For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word, which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. (Heb 4:2)
Ingredients. Every recipe calls for ingredients. What I want to talk about this morning is the ingredient called “faith”. Hebrews 4:2, tells us that the children of Israel heard the good news, the gospel and yet they were unable to profit from what they heard because they did not take what they heard and add in the ingredient of faith.
The Hebrew word for faith is where we get the root for amen. It is the word emunah. The word picture is aleph-mem-nun, and it represents an infant nursing on its mother. There is a total trust and dependence in the word picture for faith.
If we think about the baby-mother relationship, we know that the baby knows its mother by smell, by voice, by touch. There is an intimacy and oneness in this picture that shows us God’s heart in faith.
We have a tendency to think of faith as something we muster up, like courage. Yet from this word picture we can see that faith is not something we do, or even something we have, it is more about who we are in relationship.
Faith can be seen by what we do, and it therefore can be described as something we either have or don’t have, like in the above, scripture, BUT fundamentally faith is about dependence a trust that is born out of love. A parallel concept that we might want to pray and think about that can teach us about faith is security. The infant who is connected to the mother is secure. That relationship begins a foundation for all relationships. Then as we age the father in the family with words of affirmation and quality time invested builds in more security in who we are and what we can do. Faith then leads to observable works, accomplishments, the confidence to do things. So love is the foundation of faith. But what if our foundation is cracked? What if we are insecure inside in the secret place that is beyond words? What if we want yo do things but we are full of doubt? Let's look at a strange verse, Gal 5:6.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. (Gal 5:6)
This is a very powerful verse. It speaks of 2 realities, the one of our birth order, either of the circumcision or of the uncircumcision, Jew or Gentile, and then discounts that in favor of faith working through love. This is how truly powerful, this love-faith picture is! It transcends our birth order. It tells us that we can, through Messiah, come to a place like a child of trust and intimacy with God that is stronger than any other distinction. You have to remember who is writing this and when. This is Paul who called himself : “Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. (2Co 11:22)
Paul is NOT diminishing the importance of heritage. No, not at all. Many use this scripture to discount Israel.
What he is doing however, is speaking of a greater inheritance, a spiritual new birth that comes from faith, from trust embedded in love. You see, whether we are Jewish or Gentile by birth, we all have inherited iniquity. Circumcision doesn't protect us from iniquity. Circumcision was the sign of covenant, but covenant doesn't erase iniquity. Iniquity is healed by faith, by trust and by intimacy.
The real goal though is faithfulness. The Lord has through our trust in His Word set us free from the Law of Sin and Death. Let’s look at Romans 8 through the eyes of trust:
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
What is the condemnation? Condemnation is the iniquity. It condemns us out of our hearts. It doesn't matter if we have Jewish hearts and are of the covenant or Gentile hearts and are strangers to the covenant. No, we both have been brought near as One New Man. This is what this ministry stands for. You see it isn't about where we come from, the flesh-based inheritance. Sure covenant flesh has some advantages. There is a blessing on natural Israel. But compared to what is available through the Spirit is not even close. That's why the restoration of Israel to the Land doesn't stop with Israel as we know her today. No, The Lord promised that when He returned the outcasts of Israel, He would also give then a new heart. The One New Man reality promises a greater salvation. The Apostle Paul said it this way in Philippians 3:3-10:
For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, (Php 3:3-10)
So, the condemnation crosses all flesh labels and even flesh covenants.
Let’s continue with Romans 8:
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (Rom 8:1-17).
Ok. So we have an inheritance but it is one of the Spirit. Because it is of the Spirit, it is a living active relationship based on faith.
What we have to realize, is that we cannot live like the flesh-inheritance and have the spirit-inheritance. What do I mean by that? We cannot count all the natural inheritance as rubbish and then pull it into the equation. If we do that we serve the flesh and the result is always going to be death. This is what happens whenever we crystallize into an identity and refuse to flow with the leading of God’s Spirit. This is the ever-present death that seeks to reclaim us by tempting us with performance-based righteousness.
No, we have to learn how live by faith, which involves learning how come into a oneness of trust in the voice of the Lord. This is demonstrated in faithfulness. Look with me at Matthew 25:14,
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord's money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. "So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.' His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.' His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' "Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.' "But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. 'For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' (Mat 25:14-30)
There is a life of the Spirit, which is called faithful. It is a life of faith, or trust and most of all; it is a life of action. We cannot act though if we are in doubt and unbelief and burying our Spiritual gifts in the earth. This is a picture Yeshua is using of taking something birthed of the spirit and through fear and unbelief burying it in the ground, taking it back to world of natural inheritance. The natural inheritance is the place of iniquity.
So, I guess what we are left with is, we either learn to walk faithfully and increase through our gifts and talents or we become unprofitable servants.
This should sober us a bit and cause us to press in to the Lord. This is where prophetic activation comes to the rescue. We didn't operate the School of the Spirit for all of those years just to graduate classes. No it was our goal, and still is to live an authentic life in the spirit. This isn't just about prophesying but about the intimacy of love. Love’s voice will guide us into all truth and lead us into our destiny.
So, I had a dream confirming this word. In the dream we did activation. So today we are going to cross a dividing line and do activation. Specifically this activation if for faith and intimacy.
PRAY CONSECRATION PRAYER!
• “God, what do You think of me?” – Everyone take a sheet of paper and a pen. We start with writing down a personal question (a very good one is “God, what do You think/feel when You look at me?”) and then we get quiet, listen and write down everything that comes to our minds. The purpose of this exercise is to grow more comfortable hearing God for ourselves which will tremendously enrich our private time and relationship with Him.
• One of the biggest challenges in hearing God's voice is to discern it from our own thoughts. This is what God's voice sounds most similar to because the Holy Spirit dwells within us and so He speaks from the same direction that our own thoughts come from.
• Many will hardly write down anything because they constantly think it's their own thoughts. They block themselves. A much better approach is to write down EVERYTHING that comes to our mind after asking Jesus the question. Don't try to discern right away, just write it all down. Don't look at the paper for a day or two and then read it again. It will be much clearer to you now what was really God and what He was not..Now, we want to use this as a platform for our faith.
16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. 17 "But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! 18 "For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. [Gal 2:16-18 NASB] 