Having The Faith Of God (Video) — Richard Sipley

Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not. And as thou hast been, thou forever will be. Faithfulness great is thy faithful. Thy morning, new moon, and all that by.

I remember we had Henry Blackaby in that night, and the spirit was moving before we even began. And I said, I'd like for you to sing that song as you're all on the altar. How many of you know that old hymn?

And Albert wasn't that familiar with it, so five minutes beforehand he was learning that song and come out and did a fantastic job of drawing us at the altar there where God was dealing with us. But we've had a number of men from around the world come in and share with us and lead us for our prayer times.

And for Dick Sibley, he has pastored for years, Christian Missionary Alliance churches, and has served with CRV. And so I went up about a week and a half ago, and we sat down and talked. And so he made mention of that.

He said, in 1972 when the revival came to Akron, and of course that's why I went, I said, tell me about that. And so he began to share. And so he's going to come at this time and bring us the word of God.

And it is that then he's going to take us and lead us into our prayer time. And may God be glorified through his service. Richard.

Thank you, dear brother, for ministering to me. Thank you. And thank you for not applauding. Because he was not performing. He was ministering Christ to us. Amen? Amen. In 1972, God did come and meet with us in Akron, Ohio.

The Hunger for God's Manifest Presence

And I'm not going to talk about that tonight. But he did in a wonderful way. And the most outstanding thing, as far as I'm concerned, about that time was the manifest presence of God. And if you were there, probably the most proudest thing that would go through your mind is, oh, God is here.

David said, when shall I come and meet before God? Now, when can I get into the presence of God? How can I come to God and know that I'm in the presence of God? And know that he is there with me face to face.

And that I can speak to him, as he did some men face to face, like you would speak to your friend. And so, God puts a hunger in our hearts for him. And nothing else will do. Nothing else will do. There's nothing you could give, a hungry heart, in the place of God.

I mean, it would just be the small dust of the balance. It's so far from what it means to be face to face with God that there is no comparison and not in the same universe. And the thing about prayer is, if we learn how to pray, it brings us face to face with God.

And I want to take this time tonight to teach about a certain aspect of prayer, which I believe is extremely important in our day. I have been a pastor, of course, for many, many years. And then I have traveled and preached in the revival movement ever since 72.

And I am too old to figure out how long that is. But it's a long time. A year and a half ago, my precious wife slipped away to be with the Lord. And it was very, very hard for me because she was a bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.

Maybe you can understand that. She was my partner in marriage and my partner in ministry. She loved the ministry. She loved the pastorate. She loved people. I often said they might say she can stay, but you have to go.

There have always been people in my church that didn't like me. You understand that, don't you? But there never was anyone that didn't like her. They all loved her. And so it was very difficult for me there.

And of course, I don't expect that pain to go away until I am with the Lord. And that's all right. But then God began to speak to me in a new way and say, Now, I've been happy with you all these years doing what I ask you to do.

Now I'm going to ask you to do something different. And you may not be too happy with it, but it's what I'm going to ask you to do. And God said, Now I want you to focus on being my prophet and saying what I want you to say to the church.

The Church as a House of Prayer

The disciples remembered when Jesus cleansed the temple, the disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of God's house has consumed me. And Jesus said, My house shall be called a house of prayer, and you've made it a place of merchandise.

That was his first trip to the temple. And then he came back and made another trip to the temple, said, You've made it a den of thieves. So I don't know if it got worse in the next two years. But Christ said, My house shall be called a house of prayer.

And the trouble is, in the evangelical church today, it is not a house of prayer. I mean, there are exceptions, thank God. There are exceptions. And we're so thrilled that that's true. But every church, every group of believers that meet together, it ought to be a house of prayer.

That ought to be the number one thing. You say, Why would that be so? Because prayer brings us face to face with the living God. We can do all kinds of things, good things, wonderful things, even things God has told us to do.

But like soul winning, which most evangelical churches don't do either. In fact, there are not too many things God has told us to do that they're doing. But prayer, in my mind, is where you begin. Now, of course, we take it for granted we have the Word of God, and it's taught, and we believe it, of course, and that is our foundation under that.

But prayer brings the individual and the group of God's people into God's immediate presence. And it means we can come face to face with God. We can experience God. We can know Him. We can actually talk to Him, and He talks back.

I want to hear from Him. You say, Well, you have His Word. Yes, we do thank God. And I was brought up in a home that loved it, and I'm thankful for that. And I'm thankful that He's helped me to put it into my heart and mind, and I'm thankful for that.

But I don't want to be just a biblical technician and just a scriber of Pharisee. I want to know God, really, really, really, really. And I also want to know Him in a way where He really answers prayer, where it isn't just a religious exercise.

You know, the Pharisees stood on the street corners and prayed long and beautiful prayers, probably full of Scripture and all kinds of wonderful things. People walked by and admired them, but their prayers didn't go anywhere.

And they didn't reach God, and they didn't know God. And so I don't want that. I get very tired of religion. I want reality, don't you? Huh? Yeah. Sure you do. That's why you're here tonight. Because that's what you want.

So tonight I want to help you with that. I want to do some teaching on that subject. So I'd like you to open your Bibles to Mark chapter 11. There are a number of places in the Gospels. The first one was in John, and then the second visit to the temple is in the others.

Jesus’ Teaching from the Fig Tree and the Temple

But here's the one in Mark, and I have a reason for choosing this one. Mark 11, beginning with verse 11. Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. Now he'd just come into the area from somewhere else, and he'd come into the area with his disciples.

He looked around at everything that is in the temple, but since it was already late, that is, late in the day, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. And Bethany, of course, was a place where he had friends, and they could stay for the night.

The next day, as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves. It used to be a song.

Man, I haven't heard that song in a long time. Nothing but leaves. Because it was not the season for figs. Now you need to note that. Like Jesus knew there wouldn't be any fruit there. Then he said to the tree, May no one ever eat fruit from you again.

And his disciples heard him say it. On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. Underline it. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.

And as he taught them, he said, It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. And he's quoting from the Old Testament. But you have made it a den of robbers. The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him.

For they feared him because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. When evening came, they went out of the city. Going back, I presume, to Bethany again for the night. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.

Peter remembered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, teacher, look. The fig tree you cursed has withered. Now the next statement is the most important statement in this whole passage of Scripture. And in most Bibles, it is mistranslated.

So I'm going to read it correctly. So Jesus responds, Have the faith of God. Jesus answered, I tell you the truth. If anyone says to this mountain, Go throw yourself into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, he sort of adds this as almost an afterthought, but it's very important.

If you hold anything against anyone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. Now the cursing of the fig tree sounds strangely out of character for a man like Jesus, don't you think?

You don't think. It's impolite to sit and stare when someone asks you a question. Don't you think it sounds strange? It does to me. I remember for a long time I thought, I don't even want to think about that one because it doesn't sound like Jesus.

I mean, he knew it wouldn't have any figs on it. What's going on here? It sounds strange. To be understood, it must be seen in the context of the events that surround it. It is sandwiched between two visits to the temple in Jerusalem and was the occasion for some of Jesus' most important teaching on prayer.

Jesus' encounter with the fig tree was merely an opportunity to use it for a graphic illustration of his encounter with the temple. Jesus knew there would be no fruit on the tree as it was not the time.

There was no problem with the tree. But Jesus also knew there would be no fruit in the temple of God in Jerusalem but this did indicate a very serious problem. There should have been much spiritual fruit in that place.

The temple should have been a house of prayer. It should have been a place where God was. It should have been a place where people could come and meet God and be face to face with God and find God and pray to God and get answers to their prayers.

It should have been a place alive with the glory of God and there wasn't any of that. Not any of it. None of it. It had all the rituals and all the services and all the things it was supposed to have.

It followed the laws of Moses meticulously and it had all the feasts and all the offerings and the sacrifices and the singers and the Levites and the whole business. It was a carefully organized and run house of God without God.

You know, you can have a church that has all the trappings and even preaches the word correctly and does all the things it's supposed to do but does not have the presence of the glory of God and the Lord whom they sought suddenly came to his temple.

Even the servant of righteousness, he came. But who can abide the day of his coming and who could stand when he appeared? He was like a refiner's fire that purifies the sons of Levi. He was a burning flame.

They could not stand it and they decided to try to kill him. Well, the glory had departed. The glory had left. Both the tree and the temple had lots of foliage but no fruit and that's what Jesus was teaching.

This is the form of godliness without the power. Right? That's it. Do you know any churches like that? You don't. You're not very observant. Lots of foliage, no fruit. The form without the power but when Jesus entered the temple, the glory of God came into that temple and the people came to him in the temple and he taught them there and he healed them there and the power of God was there and they were suddenly face to face with the living God.

That's what we need, right? Oh boy. How we need it. The prayer of faith could wither a tree, move a mountain or bring power and blessing to the people of God and the temple of God. And of course, this is not what I'm speaking about this evening but you know that the temple of God in our day is the people of God and the individual Christian.

You know that, don't you? You still are being discourteous when I ask you a question. You know that the temple of God today on earth is not a building. It is the people of God, the church and the individual Christian.

Five Characteristics of the Prayer of Faith

Do you know that? I knew you knew it. So, now, what I want to talk about is the prayer of faith because that's what this passage is about. What is the prayer of faith? What does it look like? And what I'm going to do first is just take five things from this passage of Scripture that show you what the prayer of faith is like, what it looks like.

All right? Number one, he said, you could say to the mountain, be cast into the sea. Also, he just spoke to the fig tree. He said, never again will anybody get fruit from you. So, the prayer of faith is praying with authority.

Praying with authority. Ah, boy. Our prayers are sometimes a long ways from that, aren't they? Man, we're so careful not to say anything too strong, you know. Watch out now. Don't presume. Anyway, it's praying with authority.

Number two, Jesus said he does not doubt in his heart. It's praying without inner doubts. Wow, is that hard? Praying without inner doubts. Number three, he said, believe that what you say will happen.

It is honestly believing it. Wow. Not easy. Number four, he says, believe that you have already received it. Wow, it's honestly believing that I have already received it. And then he said, it will be done.

It will be yours. It is a prayer. Now listen, it is a prayer that is always answered. The prayer of faith is a prayer that is always answered every time. Now when I think about that, and I think of all the prayers that Christians pray and how few of them are answered, it makes it quite clear we're not praying the prayer of faith.

Right? Yeah. So, there's something we better learn about the prayer of faith. Now there's a passage in James 5, 14 and 15, and I'm not speaking on the healing of the body tonight or anything like that, but this particular passage presents a principle of prayer, and that's what I want to have you notice.

Is anyone sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. Now, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up.

I'm not talking about healing, but I am saying here is a principle that the prayer of faith is always answered. It says, I mean that's quite clear English, isn't it? Or whatever. It was in Greek. Somebody says, I know a little Greek.

He runs a restaurant down in the corner. But we do know that this is what it says. Like this is not ambiguous scripture. This isn't something we have to, you know, really struggle. It's very simple scripture.

The prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord, of course, shall raise him up. So here's the idea that if you pray the prayer of faith, you will get the answer. Now that's the kind of prayer I like.

How about you? Oh my. I want, I want something to happen. Right? I want God to come on the scene. I want, I want him to move into the situation. I want to see his hand. I want God, I know this sounds funny, but I want God to show up.

Like he doesn't have to show up just because I want him to. I mean, he's God almighty. But I sure do want him to. I want real things to happen. I want to see the hand of God. They said, Jesus said, you know, you're casting out demons by beals above the prince of devils.

And he said, by whom do your servants cast them out? But he said, if I cast them out by the finger of God, then the spirit of God has come upon you. And I want to see God's hand. Now you say, how could anyone pray like that except Jesus himself?

Well, in the Bible, obviously they did. But I will answer that really no one else but God can pray like that because what we need is the faith of God, not ours. Ours just will cut it. Now you say, doesn't God ever answer prayer if we don't pray the prayer of faith?

Oh, yes, he does. He's so good and he's so magnanimous and he's so compassionate and he loves us so much that he just answers a lot of prayers where there is very little faith and the faith is not prayed.

Okay? He even answers prayers for sinners. God is good beyond imagination. But what I'm talking about is Christians who really want to get to God and get things done. And so we need to learn how to have the faith of God.

And see, that's what Jesus said. He said in verse 22, have the faith of God. Now I'm going to deal with that a little bit more thoroughly later because in your Bible it probably says have faith in God.

Is that what it says? Yeah, wrong. But anyway, I'll deal with that in a minute. Have the faith of God. When the lame man was healed at the temple gate, a crowd gathered. Remember how Peter and John were going to our prayer and there was a lame man who, you know, was begging and so forth.

And so he said, look at us. And the man looked at them expecting to receive something and he said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, I give you in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

And he took them by the hand and the man leaped up and was healed. And in Acts 3 verse 11, go read a short passage there. And while he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the so-called portico of Solomon full of amazement.

But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, men of Israel, why do you marvel at this or why do you gaze at us as if by our own power or piety, that is righteousness of life, we had made this man walk.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified his servant Jesus. See, God is in the God glorifying and Christ glorifying business. He's not in the man glorifying business and he's not in the church glorifying business.

He is in the business of glorifying the Son of God and himself. This is very important because when we begin to pray, if we're not praying with God, if we're not praying what He wants, if we're not in His purposes and lined up with His intentions, then we're praying in futility.

So it's very important to understand what this is all about. And he says he did it to glorify Jesus whom you delivered up and disowned in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let Him go. But you disowned the Holy and the Righteous One and asked for murder to be granted to you and put to death the Prince of Life whom God raised from the dead and we are witnesses and on the basis of faith in His name, but that's not correct, on the basis of His name, faith, which is a little different, on the basis of His name, faith, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man, like it's not us, it's God, whom you see and know, this man you see and know, and the faith which comes through Him, through Jesus, has given Him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

You see, this is a great miracle, but they said, don't look at us, said what this is is faith in the name of Jesus and it's given by Jesus. He gave the faith, it's His faith, it's His purpose, it's His glory, and that's why it happened.

Oh man, how do we need to get this? The miracle was done by the faith of God, not the faith of Peter. Now, I grew up, my father was a pastor of his first church when I was born, so I grew up in a pastor's home.

My earliest recollection is family devotions, hearing the word of God, going to church. I mean, I was totally submerged in the things of God and I always heard about faith. I lived in a home where it was practiced, absolutely practiced.

I mean, I remember one time when I was just a little guy that my mother set the table and then said quietly to Dad, there isn't any food. That was the days when pastors were on freewill offerings and there was a lot of freedom without much will.

Well, there wasn't much money either. It was in the Depression. You talk about a Depression now, it doesn't even compare. It was bad. And so there wasn't any money. Anyway, so he said, all right, we'll go in the living room.

We went in the living room. I don't know why, but we always had devotions in there. So we're in the living room and there's four children and mom and dad and we all got down on our knees and he said, now we will pray for food.

You say, that's stupid. Why didn't he go to the social services? Well, that's a long time ago and there weren't any. I mean, it was God or nothing, brother. And so we prayed. And while my father was closing in prayer, somebody knocked on the door, but he never would allow his prayer to be interrupted.

And so, I mean, I wanted him to quit and I wanted to see what was out there. But he just kept right on and when he finished, then we got up and he opened the door and there was a box of groceries. So we had supper.

See, that's the kind of home I grew up in. And if we were sick, we didn't call the doctor. We couldn't afford to call the doctor. So my dad came in, laid his hand on us and prayed for us. I mean, what else?

It was nothing else. Any of you remember those days? Good things to those days, but you know, I grew up in that and I went to Bible college and I went into the ministry and everything. I was saved when I was young and then God called me and I went into the ministry.

But I did not understand this principle I'm preaching about and teaching about right now. God was good to me and answered a lot of my prayers, but I certainly did not understand what I'm talking about tonight.

The Faith of God Rather Than Human Faith

Now, I want to talk about the faith of God for a few minutes. Of course, the verse says, Jesus said it was the faith of God. He said, have the faith of God. Now, a literal translation is have God faith and there's no word in in the original text at all.

Now, if the word in had been there, it would have been three Greek letters, epsilon, iota, sigma, which was pronounced ace and that little word appears all through the New Testament continually, like it isn't as if they didn't have it.

It's all over the New Testament. It means in. You know what in means, it means in. And if God had wanted to say that, he would have said have faith in God. It would be easy to put that word in there. That word is not in there.

And what he really said was have the faith of God. And that is something else. There's other scriptures say the same thing. Put down Galatians 2 .20. I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.

And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Now, the old King James says of the Son of God. Every one of the new translations says I live by faith in the Son of God.

I feel sorry for them. They cannot believe that you could have the faith of God. And so they translate, they mess with God's word because they can't believe it. That's tragic. They say, well, you couldn't have the faith of God.

So then they put a word in there that's not in there. But that's what it says. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Faith is either a gift of God or the fruit of the Spirit.

This kind of faith. Romans 12 .3. God has allotted to each Christian a measure of faith. 2 Thessalonians 3 .2. Pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men for not everyone has faith. Hebrews 12 .1 and 2.

Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance a race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus who is both the author and the perfecter of our faith.

He gives it to us and he perfects it. Oh, Jesus, I want you to give me your faith. Mine just won't cut it. I want his because his never failed. I mean, you read the gospels, did it? His faith never failed, ever.

So I need his. The prayer of faith is offered. Some of this you should write down now. The prayer of faith is offered when a person praying has a double witness in his heart. The double witness. First, the witness of the word of God, of course.

That is the first witness. Romans 10 and 17, so faith comes by hearing and hearing by a word from God. That God be true, but every man a liar. Do not think, Matthew 5, 17, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets that did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

For truly I say to you until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law till all is accomplished. Jesus is saying the word of God is absolute and final.

It's forever settled in heaven and you can depend on it and trust it. Amen? Amen. I have always liked Psalm 107, verses 17 to 20. It's interesting. It says, fools because of their rebellious way and because of their iniquities were afflicted.

Their soul abhorred all kinds of food and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. He saved them out of their distresses. He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction.

Caution 3, 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace your hearts to the Lord. Then you remember the centurion, the Roman army captain who came to Jesus because he had a servant who was very ill and Jesus said, I'll come and heal him and he said, No, I'm not worthy to have you come into my house.

Just speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. So he knew if Christ should say it that it would happen and that's what I want. I want his word in my heart. 1 Peter 1, 23, 25. You've been born again, not of seed which is perishable but imperishable through the living and abiding word of God.

The word of the Lord abides forever. And of course, this is the word we're giving to you. Now, you say, well, when I go to pray, if I have the promises of God, isn't that enough? Well, yes and no. The promises of God are true and never fail.

But you see, you can't take a promise of God and bring it to God with your problem and say, now look, you said it, you have to do it. Now, child of God, be careful. You say, well, you're saying there's a doubt about God's word.

No, I'm not. What I'm saying is there's a doubt whether you know how to use it or not. Right? You agree with me? Yes. I mean, I've heard some people try to use the promises of God in very strange ways.

They were sincere but it simply was not working. Now, therefore, we should listen carefully. We should read, study, meditate on, memorize the scriptures so we know what to believe. All right? God's word.

The importance of God's word in building faith in the human heart cannot be disputed. As we read God's word, study God's word and fill our minds and hearts with God's word, God's precious living word begets faith in our hearts.

Yes. The word of God is alive and powerful and sharp as a two-edged sword piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and motives of the heart.

The Witness of the Holy Spirit and the Mind of God

Hebrews 4, 12 and 13. But to pray the prayer of faith we need not only the witness of the word, we need the witness of the Holy Spirit. Now we have to see this. You might doubt what I'm saying and that's your privilege, but if there isn't something wrong with the way people pray, how come that so many prayers are offered and nothing happened?

I mean, there's something wrong, right? Something. And I believe that this is what is wrong. We need the witness of the word and the witness of the Holy Spirit, but we will not take the time and the humility and the surrender in God's presence to get the witness of the Holy Spirit in the mind of God.

1 John 5, 7. It is the Spirit who bears witness because the Spirit is the truth. Romans 8, 16. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. You see, it's not just enough that I have the word of God.

Somebody says, well, you have repented and you have prayed to receive Christ and that is what the word of God says and that's enough. But brother, unless there comes to your heart the witness of the Holy Spirit that you're born of God, then you're probably not.

Understand what I'm saying? This is very important. So the Spirit himself bears witness. 1 Corinthians 2, 9 -12. However, as it is written, I told you I'm teaching tonight. Are you okay? Are you there?

Okay. However, as it is written, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? That is, the man himself who's thinking the thoughts. In the same way, look at this. No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

I want to know what he's thinking. Sometimes I say it. I say, what are you thinking? I don't get it. We have not received the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God that we may understand what God has freely given us.

So what are you thinking now, Lord? What are you thinking about this? What are you thinking about that? There are things I want, but I'm not sure what you want. 2 Corinthians 3, 5 and 6. It's not that we're adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God who has also made us adequate servants of a new covenant, not of the letter.