What Word Are We Standing On? The Fundamentals of Faith

Sermon outline

Every promise of God is yes and amen in Christ, so a believer who wants to be an exception like Joshua and Caleb must stand on a specific promise, pray in faith, and keep thanking God until it is seen.

1. All the promises are yes and amen in Him

   God's promises are not outside of Christ; outside of Him there is no promise. Faith is the believer's profession, what we do every day, so hold fast to the confession of it without wavering. Esteem the word of God above whoever happens to be preaching it, because it is the highest force on earth, and develop a deep hunger for it before the giants come.

   Illustration: Soon after he was saved, a friend in the car dismissed a slow, monotone radio preacher who was teaching deep spiritual truth. The same friend knew every site for downloading music and movies but could not find faith, and he saw then that his friend would not go far spiritually.

   “When you get into that understanding that the word of God is the highest force and power on planet Earth, then you give it reverence.”

   • 2 Corinthians 1:20
   • Romans 10:17
   • Hebrews 10:23

2. Joshua and Caleb: let your faith make you an exception

   Joshua's journey began long before the book that bears his name, staying behind in the tent of meeting when Moses left. Of the twelve who spied out the land, only Joshua and Caleb lived to enter it, because they saw the God of more than enough instead of the giants. As the ministry expands, everyone's spiritual capacity must grow with it. The word deposited in your spirit will rise up in the crisis, but nothing put in means nothing comes out.

   Illustration: In 2019, just before COVID, he was so ill he could not get out of bed and heard the enemy tell him he would die. Psalm 128:6 rose up in him, that he would see his children's children, and he burst out laughing because his son was only four. The spirit of death left the room.

   “May your faith make an exception for you in your Christian walk.”

   • Exodus 33:11
   • Numbers 14:26-30
   • Numbers 14:38
   • 2 Corinthians 5:16
   • Proverbs 4:20-22
   • Psalm 128:6

3. Number one: faith-based prayers

   Without faith it is impossible to please God; the whole Christian life hangs on believing, since none of us saw the cross and yet we were born again by believing and confessing. Faith is the title deed and the substance of what is hoped for, so you walk as if you already have it. God is not a man that He should lie. Faith also acts: it does not stay in one place. The word given to Israel did them no good because they did not mix it with faith, the missing ingredient.

   Illustration: Praying for a friend's father in the last stages of cancer, he led the man to Christ, but each night the family gathered to plan the funeral while asking for healing. Faith does not work where unbelief surrounds it, though he thanks God the man was saved. Later, after the man of God twice told him to move to another area, he began shopping, going to gym and having coffee there before he moved, so the move was no culture shock.

   “Faith sees and faith believes the word of God. But faith does not stay in one place. Faith acts on what it believes.”

   • Hebrews 11:6
   • Hebrews 11:1
   • Numbers 23:19
   • Ephesians 4:11-12
   • Hebrews 4:1-2

4. Number two: stand on the promise, and be specific

   Remember your promise to me, for it is the foundation of my hope. The foundation is not the news or our own opinion, so when someone asks for prayer, the first question is what word you are standing on. Faith is also specific. Vague asking produces vague results; name exactly what you are believing for so that you will recognise it when it comes.

   Illustration: From Dr Yonggi Cho's book The Fourth Dimension: poor and preaching in the slums, he asked God for a table, a chair and a bicycle and received nothing for months, until the Lord told him to be specific. He named a mahogany table, a swivel chair and an American bicycle, told young men from the church they were 'inside him' like a baby in the womb, was laughed at as the pastor pregnant with a bicycle, and then received exactly what he had asked for.

   “If somebody says, let's pray for something, then we say, what word are we standing on?”

   • Psalm 119:49

5. Number three: victory comes through persistent prayer

   Jesus taught that men should always pray and not give up, but persistence does not mean repeating the same request. Once you have released your faith, stand on the promise, make provision for it, thank God and walk in praise as if you already have it. Faith comes by hearing, and the second hearing drops it into the spirit. If you start in faith, finish in faith, because God takes no pleasure in those who draw back.

   Illustration: People called Jesus out of His mind when He said a twelve-year-old girl was only sleeping. In the same way the church is 'pregnant' with being debt-free, a 10,000-seat building, many campuses, busloads of the saved and missionaries sent out.

   “Once you release your faith, then stand on the promises of God.”

   • Luke 18:1
   • Romans 10:17
   • Hebrews 10:38

In this message