March 16, 2011
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Victory in Faith Part 2 by Pastor Don Moore
Transcript of sermon preached by Pastor Don Moore, Living Word Chapel, West Hurley on February 29, 2010
I slightly edited to make it easier to read (closed captioning is one solid passage, no paragraph breaks. I cut out repeated words and highlight important points in my slight editing.) What is in [brackets] is what the congregation says.
SAY AMEN
SHOW 145
VICTORY IN FAITH PART 2
2/29/10Part One here.
Now the story of the boy who was demon possessed, the crux of the point. The point is that Jesus is not going to be bound by what He sees. The Apostles were not able to drive out the demon because of what they saw. Looking with negative eyes. They saw the young boy hit the ground and go into convulsions, they assumed it didn’t happen. Immediately it registered with the demon, they just let go of their faith. They’re not expecting it to happen. They, with their eyes, have looked. Doubt and unbelief has risen in them and the demon said, “I don’t have to go.” [right] He tried the same thing on Jesus. He tried the same thing on Jesus, I just read it to you.
It says that when Jesus approached the boy, He only moved on the boy when He saw the people were coming. Now, why would Jesus want to cast out the demon before the people got there? [unbelief] Because of their unbelief. What did you say Brad? [too much interference] Too much interference. It breaks the continuity of the moment of faith. In the moment of faith, we cannot mix unbelievers with believers. It says not to be unequally yoked, when you’re unequally yoked it’s when a believer is tied to a nonbeliever. The people are coming to see a show, [that's right] they’re coming to see a demonstration of power. They’re coming to see, to be entertained.
And Jesus knows that when they come, having already seen the Disciples fail, they’re just going to bring more doubt and unbelief, and the demon is not going to be bound by the Word of Faith, he’s going to be bound where he can show off. He’s going to put on a show. ”I got this. I got this, I got this boy. I had this boy. I got this boy and I’m going to keep this boy.” Well, Jesus sees the unbelievers coming and He does what? Watch what He does in scripture. It’s just so easy.
Mark, chapter 9 it says, “…the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly….” What’s the next say? [and came out of him] ”…and came out of him.” … Because, when he convulsed him greatly, Jesus didn’t look at him and go, “Oh, I’m … huh, it didn’t work….It didn’t work.” No, in the realm of faith, Jesus gave the command, knew that it had to happen because He had authority. He knew that He had faith. He knew that He had given the command that it had to happen. [that's right] So Jesus’ response wasn’t that it didn’t happen, but, verse 27. He, “…took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.” [hallelujah] Took him by the hand, lifted him up and he arose.
Later the Apostles, the Disciples, this blew their minds. Cause they saw the same thing and worse, and they lost faith. We cannot let what we see through our negative eyes limit our faith… A lot of times healing, in a healing situation, the symptoms have to get worse because why? Because it is going to heal. [amen]
I can remember, you know, here I’m dying of an incurable lung disease, dying of an incurable lung disease. The man of God said that I was healed. The Word of God in me said I was healed. And the symptoms got worse. You know what dawned on me? That same night, after being healed, I received healing. I knew the healing power was in me. Middle of the night, 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, the symptoms came back worse. Like a raging storm. Now I’m puking up chunks of meat, blood, guts, all coming out my nose and my eyes, everywhere. Just chunks of meat. And I almost looked at the circumstances and the situation and almost said, “That was a wonderful moment with God, but maybe it didn’t work.” And right then I says, “Ohhhh, don’t do that.” I was just a baby Christian. I mean not a baby Christian but I was just a baby faith person. And I says, “Wait a minute, don’t do that.” And down in here the Spirit of God says, “I have to get all of that sickness out of you so that you can walk in the newness of health.” [yes] Just walk. And I got it. All that sickness in me had to come out. All the scabs and the dead tissue had to come out because God was rebuilding new tissue. [amen, yes, glory]…
What are you talking about? You’re believing God for your marriage, of course things are going to get worse for awhile, because the heathen that you’re married to doesn’t want to get fixed, but the power of God is moving on her, and she’s going to fight it, kick against the goads, and you just have to know, “Yeah, that response, honey, sister, I stand while you hate me all the more, now.” [yeah] ”Because God is making room so that you can love me the way you’re supposed to love me.” [right! yeah! amen] … Didn’t work for you but it worked for me. [laughter] Made me feel better. Do you understand?
Sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better. But you can’t go by your negative eyes. Alright, first enemy of faith, [worry] Worry. Anxious mind. Second enemy of faith, come on….[carnal reasoning] Carnal reasoning, trying to figure things out. The third. Seeing with negative eyes. Letting your circumstances dominate your faith. Believing God,
Watch this, believing God to financially prosper. You know, if you make a commitment at the altar by God, you say, “I’m going to live by faith. I believe in the Name of Jesus, I’m going to financially prosper.” Don’t you know, the next thing to happen to you is you going broke? [laughter] You’re about to go broke. And the reason you’re going to go broke is, if God lets you get wealthy on the foundation of filth, of lie, and poverty that you’ve built in your world, if He lets you get prosperous on top of that foundation, you won’t stand. So He’s got to crush you down to the bottom, baby. He’s got to break you down to the bottom so that you will be in faith, believing and appreciate every nickel, every dime, you will do it.
I remember believing for prosperity and my uncle, before he died, he came to visit us. He’s riding around with me in my Volkswagen, and I’ve been talking. You know, I’m talking faith to him. I’m believing for prosperity and whatever, whatever. He said, “Stop the car son.” I stopped the car. And he says, “God’s not going to bless you until you get all these pennies, nickels, and dimes up off the floor of your car.” He says, “If you don’t have respect for the little bit that you have,” he says, “why should God give you more?” … [amen] … When he got out of the car, I got down on my hands and knees and you know, I started finding nickels and quarters and dimes, all up into the crud on the floor. [laughter] Pushed McDonald’s out of the way and found another nickel. [laughter] … Glory to God.
Your faith, your faith will sometimes cause the manifestation to go down before it goes up so God can rebuild it. [right] He’s not going to rebuild a marriage on the bad communications skills. No. He’d rather there be silence for awhile until He can rebuild on something that’s solid and good. Alright? So, just because you’re sick, you pray to be healed, the symptoms get worse, don’t let go of your faith… Don’t let go of your faith. You might be in the wrong business, you asked God to prosper you and you’re in the wrong business. He may have to get you fired… cause you won’t quit.
I was working 17 years at the Pines Hotel. Band leader. Master of ceremonies in charge of the whole thing. Speaking and singing to thousands of people night after night, hundreds of people night after night. I says, “Man, I’m going into full time ministry. Lord, I’m believing by faith I’ll be in full time ministry. Father I’m going to live off of whatever or nothing. I’m going to preach the Gospel. I’m going to teach the Gospel. I’m giving myself wholly, totally to You. Totally to You.” I went to the hotel and told the owners of the hotel, It’s been wonderful these 17 years, and all, but, I’m leaving. I’m going into fulltime ministry. I’m out of here. And they said, “You’ve been leaving for years and you never got out of here. You’ve been leaving for years and never got out of here. Don’t worry. We’re going to give you your raise, anyway, just like we promised. We’re going to give you your raise and whatever, and after Christmas break, we know you’ll be back, we’re going to give you a raise and everything. We’ve got you and you’ll just keep on coming, everything’s going.” I said, “No, I’ve got, really, I’ve dedicated myself to go into full time ministry.” ”Well, do you have a church?” ”No, I don’t have a church.” Well, do you have a job?” ”No, I don’t have a job.” ”Well, do you have a ministry degree?” ”No, I don’t have a ministry degree but I’m going full time. Full time I’m going to serve the Lord.” ….
December 4th, December 4th, I’ll never forget the day. The week before, I called the guys and I said, “Listen, after the Christmas break I’m not going back to the Pines Hotel. I’m not going back…. I’m not. I’m not going back. You guys go get jobs, I’m not going back.” And they said, “Yeah, sure, sure, sure, you need the money, you love singing and playing. Yeah, you’ll be back. You’ll be back.” I said, “Lord, do whatever you have to do to keep me from being tempted to go back.” On December 4th it snowed 2 feet of snow. [laughter] And the main dining room caved in at a Jewish Hotel. You cannot keep a hotel for Jewish folks open if you can’t serve them food. [laughter] The roof caved in on December 4th and I never went back. [amen, laughter]…
You know what I had to live off of? You know what I had to live off of? I still have it. I have a tin can this big, that big, that says, “In His Name Ministries,” that tin can, that big. One of the ladies in the Bible study group painted it, and put graffiti on it, and sprinkles and sparkles and everything. And that’s all I had. That was my only income. My wife, thank God, was still working. But that was it. And many Tuesday nights, I’d put out the can, and there’d be absolutely nothing in the can. But then, other nights, somebody would leave a check for 20 bucks, 50 bucks. Living off the can. [amen] Vision. But if the roof hadn’t caved in, I would have been tempted. I would have been tempted.
But sometimes, your faith can sustain and it has to, in the face of absolute – it just got worse…. [yep] What’s going on? It just got worse. Where’s your faith then? Where’s your faith then? Where’s your faith then when your wife says, “Well how much money did you make this week?” And I’d go, “Well, 22 dollars and 50 cents was in the can, baby.” [laughter] And then, you know, thank God my wife didn’t, she wasn’t negative. She didn’t say, “Are you sure God called you?” … “Are you sure, O man of faith, are you sure God called you?” … It’s an enemy of faith, don’t see things with negative eyes. Don’t let your circumstances run you out. Let’s go now, you there?
I want to go to Luke, Chapter 8…. Luke, Chapter 8. Matthew, Mark, Luke. Chapter 8… Chapter 8, I want you to go all the way to verse 49. “While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, “Your daughter is...” What? [dead] Your daughter is, what? [dead] ”Do not trouble the Teacher.” But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be….” [afraid] Do not what? [be afraid] Do not what? [be afraid] Ok, we have worry and an anxious mind will kill faith. We have what? What’s the second one? [reasoning] Say what? [carnal reasoning] Ok, I wanted to make sure, reasoning, carnal reasoning. And then the third is what? [sight] Sight. We don’t want to see with a negative eye. Here’s the fourth one, which is always prevalent as an undercurrent. Fear. … Fear. Fear.
In verse 50, Jesus said and heard it, and “He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.” Do not be afraid… These people are looking, in verse 52, they’re looking at what they see. They see a dead girl. They see a dead girl. And they limit the possibilities of God at their doctrine. And their doctrine is, don’t trouble Jesus anymore, why? Because our doctrine, our reasoning of our mind, has said, He cannot do anything. He’s done…. Reasoning is done.
I had to say this once to somebody. I says, “Well you’re giving me you’re such a faith giant, let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question. When your daughter died, after you said you had faith to heal your daughter, and your daughter died, what was the next thing that you did?” You know what they said? We buried her. Well, there’s something that should have happened between that if you had all that faith…. I’m not trying to be mean. I’m just trying to help you all learn. What would have been the thing that would have happened between the daughter died and you buried her, if you were such a giant of faith? … [prayed to raise her] thank you… Ok, can we move on? Don’t get mad at me, I’m just telling you what the Word, what the Word is. If you was such a giant, then you would not have looked at death as a final destination and an absolute answer to the problem.
Cause it isn’t the absolute answer, because God is greater than death, because death, He only looks at it as sleep. He’s saying, “She’s asleep.” They’re saying, “She’s dead. She’s dead. Final, final, no possibility.” Well, that’s not always the case. It’s not always the case. Jesus looks at death as, “Hunh, you can recover from that.” … [that's right, amen] I’m going to go wake her up. How are you all doing? Stay ha..ha…ha..humble. Can we stay ha…aa…humble? [yes] Come on, say, “I’m humble.” [I'm humble] I’m teachable. [I'm teachable] Yeah, yeah, stay humble. Let’s stay humble, alright? I don’t know everything. But I know God does. Jesus is not afraid of death. He doesn’t look at it as a final thing.
And He warns Jairus, He warns him, He says, He says, “Do not be afraid, only believe...” Don’t be afraid. Don’t let fear rock your boat. Don’t let fear rock your boat. Fear will lead you to doubt and doubt will lead you to unbelief, and you’re dead in the water.
Go to Mark Chapter 4….Hold your place here. Matter of fact, while we’re here let’s do this. We’ll do this. I don’t want to skip around too much but we have to. But I want you to see what’s happening here. Remember, I said reasoning? Your theology can mess you up? [yes] The theology of the Jews was that this woman with the issue of blood in Luke 8 verse 43, 43. ”Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians…” and couldn’t get healed. She “…came behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.” “….”Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master…” There’s a whole bunch of people, what do You mean, “Who touched You?” He says, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out of Me.”
Now, let’s fix the principle of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Scribes. The teaching of the Pharisees and the Scribes is that healing, when the Messiah comes, He will have healing in His wings. [yes] Now, healing in His wings, of course Jesus didn’t have wings. But He had a prayer shawl. Do I have my prayer shawl up here?… Got my prayer shawl. Now, here’s what that scripture meant. And if we can understand what this woman is doing. It’ll really help.
All the good Jewish guys had prayer shawls. And they wore them like this… You know. Now my name just became Donald bar Bona. [laughter] From the Old Testament. Alright? Now, here’s what that scripture meant. It meant that a good Jewish man had a prayer shawl. When Jesus said, when you want to pray, go into your prayer closet, He wasn’t talking, I did it though. I kicked the shoes to the side and crawled in the closet, and started praying. You know. But you know, the Lord honored my ignorance. He met me in the closet. And then He said, “Don’t smell so good in here, get out. I’ll meet you, you know, in the main room.” [amen] But, he met me right in there, I’m praying and you know, and I’m smelling the socks and that stuff, and I [laughter] Lord have mercy… [laughter] You know. Get me out of here! [laughter] So, I got out of there, then I studied the scriptures more, and I realized what Jesus was talking about.
Going to your prayer closet. [amen] He’s locking Himself up in here and He’s dobbing at the wall, and He’s praying, and He says, “And in your prayer closet, He says, you meet God in there.” And He says, you know, you’re praying. So, He’s dobbing and He’s praying, and He’s praying in His prayer closet, and He says, “And no one will see or know what you’re praying about.” And then, if you notice here, if I take this shawl, and do like this (moves arms up and down like bird’s wings) What does that look like? [wings] Doesn’t that look like wings? Ok, so in the book of Mal-ach -i, the Italian prophet, it says, that He, when the Son of Man comes, He will come with healing in His wings.
The lady is not trying to molest Jesus the Christ, and grabbing on His clothes. She wants to touch the fringes of His prayer shawl. It was believed that this Man of God prayed in this shawl, therefore by transference there was holy power in the thing that He had dedicated to God where He’s spent His time meeting God, therefore even though it was cloth, it had the ability to transfer and hold the anointing. [amen] Somebody got that? [yes] You need to have things that are dedicated. You need to have things that you hold as holy and spiritual.
They should be people of course. The reason you shouldn’t blast pastor is because you should have some respect for the anointing that is in my life. You should have that same kind of respect for your wife and for your husband. You should have it for your children. You shouldn’t speak to your kids any old kind of way. You should talk to them like what they are, Children of God. [amen] Don’t raise your voice, call them ugly names.
So she wanted to touch His prayer shawl. she wanted to touch His garment. The fringe on His garment. But when she touched it, she touched it with the power of faith. Faith came out of her. Listen, Jesus is just walking through the crowd. He’s walking through the crowd. People were all over Him. He was as anointed as a rock. You know what I mean by that? He wasn’t thinking Holy Ghost, whatever. He wasn’t praying in tongues. He was just walking from one place to the other. But when she touched Him, He knew what faith felt like. Faith has an anointing with it. Come on, I want to preach right now. But that’s what’s rising up in me. You know, faith, faith has the ability that when it’s present, Lord have mercy. When it’s present, the anointing comes in manifestation and it can be felt and can be touched.
I was at a meeting last night and a lady’s standing over on the side and she says, “Boy, I can feel that.” Brother Roderick said, “Yeah, I can feel that. Can you feel that?” What was that? Faith is in the air. And when faith is in the air, things begin to happen. [amen] The Presence of God. So Jesus turns around and He says, “Who touched me?” What He meant was, who touched me with the touch of faith? Who was trying to draw power. And the light inside Him had to come on to the power switch, why? Because faith touched Him. And when Faith comes in touch with the Man of Faith, it exudes faith. And faith is released. [amen] She released, He released, and says, “Whoa, ho, I felt something. Ho, what was that? Yeah,”
You know, an anointed man can feel the touch of sin? I hate to tell you cause some people now are going to be avoiding me. [laughter] But when the devil’s on you, [yeah] I reach out and touch you. The Lord’ll show me. He’ll show me. I had a guy just walk in my office one time. He’s telling me he’s all righteous and everything. His only problem is his wife. [laughter] I said, “Man, let me hold your hands here for a minute.” Then I started reading his mail and telling him about the affairs that he had hidden from his wife. About the women he was playing around with his wife. His wife was sitting there crying. You know, and he’s just was getting all busted up. Cause he had a lying spirit on him. You know what I mean? Anyway, moving right along.
The enemy of faith, the enemy of faith in this case, I can finish this with this on. No, no, somebody watching by television will think I’m trying to become Jewish. They don’t know I’m already Jewish. Yeah, my great grandfather was a Jew. Can you imagine that? A guy named Rosenberg marries a black woman in Mississippi, back in the 30′s. [oh my] What’s wrong with that man? [laughter] She signed off for double discrimination. You know. And Mississippi, no less. My goodness. It’s in my family tree. When I get up to Heaven and meet this guy. I’ll say, “Thank you for the Jewish blood, but what were you thinking?” [laughter] Who knows. Maybe he had a dark tan. You know. He could have been from Egypt or somewhere.
Alright. Now let’s get this and get this really, really, really good. This woman had the touch of faith, therefore her faith was released, but notice what Jesus says to her in verse 48. ”And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well.“” And He tells her to go in peace… In other words, there is another enemy. We have an anxious mind and worry is an enemy of faith. We have, I forget number two all the time. [reasoning] Reasoning, carnal reasoning. We have negative seeing. We have fear. We have doubt.
Mark Chapter 4, verse 40 Mark 4:40 Jesus is asleep in the boat on a pillow. [laughter] Well, how does He do that? Look at verse 35. Verse 35 “On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” … Let us what? [cross over] to the other side. Who said that? [Jesus] Jesus said, He said, “Guess what, we’re going to the other side. Let’s just cross over, let’s go over there.” Now as a process a great storm rises up in verse 37, the winds beat against the boat, and the boat’s filling with water. Jesus is asleep. Mmn mmn mmn ”…Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” [laughter]
Now that’s some reasoning there. Isn’t it negative reasoning? The see the wind and the waves, they reason, we’re dead. [laughter] We’re gonna die. This thing’s gonna kill us. Who said it’s going to kill you? Who said it? [they did] Based on what? [reasoning] bad reasoning and negative eye. And here’s why. Fear got in the boat with them. When we reason wrong, and we see things with a negative eye, expecting a negative outcome, fear gets in the boat. Now I want you to watch and see who else crawls up in there with them. Well, let’s see. Jesus says, “…”Peace, be still!” The wind ceases. And He tells us right here. I’m not making this up. ”…Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And scripture just confirms it. ”...they feared exceedingly...” Well, what happened? Their fear then turned into doubt and unbelief. Cause, doesn’t He say, “What happened to your faith?” [right] Fear will lead you to doubt and unbelief. When you get there, your faith can’t operate…
Nothing wrong with admitting you’re afraid. But then you’ve got to pray the spirit of fear out of your place. Out of your life. If you’re writing these enemies down, when you get into a faith situation you can just go down the list and say, hnh let me address these and get this out of my body, out of my mind, out of my house. Take them item by item. I do. [yeah] I do.
