Participants: Hal Steenson (Host)
Series Code: HPOV
Program Code: HPOV000011
00:01 Hello, I'm
00:03 and I'd like to welcome you and invite you to join us 00:04 in our study on the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. 00:07 We have studied the gifts to speak, 00:09 which is tongues, interpretation of tongues, and prophecy. 00:12 Then we looked at the gifts to know: the word of knowledge, 00:15 the word of wisdom, and the discerning of the spirits. 00:17 On our last program we started the gifts to do, 00:21 the power gifts, and learned about the true gifts of healing 00:24 and today we begin our study on the gift of faith. 00:27 So get your Bibles and stay with us for the next half hour 00:30 as we study to show ourselves approved. 00:55 Our study for today is on the gift of faith. 00:58 The gift of faith is when you are prompted to action 01:00 by the Holy Spirit without regard to what you may see, 01:03 hear, touch, taste, or smell. It's a supernatural virtue 01:08 given by the inspiration and assistance of the Holy Spirit. 01:11 The gift of faith accepts the prompting of God to be true 01:15 apart from any reasoning. The gift of faith rests totally 01:19 on the power of God, knowing that He will not do anything 01:24 that's contrary to His Word. 01:28 says: "And there set a certain man at Lystra, 01:30 impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, 01:34 who never had walked: The same heard Paul speak: 01:38 who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith 01:42 to be healed, Said with a loud voice, 01:45 'Stand upright on thy feet. ' And he leaped and walked. " 01:50 Now another example of this: some of the gifts can work 01:53 in concert. Now here we have the gift of faith 01:56 and the gift of healing working together. 01:59 We'll be talking about that more later. 02:03 says: "And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood 02:05 twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, 02:08 and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, 02:12 but rather grew worse. When she had heard of Jesus, 02:15 came in the press behind and touched His garment. 02:18 For she said, 'If I may touch His clothes, I shall be whole. ' 02:22 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up: 02:25 and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. 02:30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself 02:33 that virtue had gone out of Him, turned about into the press, 02:37 and said, 'Who touched my clothes?' 02:40 And His disciples said unto Him, 'Thou seest the multitude 02:42 thronging Thee, and Thou sayest 'Who touched me?' 02:45 And He looked round about to see her that had done this thing 02:49 But the woman fearing and trembling, 02:52 knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before Him 02:56 and told Him all the truth. And He said unto her, 03:00 'Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole: 03:04 go in peace and be whole of thy plague. ' " 03:07 Now the gift of faith is the supernatural ability 03:10 to believe God without doubt. To combat unbelief 03:14 and visualize what God wants to accomplish. 03:18 It is not only an inner conviction impelled by 03:21 an urgent and higher calling but also is a supernatural ability 03:26 to meet adverse circumstances with trust in God's Word 03:31 and messages. You see, the Bible speaks of several 03:35 different types of faith which increases from faith to faith. 03:51 First there is saving faith. Oh, I love it! 03:54 Faith which gets you into heaven. 03:56 You'll find this in Ephesians the 2nd chapter 03:58 eighth and ninth verses: "For by grace are you saved 04:01 through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is 04:04 the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. " 04:07 Then after that there is the fruit of faith. 04:10 The faith that gets you into heaven. 04:13 Now let me say that again. This is the faith 04:15 that gets you into heaven. Galatians 5;22,23: 04:18 says: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 04:21 long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, and faith 04:24 meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. " 04:28 Now the gift of faith stems from saving faith 04:31 and the fruit of faith. 04:33 It is the ability to believe the miraculous. 04:39 says: "We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, 04:42 as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, 04:48 and the charity of every one of you toward each other 04:51 aboundeth. " This gift not only operates 04:55 in healings and in miracles, but in the realm of the impossible 05:00 as well. Saving faith produces the active faith of the 05:05 fruit of the Spirit - which in turn produces the 05:08 gift of faith. When the gift of faith is empowered, 05:13 the results are miraculous. Now, faith is a word with 05:19 which every Christian is familiar. 05:21 We contend for our faith; we share for our faith; 05:25 we are saved by grace through faith; 05:27 and we all have faith in Jesus Christ. 05:31 Some non-Christians would accuse us of having 05:34 blind faith - but only because they have been blinded 05:38 by their own ignorance of the truth. 05:40 So why is the gift of faith mentioned in verse nine 05:45 any different from or more special than faith 05:50 that we exercise in any of the contexts mentioned above. 05:53 Is faith the same in all these contexts? 05:57 Can we really understand this passage? 05:59 Why sure we can! Just have faith... 06:02 The Greek word used for faith here is pistis. 06:06 Looking at some of the other areas of the New Testament 06:09 in which faith is mentioned, we find that this word is used 06:13 in these other contexts as well. How then do we know 06:16 that there is a difference? The answer to that is in verse nine. 06:21 Faith is mentioned as one of the spiritual gifts - or 06:27 charismata. Nowhere else in the New Testament 06:31 do we see faith connected with charisma. 06:35 Therefore, while the Greek does not illuminate the nature 06:38 of the difference, it DOES establish 06:40 that there IS a difference. 06:42 This uncommon faith is not restrained by doubt. 06:48 Doubts crop up when we allow human thoughts 06:51 and weaknesses to diminish the divine power of God. 06:54 The gift of faith will always speak the solution - 06:58 will never speak the problem. 07:03 is an example of this. Jesus said: 07:05 "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say 07:08 unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast 07:13 into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, 07:16 but shall believe that those things which he saith 07:19 shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 07:21 Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever ye desire, 07:24 when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, 07:27 and ye shall have them. " The gift of faith never doubts! 07:32 James said of doubts: "But when ye ask ye must believe 07:36 and not doubt because he who doubts is like a wave 07:39 of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. " 07:41 Now, the uses of the gift of faith. 07:44 The gift of faith may be used for supernatural blessings 07:48 such as Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. 07:51 In Hebrews 11:20- the faith chapter - 11:20-22: 07:57 "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau 08:00 concerning things to come. By faith Jacob when he was a dying, 08:05 blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshiped, 08:09 leaning upon the top of his staff. " 08:12 Verse 22 says: "By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention 08:17 of the departing of the children of Israel; 08:19 and gave commandments concerning his bones. " 08:21 The gift of faith may also be used for personal protection. 08:25 Hebrews 11:32-34 says: "And what shall I more say 08:31 for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, 08:35 and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah; 08:38 of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 08:42 Who through faith - who through faith subdued kingdoms, 08:45 wrought righteousness, obtained promises, 08:47 stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, 08:52 escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong 08:56 waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies 09:01 of the aliens. " The gift of faith may be used also 09:06 for supernatural substance. Elijah was sustained by ravens 09:11 by the brook of Cherith. It takes the gift of faith 09:14 to trust and believe that birds would bring you provision. 09:18 The gift of faith may be used also for raising the dead. 09:23 There are many instances of the Lord raising people 09:26 from the dead throughout the Bible. 09:27 The New Testament records Jesus raising the following people 09:30 from the dead: the son of the widow of Nain, 09:34 Jairus's daughter. 09:36 Lazarus was raised from the dead after three days. 09:40 The gift of faith is a special faith that the Holy Spirit 09:43 gives a believer to trust God for a specific supernatural 09:47 solution to a problem. A work of power that the Holy Spirit 09:51 will perform. Galatians 3:5: 09:53 "He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, 09:56 and worketh miracles among you, 09:58 doeth he it by the works of the law, 10:01 or by the hearing of faith? " I like the Amplified 10:06 version of this, listen to this: 10:07 "Then does He who supplies you with His marvelous 10:11 Holy Spirit and works powerfully and miraculously among you 10:15 do so on the grounds of your doing what the law demands 10:20 or because of your believing in and adhering to and trusting in 10:24 and relying on the message that you heard? " 10:28 The gift of faith sees no difference in believing God 10:31 for $5 or $5,000 or $5,000,000 dollars 10:36 because it takes the same gift 10:37 of faith for any of those. For the past 22 years, 10:42 I have observed the gift of faith in action 10:45 in Danny Shelton's life. I personally know of no one else 10:49 that moves in this gift arena as often and as powerfully 10:53 as Danny Shelton does. I have watched through the years 10:57 as God spoke to Danny to build or establish something for the 11:01 kingdom of God and saw an unwavering faith abound. 11:05 I am not aware of a single commission that the Lord 11:09 presented to Danny where the finances were in place 11:12 for this challenge before starting the project - 11:16 yet they were all accomplished. 11:20 You see, this is how the gift of faith works. 11:23 First, God speaks. Second, we obey. 11:26 Third, only then, will God supply. 11:30 Let me go over that one more time. 11:32 God speaks; we obey; and then He supplies. 11:35 What we want so much of the time is we want God to speak 11:38 then supply before we obey. Faith doesn't work like that. 11:41 The gift of faith will not consider the odds 11:43 or count the cost... it simply obeys! 11:47 Now the last of the gifts that we are going to study 11:50 of the gifts to do is the working of miracles. 11:54 Jesus foretold that believers would do miracles 11:57 in John 14:12. The Amplified version, powerful, 12:02 says: "I assure you, most solemnly, I tell you 12:04 if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself 12:09 be able to do the things that I do and he will " 12:12 oh, I love it... "and he will do even greater things than these 12:17 because I go to the Father. " Now, the definition. 12:20 A miracle occurs when the Holy Spirit transcends 12:24 known laws through which God normally governs this universe. 12:29 It is the supernatural power to intervene in and to counteract 12:33 earthly and also evil forces. The Greek word working 12:38 and the phrase working of miracles 12:40 is a noun, and it means the things produced by God's energy 12:43 or operations. Miracle is also a noun, and it means power. 12:49 Now let me share with you what a miracle is NOT. 12:53 It's not a figure of speech. It is not a miracle drug. 12:58 It is not miracle fabrics. It is not a sunset. 13:03 No matter how beautiful and wonderful it is, 13:06 it is not the birth of a child, 13:07 general miracles such as all the gifts of the Spirit, 13:11 the new birth, and so on. 13:13 Examples of real working of miracles in the Old Testament: 13:18 let me share this with you. 13:20 The working of miracles is more prominent in the Old Testament 13:23 whereas gifts of healing are more prominent 13:25 in the New Testament - but here are some Old Testament examples. 13:28 First there are immediate, immediate, immediate miracles. 13:34 The immediate creation of the world. 13:36 Ex nihilo - that means God created something 13:39 out of nothing - is a miracle. Psalm 33:6 says: 13:44 "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, 13:47 and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. " 13:52 says: "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place 13:56 and hangeth the earth upon nothing. " 13:58 That's a miracle! 13:59 Next there are the mediate miracles. 14:02 The plagues in Egypt; Moses' rod turned into a snake; 14:08 the crossing of the Red Sea; the two widows' provision. 14:14 You see, the workings of miracles in the New Testament 14:17 are parallel to those in the Old. 14:19 Peter raised Dorcas from the dead. 14:21 In Acts 9:36-41 it tells us "Now there was at Joppa 14:27 a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation 14:30 is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works 14:33 and alms deeds which she did. And it came to pass 14:36 in those days, that she was sick, and she died: 14:39 whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper 14:42 chamber. And forasmuch as Lydia was nigh to Joppa, 14:46 and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, 14:49 they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not 14:52 delay to come to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. 14:56 When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: 14:59 and all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats 15:02 and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. 15:06 But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed: 15:10 and turning him to the body said: Tabitha, arise. 15:16 And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up. 15:19 And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, 15:23 and when he had called the saints and widows, 15:26 they presented her alive. " 15:29 Now next, Paul raised Eutychus from the dead. 15:32 Acts 20, verse 9 and 10: POWERFUL... 15:35 "And there sat in a window a certain young man 15:39 named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: 15:43 and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, 15:47 and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. " 15:52 D- E-A-D dead. 15:54 "And Paul went down, and fell on him, 15:56 and embracing him said, 'Trouble not yourselves; 15:59 for his life is in him. ' " Praise God! 16:05 Jesus fed the physically hungry. Jesus fed the hungry: 16:09 4,000+ people. Matthew 15:32-38 tells us 16:15 "Then Jesus called his disciples unto Him and said, 16:19 'I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue 16:22 with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: 16:24 and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint 16:27 in the way. ' And His disciples say unto Him, 16:29 'Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, 16:33 as to fill so great a multitude? ' 16:35 And Jesus said unto them, 'How many loaves have ye? ' 16:39 And they said, 'Seven, and a few little fishes. ' 16:41 And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 16:44 And He took the seven loaves and the fishes, 16:46 and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to His disciples, 16:50 and the disciples to the multitude. 16:53 And they did all eat, and were filled: 16:56 and they took up the broken meat that was left 16:59 seven baskets full. And they that did eat 17:04 were about 4,000 men, besides women and children. " 17:09 You see, Jesus fed the people because He had compassion 17:13 on them and their hunger. Assuming that there were 17:16 four people to a family, 17:19 Jesus fed 16,000 people 17:23 here at one time. The next time He fed 5,000. 17:28 In John 6: 5-10: "When Jesus lift up his eyes, 17:31 and saw a great company come unto Him, 17:33 He said unto Philip, 'Whence shall we buy bread, 17:37 that these may eat? ' And this He said to prove him 17:41 for He himself knew what He would do. 17:44 Philip answered and said, 'Two hundred pennyworth of bread 17:47 is not sufficient for them, that every one of them 17:50 may take a little. ' One of His disciples, Andrew, 17:53 Simon Peter's brother, said unto Him, 17:55 'There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, 17:58 and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? ' 18:03 And Jesus said, 'Make the men sit down. ' 18:05 Now there was much grass in the place. 18:08 So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. " 18:14 Assuming that there were four people, once again, to a family, 18:18 Jesus fed 20,000 people here at one time. 18:22 This is truly a miracle! See, there were those there, 18:26 His disciples. One of them was a hesitator, the other was a 18:29 calculator, and the other one was an eliminator 18:32 but Jesus was an innovator - and this is what the miracles 18:36 of God can do if we will embrace them. 18:40 Then there were the miracles of Elisha. The man of God 18:43 made the metal axe head to swim. That's what it says - to swim - 18:47 which was lost in the water in II Kings 6:1-7. 18:51 Or Elijah raised the widow's son from the dead, 18:54 not to mention the many miracles of healing, deliverance, 18:57 and provision in both the Old Testament and the 19:00 New Testament of the Holy Bible. 19:02 However, not everything that appears to be a miracle 19:07 from God, hear what I am saying to you, 19:08 not everything that appears to be a miracle 19:11 is necessarily from God. Just as in Moses' day, 19:14 there were magicians who did lying wonders, 19:18 so there are today. The Holy Bible tells us that 19:22 in the last days the antichrist or the false messiah 19:25 will have his false prophets performing seeming miracles. 19:28 Many times people are drawn into false religions 19:31 and into witchcraft because they think they have evidence 19:35 or receive a miracle. 19:38 Real miracles, however, God's miracles 19:41 always glorify the Lord. The Holy Spirit is God's agent 19:45 on earth to supply resurrection power of Christ into your life, 19:50 and He will always magnify Jesus Christ, 19:52 who is God who came to earth in human flesh. 19:56 Do we dare question the power of God today? 20:00 Does He not now have the same eternal, unlimited power 20:05 as always? Do we presume to limit the power of God 20:09 in affirming that no miracles occur today? 20:12 The answer to these questions is a very emphatic NO! 20:18 Being omnipotent, all powerful, God is able to do anything. 20:22 What God is able to do and what He wills to do 20:26 are completely different issues. 20:29 God once created man from dust 20:32 and the woman from the man's rib. 20:35 He once parted the Red Sea to permit the escape of Israel 20:38 from Egypt and rained manna from heaven upon them. 20:42 He provided quail in the wilderness, and water 20:44 from the rock to supply Israel's needs. 20:46 He gave commandments inscribed on stone with His finger. 20:50 He once caused His Son to be born of a virgin, 20:53 and Jesus performed numerous miracles ranging from 20:56 feeding the hungry to raising the dead. 20:59 Some of the futile attempts to reproduce miracles 21:03 of Biblical caliber are shabby and sometimes tragic replicas, 21:08 and I have witnessed some. The parents of a California youth 21:12 were charged with manslaughter for withholding insulin 21:15 from their son. The son died, but the father steadfastly 21:18 insisted the Lord would raise his son from the dead 21:21 in three days. This delusion did not come to pass. 21:25 The minister of a 40-member church in Tennessee 21:29 was freed of manslaughter charges when two of his members 21:32 died after drinking strychnine to demonstrate their faith 21:35 in the divine, supernatural powers. 21:38 I just read recently on the Web of a minister that told his 21:43 congregation in an Asian country that he was going to walk 21:47 on water. And he walked out into the water, 21:51 walked out in over his head, 21:52 and they have not seen him since. 21:54 That's not a miracle of God. 21:57 Throughout human history, there has been the bogus 22:01 as well as the genuine miracle, the error as well as the truth, 22:05 and the false as well as the factual. 22:07 There have been people whose faith sincerely was based upon 22:11 delusion as well as those whose faith was anchored 22:15 in Biblical truth. The magicians of Pharaoh 22:18 sought to duplicate the miracle of Moses, 22:20 and error is always a counterfeit of the truth. 22:24 Did you hear that? 22:25 Error is always a counterfeit of God's truth. 22:28 There have been groups claiming supernatural powers 22:31 that have no connection with Christianity. 22:34 Attempted healings and miracles have always occupied 22:38 a prominent place in pagan religions. 22:41 And mighty world rulers have gone to Delphi, to the Oracle, 22:46 to Greece to seek the Oracle from the pagan temple 22:49 to advise them on their battles. 22:52 The sensational revival of the occult in our time illustrates 22:55 the susceptibility of many people to accept the mystical 23:00 and the unexplained. These occult groups can perform 23:04 feats just as astonishing as anything offered by the 23:07 modern-day faith healing advocates of Christianity. 23:10 God's Word is ultimate truth 23:15 and nothing is true 23:16 that does not agree with this source. 23:21 Don't go away; we'll be right back after this message. 23:29 If you've been confused about what the Bible says 23:31 about the Holy Spirit's amazing gifts for the church, 23:33 you'll want to order your very own copy 23:36 of this 13-part series. It's available on DVD 23:39 or video cassette from 3ABN at a very special price. 23:43 This 13-part series with Pastor Hal Steenson 23:46 makes a wonderful gift for a friend or a family member. 23:49 Just call us at: 23:53 and we'll be happy to take your order. 23:55 You may also order it online at: 24:14 You know a major question is how are we to discern true or false 24:18 miracles? By what rule of scripture would a faith healer 24:22 establish that his work is authorized by God? 24:25 Or that his healing is any more genuine than that 24:29 of a witch doctor? Some pertinent points regarding 24:33 the healings of Christ will serve as practical tests 24:37 for professed, so-called "healings" today. 25:42 Now if you want the gift, the real gift of miracles, 25:45 to operate in you, make sure that the Word of God is in you 25:48 and what you are being influenced by 25:51 is the right people. Miracles are the product 25:54 of the spoken Word of God because God IS HIS WORD. 25:58 I've seen false miracles. I've seen real miracles. 26:03 I've seen the power of God manifested in people's lives 26:07 and all nine gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation. 26:11 I've seen the true. I've seen the false. 26:14 I've seen the truth, and I've seen the error. 26:16 But I want you to know something, OK? 26:18 Don't give up on the truth because there is error 26:21 out there. I said the other day we use real money but there is 26:25 still counterfeit. I know that I know that I know 26:28 that God can do all these things that we have talked about. 26:33 Many years ago when I was in college studying 26:36 for the ministry, I went to a big faith healing meeting. 26:40 And this was something that changed my life. 26:42 And at that point, I myself, even as a charismatic pastor, 26:46 started counteracting the counterfeit 26:48 because I noticed something. The person that came out 26:51 that was supposed to be Brother Greatness and 26:53 Evangelist Wonderful saw all these people down front 26:57 in wheelchairs and on stretchers, 26:59 and he called people up and said you've got sinus problems 27:04 you've got an ear infection, and things that that nobody 27:07 could actually see that had been truly manifest. 27:11 He stood there and prayed for all these that you could not 27:15 tell whether they were actually healed or not - 27:17 and never touched, never acknowledged, 27:21 the ones that were down front in wheelchairs 27:24 and on stretchers... because people would know, 27:27 they would know whether or not they were healed. 27:29 I went outside of that coliseum and cried. I wept, and I said 27:34 "God please, never let me do something like that. 27:39 Allow me if I ever minister and manifest the gifts of the Spirit 27:45 allow me to only manifest these in the real, the purest, 27:50 and truest of sense. " Recently God got me out of the 27:54 babbling and tongues and now has brought me 27:56 into the truth of that. God's honoring that request. 27:59 And I encourage you: be open to the gifts of the Spirit. 28:03 Be open to the moving of the Spirit because our church 28:06 needs these gifts desperately in this end time. 28:30 On our next program we are going to be looking at the 28:32 5 doma gifts that Jesus left for the perfection of the church. 28:37 So be sure and check your 3ABN World for the 28:41 dates and times, and join us there. |
Revised 2014-12-17