Sunday Sermon by Pastor Rajesh Mathew, 11 Feb 2024 

Hebrews 11: 6- 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 

Those who seek him should know that He exists and He rewards those who seek Him. This morning looks unto Jesus with faith. Heaven will release deliverance, healing and blessing when you do so.

When you study the Book of Hebrews, Chapter 1- Jesus is proclaimed as greater than the prophets. Chapter 2- greater than the angels Chapter 3- greater than Moses  Chapter 4- greater than Joshua  Chapter 5- greater than Aaron  Chapter 6- greater than Abraham  Chapter 7- greater than the high priest of the Old Testament  Chapter 8 chapter- greater than the sacrifice of the Old Testament  Chapter 9- He is a better priest than the priesthood of old He is the Mediator of a better covenant. The Book of Hebrews proclaims this about the Lord.

• Jesus is a mediator on our behalf with the heavenly father. Those who look to Him their faces are radiant and never covered with shame. He is the greatest of all! If you make Him the greatest than everything else in your life, Jesus can do the impossible for you.
• This morning His presence will do for you what you want. Lift your hands and praise Him for some time.

Hebrews 11 teaches us about faith. 

1) FAITH IS DESIGNED AND GIVEN BY GOD FOR YOU TO DO BIG/GREAT THINGS.

• You need faith to overcome and take victory over big adversities and big problems in your life. When Jairus’s daughter died, it was big news in the town. But Jesus said, don’t fear. Just believe and you will GOD’s glory. You need faith and not fear to overcome any problem in your life.
• God has given unto each of us a measure of faith. Recognize it, understand it.

Romans 12: 3- 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 

• God has given a measure of faith to every believer. Your faith that is in you is enough for you to overcome. 
• When God looks at your problem, He is not troubled or shocked. He says I have placed inside you the faith you need to overcome that challenge. If you will recognize that there is something that the Holy Spirit has already kept within you, you will leave this place with greater grace and faith. 
• When you don't recognize this, that's when you want to give up, you tend to look back and question God. You think, “why is God allowing this?” Understand the faith that is inside you. Will you take refuge in God's grace? 
• Faith is not that God will give you but that God has already given you. you have the faith inside you to get over your debt, to get out of disease.
• David understood this and he said in the Old Testament, ‘By my God, I will leap over a wall’. If the wall is 6 feet tall, I will leap 7 feet tall. No matter how tall the wall is, I have faith in me that gives me the power, anointing and strength to help me leap over it.

I am a faith leaper 

The church is like an ocean. Some go to see the sea, some go to experience the wind blowing over the waters, some put their feet in the water, and some go to eat roasted ground nuts. There are these types of people who come into the church.

• There is a river of the Holy Spirit here in the church. Some people are not satisfied putting just their feet in but jump into the river, some want to swim in i,. That is based on the depth of your faith. According to your faith, you will make your decision, whether you want to jump in and swim in the river flowing here. It is the river of life and miracles, the river of faith. Respond to the river of the Holy Spirit.

Don't just see and hear and go. Get in and swim in it, bathe in it. There is a spiritual atmosphere here. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. 

• Some people come here only to catch something or receive something. I need to obtain something from this river, at least a few fish, small or big. There are prophecies, songs, and words of knowledge. You can catch what you want to. Get into the river and catch something!! 
• Some others come with a diving suit. They are not satisfied with the catch but they want to dive deep. The deep has precious things. Not just the temporary things but the gems of God. I will find certain things under the sea that will charge my faith life. Things that strengthen my spiritual life and my faith. 
• The things that are precious in the kingdom of God. Some people only see the clothes, cars etc but some people don't see all of this and are only focused on diving deep. Where the deep calleth unto the deep. 

Temporary blessings mean, new jobs and new cars, all that is fine but you need to get into the deep also. What you find in the deep are eternal things, those things that please heaven, the things that heaven values and celebrates. Not just getting out of debt but getting hold of anointing, blessings, revelations, visions, and things that sharpen your prayer life. Get into the deep and draw these things out. 

• I am going to take hold of the deeper spiritual things. I have to get hold of it. I am taking it. I have the spiritual joy and strength for it.
• Job had to face a very big problem. God knew that Job had big faith. Faith is not religion or ritual but it is life! 
• Laws will give you knowledge and rationale. But this morning, let there be an impartation of the life of Jesus. Faith is inward strength. It is potent and powerful. • In the Book of Hebrews, we see that by faith they caused alien armies to flee. By faith,

you can cast out every demon, every evil wicked spirit. By faith in the Name of Jesus you can cast out aliens and alien armies from other kingdoms can be destroyed by faith.

Faith is the strength to send the armies of the enemy fleeing. 

Faith must explode within you. 

• All of us can do small things, but we need faith to do great things. You don't need faith to wake up and brush your teeth. But if you can't hold your brush because something is wrong with your hand, then you need faith! 

Some of you with Arthritis is being healed. I command pain in joints and feet leave you in Jesus'name.

Faith has movement. 

2) FAITH IS GIVEN FOR SPEED 

Certain things move at a slow pace and certain things at a fast pace in our lives.

John 6:21- 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

• The boat immediately reached the land. This is speed. 
• All the fishermen were experts but they were not able to reach it because of the storm and winds. They were rowing the whole night but they couldn’t reach. They hadn't factored in the wind and storm. We also plan things for our lives, what we will study, when we will marry, when we will build the house but we do not factor in unexpected storms and winds that could delay things.

When things don’t go as planned, don’t be disappointed, don't turn back and leave God. But if you have faith, God will bring speed. That is the time that you need to stir up your faith. Don’t give up your faith. 

• Even those things that you prayed for and are delayed, will come to pass. Jesus was on the mountaintop prating and the disciples were in the boat when they were faced with the stormy seas. Jesus came walking on top of those waters. He had established a relationship with the Father in prayer and if you are like that (a praying person), even those things that you think are delayed in your life, will catch speed. Your prayers and waiting are not worthless. 
• Sometimes our calculations go wrong. A disease in the house soon after marriage, children who were obedient and intelligent get addicted suddenly to mobile phones. Then how much ever you have try to make up for this and try to get to your destination, you cant. You just need Jesus. You need to decide to bring Jesus into the boat. “I want the presence of God”. The disciples desired that Jesus should get in the boat. And immediately they found a solution. 
• The storm did not end the waves continued to rage but if you are a person who values the presence of God, the Lord’s presence will come upon that situation. That delay is broken, In Jesus’s Name.

Job 38:1- 38 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

• The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. Nobody can stand amidst a whirlwind. This whirlwind was the root cause of Job’s problems. A storm comes from one end and moves away but a whirlwind just destroys and takes away everything at one go. Suddenly, at the same time health, wealth, business collapse, children’s death, everything happened at the same time. 

But God stood amid that whirlwind. What destroyed your life from all four directions? God will stand amid it and speak. 

• Job had respect and honour in the society but he lost everything in a single day.

St Augustine said this- What man built, man will destroy. But what God builds nothing will break it, nothing will destroy it.

• May such a blessing come upon your life, family life, business, and health in Jesus' Name. May heaven command such a blessing upon you.
• Job was saying ‘What a waste of even being born, I should have died the day I came into this world’. But the Lord stopped in the middle of the whirlwind and HE spoke. • Maybe you are going through hell but God says to you- “do not be afraid”. Just believe. 

Exodus 3:14-14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.[a] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

• I am who I am. God says to Moses, to tell the people of Egypt if they ask who his God was that HE is who HE says He is. The Great I am. 
• The Hebrew word is Eh-Y-Eh- meaning – “I will become what I choose to become”. Moses, “what do you want me to be? What you want me to be is what I will become for you”, says the Lord.
• Should I bring you water from the Rock? Do you want me to make a way in the sea? Do you need meat for the people? If you need to stand victorious in your land, I will become your victory. I will become what I choose to become for you.
• Moses heard this before He left for Egypt. He got the courage to go when he heard the Lord say this to him. Unless you have the experience that Jesus will become for you what you want Him to be, how will you gain the courage to move forward in life? 
• If you want me to be your healer, I will be your Healer, if you want me to be your deliverer, I will be your Deliverer, if you want me to be the one who prospers you, I will 

be the one to prosper you. If you want me to be the one to take you to the other side, I will be the one who helps you cross over. 

• Faith will restore to you what you have lost. Your relationships, your wisdom, your understanding, your health., and your wealth.

3) FAITH WILL SHOW YOU POSSIBILITIES 

2 Kings 6:16-16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

• The servant of the prophet saw the enemy armies come up the mountain and encircle them. But the prophet, by faith saw the armies of God. 
• Some people can only see the armies of the enemy rising against them. They feel stuck. They can’t step out, they can’t go out and they can’t escape neither can they sit at home. This servant saw the enemy come up from all sides but Elisha saw armies of angels, he saw hope he saw deliverance. 

If you have faith you will see hope, you will see possibilities. 

• Faith is the opening of your spiritual eyes. If you have faith you won't run away. When others become hopeless and troubled, faith will show you possibilities. • When David stood in front of Goliath, he did not run away. David saw possibilities even in small stones. David knew that he couldn't defeat Goliath with weapons, nor by size, but by faith alone. He knew that he could see victory only by faith. David calls out by faith, “Today my God will destroy your head and give me victory”. It was not a revelation he got in the prayer room but he spoke that out by faith. 
• If you have faith, you have to speak out and call out. My god will supply all my needs according to His riches in glory.

God is releasing a faith anointing to call forth those things that are not as though they are. 

• Faith that sees possibilities even in stones. David calls forth and says the battle is the Lord's.
• God says in Deuteronomy 1, give ME your burden and then call forth with your lips. Faith shows possibilities.
• Speak about your children- My children shall be mighty on the earth, they shall be blessed in their going out and coming in. God is my light and my salvation. • Faith shows you possibilities. How could two fish and five loaves feed a multitude? But there is a faith possibility. How will my small job and small salary help me? There is a possibility in faith. How will I build my house with a small loan? I ca see a possibility in faith.
• David understood that there is a possibility in those small stones. 
• 10 tribes of the 12 spoke words of unbelief and they had to walk around the wilderness for 40 years. God can do great things based on your faith.

It is better to not say anything rather than speak words of unbelief. 

• I will serve the Lord, I will take the gospel to the end of the earth, and signs and miracles will follow after me wherever I go. I will be the head and not the tail. I will stand firm. No good thing will you withhold from us. God will open miraculous ways. The one who opened the Red Sea lives in me. I shall lack no good thing, Mercy and goodness of God will follow me. I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

Certain blessings did not come your way in 2023 because of your unbelief. But in 2024 you will see a blessing by FAITH 

4. FAITH WILL ALWAYS LEAD YOU TO THE BEST AND THE MOST EXCELLENT 

Hebrews 11: 4- 4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith, he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith, Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. 

• Unbelief will make me expect the worst. But faith will lead me to the best and the most excellent. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

To please God is the most excellent thing. You can't please your husband and wife. 

• Don't try to please man but please God. The Bible says it is possible to please God. • Noah built the ark. He got off the ark and he sacrificed to God. God smelt that sacrifice and was happy. He pleased God. God smelled that sacrifice and was happy.

You can please God with your worship. I will offer the best unto God. I will offer my Thanksgiving unto God. 

• If God is pleased, HE will reward you: 1. Eternal reward and 2. Earthly reward • When Noah pleased God, God said I won't curse man anymore. 

The judgements that can come upon us will also be diverted when God is pleased with us. 

o Our prayers can please God. If you sit with your wife for 3 hours, she may still not be satisfied. But if you sit with God for 3 hours, He will be pleased. o Our obedience can please God. Jesus obeyed and got baptized and the Word says the Father spoke from heaven that He was well pleased with His Son. o Our faith can please God.

• Moses decided to suffer with the children of God. Greater than the joy of this world is the suffering with the children of God and the church of God. 
• I want to please you, Jesus. Paul says, if you are a man pleaser how can you be a servant of God? If you have faith, there is no place for fear.
• People these days have all types of fears but no fear of God. The greatest fear a child of God has is the fear of the devil! People of God are attracted to prayers that battle the devil. Even if all the black magicians of this world come against you, you will still prevail! You don’t have to fear the devil. You only need to fear God. 
• The next type of fear that children of God experience is the fear of people. What will people say, what will neighbours say, what will grandfather say? 

This fear will not allow you to please God. There is nothing more powerful than faith pleasing JESUS CHRIST. 

5. FAITH WILL GIVE YOU THE STRENGTH TO RESIST SIN

• Faith will give you the strength to resist sin. Sin won’t win over you. • In Hebrews 11, we see that the Old Testament believers did so many things by faith. But the New Testament believers can do one thing that Old Testament believers did not have- the power to resist sin.

We can resist sin. Just resist sin and see. Sin can never win against you. • In all things I am more than a conqueror through Him who gives me strength. 

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