Living Faith

We'd like to greet you once again in the wonderful name of the Lord Jesus. We're back to talk with you about the Scriptures and talk to you once again about faith. Let's read today from the book of James chapter two beginning at the first verse. 

[James 2:1-26: "My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."]

You know this is a wonderful, wonderful thing here. Faith is one of the greatest subjects of the entire writings of the Lord Jesus or of the Apostles that is. Faith in God. You know when we think about faith sometimes it's just a statement. It's a mere statement or it's just something that is a passing thought you know, but I want you to know that faith is a living reality. I want you to understand that faith is real. There is something that is hid within faith that can move God. There's something about faith, real genuine believing that meets all of our needs. A lot of people never get the benefit of faith because they do not understand faith. They've heard about faith the world around but nevertheless they haven't really understood faith. For instance the Bible speaks of Abraham here as the Lord commanded Abraham to do the great thing that he did in offering up his son. God isn't barbarous. God, He is not blood thirsty. God had a great place for Abraham. A place that was so great and mighty as being the father of the faithful, a place so great that He could not take a chance of picking the wrong person for that position, and so He put Abraham to the test to see that if Abraham would have any reservation of heart at all. That to see if Abraham would hold back anything from God even his only son. You know God gave his only Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life, and so it was God letting Abraham be typical of that many years before Jesus was ever brought to Calvary. God doing that He tested Abraham right down to the very last place. You know He didn't stop. He went right down to the hair line as we say, and so then He said, Abraham, take that son, go offer him up as a sacrifice, and faithful Abraham clave the wood. He went on his way, he got to the foot of the mountain, he said to the men, he said, Friends, stay here I and lad we will go to worship and we will return to you. Now think about the faith like that. God had said, Slay him, but on the other hand Abraham knew the love of God in that God was able to raise Isaac back up from the dead. He wasn't going to be unfaithful to God. He had such great faith in God's love and mercy that he just knew that he could say to those men, I and the lad we will return. And so then he went to the top of the mountain. He laid the lad down. There he took the knife and he came down with the knife if to slay the son and God saw what was happening and God through the angel screamed out saying, Abraham, Abraham, I know now that thou fearest God, do thy son no harm Abraham, and the angel with stayed hand the hand. See God tested Abraham right down to the finish line, and this is what we've got to learn about faith folks, when you really believe God you've got to go right down to the very finish line. Sometimes Satan will press you and sometimes Satan will probe at your mind and you will feel such an oppression from thoughts that keep talking to you, thoughts that are contrary to the promises of God and human feelings, frustrations, anxiety, all of these things will arise in your heart and mind, in your feelings to make you think that God has forgotten, that God has forsaken, that God is not faithful, but if you can hold fast to God's word. Aw, so many times in my life I've been right done to the very hair line. I've been down to the very finish line and it look like faith wouldn't work and it look like I was left alone to face the awful ordeal but all of a sudden from out of somewhere as it was with Abraham I could hear that voice screaming out,Don't fear, don't doubt, I the Lord God am with you and I am your God and I am here to deliver you because thou hast believed in Me, and thou hast trusted Me. You know this is true not only here in America from where I am speaking right now, but I've been around the world, I've been in precarious places, I've been into the real danger zones, and I've been in places where there was no provision. I had no income. I had not anything as means of survival and I had others with me, but I believed God and God heard my prayer and God stood with me and God has delivered me from all over the world from dangers and problems. God has blessed us until today our ministry is reaching out in more than every major language of the world, and today it's such a privilege to talk to you about this wonderful faith. It's all by faith. Every bit of it's by faith. I'm speaking to you today by faith. God makes the way that I might speak to you. I pray, I ask God to help me and I say, Lord, give me the means and help me to speak to the people around the world and so then God provides, and today I'm speaking to you though the wonderful power of faith and I'm speaking to you though the name of Jesus. You know Jesus was a healer, Jesus was a deliverer, Jesus raised the dead. God wants to deliver. I challenge people in different parts of the world as to believe God when they were in deep poverty and when there was no means of survival, no way to get anything I've challenged their faith and I've said, Friend, would you believe? Would you give God a chance. Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Can God rain down manner from heaven? Can God, is there anything to hard for God? Can God do anything? And so then I challenged their faith and in every case it's come out great and mighty in victory. Today I challenged your faith wherever you are. Wherever you're at. Though there might be a crisis, though there might be a little mother holding a little one in her arms that is about to come to the crisis that can't go any farther, it might be hungry, it might be starvation, it might be some kind of poverty, or sickness, some kind of mental oppression, some kind of demon possession to the extent of torture and torment, but I challenge you in the name of Jesus Christ to believe these words of life. God will come to your rescue and Satan will have to break his evil hold and the bonds of iniquity will fade away into nothing and the mighty God of Jacob and if Isaac you'll find Him standing there in His power and in His magnificence and you'll find yourself a new creature in Christ. Think on Jesus. Let Him have your thoughts. As a man thinketh in his heart so he is the Scriptures says. So then let's get the right thoughts in our mind and let's do away with the negative side of life and the unbelief and fears. For the Bible said, Fear not. Don't be afraid. Thoughts that harass your mind, things that drive you and people that influence you with the wrong thinking that causes you to tend toward fear. Don't receive that. Believe the Word of God. Read the Word of God. Think on the Word of God. Listen to the Word of God. Study and meditate in His laws day and night. Become strong in the conviction that because He said it it is right. Let every man be a liar and let God be true. The Bible said that God's Word is settled in heaven and it can not be changed. It can not be altered. He said, My Words shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that, that I please and it shall prosper in that where unto I've sent it. So then the Bible said that He sent His Word and healed them and they heard His Word and they believed and they were delivered and the Word of God cast out the unclean spirits and the Words of life came to them and the dead was raised again. The Bible tells us that the dead came forth from the grave and was raised to life again. Great and mighty things took place. It followed the life of Jesus. It followed the life of men that believed in Jesus. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. Friend, it's still following the life of Jesus. These wonderful things are taking place so today, believe with all of your heart what I have said and you'll be delivered, you'll have a new life, you'll have a new hope. Something like you've never experienced in all your life. May God bless you until we see you the next time.

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

Founder and first President of Jesus Christs Eternal Kingdom of Abundant Life, Inc.

Holiness Unto The Lord