Bill Winston - Faith Puts You In Command - Part 1
Faith is an inner man issue, an inner person issue. Okay, not one ounce of faith comes out of your head, but what your head does contain is your will. Contains your mind, will, emotions, intellect, and imagination. So it contains a will, which one man says the most powerful force in the universe. This, this will allow us the switch to be turned on or turned off. See, God doesn't force us, meaning that we still have a will, that we could either will to be saved or not be saved. Okay. So as we look at this, he says here in verse 11 for the scripture says whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. That's in several places in the scriptures. Okay. And shall not, if believe you'll never be put to shame. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord overall is rich unto all that call upon him.
So, there's no different between a Jew and a Greek, male and female, black or white, so forth and so on. And sometimes we kind of act like somehow God loves one race more than he loves another race. So forth and forth. Now he does have a love for and a priority for the people who are born again. These are his children. Just like you have a priority, you love all the little kids, but you have a priority for your kid. The same thing about God, all right, now let's keep going here. Verse 13, "for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved". Then how shall they call on him who they've not believed? How can they, how shall they believe in him who've they've not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
Now, that's me. And how shall they preach except they be sent that's me, too. I've been sent, I was sent to Chicago. I was sent to your life. And come on down here to verse 17. "So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God". Now let's do this first because this, this is where I want to start. You have to value the Word of God. You have to value the Word of God. Now Jesus, when he, when he came in in Luke's gospel chapter 4 and Jesus started preaching here in verse 18, he said, "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me", so forth and so on. Verse 20, "and he closed the book and sat down the eyes of all them in synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say, 'this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears', and all bear him witness".
Now it goes on down, verse 23, "and he said unto them, you will surely say unto me this proverb physician heal thyself". Then he goes on down in verse 24. And he said, "verily I say unto you no prophet is accepted in his own country, but I tell you of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias or Elijah". Now he starts talking about when the rain with the heavens was shut up three years and six months. And then he says Elijah goes to this would a woman, and this widow woman who was the one that gave, remember, him the meals, they kept feeding him over in first Kings chapter 17. And this widow woman took care of him. Now he said, there are many people in Israel, but he went to this widow woman, she was outside the covenant. She wasn't even in the covenant. And then he goes on down and he begins to talk about the fact that this leper was cleansed.
Now you're saying a lot of the people of God didn't get the miracles of God, but this leper, he was Assyrian, you wasn't a covenant person of Israel, but he got it. Now, I'm making a point here because this idea about having a value of the Word and the value of the prophet of the word. And I think a lot of people in America don't have this. They don't have it. And I must say that unequivocally. Now I'm not saying they can't get it or won't get it. I'm saying don't have it. Now, if I look over here in Mark's gospel, Mark chapter 6, and look at Mark chapter 6, I'm making a point here. Okay. So here's Jesus now he went out from thence, and he came into his own country. Now he is in his own country and they said in verse 3 "Is not this the carpenter's son"?
Now they're not giving any credit to him being the Messiah. They're saying, well, wait a minute. It's just the carpenter's son. I knew him when he was growing up. When he was teenager, he came down in and fixed my door on the bathroom, so forth and see. And then it says in verse 4, but Jesus said unto them "a prophet is not without honor in his own country and among his own kin, kinfolks, and in his own house". All right. So notice what he's saying here. He is saying, you remember Aretha Franklin, I think she put out a song called a little respect. Praise God. But he couldn't get any, any prophets. He couldn't get any respect from these people. And look what it said in verse 5. "And he could there do no mighty works". See, that he laid his hand on a few, upon a few sick folk and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about, around about the villages teaching.
Now notice what happened. He's the man of God. In this case, he's the Messiah. He is the son of God. Now he comes and he teaches all this that needs to be taught, but they don't get it. These are the ones in his own house, in his own village to been around him a lot of times and so forth and so on. I see more miracles happening through my ministry to people who are not around me, that's just the way it is. Now, I really believe the spirit of familiarity keep people. And it, it almost disguises itself as a religious spirit. A religious spirit, there's the same one in John chapter 5. After this man got healed, this man had been around this pool 38 years. Everybody knew this man was trying to get healed every year. He never got it. But once he got healed, then what happened is he took up his bed and walked at the command of Jesus. And the religious leaders go, what are you doing carrying your bed? They didn't care about this man's healing.
And that's why you see no miracles. Right around there, right in their hometown, right there, they don't, they don't happen. They don't happen. And I'm saying to you this, let's go back to Romans chapter 10 again, it's very important. This is very important. Cause whoever it was Lester Summerall, by the way, who said that, but about the power of the will. But, but I always regard their words carefully. Carefully. I regard the words carefully because I know that if I value that word it'll work for me, the same as it worked for them, if I value their words. See the anointing is on it to do for me the same thing it did for them. I'm debt free. I'm buying shopping malls, that anointing, the same anointing that's on the words that I use to do this is the same anointing that's on them if they take it for that.
You know that? That's why sometimes in the ministry you got to, if you got a ministry, you can tell, tell some of the people who sing sometimes sit down for about a month. You know what I'm saying? Because they get so busy doing all these religious things until there was no capture of the word. And it's almost like they grow almost numb and, and so forth. Trying to figure out what happened. And, and so I don't take this word and I, you know, take it lightly when it's given to me by one of the men or women of God. I remember when I first went to Dr. Fred Price meeting, he had a meeting, he called the name of the organization, F.I.C.K. with them. F I C K so forth and so on. But it's done for fellowship inner city word of faith ministries, but I went, and this is way back, you know, back in 1990. And that's when I went when he was forming the group.
So I went, I didn't, I had to believe God for the money and money came in at the last. Cause we didn't have any money. My wife and I and family were just starting. We had a little storefront church so forth. We didn't have any money. So I went, and I remember I was looking for him to talk, you know, some big faith talk and so forth. And he started talking about how you treat your wife. He said, some of y'all's ministries are not prospering cause you're not paying your taxes. All of that. You know, think man, whoa. See, he's trying to say that that God is not mocked. God doesn't bless mess. He doesn't. You can try to get it, but he won't do it. You can cry and beg and kick over the church benches, you know, won't do it. So I'm saying a reverent respect for the God's Word and a reverent respect for the God's person. And I'm just saying the idea about it they didn't receive him. They didn't receive him.
Look what it says in John, in John's gospel chapter 1. Not first John now, but John chapter 1 verse 11, he came to his own and his own received him not. watch this, but as many as received him to them gave ye power to become sons of God. See, this thing of faith is not hard. It just won't answer to religion. And it won't answer to presumption. It doesn't answer to that. Now, I put down here in my notes, the enemy's target is your faith. Not you, not you. The enemy's target is your faith. And the reason why it is your faith is because he knows until he can crush your faith he can't stop your progress. Until he can crush your faith he can not stop your progress. Now, how does faith come? So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Now I got to hear the Word of God.
Now wait a minute. I've got to have faith in the source that gave me that word. See, he said over in Mark chapter 11 verse 22, have faith in God. I got to have faith in the source that gave me that. Who told you that? So my ultimate faith is in the Word because I know the Word is an errant from God. And that word, if I believe it will carry faith. Not, not, not let this, this, this is not religion now cause with religion, that's why people, you know, I can do this. I can do that. And then when it comes test time, they don't pass the test because it wasn't, it wasn't faith at all. It was presumption. It was coming out of religion. See? Religion gives all the signs that somebody is in faith, you know, shout and kick over the church bench and so forth. Nothing, nothing. Faith has proof and don't forget it.
So until the enemy can crush our faith, he knows that we are still in command until he can crush our faith he knows we are still in command. Command of what? Everything in our lives, everything in our lives, you create your own world. You create your own world. Now, I said something either last Wednesday or last Sunday that, he, God creates the fruits of your lips. Now you can look at it twice, two ways. It's a law of double reference. So he can give you what to say. When I was in that house with sister Beverly, my wife and family, I was staying there and I knew it was time to move out, but we just couldn't save any money. Every time we tried to save money something would come up. I mean, some emergency car would break down something. So it kept stripping on money from us.
See, now what I need to do is get over in faith. See, I'm not in faith. See I'm here in time. I'm in this natural material realm of feels, touch, taste, smell, you know what the thing that fits the natural mind. So, I'm over there. And over there you can't defeat him. That's why nobody who doesn't have faith can defeat the devil. I don't care if you're talking about Bill Gates, I'll tell you nobody, nobody. And the only thing that can, his target is faith, is faith. So what happened is that I had to get in command because I wasn't in command. All right? Cause he kept stripping me of the little money I had, how? Through fires. Through, and when I say that I mean through conditions and things coming up, see, I wasn't in charge of my world. But faith create your world and keeps you in charge of it.
And so what happened is I should, okay. I'm going to fast for three days. Well I'm fasting, not to get God to move, I'm fasting so I could hear God, I need to discern something. Alright, now this is discernment is kind of interesting. Let's go over here to first Corinthians chapter 2. First Corinthians chapter 2. Now, are you're getting something out of this? Alright, first Corinthians chapter 2. Now I'm just saying this cause I played my tape from last Sunday, I played the nine o'clock service, maybe three times, maybe four. The Wednesday night, played that once I got to play at least a couple more, there's revelation in that. Now understand things that are hidden belong to the Lord. See? But once it becomes revelation, it belongs to me. And so I've got to pray it until it dropped from here down into this inner man, I've got to get this inner man's eyes open to that word.
All right. Speaking of eyes open let's let's look at this. All right. Ephesians chapter 1:16, he said, he talked about praying for them, meaning the churches that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened, that they know what is the hope of their calling and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saint. And what is the greatness of his power to us who believe. Now notice the eyes of our understanding being enlightened. Now let's go here and look at this word discernment. Look at verse 9 first here. He says this, but as it is written the eye has not seen nor ear heard, but neither has entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love him. But God has revealed them to us by his Spirit.
Now, one of the things that the Holy Spirit is he's to show you things that the world can't see. He's to show you answers that the world can't get. He's to show you a pathway that the world can't see. He's to show you and give you wisdom that the world can't get. This is what the Holy Spirit does. That's why it's so important for you to have a relationship with him. But let's go on down here and look what he said in verse 12. Now we've received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit that which is of God that we might know the things that have freely given to us of God. Now he's talking about something that's freely given. Now somebody said, well, you don't have to pay for it. Well, you have to pay faith for it. Faith is your currency of the kingdom. So you have to pay faithful it. So you have faith, God will either get you the thing or the thing to get the thing.
So faith is key for you to be able to access things God has already given you without you having to labor for it. You know, your labor is in the Word of God, you get faith, and then faith gets the thing. All right, now look what he said in verse 13, which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but what the Holy Ghost teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual. So it's kind of interesting, isn't it? So he can compare spiritual things, this is a higher order now. But come on down to verse 14, he says, but the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they're foolishness to him, neither can he knew them because they are spiritually discerned. Now this again, we're walking by faith now. We got faith working. And now we moving into this area called discernment.
Now faith has to be active to be able to discern that that's part of the package, if you will. But discerning is what Adam had before he fell. He fell to learning. And now we have to go to classes, class one, class two, first grade, second grade, third grade. So fourth, Adam didn't have to do that. Adam can start anywhere. And the fact of the thing is he just downloaded and you could do that today. We have on our website, you can download some things. See? And my point to you is, is he didn't have to go to school years to learn something. The Holy Spirit just gave him the answer. And he had understanding. Understanding means how did I get here? And understanding comes with the Holy Spirit. He can give you how that thing is to work. You know what I mean? How is to work?
That's what he gave to George Washington, Dr. George Washington Carver at Tuskegee. And he made some 300 products out of a peanut. He's pulling things down now. He's, he's pulling them down cause they're all there. They're in what we call the eternal. That means everything is already done. Now God did it before the foundation of the world. It's for you and me. Now we have to pull it down. And to pull it down you got to see it, you got to discern it. See? Now, look what happened here. Let me give you, let me give you a quick definition of that discerning. Information supernaturally revealed from God to the believer.
Now here you can see now that you can operate much above the world, and much above your own natural mind, what you went to school to learn. You can discern now. You can get information that is supernaturally revealed from God to the believer. Then that's why you said over here back over here in Matthew chapter 13, he talked about unto you is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But to them, it is not given. Meaning people outside the kingdom. Why? To give you the advantage. Why? To have you take the lead. Why? To show people who God really is and that kind of thing. All right, now let's look at this because he says the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they're foolishness to him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
Let me give you a good example of that. Well, let me just say this first, and I'll give you an example. You, as a child of God can operate in God's ability. Now that, that, that clears it up a little bit for you hopefully. You, as a child of God can operate in God's ability. It's the father in me He doesn't work. And what does Jesus do? He operates in the ability of God. Where's God? In him. What does he do? Speak like God. What does God do? Do it. He doesn't do it, God does it. The Spirit of God waited for God to speak. Let there be light. The Spirit of God formed light because his job is to manifest the word. That's his job. And he's God, God the father, God the son, God the Holy Spirit. So when you speak like God and believe what you say is going to come to pass, the Holy Spirit manifests it.
Now who can do that? God can do that. Only God can do it. Only God can do it. You can operate on God's level. And that's what he wanted. So you speak, God's ready, but he won't do it unless you believe. And he creates the fruit of your lips, the fruit meaning he told me buy that shopping mall. Well, it was foolishness to the natural man. I know. Cause I said to a couple of people over there. I said, I believe God is telling me to buy that shopping mall. This is large 33 acres. And they came back and said, pastor, that's great. We can buy that little place on the East end right there. I said, he didn't say anything about a little places on the East end. God said, buy the whole mall. Whole mall. Whoa. Oh, it's foolishness. See, he's not going to give you something you could do. He's giving you something he can do. He needs your faith in him. And here's what he said for him to do it. No faith, he doesn't move.
So now you see why the enemy's target is your faith. You can stop him. Oh, that's what I've told people. Hey, we got a report for anybody being in, in, in COVID or in, in intensive care and so forth. Let's get them out in three days, three days I'll got them out. Why did I pick three day? The Holy Spirit gave it to me. I said, Lord, I tell him why. Why, why, why three days? He said, Jesus went down in the end came up in three days. Praise God, amen. So I said, wow. He said, that's a job experience that, that, that it's it's like, hell to them going through this. And then coming up in three days. See it's something to attach your faith to. See it's a faith problem. You know what I mean? Here's a woman, here's what she said in Mark chapter 5. "If I can but touch his clothes, I shall be healed". Notice what you set up. She set a point of contact for the release of her faith to bring forth a miracle.