A NEW TARGET
OF FAITH -- THE UNSEEN UNIVERSE
November 18, 2001 pm
MF Blume
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. 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. By faith Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous,
God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found,
because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony,
that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please
him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. By faith Noah, being warned
of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared
an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and
became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith Abraham, when
he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an
inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned
in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations,
whose builder and maker is God. For he looked for a city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also
Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child
when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many
as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea
shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having
seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them,
and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims
on the earth.
2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at
the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which
are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are
eternal.
Faith is something into which
we must all come to an understand.
- Jesus spoke a great deal
about it.
Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe,
all things are possible to him that believeth.
Matthew 15:28 Then Jesus answered
and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even
as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Luke 5:20 And when he saw their
faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.
Mark 4:40 And he said unto them,
Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
A centurion's servant took sick
to the point of dying.
- And he sent friends to ask
Jesus for the servant's healing.
Luke 7:9 When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled
at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him,
I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
His servant was dying.
- The friends he sent to Jesus
were Jews.
Luke 7:3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the
elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come
and heal his servant.
- This military gentile loved
Israel and built a synagogue with his wealth.
Luke 7:4-5 And when they came to Jesus,
they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy
for whom he should do this: For he loveth our nation, and he hath built
us a synagogue.
Jesus proceeded to go to the man's
house.
- But when Jesus came near
the vicinity of the house, more friends of the centurion were sent to meet Him.
Luke 7:6-8 Then Jesus went with them. And when
he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord,
trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under
my roof: Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but
say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set
under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he
goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and
he doeth it.
This centurion believed Jesus
could as easily send His servants and friends on a journey of delivering
healing as he had sent friends to Jesus.
- Jesus was amazed at this
man's faith.
- The key to his faith was
applying something he did everyday in the material world to the spiritual
world.
- The centurion was accustomed
to sending servants on various missions.
- He gave a word of command
to send friends to Jesus.
- When Jesus approached, he
again sent more friends delivering messages.
- And when these friends came
to Jesus, they explained that the centurion sent one servant to go places,
another servant to do chores, and a third servant to come to him when needed.
- He applied that sort of understanding
from his material world into the spiritual world.
- He knew that
Jesus could SEND ANGELS.
Even Martha in John 11:21 could
not consider Jesus healing Lazarus without being there with him.
John 11:21 Then said Martha unto
Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had
not died.
Jesus said this man's faith was
powerful!
- But it was such a simple
manner of applying common known material decisions and commands to the spiritual.
Faith is something we use everyday
and not even realize it.
- The centurion used faith
in the material realm when he initially made a decision.
- That decision was to accomplish
a work.
- He decided the thing in his
mind.
- Then he put it into action.
- He declared it.
- And the servant went forth
and carried out the command.
- Then that which was faith
in his mind, became actuality!
- The decided work was done!
- It was substance!
A decision such as wanting to
go to the store, becomes an actuality of being in the store!
- "I will go to the store"
becomes "I am in the store."
- And with such an actuality
and substance, an experience is known.
Anything in earth is only experienced
as your own when you first inwardly desire it, and then outwardly act upon
that desire and obtain it.
- What is possibility becomes
actuality.
- Once you obtain it, it becomes
substance to you.
- You have a sureness at that
point.
- You can say, "I have it."
Its just the same way in the spiritual.
- We desire something that
cannot be seen.
- And the way to obtain it
is to do the same thing we did with physical things.
- We speak about it.
- But instead of physical substance,
we get substance in our human spirits.
- Inwardly you have that surety.
When you get surety, you know
all about it.
- Nobody can tell you anything
different.
Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with
our spirit, that we are the children of God:
You get spiritual substance.
There are christian circles
that believe speaking in tongues is of the devil and not for the church today.
- But they're too late to affect
me.
- I experienced it and I now
have substance.
- Nobody can tell me this is
not real and is not of God!
Faith in the things of the Kingdom
of God is simply changing the target of your faith and applying it to unseen
things.
When we were born again, we
took the first step in this kind of redirecting of everyday experiences.
- For the first time in our
lives, we directed our faith from material things towards the unseen things.
- Church, God is a Spirit.
- And He created the physical
things.
- Paul said the things seen
are not going to be around forever.
- They're temporary.
- But the unseen things are
eternal.
Faith is not as impossible to
exert as you think.
- You used it each day of your
life.
- And when you heard the Gospel
and believed in a God you cannot see, and decided to want to know Him, you
received substance!
- You knew there was a God!
1 Peter 1:7-8 That the trial of your faith, being
much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
And then you believed in resurrection
of a man from the dead.
- That is absolutely against
all scientific understanding that can only sense with the eyes, feelings,
nose, tongue and ears.
- But you believed it anyway,
and you absolutely leaped a monstrous leap of faith.
- You took a step of faith
in the spiritual unseen world for the first time.
- You believed a spiritual
truth so much that you acted upon it and got baptized into Jesus' death.
John 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because
thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have
not seen, and yet have believed.
All you must do is the same thing
you did when you were first saved.
- The same thing you do all
the time in the material world, only redirecting it towards the spiritual.
A woman in New Brunswick was widely
known to hear from God in tremendous sensitivity to the unheard voice of
God.
- She had a unique manner of
seeking God.
- People would come to her
from miles around seeking a word from God of direction, etc.
- And she would begin praying
but moving her hands as though she was taking hold of an old-fashioned candlestick
telephone...the one with a separate earpiece and mouthpiece.
- As though dialing the numbers
on the main unit, while holding holding the earpiece to her ear, she initiated
a chat with God.
- She spoke as though in the
mouthpiece.
- The reason she did this was
to apply something she did everyday in the natural to the spiritual.
- It was her most familiar
manner to speak to someone she could not see in the material.
- So she applied that confidence
of speaking across the wires to another person to her prayers to God.
- And that put her in a frame
of mind of how easy it is to speak to God.
- As the centurion applied
things he was familiar with to the spiritual realm, this woman applied this
familiar physical activity to the spiritual realm.
- And she heard from God!
I mentioned this to Brother John
Mean (Nova Scotia District Supt.), and he said this was his mother!
Years ago, Brother Mean's brother
Horace was in the army, and due to come home any time.
- Brother Mean's mother asked
if he thought God could tell him when Horace would be arriving home on the
train.
- Brother Mean responded, sure!
- And he sought God.
- God spoke to him, and he
proceeded to await his brother at the train station on the day the Lord told
him he would be coming.
- Brother Mean heard no audible
voice, but obtained a substance that you cannot really explain to someone
else.
- He knew that he knew!
- And that morning, Horace
walked off the train absolutely amazed that his brother was there to meet
him.
- He asked how he knew, and
Brother Mean responded, "The Lord told me."
- He received an example of
faith from his faith-filled mother.
Brother Mean told me the other
day he was over to visit someone in the hospital, and along the roadside
there were no empty parking spaces by the meters that still were left with
time on the meters.
- Brother Mean had not change
for the meters.
- He realize it would be nothing
for God to provide him with a space that still had time for him to use it
and visit the patient.
- So he asked the Lord to supply
him with such a space.
- He felt to drive around the
block one full time, and when he arrived at the original location from which
he prayed, a car was seen driving away from a spot with enough time left
on the meter for him to park and visit this patient!
- Praise the Lord!
Faith is something we use all
the time... in the material world!
- Let's just take a new target
for our faith -- the spiritual unseen universe!
John 9:13-25 They brought to the Pharisees him that
aforetime was blind. And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay,
and opened his eyes. Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received
his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and
do see. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because
he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner
do such miracles? And there was a division among them. They say unto the
blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes?
He said, He is a prophet. But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that
he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents
of him that had received his sight. And they asked them, saying, Is this
your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see? His parents
answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born
blind: But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his
eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. These
words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews
had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should
be put out of the synagogue. Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask
him. Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give
God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. He answered and said,
Whether
he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I
was blind, now I see.
All that the former blind man
could say was that he knew that he knew!
- He could not explain it in
words men would understand.
- He knew not the words!
- He only knew that he knew!
- He had substance!
Direct your faith to the unseen
universe, in the same way you did in the everyday life.
- You already use faith everyday!