Have Faith, Doubt Not Part 3 – Lawson Perdue

Have Faith Doubt Not Part 3

Have Faith Doubt Not Part 3 from Pastor Lawson Perdue. In this episode of Grace For Today, discover how you can always get where God wants you to go and do what God wants you to do! Keep your eyes focused on Jesus!

Have Faith Doubt Not Part 3 Transcript

Praise the Lord, friends. I am so glad that you’re with us today. Did you know that where you’re going is more important than where you come from? And we’re gonna be talking about in this broadcast, how you can get where God wants you to go, and do what God wants you to do by believing Jesus, keeping your eyes on him, and moving into the promise and the plan of God. Thanks so much for staying tuned. God bless you. Praise the Lord, friends. I am so glad to have you with us today. And we are sharing on Half Faith, Doubt Not. You know, we’ve been teaching here for three, four, this is the fourth week on the subject of faith. And many times, people feel like, oh, man, we need to have more faith. And, you know, the disciples actually came to Jesus. And I think it’s in Luke chapter 18, and they said, “Lord, increase our faith.” And the fact is, as a believer, did you know, you do not need more faith. You need to learn to use the faith you have. And so when the disciples actually said, Lord, increase our faith,” Jesus went on and said, “If you have faith,” praise God, “it’s not that you don’t have enough faith, it’s that you’re not actually operating in faith.” And we need to learn how to move into the faith of God that we have that’s been given to us as a believer. And so I want to look at the scripture, if I can find it, praise the Lord, and talk about this just a little bit, and just get you to realize that man, as a believer, that you have the very exact same faith as Jesus. And when you have that faith, you can move into what God has for you. And so praise God. You know what? We have the exact same faith of Jesus. And so we need to understand the faith that we’ve been given as a believer. And we need to move into these things that God has given us. I’m gonna go ahead and move into the scripture. In Matthew 14:22 -32, where Jesus talked to his disciples and they were facing a storm and they didn’t know what to do about this situation. And so in Matthew 14:22, it’s says, “Immediately, Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and go before him to the other side while he sent the multitude away. And when he sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening has come, he was there alone, but the ship was now in the middle of the sea.” This is the Sea of Galilee. It’s basically eight miles wide and 13 miles long. “It was tossed with the waves and the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night,” so this is about 3:00 AM in the morning, “Jesus went out to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled and said, ‘It’s a Spirit!’ and they cried out for fear. But immediately, Jesus spoke unto them and said unto them, ‘Be of good cheer! It is I. Be not afraid.’ And Peter answered and said unto him, ‘If it be you, bid me to come to you on the water.’ And Jesus said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter came down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried and he said, ‘Lord, saved me.’ And immediately, Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him and said, ‘O ye of little faith. Why did you doubt you?'” You see, again, the challenge was he wasn’t operating in his faith because he was operating in doubt. “And when they come into the ship, the wind ceased.” You know what? We need to focus on Jesus. We need to focus on what he said. We need to focus on the promise more than we focus on the problem. And in this instance, we see a lot of different things. But Jesus ask him and he said, “Why did you doubt?” And what do we do when we face opposition? And I know we like to all think that we’re faith giants, but there are times that we have doubts. And so I think sometimes when you’re facing opposition, sometimes you have to realize, how did I get in this situation? In this example, in Matthew 14, the disciples got in this position because they obey Jesus. Just because you obey Jesus, just because you do what the Lord says, doesn’t mean that there’s not gonna be any opposition. In fact, there’s times that you can look and people have completely obeyed God and they face more challenges sometimes when they’ve obeyed God than if they wouldn’t have. But if they stick with it and keep believing God, in the end, they will have more victory than they would’ve if they wouldn’t have. And so, you know what? You need to keep obeying Jesus. Secondly, it could be just because you’re living in the world. Sometimes people wanna say the devil, the devil, devil, and sometimes, the devil is a problem. But sometimes you’re just facing challenges because you’re in the world. You know, Jesus said this in John 16:33, he said, “In the world, you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.” It says this in one John chapter 4 in verse 4, it says, “Greater is he that’s in you than he that is in the world.” Man, the God in you is greater than the devil in this world. And there are times, you know what? You get in a challenge just because you’re living in the world. Not because of any special circumstance or situation. The third reason you could get in a problem is it could be your flesh. You know, have a flesh. And your flesh works against the Spirit. If we go to Galatians chapter 5 and look at the scripture there, it says this in Galatians 5:16, it says, “Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” You know, a lot of times, people are trying to focus on the lust of the flesh and wonder why they can’t walk in the Spirit. Well, the way you get there is you walk in the Spirit. You just let the Spirit take over because the Spirit’s greater than the flesh. Now he says the flesh, in verse 17, lust against the Spirit. The flesh has desires that are contrary with the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And he says, “These are contrary, one to another, so that you cannot do the things you would.” You cannot just let your flesh have control and have your Spirit reign. You gotta let your Spirit reign. But he said, “If you be led of the Spirit, you are not under the law.” It’s not through legalism that gets you there, it’s through faith that you get there. So praise God. So there are challenges sometimes when we’re in the world, right? And we said, in this instance, in Matthew 14, with the disciples going across the sea, they were challenged because they obey Jesus. Sometimes people are challenged just because we’re living in the world. “In the world,” Jesus said, “you’ll have tribulation, but be a good cheer for I’ve overcome the world.” Sometimes, you’re facing a challenge because it’s your flesh. And you know what? The flesh is not a good master. You wanna follow the Spirit. You wanna follow God. But the last reason I have is the devil. Sometimes there are attacks of the devil. And the Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world and against spiritual wickedness in high places. That’s Ephesians 6:12. And I have read that verse in at least 20 translations. And you know what it means? It means there is a spiritual battle. Now, as a believer, you need to understand that Satan is a defeated foe, praise God, and the victory has already been won. And so you don’t wanna focus on something other than the word of God, you wanna focus on the word of God. But if you begin to understand that here’s these different challenges, maybe this challenge came by obeying Jesus, living the world because you gotten a flesh, or because there was an attack of the enemy. But no matter what, you need to keep believing Jesus. You know, when Jesus came walking on the sea there in Matthew chapter 14, it says that he would’ve passed them by, but they cried out. And Jesus said, “Listen, be a good cheer. It’s I. Be not afraid.” Praise God. You know what? You don’t have to be afraid, praise God, keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep believing Jesus. No matter how you got in a problem, just because a problem came, do not throw in the towel, do not give up. You keep believing Jesus. You keep believing God. Do you know what? Your faith has the ability to bring you out of that challenge and into the victory that Jesus already won. I wanna look at this scripture in 1 John 5:4-5 I love this scripture. It says, “Whosoever or whatsoever is born of God overcomes this world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcomes the world, but that believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” So if you’re born of God, you are a world overcomer. I also like that it says this. In verse 4, it says, “Whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world.” I believe that something is born of God. You know, one reason the disciples were able to overcome that storm is Jesus told them to get in that boat and go to the other side. And if Jesus told you to go to the other side, he means go to the other side. I like to look at that sea that they were on in that storm as this is like life. And this is getting from after you’re born again, getting to heaven. It’s like going across the sea and there’s some storms that you’re gonna face. You know what? Unless you die right after you’re born again, you’re gonna face some storms as a believer. And so you need to keep believing God. And when you believe God, it says, “Whatsoever is born of God, overcomes this world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” You know what? When you’re facing a storm, it’s a faith challenge. But know what it is and keep believing God, don’t quit. Then he says, “Who is he that overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” Listen, if you’re a believer, if you’re born again, you are a world overcomer. So keep believing God. Never, ever, ever quit believing God, because you know what? Your faith will bring you through. Your faith will get you to the other side. Your faith will realize what God promised you. Amen? So never quit believing God. Praise God always, believe God. So keep believing Jesus no matter what. The disciples got in the storm, as they obey Jesus, as they were going to their side, but you need to keep believing Jesus. And the other thing is, did you know what? You need to keep your eyes on Jesus. Now, if we go back to this instance in Matthew chapter 14, where they were being challenged when Jesus came walking on this sea and they said it’s a spirit and they cried out for fear. Jesus said in verse 17, “Be a good cheer. It’s I. Be not afraid.” Do not yield to fear, do not yield to doubt, do not yield to unbelief, but keep believing Jesus. Secondly, Peter answered him and said unto him in verse 28, “If it’s be you, bid me to come on the water.” Now, what would Jesus gonna say? And so Jesus said, “Come.” And when Peter came down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. Now there are a lot of people who criticize Peter for looking at the wind, looking at the waves, beginning to sink, but have you ever walked on water? And you know what? If you haven’t walked on water, you ought to keep your mouth shut. You shouldn’t be criticizing. Man, I admire Peter’s faith to get out of that boat and to move towards Jesus, praise God. I admire even if he did begin to sink, he was doing something. I admire people’s faith that will get up and do something. Even if they’re challenged, even if there’s difficulties, even if they’re problems, they are moving towards what they believe God told them to do, praise God, who God told them to be, what God told them to say. And so I admire Peter. And so it says here, “Peter came down out of the ship and he walked on the water to go to Jesus.” But when he saw, when he fixed his eyes on the wind which was boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried, “Lord, saved me.” You know, I’m gonna take a break, but we’re gonna be back in just a minute. And we’re gonna continue to talk about how to walk with the Lord Jesus and how to operate in faith. And so we need to keep walking with Jesus. We need to keep operating in faith, praise God. And so we’ll be back right after this short break. You stay tuned. We’ve got some great things to share Friends, this week, we’ve been sharing on faith in God will change your world. And I am so happy to be sharing with you this Faith Package. I have this book from my good friends, Mark Hankins, Mark and Trina Hankins, on the Spirit of Faith. We have World Changing Faith, one of my best series. We have Four Keys to Faith. And then finally, we have Have Faith and Doubt Not. These are some of my very, very best teachings on the realm of faith. And if you begin to understand faith, I believe it will literally change your life. It’s changed mine, praise God. It’s changed my financial position. It’s changed my spiritual condition. It’s changed my physical condition and it’s all good. God wants to do good things in your life, and he does it through grace and faith. So if you want to get this teaching, just give us a call today or check us out online. Thanks so much in blessings. Praise the Lord, friends. We are in Matthew chapter 14, and we’re talking about Half Faith and Doubt Not. And the disciples obey Jesus. They got in the ship and they were going to the other side, but they faced a storm. And you know what? This storm seemed like it was gonna destroy them. You know, it’s amazing sometimes that you could obey Jesus and get in a situation where it looks like you’re gonna be destroyed. I have been there more than once. But you know what? The Lord has brought me through. And you know what? I use these opportunities when I face great challenges to believe, to keep believing God, to use my faith. You know, I’ve had a couple of times in business that I’ve nearly lost everything that I had. I had one time in the cattle business, I lost a hundred thousand. But you know what? I believe God and got it back, praise God. You know, the Bible says this. It says that if a thief be found, he’s gotta repay seven times. You know, I had another time in the cattle business that I lost a quarter million dollars. It was a terrible blizzard. I had lots of money borrowed. You know what? I had different people tell me that I was so fortunate that I didn’t go completely broke. But you know what? I started believing God to get that back. And I believed God to get it back seven times. And you know what? I didn’t just get it back once, I got it back seven times over. Amen. It wasn’t very pleasant. It took a while. It was challenging, it was difficult. But you know what? I believe God. And you know what? I overcame. the Lord spoke to me one time and he said, “If you’ll make it through the famine, you’ll make it to the feast.” Barbara actually quoted me. My wife, Barbara, the other day quoted me, saying that if we make it through the famine, we’ll make it to the feast. And you know what? We have faced some challenges, we have faced some difficulties, We have faced some problems, but we have believed God. And without fail, I am here to tell you that God has not failed us, God has not left us. We have overcome. And so you know what? If you’re facing a storm, you need to keep your eyes on Jesus. You need to keep your eyes fixed on him and keep moving forward. Now, when we look at this instance back in Matthew chapter 14, it says, “Peter, when he came down on the ship, walked on the water to go to Jesus.” Verse 30, it says, “But when he saw the wind was boisterous.” Listen, I haven’t walked on water that’s still. You know, the only water I’ve walked on has been frozen water. “He saw the wind was boisterous, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried, ‘Lord saved me.'” People just put Peter down, but he walked far enough to get nearly to Jesus. And immediately, Jesus, when he cried out to the Lord, stretch forth his hand and caught him and said, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Why did you doubt? You know what caused him to doubt? He got his eyes off of Jesus. He began to look at the circumstances and the situations that were contrary with who Jesus is with what Jesus said. And you know what? If you get your eyes off Jesus, if you start looking at circumstances and situations that are contrary with what God has said to you and what the word of God has promised you, you will have an opportunity to sink. But you know what? Being the smartest, Peter cry out, “Lord, save me.” Sometimes, I think that’s one of the most powerful prayers you could pray. And I’ve cried out before the Lord saved me. I remember Barbara and I were pastoring in Eastern Colorado in a small town, and we were having a hard time one day and I was probably being difficult and Barbara was upset about it. And I just didn’t know what to do about the situation, and I just cried out, “Lord, save me.” And you know what? God intervened in that situation. And God turned Barbara’s heart, turned her heart towards me, turned my heart towards her. And you know what? God healed that situation. And in healing it, he helped us to help other people and to minister his life and his help to them. Praise God. We talked about this scripture in a broadcast prior to this, but in Jonah 2:8, the scripture says, “Those who observe lying vanities, forsake their own mercy. You know, Jesus told Peter, “Come.” And Jesus told the disciples, “Get in the boat and go to other side.” That one word was big enough to get them to the other side. That one word when Jesus told Peter, “Come,” was enough to get Peter to Jesus. Now he almost made it before he began to sink. But the Bible says, “Those observe lying vanities.” He looked at the wind and the waves. He looked at the wind was boisterous, and he seeing them, you know what? You gotta fix your eyes on the Lord. And you gotta realize God is bigger than any problem you have. My grandmother used to have this blue and yellow bumper sticker or something sticker years ago, it came from Oral Roberts, but it says God is greater than any problem that I have. And you know what? I still believe that God is greater than any problem that I have. And no matter how big your problem is, God is greater than any problem that you have. So you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Don’t forsake your mercy, don’t forsake grace. Don’t fore God’s provision for you. And you know what? That’s what the devil wants to do. The devil wants you to get your eyes on the circumstances. He wants you to start operating in fear and doubt and move away from God’s provision for you. So you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. You know, when I was going through this last loss where I lost nearly, or actually probably over a quarter million dollars in the cattle business, there was a huge blizzard came. And listen, you say, “Pastor, how did you get in that storm? You believe God.” I’m telling you, I was doing everything I knew how to do. I was believing the word. I was speaking the word. I was commanding the storm to stop and it kept storming. And that’s probably to tell you the truth why I came out of it as good as I did and didn’t lose everything, like some of my good friends told me. But at the same point in time, I was in a storm. And after I got through that thing, you know what the Lord ministered to me? The Lord said, “Lawson, look at what you have and not what you lost.” You know, you need to remember what you’ve been given. You need to remember what God has given you. You need to look at what you have and not what you’ve lost. And sometimes not only look at what we have and not what we lost, but we need to look where we are and not where we’ve been. I had the devil one time tell me, and this is before I went in the full-time ministry, but it was like a neon light flashing in my mind, “You failed, you failed!” You know what? The devil wants to get you overcome with failure so you’ll not be able to move into what God has for you. The Bible actually says in Philippians chapter three, that we need to forget those things that are behind us. and we need to press toward the mark for the high call of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And you need to forget about it. Some of you not only need to forget your past failures, you need to forget your past successes and you need to move into God’s promise, move into God’s plan. And you know what? You can’t get where God’s taking you by looking at the past. The Bible says that no man looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. You gotta look forward. You gotta go forward. You gotta move into God’s promise, move into God’s plan, move into what he has for you. And so if you’re gonna keep believing Jesus and keep your eyes on him, you’re gonna have to look at what you have, not what you’ve lost. And you’re gonna have to look where you’re at and not where you’ve been. You gotta learn to enjoy the moment. Live in the moment. You know, after I first moved to Colorado Springs, the Lord told me one time, I was out walking around Bear Creek on a Saturday afternoon and I was praying, “God, where are you gonna put my church? Where’s my church gonna be?” And it’s like God said, “That’s for me to know and you to find out.” And he just told me, “Lawson, faith is a journey. Enjoy the trip.” You know, sometimes you’re so focused on the future and where you’re going, you get depressed or discouraged about the situation, the way it is. And you fail to realize where God has brought you. You failed to realize what God has already done. And you need not to forget, you need to thank God constantly for the good things that he’s given you, for the good things that he’s done. And so you can’t go forward looking back, you need to live in the moment. The Bible says, “Now faith is the substance of the things we hope for, the evidence of things not seen.” We talked about how you can’t go forward looking back. You need to look forward, keep moving into what God has for you. Another thing that you can do is what we see in Exodus, I believe it’s chapter 17, verse 14 and verse 15. But after Joshua fought with the Amalekites, and Moses was up on the hill with the rod of God in his hand, holding it up, and Aaron and Hur were stay in his arms and holding up, and Joshua won that great battle. God told Moses, “Take this victory and write it in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua. And you need to remember the good things that God has done for you.” Finally, the last thing I have is you need to keep your eyes on Jesus. Again, keep your eyes on Jesus. “Look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, the scripture says. I’m gonna turn over here to Hebrews chapter 12. And it says this in verse 1 through verse 3, he says, “Wherefore,” he’s talking about all these heroes of the faith who had not completely received what they were believing for. And he says in verse 1 of Hebrews chapter 12, “Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, all these Old Testament saints, all these people that have gone before us, believe in the promises. let us lay aside every way and the sin, which does so easily beset us.” You know, it’s not the big foxes. It’s a little foxes that spoil the vines. And so he says, “and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” Man, run your race. Run the race set before you looking under Jesus author and the finisher of our faith. Jesus is the one who started us out in this faith race. Jesus is the one who helps us complete it, who for the joy that was set before him endured, he endured the cross. And he despised the shame and he has set down. He’s completed his race at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such a contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind. You look to Jesus. Jesus not only started you out in this faith realm, Jesus will help you finish the race. He’s the finisher of our faith, praise God. And so if you’ll keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, amen, you can move through your problem and move in to what God has promised you. You know what? Faith in God will change your world. You need to keep believing the word, and keep saying what God says about you and about your situation. And I believe that you will see what God said to you come to pass. Friends, I’m so glad that you’ve tuned into this broadcast. Before you go, I want to take time and just minister to you really quickly. You know what? God wants to heal you more than you wanna be healed. God wants to bless you more than you wanna be blessed. And if you need prayer, be sure after this broadcast to give us a call. We would love to hear from you. Heavenly Father, thank you for strength in these that are watching today by your word. And I thank you that you help them overcome through faith in Jesus Christ. Blessings.

[Announcer] What is faith? Do I need more of it? And how do I exercise what I have? In this package containing Mark Hankins’ book, The Spirit of Faith, and CD series, World Changing Faith, Four Keys to Faith, and Have Faith, Doubt Not, you’ll learn the answer to these questions and more. You can get this special package for $59, when you call 719-418-4000, or visit charischristiancenter.com

Praise the Lord, friends. I wanna invite you to church this coming Sunday morning, whether you’re in Colorado Springs or whether you’re wherever you are at. If you’re in Colorado Springs, you can see us Sunday morning at eight 30 or 10:30 AM live, but you can also watch us with our livestream congregation at 8:30 or 10:30 AM. Or you can go to our website and get it any time at charischristiancenter.com

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