Abraham is called the father of faith, but the years of Abraham’s struggle of faith are talked about more numerously in the Bible than the years of breakthrough. The question I want to ask is, “Why is it like that? Why does God spend so much time on the struggle of faith?” Because all of us have to live in the struggle of faith; all of us have to live in that place, and friend, we get the craziest ideas about what faith is about.
We think that somehow if we understand how faith works, we’ve got faith. And it doesn’t mean we have faith at all, just because you know how faith works. Faith doesn’t come by knowing how faith works; faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. It doesn’t matter if you can quote the entire Bible, it doesn’t mean you have an ounce of faith in God.
Now, it’s good that you can quote that; but somehow or another, it’s got to go from your head to your heart and produce power to do things in the earth that will not only affect your life and your family’s, but also the families that are around you that need God’s help desperately. And that’s what this thing is all about.
Faith is for you, and when it affects you, it affects people around you and then they become people of faith, because what’s on you is contagious.
This is what the Bible says about Abraham. “He considered his own body and the deadness of Sarah’s womb, but he staggered not at the promise of God because of unbelief.” That’s the point. It reveals there is an opportunity for another voice to speak louder than God’s, but he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.
Friends, he staggered at God’s word for 25 years. What Romans chapter four is identifying is that moment found in Genesis 17 when Abraham actually jumped into faith. He stopped trying to help God, he stopped trying to come up with “flesh ways” to make the promise happen, he stopped struggling, he didn’t laugh at the promise. He was really struggling trying to believe.
That’s where many people are today, and let me just tell you that today God wants to bring you over, not for your own benefit; but so breakthrough can get on you, and it can be contagious throughout the generation that you live in. That God not only wants to give it to you, but He wants to give it to everybody who will believe and do the will of God. And it’s going to require faith. It’s going to require for us an understanding, that He’s not barely enough, He’s more than enough!

What we want to get today is what God did in Abraham.

Abraham, the Bible says, had trouble believing. He faltered, he had trouble, and he struggled to believe. But the Bible says this about Abraham, when God showed up in Genesis chapter 17; He pulled Abraham’s history off of his life by discarding his name. “You are no longer THAT, you are now ABRAHAM, for a ‘father of nations’ have I made you.” And he became, by way of God’s decree, what God said he would be.

Now, He had told him, “You’re going to have a son.” But this time He told him, “You are a father of nations,” get with it. Grab it, download it, be it, do it.

So what we need to understand is, God is wanting this generation, (just like Abraham), to stop struggling to believe we are what God said we are. If God called us something in the generation that we’re standing in, it is incumbent upon us not to struggle in false humility saying, “Well, I’m trying to believe the promises of God.” You think God’s impressed with that? God’s not impressed with the struggle, God is impressed when you say, “It’s true, because You wouldn’t lie.”

God, today, wants us to understand that every single one of us has been declared blessed of God. Do you feel that way? The blessings of God come with Him. I’m not seeking the blessing; I’m seeking the One Who blesses.

The blessings of God are not like ripe cherries that just fall from the tree on you haphazardly, or occasionally, or almost nonsensically. It doesn’t happen that way. The “seeking first the kingdom of God” standard perpetuates a cycle of blessing in your life. To leave it alone is to your own peril.

Now God wants to do something absolutely great in your and my life. But it’s not just to be contained in this generation, or for this crowd. The blessings of the Lord have an inherent “seed” characteristic. That once something explodes of a revelation in your heart, it’s not contained to you. It was given to you, and it blesses you, but it moves through you to other generations. So as the seed comes to you, it goes through you; and it becomes more and more seed. It’s called the law of reciprocity. That whenever God plants something in our lives, it becomes fruit on our branches, drops to the ground, becomes more seed for more trees to produce more fruit; and it exponentially grows to the next generation, and to the next, and to the next. So that what we come to understand is that God is more than enough. He’s not, “barely enough,” and if you think He is, it will make you stingy.

Some people say, “I think God wants to give you just barely enough.” Well, that is the most selfish thing I’ve ever heard in my life. Understanding that on one side of the ditch you have some folks claiming your spirituality is measured by the amount of money you have in an account, how many cars you have in your driveway, or how big or numerous your houses are; (and I just want you to know that all of that stuff is bunk, it’s absolutely ridiculous, the spirit of man is all over that); but on the other side of the ditch - is the “barely get along crowd” who says; “God is meeting my needs and that’s all that I want.” And I just want you to know that that’s equally as stupid. You say, “Well I think it’s humble.” No, it’s stupid. Why? Because if you settle for only having your needs met; then you’ve only got enough for you, and you have nothing to share with others. You can’t be generous, like the heart of God wants you to be.

Seek the One Who blesses, so that through you, He may bless more.

If I am truly following Jesus, what must be my mission?

Jesus’ mission, and the reason He stepped out of heaven, is stated in Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

His mission was clear, to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and the will of the One who sent Him. Jesus did many things, but He did all to fulfill that call, and He still does it today.

Your mission can be equally as clear, because Jesus transferred His mission to us. In Matthew 28 He said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Make His mission your mission, so that on the day you stand before Him you can say you thoroughly understood His mission and did all you could to fulfill it.

Across the world, Christianity is growing faster than population growth in every culture; except the United States, Canada, and Western Europe.

There is a whole generation, 97% of youth under the age of 18, who have no church affiliation; or they have an affiliation, but they don’t attend church on a regular basis. That means that today, in western culture and Europe; the church is missing 97% of our rising, emerging generation. Mark Anderson, head of YWAM crusades/Impact World Tours, has said that 1 out of 3 young people under the age of 18 are just waiting for somebody to tell them about Jesus Christ. But nobody’s telling them. And that is a dismal, dismal failure.

It seems the church has failed enough, that there are wholesale reasons for people to say the church is a bygone thing; it’s for the previous generations, but it’s not for today. And people are buying that line, because what we told them was, “Come to the church, conform to our ‘cookie-cutter’ images,” and “go away and be good little boys and girls.” And it’s so much more exciting than that.

Jesus called His very disciples, friends. “I no longer call you servants, I call you friends.” This says the most powerful thing that any one of us can do is to be a friend to the sinner. To be a friend to somebody who knows nothing about church culture, or someone who went to church and it’s the reason they didn’t come back; they didn’t like the experience.

And so, how do we change that? Something has to change or we’re looking at the last Christian generation in America.

Jesus was all about duplicating Himself and His own calling. Everything that Jesus did was about multiplication. It was a pretty scary idea, really. I mean, think about how sharp the disciples were fighting with one another about who was the greatest. Even in the book of Acts, the Sanhedrin said (in reference to them), “These are unlearned and ignorant men, but they’ve been with Jesus.” And that’s what qualified them; they had been with Jesus. It didn’t matter that they weren’t the “sharpest tool in the shed.” The truth of the matter is, God used these legitimate, authentic, powerful, Holy Spirit-filled witnesses; fishermen and tax collectors to change the world. It’s none different today. Same Holy Spirit, same possibilities for every, single believer; whether we’re nurses, doctors, lawyers, housekeepers, whatever we are. God can use all of us.

And so, that’s the emphasis I believe that God’s making to western culture right now, “Come up out of religion, wake up, it’s time to move on with the real deal.” I believe we’re sitting on the precipice of the third great awakening in America.

The Q & A series (You Asked For It) is one of the best things that we’ve ever done at Living Word. We want to give Bible answers to honest and sometimes challenging questions. We will not dodge any questions, however, we’ll only have opportunity to deal with so many during the series. Get your questions in this week and I’ll do all that I can to get to your question during the month of March.
The Ground Rules: If the Bible speaks directly to the question, we will give the Bible answer as the final authority. If the Bible does not speak directly to an issue, we’ll look for the bible principle that helps us to make wise decisions in life. Lastly, if all else fails I ma give you my opinion in which case everyone is free to disagree. (Without being disagreeable!) There are non-negotiable issues in the Word and there are also non-essentials. We won’t compromise what the Bible says, but won’t split hairs over things that are non-essential. We all must agree to walk in love no matter what . . . that is NON-NEGOTIABLE.
Write in soon,

Pastor Pat

The Door Series has made a significant impact on many at Living Word. The comments have depicted clearer understanding than ever in the area of faith and the flow between heaven and earth. The next few weeks will be eye opening powerful as we discuss, Prayer, prophecy, and power. All of this is the New Testament flow of the believer (all believers). It may be new territory to some but everyone fits into the flow in their own way.

We’ve been a few weeks now in small groups and wow are they great. People of Living Word are connecting like never before. New leaders are doing a great job and the groups in homes and at Church are better than ever. Relationships built around the word are genuine and real. The curriculum’s have open everyone for discussion, friendship and freedom.
It’s not to late for everyone to get involved. I know that the connections made will be cherished for the rest of your life.

Blessings

Pastor Pat