The Danger of Self-Powered Faith: A Theological Audit

"for by grace and remember what we said by grace this on this unmerited abounding abounding when something's abounding it's increasing right abounding provision it continues to abound because you continue to live and and and grace will continue to increase and and grace upon grace upon grace this on on this this this this unlimited abounding provision in the unrestricted operation of the love of God that operates through Jesus Christ for mankind, especially for those who depend on him. I woke up this morning and reminded myself, I need you today. I depend on you today, Lord. Amen. And so he says, for by grace, you have been saved through faith and this is not of yourselves it is the gift of God not a result of works so that no one may boast a lot of things that are available in our life they are not a result of our works but that doesn't mean that they're not works they're not a you don't let me go and say it you don't add works to faith in order for faith to work. If you've received the faith of God, then from that faith, good works will flow. They'll be inspired to work in your life. That's how that works. So actually faith is going to add works to you and you don't have to add works to faith for faith to work. Faith works by making sure you understand you are his workmanship and it is prompted by that saving faith to produce good works. You follow what I'm saying? We'll dig deeper in that. And this is not of yourselves. It is, it is the gift of God. I think sometimes in the body of Christ, we have problems receiving gifts. When something's a gift, it's not required for you to do something to earn it. Neither is it required for you to allow the conviction or the, the, the shame of saying, well, you know, I didn't get you nothing. So you just can't receive because you feel obligated to, to, to, to reciprocate whatever came your way and learn how to receive a gift, learn how to receive a gift. Praise God. I've been gifted with something from God. I've been gifted with finished works. Jesus went all went through everything he went through so I can receive a gift. And you just, you just have this issue about receiving, learn how to receive the gift and and keep it moving praise the lord somebody say i'm a receiver amen it is the gift of god not a result of works so that no man no one may boast for we are his workmanship we're created in the anointed jesus we're created in the anointed jesus for good works it'll flow from this gift of salvation all right which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them now look at this in the mirror translation he says your salvation is not a reward for good behavior now listen your once you once you understand your identity your behavior will follow your identity we got the other way around we we we continue to allow our behavior to try to dictate who we are so if you do something bad then immediately you'll you'll say well I must be bad because I did something bad no no no no you you've you got don't have an identity collapse hold on to who you are and the behavior will follow the identity I am the righteousness of God even when you you find areas you weren't doing right. Just maintain the behavior and the behavior will change because it's following your identity. But if he can cause you to have an identity collapse, then you're back where you started from allowing your behavior to tell you who you are. It's important. Your salvation is not a reward for good behavior. Your salvation is not a reward. If our salvation was a reward for good behavior none of us wouldn't get it it was a grace thing from start to finish you had no hand in it even the gift even the gift to believe simply reflects his faith if this could be accomplished through any action of yours then there would be ground for boasting so we we we want to look at this and and you know last night we got you know covered by grace by grace you're saved but i want to i want to look at this through faith bit and then look at the works bit so uh look at john chapter 15 4 let's let's look at that one more time that's all a review I'm going to give you. [John 15](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+15&version=KJV) four. Uh, Ooh, boy, we have been on the road and I mean to tell you, I am going to take three days. I'm already home on the couch. Look at this. [John 15](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+15&version=KJV) four. He says, abide in me and I, and you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. No more can you accept you abide in me being sensitive to the fact that he says I'm the vine you the branches then he talks about abiding again again to abide is not spiritual activity to abide is spiritual awareness you are aware of your connection you are aware of your union with God you are aware that your union with God it it it's it's your identity I have union with God I will never wake up again feeling distance from him glory to God I am in him and he is in me and we have union one together he speaks to me I talk to him he leads me I yield I follow him I don't tell him hey God I got a good idea come follow me no no no no no I yield and I follow him we are in union together I don't have to scream so he can hear me and I don't have to keep looking up like he's in outer space somewhere man he's on the inside of me and before i even say something he already knows what i'm gonna say because he's in me praise god amen i'm a branch he that abideth in me and i in him the same bringing forth you bring forth much fruit and so what happens is you're you're going to be faced with doing things from a transactional point of view versus doing things from a relational point of view there are certain things that are going to automatically flow into your life because you are sensitive to this union that you have with him as the source and and it floats in other words i don't have to be good watch this this is striving i don't have to be good to get good because he is good and I have union with him goodness flows in my life glory be to God it flows in my life because of the relationship it's the relationship be careful that your head's not full of a bunch of principles and you have no relationship with the one that is the source of all those principles All right. All right. So God placed humanity in Christ. Let's do start off with some reading. I got to show you these things. God placed humanity in Christ. So this was God's work, not ours. He placed humanity in Christ. Look at First Corinthians, chapter one and verse 30. Let's look at that first. First Corinthians, chapter one and verse 30. I'm so hungry to feed you this morning. I just want to feed you I want to put I want to cook I want to get some some spiritual collard greens and black eyed peas and put some yams on the side and some cornbread and and if you don't mind a little kool-aid on the owner I want to feed you I want you to burp when you go out of here don't literally do that and that's how I want to feed people I'm I'm I want to entertain folks I want to feed you i want you to eat first corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30 says now look at this now he's the one that's responsible for uh for doing the works this was god's works not ours and look what he did but of him are you what's this in christ he because him you're in christ and remember when you're in Christ, you share in, um, in the accomplishments of Christ. I'm in Christ. I share in everything that he has accomplished, uh, because of him, I share in, and he goes on, he says, who of God is made unto us wisdom. I share in that he's made unto us righteousness. I share in that I'm in him, uh, and sanctification, same Greek word there for holiness. I share in it see you're going around trying to be holy and you already are holy and you won't share with you share with share with me in this holiness he has been made unto us redemption all these things he's been made for us to share in him so God is the one who placed humanity in Christ through the cross and through resurrection and so salvation begins with God's action not human effort but with God's action let me read the a little more of this in the in the mirror bible he says I'm gonna read verse 25 through 31 he says it seems so foolish that God should die mankind's death on the cross. It seems so weak of God to suffer such insult. Yet their wisest schemes and most powerful display of genius cannot even begin to comprehend or compete with God in his weakest moment on the cross. You might as well admit it, my friends. It was not your academic qualifications or your good looks or social connections that influenced God to represent you in Christ. isn't that good it is almost as if God deliberately hand-picked the wacky of this world to embrace the wise the rejects to put to shame the noble the ones with no pedigree of any prominence the nobodies in society attracted God's initiative to unveil his blueprint opinion in order to redefine mankind. Thus he rendered any other social standard entirely irrelevant, redundant, and inappropriate. Every reason for someone's boasting in themselves dwindles into insignificance before God. Of God's doing are we in Christ. He is both the genesis and the genius of our wisdom a wisdom that reveals how righteous sanctified and redeemed we already are in him he is our claim to fame when you understand that you are in Christ everybody say I'm in Christ things start changing there's something about spending time meditating on this i'm in christ i share in his accomplishments he was made for me these things i share in that i'm in christ and i'm not talking about remember it when you're at church having a good time remember it then but also remember it when you're being challenged there should be nothing out of the ordinary when you are facing certain temptations testings or trials i mean the Bible says the godly shall suffer persecution. Shouldn't be a surprise. Some Christians act surprised when that happens. How do I say this? Well, I just say it. You cannot mature in the comfort zone only. So sometimes in the midst of discomfort, you will discover opportunities to mature oh but wait a minute i i walk by faith yeah so you can have some in discomfort so don't be afraid of discomfort don't be afraid of because the satan is a defeated foe i'm not i'm not afraid of trouble in this world you'll have tribulation but notice what we do in tribulation we are of good cheer because we remember who we are identity remembers it takes you out. But don't think you're supposed to be floating on the cloud and having a straw and a bottle of Coca-Cola and just chilling out. When Jesus got here, he was led in the wilderness by the devil to be tempted. And you show up like, well, I don't expect none of that to happen to me. Well, if it doesn't happen to you, I guarantee you, you're still going to be some little old boo-boo in the pamper Christian that can't handle nothing because you refuse to grow in the midst of discomfort we must mature I have a bunch of little babies running around in the body of Christ taking offense slandering one another well I don't appreciate you this because you know you having you having you your own individual problems you know you still hadn't gotten over the inferiority that you've been dealing with and so you have to you know uh to get a false sense of superiority to try to handle your inferiority. And what happens, you start developing a fake intimacy through the covers, and you're afraid somebody's going to move the cover and find out that you ain't really what you pretend to be. Oh, I apologize. I didn't mean to say all that. Thus, the phoniness that continues to increase at church. Can't tell what, you know, hey, brother, how you doing? This is the day the Lord has born. I ain't ask you all that. I just ask you how you know it. I have to be careful when I get a little tired that my mouth just kind of, my wife's watching me right now. She said, y'all, he need to go to sleep. Look at him. He getting real honest. So when you understand that you are in Christ, I can't tell you how important that is. Your identity and learning how to live from your identity, even in the midst of a challenge, even in the midst of pressure, learning how to live from your identity. When your physical body is under attack with sickness and disease i make a point i am in christ ducks say you're sick that ain't me no more he says what are you talking about you don't need to know that but that ain't me no more this is who i am i'm healed and i'm protecting my health from sickness and disease that's trying to take what's already mine healing's already mine i said healing's already mine so a couple things happen when when you when you get a hold of i'm in christ and this is something you rehearse to yourself I'm in Christ that's not me anymore this is my identity I'm in Christ that's not me anymore and then knowing what it means to be in Christ I'm in Christ I I I have a right to everything he's accomplished I'm in Christ so here's the first thing that happens when you get a hold of that number one you stop trying to to earn God's approval I'm in Christ I don't need to try to earn God's approval he's already approved of me I'm accepted in his beloved. I don't need to earn it anymore. I need to receive it. It's a gift. I'm going to go ahead and take it. All right. Number two, you live from righteousness rather than striving for righteousness. I live from it. I am the righteousness of God. Remember we talked about living in the realm of the finished. I am the righteousness of God. So now I'm going to start living from that by participating in what has already been finished. And I'm going to strive Strive. Well, actually, I'm going to show you in a minute. I'm not going to strive. I'm going to rest. See, I'm going to live from righteousness and not having to strive for righteousness. That's what I want to say. I mean, I already am. How much effort are you putting into sitting down right now? There's a seat and you received it, didn't you? Live from righteousness. Number three, you develop confidence before God think about what happens to your confidence when when you're waking up every day I'm in Christ today thank you Lord I'm in Christ today thank you Lord that that uh I have access to everything that you've accomplished today I'm telling you the number one place of attack is going to be that identity and who you are I'm in Christ you remind yourself it's it's it's remembering it's remembering and and and and rehearsing it's remembering and rehearsing it's remembering and and and and rehearsing now somebody says well i just thought you just said it's driving i'm getting ready to show you the difference between resting and laboring to rest isn't it interesting when it says rest and then it turns around and says labor well how does that how does that work together you see like i told you it's participating in what he's already finished for us all right effort is still required not it's just not the effort to try to accomplish what Jesus has already accomplished but there are things that are going to flow from righteousness flow from my new identity flow from even the Holy Spirit helping me to do that I asked the Lord show me how to participate in what you finish I might not be real clear on what to do to participate in the finish. Holy Spirit, help me to know what to do to participate in what you've already finished for me, Lord. Amen. And then finally, your identity will shift. It'll shift from sin consciousness to Christ consciousness or son, S-O-N consciousness. sin consciousness is a mindset that focuses on your faults your failures and your shortcomings it's a mindset and please understand that transformation in your life takes place in your mind but if you wake up sin conscious every day where you are focused on my failures my faults and my shortcomings, then you're not going to be focusing on your Christ consciousness, son consciousness, that you are delivered, that you are saved, that you have a new identity. You follow what I'm saying? And then you invite condemnation, shame, all that stuff to come back in because you are sin conscious. And so what happens is you got born again, but you never, never dealt with the software. You know what happens? The phone gives you an indication there's time for an update and you just ignore it and then the phone just starts freaking out just doing all kinds of stuff hey siri and siri say what you want i'm like girl you done lost your mind talking to me like didn't i tell you to address me as sir and that's what's happening with a lot of christians you you're there it requires an update you you have a new creation you are um uh you have a you you are new in him amen and but at the same time it's like dude you know you're still sin conscious some of you ask God to forgive you for sin before you even leave the house you wake up Lord forgive me for my sins that I hadn't even done yet well you're expecting to do it you're no better than the guy that had to go uh uh during the time of sacrifice and and and and bring an acceptable sacrifice to cover their sins but as soon as they they were on their way home the husband and wife had a fight now they gotta wait a whole year to go and get that taken care of. So they're conscious about that fight after the sacrifice for a whole year. That's sin conscious. How long are you going to focus on your faults, your failures, and your shortcomings? Okay, you did it. It happened. It's called life. stuff happens in life but you don't focus on it where is your focus you don't focus on on the faults and here's the thing here's what you got to understand God God knew about all that stuff you were going to do and he still called you we got to get rid of the sin consciousness we can't hardly we can't serve God with a sin conscious well you know brother Lala I'm just a sinner saved by grace. Well, which one are you? I'm confused. Which one are you? Because the Bible says that, you know, we're saints and you keep thinking, well, I can't be a saint because according to the Catholic church, you have to do such and such. No, no, no, no, no. But according to Jesus, he has a gift. I'm a saint. It's a gift. They have to earn sainthood. I'm a saint because of what Jesus has done. And I'm no longer referring to myself as a sinner. I'm referring to myself as a saint praise god i'm a saint you are a saint and every now and then you need to remind the devil you know who you're talking to you know you're talking to it ain't no creflo that's saint creflo to you saint creflo don't go don't name your baby saint creflo don't don't do that okay all right now so in christ and it means humanity has been brought into union with the life the righteousness and the victory of jesus and then the new birth is the awakening oh boy and the participation in that union the awakening and the participation in that union you know what's going you know give me how to say this lord salvation was made available to the whole world. The only difference between the guy down at the bar and us is that we have awakened out of the coma and they're still in the coma. That's why it's given to us the ministry of waking people up from the coma. Reconciliation. The Bible says awake unto righteousness and sin no more. Awake unto righteousness. I'm sure a lot of us can remember when we were in the coma. We were not awakened to it. Now, please don't confuse this with universalism, which says, well, you know, you're already saved and you ain't got to do none. You just saved and you don't know it. No, you got to believe. No, you got to receive. No, you got to walk through the door and make a decision to live in the house. Salvation has been made. Any man that'll make his mind up, you know, I'm going to receive that. Now, lately, I've been meeting people, some very interesting things happened. This one guy, don't go to church, nobody in his family was saved. He wasn't born again. After work, got in his truck, sat in the front seat, felt the presence of God in the truck and gave his heart to Jesus. All right, I got a point I want to show you here now. Somebody said, I found the Lord. The Lord wasn't lost. The Lord wasn't in a coma. He found you. And I want to remind you that Jesus still knows how to find those who need to be found. If you won't let him use you, he still knows how to save people. He still knows how to show up when even if you don't show up, he still knows how to do it. I keep meaning folks that, that God visits them in the room and, and, and, and things happen because there's something about the presence of the Holy Spirit calling you out of your coma. so awake unto righteousness awake unto salvation awake unto your union with God awake girl put you to sleep don't let scrolling put you to sleep don't let the internet put you to sleep don't let these crazy crazy advice from podcasts put you to sleep awake unto righteousness and sin no more wake up now back let's go back to [Ephesians 2](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+2&version=KJV) and and uh 8 so we were saved somebody said you ever gonna get out of that no I told you we gonna milk this thing Ephesians chapter 2 and 8 he says by by grace are you saved so remember now by grace he reveals to us who we are saved healed sound preservation restoration grace reveals who we are let me say it like this Jesus reveals who we are and then now watch this watch this carefully Jesus reveals who we are through faith. So he reveals to us who we are and through faith persuades us to believe it. It's the faith that persuades us to believe what grace has revealed to us. For by grace, I am the saved reveals to me who I am and through faith I'm being persuaded to believe it through God's faith through the source of faith is now being released to the recipients of faith and he gives me a gift to be able to take something that I wasn't even equipped to take i'm gonna tell you something i used to i remember this i used to in my little hothead days as a young 20 something year old preacher i get up there and healing anointing come on me i'm like don't come down here if you don't have no faith and i remember last time i said that god said don't say that i said well lord they gotta have faith he said no don't say that i said why he said why do you think somebody outside seemed to be able to come in the church and get healed quicker than somebody that's been in the church for 20 years I said I don't know he said they're struggling to receive what I've already done but that guy that just came from outside I can equip him with what he don't have to receive what he came down here to get I stopped doing that I said come on down for prayer healing and if and if you're having problems believe it just come on down anyway I'm believing God as they walk down there God's equipping them with what they need to receive. You got to be careful not to tell God what he can and can't do. And then you got to remember, look at what he did for you. Look at where you are. Honey, you don't look like what you've been through, huh? You don't look like what you've been through. A lot of people look at you, have no idea that you have been through what you've been through. But man, you ought to go and give God some praise because you sit here and you don't look like what you've been through. They don't know you've been homeless. They don't know you lost your job. They don't know you on your last can of beanie weenies. You don't look like what you've been through. They don't know you were raped and molested. They don't know all of that. You don't look like what you've been through. Glory be to God. He deserves the glory and the praise because look at you now. You have the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. All right. All right. So in verse eight, when he talks about through faith, I mean, what does this mean? This particular Greek word, of course, it means to trust. It means to have confidence. It means to have reliance. But one of the strongest meanings in the Greek for this word is being persuaded. Paul often uses faith in the sense of being convinced of what God has revealed. Look at [Romans 4](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+4&version=KJV) and 21, being convinced of what God has revealed are you convinced that you are the saved the delivered are you convinced about the realm of the finished [Romans 4](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+4&version=KJV) 21 said being fully persuaded that what he promised he was able also to perform Abraham was fully persuaded and this is biblical faith he was fully persuaded head now look at something here all right here we go Galatians chapter 2 and 20 [Galatians 2](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+2&version=KJV) and verse verse 20 um remember the envelope uh example for last night I needed a Benjamin and I gave him I said so I told my son I said I forgot I said I ain't got a Benjamin in my wallet and he like what you talking about I said ain't Benjamin face on a hundred dollar bill I said I need a Benjamin boy reached over and gave me a Benjamin I'm like oh praise God so I got a Benjamin so I could use it in that illustration then I had to get a Benjamin back to him take him out the envelope and give him no he didn't ask for it but I just started thinking about the number of people that jump out the envelope turn your neighbor say don't jump out don't jump out the envelope stay where Benjamin is amen all right now look at this [Galatians 2](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+2&version=KJV) 20 I'm crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live this life by the faith of the son of God I'm living by the faith of the son of God the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me so now this is interesting how this was written. Son is a genitive noun, which means he owns the word or the thing that comes before it, which in this case is the faith. The son owns the faith. He owns all of it. We live in the son's faith we live our lives here on earth in a finished perfect faith because i live by the faith of the son of god which is finished which is perfect it is his faith in us and even the word in in the greek is not spelled i n is spelled e n and it denotes what's this rest. Now follow me. We live our lives resting in his faith. No more wondering if I have enough faith. I only need to live resting in his faith. I live my life resting in his faith. Now watch this [hebrews 4](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews+4&version=KJV) verse 10 through 11 in the um let's go king james first and then mirror [hebrews 4](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews+4&version=KJV) 10 and 11 king james says for he that is entered into his rest he also has ceased from his own works as god did from his let us labor therefore underline labor because we need to see what that looks like in our in everyday living what does labor look like in everyday living ain't gonna do me no good to get in deep with you what labor is no what does it look like let us labor therefore to enter into that rest lest any man fall after the same example of of unbelief now rest is not inactivity every time i teach this somebody talking about well like pastor said you just you need to go on a vacation and rest. That ain't what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about resting from work. I'm talking about resting in it. All right, now listen to me. So rest is aligning your mindset with the finished works of Jesus. I picture the satellite dish on your your roof when it is aligned part up properly with the signal you you gain reception all right but if a storm comes through and knocks your satellite satellite off alignment out of alignment then you're not receiving so there's nothing changed on the other end except what needs to be aligned somebody got to get on the roof and and get it back in alignment and once in alignment you can receive is it possible that some of the stuff you hadn't received yet is because you've been out of alignment so then he comes and he says let us labor therefore to enter into the rest he didn't say labor to prosper he didn't say labor to get healed he didn't say labor to be delivered He said labor to rest. Why? Because all that's already finished. Labor to align yourself and to rest in what's already finished, in what's already gifted to you. Can you align your mind with what's already done? Or have you allowed the trauma, the trouble, and the storms of life to knock you out of alignment and you just can't seem to recover and while you're going around you know oh wanting pity and all those things and i'm not insensitive to what you're going through please don't misunderstand me but you need to hurry up and get an alignment yeah let me uh there's something here it went by me as a bush the way to tell or to measure spiritual growth in your life is how quickly you can bounce back to what's true. Watch this now. I am the righteousness of God. And then you got out of alignment. Now, how long are you going to stay over here and let condemnation get on you and let shame get on you and let guilt get on you? How quickly can you bounce back to I'm the righteousness of God? And that's going to be important. That's going to show you how much growth you really have had in your life. It's going to be based on how quick you bounce back. Turn your neighbor and say, bounce back. Some of y'all have been out of alignment for a year. It's time to bounce back. It's time to bounce. That really is going to tell about your spiritual maturity. How quick, and I know it feels uncomfortable. It feels hypocritical. It feels, oh, I just don't feel like. Stop going by your feelings you got to go by what's true not by how you feel so so when you get out of alignment I'm the righteousness of God and then you're out of alignment how long are you gonna stay out of alignment you've been out you've been out of alignment longer than you have the last time that means you ain't maturing at all but when you really mature there'll be a bounce back in your life. There'll be a bounce back, praise God. Hallelujah. Yeah, I missed that. Yeah, I was negotiating with doubt. How many of you found yourself negotiating with doubt? Bounce back. This is true. Well, Lord, I don't know. You never know. Well, you got it. No, just get on back over there. The truth is that I'm the righteousness of God. That's the only reason you're saying it because it's true. You're not trying to convince God. He's already convinced. It's time to bounce back. You need to become bounce back Christians. You may knock me offline, but I'm going to bounce back. What does it say? A righteous man falls seven times, but he bounced back every time. Now, eventually you're going to start bouncing back quicker. And then eventually you're going to find yourself. I don't need to bounce back because I ain't leaving him. I don't like, I don't like what happens when I do. I don't, I don't, I'm tired of bouncing back. I'm, I just I'm just gonna stay instead of bouncing back well brother dollar you know ah just keep it because here's the deal whatever little nice little greek word you can come up with to try to tell me how wrong I am I only have one thing I want you to think about how's it working for you see I've been in the kitchen cooking this for 45 years I've been cooking and trying out different recipes and I now know the true recipe for oatmeal cookies. I know the real recipe for oatmeal cookies. I done tried all these other ones and I went to cook it because it was written down. It all looked like it was the truth until I went in the kitchen and followed the recipe and found out it didn't produce the outcome that they said it was supposed to produce. But boy, when you take the word and go in the kitchen and start cooking that thing up and when it come out like it's supposed to come out. So don't tell me about your little new Greek word. Have you been in the kitchen cooking? Praise God. Come on, Grace gang. Have you been in the kitchen cooking? Don't want to eat all that tomfoolery. Wow. What side of the bed you got up on this morning? The right side. And if I got up on the wrong side, I'm going to bounce back on the right side because I'm a bounce back Christian. I am not standing that with listen this is important do not leave wisdom in the wilderness everything that you learned while you were going through what you were going through that's wisdom you can add to your life don't leave the wisdom yeah things have happened yeah things have gone on yeah but you got wisdom you know something now that maybe you didn't know before don't leave that wisdom in the wilderness bring it with you see how much time I got you don't never want me to take my time all right so now let's deal with this thing let us labor therefore to enter in to the rest or even to stay so what does that look like labor to rest it looks like when i'm when i'm out of alignment labor spending time in scripture that covers the truth that's a labor prayer fasting and meditation that's that's what labor looks like being part of a community of believers i forgot what book i think i wrote a book about true faith and i kept re-emphasizing i tried to do it every chapter community community community because community is not just church attendance there there can be community in church but you need to you need to locate your tribe some people that can speak into you and you can speak into them all right now alpha I I've been I've been having this bounce back thing come on I I you know gonna be honest with me well you you ain't you you're not spending no time with God that's what's going on you you have a relationship but after you leave us you don't relate now it's an opportunity to be offended or it's an opportunity to grow confrontation it doesn't have to be negative confrontation can be positive for the one who's confronting and the one that's being confronted but a lot of people that's very that's too uncomfortable for me I'm not I'm not ready for that. And I'm a very confrontive type of person, and I have to, my wife's like, all right, can't everybody handle you now, so calm down. Thank God I have a wife that's in some ways completely opposite of me, so I got somebody to see me and call me on the carpet about the story I keep telling myself. Uh-oh, I got to go somewhere now, where Brother Dollar, you know, I don't have ego and pride okay so here's the deal ego and pride is sitting at your table that ain't a question you just got to make sure it doesn't sit at the head of the table trying to determine and make decisions for you and check out that story you keep telling yourself I'm awesome I'm wonderful I don't know what the issue is you is the issue okay let me hurry up getting too honest too being part of a community of believers man it's awesome that they you have a convention and you can call your gang up and y'all, hey, let's meet at the Believer's Convention. And you begin to reinforce things one another. You hear a message and y'all go eat lunch over it. And it's just an awesome, awesome thing to be able to do that. You were wired a certain way by God. You were wired according to your purpose and what God designed you for. so don't ever feel like you're weird because you hadn't located other people who have the same wiring that you have ask God to Lord show me show me some wiring that I can relate to be honest I mean come on you know well you're Christian you're supposed baby relate to everybody no you don't they're just no you're not supposed to it's like you know hey how you doing uh I'm good me my wife coming over we're gonna spend a week with you ah no you locate your wiring you locate you now that doesn't mean to be mean to people all right you follow what I'm saying sometimes feel like I have to qualify these strange comments that I make in the middle of it and then after a while I'm like whatever you're gonna think what you want to think it's like if somebody tells me you don't like me I'm not gonna waste time trying to convince you to like me because you've already decided you don't like me so why would I waste my time and energy to try to convince you you don't like me to me that's that's weird and as Christian people let's just try not to be weird all the time Christian and Jesus is the Lord well I'm glad I am so glad and I agree with you but you startled me coming up behind me like that and I thought I was gonna have to put my hands on you I didn't know what was going on holy spirit help them to see what i'm trying to say that i may not be as may not be doing a good job of saying it but just kind of help them to see that i'm not talking about resting from work. I'm talking about resting in it. All right, now listen to me. So rest is aligning your mindset with the finished works of Jesus. I picture the satellite dish on your your roof when it is aligned part up properly with the signal you you gain reception all right but if a storm comes through and knocks your satellite satellite off alignment out of alignment then you're not receiving so there's nothing changed on the other end except what needs to be aligned somebody got to get on the roof and and get it back in alignment and once in alignment you can receive is it possible that some of the stuff you hadn't received yet is because you've been out of alignment so then he comes and he says let us labor therefore to enter into the rest he didn't say labor to prosper he didn't say labor to get healed he didn't say labor to be delivered He said labor to rest. Why? Because all that's already finished. Labor to align yourself and to rest in what's already finished, in what's already gifted to you. Can you align your mind with what's already done? Or have you allowed the trauma, the trouble, and the storms of life to knock you out of alignment and you just can't seem to recover and while you're going around you know oh wanting pity and all those things and i'm not insensitive to what you're going through please don't misunderstand me but you need to hurry up and get an alignment yeah let me uh there's something here it went by me as a bush the way to tell or to measure spiritual growth in your life is how quickly you can bounce back to what's true. Watch this now. I am the righteousness of God. And then you got out of alignment. Now, how long are you going to stay over here and let condemnation get on you and let shame get on you and let guilt get on you? How quickly can you bounce back to I'm the righteousness of God? And that's going to be important. That's going to show you how much growth you really have had in your life. It's going to be based on how quick you bounce back. Turn your neighbor and say, bounce back. Some of y'all have been out of alignment for a year. It's time to bounce back. It's time to bounce. That really is going to tell about your spiritual maturity. How quick, and I know it feels uncomfortable. It feels hypocritical. It feels, oh, I just don't feel like. Stop going by your feelings you got to go by what's true not by how you feel so so when you get out of alignment I'm the righteousness of God and then you're out of alignment how long are you gonna stay out of alignment you've been out you've been out of alignment longer than you have the last time that means you ain't maturing at all but when you really mature there'll be a bounce back in your life. There'll be a bounce back, praise God. Hallelujah. Yeah, I missed that. Yeah, I was negotiating with doubt. How many of you found yourself negotiating with doubt? Bounce back. This is true. Well, Lord, I don't know. You never know. Well, you got it. No, just get on back over there. The truth is that I'm the righteousness of God. That's the only reason you're saying it because it's true. You're not trying to convince God. He's already convinced. It's time to bounce back. You need to become bounce back Christians. You may knock me offline, but I'm going to bounce back. What does it say? A righteous man falls seven times, but he bounced back every time. Now, eventually you're going to start bouncing back quicker. And then eventually you're going to find yourself. I don't need to bounce back because I ain't leaving him. I don't like, I don't like what happens when I do. I don't, I don't, I'm tired of bouncing back. I'm, I just I'm just gonna stay instead of bouncing back well brother dollar you know ah just keep it because here's the deal whatever little nice little greek word you can come up with to try to tell me how wrong I am I only have one thing I want you to think about how's it working for you see I've been in the kitchen cooking this for 45 years I've been cooking and trying out different recipes and I now know the true recipe for oatmeal cookies. I know the real recipe for oatmeal cookies. I done tried all these other ones and I went to cook it because it was written down. It all looked like it was the truth until I went in the kitchen and followed the recipe and found out it didn't produce the outcome that they said it was supposed to produce. But boy, when you take the word and go in the kitchen and start cooking that thing up and when it come out like it's supposed to come out. So don't tell me about your little new Greek word. Have you been in the kitchen cooking? Praise God. Come on, Grace gang. Have you been in the kitchen cooking? Don't want to eat all that tomfoolery. Wow. What side of the bed you got up on this morning? The right side. And if I got up on the wrong side, I'm going to bounce back on the right side because I'm a bounce back Christian. I am not standing that with listen this is important do not leave wisdom in the wilderness everything that you learned while you were going through what you were going through that's wisdom you can add to your life don't leave the wisdom yeah things have happened yeah things have gone on yeah but you got wisdom you know something now that maybe you didn't know before don't leave that wisdom in the wilderness bring it with you see how much time I got you don't never want me to take my time all right so now let's deal with this thing let us labor therefore to enter in to the rest or even to stay so what does that look like labor to rest it looks like when i'm when i'm out of alignment labor spending time in scripture that covers the truth that's a labor prayer fasting and meditation that's that's what labor looks like being part of a community of believers i forgot what book i think i wrote a book about true faith and i kept re-emphasizing i tried to do it every chapter community community community because community is not just church attendance there there can be community in church but you need to you need to locate your tribe some people that can speak into you and you can speak into them all right now alpha I I've been I've been having this bounce back thing come on I I you know gonna be honest with me well you you ain't you you're not spending no time with God that's what's going on you you have a relationship but after you leave us you don't relate now it's an opportunity to be offended or it's an opportunity to grow confrontation it doesn't have to be negative confrontation can be positive for the one who's confronting and the one that's being confronted but a lot of people that's very that's too uncomfortable for me I'm not I'm not ready for that. And I'm a very confrontive type of person, and I have to, my wife's like, all right, can't everybody handle you now, so calm down. Thank God I have a wife that's in some ways completely opposite of me, so I got somebody to see me and call me on the carpet about the story I keep telling myself. Uh-oh, I got to go somewhere now, where Brother Dollar, you know, I don't have ego and pride okay so here's the deal ego and pride is sitting at your table that ain't a question you just got to make sure it doesn't sit at the head of the table trying to determine and make decisions for you and check out that story you keep telling yourself I'm awesome I'm wonderful I don't know what the issue is you is the issue okay let me hurry up getting too honest too being part of a community of believers man it's awesome that they you have a convention and you can call your gang up and y'all, hey, let's meet at the Believer's Convention. And you begin to reinforce things one another. You hear a message and y'all go eat lunch over it. And it's just an awesome, awesome thing to be able to do that. You were wired a certain way by God. You were wired according to your purpose and what God designed you for. so don't ever feel like you're weird because you hadn't located other people who have the same wiring that you have ask God to Lord show me show me some wiring that I can relate to be honest I mean come on you know well you're Christian you're supposed baby relate to everybody no you don't they're just no you're not supposed to it's like you know hey how you doing uh I'm good me my wife coming over we're gonna spend a week with you ah no you locate your wiring you locate you now that doesn't mean to be mean to people all right you follow what I'm saying sometimes feel like I have to qualify these strange comments that I make in the middle of it and then after a while I'm like whatever you're gonna think what you want to think it's like if somebody tells me you don't like me I'm not gonna waste time trying to convince you to like me because you've already decided you don't like me so why would I waste my time and energy to try to convince you you don't like me to me that's that's weird and as Christian people let's just try not to be weird all the time Christian and Jesus is the Lord well I'm glad I am so glad and I agree with you but you startled me coming up behind me like that and I thought I was gonna have to put my hands on you I didn't know what was going on holy spirit help them to see what i'm trying to say that i may not be as may not be doing a good job of saying it but just kind of help them to see that finding your tribe number four labor is praise and worship i'm out of alignment man but boy i get to praising and worshiping god and then all of a thing all of a sudden man my that satellite starts getting back in alignment and i'm starting to receive because i've let all of this stuff i've been carrying with me for the last week it's I let it go I let it go you got to build you got to build some healthy boundaries up healthy boundaries be careful about scrolling all the time that's that's a that's a weird kind of thing it looks so innocent but look what happens when you scroll all the time all right you go through like six seven different emotions in five minutes you're practicing bipolarism that stuff just coming to you so quick you scroll oh that's funny you scroll oh that's really good you scroll that's really gross you scroll I can't believe they said that you scroll now that make me mad you scroll and then by time in five minutes you like put the phone down and scroll through the book of James scroll through the new covenant man give it a break resting in work not resting from work so there may be times where you are there may be times where you recognize I'm not in alignment with what God says about my righteousness so I'm gonna labor to rest it doesn't mean inactivity it means I'm gonna get in the word and I'm going to get with community. I'm going to do praise and worship. I'm going to confess what's true. Those are the things that are designed to build intimacy and to bring you into spiritual alignment. And the Holy Spirit has a whole lot of other things he can tell you to do as well. Lord, help me to be in alignment, to stay in alignment and to recognize when I'm out of alignment. Okay. All right. I got, let's see. I got about 17 minutes. Brother got to eat though. You understand? All right. Let's look at this. I want to, I want to get, get to a point here. All right. Now, now, um, so that's what it's talking about. We're, we're resting in center. So, uh, somebody asked me a question. Well, don't we need to believe? Yeah. Yeah. Yes. We are to believe that it's his faith and we live in"

"we look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectations onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith's perfection. His example is this, because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered it's humiliation and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God. Praise God. He is the author and the finisher of our faith."

"behold his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him but the just shall live by his faith"

"and Jesus answering saith him, have the faith of God, have the faith of God."

"not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit."

"then said they unto him what shall we do that we might work the works of god what do we do so that we can work the works of god jesus answered and said unto them this is the work of god that you believe on him whom he has sent"

"when you have lifted up the son of man then shall you know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself but as my father has taught me I speak these things and he that sent me is with me the father has not left me alone for I do always those things that please him I do always those things that that please him"

"if by grace if it's by grace then is it no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work"

"wherefore my beloved as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. See there, brother Dollar, you got to work it out. Baby need a pair of shoes. Work it out. Look, you got a life bill due. Work it out. You even got a gas bill due. Work it out. Telephone disconnect. Work it out. Wait till your next paycheck. Work it out. But I like that end of that song he said didn't he didn't he work it out gave it over to the lord and he works it out oh yeah work it out while you're trying to figure it out work it out already worked it out work it out already worked it out abraham had a son that's all we're gonna do leave that alone stop see y'all ready to have church forget about the ram of a finish i wants to have church a little bit that ain't church okay now so look what he says verse 13 for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure another translation says it is God that's working on your desire it is God that's working in you to give you a desire and the power to do what pleases him so God is working in you to give you the willingness and the power to do what pleases him all right let me let me calm down before I go off let me let me finish laying this so Paul said to work out your salvation not to work for your own salvation so we can work our salvation we can work at our salvation because God's the one supplying us with the willingness and the power and even the pleasure in doing it but you cannot work out something that has not first of all been worked in we love him because he first loved us his enablement allows me now to do something I wouldn't be able to do unless he moved first so you're talking about working something out that he's already worked in. It is God that's working in you. You are seated here right now minding your business and God is working in you, praise the Lord. He's working in you. He's working on your desire and he's going to give you the power to do what pleases him. God is working in you so that the things you used to want to do because he's working in you, you don't want to do that no more. And you're trying to figure out why is it that I don't want to do that no more because God is working in you you used to be addicted to weed but God's been working in you and now all of a sudden you're just not interested in no more weed and even if you go try it you ain't getting high like you used to get somebody said what happened God is working in you I don't know what it is you've been dealing with but I know God is faithful to work in you praise the Lord are you following me now now watch this so this this works this Greek word works it's it's in the present active continuance form which means he continues to work in you he didn't work one time in you he only worked the day you got saved now he keeps working in you see I know I'm not there yet but I'm glad that he's working in me now he's working in me praise God he's working in you God is working in you to give you the willingness and the performance of his will and when you rest in his working in you the willingness and what to perform is going to come well brother Donald what about verse 12 fear and tremble doesn't you know the fact that fear and tremble means that we're terrified of God because we're just not able to live up to the standard no that ain't what that mean at all the phrase is a Hebrew expression for being in awe by the goodness of God when you're in awe it's a feeling of reverence and admiration look at these two scriptures Mark chapter 5 and verse 33 and he mentions that so when he talks about with fear and trembling be in awe of his goodness being awe of all of these amazing things that that God has done and in Mark chapter 5 verse 33 says but the woman fearing and trembling was she terrified no she was fearing and trembling knowing what was done in her it came and she fell down before him and she told him all the truth she had a feeling of reverence and admiration because of what was happening to her she was in awe of what was happening to her not terrified look at [Jeremiah 33](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+33&version=KJV) and 9 book of [Jeremiah 33](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+33&version=KJV) and 9 and it shall be to me a name of joy a praise and honor before all the nations of the earth which shall hear all the good that I do unto them and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it I am in all of the goodness of God I am in awe of the success that God is allowing to come to my life and so when God sees faith it is to him an opportunity for God to work and look at this look at this book into this Hebrews chapter 13 and uh verse 20 and 21 [Hebrews 13](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+13&version=KJV) verse 20 and 21 uh he says now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant that he make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen now here's the question is faith without works dead well from the book of James chapter 2 and verse 14 brother Creflo see what you don't understand is James says faith without works is dead all right let's see James never says that faith is not essential for salvation he never claims works are required to obtain or to keep salvation he is however crystal clear that truly saving faith cannot be separated from the evidence of good works proof or fruit truly saving faith is going to produce evidence it's going to produce fruit and it's going to be fruit and evidence in what you do and what you do that's inspired and prompted by the faith of God so what he is not saying is well I'm believing God that I can have 20 20 vision let me see I gotta add some work to that I'll take my glasses off and I'll go to brother donald say you want to ride home i ain't riding with you why because ain't no manifestation came yet that's right so you're thinking that if i pull my glasses off that that's a work that i can add to this faith so the faith can work no he says you have received this perfect faith of the son of god and that faith on the inside of you is going to release proof of what you really have so when you see somebody come and they're naked and they need to be clothed and you see somebody show up and they're hungry if you really have this saving faith evidence is going to flow from that saving faith prompted by that faith in you to do something that proves that you have that saving faith even as Abraham did when it was concerning his son that he believed God but when he really believed God is there any evidence and proof that he really believed God he took his son up there to be sacrificed so we are not saying that there are no good works associated with it in fact proof of whether you are alive or dead is your breath let me let me read this to you I got my time's gone genuine saving faith of God leads to good and loving actions. Works are to faith what the breath is to the body, a sign of life. A faith without works or proof is like a body without breath, dead. God's purpose in saving man was in order that he may perform good works. Love for God is the condition for good works and service. Good works are never the cause of salvation but they ought to be its fruit you understand that so we don't get to the point where we're we get so deep and then we try to figure out why it ain't working because it's like but that ain't what he meant in the first place that you will see works associated with your faith but it is faith that'll add the works to your life so you don't have to come up with some weird work that you add to your faith and then when it ain't working then you know why my time is all gone it has been a pleasure stand to your feet just for a moment let's say this once more repeat after me in the name of Jesus I make a decision to live in the realm of the finish I decide right now that what Jesus has finished for me and what Jesus has gifted to me"