Redeemer Coast Church Podcast

Judges 6:12 “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valour!””
God is the One who calls those things that be not as though they were. (Romans 4:17)
At the time the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, in the natural, Gideon did not look like a mighty man of valour.
Here was this man, hiding from the Midianites, living under their oppression, and God saw this as the perfect opportunity to call Gideon a mighty warrior.
God wanted to bring about deliverance for His people; in order to do that, He needed a man, someone who would see themselves the way God sees them.
God needed to address the way Gideon saw himself- a mighty warrior.
Gideon went from believing that he was a timid, useless, powerless man under the oppression of people, to a man who was called of God, equipped by Him to bring about His Word and will in the earth.
What has God said about you?!

Acts 3:16: “And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”
As disciples of Jesus, we are called and equipped to do the works He did when He walked on the earth. We have been given the name of Jesus to carry out His will on the earth. What a wonderful privilege it is to be equipped with the name of Jesus to do the works of God! As His Church, His body and His children, we are called to do the works of Jesus. This is what faith in His name is for: that the plan and will of God may be accomplished on the earth.

‭‭Mark‬ ‭4‬:‭39‬-‭40‬ “Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”
This is a very confronting question that Jesus asked.
“Why are you so fearful?”
He was asking them why they were acting cowardly. This question reveals that they could have done exactly what Jesus did to the storm.

James 1:2-4 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
No matter what we will ever face in life, we can choose to count it as joy! Faith looks at trials and tribulations and chooses joy because, as believers, we already know the outcome: victory!
The trials we face may not be joyful, but our response to the trials can be joy.
Our feelings and reasonings will want to complain, panic, worry, and fear, but rather than letting the fear of the circumstances dictate our response, we choose to believe what God has said in His Word and choose joy! We can choose joy by letting God’s Word be what we focus on and meditate on. Let His Word be the words that come out of our mouths, His Word be the praise on our lips, His Word be the anchor that keeps us steady.

Romans 4:4-5 “Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favour, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,”
Faith is the currency in which we receive righteousness.
Believing what God has done in Jesus for us is how we receive salvation.
This is why faith is essential. Without faith, we can’t receive salvation. The only correct response to Gods grace is faith.

2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
This beautiful verse is right in the middle of the Holy Spirit saying through Paul that we’re in this world, we’re experiencing the decay of this world, and yet, because of the Holy Spirit and the life of God inside us, we can live powerful and effective lives that are pleasing to God!
We live these victorious lives by faith! When we’ve learned to walk by faith and not by sight, we have bold cheerfulness!
We can be godly cheerful because we know that no matter what we’re facing, we win!
So, what do we do with this precious faith that God has given to us?
As we go through life, we always have a choice of how we’re going to walk and live our lives. Either by sight- the things that are seen in the natural, our own strength, ability and resources, or by faith- what God has said and promised in His Word.
Are we going to walk by what we see and feel?
Are we going to walk by faith?
We are called to take the paths that are guided by what God has said about us!

Hebrews 11:1-2 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.”
Faith is not just for salvation; faith is for all the troubles we will ever face in life.
We can look at the heroes of faith and see how they used their faith to overcome and implement God's will and purpose on the earth.
If they received the promises of God and overcame the trials of life, then so can we!
It’s important to understand that faith in God's Word is the foundation of what we are hoping for.
Our faith is the title deed that what God has promised belongs to us. We may not see it yet in the natural, but because of faith, we know and are convinced that we have what God has said.
God's Word is our evidence that we have it!

Matthew 17:20, “He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
It’s so encouraging to understand that where we are now in our faith, is not where we will be. What matters is what we do with what we have.
In this Scripture above, we can see how Jesus compared faith to a mustard seed.
When we look at a seed, we understand there is so much ability and potential within it. A mustard seed, as small as it is, when planted produces one of the biggest trees. For a tree to be produced, that seed must be planted.
In the same way, our faith, just like a seed can grow. There is so much potential and ability within our faith, but we must use what we have to see fruit in our lives.

Mark 4:18-19 “And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
Faith is precious to God. Someone who will simply take Him at His Word.
How can we, as His creation, offer Him something that pleases Him when He created the heavens and the earth? Yet, we can please Him with our faith. (Hebrews 11:6)
Satan knows how powerful faith is; he understands that faith in God’s Word is the answer to everything he tries to throw at us. His aim is therefore to steal the Word of God because he knows that if he can steal God’s Word, he can hinder us from living the fruitful life God has called us to live. Therefore, we must protect our faith!

Mark‬ ‭11‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭YLT98‬‬ ‭ “And Jesus answering saith to them, ‘Have faith of God; for verily I say to you, that whoever may say to this mount, Be taken up, and be cast into the sea, and may not doubt in his heart, but may believe that the things that he saith do come to pass, it shall be to him whatever he may say.”
Jesus uses the opportunity of cursing the fig tree as an opportunity to teach His disciples how faith works.
In the Young’s Literal Translation, it highlights the point that Jesus tells us that we can have faith like God has faith- have the faith of God.
We can have faith in the same manner that God has faith.

James 5:15-18 “And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
We need to understand that there are different kinds of prayer. (Ephesians 6:18 Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty.”)
Prayer is a vital part of living a victorious Christian life. There is a kind of prayer that the Bible calls the prayer of faith. The prayer of faith is different from spending time in fellowship and communion with the Father. The prayer of faith is when we know the Father’s will in a situation and boldly declare His will over the circumstance. 

1 Timothy 1:5, “ Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and fromsincere faith.”
The Bible speaks of many different kinds of faith: Strong faith, weak faith, sincere faith, shipwrecked faith, little faith, etc.
The Apostle Paul, in writing to Timothy, reminds him of the purpose of his commandment: love from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Sincere can also be translated as genuine faith. It is a kind of faith that is not pretend or masked, it’s real. It’s the kind of faith that is stood the test of time, it has stood the test of trials, and it comes out purified and sincere.