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Oh, How I Love Your Word | Pastor Craig Field | Sun. Jan. 5, 2025
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Oh, How I Love Your Word | Pastor Craig Field | S…
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Now, I'm not going to read it for sake of time, but you know what? I've quoted it three Sundays in a row. Now, what does Ephesians 3:20 say that I that he can do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think according to the power that works within us. Now, what does Ephesians 1:19 say? And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us? Word who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought when he raised Christ from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. What does that mean? That there is an exceeding greatness. That means no shortage of resurrection power. Now, I want you to, I want you to notice, and I've been saying it because I'm, I'm trying to get you to see it, that verse three, chapter three, verse 20, God is basically saying, I can do anything according to whatever is working in you. Now, 119 says there's lots of power working in you. So technically, if he says it's according to power. But in chapter one he told us we've got unlimited power, exceeding greatness of power. Why isn't God doing exceeding abundantly? Because the condition is not just I can do great things according to power, and you've got unlimited, exceeding great power, but it's you've got unlimited, exceeding great power according to as you believe. So the believing. That one little phrase to us word who believe that little tiny phrase is the Rosetta St. Key. Because God has lots of power and he can do a lot based on the power in us, but the power in us is based on what we can believe. The more we believe that there is more power. Do you understand? So that's why we teach so much on faith. Because without believing, God's power can't operate properly. God needs our faith because faith is the only thing that pleases him. Hebrews 11:6. He needs our believing or our faith or our trusting, it's the same, all mean the same thing. He needs our faith or our trust in him so that his power that's already available can start to produce what it is that we're believing for. And the more power is producing, the more. Ephesians 3:20 he can do exceeding abundantly because according to the power, there's more power working in us, but the power is working in us because we believe. So it's a domino effect. You believe first, then power shows up to produce what you're believing for, and then he's able to do exceeding abundantly according to that Power. So we want God to do great things for us this year, which means we've got to believe more. Because if we believe more, there's more power. Now there is an unlimited amount of power available. For God has made all grace abound, all power abound. Do you understand? But it's only usable if we believe. Faith makes it from the unusable realm to the usable realm. So we can actually apply it. That's why we put an emphasis on our faith. Praise God. So remember, the more you grow or stretch or expand, increase, develop, whatever you want to call it, your faith, the more. And you do that by Romans 15:13. Because he leads you with joy and peace. So you can't go past your joy and peace. So when you're stretching and believing for more, check your spirit, not your mind. Check your spirit, not your need. Your need may need you to go way out on yonder, but. But your spirit may have you come a little bit further back because you're not ready to go that far yet. And the way you'll know it is if you're sweating or not. So don't believe when you're at the gym. No, I'm just kidding. You got to have peace. You got to have joy. It's got to feel good to you. Now, a stretch doesn't, in some ways always feel good. But I'm talking about your emotions. Your emotions won't even like the stretch. But in your spirit, man, your spirit will be at peace. That's why I spent 50,000 sermons talking about how to be led by the Spirit, because that's how you. Everything comes. God, God authored it. Jesus paid for it. The Spirit leads us into it. Do you understand? Everything that we're coming into has to be by the Spirit, which just means you got to know the Spirit, which means you got to learn how to be led by the Spirit, which means you got to pray in the spirit, walk in the Spirit, because the more you have that, you'll be a spiritual person. So I know how to stretch my faith based on the inside. I check my inside, not my emotions. Because why he's saying, craig, okay, I'm using the dollar value. Okay? But it could be for anything. It could be for your relationships. It could be for new souls. But I'll just use a dollar value because it's a fine, definite amount, and it's easier to understand. So, you know, we started this church at $1,000. I believe it was $600, I think. And then within a week, we went up to $1,000. Per week we were believing for. So that's where. That's as far as I could stretch my faith. I couldn't stretch it anymore without sweating. See, my measure, my peace and joy was at a thousand. Now I'm. But now what do I do? What do I do? Words. I call that money in. I do the eight C's. I claim it. Devil, take your hands off it. Angels go cause it to come. I praise God for it. And then I don't worry about it. I cast that care. I do corresponding action. If the Lord tells me to sow something or whatever and I don't look at the impossibility of how is this going to work and when is this going to happen, that's considering your own body. You don't consider that. And very, very important, you got to call it. Call those things that be not as though they are. Every day I would say, lord, I thank you. I have that thousand. Even though the offering didn't. It didn't show up. But I'd say, lord, I thank you. I've got that thousand dollars. See, what am I doing as I'm doing that, Dan? I'm stretching that faith elastic. Now, you think when it finally comes in, your mind will tell you, well, then you got to stop because you haven't grown that elastic. You've just used it. But what the amazing thing with God is, as you're stretching the elastic, the elastic is growing without you realizing it. More rubber is being added to that band with the execution or the stretch of faith. Why? It's not because using your faith produces faith. Using your faith strengthens the faith you have. But while you're using it, you're always hearing the word and the word is coming into you. All the days and the weeks that you're using your faith for X, the Word is being kept coming in. If the word stopped coming in, your elastic wouldn't grow, but because the word was coming in. But you're so focused on the stretch, you don't even realize that the elastics growing. Now, when you get the thousand, now look back to your spirit and it will be higher. Why you can stretch for more. Why God can prompt you by peace and joy to believe him for more. Why? Because you grew your faith during the first stretch. Are you understanding me? Listen, this took me a lot of years to be able to understand myself and to be able to articulate. I'm making it sound easy, but I paid a price to figure this out. Do you understand? Because I didn't understand it was that easy. At the beginning. So I'm telling you from personal experience, and I'm telling you simple, because it really is simple, but it's profound. So don't. Don't listen it because I'm making it sound easy. It is profound. Now, without even realizing it, my faith is greater. My elastic has got more in that band, Even though I don't realize it at first, now that I've met that, I let the elastic go back, you know, and sometimes he'll only give you an hour to rest. Other times he'll give you a day, maybe a week. But he don't give you long. You shouldn't take long because in your rubber band it's going to start getting dusty. And that's not what God wants. So as soon as you get that, normally, right away, the same day, I said, now, Lord, what's next? Because he always remember, the path of the righteous grows brighter and brighter. Brother, help me out. Give me just the one. So we've got one. And I said, lord, a thousand. Okay, now we've got. Give me this. I'm only going to use two. Then I say, lord, now what's next? And I check my spirit and I say, let's try 12. That's nothing. That's the Lord. That's me knowing more. Let's try 15. Mm, feels good. Let's try 18. Feels good. Mmm. It feels kind of good. Let's try 20. Oh, dear Jesus, no. I'm sweating at 2,000. I can't. I can't. I Can't believe for 2,000. What are you crazy? I can't believe for that. See, that's my spirit letting me know that's too much. So let's go back. If 2000 wasn't good, let's go back. What felt good, but was a bit of a stretch. 18 felt good. Do you understand? You just keep throwing out numbers and check your spirit. Now I say, but Lord, can I even believe for eighteen hundred dollars a week? But now, because I had the first stretch, I can't believe that this can go further. Because faith was building as I was on the first stretch. Now there's more rubber in my elastic band. There's more faith in my heart. So what does that mean? God can lead me to believe him for more. Why? Because I built it with the word and with the stretch. Do you understand? So a lot of people say, well, God doesn't lead me. Well, that's may be true, but that's your fault. He wants to lead you into millions, but he can only lead you according to where you're at. And if you won't grow where you're at because you're lazy in your faith. And you keep your elastic band like this. And a lot of Christians do this. They keep it like this their whole life. Are you listening to me? That means he'll never talk to you. He'll never lead you, because he can't, because you haven't grown. But it's not him that grows you, it's you that grows you. You grow with his word. And then he gets involved and says, now that there's more in there, I can stretch more, believe me for this. How do you know? Check your spirit now. Start to grow. Oh, you'll see every time you do it, there's more than. There's more in that stretch. Now just believe me. Don't go past that peace and joy. Just believe me for that. Just believe me for that. And then once that comes in now you go back and you say, oh my, there's more there. And that is how. What's the guy's name there with the orphanages in England? George Mueller. That's how he went from believing for one pound a day, remember, to a million pounds a year in a time when there was no teaching on prosperity. He had no idea about what I'm talking about. He did not understand that in terms of his sermon, but all he knew is God told me to feed orphans. I need money to feed orphans. And God's going to have to do it because I'm not going to beg people. So I'm going to ask God for the money. But I have to believe because my word tells me to believe. And so I'm just going to look inside as to how much I can believe for. I mean, he just picked it up by the Spirit without even having somebody teach him. You've got the luxury of somebody teaching you. Come on, let's do it, people. Let's do it. There's no reason why you can't pay off your car. There's no reason why you. Why you have to live in debt. There's no reason why you can't bring a supply to the things that God is calling this local church to do. There's no reason unless you're lazy in your faith. God wants you to use your faith and that's why. So you just, you got to remember this. The more he asks you to stretch by the leading of the Spirit, the more power is there. Remember to us who believe, that's the stretch, is the belief. The more power Exceeding greatness of his power. To us, word who believe, the more we stretch, the more power shows up to bring in that money. See, power is working behind the scenes to bring in that money, to bring in those souls, to bring in whatever it is that I'm believing God for power. Maybe more clients for your business. Power is being made available. Because when I believe, there is exceeding greatness of power. Now, God can do exceeding abundantly according to that power. Now he can answer your prayers. Now we can grow your business. Now he can grow your budget. Why? It didn't start with him. It started with your faith. He responds to your faith. You can't do it. His power has to work with your faith. But his power won't even move until your faith grows. That's why we say, grow your faith so he has something to prompt you on. When he prompts you, power will show up to manifest what he prompted you so that he can now do more in your life. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Praise God. You know, Jerry would walk around with a stack of money in his pocket, and I said to him one day, what is that for? He said, that's my seed money. And then he'd be in my green room, and he'd say, call your boys in, and you'd give them all money just. Just out of his pocket. And then I'd see him in the. In the. And we went traveling and. And they'd be the guy that, you know, helps you with your luggage. And I said, brother Jerry, I'll do the luggage. I'm here to serve you. And he goes, no, no, no. I said, but why? No, no. So this other man, he called. So the man takes it off the belt and pushes it on the cart. The cart's not very hard to push. Pushes it, like, maybe 100 meters to where the taxi. And he pulls out a couple hundred dollars and just puts it in his pocket. And that guy's eyes grow big as saucers. I said, brother Jerry, I could have done that, and you could have sewed it into me. I said, why did you do that? I offered to serve you. He said, yeah, but then I won't have a chance to sow. He said, I'm always looking to sow. Every minute that I can, I'm looking to sow. He was the most generous human being I've ever seen in my entire life. And he sold me. He said, you know where I learned this from? I said, Jesus. He goes, well, yes, Jesus, but Jesus wasn't my mentor. With flesh on Kenneth Copeland is my mentor with flesh on. And you think I'm generous? Wait till you see Brother Copeland. See, people say all that they want to say about that man, but I'm telling you, the Church of Jesus Christ is in a ditch of poverty and religious thinking. And sometimes you have to get into the other ditch to wrap a rope around that car and pull it into the center of the road. And you have to kind of heavily overemphasize things at times just to get people. And people say you're in the ditch, but you're not. You're just trying to get the bigger. The bigger group into the middle. So he has a mandate and God has blessed him to teach the body of Christ about finances. But you can't be like that without being generous. And so Jerry tells me, he says, you know, you know, he's got, like. He's got anything that he wants. He's used his faith. But he says, now, you know, now he's got. He's got the finances. And so, you know, he'll buy himself a new car once in a while. You know, he likes these big, huge, Suburban, massive, you know, SUV's things. And so. But then, you know, Jerry says, but you know what he just did yesterday? Like, I mean, he told me stuff that nobody knows. And he said, you know what he did? He bought that new. That brand new Denali, that $110,000 one every bell and whistle. And I said, but didn't he just buy one of those three months ago? Yeah, he did. I said, wow, he needs two. He goes, no, he just called that pastor and that's believing for a car and gave it to him. And this is his personal money. This is his personal money. Then he said, you know, he loves leather jackets. He's got, I don't know, 20 of them. But he keeps believing God for the other jackets. A new one shows up, and he calls a person and says, here, and just gives them a leather jacket, gives them a car, gives them a house. You see, you can't operate with that kind of generosity when you're making ends meet. Now, make ends meet, but use your faith to get the ends to meet a little quicker so that God can lead you on, so you can be a blessing. A blessing. So I said, lord, I don't have faith for hundreds yet. But I bought me. I told Jennifer, buy me a money clip for Christmas. She better not only buy me a money clip, she bought me a lot of other things, too. But she got me a nice money clip. And I heard the Holy Ghost say, I want you to imitate Jerry. I said, well, Lord, I don't have the faith for all those hundreds. He said, start. Start where you're at. So I said, fives. I mean, if we had ones. If we had ones, I'd do ones. But we don't have ones. We gotta have five. I said, fives. So I got a whole bunch of fives to put in that money clip. And I heard the Holy Ghost, I'm telling you the truth about it. This is my seed money. This is not for Wendy's. This is seed for you to have Wendy's. And I heard the Lord say, what are you doing? I said, I'm doing what you said. I got all my seed money in my pocket, ready to give. And the Lord said, but what are you doing? I said, well, I got the seed money. You told me I didn't have to start with hundreds. Start where I'm at. He said, son, that ain't where you're at. I said, that's where I'm at. That's all I can believe for. He said, no, you're checking your mind. I'm helping you. I'm helping you. He said, you're checking your mind. He said, check your spirit. I didn't want to check my spirit. I'm afraid to check my spirit. This is not church money. This is my money. This ain't family money. This is Craig Fee. This is called she money. She don't know I got it, and she ain't never touching it. Remember, Bob Lemon would say it's called she money. In the secret place of the most high flesh. We've all got secret pockets in our wallet where the wife doesn't know where it is. I got two compartments, brother, not one. I said, this is my personal money, Lord. He said, check your spirit, boy. So I checked my spirit with fear and with trembling. And I thought, well, maybe he'll say, $10 maybe. And I saw green. I saw green bill. I said, God, what is that green bill? He said, look. And I looked, and it was a $20 bill. I said, lord, I want the purple. You took me past the blue. Let's stop at the purple. And he said, check your spirit. Where's their peace? At the purple it felt flabby. At the red it was, whoa, I'm sweating. But the green felt real good. You see, if you're an American, you don't know what we're talking about, because all your money is boring and the same. But our money is plastic. We can go in the Ocean with it. And it's Monopoly. It's all various colors. Americans say, let me feel that. That ain't real. I said, it's more real than your money. Your money burn. My money don't burn. My money just puts up with water, fire, ice, whatever it doesn't put up with. With fire. Don't. Don't test that. It does burn. It shrivels very quickly. But don't ask me how I know that. Anyway, the point is, let God lead you into what color? I wish we had a thousand. We used to have a thousand. Now they got rid of it. Remember the thousand dollar bill? Yeah. Now we're at 100 because of the fraud. Anyway, praise the Lord. He led me. He led me. Now, I know what you're thinking. Where is it? It was on my desk. It was on my desk this morning to bring it because I was going to hand it all out to people this morning. But I'll have to do it next Sunday, you know, because I don't have it today. Now, not all of you can get it. I didn't say I had $10,000. I just said $500. That's only 25 of you are going to get $20 next week. And I'm going to pick a variety of people. Old, young, ugly, beautiful, well dressed, not well dressed. You're all getting something. And if you don't get it, you just say, praise the Lord. By faith, I receive it at another time. Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm joking, but I'm not joking. The Lord said, you're out of debt now, son. You're out of debt now. It's time to now you. Now you're more free to give. Now you're more free to sow. It might not be Jerry's level, but I'm starting where I'm at. You start where you're at. And if you can find a money clip that can hold a loony, then tell me about it, because I couldn't find one. I. I could only find money clip that holds bills. Now, you still with me? Okay, I gotta hurry. Now, you pulled me off. Let me say this conversation I had with the Lord. He said to me, and I'm quoting, this is back in the summer. He said, remember when you see people from one year to the next and they don't give any more than they did the previous year? I said, yes, Lord. And they don't dress any better and they don't talk any different? I said, yeah, Lord. He said, remember when some folks have told you. Well, God hasn't told me to give anymore. And I'm just following his leading. That's a big excuse. Or God, just don't lead me. I'm not spiritual enough to be led. Well, I said, yes, Lord. He said, one of the biggest reasons I don't speak to them is because they won't grow their faith. It's not that God's waiting on you for him to speak to you. It's he's waiting on you to build your faith so that he can speak to you, so that there's more for him to stretch you on. There's more blessing you can be to yourself, your family and the world and the church. But it's all based. He's waiting on you. We're not waiting on him. I'm not speaking to them because they won't grow their faith. If I'm not speaking to them to give more or to believe me more or to stretch more, it means they're not growing their faith. So the excuse of God doesn't speak to me is really, it's hogwash. Like dad Hagin said, because it's not about God, it's about you. And if you'll do your part, God will definitely speak to you. He'll prompt you, he'll lead you. He'll guide you. Why not? Because he's like Jenny said, it's easy. And it's not because he's trying to take from you. He's trying to get you into more. If people could just renew their minds that God is a daddy. He is not a robber. He is not a thief. He is not an abuser. He does not do things to hurt you, but he does do things to stretch you. And sometimes you do feel the stretch, but just yield to that stretch. Because it won't be more than you can handle if you're following the Holy Ghost. Are you with me? That's why I give general amounts when we do things like special projects. But I'll never ever put pressure on people to say, you have to do that amount. Because then I'm leading you and I'm not the Holy Ghost. I can say, if everybody did this, the goal would be met. But go with what the Spirit says. Because the Spirit may tell you to do less or to do more based on your measure of faith. God has given to every man. Romans 12, verse 3. The measure of faith. Think soberly. The Bible says about your measure, don't think more highly than you ought to. In other words, don't be proud. Think you can do more than you can, but don't be lazy and not do enough either. You with me now. He said this to me and I want to say three things to me. He said when I was having this conversation, this is back in mid August. He said, number one, you tell them. Remember we just had this thing. He said, people that say God doesn't lead me, they think they're getting away with it, when really it's just because they're lazy. I want to talk to them, but they give me nothing to lead them on because they have the same measure. They haven't grown their measure. Okay? So he said, you tell them this, number one. The reason I'm not leading them to do more is because they refuse to grow their faith. I just said that. Grow it, stretch it like an elastic. I'll lead them more. Remember, the path of the righteous grows brighter and brighter. That means your path of stretching needs to be more and more. We go from glory to glory. You don't see anything in the Bible, old or New Testament that says the children of God stay the same. So for me to see people talk the same year to year is wrong. Your words should be different. You should be growing in the grace coming out of your mouth. For me to see people that refuse to dress properly is not right because you should be getting further, showing God more honor. People in ministry of help should be doing more. People in giving should be doing more. Do you understand? Because you're growing brighter. Path is getting brighter. It's not staying the same. Second thing he said is you tell them, they think they're getting away with something because they're not having to give anymore, but they're actually falling behind. Why? Listen, this is so important. I actually never thought of this. And when I talked to Pastor Nancy, she says, you know, that's a good point. She said, I never thought about that either. He said, because I see their future and I know where their faith needs to be for certain things that are coming. Yes, I'm trying to stretch them now so that they're ready for what's to come. But. But if they won't grow their faith, I can't. This is why he said, many times, people don't be offended with me because I'm not saying it's always this. I'm just saying this is what I heard the Lord say. This is why many times some of my people lose children prematurely, sickness ravages their life, financial crisis destroys them, they lose homes, etc. I was trying years before to deal with Them to think right about money and to stretch their faith. Because I knew the faith would be needed in another area that was non monetary. Do you understand? Faith is faith. It works for money, but it works for protection and it works for healing and it works for marriage. Faith is faith. You apply the tool of faith to whatever category you need. But faith is faith. You don't have a certain faith for money and a different faith for finance, for healing. Faith is faith. But he's trying to get you to do it because he knows what's coming. And this is why a lot of people, a lot of it is that they're not led by the Spirit. A precious friend of mine was recently killed and I went to the Lord about it and I said, lord, I used to live with this person. I mean, I was very close with that family. And that person died tragically. Not sickness, but an accident. And I said, lord, what happened there? And he said, don't ever underestimate what church you go to. Now, he wasn't attacking the church that he went to, but I know that church because I went there. That church don't teach faith. That church don't teach being led by the Spirit. That church doesn't teach about the bloodline and the angels and authority. If you don't go to a place that teaches that you are going to be subject to whatever the world and the devil throws at you just like a sinner, even though you're a saint. And you can believe for protection, but if you're not walking in love, that won't work for you. And you can believe for protection and be walking in love, but if you don't be led by the Spirit, it won't work for you. Because you could be going, and God say, don't go down this road, but Lord, I got the angels, but Lord, I'm walking in love. And then you get killed. Praise the Lord. I'm just saying it matters what church you go to, the matters that you understand these things. So God knows what's coming. He's trying to build your faith in advance. It's not about money. That's one arena, but it's about the faith arena is the broad arena for every area of life. Do you understand? The third thing is he said, tell them I will use money to stretch them more frequently than anything else because they deal with money every day. I never thought of that. Every day. We all deal with money at some point, but not every day do we deal with the cold. Not every day do we deal with cancer. Not every day do we deal with drunk drivers. There's other categories of protection and health. Not every day do we have marriage problems. Well, if you do, there's something wrong because it shouldn't be every day. Maybe every other day, but not every day, right? Happy? Not every day. Not every day do we deal with children, rebellion, unless you're in a season of it. But generally speaking, if you're raising them right, you shouldn't be dealing with rebellion every day. Do you understand what I'm saying? But what is one thing that we're always dealing with virtually every day is some kind of an exchange of goods and services with money. So the Lord said to me, because it's not because God has an issue with money, it's because of the frequency with which we use it. He said, tell them I will use money to stretch them more frequently than any other median because they deal with it every day. They don't deal with cancer every day or emergencies every day, but they deal with money. So I will use money to stretch their faith so their faith is ready to deal with the non monetary issues that come in the future. It's not about the money, it's about the faith. It's about non money issues as much as it is money issues. Why I'll use money as a boot camp. That's how he said it to me. You know, soldiers are trained when they don't know what to do and how to how to handle the weapon and how to handle their bodies. They're trained to be skillful in boot camp. God is using money as a training ground for us to think right about it and bigger than that, to use our faith. Because faith is going to be required when you don't need the money, but you need it for something else. Are you with me? So get your thinking right now what does all this come back to? Everything I've said comes back to one word, Believe. Because the power can only work if you believe. And he can only do exceeding abundantly according to the power. So believing or your faith is the key. So let's take it one more step backwards. If everything is based on believing, how do you believe? So then faith cometh by hearing Romans 10:17 and hearing by the word of God. Now there's two kinds of word for word. Logos. Rhema. Logos is written word. You can read the Bible in a year and not get any faith. Because logos does not produce faith. Logos produces mental knowledge. But the logos will turn into rhema rhema. That's where dad Hagin got his faith shield. Is the Greek word rhema. Because the word rhema means living word. It means quickened word. It means revelatory word. It literally, the picture in the Greek is God takes the scriptures and pours them. See, it's not just a block of wood that's not really living, but it's pouring water into you. In other words, the word is moving. The word is alive. The word is active. The word is living. The other picture in the Greek is one of pouring water and the other is lighting a fire. So there's two imagery, one of water, one of fire. But they mean the same thing. One is it become, it sparks, it becomes fire, it becomes alive to you, and it becomes refreshment, like water to you. That's rhema. Now, you can read 20 chapters of logos and get one verse of rhema, or you could read one verse of logos and get rhema on the same verse. So it's not about the Bible reading it in a year, although I strongly encourage you to read it in a year. I think the more we read it, the better. So read the Bible. Do a program if you want to. You know what I'm saying? I used to be against that. I used to preach against that. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me one day and he said, why are you against that? I said, because. Because it's religious. All these people that, all they focus on is you got your Bible plan. It takes 17 minutes a day, apparently, to read through the Bible in a year. But did you get anything? People are so focused on their religious duty of reading so many chapters, they missed. They got the Logos, but they missed the rhema. And without rhema, you can't have faith. So that's why I was against it. But the Lord spoke to me once and he said, don't be against that. Never be against them reading my Word. My Word is going to bless them anyway. But what we're after is not just reading a bunch of stuff. It's to get the revelation that is hidden in there, which you can only get by the Spirit. Now, you can get it while people preach and teach to you, but you can also get it while you read on your own. And if you pray in tongues before you read, you'll get more. And if you'll say the Pauline prayers over your life, you'll get even more. Because dad Hagin said the Pauline prayers about a hundred times a day for nine months. And most of the revelation he preached the rest of his life came out of that, just praying the Pauline prayers over his mind. And then the revelation of the scripture began to pop like popcorn. But what we're looking for is not logos. We're looking for rhema. Rhema is the revealed word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the revealed rhema word, not the logos word. So when you go, oh, I never saw that boy that jumped off the page. Faith has just been birthed. But when you read it and you don't sense, that means you're just reading. And it's great, but it's not producing faith. We need faith. So what we're after is rhema. Man shall not live by bread alone. That's the word, represents bread. But by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, the word Word is the word, Rhema, not logos. By every rhema word that proceeds from the mouth of God, when the mouth of God by the Holy Ghost speaks it to you, it really rhema really means to utter. It means to speak. God speaks it to you. He pours it into you. He quickens it like fire. He makes it alive to you. That's where faith comes from. You know, I've had people. Greg's done it many times. Can you believe it that God would use somebody? There's no good thing that comes out of Brampton or Nazareth. But there is with Brother Greg and many times over the many years, because he's been my friend long before we even started this church. And he'll just say something in a conversation and my spirit will go, whoa. And it will jump inside of me. And you see, faith has come. He wasn't even quoting a scripture. He was quoting a principle about the scripture. And faith was burst in my heart because that quickening of my spirit based on the principle, even if he didn't quote the exact scripture. You see, you can get faith by just common conversation, but get revelation about the Word in common conversation. That's happened with many people in this church. There's been a faith that's come into me or by teaching and preaching, or by me reading it on my own or me reading a book about it, there's many ways. Because anything that you're dealing with the Word that could be reading it, could be listening, it could be watching and listening live preaching it could be talking about it. Anytime you're dealing with the Word, if a revelation comes, faith has just been born. Pay attention to that and write it down so that, Lord, I remember that. That's precious to me. Don't let those precious rhema moments go, because that's where your faith is built on. So if we're going to believe more. We have to have faith. That comes by the rhema, which comes by the word for the word of God. Now this is an important scripture. Hebrews 4:12. The word of God is. But this is one of the only scriptures in the Bible that it speaks of. Logos and rhema in the same scripture. The word word is the word Logos. But it says, and the word of God is quick, powerful, sharper than any two edged sword. Remember? But the word is in Greek means becomes. So it really means the logos becomes quick. See, Logos turns into rhema, it becomes powerful, it becomes sharper than any two of you sword. It becomes alive and active. See, by the Spirit the logos becomes alive to you. And then what does it do? It divides your soul realm from your spirit realm. Praise God. Dividing us under bone and marrow, soul and spirit. So what we're after, my brother and sister, is the word we say we're after believing. But you can't have believing without the word. So that's why I'm entitling this. Oh how I love thy Word. Because your Word is what will produce the faith in my heart. And the faith with everything else I've been preaching to you will make him do exceeding abundantly. Above all you can ask or think. But you don't start with your list or your dream bucket list. You start with the scripture. Because the scripture is what's going to produce the faith, which is what's going to produce the exceeding abundantly. Hallelujah. We got to love the word now. Psalm 119. I just want to read you a couple verses. I know it's 1205. Just give me a couple more minutes. Psalm 119. I'm almost done. Psalm 119 and there's so many. You know, every single scripture in Psalm 119 has something to do with the word law or precepts or instruction. But it all means the Word. And I don't know, they changed something in my Bible. I don't know, Dan, if it's done that in your Bible. But they change it and they've added certain weird words. Have you noticed that you probably never read your Bible? That's why you don't know that. Anyway, praise the Lord. I'll explain that in a second. Let's just start with verse 11. Verse 11 says thy word. Have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee? Oh, how I love your Word. You want to get free from things? Just put the Word in because faith will produce it and push that thing out this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. So if I've got faith from the word, it produces victory over the world and sin. See there? And you just read it over and over and over and over again. But I want you to specifically look with me quickly in the book of Psalms, chapter 119. And I didn't write it down, but I'm going on memory here. I believe it's 97. Let's just have a look there. 97. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. I'm looking for something else because you take so long to open up your Bibles. I'm just kidding, guys. I'm just kidding, okay? I'm just looking something up because I lost my place here. What did I just say? Was that 97? Yeah, there it is. Okay. All right. So you see here it says the word mem. Does it have that in your Bible? I never noticed it before, but mem m e M, period. Then it says, oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. See? Oh, how I love your word. Now if you keep going down, I won't forsake a time, but you can do it on your own study. You'll see down there, for example, down in 105, it says none. That's not talking about the Catholic Church. And then if you keep going down a little bit further, it says the word same 113. And then if you keep going down a little further, it's called Ayn, a I n in 121. And then if you keep going down a little further, it's PE in 129. And then if you keep going down a little further, It's Tazidi in 137. You know what all these are? These are the alphabets of the Hebrew. This is the Hebrew Alphabet. And if you look up every one of those things on Google, it'll tell you what that Alphabet letter represents. And what that letter represents is described in the scriptures after it. So one, like, for example, one says, your. Your word is wonderful. Which one was that? One of those. Yeah, verse 29, pe, it says, thy testimonies are wonderful, therefore doth my soul keep them. Pe in the Hebrew letter means wonderful. So they selected that letter and then they talked about the wonderfulness of the word. And so when you study it, you can look up each of those letters. All the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet are listed there, and each of them mean a certain symbolic meaning. Like we don't have a meaning for a or a meaning for P. But in the Hebrew Alphabet, every letter has a meaning. And those meanings are described in these scriptures. I thought that. I didn't even know that. That was new to me. But I'm just saying I got this because, oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation day and night. Remember, he said, be strong and courageous. Then he said in Joshua, chapter one, verse eight, meditate day and night. Don't let this book of the law depart out of your eyes. Look at it, hear it, speak it, Meditate on it day and night. Then you'll make your way prosperous. Why? Because the more you're in the Word, the more faith comes. The more faith comes, the more victory comes. But we got to track it back to the Word. The Word is the reason for everything. You've got to fall in love with your Bible like it's the most precious thing on this earth because it really is the most precious thing on this earth. Are you listening to me? If you don't love the Bible, don't be a liar, don't be a hypocrite, don't be a fake and tell everybody that you do. Talk to the Father honestly and say, father, I'm not sure why, because I love you. But something. I'm not really that hot about your Word right now. Maybe I'm distracted. Maybe I'm oppressed. I don't know what it is. Would you help me? If you'll just come to him privately. You don't have to say that in front of other people. Talk to him in your private time and say, father, give me a love for your Word. Watch what he does. He will pour a love for that Scripture in you where you become almost insatiable. A couple things the Lord said to me. Pastor Nancy doesn't quote me very often, and for good reason, because I'm sure I'm not. Don't have many quotable quotes, but this is one that she does like that I said, God said to me, don't love my presence more than my Word. That displeases me. Because I love the presence of God. And I would spend many hours in worship, but I wouldn't spend as much time in the Word. And he spoke to me one day, he said, you can't love my presence, presence more than you love my Word. That displeases me. You gotta love both. But the Word, his presence doesn't change the way you think, but his presence refreshes you. But the Word will change your thinking. And I don't just mean you reading it. I mean you Listening to it, preached and taught. Another thing the Lord said to me is the presence of God refreshes us, but the Word transforms us. So the presence is the worship. That's when it's. That's, you know, when you feel Him. And that's so precious. We want that. We should have that every day. You know, I often start with that. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood to read. You know, that's okay. You don't have to beat yourself up because you're not in the mood to do something. Sometimes I just don't feel like reading. So you know what I do? I just start with worshiping. I got a couple CDs. I just have some simple songs, worship songs. And I just lift my hands and begin to sing. And before you know it, it's like it primes a pump or something. The presence. I start to feel God. See, that's his presence. I start to feel that atmosphere. I feel refreshed. I feel engaged. I feel invigorated. And then immediately, one or two things start to happen. A desire to read the Word comes, or a desire to pray comes. And I'll start to pray in the spirit. Then I'll word the Word, or I'll read the Word, and then I'll pray in the spirit or other kinds of prayer. But oftentimes that presence sets the stage. But don't just let it set the stage. And never go to anywhere else, because you've got to pray and you've got to have the Word. You can pray because prayer will strengthen the faith you have. But prayer doesn't produce the faith. The Word, and only the Word produces the faith. Are you with me now? I want you to read quickly, and then I'm going to close. This is important. Luke 5. Just stay with me for three more minutes. Luke, chapter 5, please. And verse 1. I want you. God gave me this scripture, you know, and this really jumped off the page. This was rhema to me. But it was so precious to me because I could picture myself there with the crowd. And it came to pass, Luke 5. One, that as the people pressed upon him to hear the Word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships standing by. And the fishermen were gone out of them and washing their nets. And he entered into one which was Simon's, and prayed that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. We know that story. But I love. Look at the first verse. And it came to Pass that as the people pressed upon him, what were they pressing for? They weren't pressing for miracles. Other times they press for miracles, but they're pressing to hear the Word. The people had a love for the Word. A love for the Word. And they pressed upon him so much that he had to push out into the water because they were crowding him too much. Isn't that marvelous? Now, that's the right way to come to church, is with a heart to hear the Word. But now listen, I want you to notice in the same chapter, there's another set of circumstances completely different to the first. There's also a bunch of people pressing. This time they're in a house instead of on the seashore. There's so many people that nobody else can get in the building. This is a lot of people packed into one house. Go down, please, if you would, to verse 15. And it says, you there with me. And it says. And it came to pass, verse 17. On a certain day, as he was preaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee in Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Now, who was the company here? Who were the recipients? Pharisees and doctors of the law. What do Pharisees and doctors of the law have in common? They think they know everything. They're mental, they're educated. They've got double PhDs. Now, notice, the seashore people were common folk. And the common folk realized that they don't know everything. And they press to hear the word. But what did the religious people, the proud people, the ones that think they know everything, don't be the second group. Don't come in here thinking you know everything. You might be older than me. You're probably better looking than me. I'm sure all of you are thinner than me. But that has really got nothing to do with it. I don't go in. And I think I know more than Pastor Nancy. I may have some revelation, more in some areas that she doesn't, which is rare. But occasionally it might happen. But I generally go into my elder to say, teach me. I'm pressing to hear the word. I'm not pressing to check if you know what you're doing. But the people that think they know everything, they pressed into the building. See, there was two presses, both pressed. One pressed with the attitude to receive, another press with the attitude to criticize. Notice that nobody is mentioned in here but Pharisees. And it says, the power of the Lord was present to heal them. That means Pharisees were sick and needed healing. And not one Pharisee was mentioned that was healed. Even the power was there to heal them. Why? Because they came with the wrong attitude. They didn't come to love the word. They came to check and judge what Jesus was saying with critical hearts. And when you do that, the word can't get into you. Faith can't build, and you won't receive power. But the one guy who wasn't even in the building, who broke up the roof, who wasn't a Pharisee but showed faith, he's the one that got healed. Power was present for the religious folks, and not one religious folk got it except the common man that came through the roof. But at the seashore, power was present and everybody would have received because everybody pressed for the right reason. So there are two ways that you come to church. One is to come looking for a show with a critical attitude, a religious attitude, a proud attitude. Let's see what he can do today. Let's see how. How sweaty he gets today. Let's see if he can put a good show on us for today. Let's see if this church measures up to my standard of excellence. Let me just. Let me just. I'm gonna listen to everything through a filter of criticism. Well, I don't really like the way he laughed at that, and I don't really like the way he said that. Oh, my God. Did you hear him say God out of context? He said, omg, wow. He's a. This guy. This can't be my church. You see that religious attitude, that religious attitude that comes with a veneer of critical thinking. And you justify it by saying, well, I'm just trying to judge the fruit and judge the. No, no. You've deceived your own heart. Yes, judge the fruit and judge the Word from one perspective, but don't come with the attitude of the Pharisee that is coming critical, because power is present and you won't get an ounce of it. You come with the first group. Everybody pressed but one pressed to criticize and one pressed to hear. Come to press to hear the Word. If you want the Word and you're thrilled with the Word and you love. Oh, how I love your word. You will feel it when you miss a Sunday. You will feel it when you miss a Wednesday. I had somebody come to me recently, and they said, pastor, I never came on Wednesday just because I was busy. But I heard you say, release your faith for a change to your shift. And I Thought, well, I've never done that, so I guess I'll try it. I don't even think they believed it would work. But God in his mercy, just overlooked their doubt. And that manager came and changed their shift, and they showed up here, and they started coming on Wednesdays, kind of hesitantly, because they'd never come. And they came to me recently and they said, pastor, my God, I've learned so much by coming on Wednesday nights and just sitting under the Word. I wish I had changed my shift earlier. And I said, this is what I've been trying to say to you for seven years. It's not because I think I'm great. It's because I think the Word is great. The Word has changed me. The Word has changed the way I thought. Correct me if I'm wrong, Vesna, but wasn't that rascal sitting to your left? Didn't you come to church without him for some time? Did you not? He wasn't even saved. But she used her faith that came from the Word and began to pray for him. And he got born again and spirit filled. And Maurizio is one of the most precious, sweet, glorious men you'll ever want to be friends with or meet. He is like a walking Jesus, a Croatian Jesus. I mean, if Jesus was from anywhere, he must be from Croatia. Because she just sat under the Word. She just sat under the Word. She just sat under the Word. Remember Lisa Osborne's testimony? I came out of darkness, but I came to God's home called Promise of Light. And I just sat. Remember, Bianca? I just sat under the Word. And that eating disorder fell away from me. Nobody even cast the devil out. It just left me because I sat under the Word. You got to love the Word. You got to come with a heart of humility, a teachable heart, a meek heart. Teach me the Word, Holy Spirit. Teach it directly to me. If you want to bypass Craig, bypass Craig, but teach it. Teach me. But many times he'll say no, Listen to the office of the pastor. Other times, you know, you might tune me out because he's just downloading directly. Because when you're in proximity, things will happen. But it all comes back to the Word. Everything we've been talking about, faith comes back to the Word. If you don't have the Word, you don't have faith. You've got to love the Word. You've got to love the Word. You've got to love the Word. You've got to love the Word. It's got to be a precious jewel to you. It's got to be the pearl of great price to you. Remember, the Word is Jesus. What you're holding in your hand is the written form of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. John 1 says the word was with God and was God and he walked among us and became flesh. The Word became flesh. The Word became flesh. You want an appearance from Jesus? You've got one. Open your Bible. The Word is Jesus that became flesh. It is powerful. It is not like the Muhammad book or the Baha' I book or this book. Those books were written by men. They're dead. Philosophers are dead. But the Word has life on the inside. You can feel it when you're reading it. It's not like anything else you've ever read. It's not just about men. Men wrote it, but they were moved on by the Holy Ghost. God wrote the Word, but he needed somebody with skin on. So he said, hey, you, John, come over here. You're going to get boiled in oil, but I'm going to protect you. And then you're going to get thrown on an island with a bunch of convicts. But I'm going to show you the book of Revelation and Isaiah. You're going to get sawn in half with a saw and you're going to have a bad death, but you're going to be a martyr forever. But just let me talk to you. I want you to pen an entire book called the Book of Isaiah. Men paid a price to write this book. It is precious and it is holy to us. Praise God. And the last scripture, the very last one, and I know we went longer, but we talked about Lesotho. The very last one is the book of Psalm, chapter one. Blessed. That word in the Hebrew means happy is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. Ungodly means those morally not upright. You don't have to be just talking a bit dirty, telling a bit of crude jokes, stealing a little bit of the office supplies at work. That's ungodly. Don't walk with them. Next one who stands in the way of sinners. Sinner in the Hebrew means a convicted one, basically a felon. Somebody that is not just once in a while doing wrong. They do wrong at every chance they get. That's different to ungodly. That's a sinner. And the last is the worst. It grows in negativity and sits in the seat of the scornful. The word scornful here means to mock at or to jeer. Don't hang around people at your office. That jeer at Jesus that mock the faith message. It would be better for you to not have any friends that hang around scornful people because they will start to infect you with their venom. There were people at my work that did not like God. They were scornful, but they had a religious facade over them. I was so disgusted, I never. I walked in love. But they're never going to get close to me. But then there were people that were fornicators, adulterers. I mean, drug people, cussers, bad sinners. But they weren't scornful. And I would. Sometimes they would be drawn to me and I didn't want to hang around them, but they kept coming around me. I said one day, why do you always hang around me? Don't you get my cues? I don't really want to be around you. I would tell them that to their face. Why? Because all you do is cuss all day long. I don't want to be around people that cuss all day long. Why do you even like me? I don't cuss. You know? They said, that's exactly why I said, what do you mean? I don't know. There's something about you. It's just you're different. You never say bad things and you never talk about people. I just feel better when I'm around you. And I said, that's Jesus that you're sensing. Oh, I don't know about that. I said, that's right. You don't know about anything because you're stupid. I said, but I'm telling you, Jesus is the reason that you're drawn to me, because it ain't my sparkling personality. You can ask my wife. She will tell you that is not the reason. It's because light is coming off me. Love is coming out of me. That's how they should feel about you. You should have sinners around you that you don't even want around you because of their sin. But they're drawn to Jesus. And remember, Jesus was a friend to sinners. That doesn't mean he engaged in sin. But in other words, they felt comfortable enough to sit around the campfire and talk to him. And he worked with them until they got saved. Their version of saved, you know, he couldn't get saved until after he died. Okay, now, look at this now. But his delight, blessed, happy is a man that doesn't walk with sinners, but work of verse three. But his delight, his delight, his delight, his pleasure, his desire. In the Hebrew it means his value. His delight is in the word, the Law of the Lord. And in his law does he meditate day and night. You see, I'm not with the sinners, although I might befriend some of them for salvation purposes, but I don't engage them on another level. That's going to affect me. That's going to infect me. But my joy, happy is in the Word. My joy. Oh, how I love thy Word. I want you to remember on the first Sunday of this year, let us get a regenerated love, a rekindled fire of a love for the Word. Remember, dad Hagin said the Word will work for you when you're thrilled about it. Lord, I delight. I'm thrilled with your Word. I don't come here to judge and to criticize. I come here to press, to hear the wonders of your Word. Teach me, Holy Spirit. Teach me through my pastor. Teach me directly. Lord, I love your Word. Blessed happy is the man whose delight is the Word, who meditates on it. And last verse three. And he shall be. See, this is the condition. Greg, if you love the Word, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season, and his leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he does shall prosper. If I love the Word, I'm planted in a local church. I'm planted in the Word by the rivers of living waters. And what's going to happen? I'm not. No matter what happens in this economy, no matter what happens out there, I'm not withering. My leaf is green. And every I bring fruit. I bear fruit for God, my life has something to show for it. I win souls, I support the kingdom. This fruit. God wants you. Fruits of righteousness, right doing, right living. I bear fruit. I stay green and flourishing. And whatsoever I do, prospers. Ultimately, this whole world is after prosperity. But the way you find it is in the Word, which produces faith, which produces power, which produces exceeding abundantly above all you can ask or think I preached myself happy. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the beauty, the majesty and the glory of your Word. Let us fall in love with it all over again. Let us start to read it from Genesis 1:1 to the last verse of Revelation. Let us enjoy every part that we read. But let us focus on getting rhema where you quicken it to us, because that's where our faith comes from. We might have favorite verses, and there's nothing wrong with that, but let us love all of your Word, even the corrective parts. Let us come here to church, not like the pharisees to criticize, but like the rest in verse one, that are hungry to be taught and that are hungry for the Word. Your Word will cause us to prosper in everything we do. Your Word brings faith. Faith is the victory. Faith produces the power of God. The power produces the exceeding abundantly. Let us meditate on these principles. Let us stretch the faith we have and this year keep stretching it until. Until we go into a whole next phase in our faith. But it starts with loving your Word all over again. Thank you for your precious word. Thank you for your precious spirit that reveals it to us. Oh, my God. Father, you authored the Word. Jesus is the Word. The Holy Spirit leads us into the Word. I bless them today. I thank you for this faithful congregation. They've been faithful in their coming, in their serving, in their tithing and giving. We've ended the year strong and we're starting the year strong. Let them know their pastor loves them. We're praying for them and that Lord, we're expecting them to stretch their faith this year because we want the you to take them further. And we bless you, Jesus, and we honor you today. Hallelujah. And everybody said amen.