
because the will of God is revealed on subject after
subject after subject. Healing, for instance, people
wrestle with this and go, "Well, you know, it's obviously not
God's will for everybody to be healed." Why do you say that? "Because they're not healed." Well, you could say the exact
same thing about the new birth about people being born again. You could say, "It's obviously
not God's will for everybody to be saved," why? "Because they're not all saved." It proves no such thing. What has been provided so
generously by grace must be received by faith. You have to lay hold of it and
believe you receive it and take it to yourself by faith. How can you take something by
faith? You first have to be convinced
of the will of God. You have to know and quit
asking. "If... I don't know... I hope so... We'll see..." This thing about praying and
then seeing what happens to determine the will of God, is
faithless praying and that's why it's praying without results. Look at this again. Verse fourteen. "This is the," what? "Confidence," that's another
word for "faith." "This is the confidence that we
have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will,"
so the prerequisite for confident praying is knowing His
will. If we ask anything according to
His will what happens? We know-no matter how you feel,
"He hears you." He hears. You took the time to go to the
Scriptures, to find out what He's already said about that
subject, you prayed, perhaps in the Spirit, asking the Lord to
show you and quicken to you His Word that applies to your
situation today and He did. And you saw it, and you know
this is the will of God, and you prayed in line with that
knowledge. God heard that prayer. You don't have to check how you
feel. You don't have to know anything
else. You prayed according to the will
of God. God heard that prayer. Verse fifteen. "And if we know that He heard
us," how do we know He heard us? Not by goose bumps, not by a hot
flash or a cold flash or a no flash. You don't have to have-thank
God, I'll take all the feelings God will give me, don't
misunderstand me, but when you walk by faith you don't have to
feel to know. Isn't that a good thing? I don't have to feel anything to
know some things. I can know without a shadow of a
doubt God heard my prayer. "How do you know He heard that
prayer? Do you feel anything?" Don't have to feel anything. I prayed according to the will
of God, so according to the Word of God, which is the will of
God, He told me He heard it. And if I know that He heard me,
I know something else. If I know He heard what I asked
because it was the will of God. We know and do you see a
repetition here? A recurring theme? We know that we have the
petitions that we desired of Him. My, my, my. We know. Confidence. And we know, and we know, and we
have. This goes hand in hand with that
great Scripture in Mark 11:24. Let's put it on the screen and
look at it, Mark 11:24. Jesus had said this. He began in verse twenty-two
talking about, "Have the faith of God," and in verse
twenty-three talking to the mountain, but Mark 11:24, if we
could put that up, please. He said, "Therefore I say to
you, what thing soever you desire, when you pray, believe
you receive them, and you shall have them." According to 1 John, we found
out it was God's will before we prayed, and so when we prayed we
knew God heard us. Then, because we knew God heard
us, he went on to say, "You know that you have the petitions." We believe we received it. And so then, we know, the
Scripture says, we have it and we will see it and feel it. Does that sound good to
everybody? Hallelujah. Confidence. Confidence. A knowing. A being sure. Go with me to Matthew the eighth
chapter, please, and let's look at something that is a classic
example. Matthew 8:1, Matthew 8:1. And it deals with the subject of
healing. Now, this is one of the big
areas where many Christians insist on praying "if it be Thy
will," and I have. I have been in that place where
I prayed for healing with an "if it be Thy will," so I'm not
mocking anybody, I'm not making fun of anybody. I remember back when I was in my
late teens, I went with my pastor one time as he went to
the hospital to visit people. And there were some of the-
there was a particular lady that was part of the church, who had
been very, very ill. She's in the hospital, and I
went with the pastor and we prayed for her. And he was by her bedside and
held her hand, and I was right there with him by the bed, and
he prayed and I prayed it with him, and she prayed it. "Father, we love our dear sister
here. That's and we're sorry," he
said. I'm quoting the pastor now,
"that she's been dealing with this," and I was too. "And Lord we just pray that if
it would be Your will, that You would heal our dear sister and
help her and raise her up. But if not, Your will be done." And I said, "Amen," and the
woman said, "Amen," and we felt like we had, you know, we'd done
a fair job of praying for her. But, after some years learning
some things and analyzing this, there are a lot of problems with
this prayer. What we're saying is God's will
is set, and God's will is going to be done no matter what you or
I pray, or say, or do, so when you really analyze it, you could
say it like this: God, we know You're going to do what You're
going to do. Your will is established and
it's going to happen no matter what anybody says or does. So, if it's Your will that
You're going to do anyway, heal our sister. But if it's not Your will, then
don't heal her, which You weren't going to do anyway, if
it was Your will. In other words, You're going to
do what You're going to do or not going to do what You're not
going to do no matter what, so, why are we praying? Really? Why are we praying? If our prayer-if the will of God
has already been determined, already been established, and
everything that happens or doesn't happen is the will of
God, why are we praying? If our prayer is not going to
change anything, if our prayer is not going to make any
difference, what's the purpose of it? What's the reason for it? It's not true. This kind of thinking is wrong
and praying for healing with an "if it be Thy will" is a useless
prayer. Because if you don't know the
will of God, you can't have any confidence. Faith begins where the will of
God is known. That same person, many of the
same people that emphatically pray for healing with an "if it
be Thy will" they would never pray for a person to be born
again with an "if it be Thy will." They would correct anybody that
would go down to the altar with somebody that came to be saved
and they said, "Lord. I'm going to receive You as my
Lord right now." And if somebody came and said,
"Well now, hold on. Hold on. We want to submit to the will of
God and you just never know, so just pray, 'Lord if it be Thy
will, save me, and if not, Thy will..." Oh, you just start praying that
and there are millions of church-going people would scream
and go, "No. No. No. No. No. No." "It's not His will that any
should perish." Well, that's true concerning
other areas as well. It's not His will that any
should perish physically, or mentally, or emotionally, or
even materially and financially. He's a good God. He's not willing that any should
perish, period. We must stop praying with the
faith destroying phrase "if it be Thy will" when the will of
God has already been revealed in the Word of God. We must be confident. You'll see this right here in
Matthew 8:1. It says, "When He was come down
from the mountain," Jesus is talking about, "great multitudes
followed Him." A lot of people. And in verse two it says,
"Behold, there came a leper and worshipped Him, and said, Lord,
if You will, You can make me clean." Isn't this how many are praying
today? They're praying the same way the
leper prayed then. If You will, You can. Now, many have thought that's a
good prayer; I'm unconvinced of God's ability. I have confidence God can heal
anything. God can do anything. God is a miracle Worker. Will He do it? We don't know that. That's the mystery, that's the
thing. If it's His will, He can do it. And, I've also seen parents look
at me with angst in their eyes and pain in their heart and go,
"I know God can heal my child. Why won't He do it? I've pled, I've begged, I've
done everything I know to do. If I could do it, I'd do it. I know He can. Why won't He? Why won't He?" This is the reason why some have
quit going to church, why some have quit praying, and just
said, "You know, why wouldn't God do it?" That's the wrong question. We talked about this already. There are prayers God can't
answer. He just can't. "What do you mean?" Here's one of them: He can't do
what-He can't do what He's already doing. You're begging Him-for instance,
you're begging Him to save somebody. It's the same thing with the new
birth. "God, why won't You save my
brother? Why won't You save my sister? God, why won't you save them? Why won't-please save them. Please save them." That is a misguided prayer. It's also a faithless prayer. Jesus has already done
everything that will ever need to be done for their salvation. He took their sins, He bore
their iniquities, and was judged for it, and has now risen from
the dead, triumphant over it. The Lord does not need to come
down and do anything else to save our loved ones and our
friends. So, to beg and to act like-you
know, "Please God, do it. Please God, do it." No. He's already done it. What we need to do, what they
need to do, is receive it. Is receive it. And how do you receive it? By faith. And can you have faith when
you're still questioning the will of God? You cannot. You cannot. Like Brother Bosworth said,
"Faith begins where the will of God is known." "And this is the confidence that
we have in Him; that if we ask anything according to His will,
we know He heard us. And if we know He heard us, we
know we have,"-that's a lot of knowing. Knowing, confidence. Knowing. Knowing. That's what faith is all about. And all this second guessing,
and this wondering and wavering, and it sounds pious, it sounds
submissive to the will of God to say, "Lord, Thy will. Thy will..." Well, why don't you pray that
way about everything? If you say you believe it, why
don't you pray that way about people being born again? No, you wouldn't do it because
you know God's will is for everybody to be saved. Well, good news brother, sister. It is also His will for
everybody to be healed. It's also His will for everybody
to be filled with the Spirit. It's also His will for everybody
to be delivered from mental anguish and torment. It's also His will for everybody
to have their needs met. It is His will. If you can become convinced of
that, the wavering stops. Notice what Jesus said to this
man. He said, "Lord, if You will, You
can make me clean." Verse three, what did Jesus tell
him? "Jesus put forth His hand," He,
"touched him and said, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed." He knew before the physical
thing could happen He had to clear the man of his doubt and
his questioning about God's will and-is He not the same
yesterday, today, and forever? And no respecter of persons? If He said, "I will," then, He's
still saying, "I will," now. It's never changed. If He said, "I will," to him,
He's no respecter of persons, He's saying it to you. Let the Word of God settle the
question once and for all. It is His will, hallelujah. Say it out loud: "I will walk by
faith. I will live by faith. I overcome this world by faith. I'm strong in faith, giving
glory to God." We'll see you next time in Faith
School.
