Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Welcome to the crema chaj podcast.
[00:00:08] Come on.
[00:00:11] Yes. Stay standing. Stay standing. How many of you guys watch UFC or WWE or something like that? Do you have, like, entrance music? I especially requested myself leading worship as I got up.
[00:00:24] That's a joke if you're not sure.
[00:00:27] All right, stay standing. Let's just pray.
[00:00:30] Lord Jesus, we thank you for your presence this morning.
[00:00:38] You are the main event.
[00:00:41] There is nothing else we want.
[00:00:46] And, God, I pray that you would speak to us this morning, that you would encounter us this morning.
[00:00:52] God, we want.
[00:00:53] We want you.
[00:00:55] We just want you. We want to be pleasing to you.
[00:00:58] We want to be close to you, and we want to meet you.
[00:01:03] Let this morning be all about encountering you, God, giving you worship and you glory.
[00:01:10] Amen.
[00:01:12] Why don't you guys take a seat?
[00:01:16] I love some of the songs we were singing this morning.
[00:01:20] There were a couple of lines that stuck out to me. There was one that said, and if it puts me in the fire, I'll rejoice because you're there, too.
[00:01:29] There's another that said, o valleys be raised up, and O mountains be made low.
[00:01:37] And this morning, I want to talk to you about faith. I have titled this message what I am learning about Faith.
[00:01:46] For any of you. I don't know whether this is your first time, but for many of you in this room, you will know, as a church, we are on a crazy building journey, right? We're believing God for a miracle. We're believing him for a miraculous space that's way beyond what we can naturally achieve.
[00:02:08] We're believing him for money that we don't have, that's outside of money that we can naturally get. We can't strategize our way to this miracle.
[00:02:17] Has to be God. We've done everything we can.
[00:02:21] Now it has to be Him.
[00:02:24] And then personally, for me, I got married about three months ago, which is a miracle in and of itself.
[00:02:39] I got the mic, you know, I'll call people out, and Grace is the love of my life. She is the best.
[00:02:47] She is the most tolerant woman God has ever made.
[00:02:51] So pray for her.
[00:02:53] And in our journey of marriage, God has been so, so good to us. So, so good to us. But we are believing God for some miracles and some provision and some things that are just totally out of our hands.
[00:03:07] We've done everything that we can. We. We've used our wisdom, we've read our word, We've done it God's way, and we've got to the end of ourselves. And we're like, God either you show up or this doesn't happen. You guys know that kind of season.
[00:03:20] That's the season I'm in at the moment.
[00:03:24] And I don't know about you, but I am very aware that I am in a faith season.
[00:03:30] And I am very aware that this is something that I'm not particularly comfortable in as a Christian. I've always put faith into kind of two camps, right? I've split the church, the believers, into two groups. I've had a group over here that are like the wisdom group and then a group over here that are like the faith group, right?
[00:03:54] And generally, I've aligned with the wisdom group.
[00:03:58] I've been like, I want to check my bank balance.
[00:04:01] That's been me. I've always seen the faith group as the people that don't check and just believe God being honest.
[00:04:10] And if there was a Bible verse that I have built probably the majority of my life off of, it's James 2. It says, what does it profit my brethren? If someone says he has faith but does not have works, can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace. Peace be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus, also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
[00:04:48] And I probably lived in a world just being really honest with you guys, where I'm like, God, I believe you. I have faith. I believe you for the miraculous.
[00:04:58] And then I'll go.
[00:05:00] And then I go, I need to do something.
[00:05:05] And so then I go back over to this bit, and I go, okay, I'm believing God now. What are all the things I can do?
[00:05:10] What's my role? When I was growing up, my mom used to say I was like, tigger, I couldn't sit still. I'm the kind of person that has to do things. I just. I can't stop myself. And I've lived so much of my Christian walk going, God, I don't really know what to do with this faith thing. So I'll just believe you for that. I'll leave that over here, and I'll do all the things you've told me to do that are in my power.
[00:05:32] I'll read my Bible, I'll pray, I'll give, I'll tithe, and then I'll use wisdom, and I'll make strategies and plans, and I'll do all the things you've said. And all of those things are Good.
[00:05:44] But what I always assumed is they were kind of two separate things. And what I'm learning about faith is that you actually can't have faith without wisdom.
[00:05:54] See, there's something that happens when you do things God's way. You walk in the wisdom he's given you.
[00:06:02] You plan with him, you do everything you can, and you come to the end of yourself and you say, God, I know because I know that I can't do this without you. And so now I need faith.
[00:06:16] And it comes upon my wisdom. It builds from my wisdom.
[00:06:20] John Wimber used to say, God, I've seen what I can do with my ministry. Now you do what you can do.
[00:06:27] There is something that happens when we come to the end of ourselves.
[00:06:33] And the verse I've been thinking about in this season is Hebrews 11. It says, but without faith, it is impossible to please him.
[00:06:44] For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him by faith. Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen by, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith.
[00:07:09] See, the Bible says there's a type of faith that is pleasing to God.
[00:07:14] There's not many things that the Bible says are pleasing to God, but it says faith is pleasing to God. There is a type of faith that we can walk in and live with that pleases God.
[00:07:29] An aroma of faith, if you will, that our lives become pleasing to him.
[00:07:35] I don't know about you, but it has always been my desire to be pleasing to God, to please him to be right with the Creator of the universe.
[00:07:46] Would you guys stand? We're going to read the main scriptures today. Matthew 14.
[00:07:52] It's verse 25.
[00:08:01] How many of you guys have got your physical Bibles?
[00:08:04] Let's go. You know, you look like a real Christian when you have a real Bible.
[00:08:10] It's real. Throw the sandals in, you got the complete set.
[00:08:15] Are you guys there?
[00:08:17] Okay, 14:25.
[00:08:21] Now, in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them walking on the sea.
[00:08:27] And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, it is a ghost.
[00:08:34] And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, be of good cheer. It is I. Do not be afraid.
[00:08:43] And Peter answered him and said, lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.
[00:08:49] So he said, come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat. He walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink. He cried out, saying, lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him and said, oh, you of little faith. Why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased, and those who were in the boat came and worshiped him, saying, truly, you are the Son of God. Why don't you take a seat?
[00:09:28] As I've been going on this journey of faith, I've wanted to learn from the Bible what faith looks like.
[00:09:35] I've seen different expressions of faith in the church, but I've gone back to the Word and said, God, what does this actually look like? For me, to walk this out your way.
[00:09:46] And for me, this is the faith story. This is the story I always think about. Many of you will know the story.
[00:09:52] The disciples go out in a boat.
[00:09:55] The wind and the waves begin to get so, so aggressive. They're terrified. And bear in mind these men are fishermen. They are not easily scared. They know a real storm when they see one. If they're scared, it's the real deal.
[00:10:08] And in the midst of the storm, they see this figure walking to them on the water.
[00:10:15] And the more. The more he kind of gets closer, the more he walks. They're like, hold on, that's Jesus.
[00:10:22] Jesus is going for a stroll in the storm.
[00:10:26] And Peter gets up and says, jesus, if it's you, call out to me and I'll walk on the water. And Jesus goes, it's me.
[00:10:34] And so he walks on the water to. To Jesus. And some point along his journey, he realizes he's walking on the water and starts to panic and sink.
[00:10:43] And Jesus stretches out his hand and grabs him, pulls him onto the boat.
[00:10:48] Like a wild story.
[00:10:52] I've got three points I want to go through this morning of things I feel like this.
[00:10:57] I'm learning, and this has taught to me. And number one is faith is courageous.
[00:11:06] How many of you guys have been in a plane when there's turbulence?
[00:11:10] How many of you know, like, the first little bit of turbulence? You're good, you're brave, you trust God.
[00:11:17] But as the turbulence increases, you start to see the cracks. Everyone grabs their seat belt a little tighter.
[00:11:25] Everyone just kind of puts their chair up. They start reading the safety pamphlet that no one read on the way in.
[00:11:33] When I was growing up, I've actually been in one instance of, like, an emergency landing. We were in America, and the turbulence got so bad and something went wrong. With the plane, they had to do an emergency landing, and I was traveling with my family. And just how it sometimes works, the airlines split you up, right? So it's like me and my sister at the front, and it's my dad and my mom further back.
[00:11:55] Not as far forward as I'd want to be, by the way.
[00:11:58] And we were sat apart, and the turbulence starts going, and it gets so bad that my dad comes up to me and he goes, hey, let's swap seats. Just because I want to make sure, Emma, your sister, is okay.
[00:12:09] You see where this is going?
[00:12:11] And so I go to the back to sit with my mum.
[00:12:15] Let me tell you, my sister was fine.
[00:12:19] Honestly. She could have been asleep.
[00:12:22] My mom, on the other hand, I don't know if any of you guys with Christian mothers. She's praying in tongues to a level of volume that is unmistakable. Like, unmistakable. She's got her Bible, her physical Bible out. We're on a busy plane, given everyone's panicking, right? And she's shalaba suturu God kal. And I'm sat, and I'm like, my dad knew exactly what he was doing.
[00:12:54] I think the thing we miss with this story, okay, is I can't speak for you, but I can speak for me.
[00:13:02] When you're out on that boat and the wind and the waves begin to get so intense, the boat is rocking. One of the reasons I think they weren't sure it was Jesus when he was walking is probably because they could barely see through the rain.
[00:13:17] And also, why would you assume he's walking on water? I mean, be fair.
[00:13:22] It's rocking. I don't know about you, but there is no earthly power that's going to get me to stand up and go, jesus, call to me. I will walk out to you.
[00:13:33] Right?
[00:13:34] When you're stood there and the storm is going, I don't know about you, but I would be consumed with fear.
[00:13:42] And what I find even more interesting is, you know what Jesus says to them? Be of good cheer.
[00:13:51] It is I do not be afraid. Do you imagine when my mom's praying in tongues on that plane, if I turned to her and said, be of good cheer?
[00:14:01] And I think, look, for all of Peter's failures, right? There's things that we always highlight that he's not great at. He is a man of courage. And something stirs in Peter in that moment.
[00:14:13] He sees Jesus. Jesus speaks to him, and something stirs in him where he says, I have to take this step.
[00:14:21] And he stands up and he says, if this is, you call to me and Jesus says, come, and he steps out of the boat.
[00:14:28] I think one of the biggest things for us as Christians is that first courageous step.
[00:14:36] Do you know, Actually, it's never the hardest step.
[00:14:39] You'll see later, it's the following steps that get harder. But there is something that often paralyzes us as Christians and it's fear.
[00:14:47] It's that first step. And my question to you this morning is, what is that first step for you?
[00:14:55] Is it coming down the front and giving your life to Jesus? Do you know of him? But you know, you have never made that step.
[00:15:02] Is it buying a home? Do you feel like you're supposed to believe God for a home? But what everyone tells you is, well, look at the financial market and the interest rates are so high. And then you look at your savings account, you go, no, no, this isn't giving me any more faith.
[00:15:19] What is the first courageous step, do you know, on this building journey we've been on, do you know, probably one of the most courageous steps for us is when we looked at the building.
[00:15:30] And any of you that have bought property before will know when you speak to a solicitor or the real estate agent, they'll say to you, well, how are you going to pay for it?
[00:15:41] You know, have you got mortgage? In principle, there's some of the things they say. And do you know, the big faith step for us was going, well, God is going to provide.
[00:15:50] Now, it sounds great on a talk clip here, but that is terrifying when you're facing someone who's like, come on.
[00:15:57] Right, my question to you this morning is, what is your first big courageous step?
[00:16:04] Is fear paralyzing you from your faith? The faith that will see you step into the impossible things of God?
[00:16:18] Number two, faith is contested.
[00:16:25] How many of you know without a storm, you don't need faith?
[00:16:28] If everything we declared came to pass instantly like that, you would have no need for faith.
[00:16:34] None.
[00:16:37] You just declare it and it happens. You don't need faith.
[00:16:40] And the truth is there will be a time for us when we are before Jesus and there's no more sorrow and there's no more suffering. But you see, we have a privilege in this life of bringing him something that we can only bring him in this Life.
[00:16:55] You got 100 years on Earth and then we can't bring him this anymore.
[00:17:00] Faith.
[00:17:02] And faith is always, always contested.
[00:17:07] Do you notice when Jesus gets into the boat, the storm subsides?
[00:17:12] Jesus could have stopped the storm right at the start, but their faith would not have been Built.
[00:17:20] And I think there's something that I find really interesting about this is that if you guys ever tried to, like, step into a pool and walk on water, you've done that. Liars. If you say you're not, but you kind of do it as kids and you want to see how far you get. And the reality is you go bang, right? Like, you get in and you're like, under.
[00:17:42] Isn't it interesting that Peter is walking and he begins to sink?
[00:17:47] The Bible says he starts to sink. And then he holds his hand out and Jesus grabs him. And Jesus says, you of little faith. And I just think there is something so important for us in this, in this understanding of the storm, because this is so much of the Christian life. I think we often think we take that big, crazy, courageous faith step, and then we've done the worst bit.
[00:18:10] But actually, it's step after step with God where we realize whether we trust him or not. And the truth is, you don't start trusting him. Really high, you say you trust him, you take the big crazy step. And then as you walk, you begin to realize, oh, my goodness, God, maybe I don't trust you in this.
[00:18:30] And then you hold out your hand, you say, jesus, and we keep on walking.
[00:18:35] For me in my life, I said to you at the start, when we got married, there were a couple of things we needed to see God's breakthrough on. And actually one of them was financial.
[00:18:50] And we were believing God for multiple miracles. That kind of honestly didn't come to pass in a couple of areas yet. Okay?
[00:19:00] And like I said to you at the start, I'm like a man of wisdom. I always have been. That's been what I've championed. So I had all these financial levers.
[00:19:10] You know, the savings account there, the job I could do here, this, this and that, right? I had all these different things that I was like, well, if this doesn't come through, I can do that. If this doesn't come through, I can do that. If this doesn't come through, I can do that. And I'm telling you, every single lever, when I went to pull them failed. Every single one.
[00:19:28] So, like, I'd go, oh, well, it's fine, I can do this. And then that would fall through, and I go, okay, it's fine. Then I can do this. And then that would fall through and, okay, it's fine. And it got closer and closer and tighter and tighter. And I got to my last lever, which was my car.
[00:19:44] I've got a car that I've had For a while. And the way I financed it and did it, I still had some money in the car.
[00:19:52] And I was like, what I'm going to do is I'm going to. I'm going to sell this car. It's going to enable me to do the next thing. All really exciting, all really good, right?
[00:20:00] German car. Never had a single problem with it, ever.
[00:20:05] The minute I go to sell this car, flipping yellow warning light appears on the dash.
[00:20:13] Like.
[00:20:14] And it's not just like, you know, it's not like tire pressure, it's like engineering.
[00:20:18] And I'm like, seriously, Honestly, I'm like, about right, isn't it?
[00:20:26] So I tried to sell the car, but I tell them about the light because I'm like, I have to be a man of integrity. So, hey, there's this light.
[00:20:34] And they're like, oh, you need to go get a report done.
[00:20:39] So I take the car to a garage. They charge me a stupid amount of money to plug it in and get a report.
[00:20:45] And they do this report. And what I come to find out is the bill on the car pretty much wipes out the money I have in the car, pretty much.
[00:20:55] And I said to them, what would you do? And they said, I'd wipe the code and pretend I never came here.
[00:21:05] And I'm thinking, that's a great plan. And I ring my dad and I'm like, we're good on this, right? And he's like, no, we're not. You'll be pleased to know he's like, no, we can't do that.
[00:21:17] You have to have integrity in this. And I'm like, I knew you were going to say that. I was just hoping for an out.
[00:21:22] And it's really interesting, isn't it, that what's been so genuinely fun for me, Genuinely. I mean, this is when you get past, like, level number one, number two, number three, number four, you get to the point where you're like, it's last leverage is you go, oh, look, I actually. God, this is a moment where I decide how much I trust you.
[00:21:49] Because I can cover it. I can be so easy, clear that light. I know how long it stays off, know where I can drive it. The garages were like, honestly, you'd be fine. They won't even check. I'm like, they won't.
[00:22:03] But can I do that? And do I trust you? Because ultimately, being integris is fine as long as you trust God will bring you through it, right?
[00:22:12] And there was something in this for me of like, hear me, it's A small storm, but a storm where I came to the point where I was like, I have a decision here as to how much I trust him.
[00:22:23] And the blessing of the storm is that I know how much I trust him by how I behave.
[00:22:32] And look, you're gonna get some of these storms right and wrong. I've got them right and wrong. I don't think it's like, if I get this right or wrong, God's gonna send lightning down from heaven.
[00:22:41] But there is something about maturing and walking with God. And what I know is the aroma of my faith on the back end of this will be pleasing to him because I say to him, I trust you above all other things.
[00:22:55] I had my levers, I've been wise. You told me to be.
[00:22:59] Pulled them all, They've not come through. It's on you, God.
[00:23:02] It's on you, God.
[00:23:06] My last point, faith is spoken.
[00:23:12] This is the one I've been the most convicted of, honestly, as a Christian and as a man who primarily like, wants to be wise.
[00:23:21] It's what I say, it's what I speak.
[00:23:25] Proverbs 18:21. It says, Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. So much of our Christian walk is spoken. So much.
[00:23:37] When we call you to the front to give your life to Jesus, there is a salvation prayer that you speak. You declare Jesus with your mouth.
[00:23:49] Although we can pray in our heads so often, we pray with our mouths, we sing our worship to Jesus. Have you ever noticed when you read your Bible, there is something different that happens when you speak it aloud, changes who you are.
[00:24:06] And I have found myself in this journey of faith. You know, I would call them, like, each little step for me. So I've taken take the faith step and go, okay, we're done. And then I'm like, no, okay, now we're in the trust bit. I just keep walking.
[00:24:21] And then I'm like, okay. As I'm walking, what I'm saying is not speaking life.
[00:24:27] What I'm saying is tripping myself up. I'm covering my back, is my mouth. Are the words I speak bringing life to me?
[00:24:40] And honestly, I preached a similar message to this last Sunday night. Got up, I said, we've got to speak with faith. Then this week, we had a couple of situations go. And I caught myself. I didn't stop myself. I said it. I said it. But I don't think that's going to happen, did it? I didn't need to say it.
[00:24:58] Spoke it. My words do not speak life all the time. And it's been as I've walked with the Holy Spirit, there's just been this thing of like, did I say that?
[00:25:08] Was that from me? Is that in my word?
[00:25:14] I'm just so convinced that as Christians, we kill ourselves with what we say sometimes.
[00:25:21] Our words do not always create life. We want to not look silly for Jesus, so we just dial him down, make sure what we speak doesn't take any risk.
[00:25:33] The problem is that's just not what Jesus did, not how he asked us to live.
[00:25:38] And I believe we will not see the miracles we long for. We will not see the promises we long for until we start speaking life. We have to be a people that speak life.
[00:25:49] Have to.
[00:25:51] Few. Few years ago now, me and Chris, we were at a revival prayer. Chris was leading worship today.
[00:25:58] We lived together at the time, and we were like, somewhere around there at the back during revival prayer.
[00:26:05] And we were just worshiping and people were praying. And my mum came bounding up to us, and she said, boys, come here. And we were both single at the time, and she said, boys, it's time you started getting serious about getting wives, and you need to start making declarations about your marriage every night.
[00:26:24] And we did what any other guy in this room would do. And we're like, oh, yeah, okay. We don't even care.
[00:26:31] Promise.
[00:26:32] And, you know, I was as thrilled as anyone else would be that their mom has come over and said that in front of their best friend. You know, I'm just trying. I'm out here, I'm in church. Give me a break.
[00:26:43] And we went home that night, and I remember, you know, to my mum, we get home and we're like, we do really want to get married.
[00:26:55] We really want that. And honestly, we've got nothing to lose, so let's give it a go.
[00:27:02] And we, over a couple of months, would pray every couple of nights, and we'd just sit together and we'd pray a bit, and then we'd make declarations.
[00:27:12] And both of us are now, by the grace of God, married miraculously.
[00:27:22] But the truth is, the thing that changed there is that something started to change in both of our hearts as we began to speak the truths of God.
[00:27:30] He's vulnerable to speak what you believe God for.
[00:27:34] Scary. When it's in your head, no one else hears you. When you declare it in front of someone else, it's wild. If you're like me, you don't declare a ton in front of your boys.
[00:27:44] We went on this journey and God came through and I want to say to you that every single time I have reached something where it won't break, we can't see the breakthrough.
[00:27:53] I'm frustrated. I'm believing God for something. Almost always it's been what I say that makes the difference.
[00:27:59] Like God, I believe you for this. I feel his pleasure as I say it. God, I trust you. I know what's going on. That's the wisdom piece. I can see that this is impossible. But you.
[00:28:14] So here's my three things.
[00:28:17] Faith is courageous takes a big courageous step. I'd ask you this morning, what is your big courageous step? What is he asking you for?
[00:28:28] What step are you scared to take?
[00:28:32] What is your first step on the faith journey?
[00:28:35] Number two. Faith is contested when the storm comes, not if. When the storm comes.
[00:28:42] Will you believe God and trust him? And will you take check of yourself? Will you see the storm as a blessing to bring you into alignment to God, to bring you closer to him that you would come out of the storm loving him more, full of faith?
[00:28:59] Would you be of good cheer?
[00:29:04] Number three, Faith is spoken.
[00:29:07] Will you ask the Holy Spirit about what you say, what you speak, what comes out of your mouth?
[00:29:15] Will you believe that your words have power and will you start to declare things that will change the course of your life, your family's life, this church's life and the nation?
[00:29:28] We speak life. We speak the word of God.
[00:29:32] Will you be a people he can trust with your lips?
[00:29:37] Would you stand?
[00:29:44] Thanks for listening to the Coma Church Podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church.
[00:29:56] For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship and how to donate, visit our website at Chroma Church.
