Infinite Fellowship Ministries

The Practicability Of Faith: Sermon By Rev. Loice Achola

What is the use (profit), my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no [good] works [to show for it]? Can [such] faith save [his soul]? If a brother or sister is poorly clad and lacks food for each day, and one of you says to him, Good-bye! Keep [yourself] warm and well fed, without giving him the necessities for the body, what good does that do?

So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead). But someone will say [to you then], You [say you] have faith, and I have [good] works. Now you show me your [alleged] faith apart from any [good] works [if you can], and I by [good] works [of obedience] will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. So do the demons believe and shudder [in terror and horror such as make a man’s hair stand on end and contract the surface of his skin]!

James 2:14-19 (AMPC)

Faith is not a mantra nor a recitation. It is active.

For it was not to angels that God subjected the habitable world of the future, of which we are speaking. It has been solemnly and earnestly said in a certain place, What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You graciously and helpfully care for and visit and look after him?

For some little time You have ranked him lower than and inferior to the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor and set him over the works of Your hands, for You have put everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to man, He left nothing outside [of man’s] control. But at present we do not yet see all things subjected to him [man].

But we are able to see Jesus, Who was ranked lower than the angels for a little while, crowned with glory and honor because of His having suffered death, in order that by the grace (unmerited favor) of God [to us sinners] He might experience death for every individual person.

Hebrews 2:5-9 (AMPC)

Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, [the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

Hebrews 11:1 (AMPC)

God will not move in a way to please your senses. 

The definition of substance is essential nature. It is the real physical matter of which a person or thing consists and which has a tangible, solid presence. 

Faith is what makes one who is called of God to walk in their call and also express themselves as one who is called; aware of their definition and configuration. 

Faith is what causes one to have actions that match our faith. These actions are informed by what God has said we are.  #SELAH   

But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror; For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.

James 1:22-24 (AMPC)

We have been given access to the invisible realm in God. This is our estate in God. We are seated at the right hand of God.  

Now what I mean is that as long as the inheritor (heir) is a child and under age, he does not differ from a slave, although he is the master of all the estate.

Galatians 4:1 (AMPC)

And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One). He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:6-7 (AMPC)

Carnal people do not have faith. Only a spiritual person is aligned to the word of God. A carnal person cannot even access the word of God.  

Faith comes by hearing the word of God. It thrives in the context of separation unto God.  

Faith and truth feed into each other. Truth ushers us into faith and faith into more truth. They that have faith please God and God reveals more of Himself to they that have faith. 

Faith is not an amorphous belief in God. It is based on concrete tangible trust in God.  

So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself).

Romans 10:17 (AMPC)

You believe that God is one; you do well. So do the demons believe and shudder [in terror and horror such as make a man’s hair stand on end and contract the surface of his skin]!

James 2:19 (AMPC)

Reading the Bible is good but it is worthless without revelation. It only leads to more information that puff up. 

If you think you have faith and you are not embracing truth – the highest form of reality – you are under deception.  

Revelation is what give you power to move.   

Faith is understanding that God will not do things the way you want.  

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8-9 (AMPC)

By faith we understand that the worlds [during the successive ages] were framed (fashioned, put in order, and equipped for their intended purpose) by the word of God, so that what we see was not made out of things which are visible.

Hebrews 11:3 (AMPC)

There is spiritual logic – it is above human logic. This realm of spiritual logic is accessed by faith.  

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:6-7 (KJV)

Faith is the manifestation, the connotation, the deposition, the testimonial, and the instrument of the invisible reality of Christ (His Person, His grace, His nature, His power, and the substance of His element). It is the demonstration of the vested actuality, and the absolute veracity of Christ that causes the consummate weight of His glory to be revealed in every facet of living.

Faith is triggered by the revelation of the spoken word of Christ that you embrace. It is the active energy of purpose that causes the spoken word of Christ to reveal the hidden mysteries of existence and supply the divine wisdom to reprogram life. It is the transitional teleport of Christ that ushers the believing mortal from dimension to dimension and from glory to glory.

Bishop John Gobanga 

For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [[a]full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue).

2 Peter 1:3  (AMPC)

Faith will open up creative power in your life.  

Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and He turned and said to the crowd that followed Him, I tell you, not even in [all] Israel have I found such great faith [as this]. And when the messengers who had been sent returned to the house, they found the bond servant who had been ill quite well again.

Luke 7:9-10 (AMPC)

God has great thoughts for us. 

For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.

Jeremiah 29:11 (AMPC)

[Prompted, actuated] by faith Abel brought God a better and more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, because of which it was testified of him that he was righteous [that he was upright and in right standing with God], and God bore witness by accepting and acknowledging his gifts. And though he died, yet [through the incident] he is still speaking.

Hebrews 11:4 (AMPC)

Righteous people know that God will act on their behalf.  

Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

Isaiah 3:10 (AMPC)

God desires us to have a consecrated life more than tons of prayer. Consecration is what grants us access in the realm of the spirit. Consecration and separation are a divine process but they are also a choice we must make.  

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened at all, that it cannot save, nor His ear dull with deafness, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.

Isaiah 59:1-2 (AMPC)

Your dominion is tied to your death.  Christ died, rose and is now seated at the right hand of God.  

Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.

 Isaiah 1:18 (AMPC)

Faith will be realized when know who God is.  

But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek him [out].

Hebrews 11:6 (AMPC)

The greatest reward is God Himself. The power of God to move and make shifts in your generation.  

Faith is a wooing to know God in a better way. God seeks to know us in every way.

Therefore, behold, I will allure her [Israel] and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak tenderly and to her heart.

Hosea 2:14 (AMPC)

Enoch was pleasing to God. He had divine insight into the character of God. He fellowshipped with God intentionally. He knew how to die to self before even Christ died for humanity. He fashioned his character after God and pursued intimacy with God the Holy Spirit. 

Because of faith Enoch was caught up and transferred to heaven, so that he did not have a glimpse of death; and he was not found, because God had translated him. For even before he was taken to heaven, he received testimony [still on record] that he had pleased and been satisfactory to God.

Hebrews 11:5 (AMPC)

The Holy Spirit will lead us into deep place of relationship with the Father. 

He reveals the deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him!

Daniel 2:22 (AMPC)

Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny]. For what person perceives (knows and understands) what passes through a man’s thoughts except the man’s own spirit within him? Just so no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Now we have not received the spirit [that belongs to] the world, but the [Holy] Spirit Who is from God, [given to us] that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts [of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly] bestowed on us by God. And we are setting these truths forth in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the [Holy] Spirit, combining and interpreting spiritual truths with spiritual language [to those who possess the Holy Spirit].

But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated. But the spiritual man tries all things [he examines, investigates, inquires into, questions, and discerns all things], yet is himself to be put on trial and judged by no one [he can read the meaning of everything, but no one can properly discern or appraise or get an insight into him].

For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.

Corinthians 2:10-16 (AMPC)

Faith moves us into preparation of the manifestation of the things God desires to come to pass.  Faith is what made Noah build the ark before the flood. He used divine patterns.   

This was so that, by two unchangeable things [His promise and His oath] in which it is impossible for God ever to prove false or deceive us, we who have fled [to Him] for refuge might have mighty indwelling strength and strong encouragement to grasp and hold fast the hope appointed for us and set before [us].

 Hebrews 6:18 (AMPC)

God is not a man that He should lie.

By no means! Let God be found true though every human being is false and a liar, as it is written, That You may be justified and shown to be upright in what You say, and prevail when You are judged [by sinful men].

Romans 3:4 (AMPC)

God is not a man, that He should tell or act a lie, neither the son of man, that He should feel repentance or compunction [for what He has promised]. Has He said and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken and shall He not make it good?

Numbers 23:19 (AMPC)

The anchor of our faith is God Himself.  

God swears by His own self. Normally, people swear by those that are higher than themselves. 

We need to allow God to define us in relation to our identity.

Faith ratifies your authority in the spirit.

Blessed (happy, to be envied) is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive [the victor’s] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.

James 1:12 (AMPC)