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And I can do all that the Word says. Today, I open my heart, my mind, my soul to receive God's Holy Word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. That is so unprofessional. I open my heart, my mind. I open my soul to receive God's holy word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. With my faith, I will please my God. As a result of my faith, my God will please me. In Jesus' name, amen. While you remain standing, turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 11. What's his name? Tyrone. Brother Tyrone. Oh, I did not hear him. I'd like to focus on the first three verses. Hebrews eleven, one through three. Hebrews eleven, one through three. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:1, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report, which literally means a testimony. Verse 3 says, through faith we understand That the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Father, I thank you that we have ears to hear today. I thank you that you're speaking to us through your word, and I ask, oh God, that you continue to minister to us. Sow your word in our hearts as a farmer sows the seed into the ground with the expectation that it would produce fruit that you can reap and harvest. Amen. From our lives, in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. I want to talk to you today about the evidence of faith, and I want to define for you the word evidence. So I need you to write these 3 definitions down. The first definition for the word evidence is that which tends to prove or disprove something. It also means grounds for belief or to provide proof. Again, definition number 1 is that which tends to prove or disprove something. It is grounds for belief or literally to provide proof. Number 2, the word evidence means something that makes plain or clear, an indication or a sign. And number 3, the word evidence means to make evident, which literally means to show Clearly, or to manifest. Now, according to Hebrews 11:1, the scripture says that faith is the substance. And the word substance means ingredients, which means that faith has some ingredients to it. Amen. And the key ingredient for the word faith is the word hope. Faith is not hope. Hope is not faith. They are not the same. They're very kindred or very relative, but they work hand in hand like our left foot and our right foot. You need one to accommodate the other in order to get somewhere in life. Amen. Faith is the substance or the ingredients of the things that you hope for. Hope means to have a desire for something good with an expectation of obtaining it. So when we hope for something, we're desiring it. For whatever it is that we hope for. When you hope for something, you're saying to God, this is what I want, this is what I desire, this is what I need, and I'm trusting that it's going to happen. I'm expecting it to happen. Yes. But just because you're hoping or expecting something to happen That's right. Doesn't necessarily mean that you're engaged in your faith. You could hope that God does certain things for you, and you're pretty much making an appeal, uh, to his mercy, making an appeal to the fact that he's your God and he will and shall provide, but that doesn't mean that you're in faith. Faith is not hope in itself. Faith is an ingredient for the things that we hope for, which means if you have hope for something, then it is imperative that you apply your faith to your hope. This is my hope. This is my faith. If I'm hoping and expecting something good to happen Then I need to apply my faith to it. I need to marry and merge my faith and my hope together. Yes. And when I do that, something happens. And what happens is that faith produces the evidence of the things that I hope for. In other words, faith brings into manifestation the things that I hope for. the things that I desire, the things that I expect, the things that I want. Hope doesn't produce manifestation. Faith does. Faith is in the spirit realm what money is in the natural realm. Amen. Faith is a means of exchange. Going to Walmart to purchase merchandise, when you get up to the counter where you purchase or pay for your goods, You have to give them a means of exchange. In other words, if you're going to walk out of their department store with the merchandise, with the bill of sale or receipt, then you got to give them a means of exchange. Yes. They accept credit cards, they accept checks, they accept cash. And if you're going to leave with their merchandise, you have to produce a means of exchange that is equivalent to the merchandise. Is that right? Yes. Otherwise, you'd be writing epistles from jail like Paul the Apostle did, and we wouldn't suggest that. So when you get ready to make your purchase, you give them the sum total of the merchandise you desire to purchase, and then they give you a receipt, which means that you have produced the means of exchange, and then you can leave out of the store with the merchandise being rightfully yours and in your possession. Right. And see, when it's time for you to operate by faith and move in the realm of faith, you give God a means of exchange. When you want something from God and you desire something from God, You give God a means of exchange. Amen. When you want to receive a healing, when you want to receive intervention, when you want to receive a breakthrough, when you need employment, when you need God to, to substantiate your livelihood, when you need God to do something miraculous, when you need God to give a divine reversal in your situation, when you need God to show up and show out, whatever it is that you need from God, you need to give God Amen. A means of exchange. Your faith is your credit card. Your faith is your cash in the spirit. Your faith is your check in the spirit. And when you want God to move on your behalf and release the goods into your life so that you can walk away with the possessions of those things, you need to give God your faith, which is your means of exchange. Are you understanding? Yes. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, which means that faith produces the evidence that what you can't see with your natural eyes does exist. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Amen. You've never seen heaven, but you believe there is one. Amen. You've never seen God, but you believe in God. Amen. And when you're believing in what you can't see, then it means you are applying your faith. Yes. And you get to the place of applying your faith because in your heart you are convinced. And in your mind, you are persuaded that God not only lives, but that God rules, God reigns, God hears, God saves, God delivers, God answers, God provides. Amen. And what faith does is faith produces the evidence of God providing. Faith produces the evidence of God healing. Faith produces the evidence of God saving and God hearing and everything that you need from God. Faith produces the evidence. Come on. So anything you need from God, anything you want from God, anything that you desire from your Heavenly Father, you got to produce your faith. And when you give Him your faith, He gives you the desire of your heart. Is that making sense to you? Yes. Okay. I like verse 2. Verse 2 says, for by it, by faith, the elders obtained a good report. And again, the words good report literally means testimony. So the elders received their testimony through the operation of their faith. Their testimony became the evidence of the things that were not seen. Their testimony became the evidence of the things that were not visible to the natural eye. So when they began to operate in the realm of faith, they were able to receive the reward of their faith, and the reward of their faith became their testimony. Amen. And when you ask How did they do that? How did they receive? How did they get natural proof? It's because in their heart they believed in what they could not see. Yeah. See, living in this world, we're so prone and so conditioned to believing in what we can see. We operate a lot of times in the natural senses versus in the realm of the spirit. When we operate in the natural senses, we do what Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us not to do. We lean to our own understanding. Yes. Come on. And when we lean to our own understanding, then we're governed by our senses, our ability to see, touch, taste, smell, and hear. We start relying on our carnal mind, on our education, on our intellect. And when we do that, then we become subject to the natural laws of this world. But when we step out of ourself, into the realm of the spirit and we start operating by faith, then we are no longer sanctioned by natural laws. And we give God, who is supernatural, an opportunity to put his super on our natural so that we can have in our physical life the things that God prepared through the spirit. Amen. Just follow me. The elders that obtained the good report, they found out how to tap into the limitless power of God so that they could receive the manifestation of his word. Elders here has nothing to do with age, doesn't mean people who are of age. It means people who are mature in faith, people who understood the mechanics of faith, people who understood that all things— according to Mark 9:23— all things are possible to them that believe. We need faith in this world. Amen. Especially when you don't have a lot of money. You need a substitute, and faith becomes that substitute. When you don't have a lot of people who can make up the difference, stand in the gap for you, then you need faith. And even there are times when you have a lot of money and you have a good support group that you still need faith, because there are some things that money cannot buy. That's right. There are some things that people cannot do. But God, the Bible says in Ephesians 3:20, that he's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to his power that works within us. Well, his power that works within us is the power of faith. Yes. And what we do is we release our faith, of course, in accordance with his word. And when we do so, we give God the liberty to manifest in this physical world things that exist in the world of the spirit. Yes, sir. For by faith the elders obtained a good report. Now we're talking about the evidence of faith. So if elders use faith to obtain a good report, then it simply means that through their faith they were able to produce evidence. Evidence. Look at your neighbor and tell them you need evidence. You need evidence. Look at your other neighbor because that last neighbor didn't act like they want you talking to them, so look at your other neighbor and tell them you need evidence. You need evidence. Amen. What does it mean to have evidence? Well, it means that you got proof. It means that there are tangibility Involved in the facts, which means that you not only have a conviction or a persuasion, but now you got something that exists that you can see, that you can touch, and this is the proof that what you don't see does exist. When a woman goes through the conceptualization of a child or an embryo developing in the womb, She can't see that child. That's true enough. She can't see that baby. When that baby is in an embryonic state, she can't see that baby. But she has proof that although she can't see it, something is there and it's growing on the inside of her. And some of the things begin to happen that really substantiates her, her conception. that really substantiates her belief. And she started going through different changes in her body. She started picking up weight. She started eating everything in sight. Some of the things that involves in her growth begins to take on an all different form. She starts— her stomach starts stretching. She starts wanting to sleep more. I'm not a female, but if I'm telling the truth, let me hear somebody that is a female say amen. Amen. Amen. Certain cycles ceases, other cycles begins. She starts going through changes because she knows that something is growing on the inside of her. And when that happens, it is a sign that there's a manifestation coming forth. And then 9 months later, here comes that manifestation. That baby, which was there all along but invisible to the naked eye, it comes forth. And when it comes forth, it becomes her evidence that she was pregnant all along. Amen. But while she was pregnant, she was going through this stage called expectation. Another word for being pregnant is I'm expecting, and that is a statement or testament to the fact that her faith is now producing tangibility. I'm expecting. So my question to you is— and I hope y'all are praying for me today— Yes. My question to you is, what are you expecting? What are you expecting? See, if you're expecting nothing, then God has nothing to manifest. Jeremiah 29:11, God says, I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. In other words, to meet you at the level of your expectation so that when the process of your faith has finalized, you can have the things you expected. Amen. Amen. You can have the things you desire. If you're just out there in life and you're just drifting through life and you have no certain direction and no certain expectation, then when you arrive to that particular place, you won't know that you're there because you have no, you have no physical, um, definition for where you're supposed to be in your life. But what God does is that God gives us direction and he gives us faith. That's right. And he points us in the direction that he wants us to go and he says, now use your faith along the way. That's right. And the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:7 that we walk by faith, not by sight, which means the journey of our life as Christians, as believers, is a faith journey. And so we go from where we are to where we want to be through faith. We go from our starting line to our finish line through faith. We arrive to our promised land by faith. Everything that you do in this world that is, is involving your Christian life, the life of a believer, you have to do it by faith. Romans 1:17 says, That God has commanded that the just shall live by faith. Come on! Which means that everything in your life is going to be substantiated through your faith. Come on! You can't receive based upon hope. You can't arrive based upon desire. You have to do more than just pray. You have to believe that you receive. Doesn't matter what it is, you have to believe that you receive. Amen. Amen. See, God, the Bible says in Romans 12:3, has dealt to every man the measure of faith, which means that he's given you a certain deposit. Faith is equivalent to a seed, and Jesus Yes. Talks about seed being compared to faith. And he said to his disciples that if you had the faith the size of a grain of a mustard seed, Mark 11:23, you can say to mountains— mountains represents gigantic, insurmountable objects or giants in your land or circumstances that you have no power over. literally or physically. He said you can say to these things, you can speak to these things and command them to be removed. In other words, you can command a victory over these things. That's right. He said, but what you got to do is you gotta believe in your heart and doubt not. Doubt is the enemy of faith. In fact, put that up on the screen, Mark 11. 23. Doubt is the enemy of faith. You're doubting, you're not in faith. When you're fearing, you're not in faith. If you're operating in unbelief, you're not in faith. If you're hoping, you're not in faith. Amen. If you're desiring, you're not in faith. If you're just running through life aimlessly and you have no certain sense of direction, you're not operating in faith. Faith is something that you don't do by accident. Faith is something that you do on purpose. Come on. You have to will to faith. You have to purpose to faith. You got to know what you're doing when you're operating in the realm of faith. Because faith is not something that you stumble upon. Faith is something that you practice, something that you build, something that you work diligently. The Bible tells us in this verse here, Mark 11:23, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea— and notice in this verse, he didn't say, say to God, pray to God, or talk to God. Nowhere in this verse do you see God asking you to pray to him about your mountains. Hello? Hello. He said speak to the mountains. Now there are some things that we should pray about. There are some things we should talk to him about, but mountains in your life is not one of those things that God said you should pray to him about. It's one of those things that he is— want to direct— that he wants to direct your attention and your focus to the mountain itself. Because contrary to popular belief, God doesn't move mountains. Faith moves mountains. That's right. The reason God doesn't move mountains is because he's given you the power to do it. And it would be an oxymoron for him to give you the power to move The mountain, and then you turn around and ask him to move it for you. Hello? Amen. It's as if he gave you the power to think, and then you turn around and you ask him to think for you. I don't think I can move up in this pulpit today. I want to walk around, and I don't think I can do that. He gave you the brain to think with. For him to give you faith and then you turn around and ask him to use it is equivalent to him giving you a brain and then you looking at him and saying, could you use this brain for me? No, you do the thinking. What he does is he gives you his word so that you can renew your mind, so that you can begin to think the way he thinks, but he's not going to think for you. How many of you know that God didn't tell me to put on a white t-shirt today? Oh, come on. He has nothing to do with the color of clothing I choose to wear. I could have worn red. That would have been perfectly okay with God. I could have worn pink, purple, blue, and orange. I could, I could be up here looking like a bag of Skittles ready to taste the rainbow. And God would have no problem with it. That's right. I could come up here dressed like Barney. God would have no problem. I could come up here and look like SpongeBob, and God would have no problem with that. You know why? Because he gave me a willpower, a brain to decide on certain things. And the moment I decide, as long as these things aren't contradicting his word and his will and his ways, Then I'm at liberty to explore my options. When it comes down to faith, faith hasn't been given to you for God to use it for you. Faith has been given to you for you to use it for you. When there are things that God wants to do in your life and it requires faith for you to receive the manifestation, You have to make up in your mind that I'm going to use my faith. That's right. You have to determine that I am going to overcome this situation. Now, there's been many times in my personal life where I was— I think it's this mic because the battery is going dead. Let me just turn on my hand mic. I think it's still on pale. There's been time in my personal life where I've had my back up against the wall, and I really wanted to ask God to come and deal with the situation for me. But then I realized that in order for me to grow as a believer, then I needed to begin to use my faith. And the more I began to focus on using my faith, the more I began to see things change. Now I know personally, and you know personally, that God has all power. Amen. Amen. But the Bible says in Ephesians 3:20, if you can put that on the screen, that he's given us some of that power. Luke 10:19 is another scripture that Substantiates that concept. Ephesians 3:20 says that he's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. He does it according to the power that works within us. Put your hand on your right there where your stomach, where your belly is. All right, there's something more there than just gas. Yeah. There's something more there than a stomach that harnesses and harbors food. That, that's where your spirit man is considered to exist or to dwell. And so when the Bible says that he does exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think, he does it according to the power. The power that is at work within us is the power of our faith that lives and dwells on the inside of our spirit man. And when we begin to operate in this faith, Luke 10:19, God says, I give you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. That means that God is saying that I've given you power over everything, over all things, and over anything. And according to Isaiah 54:17, no weapon formed against you shall be able to prosper. And so what that means is that You, you can use your faith, which is the power that God is, is using to manifest the things that your heart desires. You can use your faith for overcoming. You can use your faith for healing. You can use your faith for victory over the devil. Yes. You can use your faith to produce manifestations of a job, manifestations of a place to live, manifestations of anything that you have need of. Your faith Works miracles in your life. And everything that you desire, if you use your faith, then your faith produces the evidence of the things that you desire. It's not just praying that gets it done. And I know that we're prone to pray And, and, and you can pray, but just because you're praying doesn't mean that you're in faith. Amen. There's a certain kind of prayer that God honors, and that prayer is called the prayer of faith. Not just praying, because people pray because of pressure, people pray because of desire, people pray because it's in their mind the knowledgeable thing to do. People pray because their back is up against the wall. Just because you're praying doesn't mean that you're praying in faith. Amen. And the Bible says in James 5 that it is the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man that availeth much, and that prayer is defined as prayers of faith. And everything that you do in this world as a Christian, as a believer, you have to apply faith to it. If there were to be an 11th commandment, then that 11th commandment would be the just shall live by faith. Because whatsoever is not of faith is sin, says the Word of God. And everything that we receive, we receive it by faith. And the Bible says, and I want you to look at this verse. Hebrews 11:3, and I'm going to be closing in about 5 minutes. Hebrews 11:3, the Bible says, by faith we understand that the worlds were framed. The word framed there is a terminology in the architectural or engineering industry that is used to compiled the specs of a blueprint. It is the framework of what a house is going to look like once metal is applied and wood is applied and everything else, mortar and everything else is applied. The framework is the skeleton. It is the structure. And so the Bible says that through faith we understand that the worlds were framed or structured By the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made from things which do appear. Which means that the things that you don't see, they exist, but in order to produce the manifestation of their existence or the proof of their existence, faith is required. Faith is what now? Say faith is required. Faith is required. Look at your neighbor and tell them faith is required. Now, when you look at verse 6, verse 6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. So that informs me that I have got to have faith if I'm going to produce a life that is pleasing to God. It's not about how many tongues you speak in. It's not about how many amens you say. It's not about how loose your clothing are. It's not about how big your— listen, your Bible could be bigger than the hood of your car. That means nothing to God. It's not even about how many scriptures you quote. Of course, the Word of God feeds your faith and grows and develops your faith according to to Romans 10:17. But God says without faith it's impossible to please him. So you know if you're pleasing God or not, not based upon your praise and your worship, but based upon the exhibition of your faith. If you are exhibiting faith, how can we expect to receive from him if we have a difficult time trusting him, believing in him, and having faith in him? Does that make sense to you? Yes. He that comes to God must believe that he is. The terminology he is is the same terminology in Exodus where he sends Moses to Egypt and he says, tell Pharaoh and tell the, the people of God that I Am has sent me. I am and he is are present tense words. I am in the present, not I was, not even I shall be, which is in the future, but I am. Not he was, but he is. So Hebrews 11:6 says, if you come to God, which is coming In prayer, because God is in heaven, not in earth. He's not in the north, south, east, or west. He doesn't have a physical or geographical location. He doesn't have an address in this earth or zip code. So to come to him means that we can only come through prayer. And when we come to him, Hebrews 4:16 says we approach his throne of grace boldly that we may obtain or receive And then we find grace to help us in the time of need. So when Hebrews 11:6 again says that we come to God, we come to God believing that he is— you know what that means? That means that we have to apply what Hebrews 11:1 says, and that is now faith, which is faith In the present, present faith, faith that exists in the now, faith that exists in the present, faith that exists during the time you pray, faith that exists during the time you approach the throne of grace. Not yesterday's faith, not faith from your past. And it is it is a truth that many of us we rely on the faith that we had before. We use faith in our past. God moved. God answered. God rewarded. God supplied. And we got the goods and we went on and we failed to continue developing our faith. And then a need arose and we go back to God and we say, God, I need you to do today what you did 5 years ago. And God says, 5 years ago you had faith for that time. Now you have no faith. You're relying on your faith from 5 years ago to present or to produce a gift in your life for today. And that's not what I require of you. That would mean that Hebrews 11:1 would start out by saying, past faith is the substance of things hoped for. God didn't say it like that. He said, now faith is the substance of things hoped for. Which means if you need something now, then you need faith now. If you want to be healed now, then you need now faith. If you want to be delivered now, you need now faith. When you come to God, you come to God knowing that he is, not he was. Amen. And that he can do all things. And when you have that kind of setup, then the Bible says he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him. And the word diligently means consistently and persistently, which means that you apply consistency to the development of your faith, and you apply persistent because there's an adversary of the faith Which is why Paul wrote in 1 Timothy to fight the good fight of faith, because there is an obstructor who desires to create an obstruction to the operation of your faith. Y'all are shouting me down in here today. Amen. In closing, the things that you desire that you pray about, that you want from God, they exist. Hallelujah. They're there. You may not see them, but they are right there. It's just like, it's just like cell towers exist somewhere out there. In this realm, in the natural realm, cell towers are built by cell companies like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, um, T-Mobile. And those cell towers out there allows for the transmittance to take place or the reception to take place of our cell phone. That's how we're able to text and And we're able to call people. Now, you can't see the frequencies. You can't see the activity. But every time you pick up a phone and you dial a number, there is an activity going on that is beyond your natural vision. And your phone sends a signal to the cell towers. And that signal gets received through the cell towers, and one cell tower transfers to the next cell tower. And if you're here in Florida and you want to call New York, you can't see it, but the moment you dial that number and you push send, then that cell tower starts transmitting that signal all the way up to New York. And it happens just like that. You can't see it, but it's happening. And that's how it is in faith. The moment you begin to operate in the realm of faith, you can't see it. You can't see the operation of your faith. But the moment you begin to operate in faith, you're sending a signal to the throne of grace, and God receives that signal. Amen. as a cell tower, as a signal tower, and then he transferred it to the thing that you have desire of, that you have need of, and then it comes back into your life as a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. And in the end, you have this testimony, this report that the elders had that was made evident Through your faith. Amen. Amen. Well, that's all the time I have for today. Bow your heads if you will. Father, I thank you that we're able to receive by faith. And God, I ask you that you'll continue to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Now our faith is in you. And sometimes we don't understand how things are being done, but we do understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. And so we will use our faith to produce our good report. And it's in the name of your Son, Jesus. Amen. that we pray. Amen. Amen. And amen.