Creflo Dollar - Understanding Faith and The Gospel - Part 1
Father, we give you praise. We welcome you, Holy Spirit. We welcome you into this place. We welcome you into our lives. We say again, we trust you. We depend on you. And I ask your blessings to be upon us tonight. Anoint our hearing. Yeah, anoint our hearing. Give us anointed ears to hear. And we praise you for it now. In Jesus's name we pray, and everybody said "amen". Praise God. You can be seated. Welcome to church tonight. Welcome to Bible study. Those of you who are streaming live tonight, we welcome you tonight. We are going to get into some things tonight. Everything, I'm all about tapping into the supernatural right now and learning the things that we need to do to prepare ourselves to win.
And so, I want to start off in 1 John 5:4. Tonight I want to talk to you about faith and the gospel. I want to show you the connection between faith and the gospel. And it's so important, as Christian people, that we understand what faith is and that we understand where the gospel fits. Because when you want to see victory in this life, when things begin to fail, when systems no longer work, when challenges become great, then as Christians what is it that we do? We have to know and understand precision. Everybody say, "precision". We can't preach the gospel in a general manner where, you know, you know all the questions have the same answers. You've got to know precisely how to rightly divide the Word of truth.
And so, I want to start off in 1 John chapter 5, verse 4. He says, "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh," what? The world, "And this is the victory that overcometh the world". What is it that overcometh the world? "Even our faith". So, in the world, and you're dealing with a lot of stuff in the world, to overcome the world, you're gonna have to understand how to operate in precision where your faith is concerned. Your faith is the victory that overcomes the world. It's a common word that people hear, but not many people really realize what this is about. When I see an issue in my life, okay, or an attack or something coming against me or lack or whatever the thing may be, my victory is my faith.
Well, how does that work? Well, the first thing I do is go to the Word of God. And I take from the Word of God the answer, the answer, the victory. Oh, my goodness, listen to this. You take from the Word of God the answer and the victory. You literally go to the Word to choose your victory. Faith sees through the storm. So, whatever the issue is, faith doesn't look at the storm. Faith looks through the storm, at the promise that has already been made. Faith looks through the storm. Faith looks through the sickness. Faith looks through the lack. Faith doesn't look at all of the challenges of life. Faith looks through the challenges of life and only focuses on the promise and the answer and the victory that has already been promised in his Word.
So, first base, if we're gonna have victory in this world, we're going to have to stop neglecting the Word of God. First base is always gonna be, no matter what challenges you have, go find, choose your victory from the written Word. People don't understand when you walk around with a Bible, you are walking around with ammo. Faith looks through the storm. Faith looks through the sickness. Faith looks through the lack. This is the victory that overcomes the world, what? Even our faith, and so we're gonna talk about that. I need to make sure that this church doesn't lose touch with what faith is, the practicality of it, not just religiously hearing it.
I want you to know when you hear faith, that you're hearing the Word because no Word, no faith. If you ain't got no faith, 'cause you ain't got no Word. The Word of God and the faith of God go hand in hand. The Bible says that faith cometh by the Word of God, amen. So, I know too many Christians who say they have faith, but they have no Word. You can't say you have faith and you can't even really release the promise. Your faith is a promise that has already been established as your victory, and it's found in the Word of God. Your attitude needs to be, "Devil, don't let me find the Word of God on this. You better not let me find the Word". You know, he messing with you, you say, "Oh, no, stay right there. No, no, no, no, no, don't move. Now, you started it, right? No, stay right there". And then when you find it, like, "Oh, this is gonna do real good," that's your victory. That's all you got in this world.
And the reason why some people get depressed, they go crazy, all that stuff, 'cause they don't have what you have. You have the settled victory that you found in God's Word. It's unseen to the eyes, but you got it in the Word, amen. And that is the victory that... I can preach on that all night. That is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. So, let's get started with this. Romans chapter 1, and verse 16. We want to connect faith and the gospel, faith and the gospel. I think about that. You know, when you're... and there are testimonies that are working in my life right now.
I like to let the testimonies finish out before I start preaching on it and settling it. I don't want to talk too quick. I want to let it get done. But I'm gonna tell you right now, it's gonna hurt the devil so bad. It's gonna really mess him up. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Somebody said, "Well, I can't tell you going through". No, you're not supposed to because I got my faith with me. Glory to God. I got my faith with me. Praise God. Hallelujah. When I was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, I didn't get up and make no announcement. "Well, church", I ain't do that, no. Faith looks through the storm. Now, what challenges do you have right now that are facing you? Go find your victory in the Word of God and see the fulfillment of that promise through the storm. Glory be to God.
Romans 1:16. Here's what he's saying, "For I am not ashamed". The Apostle Paul is writing this. Now I am going to add some precision to these scriptures tonight. Some of you may say, "Well, I've heard this teaching before". Yeah, maybe but I'm gonna kind of tweak some stuff that you've heard in the past maybe in different areas. We need to do it. It's time to do it, okay? "For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it, this gospel of Christ, is the power or the ability of God to bring unto you salvation". That's a Greek word there is sozo which it contains your preservation, your healing, your deliverance, your prosperity. And he says, "To every one that believeth; he says to the Jew first, and also to the Greek".
Now, let's examine this scripture because this is huge right here. Paul, the one who Jesus showed up on the road of Damascus and gave him the revelation of grace. And he says, Paul says, "I'm not afraid of the gospel". So, I got to wondering. I'm like, you know, I'm not really sure that the word "gospel" appeared too many places in the Old Testament. Well, the definition did. And you'll find in the book of Isaiah 40 and throughout Isaiah 40, Isaiah 52, they use the phrase "good tidings" or "glad tidings," okay? So, in that perspective, in Isaiah it mentioned "good tidings" or "glad tidings". So, the gospel is good news or glad tidings, or, you know, the gospel is, you know, for most of us, when we were coming up in the church it says, "Well, what is the gospel"?
Good news, and we stopped right there. We should have been asking, "What good news? What good news"? Well here, Paul says it. He says, "I'm not ashamed of the good news". What good news? "Of Christ". "I'm not ashamed of the good news, the glad tidings, the good news of," what? Of Christ, of Christ, of Christ, the good news of the Anointed One and his anointing. And so, you have to ask the question, so what's the good news of Christ? What is this good news of Christ? The good news of Christ is this news about him becoming our ransom, becoming our peace offering, giving us a gift of forgiveness, the good news of Jesus Christ and his finished works. The Bible will also refer to it as the good news of Jesus and the grace of God, the grace of God. And we work with this issue of the gospel right now.
I submit to you that the gospel of Christ is the gospel of grace. The gospel of Christ is the gospel of grace. And in the New Testament, Paul says, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ". Paul says, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel of grace". Well, let's break it down a little bit. Hold your place there in Romans 1. Go with me to the book of Acts chapter 20, and verse 24. Acts chapter 20, and verse 24. And then we're gonna go to Galatians. And I want you to see this, Acts 20:24. He says, "But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with," what? "Joy and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord, the Lord Jesus". And this is the ministry Paul says he received, "To testify the gospel". What gospel? "Of the grace of God".
So, Paul said, "Here's what I've been called to do, to give testimony of the good news of the grace of God". All right, so now how do we connect the gospel of the grace of God and the gospel of Christ? Well, go to Galatians chapter 1, Galatians chapter 1, and verse 6 and 7. Now, watch this carefully. We have to be precise because if we don't, you know, somebody says, "Well, the power of God is the Word of God". Well, which Word of God? There are 66 Word of God stuff. What Word of God, okay? He says, "I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, the grace of Christ, unto another gospel".
Notice, just there he refers to the grace of Christ. He said, "Some people, I'm surprised that they remove you from the grace of Christ to another gospel," insinuating that this is one gospel, the grace of Christ, unto another gospel. Go on. He says, "Which is not another". He says, "There's not another gospel". He says, "This grace of Christ is the only gospel that I'm talking about here. But there be some that trouble you, and what pervert," what? "The gospel of Christ," which he's just referred to as what? The grace of Christ. And when you look at that together, the gospel of Christ, the grace of Christ, all the same thing, all the same thing. So, the gospel of Christ and the gospel of grace are equivalent, they are the same.
Now, go back to Romans chapter 1, and let's put this together. And I want to show you what I want you to get out of this. Romans chapter 1, and verse 16. He says this, Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I'm not ashamed of the grace of Christ". So, he is saying, "I'm not ashamed of Jesus Christ and the almost too good to be true news about all the work that he has finished on our behalf. I'm not ashamed of all the finished works of Jesus Christ. I'm not ashamed of the grace of Christ". I think I gave you a definition either last week sometime that God's grace is defined as unmerited, abounding provision of the of unrestrained operation of the infinite love of God that you only get through Jesus Christ for men, especially those who depend on him. Good gracious alive, boy.
That's gonna make something happen to me. The grace of God is unmerited. That means you don't deserve it. You know, you can't earn it. It is abounding provision. His grace is abounding. When something is abounding, it increases. His grace is increasing in provision, abounding provision of the unrestrained operation of his love. This abounding provision is unrestrained, this abounding provision is a result of his unrestrained operation of this infinite love, this infinite love that you can only get through Jesus Christ for men, especially those who are dependent upon God.
Now, Paul says, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God". What is power? Ability to get results. "It is the power of God unto salvation". So, he says, "I'm not ashamed of this gospel of grace, this gospel of Christ, because this good news of Christ, this good news of this unmerited, abounding provision in the operation of this unrestrained love that, especially for those who depend on him," he says, "I'm not ashamed of that because this grace will bring you sozo," Greek Word, salvation. It doesn't mean just born again. He says, "This is gonna bring you deliverance, wholeness, preservation, born again, and everything that Jesus finished will come to those who believe this gospel".
I believe. I believe this gospel. I believe this gospel, amen? Well, look at Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 through 9. See, you know what we've been doing? We said, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ". And we say, "Well, that's the Word of God". Well, what Word? What do you mean the Word of God? It's like a copout. You just, "I'll give you a general answer". Of course it's the Word of God, but can you get a little bit more specific to me? You know, it's just like I'm asking you, do you know directions to get to this church? And you say, "Yeah, the highway".
Don't you think it's time for us to add more precision what we're talking about? He says, "For by grace," now watch this, "are you saved, delivered, sound". Same thing there. "For by grace are you saved". But now watch this. Now, here's the part. But you don't get it except by faith. Saved by grace, but you get it through faith. And it's not of yourself that you get saved. It is a gift of God. You are saved by grace. You're healed by grace. You're delivered by grace. You prosper by grace. You are righteous by grace. You're redeemed by grace. Grace has already made every provision you will need for life.
But now, here's what we need to know. We're in this world, and all these things have already been made available to us. But you cannot get it unless you are proficient in operating in faith. You cannot get it. It is all ready, but the people who don't know how to operate in faith will never walk in it. You won't have it in manifestation. You won't have it in your possession. You will know about it, but you won't have it because you think faith is this little ooh-ah thing. Faith takes possession of what grace has already made available. And everything you need, everything you're going through right now, there's provision that is increasing.
Listen, there is nothing that you're going through right now, there's nothing that you're going through right now that grace has not already made available. It just requires you turning your faith on, initiating it, and understanding it enough to use your faith to take possession of it. You use your faith to take possession of something that is unseen. All of the provisions are made available, but they're in the unseen realm. You can only get what's in the unseen realm, you can only get it by your faith. Faith is an instrument that is used to make sure that what is not seen travels over into this physical world and one day you get to see it. But faith takes possession of what grace has already made. If you do not have faith, you can't take possession of stuff that's already here.
Now, I'll tell you how I arrived at this point. Something was going on with me physically and, you know, I got a little concerned about it. And then I paused and I said, wait, what am I doing? Whoa. I said, what am I doing? I already got the answer to this. I just need to release my faith. Well, how do you release your faith? With words, with words. You release your faith with words. Words are containers, and so, I put into my words my faith. Glory to God. My faith travels into the spirit realm where the answer is, then it starts the process of bringing it back and materializing into my own life. And I thought, none of that's gonna happen if I sit here and feel sorry for myself. None of that's gonna happen if I sit here and wonder, well, why this happen? And why that? And all the questions.
None of that's gonna happen if I'm worried by the news reports. None of that's gonna happen. I don't have time to be engaged in all the things that are gonna keep me away from it. So, you gotta understand every thought that comes in from the devil is designed to deposit unbelief. And the presence of unbelief is gonna be the reason why your faith don't work. It don't take but a little faith to get stuff done. You don't need but the faith of a size of a mustard seed to get stuff done. You don't need a whole lot of faith to ever get nothing done. You just need to make sure that unbelief is not present. Most of the time when stuff ain't happening, it's unbelief that's there. You've opened yourself up to something. You've been listening to something. You saw something. You engaged with something. You felt something. And it just dawned on me. It was like it is as impossible for me not to get what's already been made, to me it's more impossible for me not to get it. It's already there. It's like this. You are seated right now in a chair, right? And I say to you, "sit down". That don't even make no sense. You're seated. You're seated.
Why am I gonna tell you to sit down? You're already seated. And I start realizing it. Wait a minute. Everything that pertains to life and godliness has already been given to me. I have access. Access has been granted to me. I can sit there, suffer, be depressed, do stupid stuff to myself, or I can activate my faith, release my words. And the Bible tells me in Isaiah 55, I closed with this Sunday, that your words shall not return to you void or empty, but shall accomplish what you sent it to accomplish.
So, before you get in doubt and unbelief talking about, "I don't know why this ain't working. I don't know why God don't do this. I don't know why God let that happen". You sit back and think, have you turned the car on? You go outside, sit in the car. "I wonder why the car cold". Did you turn it on? Did you turn the heat on when you turned the car on? I don't want to insult you by simplifying this as much, but that's what we do sometimes. Why would you expect to ever be healed with healing that has already been made and provided for you, and you've not initiated the action necessary to get it to you?