Biblical Concept of Faith (19) (heb 2)

[Music] [Voiceover] Church fellowship cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God always desires a godly home. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Preacher] Titilalai, titilalai, Mayoluwa titilalai. Titilalai, titilalai, anyi Mayoluwa titilalai. Titilalai, titilalai, Mayoluwa titilalai. Titilalai, titilalai. I will praise Thee from everlasting, everlasting to everlasting. I will praise Thee from everlasting, everlasting to everlasting. Our Father, indeed You are worthy of our praise from everlasting to everlasting. You are indeed worthy of our praise. Lord, we are grateful for salvation. We thank You for redemption. We thank You for adoption. We thank You for acceptance into the Beloved. We thank You that we are sons and daughters of God. We thank You that we are co-heirs with Christ. We thank You that we have been made to sit with Him in the heavenly places, above principalities and powers, above rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. Lord, we thank You because You are able to save completely those who by You come to God because You ever live to make intercession for them. Lord, we thank You for so great a salvation. We say, Lord God Almighty, the scripture says, "Behold what manner of love is this that we, we ordinary dust, ordinary sand, could be called sons and daughters of God." Lord, we are grateful. As we look yet further again into this matter of our faith, our faith, Lord, we just beg You. You are the subject matter of our faith. You are the beginning and the end of our faith. Everything about our faith is You. Lord, we pray as we look into scripture, as we learn together, Holy Spirit, glorify Jesus. Glorify Jesus. Help us to see Jesus. Help us to see Him. Help us to consider Him. Help us, Holy Spirit. Thank You, eternal Father. Blessed be Your name, our Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So we take the matter from where we left it last week. The summary, if I ask those of us who are here, if you are to make two sentences about last week's teaching, what is the summary of last week's teaching? What's the summary if you are to summarize it in two or three sentences? What is the summary? What can you say is the summary of everything we said when we began, because we are now in episode 19 and series two of the Book of Hebrews. Last week it was series one, episode 18, series one in the Book of Hebrews. What essentially is the message in series one of Hebrews? Can any of us say something? If you are to speak here, you will use the mic because brethren are online and they will need to hear you. Is anybody trying to say something? Okay, somebody is trying to say something. Please have the mic. Say something. [Speaker 1] Okay, for me, I learned that anyone who wants to grow in faith must have a vast knowledge of the word of God. [Preacher] Okay, so for you, essentially, the way series one came to you is that anybody that truly wants to grow in faith must take time to diligently give attention to scriptures. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comment? Any other thing again from anybody? All right, so let us move on. Essentially, taking from what our sister just said, yes, anybody that wants to grow in faith must give attention to scriptures. If you don't give attention to scriptures, it will be unfortunate. Unfortunate in the sense that the God that we want, we are called to serve, is a God that is revealed in the scriptures. Any god that you are serving that is not the one that is revealed in scriptures is not the biblical faith that we are talking about. So that is very true. And then essentially again, last week we brought to the forefront that it is impossible for your faith to grow in a God that you don't know. You can't. And I gave a very good example that last week. I said if you are in a function, if you are in a function and somebody just said, "Good afternoon, how are you? Oh, you are here? Oh, I like your look. Okay, please let me have your number. I would be sending to you $1 million tomorrow." And the person left. You don't know who the person is. And then you say, "You said he'll give me $1 million?" "I don't know, but..." But do you know that if along the line, like I mentioned last week, if somebody now tells you that, "So you don't know that person?" You say, "No, I don't know the person." "You don't know Donald Trump?" Now, when you know that the person who said that is Donald Trump, what will happen to your faith? Your faith will just rise. In fact, you will begin to dance. You have not seen it, but you will begin to embrace it. You will begin to look forward because you know the capacity now of the person who spoke. So I said last week, with all your heart, it's impossible for you to exercise trust in a God you don't know. So the summary of what we took, alongside what one of our brethren mentioned when I said how do we summarize it, is the reality that Hebrews chapter 1, Hebrews chapter 2, in fact, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 7, yes, chapter 7, chapter 8, everything that these chapters, what they are trying to present to you, is to make you see that look, you need to know the person who spoke. You need to know who you are dealing with. So he began that look, this person is the person who sustains and maintains the universe. This person is greater than angels. He's greater than Moses, greater than Melchizedek, greater than Aaron. He was just making you to see what he wanted you to see, is to see the capacity of the person who authored your faith. Now, I want to move on today. Hebrews chapter 3 verse 1. What did he say? He says, "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider..." What are you to consider? "...the Apostle and the High Priest of our confession, and who is that? Jesus Christ." Now, having spoken in chapter 1, chapter 2 about who this person is, what He did, when he came to 3, he brought the matter again. He said, "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of your confession, Jesus Christ." You see, I want to call your attention to something. It is important for you to have this thing clear in your understanding. If there is anything to study in the Bible, if there is anything to meditate on in the Bible, if there is anything to be looking for in the Bible, it's just one thing. You know that one thing? Jesus Christ. You see that actually what built up to Hebrews 11 that we eventually get to, what built up when he now said, "Now faith," was that these people you are talking about that are heroes, there is something that is particular. There is something that is clear. There is something that is definite. They did not just know the God of Israel in a general way. Did you get it? They knew the God of Israel how? In a personal, definite, specific way. You see, when the matter, the Bible says, "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ." See, I want to make you understand something. If there is anything to meditate on, if there is anything to beg God, "Help me to see," if there is anything you must cry to God that, "God, I want to be considering, I want to be seeing, I want to be understanding," that thing is a person. That person is Jesus. See, the matter of Jesus, let me say this very clear. The matter of Jesus is not really a matter of indoctrination. The matter of Jesus is not a matter of having a clear understanding that everything you are looking for inside God is summed up into one person, Jesus Christ. If there is anything you are looking for inside God, if you are looking for grace, Jesus is grace. If you are looking for truth, Jesus is truth. If you are looking for the way to go around your life, Jesus is the way. If you are looking for life, Jesus is life. If you are looking for wisdom, Jesus is the wisdom of God. If you are looking for power, Jesus is the power of God. Jesus is the sum total. Now, the matter of this considering Jesus, I want to move a little further now. He said, "who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses was faithful in all His house. For this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are." Please note that scripture. "But Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end." Are you getting something? How are we the house of Christ? When we hold something firm. What are we to hold firm? The confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Firm to the end. Now, he moves on. Look at what follows. He said, "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, "They always go astray..."'" Where? "'"...in their heart. They always go astray in their heart."'" Please be noting something. We are His house, if we hold the confidence and the rejoicing steadfastly to the end. For the Israelites, He says He was angry with that generation because they always go astray in their heart and they have not known My ways. So I swore in My wrath that they shall not enter My rest. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become—he emphasized it again, what he said earlier, he brought it back again in verse 14—"For we have become partakers of Christ..." How again? "...if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end." So there is something about the beginning of the confidence. There is something about the rejoicing of hope. You see, this matter is trying to make you get something very clear. The point is, how did you become a believer? What made you a believer? How? We heard the gospel. What is the gospel? Jesus died for our sin, He rose again. You believe that. As you believed, what happened to you immediately? The Bible says, yes, we are saved, but I'm interested in you are translated. From where? Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. I want you to see something. That the matter of your faith, what you believed that brought you into the kingdom, was what? What is it that you believed? You believed Jesus. Let me explain what he's saying here when he said, "holding fast the beginning of our confidence steadfastly to the end." So what is the beginning of your confidence and your rejoicing in hope? What is the beginning? You were told about who? About Jesus. See, what he's saying is that what keeps us going is nothing else apart from keep knowing that Jesus, keep seeing that Jesus, keep understanding that Jesus. If you deviate from that, there will be a problem. Everything about the entirety of our faith, what he's saying is that nothing brought you into the kingdom apart from, as many as received Him, to them He gave power, they became children of God. Let me tell you, everything beyond being a child of God, there is nothing greater than it again. There is nothing you want to get in God that is greater than you are now a child of God. Do you know why? Let me explain. You know that actually, before we came to Jesus, who were we? Sinners. Sinners are actually by nature enemies of God. They are without hope. They are hopelessly confused. Okay. Now, while we were sinners, God decided to make us His sons and His daughters. How was that done? By anything that we did? By any effort? By what? You simply believed. You believed that Jesus died for you. You said it in your heart, "Lord Jesus, come into my heart." And when you believed, do you know what actually happened? What actually happened was that you were formerly an enemy. You were formerly a hopeless person. You were formerly without God. You were formerly without life. But simply by believing, God translated you. You became a child of God. Please listen. At which point will it now become easier for God to do anything further? One point we were enemies. At this point we have been reconciled to God, we are now children. Please, if when we were enemies, we were reconciled by believing Jesus and we became children, now having become children, what is it that cannot be given now? What is left that God cannot give? Is there anything that is higher? Look at it. You got salvation when you were a sinner. Now you have become a child of God. What is it that they will withhold from you? What can be withheld? What I'm saying is, can there be anything more valuable than the reality that you are no more a sinner, you are now a child? Now as a child, if as a sinner you could be made a child, having been made a child, you are now at home. What else can you not be given? How will He—oh, what I'm trying to make you understand is this. Any other thing that God wants to give you, any other thing that God wants to give you is not going to come by any other means. No. Everything else God wants to give you is inside that one package that you got. I don't know whether you are understanding me. Let me explain. You know how it works? In that Jesus, everything that God wants to give you has been given to you in Him. Everything—your purpose, your ministry, your grace, whatever else God wants to do with your life—actually came with that package of Jesus. I'm talking about holding confidently the beginning of our... You see, there is a problem today. As we begin to journey with God, people begin to shift from the person and the personality of Jesus. We begin to shift to culture, to traditions, to philosophy, to doctrines, to conventions. We begin to shift. We are thinking that—oh, let me look at truths that are coming into my mind. Let me get back to this point. Can you open Ephesians? Let's open Ephesians. I want one of us to read for me. Ephesians chapter 1. Please you will use the mic to read. Ephesians chapter 1 so that brethren online can hear you. Please just read from verse 1. [Speaker 2] "This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am writing to God's holy people in Ephesus who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us..." [Preacher] Not who will bless us. What did he say? "...who has blessed us." Please, is that a past tense, a future tense, a present tense? Is it something that has been done or something that will be done? It has been done. Please note that. "...who has blessed us..." [Speaker 2] "...with every spiritual blessing..." [Preacher] Look, not some, not many, but what? "...every spiritual blessing..." how? "...in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ." [Preacher] Do you see it? When you got united with Christ, what automatically happened to your life was that everything that heaven wanted to give you, you were blessed with it. But you will now ask me the question, "Sir, but I'm not seeing them. Sir, I'm not experiencing them. Sir, so what is the gap between something being done and me experiencing it?" Do you get the point I'm making? Now, let's combine what we just read now with 2 Peter. Let's go to the book of 2 Peter. We are just trying to look at scriptures. I'm trying to talk about the beginning of your salvation. The beginning. We are the house of Jesus, if we hold that beginning steadfastly to the end. And the beginning is not a thing. The beginning is a person. May you know that there is a person behind your salvation. It is not a phenomenon that is behind your salvation. It's not a force. There is a person. A person. It is that person that the Hebrew writer is trying to make you understand. Now, I want us to see that 2 Peter. Are you there? Now, I want you to read from... go again to verse... oh, sorry, do I want 1st Peter? Sorry, let me check. 2nd Peter chapter 1. I want us to try all the translations that we have so that you can compare what he's saying here. Can you read 2nd Peter chapter 1? You read from verse 1, we read up to verse 4. Just verse 1 to 4. Please, you are reading which translation now? [Speaker 2] NLT. [Preacher] So NLT, let's hear NLT. [Speaker 2] "This letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to you who share the same precious faith we have." [Preacher] Please, who is he writing to? Those who share the same precious faith as they have. Okay. [Speaker 2] "This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior. May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord." [Preacher] Please, "May God give you more and more of God's grace and peace as what? As you grow in your knowledge of God." So when we get that Jesus, what is supposed to begin to happen to us? What is the next thing that should happen to our life? It is to grow in the knowledge. As we grow in that person we receive, what begins to multiply to us? Grace. People are praying for grace, "Give me grace to follow." They don't understand. As you grow in your knowledge, what happens to grace? Grace multiplies. It's not only grace. Grace and what? Peace. You wonder why you are not at peace. You wonder why everything shakes you. You wonder why you could not rest. What did He say? He says these things are multiplied as you grow in your knowledge. Please read on. Read on. [Speaker 2] "By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life." [Preacher] What has God done? Is it that God will give us? God has given us everything we need to do what? For living a godly life. "We have received all of this by coming to know Him." Please, how did we receive everything? By coming to know Him. I am drawing your attention to something. We are the house of God if we hold the beginning. You see what happens to us many times? After we just come to Jesus, they make us forget Jesus. We begin to talk about system. We begin to talk about conventions. We begin to talk about rules. We begin to talk about traditions. Focus is shifted from something very crucial for us to practice biblical faith. Biblical faith is not what you can just practice. There is no human being that can live the life of God without the help of God. It is God that works in us, both to will and to do. It is not coming to try to do. No. It is listen, listen to me. As you gave your life to Jesus, a power translated you. Are you the one who translated yourself? As you are knowing Jesus better, a grace makes you to overcome sin. As you know Jesus better, the peace of God above understanding comes. So the matter is a progressive knowledge—knowing, holding Him, holding Him, holding Him. The more you are holding Him, the more everything is realized. That's biblical faith. Anything apart from this is an error. That's the point I'm making. That's what I'm trying to establish in the book of Hebrews. He said, look, holy brethren, consider Him. For actually we are the house of God if we hold not what we got later. No. What we got where? At the beginning. That beginning, that person, that Jesus. All other ground is sinking sand. There is somebody to hold. If you hold fast, we become His house. And as we hold fast, what happens? He becomes faithful over His house. And what does He do? He's building that house. I wish you will just set up your mind and you will say, look, I don't have... the builders, what are they doing? They are building, but in vain. Every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is actually God. He says Jesus is faithful over His own house. So who is the builder of that house? I want you to get that. He said, "I will build My church." You cannot build yourself. Nothing can build you. There is only one person that can build you. That person is Jesus. He's the one who is faithful over the house. He's the builder. He's the one who said, "I will make you fishers." He's the one who makes. So there is a very important thing to understand that while we gather together to fellowship, why we gather in our churches, what should be our central concern in fellowship? How can we all do what? How can we know Jesus? How can we begin to know Jesus better? What can we do to know Jesus? What can we do to understand Jesus? See, every other thing will start taking their shape. But you know what happens to us? Immediately people get born again, you know what we do? We detach them from Jesus. That's what we do. We detach them, we make them attached to system. They start getting used to system. They start knowing system. They start becoming church people, which is not bad. I'm not against us being inside church. But the problem is they are not grace people. Because you are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. So if we grow to become church people and not grace people, there is going to be a problem. We will not be able to live the life of God. We'll be in church, they will say "Bro," they will say "Sis." And many times men will be trying to make you. They will be giving you regulations. They will be giving you conventions. They will be trying to make you. And you too, many times you are trying to make yourself. You say "I will try," New Year New Resolution, "This time around I'm going to make sure I try." But the more you try, the more you fail. Because what you need for that life had been given to you in that beginning. If you want to know your purpose in God, it has been given to you at the beginning. It's not something God will just be releasing to you. No. That's the point I'm making. Everything has been given. Immediately you become united with Jesus, you got everything you needed. But we are talking about experiencing these things and I'm showing you something. Please, can you read on? Can you read on? [Speaker 2] "The one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence." [Preacher] The one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and grace and excellence. Yes, read on. [Speaker 2] "And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises." [Preacher] He has given us great and precious promises. Have you passed 3? verse 3. Please go back to 3. [Speaker 2] "By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who has called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises." [Preacher] Please listen. Because of that glorious grace and excellence, what were we given? Great and precious promises. What will those promises do? [Speaker 2] "These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature." [Preacher] Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! What enabled you to share God's divine nature? The promises. The promises. As you get to know what was promised, as you get to know what has been promised, as you get to know and understand the package and you lay, "Baba, this is what You promised me," and you take it confidently and you take it confidently and you keep taking it, you keep taking it, what happens? You start becoming partakers of God's divine nature. What I'm trying to make you see is that we have reduced Christian life to something mechanical. And that's why a lot of people are struggling. They are struggling with several things. They are not sitting down to hold steadfastly the person, that confidence, that rejoicing. There is a rejoicing. You know why he called it rejoicing? If they have given you everything you need for life and godliness, everything, please what does that mean? Is that not a reason to be rejoicing? You know there's a reason to be rejoicing, to be rejoicing... "So this one is in Him, that one is in Him." Oh, and the more, the more... it is holding that beginning. There is a problem today about biblical faith. The serious foundational problem I'm seeing is not that people don't get born again. Many of us are born again. That's the truth. And that's why I tell some people, some people you see that are struggling with some things in their life, don't say they are not serious, they are useless Christians, they are not serious. The problem may not be that they are not serious. The problem may be those who fathered them and mothered them when they gave their life to Christ. Those people detached them from the beginning and made them church people. So they begin to struggle with trying to live the life of God instead of God living His life through them. The reality, oh, look at what Paul said. Paul made a statement in Philippians. He said, "Look, I strive earnestly, laboring according to His mighty power that works in me mightily." Ah, may you know the power of God. May you know the power of God. Look, there is a power that translated us. It is that power that also carries us to the life of God. We don't have power of our own. We have power. You see, by the time we begin to look at the heroes of faith, you will be wondering what they did. "Ah, these people, these people." Before he got to that place, it's because he has built all this foundation. So that you can understand how were people able to do what they did. How were they able to do it? And you are wondering whether they are super spiritual people, whether they are not human beings like you. And James wanted to remind us, he said, "Brethren, Elijah is a man of like passion." So don't think that these people are spirit. You don't think that they were angels that came down from heaven. When you see what they did, that is even under the law, when grace have not been released, your heart will tremble. Somebody asked for double portion, he said "Look, if you can see me when I'm going, it becomes your own." Somebody said, "Look, except by my word there will be no rain. If I be a man of God, let fire..." You begin to ask, "Are they human beings?" They are human beings, but something is at work in them. That is what today Christianity is detached from. There is a foundation to our faith. If we leave that foundation, we will never be able to live the life of God. We will struggle till we will die. Jesus, Jesus is the object, He's the substance. So there is a need to hold fast the beginning. There's something that happened to you at the beginning. What happened to you at the beginning was you heard about a person. Was that not what you heard about? If I come to you and I say, "Come to my church, you will go to heaven," and then you come to my church, you become a member, will you ever get to heaven? But when I come from my church to make you go to heaven, what did I tell you? I say, "Bro, in this church we believe in Jesus." I set that Jesus into your life. Is that not what we preached to you? So what we preached to you was a person. What we preached to you was a person. That is the point he's making. Because actually we are the house of God. We are His house. Please note something. He says, "We are His house." So when we are His house, what will happen? He will be building that house. We are His house. What is the condition? If we hold what? That beginning steadfast, that beginning. That person, that Jesus. Oh, all other ground are sinking sand. There is somebody to hold. If you hold fast, we become His house. And as we hold fast, what happens? He becomes faithful over His house. And what does He do? He's building that house. And so you will be able to say, "I can do all things. How? In Christ. Hallelujah! I can do all things. There is nothing I cannot do. There is nothing I cannot go through." But it's not really about me. Don't think it is me. If you think it is me, you have missed it. There is somebody. It is through somebody doing it, doing it, strengthening, doing it, doing it, doing it. That is the reality he's doing. And please, that Peter that our sister read in NLT, can somebody read it for me in Amplified? In Amplified, can somebody read verse 2 and 3 and 4 in Amplified for us? [Speaker 2] "Grace and peace, that special sense of spiritual well-being, be multiplied to you in the true intimate knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. For His divine power has bestowed on us absolutely everything necessary for a dynamic spiritual life and godliness." [Preacher] So please, what did they give you? Everything necessary for what? For a dynamic spiritual life. It was given to you through a true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. Hallelujah! So are you seeing why you are not experiencing it? Are you seeing why you are not seeing your blessings? Are you seeing why it looks as if "I have not seen this thing"? Because it was packaged in a person. Everything God wants to do is Jesus. I don't know how best I can say that better. I mean everything God wants to do for you from the beginning to the end of your life is Jesus. That's the only way I can just make that statement. Look at the next, please read on. [Speaker 2] "For by this He has bestowed on us His precious and magnificent promises of inexpressible value, so that by them you may escape from the immoral freedom that is in the world because..." [Preacher] Please, what will make us escape the corruption in the world? His precious and magnificent promises. What helped us to escape? His precious and magnificent promises. Promises. I don't know whether you know this hymn, "Standing on the Promises of Christ my King." Let His praises ring, glory in the highest I will shout and sing, standing on the promises of God. What do we do? Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I am standing on the promises of God. I think we should go and get that hymn. Can we just go and get that hymn? "Standing on the Promises of God." Let's please, brethren who are online, can you just do something and get that hymn? Can we just sing that hymn together? Can we just look at the various stanzas of that hymn together? What is the beginning of it should be "Standing on the Promises of God." Am I correct? Is that the beginning thing to look for it? Okay. For those of us who have SS&S in our phone, it is hymn 877. If you have SS&S on your phone, I have it on my phone, it is hymn 877. If you don't, just go online, just go to Google and download it. I believe we are all there now. Have you seen something to sing with? Or if you are not having something, can you just share with somebody? Brethren online, just do that. Let's sing that hymn together. Verse one. [Singing] Standing on the promises of Christ my King, Through eternal ages let His praises ring, Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing, Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, Standing on the promises of Christ my Savior; Standing, standing, I am standing on the promises of God. Verse two. Standing on the promises that cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God. Oh standing, standing, Standing on the promises of Christ my Savior; Standing, standing, I am standing on the promises of God. Verse three. Standing on the promises I now can see Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me; Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free, Standing on the promises of God. Standing, oh standing, Standing on the promises of Christ my Savior; Standing, standing, I am standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love's strong cord, Overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword, Standing on the promises of God. I am standing, standing, oh yes standing, Standing on the promises of Christ my Savior; Standing, standing, I am standing on the promises of God. The last stanza. Standing on the promises I cannot fail, Listening every moment to the Spirit's call, Resting in my Savior as my all in all, Standing on the promises of God. [Preacher] Please, before we take the chorus, please just try to look at the words. Look at the words. Look at stanza two. Standing on the promises that cannot fail, when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, by the living Word of God I shall prevail, standing on the promises of God. Standing in that promise, what happened? I can now see a perfect, it's not only perfect, it is present cleansing in the blood for me. Standing in what again? Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free. I keep telling people, you can never experience liberty outside Jesus. It's not possible. Standing on the promises of God. It's so important for us to see this matter. That the matter, the matter of our faith, as far as Hebrews is concerned, is that look, we are partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of that thing. And he summed it up in verse 14 again. He said, "For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end." So please, what should we be telling ourselves daily? What should we be telling ourselves daily? How not to have this evil heart of unbelief in departing from who? There is something we got at the beginning. There are promises. There are blessings. There are things. Everything is inside there. We should be careful because once we depart from that thing, once our heart shifts from it, once it's no more the focus of the heart, there is going to be a problem. You know what I'm trying to say? I want to close with this example. I'll pick the matter about rest. I've mentioned rest already that there are two rests. It is the matter of rest I want to build on next week. Now, I want to make you see something. Look at the woman with issue of blood. Where did she speak? She said in her heart. She said in her heart, "If I can do what? Touch the hem of His garment, what will happen to me?" Please, ordinarily, I want you to look at how Luke puts that picture very well. She said for 12 years she has spent all her living going to different doctors. Please, if a matter has defied all medical solutions in your life, do you see that person bringing faith into Jesus? You'll be looking at, "Ah, eh, ah, eh." But for 12 years she has looked for solution, she has tried everything, but something happened one day by God's graciousness. Something happened where? In her heart. May something happen in your heart. And may it keep happening in your heart. It is not in your head. Christianity is not in your head. We study the Bible, but there must be a movement from the head to the heart. There must be a movement. That movement is the working of the Spirit. That movement is why we must beg God. Why did Jesus tell the Pharisees? He said, "You err because you don't know scriptures and what?" Those two things must go together: scriptures and power. Look at when Jesus was praying the Lord's Prayer. What did He say? "Yours is the kingdom, the what? The power and the what?" The kingdom belongs to Him. The power to live that kingdom life is also His own so that the glory can be His. That's the reality. That woman said in her heart, "If I can touch..." It's about Him. The matter is in Him. If I can touch Him. And I don't know how she managed her way through the crowd. When she touched, and the miracle took place, please what was the utterance of Jesus? What did Jesus say? Jesus first said, "Virtue has gone out of me. Somebody touched me." Ah, that looks very strange. People are plenty, everybody is touching you. Jesus said, "No, there is another one. Something left, and I know that something left." Please, what made that thing to leave was she knew Jesus. She had heard about Jesus, the gospel. She did not even say, "Jesus pray for me." She held steadfastly to that Jesus. If He's the Savior, then He will save me. If He's this... I'm trying to make you see what I'm talking about. Holding confidently, steadfastly, the beginning of our confidence. The matter is in Jesus. As she touched, Jesus perceived virtue left him. When the woman now came out, what did Jesus say? He said, "Your faith has made you well." You know what I was thinking? I thought Jesus would say, "I have healed you." Who healed her? It was Jesus. The healing was in Jesus. But how was it given to her? By her heart not having an evil heart of unbelief that departs from the living God. So the purpose of fellowship is bringing our heart to see Jesus, presenting Jesus and Him crucified. Presenting Jesus. That's why he said, "Exhort one another daily." We can help ourselves in this faith. we can grow together in this faith. But how will we do it? If we deliberately, intentionally refuse to move to any other thing, but to do what? To present Jesus and Him crucified and to hold to that Jesus. Brethren, let us pray this evening. That's where I want to stop. You are His house. Please, I'm telling you, you are the house of Jesus. You don't need to fear. He who began the good work can finish it. You are the house of Jesus. Jesus is faithful over His house. I don't know what storm, I don't know what is raging in your life, in your marriage, in your home. I don't know what is happening around you. Maybe in your academics, in your business. I don't know how the thing... maybe you have run around too, you have wasted all for 12 years and there have not been solution. But I'm trying to make you see something. I'm trying to present to you that the matter is Jesus. Everything you need, everything you need, everything you need to get over that thing. Please go and look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10. He said God will not allow you to be tried beyond what you can bear, but with every trial provide a way of escape. That thing that wants to kill you now, in your trial there is already a way of escape. Jesus is that way. It is Jesus. You see, the missing dimension is Jesus. You have not been made to see that the matter is Jesus. You are His house. That day you gave your life, you are translated. Not that you will be translated. You were translated that day and you became His house. And let me tell you, Moses was faithful over his house as a servant. The house is not his own. But Jesus is faithful over His own house. This one is His own. A servant may not be faithful, but if a man builds his own house, if a man builds his own house he will make sure everything goes well. Am I correct? So in our own case, it is not a servant that is building it. The person who owns it is the one building it. So He will ensure that the materials are not fake. He will ensure that what he wants, what he desires, is what comes out. Oh, He is able, more than able. [Singing] He is able, more than able To accomplish what concerns me today. He is able, more than able To accomplish what concerns me today. He is able, more than able To do much more than I could ever dream. He is able, more than able To make me all He wants me to be. He is able, more than able To accomplish what concerns me today. He is able, more than able To handle everything that comes my way. He is able, more than able To do much more than I can ever think. He is able, more than able To make me what He wants me to be. He is able, more than able To accomplish what concerns me today. He is able, more than able To accomplish what concerns me today. He is able, more than able To do much more than I can ever dream. He is able, more than able To make me all He wants me to be. [Preacher] Can you turn that to a prayer? Can you turn it to a prayer? I don't know where fear, doubt have overrun your heart and you are wondering, "Can I become what God wants me to become? Can I become what God wants me to be? Can I really overcome my struggles? Will I ever be able to become—live a holy and upright life? Ah, me that when I try today I fail tomorrow. Can I ever, can God ever make me to become this?" I don't know what is the matter. I don't know what is troubling you. I don't know what is down there. But I'm only trying to make you see something. You are His house. You are His house. Except if you are not born again. If you deliberately gave your life to Jesus, if you intentionally came to Jesus and you said, "Jesus, I surrender my life to You," and you actually came to Jesus, you sincerely came to Him, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, you don't need to begin to look here and there. A double-minded man cannot receive anything from God. You must hold fast that thing. You must hold fast. You are able. You are able. You are able. You are more than able. Thank You, eternal Father. Thank You, eternal God. Lord, as we go today, I just pray beyond my voice, cause Your people to hear Your voice. Lord God Almighty, You say if you will hear His voice. Lord God, individually, personally, God, may there be a hearing of Your voice. May there be a personal work with You. Lord, beyond our head, work in our heart. Lord, experiential knowledge of You in our heart. In the name of Jesus. Thank You, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's share the grace together in fellowship. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forever more. Amen. [Voiceover] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's Word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission hit. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class, every Monday 5:00 p.m.; Adolescents and Singles Club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m.; Marriage Forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m.; Family Life seminars, regular school outreaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Idjare Road, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are: 080-3386-1136, 070-3361-3848. God bless you all.