Sermon Tone Analysis

The Treasure Test

Message 5: Enlarging Your Confidence

Greetings and Joke

During a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed.

She was about to

turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me

tonight?”

The mother gave him a smile and a reassuring hug.

“I can’t, dear,” she said.

“I have to sleep

with your daddy.”

A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: “The big sissy.”

Declaration

Ha-foke-ba, Ha-foke-ba, De-Cola-ba

Ha-foke-ba, Ha-foke-ba, Mashiach-ba

Turn-it and turn-it everything you need is in it.

Turn-it and turn-it the Messiah is in it.

On Screen Bible

“Is anyone among you suffering?

Let him pray.

Is anyone cheerful?

Let him sing praises.

Is anyone among you sick?

Let him call for the elders of Messiah’s community, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.

If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

So confess your offenses to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

The effective prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain.

And it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”

(James 5:13–18, TLV)

Message

I want to talk to you today about “Enlarging Your Confidence.”

Problem:

I was taught at two very good seminaries that the Bible is a book about salvation, a book about moral living but it was not a book intended to get your hopes up.

I was taught that God rarely lets us see more than a few steps of our path at a time.

When he gives a glimpse whether trough a weather report, a medical diagnosis, a financial report that we should have moral courage.

Don’t get upset, don’t sin and bear the fruit of the Spirit.

And definitely don’t try to claim promises, claim big things from God, don’t be like those name it and claim it guys.

Yet, I can’t tell you the number of times what gave me moral confidence was an increased confidence in my God who makes and keeps promises.

Ironically, many of those same people who taught in class that the Bible was just a moral book would face a crisis, face a storm, have their back against a wall.

Then all of the sudden the Bible became a book of promises that ensured hope and could even bring people back from the brink of death.

All the sudden these sharp eyed theologian started to pray like wild-eyed charismatics.

They would stand over a spouse in the hospital and with tears in their eyes call out to God and say, “Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”

All of the sudden, in an instant they would enlarge their confidence.

It was almost like a revival because in these times they would go back to what made the two schools I went to great: men and women wrestling with God until they got his blessing.

Shortly after Dallas Seminary was founded in 1924, it came to the point of bankruptcy.

Foreclosure loomed over the school.

On the morning the creditors were going to come to the school the founders of the school met in the president’s office to pray that God would provide.

In that prayer meeting was Harry Ironside.

When it was his turn to pray, he prayed in his characteristically refreshing manner:

“Lord, we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are thine.

Please sell some of them and send us the money.”

No-one in that educated room dared to stop Harry.

No-one told him it was wrong to have that kind of confidence.

Quite to the opposite, all those theologians joined in chorus that God could sell of a cattle and solve their financial problem immediately!

While they were praying, a tall Texan came into the business office and said, “I just sold two carloads of cattle in Fort Worth.

I’ve been trying to make a business deal go through and it won’t work, and I feel that God is compelling me to give this money to the Seminary.

I don’t know if you need it or not, but here’s the check.”

A secretary took the check and, knowing something of the financial seriousness of the hour, went to the door of the prayer meeting and timidly tapped.

When she finally got a response, Dr. Lewis Chafer took the check out of her hand, and it was for the exact amount of the debt.

When he looked at the signature, he recognized the name of the cattle rancher.

Turning to Dr. Ironside, he said, “Harry, God sold the cattle!”

They enlarged their confidence.

These brilliant men who knew more of the Bible then all of us in this room combined, knew more of history, knew more about Bible study methods knew that the Bible is not just a book of moral codes.

It is so much better than that.

It is book filled with hope, filled with promises for us today.

Scripture shows that confidence in God will never lead to disappointment.

Out of the fifty-three references in Scripture to confidence, approximately half refer to the ability to have confidence in the Lord or one’s standing before him.

Time and time again those who trust in the Lord see victory, see blessing, see deliverance, see children brought back from the brink, see marriages made whole, see an entire nation be restored.

Scripture shows that confidence in God will never lead to disappointment.

When I started this series I deeply believed that God wants all the families at Beth Messiah to have a boundless hope and confidence in God.

I knew that God was telling me the first place to start was talking about money.

As uncomfortable as it might be, I knew that God was telling me that if the families at Beth Messiah would have confidence in God with their money that they would begin to see His blessings overtake their lives.

I knew God was wanting all of us to enlarge our confidence in God.

What I did not expect was how quick God has already started to command His blessings on people’s personal finances and business.

The owner of Abba oil came and told me about how he decided to give 50% of all his revenues away.

He did not know what would happen and then almost immediately he got a call from TBN and was told that Abba oil would be the soil provider of anointing oil at their large resort in Florida.

He said they have done more business and had higher revenues despite the fact that they are giving away more.

The enlarged their confidence in God’s promises.

Another mother came and told Rabbi Lanning that when we started this series she was going to trust God with her finances.

She was going to enlarge her confidence.

She made a firm commitment and started getting serious about her tithing and do you know last week she said that out of nowhere she got a promotion at her work, that God has been turning things around in her marriage and in her family.

Confidence in God will never lead to disappointment.

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Do not let well intentioned theologians, do not let your flesh, do not let the enemy deceive you into thinking that your confidence in God does not have a great reward.

Rabbi Paul says in

Hebrews 10:35, “Don’t throw away your confidence which has a great reward.”

Every Saturday in the prayer room, I always pray, “Yeshua take the wheel.

Literally, take the wheel of Jewish people driving on W. Airport and supernaturally cause them to come here for Shabbat service.”

About three months, God did just that.

An Israeli and an orthodox Jewish man just felt inclined to come to Beth Messiah as they were driving down the road.

Guess who I got to introduce them to: the Jewish Messiah.

Three weeks ago a Jewish man was driving down W. Airport when he said he heard the voice of God say, “Pull into that parking lot and go to that synagogue.”

I understand that he met the Jewish Messiah! “Don’t throw away your confidence which has a great reward.”

I told you last week but let me say it again: you either have confidence that God can do somethings, anything or impossible things!

Don’t every listen to the enemies lies about your confidence in God.

Jacob says in this passage, James 5:13

I love how practical Jacob is in this passage of scripture.

He ask, “anyone here going through some stuff?”