♪ (Music playing) ♪ Good morning, class. Good morning, Brother Keith. Hi, I'm Keith Moore, and this is
Faith School. And we welcome you to join the
class today. Faith School is the place where
our spirit gets fed, our faith gets nourished and built up, and
we learn how to please God, and to be overcomers in this life. It's not just automatic. When you are born again you are
a baby in God, in Christ. And you need to be fed, and you
need to grow up. And not just fed natural food,
but fed spiritual food. And when your spirit is fed and
nourished, and your spirit grows stronger, your faith gets
stronger. And this is how God has told us
to live. We live by faith, we walk by
faith. And, in fact, we are learning
how to live just like our Father, the Creator of the
heavens and earth lives and operates. It's the most wonderful thing. I mean, the life of faith is a
life of adventure. It's an exciting life. It can be rough on your flesh
because you don't know how everything is going to happen,
you don't see, you know, exactly how it is going to turn out in
the natural before you take your step. You take your steps like Abraham
went out not knowing where he was going. But it is always so amazing to
see how God makes things happen, how He brings it all to pass,
and makes it all work out when we dare to trust Him and step
out in faith. So we have your desk saved for
you again. Get your Bible, get something to
take notes on, come into the class and join us. We are going to pray right now
and believe to get exactly what we should receive today. "Father, in Jesus' name, we come
before you boldly before the throne of grace, asking for
grace, and help, and mercy, and answers, and direction. Only You can minister to
everybody that is seeing and hearing right now, and that will
see and hear even in the future. You know where things will be
and what needs to happen, and so we're asking for that miraculous
ministry of being able to minister to us the significant
thing for right now for every one of us. And as we hear it and receive
it, we'll put it into practice and be doers of it, and we are
expecting you to watch over it and bring it to pass as You are
so faithful to do. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, get out your Textbook. Let's go again to Scripture that
we looked out on yesterday. Second Corinthians chapter four. Second Corinthians chapter four
and verse thirteen. Second Corinthians 4:13 says,
"We having the same Spirit of faith, according as it is
written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also
believe, and therefore speak." He's referring to the same
Spirit of faith as the patriarchs of old, as every man
or woman who has followed God fully, and believed Him, and
seen answers to prayer, and miraculous things happen. He's talking about all the
patriarchs that are mentioned in Hebrews eleven, all the great
things that happened for them. We have the same Spirit of faith
as they - as Moses, as Abraham, as Elijah, Elisha, Peter, Paul,
John, as Jesus. We've got the same Spirit of
faith. Say it out loud: "I have the
same Spirit of faith." Well then he tells us what the
Spirit of faith looks and sounds like, and how it acts. He said, "We having the same
Spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and
therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak." Now he mentions not one thing,
but two things. What are they, class, these two
things? "I believed," and what else? "I spoke; we also believe, and
therefore speak." Many Christians, many in the
Body of Christ have not gotten the revelation of the speaking
part. When they talk about believing,
they don't associate it with speaking. But there is no such thing as
the Spirit of faith with no speaking. God released His faith through
His Words. Creation, Genesis account,
etcetera, etcetera. He has always done it; He
continues to do it. We are made in His likeness and
image. Go with me to Romans, please,
the tenth chapter. Romans chapter ten, and notice
something that every believer should know because this is - if
you are a believer, this is how you became a believer. Romans 10:8 he said, "What saith
it? The Word is near you, even in
your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the Word of faith,
which we preach." Where is this word? Where is faith? It's in your mouth, and it's in
your heart. Come on, somebody say it out
loud: "It's in my mouth, and in my heart." See, not just in your heart. But in your heart, and in your
mouth. Verse nine, "That if you will
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your
heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be
saved." How do you get saved? Not just by believing. We need mind renewal in this
area. He has already said it once,
then he said it again in verse nine, He is about to say it for
a third time in the next verse. Two things going on here, not
just one - believing in the heart, and what else? Speaking, saying with the mouth. Now there is a reason why this
seems strange to a lot of folks. You know, at our churches, at
Faith Life Church, all our folks know we frequently make
confessions. Every offering, and usually
several times throughout the services, and sometimes visitors
that come that haven't seen that before, they find that a little
odd, you know. People around them are saying
things, and they're like, you know, "When I go to church I
don't say anything. I just, you know -." In fact, they find it kind of
disruptive and rude, you know. You should be quiet while
services is - no, no. From the beginning, the church
spoke and knew that Jesus was the High Priest, Apostle and
High Priest of our confession. This is something that the
church lost as the years went by and became silent. And that's no coincidence. The reason why the church went
that way is because the enemy influenced it that way. Who wants the church to be
silent? Who wants the church to not
speak anything in faith and power that the Head of the
church can confirm and do in the earth? It's not God, it's the enemy. And he through his agencies, and
thoughts, and feelings, and spiritual influence is always
trying to shut you up from saying anything positive, and
saying anything faith-filled, or anything Word of God. And you have to resist that
because the temptation at times will be to just get quiet, and
just slump, and feel sorry for yourself, and just lay there,
sit there, and think bad thoughts. But friend, if you do that you
are losing the battle. You've got to use the weaponry
that is available to you. The Scripture says, "Though we
walk in the flesh, we don't war after the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal and natural, but they are mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds." And you'll find that one of the
greatest weapons we have is the sword of the spirit. And the Bible - if you read
about Jesus - it said that Spirit comes out of His mouth. Out of His mouth goes the two
edged sword. Well, that's how we willed the
sword of the spirit, the Word of God, as well. You don't handle it with your
hand. It's not a physical battle. You handle it with your mouth. And we can slice through some
problems if we'll learn how to speak faith-filled words at the
right place and the right time. How did we get born again? Let's look at it again. Verse nine, "If you will," what? "Confess with your mouth the
Lord Jesus," or as some say, Jesus is Lord, "and," and, and,
and, "if you will believe in your heart." Now see, a lot of folks have
changed this. They have completely eliminated
the confess with your mouth part, and all they talk about is
believing. What do you believe? Do you believe? Are you a believer? Yeah, I'm a believer. Well, if you said you are a
believer, you did just confess, but folks haven't realized the
way we get started in the Christian life is not the end of
this process. The way we got born again is
also the way we're supposed to live every day. It's the same process. We are supposed to walk
victoriously and successfully by doing these two things:
believing in our heart and speaking and saying with our
mouth. Say it out loud, class:
"Believing in my heart, and speaking with my mouth." Let's say it again: "Believing
in my heart, and saying with my mouth." Now I don't think any Christian
that is a real Christian would dispute the fact that is how you
got born again. That is how you got saved. That is how you got into the
Kingdom of God. The revelation is, that is not
the end of how you are supposed to operate. We are supposed to do this every
morning, every noon, every night. Verse ten, look at it again,
"For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation." He keeps mentioning it three
times here in these three verses. He emphasizes, you believe with
your heart, and you confess and say with your mouth. You believe with your heart, you
confess with your mouth. There are people that have made
fun of people like me and people like us, and they'll say, "Oh,
y'all are that confession bunch." Somebody said, "Y'all are that
blab it grab it bunch." Well, what are they making fun
of though? Whose idea is it that you
confess with your mouth? That's not something I came up
with, or some other preacher come lately. No, this is the Word of God. And it is not some isolated
verse. As you'll see, we are going to
keep studying into this in Faith School. This is how it works, and there
is a reason why many people have mocked this. It is the enemy. He does not want a child of God
believing in their heart, and saying with their mouth because
this is how God Himself operates. And when you begin to do this
with the Word of God in your mouth, and faith in your heart,
the enemy can't stop it. He has no ability to overcome
this. It will cause things to change
in our life. Oh, if only every parent knew
this, and instead of talking about how bad their kid is,
instead of talking about how they will not pay attention, or
they won't mind, or they won't do this. Instead of just reacting to what
you're seeing, and hearing, and feeling, if they learned how to
speak faith words over them and say, "They are good kids," even
if you don't feel like they are good kids right now. You say, "They are good kids. Johnny is smart. He is bright. I have some of the best kids. They mind so well. They are well behaved," and
you're not talking about what you feel. You're not even talking about
how they are acting today. You are releasing - you are
believing something in your heart, you are releasing words
through the confession of your mouth. It gives God something to work
with. It allows heaven to get involved
with earth. "Whatever you bind on earth will
be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will
be loosed in heaven." We need to bind up the bad
stuff. We need to loose the good
things, and we need to do it by believing in our heart, and
saying and speaking with our mouth. Now notice this verse here, he
said, verse ten, Romans 10:10, "With the heart man believes
unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation." Here is revelation; it didn't
say that salvation unto confession. It said confession unto
salvation. Many have thought, well, I get
saved, and then I confess that I'm saved. That is not how it says it
happens. Read it again so you know that
I'm getting it right. "With the mouth," it didn't say
salvation occurs unto confession. What did it say? "Confession is made unto
salvation." "Confession is made unto
salvation." It is again like God operates. Light didn't come into being,
and then God said, "There it is. Oh, look. There it is." He is not responding to
something He sees and feels. We walk by faith, not by sight. We believe something before we
see it. We speak for it to change before
we experience any change. We don't just speak words that
are reactive, we speak words that are creative.
Creative words. Faith-filled words create. Faith-filled words change. Faith-filled words restore and
heal. Faith-filled words release
provision, protection, abundance. Now the enemy will do his best
to keep you away from this. He'll say, "Oh, that's a bunch
of junk. I don't go for all that." This is not a bunch of junk. Romans 10:8, nine, and ten is
not junk. Watch out about what you call
junk. Who wants the mouths of
believers closed? Who, God? The One who told us to confess? Jesus, who is called the Apostle
and High Priest of our confession? No, no. It's the enemy that wants you
silent. It's the enemy that wants you
just yielding and reacting, but never speaking to change. Spiritual people don't just
speak to communicate. Spiritual people speak to
create. They speak to change. They are acting like their
father. They are imitating Him as dear
children. "With the heart man believes
unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation." Now I want to remind you of the
earth and heaven connection. Go with me to Matthew sixteen. We have referred to it, but it
is so significant. I want you to get more Scripture
about it. In Matthew 16:19, Matthew 16:19
he said, "I will give to you," Jesus said, "the keys of the
Kingdom of heaven." Now does that sound like a
significant thing? Because it is. What are they? Here it is, "Whatever you shall
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall
loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Is there a connection between
what happens on earth and what happens in heaven? But which one did He mention
first, earth or heaven? See, most people have it
backwards. They are thinking, well, God
does something from heaven, and it releases it for the earth. God doesn't change. What has been bought and paid
for has already been made available. No, how does it work? "Whatever you shall bind,"
where? "On earth shall be bound in
heaven." Which one does He mention first? Earth. You do something on earth and
there is a confirmation in heaven. "Whatever you shall loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven." How do we bind things? You do it with words. We are to "Rule and reign,"
Romans says, "in life." And he is talking about as
kings, as kings. How does a king rule and reign? If a king or a queen wants a
ditch dug they don't look for a shovel, do they? They say what? Let the ditch be dug, right? They have just released
resources and personnel for ditch digging, right? If they want the ditch digging
to stop, they don't have to leave their throne room, they
don't have to go get in the ditch and physically stop the
people, all they have to do is what? Bind it with their words. Let the ditch digging stop. Now I know we find this
humorous, but is that how God operates? He operates that way. He says it, and it is done. He doesn't have to personally go
physically do something. Jesus is the King of kings, the
Lord of lords. Who are the kings He is king of? Who are the lords He is Lord of? We are in training right now to
rule and reign with Him past this life, in His eternal
Kingdom. We are kings and lords in
training under the King of kings, Lord of lords. Well, how do you train for
something that is coming up - to rule and reign? By practicing ruling and
reigning down here on less significant stuff, on physical
things, on temporary things. All this is passing away. This is, you know, we call this
Faith School, but really life is Faith School. And we are supposed to be
learning valuable lessons that we'll take with us past this
life. How do kings rule and reign? How do kings bind and loose? With their words. Look with me - we read that in
Matthew sixteen, look in Matthew ten. You are close by. Matthew 10:32. Matthew 10:32, you see this same
earth/heaven connection where Jesus said, "Whoever therefore
shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my
Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me
before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in
heaven." Is there an earth/heaven
connection? There is. And notice which one He mentions
first. Not the heaven/earth but what? Earth, something happens in
earth, and it happens in heaven. Because God really has given us
a free will, and everything is not up to Him. You can't leave up to Him what
He left up to you. He said if you will confess me
before men - it's not okay to be a closet Christian and do not
want anybody to know that I believe in Jesus or that I've
confessed Jesus is Lord. That's not okay. Did you read this? If you deny Him before or in
front of men, He said He would deny you before the Father in
heaven. You don't want that, in this
life, and especially judgement to come, and the life to come. You want Jesus sticking up for
you. You want Him - if your name
comes up about anything, you want Him to stand up and say,
"Yes, they are mine. I know them. They are mine." But in order for Him to claim
you now and then and there, you need to claim Him here and now
in front of people. And if you haven't done that,
good news! Today is your day. We are going to do it right now. If you've never confessed Jesus
is Lord, I want you to - if you are standing up or you are
sitting close to the screen, come a little closer. And I want you to say this with
us, and then the first opportunity you get, you tell
anybody else that wants to listen - unashamedly before men. Everybody say it out loud:
"Father God, I believe in You, and I confess Jesus as Lord of
my life. I am not ashamed of the Gospel. I am not ashamed of believing in
Jesus. He is my Lord; He is my Savior. I trust in You, Lord. And I'm bold to confess I am a
Christian. I am a child of God. Forever I will follow You." Hallelujah, Praise God. If you prayed that prayer, said
that for the first time, you know something amazing has
happened in you. Contact the ministry. Let us know so we can shout with
you. But most importantly do not hide
- don't hide your light under a bushel, no! Let your little light shine. Let everybody see and know. Praise God. Well that's it for today. We'll see you next time in Faith
School.
