(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7. It's a great chapter but we're not going to be focusing our attention on the chapter at large. It's just all we're going to be looking at Brethren is look at verse 7. You see a phrase there and it's in brackets, right? It's in parentheses. And normally when you think of something that's in parentheses, you think of it a little bit as an afterthought, don't you? You kind of think it's not made part of the main message that's been proclaimed. This is just to add further clarification. And yet verse number 7 is so deep. It's so deep. And it's in these brackets here. And listen, if you're someone that doesn't memorize verses all that much, this is a short phrase. This is a short verse. I mean if you can memorize this verse. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7, For we walk by faith, not by sight. The title for the sermon this afternoon is we walk by faith. You know this is something, Brethren, that we are required to do. You know it says here that we walk by faith, not by sight. Something that I've been learning as a pastor, as I've been maturing, you know maturing as a Christian, you know serving the Lord, just growing up and knowing I'm my Bible more, the more I realize that I need to step out sometimes by faith. What is that about? We look at the opposite there. It says not by sight. You see when the unbelieving world, when non-Christians make decisions in life, they make it based on sight. What can I see? How can I judge this according to my vision, according to my understanding? You know you might be offered a job, right? And the reason you take one job over another job, you might by sight say, well this job is offering me more money. Or this job is closer to home. You're operating by sight, not necessarily by faith. There's nothing wrong by operating at a sight. But one thing that we're given as Christians is the ability to walk by faith, to make decisions by faith, not by sight. You know when you make decisions by sight you might say, well it's logical, you know it makes sense, everybody's in agreement, this will be the best option. Well when it comes to the Christian life, when it comes to serving Jesus Christ, it's not always that way. In fact many times you're making decisions that on the outward appearance might not seem necessarily right, or may not necessarily seem to make a lot of sense. So just coming to Sydney, coming to Sydney for these 12 months, for some it might not look like it makes a lot of logical sense. You know up there at New Life Baptist Church, in our church up there on the Sunshine Coast, we're not really dealing, yes there are some level of restrictions with the coronavirus and the attendance, but really we're operating pretty much at full capacity. You know living your life on the Sunshine Coast, you don't even really notice that the coronavirus is a thing. And yet when I first came into Sydney, immediately I saw the masks, you know you've got to stand one and a half metres away from this person, you've got to line up, you know. People here are a lot more concerned about what's going on, rightly so, because apparently there's more infections here. But we're seeing basically zero cases on the Sunshine Coast, I mean life is pretty much as normal. We're coming into the warmer weathers, we're five minutes, ten minutes from the beach and the lakes, you know great places, you don't even have to go to a public beach. You can find yourself a nice quiet spot, plenty of coastline there brethren, to have a great holiday on the Sunshine Coast. And so you know just seeing that and saying well, you know things are going well there, we had nine baptisms in the last two weeks as well, the Lord is adding to our church, that church is growing, things are going really well. You know you might say well it doesn't seem like it makes a lot of sense to come down to Sydney. And yet the reason I've come down to Sydney is because really brethren, I'm stepping that in faith. I realise that there's a need right now, especially with the you know the border closures, we've not been able to get down here, and you know I am the pastor of this church, it's not like I don't care about this church, I think about this church almost every day, I'm praying about the people in this church all the time. You know this church is just as much, even though my priority is in Queensland, this church has to be successful. You know we're in the largest city in Australia, Sydney, and this is a church we need, we need soul winners. We need a church that preaches the need to get out there and knock doors and win souls, you know and God can do I'm sure great works in this church, and has already done great works for this church. And I appreciate all the men, brother David's here, brother Anthony as well, and who am I missing? I'm missing somebody. Am I missing somebody? Oh brother Luke, brother Luke of course, brother Luke as well has been preaching, you know thank God for these men, I really appreciate these men filling the pulpit, especially while I've been away, they've been trying to pick up you know more and more times that they've had to preach, but you know what God has also given us great men up there on the Sunshine Coast, and they're getting up there, they're preaching, brother Sam preached there this morning, I can't remember who's preaching this afternoon, it might be brother Jason, and so you know you're making certain decisions, it might not seem like a lot of sense, you know moving your whole family, eleven kids now, we went with nine, coming back with eleven kids, it's a lot of work, I mean it takes a lot of effort, you know packing your things, moving here, realizing what you need here, but you know I do believe we've stepped that in faith, I've seen the need, the importance to get down here for twelve months, and the Lord has just opened the doors, you know the fact that the house, you know where we live, was made tenant free at the right time, the resources, the financial help to make this move possible, has come through, you know everything's kind of come together as far as I'm concerned, hey we've got this great building, and you know we're fixing it up, hey great we've got a new pulpit, and everything for me when I look at this place it's coming together, but you know again it may not make a lot of logical sense, you know, and so the Christian life is something that requires you to step out in faith, and people when it doesn't make sense, people will question you, people will criticize you, but you've just got to understand, look if I'm doing things in accordance to God's word, that is by faith, how do you make decisions? You might have all these options available to you, where you go to God's word, and you say well God can you show me according to your word, what step to take, and I've been studying this idea, I've been studying through, you know the books of Timothy, first and second Timothy, the book of Titus, these epistles were written to pastors, and when you look through that book you'll notice, that the apostle Paul sometimes needed these men, even though they were pastors of a local church, to get out there and travel and help in other places, in other cities, and so I was moved by that decision by the Bible, you know to come out here and do that, you know even just going to the Sunshine Coast, require a lot of faith, you know going there and studying the church from scratch, we didn't have a place to meet, we didn't even have a home, you know we ended up just getting that place at home, a week before we moved, it was locked in a house finally, we found a house a week before we moved, you know the church building was found, you know about a month before we moved, we're at a new building now, but you know a lot of decisions to get up there, and do that requires faith, again it doesn't make a lot of logical sense sometimes, to do certain things, but if you're doing it by faith, if you're following the word of God, listen he's going to guide you, and brethren you know we need to be people, that grow more and more in our faith, and you know the more experience you get in your Christian life, the more you mature, the more you understand you realize, when the Lord is guiding your hand, and you know what when you know the Lord is guiding you, you better step out in faith, and follow what God has called you to do, can you please turn to the book of Romans, turn to Romans chapter 1 and verse number 16, Romans chapter 1 and verse number 16, we're not going to go back to 2 Corinthians now, but we walk by faith brethren and not by sight, Romans chapter 1 verse number 16, of course when we talk about this idea of faith, we often think about salvation, how we were saved by faith right, we put our faith, we put our belief, our trust on Jesus Christ, his death, burial and resurrection, and when you believe his gospel brethren, you are saved, salvation is not a process, as soon as you believe in Christ, you're sealed for all eternity, and you're saved and you're on your way to heaven, so faith is what saves us, but again we're commanded to walk by faith, look at Romans chapter 1 verse 16, it says for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, so you see there that believing the gospel is what saves us, it's the power of God unto salvation the gospel is, but then look at verse number 17, for therein is the righteousness of God, revealed from faith to faith, and so what this is teaching us is that we place our faith in the gospel, that's what saves us, but then the Christian life is a life from faith to faith, to faith, to faith, to faith, we ought to live a life of faith, you go from believing the gospel which is great, but now you need to live out a life of faith, you go from faith to faith, look at what it says there, as it is written the just shall live by faith, and so not only are you saved by faith brethren, but now God is requiring, commanding of you, to live out your life in faith, okay, so it's not just salvation which is great, yes by faith, but now we need to live out a Christian life of faith, now that passage there, the just shall live by faith, is actually taken in the Old Testament, I'll just read it to you, you don't need to turn there, it's from Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4, and I'll just read it to you, pay attention to what it says, it says, behold his soul which is lifted up, is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith, so there it is, there's that Old Testament passage in Habakkuk, it says the just shall live by his faith, but what did it say at the beginning, okay this is talking about the opposite of someone living out by faith, I'll read it again to you, it says behold his soul which is lifted up, is not upright in him, when the Bible talks about your soul being lifted up, it's talking about pride, it's talking about someone that has so much self importance about himself, so prideful, hey that person is not someone that is living in faith, if you're someone that struggles with pride, hey that pride is going to get in the way of you living and stepping out in faith, in fact in order for you to live a life of faith, you need to be someone that's opposite from proud, what is it? Somebody that is humble, someone that is lowly, someone you're willing to admit, hey I'm wrong, I'm a sinner, I'm not always right Lord, and this is what humility does, when you realise that you are not always right, that you are a sinner, and you humble yourself before a mighty God, that's when God can use you, that's when God can lead you in your paths, in your paths of faith, I mean this is how we got saved brethren, you know you go and knock a door, what do you think somebody has to do to go to heaven, do you think you're going to heaven, do you think you're going to heaven, yeah I believe I'm going to heaven, why? Because I'm such a good person, and I'm doing the best I can, hey what's that? That's pride, I think I'm good enough to make it to heaven, and so how does someone get saved? They have to say well you know what, the Bible says there is none good, no not one, there is none righteous, okay, the Bible tells us that, and so even getting saved requires humility, and saying well you know what, I am a sinner, and because I'm a sinner I need a saviour, and once you lower yourself, you can understand what the way of salvation is, well it's by Jesus Christ, it's by faith and trust on Jesus, and so humility is actually what you need in order to get saved, okay to put your faith on Jesus, to realise that you can't do it on your own, and so if humility is needed to get saved, isn't humility needed then to live out a life of faith as well, to say well God you know my thoughts are not, you know your thoughts are higher than my thoughts, Lord I have a certain idea of how life should be, I have a certain idea of how I ought to behave, but Lord I'm willing to lower myself, I'm willing to be humble enough, to say well God your word is true, and when I realise that I'm out of line out of your word, when I realise I'm doing wrong, Lord give me the humility, please help me to walk after your ways, help me to walk in faith, and so we need humility brethren, in order to live out our life of faith. Can you please turn to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 14 verse 21, I just want to show you another passage, that has helped me have the faith to make the move to Sydney, at least temporarily for these 12 months, go to Acts 14 verse 21, and if you know you know the book of Acts, you know we have the Apostle Paul, who goes on his missionary journeys, right he gets out there, his job is to preach the gospel, his job is to plant churches, and he would go from city to city to do this job, and in Acts 14 verse 21, it says, and when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium and Antioch, so you can see that by returning to these cities, he's already been there, he's already been there preaching and teaching, you know the word of God, but now he sees fit to return back to these cities, look at verse 22, what did he do when he came back, verse 22, confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them, when it says exhorting, it means to encourage, to build up, to motivate, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, that we must through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. So you say, Pastor Kevin, what is your goal to come down to Sydney, my goal is the same goal as the Apostle Paul here, to exhort you to continue in the faith, okay, to live a life of faith, to walk in faith and not walk by sight, we can lose sight of these things, and so Paul saw the need to go back and do this great job, alright, now when we talk about living by faith, can you please turn to Matthew chapter 6 now, turn to Matthew chapter 6, we're gonna spend a lot of time now in the book of Matthew, we're gonna be looking at a lot of different passages, but when we talk about living a life of faith, don't we need to be people then, don't we conclude, if God wants us to live by faith, don't we then conclude, we must be people that have great faith, we need to have a lot of faith, because if we only have a little bit of faith, we're not really going to be successful in living out our Christian life, we must be people that have great faith, so what I wanna do is, we go through the book of Matthew here, we're gonna look at several times that Jesus Christ set off his disciples or other people, you know, ye of little faith, and what is it that caused Jesus to say about somebody that they had little faith, now brethren, as we go through this, I want you to just think about yourself, I just want you to examine your own life, and if you realize you're like some of these people, some of these men, and Jesus says about them that they have little faith, then what Jesus is saying to you, that you have little faith, so you need to grow in faith, you need to focus in this area and have a greater trust of your life and of your mind on the word of God, it's the word of God that gives us faith, right, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, so the more we hear God's word, the more we meditate on God's word, the more our faith will increase, okay, so look at Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 30, these are the words of Jesus, wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, look at this, so when Jesus says someone has little faith, this person is concerned about his clothing, he's concerned that he's not gonna have what he needs on his daily basis to clothe himself, let's keep going, verse number 31, so our Heavenly Father knows we have a need of clothing, he knows we have a need of drink and of food, these are things that we need daily to live our lives, to be sustained, the Father knows we need these things and when we begin to doubt, and be concerned, are we gonna be provided for, that's what Jesus says about you, oh ye of little faith, okay, okay, now brethren I know we live in Australia, you know our minimum wage is one of the highest in the world, it's very rare for us to kind of be like, oh man we're gonna run out of food, but you know there are places in this world that people are like that, they're not sure if they're gonna have a meal on the table, we don't have that problem, but you know one thing I observed, even though we don't have that problem, we are still a nation of little faith, I mean the early days of this pandemic, think about the early days brethren, the toilet paper situation, gone, people are like oh we need to quickly, we're gonna run out of toilet paper, you know we're gonna run out of our daily needs, and they run out and get the toilet paper, then you have nothing on the shelves, and then it's the food, and you know the wolves and the coals and all these places, they had to put limits, restrictions, on how much you could purchase, now maybe for you brethren it wasn't a big deal, but for me with 11 kids, that was a big deal, you could go to the shop, listen you only get two jars of sauce for your pasta, that's not enough for my family, we need like three or four at least, so you go to the shop, sorry sir there's a limit of two, so I have to go and then come back, and buy another two, or you buy a 12 pack of eggs, only two, you know Christina makes eggs sometimes for dinner, those two packets are gone in one meal brethren, but you know what, this world was panicking, it's like oh quickly, load up your shelves, you know we're gonna run out of food, what does that show about our nation, and you know maybe you're a Christian, maybe you're the same, maybe you're like we better quickly buy as much as you can, you know we're gonna run out of food tomorrow, well then if that's you, if you had that reaction brethren, what would Jesus have said about you in 2020, he would have said oh ye of little faith, don't you know your heavenly father knows you need these things, alright, and so you know I want us to just examine ourselves, are we people of little faith, you know God promised us to provide our every need, now listen I don't think it's unwise to have you know food stored up, I don't think it's unwise at all, you know maybe to have three months of food, you know just in a pantry, just in case of a rainy day, I don't think that's unwise, even Joseph when he was in Egypt, and God warned Joseph for the seven years of famine, you know Joseph in his wisdom, made sure that the first seven years of plenty that they had enough, they stored up so they were ready for the seven years of famine, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but the mentality of potentially oh we're going to run out of food, we're not going to be taken care of, listen as Christians we shouldn't have to worry about that, that's not our concern, and when we do the Bible tells us oh ye of little faith, now this passage is not telling us you know we can quit our jobs, and God will provide our every need, no because if we're people of faith, we would know the Bible says that men ought to work, men ought to get out there and provide for their families, in fact the Bible says that if a man does not provide for his own, he is worse than an infidel, what's an infidel? An infidel is an unbeliever, he's even worse than an unbeliever, even the unbelievers, even the fathers that are unsaved, they know they need to go to work, they know they need to provide for their families, they know they need to put a roof over the heads of their families, even the unbelievers know this, so when the believers are just lazy and don't want to work, oh God don't provide for me, well no if you're a man of faith, you will know what the Bible says and you will live out that life of faith, alright, let's keep going, you're in Matthew, let's go to Matthew chapter 14 please, let's go to Matthew chapter 14 and verse number 28, Matthew chapter 14 and verse number 28, let's have a look at another situation where God said, oh ye of little faith, Matthew 14 verse 28, and Peter answered him and said, Lord if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water, so you know this story where Jesus Christ went to pray, he sent out his disciples onto a ship, Jesus Christ then comes to join them on the ship, but he starts to walk on water, and disciples start to be afraid, they think it's a ghost, they think it's a spirit, and we see here, we see with Peter, we see that Peter does have a great faith, in the sense that he's willing to go and walk on the water, I mean brethren have you ever walked on water? I've never done it, somehow Peter had the faith, the ability to walk on water, and look at verse number 29, and he said come, so Jesus says yeah come, you know, and when Peter was come down out of the ship, now I want you to notice the next words, he walked on the water to go to Jesus, so he's able to walk on the water, but while he's walking on the water, what I want you to notice, his eyes are on Jesus, he's going to Jesus, his faith is on Jesus right, his focus is on Jesus, but then when we look at verse number 30, it says here, but when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried saying Lord save me, so what caused Peter to sink? He lost his focus from Jesus, he started to see the wind, he started to see the waves, he got distracted brethren, he got distracted with all the turmoil going around him, the storms around him, and that's when he began to sink, and brethren you know what, what is this teaching us, that in our Christian life, in order for us to walk by faith, we must have our sights, our eyes, our focus on Jesus, when we get distracted by the turmoils of this world, the storms of this world, then we can begin to sink, we can find ourselves in a bad place, and so what this is telling us, we must set our sights on Jesus, and not be distracted, look at verse number 31, and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and called him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were coming to the ship, the wind ceased. So brethren, what is this teaching us, that we ought to set our focus on Jesus, and when we get distracted, when we start to notice the problems here, the problem of the pandemic, what's going to happen, we become fearful of these things, you're losing your sight on Jesus, if Jesus were to see you, he would have said to you, O ye of little faith. O ye of little faith. So I hope as we go through this list, that you just reflect, this could be you, this could be me. And if this is us, the Bible's telling us we have little faith. We don't want to be people that stay in a state of little faith, we want to be people that have great faith. Amen. We want to increase in faith. We need to ask Jesus to help us to increase our faith. Go to Matthew 16, you're in Matthew. Go to Matthew 16, verse number 5. Matthew 16, verse 5. Matthew 16, verse 5 reads, Notice the next words. They had forgotten to take bread. They'd forgotten to take food for their journey, right? Verse number 6. So the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they were these religious leaders that did not believe on Jesus, and they were trying to stop people to believe on Jesus. These religious leaders had false doctrine. And so Jesus is warning his disciples, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Now, because they had forgotten to take bread, leaven is like yeast, right? They thought, well, maybe Jesus is speaking about yeast. Maybe Jesus is realizing, hey, we forgot the bread, we forgot the food, right? Verse number 7. That's why Jesus mentioned the leaven, right? They're not understanding the spiritual teaching here. Verse number 8. He said unto them, Why reason ye among yourselves because ye have brought no bread? Just a little faith. Verse number 9. So what is it here, brethren? Why did Jesus say to his disciples, say to his disciples here that they had little faith? Jesus says, look, you're worried about the bread. Don't you remember when we fed 5,000 men? That's not including the women and the children. It could have been 10,000 easily. Don't you remember when we fed 5,000 with five loaves? Don't you remember when we fed 4,000 with seven loaves? You know, so what is this? This is a miracle of Jesus Christ. When we fail to understand or believe that God can perform miracles, Jesus would say to you, O ye of little faith. You know, we serve a God of miracles. Read your Old Testament. Read your New Testament. We see constant miracles taking place. All right, so what? 2020, God can't perform miracles now. Yes, he can. We serve a God of miracles. And when you fail to believe that, brethren, is when Jesus would say to you, O ye of little faith. Listen, every time you go, you bow your head, you bring your request before the throne of grace of God, and you bring those requests, and God hears them, and I'm sure we can all testify of times that we've prayed for something and God answered. And it's not some coincidence. It's not some just crazy thing that just happened. It just worked out. We know that God stepped in. All right? We know that God changed the events of nature. He changed the events of this world. Maybe he changed the heart of somebody that you've been praying about. You know, God did that because of you. Is that not a miracle? Is that not God stepping out, you know, and supernaturally changing events for your prayers to be answered? You know, sometimes God changes events even as you go in prayer or even before you go in prayer, and God will answer that prayer need for you. Listen, when God answers your prayers, it's a miracle. And you know what? The Bible tells us that when we go and pray, we ought to pray with faith, not as people that are doubting. I don't know if God can do this. That's not how you ought to pray. You pray with faith. You pray believing that God can perform a miracle if he so chooses. But when you lose that sight of God, when you think, well, God can't step in and perform miracles, then Jesus would say to you, O ye of little faith. Let's go to Matthew chapter 8 now. Matthew chapter 8, verse 23. Please turn to Matthew chapter 8 and verse number 23. We have another situation here of somebody of little faith. Matthew chapter 8, verse 23. The Bible reads, And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him, and behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves, but he was asleep. So think about the situation. You have all the disciples. There's a great storm. The ship has been filled up with water. I mean, I think I'd be fearful, I think, because I'm not a great swimmer. I think I'd be a little fearful. Even when I take the flights from the Sunshine Coast of Sydney and back again, I don't enjoy flying, brethren, especially the landing. I hate the landings. It just seems like we're going so fast. There's this big metal plane. How does this stay up in the air anyway? I mean, you ask yourself these questions, and I'm like, is this going to stay? Is it going to fly? Is it going to land? We're going too fast. Well, there are fears. We can all struggle with different kinds of fears, but let's have a look here in verse number 25. And his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us. We perish. Jesus is asleep this whole time. Verse number 26. Look at this. You know, brethren, when you're fearful, Jesus would say to you, oh, ye of little faith. And so, brethren, it may seem like sometimes that God is asleep. It may seem like sometimes the storms of life are troubling you so much, and you're afraid, and you think God is sleeping, but listen, God's sleeping because he's calm. Nothing catches him by surprise. If you're close to God, that's the safest place that you'll ever be. And listen, if you lose your life as you're close to God, it just means that was a time for you to go. That was a time that God set in your life to go and be with him for all eternity. But when we're afraid of losing our lives or if we're afraid of things that are not God, brethren, then we're people acting out of little faith. Jesus would say to you, oh, ye of little faith. And of course, fear is not always negative. We are commanded to fear God, aren't we? To reverence God. God is a mighty God, a pure God, a God without sin, and when we sin, we break that fellowship with God. We ought to go back humbly before God confessing our sins so we can be back in a right relationship with our Lord God, okay? But fear, you know, fear, fear in other things above our God would be considered by Jesus to be someone of little faith. Now, can you please, you're in Matthew chapter 8, verse 27, I think. Let's drop down to verse number 8 now. Matthew chapter 8, same chapter, verse number 8. So we've seen some examples of people of little faith, and we don't want to be people. So we do want to be people of great faith. Let's have a look at some examples of somebody that was of great faith, and it says here in verse number 8, the centurion, now if you remember the story, you've got the Roman centurion that had a sick servant and he called for Jesus to come and heal his servant. So this man's not even a Jew, okay? This man is a Gentile. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. Did this centurion have faith? Yeah. You'll soon see that Jesus says this man had great faith. He says, look, you don't even need to be under my roof, Jesus. I know if you just say the words, I know, Jesus, if you just say it, my servant's going to be healed. That requires a lot of faith, you know? Look at verse number 9. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me, and I say to this man, go, and he goeth, and to another, come, and he cometh, and to my servant, do this, and he doeth it. So the centurion, this is where we get the word sentry, and if you go for a century, it's a hundred years. You know, it's believed that the centurion had maybe a hundred or more soldiers under his command. So this is a man that understands authority. He's got several people under him. If he tells one soldier, do this, they'll do it. And he knows that if Jesus says something, that it's going to happen. He's a man of authority. He knows Jesus is a man of authority. And look at verse number 10. When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to them that followed, verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. So what do we learn here, brethren, is that this man, the reason he had great faith, he knew that Jesus had authority over sicknesses. He knew that Jesus Christ has authority over all things. Listen to me, brethren. Jesus Christ has authority over this church, over blessed up at this church. He has authority over your life. He has authority over your family, over your home. He's got authority over your workplace. Men, you've got to work. You've got to serve Jesus. You've got to work for Jesus. You put the best foot forward serving Jesus Christ. But not only that, Jesus Christ also has authority over our government. Now, I don't know what you think about our government, brethren. You know, I don't know what you think about this pandemic, coronavirus, and if they're doing the right decisions or not. You know what? I don't care. To me, I don't really care what they're doing, whether they're right or they're wrong. I just know that Jesus has authority over them, that God has authority over those people. And when we're concerned and we think things are out of control and we think, where is Jesus? And we think that he's lost authority. Maybe we think he doesn't have authority in our workplace, or he doesn't have authority in the church, so we worship some man instead of Jesus, or maybe you think he doesn't have authority in the government and you're so concerned about a wicked government. Listen, all these powers are under the hand of Jesus Christ. He is above all things. And when you understand that, you're not going to be concerned because you know that Jesus Christ can step in there any time and cast out any wicked government he wants. You know, it's in the hands of God who becomes prime minister or even president in the United States. In the hands of God, who cares? It's God that sees fit to put the right people in charge. And listen, if you have a wicked government, sorry, a wicked nation, be sure he's going to put in a wicked minister. He's going to put in a wicked government, okay? You know, God gives fit, you know, whatever the way the nation is, to put in a government that represents that nation. You know, if we have a wicked nation, you're going to have wicked kings. You have a godly, God-fearing nation, you're going to have a godly leader. You know, these things are known. When you think that maybe God can't step in and heal somebody because he doesn't have authority, well, you don't have faith. But listen, when you understand that he has authority over all things, over your life, you can be considered as someone of great faith. Let's go to Romans chapter 4 now. Romans chapter 4 verse 19. Romans chapter 4 verse 19. Romans chapter 4 verse number 19. There is another man that is mentioned as having strong faith, and I want to consider this person. Of course, the person I'm going to be looking at here is Abraham. Abraham. Romans chapter 4 verse number 19. It says here, and being not weak in faith. So Abraham was not weak in faith, right? He considered not his own body now dead when he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. So why is this being brought up? Why is this being brought up? Because God promised Abraham that he would have a child, okay? So we know that story, and yet here, Abraham is 100 years old, okay? His wife has a deadness of womb, like she's gone past menopause. She can't, you know, have children. She's way too old to have children, but it says here in verse number 19, he considered not his own body now dead. You know, he didn't look at his old body and say, He still had faith that God would give him that promised child, is what I'm trying to say. And so what do we start off here, brethren? We walk by faith, not by sight. You know, if Abraham was a man that walked by sight, he would have said, Well, I'm just too old. My wife, she can't have babies. She's too old. You know, he would have said and just not believed in the promise that God gave. And so listen, Abraham was not weak in faith. He did not look at sight. He did not consider what was physical. He said, Well, God can perform a miracle if he promised it's going to happen. Look at verse number 20. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform. So what makes us strong in faith, brethren, when we see what God promises in his word and we believe it, we believe that God would perform the things that he promised. That's what makes us strong in faith. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is coming back? If you were to ask me, I would say without a shadow of doubt. I have no idea. Sorry, I have no doubts. I have no doubt that Jesus Christ is coming back. Why? You know, I've never seen Jesus, have I? I've never seen him with these eyes. You know, I wasn't here 2,000 years ago when he walked the earth and was born of a virgin when he was crucified and resurrected. I didn't see any of that, brethren. Did you see that? I believe it happened. I believe it 100% that it happened. I believe Jesus walked this earth, was crucified, and rose again as much as I can see you, brethren, but I don't believe that out of sight. You don't believe that out of sight. We believe that by faith. You know, that's why we're saved because we put our faith on something we cannot see, and yet we know that God promises us a home in heaven. We know that God promises us that Jesus Christ one day will come back and establish his 1,000-year kingdom and that one day God will create a new heaven and a new earth, and we're going to be for all eternity with God in that wonderful place. I believe that without doubt. Otherwise, I'd not be a pastor. I would not be here preaching these things if I did not believe it, right? And so when we believe God's word, even though we have not seen it, that's us acting out of faith. That's us being strong in faith. So what am I telling you, brethren? I'm telling you this. When you have options in your life, and we all have options. We can all do this or that, this and that, right? When you have an idea and you think, I need to do this. This is something I need to do. What do you do then? You take that thought. You take that idea. You go to God's word, which is his promise to us. We go to his word, and you say, Well, Lord, can you show me if this is the right decision? Lord, can you just make it clear to me? You know, is this based? Is this consistent? Is this compatible with your word? And if you find that it is not compatible with his word, and you still do it, that's you of little faith. That's you not trusting and following what God has told us in his word. What I'm telling you, brethren, is that walking in faith is always compatible to the Bible. And so you'll always find the answer. You'll find the solution. You'll find the principle. You'll find the application of your current life in the word of God. There is nothing new under the sun. You know, this coronavirus, you know, potentially losing our rights. This is nothing new. I mean, read your Bibles. People lost their rights all the time. You know, God would allow many times his people to be taken into captivity, you know, to go into wars where there were troubling nations removing the rights of his people. It's nothing new. You know, the things we go through, brethren, are the same things we all go through or that generations before us have gone through. Hey, it's what the Old Testament saints have gone through. It's what the New Testament saints have gone through. And so you're going to find the answers to your issue in the word of God. And when you believe what God has promised, you walk in his ways, you are showing yourself to be someone strong in the faith. Can we please turn to the book of Romans now, Romans chapter 12. We're going to conclude on this one. I'm almost done. Romans chapter 12 and verse number 3. Romans chapter 12 and verse number 3. Romans chapter 12 is a passage that we're going to spend some time through over these 12 months while I'm here. Okay? Because it's good to walk by faith and to live by faith, but hey, you are here at Blessed Hope Baptist Church. You know, I hope you consider this church your church. I hope you don't have the attitude and say, well, that's Pastor Kevin's church. That's the Sepulveda's church. You know, I hope when you think of Blessed Hope Baptist Church, you think of it, now this is my home church. This is where I belong. This is where God has put me. And if God has put you here, it's because you're here for a purpose. You're not here to just fill up a seat. You're here to live out your faith, to live, to walk in faith as you serve this local body. And listen, the body of God, of Jesus, of Christ is the local church and when you serve one another, you're serving Jesus Christ. That's what's so good about church. You and I, we may not always get along. You know, we may not, I don't know, it happens. It doesn't happen in church when people don't get along. Hey, but brethren, when you serve one another, when you just love one another despite that, you are serving Jesus Christ. You know, if you make a decision to ignore, brother, so I want nothing to do with that God, I'm never even gonna say hello to him when I walk in. Hey, that's you ignoring Jesus Christ. You know, the way you treat one another in the local body is how you are treating Jesus Christ because this is the body of Christ. Okay? Now, with that in mind, Romans chapter 12, verse number three, it says, For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. So we start with this idea. If we're gonna walk in faith, we better not be people full of pride, think so highly of ourselves, oh man, you know what, if not for me, you know, if Baptist church would not work out, you know, we should not have that attitude about ourselves, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man, the measure of faith. You know, since you've been saved, God has given you a measure of faith. God gives you something and says, this is a measure of faith for you and now with that measure of faith, you need to take that, what God has given you and live that out, walking according to that faith that Christ has given you. Now you say, what is that? Well, let's have a look. Verse number four, as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office. So listen, we're one body, but we don't all have the same office. We're not all pastors. We're not all preachers. We're not all able to do the same work that everybody is, you know, that everybody does. We don't have the same office. Verse number five, so we being many, our one body in Christ and everyone members one of another, now look at verse number six, having then gifts different according to the grace that is given to us. So now we understand when it says in verse number three that God has dealt to everyone the measure of faith. When we read verse number six, it explains that these are gifts given to us by the grace of God. You know what? Since you've been saved, God has given you gifts. Hey, maybe you have one gift. Maybe you have two. Maybe you have five. Maybe you have ten. You know, we're all gifted differently. So what are we to do with this gift or this measure of faith that God has given us? It says here, whether prophesy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith, or ministry, ministry serving, let us wait on our ministering, or hear that teacheth on teaching, or hear that exhorteth, what is it to exhort, to build and courage? Now some people are just real encouragers. You get around somebody, you talk to someone, and you just, I've been encouraged by that person. Hey, some people have been given that gift, or hear that exhorteth on exhortation, hear that giveth. Hey, some people can give more financially to a church than somebody else. Hear that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. Hear that ruleth with diligence. Hear that showeth mercy with chieffulness. And so what this is teaching us, brethren, is that we're all many members of one body, the body of Christ, the local church, and God has given us all a different measure of faith. And by this measure of faith, we're being given gifts to live out this faith. And brethren, so what I want to challenge you with this afternoon, and even we're going to be looking at this passage again and again throughout the year, over the next 12 months. Why are you here? Why are you at Blessed Baptist Church? You might say, well, to hear the preaching. Yeah, great. You know, to sing praises to God, great. You know, to learn more of the Bible. Yeah, that's awesome. Okay? Once you have established those are the reasons you're coming, then you say, well, I must be here for a reason. God has sent me here in Blessed Baptist Church. God has given me a gift. You need to figure out what that is. You know, what is it that God has left you to do? Is it to be someone that is just merciful? He's that show of mercy with cheerfulness. Maybe you're somebody that, hey, you know, when someone's having a hard time, you know, some people might not fully relate to that person, may not necessarily show the mercy that that person needs, but you might be that person that has been given that gift of mercy. And you're somebody that can help a downtrodden Christian. Maybe that's your gift. You know, not everybody's gift is to get behind the pulpit and song lead and preach and whatever. You know, not every gift is public and visible. You know, just the person that picks up the rubbish and vacuums and tidies up, and, hey, that person, hey, he's serving the body. That person is serving Jesus Christ. Maybe that's your gift. And so what I want you to think about, Reverend, then, if we've all been given a measure of faith, we've all been given a gift by God, and none of them, they're all different. We all have different offices. You need to figure out how can I serve Blessed Baptist Church? How can I walk by faith? How can I live by faith as I serve this local body of Christ? All right, brethren, I'll leave it there for you. Once again, we walk by faith, not by sight. Don't forget to go to God's Word and confirm whether the decisions you're making, the path you're walking, is in light with His Word. That would be someone of great faith. Let's pray.