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Gateway Chapel Series
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Connected by scripture or shared themes.
Welcome to Gateway Chapel. Today I'm continuing the sermon series "How to Release Your Faith." If you missed part one, I encourage you to go back and listen to it, because this foundation is crucial: the faith in your heart and the faith in your head will amount to nothing if you do not release it. It is the release of your faith that pleases God and makes things happen for you—not the faith you merely know about or read in a book, but the faith you actively release.
Last week we explored the meaning of faith and five reasons why you need faith and five reasons to release it. Today, we're going to continue that journey.
Our primary text comes from 1 Corinthians 2:9–10:
But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.
God has prepared great things for you because you love the Lord. But here is the critical revelation: God reveals these things not through our natural senses, but through His Spirit. The passage continues:
For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God... Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
This is the key: It is possible for you not to know the things that have been freely given to you by God if you dwell only in the natural realm.
Let's look at Isaiah 54:1–3:
Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud... Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
God is calling a woman who has not borne a child to break forth into singing. Think about it—does this make sense in the natural realm? To sing and rejoice when you have no child? To embark on a redecoration program, to buy baby things, to prepare for motherhood when you're still waiting for a child?
People looking at her would say, "What realm do you live in? You're not behaving your reality!" But here's the truth: What is reality? God is operating on a different kind of reality. In the realm of the spirit, those children already exist. Your finances are already there. The future of that marriage is already bright. The blessing is already real—but it's in the spirit realm.
You need to see into the realm of the Spirit to understand and receive the things that have been freely given to you by God.
Listen to me: What you see is not all there is. What you see is not all there is.
If you see into the realm of the spirit what God has loaded up for you, you will be dancing. I see someone under the sound of my voice who has just received negative news. If you would only see into the spirit what God has prepared, you would be dancing! That negative news will turn positive in the name of Jesus.
Someone here is worried about proposing because of wedding bills. I have great news for you—that wedding bill has already been written off. Go and propose right now. The Lord bless you.
I see someone healed. I see someone get pregnant right now. I see someone buy their first home. I see someone's application approved. You have to see. You have to see because what you see naturally is not all there is.
I command the eyes of your understanding to be opened tonight. I pray that the light of the Word of God floods your spirit man. What you see naturally is not all there is.
Let's look at 1 Kings 18:41–44:
Then Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain." So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." So he went up and looked, and said, "There is nothing." And he said, "Go again" seven times. Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, "There is a cloud as small as a man's hand rising out of the sea."
Here's what happened: The cloud was loaded with rain, but the servant did not see it. The servant came back and declared his natural reality—"I see nothing." But the prophet refused to accept the natural limitation. He kept sending him back: "Go again. Go again. Go again."
Seven times! Thank God for spiritual mentors who refuse to accept your natural limitation.
I refuse to accept your natural limitation. I vehemently refuse to accept the limitation of sickness. I refuse the limitation of depression. I refuse your limitation of poverty. I refuse what your doctor said about you. I refuse what your lawyer says about you.
I say to you prophetically: Your jobs are there. Your career is there. Your great marriage is there. Your healthy children are there. Go back and see. Go back and reopen that case. Go back and try again. Go back and look again and see what is loaded in your spirit.
You can't afford to live in the natural realm alone. You've got to see spiritually. You've got to see spiritually.
What we cannot see is not all that exists.
According to science, there are colors your natural eyes cannot see. They're called "forbidden colors." Red, green, and yellow exist, but your natural eyes cannot perceive them together because of how our opponent neurons work. Red light cancels green light. Yellow cancels blue. So we can never perceive those color combinations, even though they exist.
Can you imagine? All you see is not all there is. And this is proven by science, in the very colors we attempt to perceive. Your eyes are limited.
The Limitation of the Ears
The scripture says, "Eyes have not seen, nor ears heard."
Dogs can hear things that human ears cannot hear. Dogs hear nearly twice as many frequencies as humans. They can hear sounds four times further away than we can. What a human hears from 20 feet away, a dog hears from 80 feet away.
Unless you are a dog, you have limitations in your hearing. There are certain frequencies your natural ears can never pick up. It gets worse as you get older. When you were younger, you were probably braver, more daring, because you could receive different information. But as you've grown older, your frequency range has narrowed.
In the spirit, there is no limitation. In the spirit, we can see like eagles and hear further than dogs. May God open your eyes. May God open your ears. What you see is not all there is. What you hear is not all there is.
I hear the sound of abundance of rain. I hear the sound of greatness. I hear the sound of joy. Out of the ruins of the pandemic will come a resurrection of greatness. Out of the setback will come a stepping up of your destiny.
The Limitation of the Mind
Nor have these things entered into the heart of man. Our natural imagination is limited to what we have seen before. It's extremely difficult to imagine what you have not seen before because there's no reference point.
Many years ago, I asked my pastor, "How do you catch a vision?" He said, "Where are we?" I said, "In the U.S." He asked, "Can anybody tell you right now that this place does not exist?" I said, "No, because I'm here." He said, "Exactly. So when you get back to your country, nobody can tell you that what you have seen does not exist. That's the principle of the reference point."
It would have been extremely difficult for Adam to imagine a woman. So God put him to sleep and deposited it in his spirit. It would have been extremely difficult for Noah to imagine the ark. God had to deposit it in his spirit by the power of revelation. Moses could never have imagined the first tabernacle in his natural mind—God had to deposit it in his heart.
There are certain things in your future that your natural mind cannot receive. There are certain things your tongue cannot even articulate. So God deposits them in your spirit, bypassing the limitation of your mind.
How does a slave in Egypt become a prime minister? How does a traffic warden become a six-figure income earner? How does someone who arrives in a country with 50 pounds in his pocket become a six-figure consulting practice owner in less than three years? When I first heard this through the gates of history, my natural mind said there's no way. But God, by revelation, deposited things in my spirit that were activated by a simple message in our local church.
That's why you need the Spirit of faith. Faith is something God says is true. Our natural senses are limiting, so we need to switch to faith. There are things God needs to deposit in your spirit, things you can only receive by the Spirit because your natural mind is limited.
What you think is not all there is. What you see is not all there is. What you hear is not all there is. But these things have been deposited in our spirit.
David was a small shepherd boy, but he hung out with a great God, and that made him great. He released his faith. He became a king of Israel—not the firstborn, not the second, not the third born. He was even born outside wedlock. But he released his faith, and God said of him, "David, a man after My heart."
Gideon was weak and from the smallest tribe. God turned him into a national deliverer. When the angel appeared to him, Gideon asked, "Are the faithful deeds in our history books really true? Can God truly deliver?" But he released his faith and became mighty.
Hannah went from being barren to bearing the greatest prophet in the nation. The prophet told her, "Go; the same time next year you will return with a child." She released her faith. There was no way her natural mind could have conceived of blessing the greatest prophet in the land—but she released her faith.
Noah was an ordinary man who built a saving ark because he released his faith. The dimensions of that ark were deposited in his spirit.
Moses was called by God to lead millions out of Egypt. He released his faith.
Psalm 34:8 says:
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him.
The Message Bible says it this way: "Open your mouth and taste; open your eyes and see how good God is. Blessed are you who run to Him."
John 14:26 says:
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
Feed your faith. Feed it with the Word.
Exercise your faith by taking action. What you do in life will be a reflection of what you have learned.
John 8:38 says:
I tell you the things which I have seen at length of my Father's side; and your actions also reflect that you have heard and learned from your father.
Let me give you several tips on exercising your faith:
First, make sure your actions are based on what you have learned. Make sure your actions are consistent with the Word of God.
Psalm 119:5 says:
Oh, that my actions will consistently reflect Your decrees.
Second, faith must be active, or it will remain inactive.
James 2:17 says:
So also faith, if it does not have works, deeds, and actions of obedience to back it up, by itself it is destitute of power.
Faith must be accompanied by action. If not, it remains inactive.
Third, let faith and works work together.
James 2:22 says:
You see his faith and his actions worked together; his actions made his faith complete.
Faith and action go together. Faith must be based on God's instruction and the Word of God.
Fourth, you will be rewarded for the actions that you take.
Proverbs 24:12 says:
Don't excuse yourself by saying, "Look, we didn't know." For God understands all hearts and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you. He will repay all people as their actions deserve.
You'll be rewarded not for what you know, but for what you do.
Fifth, your commitment to bring glory and honor to His name is reason enough to exercise your faith.
Speak to your faith to make it grow.
2 Corinthians 4:13 says:
The Scripture says, "I spoke because I believed." In the same spirit of faith we also speak because we believe. When you believe, you speak.
Speak to your faith. Speak your faith. Speak to yourself about your faith.
Romans 4:17 says:
As it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations" in the presence of Him whom he believed—God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.
Your boldness in your faith will open doors for you.
1 Timothy 3:13 says:
For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ.
Your boldness in your faith will open doors of opportunity.
Faith and doubt do not coexist.
James 1:6 says:
But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
When doubt leaves your life, faith comes in. When doubt leaves your life, you are presented with boundless possibilities, unlimited possibilities.
Make sure you get rid of faith from doubt and negativity.
Matthew 21:21 says:
So Jesus answered and said to them, "If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and it will be done."
Believe that the impossible is possible.
Hebrews 11:6 says:
For without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
All things are possible with God. Make sure you believe that things are possible.
Share your faith with others. Keep the right company so that you can share your faith.
Philemon 1:6 says:
That the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing we have in Christ.
As you share your faith with others, you begin to come into understanding of all the other blessings available for you in the realm of the spirit.
1 Chronicles 16:8 says:
Give thanks to God, call upon His name, make known His deeds among His people.
Discuss your faith with people and discuss your faith with God.
2 Timothy 3:16–17 says:
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished for all good works.
Make sure you discuss your faith with people. Discuss your faith with God.
Heavenly Father, we thank you. We bless Your holy name. We give You all the glory. Lord, I ask that the eyes of everyone under the sound of my voice be opened, that their ears be opened, that their minds be opened in the name of Jesus. Let them see the things that have been fully given to us, let them see the deposits of ideas, finances, increase, prosperity, and health that have been loaded up in the spirit just for them. In the name of Jesus, Father we thank You. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen.
Welcome to Gateway Chapel. Today I'm continuing the sermon series "How to Release Your Faith." If you missed part one, I encourage you to go back and listen to it, because this foundation is crucial: the faith in your heart and the faith in your head will amount to nothing if you do not release it. It is the release of your faith that pleases God and makes things happen for you—not the faith you merely know about or read in a book, but the faith you actively release.
Last week we explored the meaning of faith and five reasons why you need faith and five reasons to release it. Today, we're going to continue that journey.
Our primary text comes from 1 Corinthians 2:9–10:
But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.
God has prepared great things for you because you love the Lord. But here is the critical revelation: God reveals these things not through our natural senses, but through His Spirit. The passage continues:
For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God... Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
This is the key: It is possible for you not to know the things that have been freely given to you by God if you dwell only in the natural realm.
Let's look at Isaiah 54:1–3:
Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud... Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
God is calling a woman who has not borne a child to break forth into singing. Think about it—does this make sense in the natural realm? To sing and rejoice when you have no child? To embark on a redecoration program, to buy baby things, to prepare for motherhood when you're still waiting for a child?
People looking at her would say, "What realm do you live in? You're not behaving your reality!" But here's the truth: What is reality? God is operating on a different kind of reality. In the realm of the spirit, those children already exist. Your finances are already there. The future of that marriage is already bright. The blessing is already real—but it's in the spirit realm.
You need to see into the realm of the Spirit to understand and receive the things that have been freely given to you by God.
Listen to me: What you see is not all there is. What you see is not all there is.
If you see into the realm of the spirit what God has loaded up for you, you will be dancing. I see someone under the sound of my voice who has just received negative news. If you would only see into the spirit what God has prepared, you would be dancing! That negative news will turn positive in the name of Jesus.
Someone here is worried about proposing because of wedding bills. I have great news for you—that wedding bill has already been written off. Go and propose right now. The Lord bless you.
I see someone healed. I see someone get pregnant right now. I see someone buy their first home. I see someone's application approved. You have to see. You have to see because what you see naturally is not all there is.
I command the eyes of your understanding to be opened tonight. I pray that the light of the Word of God floods your spirit man. What you see naturally is not all there is.
Let's look at 1 Kings 18:41–44:
Then Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain." So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." So he went up and looked, and said, "There is nothing." And he said, "Go again" seven times. Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, "There is a cloud as small as a man's hand rising out of the sea."
Here's what happened: The cloud was loaded with rain, but the servant did not see it. The servant came back and declared his natural reality—"I see nothing." But the prophet refused to accept the natural limitation. He kept sending him back: "Go again. Go again. Go again."
Seven times! Thank God for spiritual mentors who refuse to accept your natural limitation.
I refuse to accept your natural limitation. I vehemently refuse to accept the limitation of sickness. I refuse the limitation of depression. I refuse your limitation of poverty. I refuse what your doctor said about you. I refuse what your lawyer says about you.
I say to you prophetically: Your jobs are there. Your career is there. Your great marriage is there. Your healthy children are there. Go back and see. Go back and reopen that case. Go back and try again. Go back and look again and see what is loaded in your spirit.
You can't afford to live in the natural realm alone. You've got to see spiritually. You've got to see spiritually.
What we cannot see is not all that exists.
According to science, there are colors your natural eyes cannot see. They're called "forbidden colors." Red, green, and yellow exist, but your natural eyes cannot perceive them together because of how our opponent neurons work. Red light cancels green light. Yellow cancels blue. So we can never perceive those color combinations, even though they exist.
Can you imagine? All you see is not all there is. And this is proven by science, in the very colors we attempt to perceive. Your eyes are limited.
The Limitation of the Ears
The scripture says, "Eyes have not seen, nor ears heard."
Dogs can hear things that human ears cannot hear. Dogs hear nearly twice as many frequencies as humans. They can hear sounds four times further away than we can. What a human hears from 20 feet away, a dog hears from 80 feet away.
Unless you are a dog, you have limitations in your hearing. There are certain frequencies your natural ears can never pick up. It gets worse as you get older. When you were younger, you were probably braver, more daring, because you could receive different information. But as you've grown older, your frequency range has narrowed.
In the spirit, there is no limitation. In the spirit, we can see like eagles and hear further than dogs. May God open your eyes. May God open your ears. What you see is not all there is. What you hear is not all there is.
I hear the sound of abundance of rain. I hear the sound of greatness. I hear the sound of joy. Out of the ruins of the pandemic will come a resurrection of greatness. Out of the setback will come a stepping up of your destiny.
The Limitation of the Mind
Nor have these things entered into the heart of man. Our natural imagination is limited to what we have seen before. It's extremely difficult to imagine what you have not seen before because there's no reference point.
Many years ago, I asked my pastor, "How do you catch a vision?" He said, "Where are we?" I said, "In the U.S." He asked, "Can anybody tell you right now that this place does not exist?" I said, "No, because I'm here." He said, "Exactly. So when you get back to your country, nobody can tell you that what you have seen does not exist. That's the principle of the reference point."
It would have been extremely difficult for Adam to imagine a woman. So God put him to sleep and deposited it in his spirit. It would have been extremely difficult for Noah to imagine the ark. God had to deposit it in his spirit by the power of revelation. Moses could never have imagined the first tabernacle in his natural mind—God had to deposit it in his heart.
There are certain things in your future that your natural mind cannot receive. There are certain things your tongue cannot even articulate. So God deposits them in your spirit, bypassing the limitation of your mind.
How does a slave in Egypt become a prime minister? How does a traffic warden become a six-figure income earner? How does someone who arrives in a country with 50 pounds in his pocket become a six-figure consulting practice owner in less than three years? When I first heard this through the gates of history, my natural mind said there's no way. But God, by revelation, deposited things in my spirit that were activated by a simple message in our local church.
That's why you need the Spirit of faith. Faith is something God says is true. Our natural senses are limiting, so we need to switch to faith. There are things God needs to deposit in your spirit, things you can only receive by the Spirit because your natural mind is limited.
What you think is not all there is. What you see is not all there is. What you hear is not all there is. But these things have been deposited in our spirit.
David was a small shepherd boy, but he hung out with a great God, and that made him great. He released his faith. He became a king of Israel—not the firstborn, not the second, not the third born. He was even born outside wedlock. But he released his faith, and God said of him, "David, a man after My heart."
Gideon was weak and from the smallest tribe. God turned him into a national deliverer. When the angel appeared to him, Gideon asked, "Are the faithful deeds in our history books really true? Can God truly deliver?" But he released his faith and became mighty.
Hannah went from being barren to bearing the greatest prophet in the nation. The prophet told her, "Go; the same time next year you will return with a child." She released her faith. There was no way her natural mind could have conceived of blessing the greatest prophet in the land—but she released her faith.
Noah was an ordinary man who built a saving ark because he released his faith. The dimensions of that ark were deposited in his spirit.
Moses was called by God to lead millions out of Egypt. He released his faith.
Psalm 34:8 says:
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him.
The Message Bible says it this way: "Open your mouth and taste; open your eyes and see how good God is. Blessed are you who run to Him."
John 14:26 says:
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
Feed your faith. Feed it with the Word.
Exercise your faith by taking action. What you do in life will be a reflection of what you have learned.
John 8:38 says:
I tell you the things which I have seen at length of my Father's side; and your actions also reflect that you have heard and learned from your father.
Let me give you several tips on exercising your faith:
First, make sure your actions are based on what you have learned. Make sure your actions are consistent with the Word of God.
Psalm 119:5 says:
Oh, that my actions will consistently reflect Your decrees.
Second, faith must be active, or it will remain inactive.
James 2:17 says:
So also faith, if it does not have works, deeds, and actions of obedience to back it up, by itself it is destitute of power.
Faith must be accompanied by action. If not, it remains inactive.
Third, let faith and works work together.
James 2:22 says:
You see his faith and his actions worked together; his actions made his faith complete.
Faith and action go together. Faith must be based on God's instruction and the Word of God.
Fourth, you will be rewarded for the actions that you take.
Proverbs 24:12 says:
Don't excuse yourself by saying, "Look, we didn't know." For God understands all hearts and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you. He will repay all people as their actions deserve.
You'll be rewarded not for what you know, but for what you do.
Fifth, your commitment to bring glory and honor to His name is reason enough to exercise your faith.
Speak to your faith to make it grow.
2 Corinthians 4:13 says:
The Scripture says, "I spoke because I believed." In the same spirit of faith we also speak because we believe. When you believe, you speak.
Speak to your faith. Speak your faith. Speak to yourself about your faith.
Romans 4:17 says:
As it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations" in the presence of Him whom he believed—God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.
Your boldness in your faith will open doors for you.
1 Timothy 3:13 says:
For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ.
Your boldness in your faith will open doors of opportunity.
Faith and doubt do not coexist.
James 1:6 says:
But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
When doubt leaves your life, faith comes in. When doubt leaves your life, you are presented with boundless possibilities, unlimited possibilities.
Make sure you get rid of faith from doubt and negativity.
Matthew 21:21 says:
So Jesus answered and said to them, "If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and it will be done."
Believe that the impossible is possible.
Hebrews 11:6 says:
For without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
All things are possible with God. Make sure you believe that things are possible.
Share your faith with others. Keep the right company so that you can share your faith.
Philemon 1:6 says:
That the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing we have in Christ.
As you share your faith with others, you begin to come into understanding of all the other blessings available for you in the realm of the spirit.
1 Chronicles 16:8 says:
Give thanks to God, call upon His name, make known His deeds among His people.
Discuss your faith with people and discuss your faith with God.
2 Timothy 3:16–17 says:
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished for all good works.
Make sure you discuss your faith with people. Discuss your faith with God.
Heavenly Father, we thank you. We bless Your holy name. We give You all the glory. Lord, I ask that the eyes of everyone under the sound of my voice be opened, that their ears be opened, that their minds be opened in the name of Jesus. Let them see the things that have been fully given to us, let them see the deposits of ideas, finances, increase, prosperity, and health that have been loaded up in the spirit just for them. In the name of Jesus, Father we thank You. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen.
