Faith as Resting in God’s Faithfulness Now, preparing this message, I decided, by God's grace, that I'd not even try to define what faith is, we have faith churches, we've got faith movements, faith theology, and brother, sister, most of it really turns me off, because it seems to me like many of them are preaching that Jesus is Santa Claus, and you get the right buttons and you push them and all the goodies come out, you get a certain measure or quantity of faith, and then God's going to, He's obligated, you just speak the creative words and you have it, you want a Mercedes, you speak Mercedes into being, I'm not mocking, it's just that, by the way, why don't you go for Rolls while you're at it, man, I'm not trying to be facetious, I just think that the church has wallowed in that long enough, and God, thank God, I believe that's coming out, it's going to take a little bit of hard times, an economic squeeze, now that gospel is going to go, it's going to go very, very fast, but you see, there's a measure of truth in what is being said, there's a measure of truth, but it has to do with your heart, how your heart is before the Lord, your heart has to be righteous and walking in holiness before that can even begin to work, you see, to me, faith is simply resting in the faithfulness of God, it's affirming the faithfulness of God, it's not whether I am able to give him what he wants in fullness at this point, it's that I'm convinced that he's faithful, he's a faithful God, and I affirm that to the world, and I'll tell you a little bit later about how that's applied, but you know, I got to thinking, when I lived in Texas, we had a big woods, a big wooded area near our house, and there were trappers back in those woods, the old traps from years ago, and I got to thinking, if one of my grandsons happened to be walking in those woods and he got caught in an old trap, and he screams, Dad, Grandpa, help, and I come up to him and I see him laying there bleeding, I don't analyze his faith, I don't say, does he really believe I learned from that bear trap, I don't analyze, I don't ask if he has a quality or quantity of faith, I don't stand there and say, do you believe me, do you trust, no, I'm his father, he's my son, and I'm in that trap because I love him, I heard his cry, he said, cry unto the Lord and he'll answer, it has nothing to do with the quality or quantity of faith, it has to do with the loving heart of a father, beloved, our father loves his children, and he hears the cry, and if you can't figure out faith, cry, just cry, 1 Corinthians 1, 9, God is faithful, by whom you were called, unto the fellowship of your son, Jesus Christ our Lord, hallelujah, now unto him that's able to keep you from falling, and to be sent you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding great joy, I'm talking to you right now about your lust, about your hobbit, my God says that he is able, he's faithful to keep us from falling, tell that to the devil, tell that to your own flesh, next time you're trembling in the presence of the devil, or in the presence of some temptation, my Bible says, I will fear no evil, but then if you read the next verse, he said, flee, fornication, do you believe this verse, now unto him that's able to keep you from falling, and to be sent you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding great joy, do you believe this, that he that keepeth thee will never slumber, he will never sleep, the Lord is your keeper, the Lord is your shade upon the right hand, the Lord shall preserve your soul, the Lord shall preserve your going in and your coming out, from this time forward and forevermore, the Lord said, I'm your keeper, we serve a faithful God, hallelujah, now, I want to get to the heart of my message now, I'm not going to preach a long message, but here's where the Lord brought me, I told you this morning, about one o 'clock this morning, I was praying, Lord, I feel that you're saying something to me, I've read all the books about faith, I've heard tapes, I've heard sermons, but Lord, to me, what are you saying, you call me to faith, you made it clear that my faith is lacking, and God began to speak to my heart about one o 'clock this morning, and just, God gave me three words, challenge, commit, and obligate, and boy, God began to open it up, and I went to the word, and just let me share my heart, I don't even know if I can get it up intelligently, but it's burning in my heart, you see, God's power is not being released in these last days, as it should be, because of the timidness of God's people, we're afraid to obligate and commit God's power, and boy, God began to deal with me, that this is where he wanted me to go, and where he wants to lead this church, and many of us, and I went, God took me through the word last night, and all afternoon, and showed me, said, David, I dare you to find any place in the Bible where I acted on the behalf of a human being, and this, they committed me, and this, they obligated, they made me obligated to act, they went out on a limb, and they put me to the test, now, we don't tempt God, but he said, prove me, there, I began to look at it, the Lord referred me first to Joshua, remember, he's fighting five kings at Gibeon, and they're winning the battle, but the day is passing away, and the battle's only half won, and this man Joshua stands up in front of all the people, and he commits God, he obligates God to act, and if God didn't act, both he and God would look like fools, because he's standing there, you know what he said, then said Joshua to the Lord, before all the people of Israel, he's committing God before all the people, sun stands still upon Gibeon, and thou moon, and the sun stood still, and the moon stayed until the people avenged themselves upon their enemies, and the sun hasted not to go down for about a whole day, and there was no day like that day before or after that the Lord listened to the voice of a man, can you, can you hear, can you see the soldiers, I see two men over here, they're fighting, and someone stops and says, what did you say, did I hear him right, the moon, and said this, I gotta see, Joshua committed, and the Bible, you know, one of the first things I ask Jesus when I get there, Lord, what was your attitude, what was your first impression when you heard a human being said, sun stands still, I believe a smile broke out on our master's face, and said finally, somebody's committed me, Elena, Elijah, he obligated God, he challenged the devil, he said you bring all of those false prophets up to Mount Carmel, he said you build your altar, he said the God that answers by fire is gonna be the God, and I'll tell you that's what faith is, it challenges everything the devil puts in front of you, there is nothing, you and I as a church of Jesus Christ are not to resign, or surrender, or lay down, or give an inch to the devil in any area of our life or ministry, no way, but there has to be somebody standing to make the challenge, and he challenged, he said I have come from standing before the Lord, and he said I want you to bring all of your men up there, he said lay your sacrifice down, and they danced all day, and cut themselves, and nothing happened, but this man of God committed God to act, he obligated him, he said the God that answers by fire, let him be God, and so he takes 12 stones, builds the altar, and he tells his associates, now there's four barrels there, go get four barrels of water, pour the water on the sacrifice, he's committing God more and more, he's getting God in deeper and deeper, I mean by the time they empty the four barrels, he said now go get four more barrels, and so they bring four more barrels, and now eight barrels of water, and there's a little ditch filling up with water, and you see there's not gonna be any matches, there's not gonna be any man touch the fire, it has to fall right out of heaven, I wonder how many people who still love Jehovah said boy is he out on a limb, if that fire doesn't fall, they'll kill him, they would have, they would have killed him on the spot, but this man, he wasn't just acting on his own, God had told him what to do, he's a man of prayer, he's walking in righteousness, and God had told him how to tell the devil, he said now go get three more, and they pour the last of those twelve barrels of water on that, he stands back, and he commits almighty God, this is what faith is, the Lord he said, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, hear me, send fire, suddenly you can hear a crackle, poof, I mean everybody was screaming and falling down and crying out, the Lord, he's God, he's God, they're still on their knees, and Elijah takes those false prophets down by the brook, kid runs and kills them all, slays them, and then he comes back and commits God again, he says to Ahab, there'd been a famine for three years, and it's dry, and he says I hear the sound of abundance of rain, he committed God to stop the famine, he committed God to send not rain, but an abundance of rain, and another cloud in the sky, he said well God, this is your business, you sent me, I just did what you told me to do, I'm sure he didn't say Lord if you will look foolish in the eyes of the people, but I'll tell you, I know a prophet that would look foolish in the eyes of the people, talk about Jezebel killing a prophet, remember Elisha, he challenged the poisoned pot of soup, the school of prophets went out, and there was a famine in the land, and they were gathering all these wild gourds and making gourd soup, and they were feeding the poor because it takes a lot of, you see it in the context that they were feeding others, they said feed the people, and were probably feeding the poor as well, and they had this big pot, and suddenly someone cries, oh man of God, there's death in the pot, there's death in the pot, oh man of God, there's death in the pot, and they could not eat it, Elisha commits God, he said bring some meal, some ground meal, cast it in the pot, and they cast it in the pot, and what he says, the point is he committed God here, and if God didn't commit, if God doesn't act here, everybody's going to die of poison, including the prophet, well you talk about committing God, you talk about obligating God, God has to come down, and all these people are going to die, and you know what he says, and he said, Elisha said pour it out for the people that they may all eat, and I see them pouring it out, I don't think Elisha's sitting around saying oh God, oh God, no, hallelujah, he's the first one in the soup, committed God, hallelujah, God wants to be obligated, make me walk so that if I don't, you and I are going to be looking awful, I'm saying that with respect, I'm saying that with every bit of respect in my heart, you commit God to the point that if God doesn't work, we're all going to look very foolish, I'll tell you we could look awful foolish here, saying we're going to move into the Mark Ellinger, you and I could have gone on for five years like cats, but I'll tell you what, there was a challenge to the enemy right here, and it was made public, and this church obligated God, and God loved it, I'll tell you something else, I think God loved every minute of it as much as I do, God says oh, remember we prayed Lord, don't let the critics like it, Lord says oh, I'll tell you what, I'll make it the worst thing ever hit Broadway, it's called committing God, obligating God, you're beginning to see it, how many of you guys see a little bit what we're talking about here, let's go on and see if we can see it a little clearer, glory be to Jesus, Peter, he's walking into the temple one day, and there's a man that's been laying, and he's sitting there, when you talk about obligating God, he looks him in the eye and says servant of God, have I none but such as I have given you, rise up and walk in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk, do you see all these people around here saying, they're watching him sir, and I don't know if any other believers were there, oh I hope he rises, I hope he rises, otherwise you might as well throw Pentecost out of Jerusalem, might as well shut the church down, because here's a man standing there committing Almighty God, committing all the glory of Jesus, hallelujah, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk, and he leaped up and stood, and he walked and entered into the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God, do you remember when Ananias and Sapphira came, Ananias lies to the Holy Ghost, and he falls dead, they take him out, here comes Sapphira, his wife, and she lies to the Holy Ghost, and here's Peter committing the Lord again, he's saying behold, the men that carried your husband are at the door, they're going to carry you out now, she drops dead, he committed, he committed before it happened, there was no evidence or anything, he committed God, he obligated God, boy I tell you what, I'm going to keep going until you get it, or until I get it at least, you know, you can go to what is called, don't turn up, you can go to the 11th chapter of Hebrews, and you can go right down that list of all the heroes of faith, and you'll see every one of them committing God, obligating God, Jacob blesses his children, leaning on the staff, and you know what he's doing, he's obligating God all the way down the rest of time, he's obligating God, he obligated him to our very day, he obligated all of it, God, he's blessing his children, and he's not even going to live to see many of his grandchildren and great -grandchildren born, and by faith he's blessing them, and committing God all the way down through time, Noah builds an ark and lets God shut him in, can you see, Noah inside that ark, God shut the door, it's not, there's nothing happening yet, you talk about committing God, the whole world has heard him preach for 120 years, he preached he's going to reign, and he's all locked up in that, he committed God, by building the ark he committed God, and he shut in and the waves came, because here's a man who committed, obligated God to keep his word of judgment, Moses stood before the great red sea, and he stretches out his rod and says, open sea, committed God, mothers looked death in the eye, and committed God, and was to be erased from the dead, Ezekiel goes to a valley of giant bones, and God speaks to his heart to commit, and he speaks to the wind, oh breath of God, come and breathe on these bones, and they begin to rattle and shake and roll, and life began to come, because one man committed God, one man obligated God, you know what God told Isaiah, listen to it closely, found in Isaiah 45 11, God said to Isaiah, concerning the work of my hands, command ye me, and boy I got excited when I looked up to Hebrew, do you know what it says, do you know what that means, command ye me, put me under obligation, make me liable, make me liable, do you know what, in fact, I found it, and I started to shout this afternoon, and it went on, it said, it's the opposite of wavering, remember the Bible said, if any man wavered, don't let him think to receive anything of God, do you know what wavering is, it's a person who's afraid to obligate God, it's afraid to commit God, afraid of despair, or shame, afraid that God won't do it, and this timidity to obligate God, well we don't have that authority, listen, if we don't obligate God, if we don't call his power down on this wickedness around here, who's going to do it, when will it ever be done, the Lord raised up this church, he raised up this people to stand before the onslaught of the devil and commit a holy good, with all made in power, he said, all weapons are mighty, to the pulling down of strongholds, commit that power, commit that power, commit that mighty glory, commit it, obligate me, make me liable to work, God said, I looked for a man to stand in the gap before me, that I should not destroy, but I found none, therefore, I have poured out my indignation, and if you follow that logic through, God's saying, if I could have found somebody, if I'd have found somebody that would have interceded, if I'd have found somebody that would have committed, somebody that would obligate me on this matter, I believe God said I would have spared, but he said, there's nobody, and we've got a, we've got a mossy church in America, with a lot of mossy Christians, afraid to commit God, and I have to admit that I have not been, I have not been strong in this matter of committing God, but by his grace, that's changing in my heart, now I'm going to warn you, the Holy Spirit told me to warn you, don't you dare try to commit or obligate God, if you've got sin in your mind, or you're double minded, like Bob preached this morning, you know why Elijah could obligate God, because he said, he spoke to me, and God spoke to him because he was in a place he could hear God, not some far off voice, not some kooky voice, he heard God, he's walking in righteousness, I'll tell you what, here's the warning, the seven sons of Sceva, you know, there were a group of pseudo -prophets that came down, and they were casting out, trying to cast out demons, and Sceva had seven sons who were not walking in righteousness, seven sons who just wanted attention, and they go up to a man who's possessed with an evil spirit, and said, be gone, and the devil laughed, you know what the devil said, and the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, Paul I know, who do you know, and the man in whom the evil spirit was, leaped on them, and overcame them, and they ran out of the house naked and wounded, one demon -possessed man stripped seven men and threw them out in the streets, don't you dare try to abdicate God, don't try to commit God, unless you know you can look the Holy Ghost in the eye, and the whole world in the eye, and say, Lord you've cleansed and purged me, brother, sister, I'm going to close soon, we're at war, we're at war, and God's going to have to have a people that are not afraid to commit him, I've got to tell you a story I read yesterday, I got to laughing, it seems to be, and this is a true story, there was a college president in the Midwest, in a secular college, and he'd open his first week of classes, he loved to get the freshmen in to mock Christians, he was a Christian baiter, and he especially mocked prayer, and his speech would go something like this, now all the preachers have told you that God answers prayer, your parents have taught you, but I want you to know that no such thing, any intelligent young person cannot believe such garbage now, and he said, I'll tell you what, I want to prove it, and he had a little flask of water, a very frail flask of water, he said, I'm going to drop this on the floor, now if you believe God answers prayer, it's time to pray, pray that it won't break, pow, and it would always break, and everybody would laugh, and it became, it became a big thing on campus, everybody waited for that opening week, this is the end of side one, you may now turn the tape over to side two, he loved it, and it was, it was the talk of the campus, one day God sent a freshman in, and there was a, in fact the story was, the story was told by a Christian professor who was in the college, and he went to this professor, and he said, I know it's common, he'd heard all about it, and he said, God, I was praying, God told me to challenge him, God told me to challenge, he said, this can't go on, just a young, young believer, and the professor said, oh my heart's ache, this boy's going to go in, that man's going to drop that thing, and they, they prayed all night, went to class the next day, and the professor goes into his little spills, all self sure and cocky, he said, now in this foolishness, and he grabs his little flask of water, and he holds it up, and he said, if there's anyone here, wants to challenge me on this, now's the time, pray that God won't break this bottle, that young man got up, and the class looked, he said, professor, I want to pray, he said, this got on far enough, and the professor said, whoa, finally, we have one, pray brother, with just a little quiet voice, he said, oh Jesus, you told me to do this honor your name, there's been enough mockery, and just stopped, said amen, sat down, and everybody's snickering, and so the professor says, are you done, yes, and he says, what's this, and he lets it go, and somehow God broke the trajectory of it, and it fell on his soft toe on his shoe, and just rolled over, and didn't break, the class went crazy, I mean, they clapped and laughed, the professor never did it again, I got to thinking about that, I said, oh God, that's what I want, I want to commit you, I want to obligate you, I want that kind of faith that says, my God is able, you don't run around just saying, oh, I've got power, I've got a big daddy behind me, and just go out, you know, throwing arrows around, no, you get along with God, you feel his burden, listen, we felt his burden on that clinic up on 68th, that abortion hell hole, and God told us to commit him, we've committed God, we've crossed that place, now they put it off till the 23rd, that comes up, they haven't paid the rent in four months, God's cutting off the rent money, cutting off all the money, it's been cost, because we committed God, now I'm going to ask you about a commitment in your life and in your home, are you living with somebody that's not saved, are you going to just resign yourself while it's not going to change, are you going to rise by faith and go to that person in love and say, my Bible says, I'm going to be saved in my house, and I'm telling you now, I'm going to pray you on a conviction, and you commit it, and you commit the Holy Ghost, you commit God, say, this is going to be a Christian home, you stand up and announce your commitment, because the words behind you, that lust that's in you, or that battle that you've been losing, you remind, you stand up and challenge the devil on that by the word of God, you say, I challenge you, my Bible said, no temptation has taken us, but what is common to all men, and with the temptation, God will make a way of escape, and you stand and you commit God on that, commit God on that, obligate God to keep that to you, you want that way of escaping, by the way, you know why you're sitting here in this church, hearing messages that provoke you to righteousness, that's one of those ways of escape, God's already answered your prayer, hallelujah, you know who we're at war with, we're at war with all the prince of parties and powers of darkness that rule this city, we are at war with all the drug lords, we're at war against all those evil spirits that control the molestation of children, and by God's grace, in the prayer meetings in this church from now on, we are committing God to all of these matters, we are in a war, and God, in the last days before Jesus comes, you're going to have a glorious church, not only without spot and wrinkle, but it's going to be a church that commits more power, more of his authority, than all of the men in this Bible, God is going to be committed, he's going to be obligated by a praying people, that walk in holiness, hallelujah, let's stand please, let's stand, hallelujah, Lord, you're going to help us to commit your power and your authority in this last day, we're going to commit your power, we're going to commit your authority, Lord Jesus, hallelujah, Lord, come and touch us tonight in a special, special way, touch us Lord, let's pray, my Lord Jesus, we don't want this to be just human excitement, we want the word, oh God, we see everywhere that you work for men, that you are so anxious to be used, you're anxious for men and women to stand up and commit you to this generation, to commit your might and power in your strong arm, Lord Jesus, there are many in this auditorium tonight, in the balcony, here in the main floor, who need to come by faith and say, Jesus, I've been hassled by the devil long enough, I've been whipped, I've been beaten by the devil, I've been discouraged long enough, God, I want to rise out of this ass heap and walk in faith, if you feel tonight the Holy Ghost pulling at your heart, you say, Brother David, right now, even while you preached, I felt faith rise in my heart and I want to challenge the enemy that's coming against my life, I want to stand up by faith and say, that's enough, God's going to keep me, many of you have a battle that's going on in your heart yet, get it settled, some of you for the first time, you need to walk down this aisle tonight and stand here, I'd like to pray with you that God would deliver you and set you free, listen, the Holy Spirit, I believe with all my heart, the Holy Spirit's here, thank you Holy Spirit for doing your work in this house tonight, don't let anybody walk out loaded down with fear, bondage, discouragement, break the chains that bind tonight, break them, Lord, we commit you to work right now, we commit you in Jesus' name to work in this service, God can break your habit, he can break the power of Satan in your life, he can do it right now, get out of your seat, up in the balcony, go to the middle exits and come down either side, down the aisles, you in the main floor, follow these that are coming, just stand here in the front, we're going to believe God for a miracle in your life tonight, wherever you're at, all over the building, if you feel the tug, come on in, let's get it settled right now, up in the balcony, that's it, the middle section, up there in the balcony, you're in the main floor, God bless you.