Leon Fontaine - Using Your God Given Gifts
Hey, everybody! It is so good to have you with us. Today, we're gonna be talking about why so many people struggle with God's power being released in their lives because they think it's up to God. That it's as God wills and so miracles are as He wills. And they don't really see a place for them when it comes to believing. So, I'm gonna just talk about this for a little while and then we're gonna go to some of the verses. Now, it's very clear that Jesus says anything that God show Him. We don't see Jesus doing miracles or signs and wonders until Holy Spirit came upon Him and He was anointed to do them. So if even Jesus when ministering to others was always led by the Spirit of God.
Then that's a great model for us. That as we go about reaching out to people as Christians, that there are nine incredible gifts that God has given us, and those gifts are within us because Holy Spirit is within us. But I can't make those gifts work for someone else. Okay, because Holy Spirit knows if there's even faith there. I give you an example, the apostle Paul is speaking in one of the scriptures and as he's speaking he looks at a young man and notices or he perceives which means Holy Spirit showed him this that this young man had faith to be healed. And so he told him, "Rise up". And a miracle took place. Now, that's an example of Paul did not look at this man and go, "Oh, I want to heal him. I feel sorry for him so I'm going to release the power of God into his life". No. He looked, and he sense through a word of knowledge that this man had faith, that he just needed a word and he spoke and the man got a miracle.
So in our lives as we minister to others, maybe you got a friend that is sick. Maybe you are, you know, ministering to people as a pastor or as a grandma or as a mom or you're praying for a friend who has cancer. Now, the nine gifts of the Spirit are all there for you to use to minister to that person, but you can't make them work, okay. Jesus only did what the Father showed Him. And you and I only do what Holy Spirit guides us to do. And even gifts of the Spirit which is gifts of healings. You know, the working of miracle, the gift of faith, word of knowledge. All this new beautiful, unique arsenal that we have to minister to people that is as the Spirit wills. If I could make the gifts of healing work anytime I wanted, I would simply walk into a hospital and just cleared it out. But no one has ever done that.
Although I've heard stories of people who said they have. I don't have documented proof of anyone ever doing that. Because even Jesus in His hometown couldn't do any great miracles and He marvel that their unbelief. So the Son of God couldn't get the gifts in operation to flow and He couldn't override, you know, Father God. And God knows the hearts of each person. I give you an example before I teach you how to get miracles. If I'm ministering to a person, and all of a sudden I hear and sense a word of knowledge flowing through me which is a piece of information that I could never know and I tell that person who's, you know, that listen, just because you had an abortion at 16 years of age or 20 years of age, you had so much shame you're blocking out yourself the power of God to heal you. God wants you to know you're forgiven.
And all of a sudden, this incredible lie the devil has used to keep her heart in shamed and to keep her keep her defeated is gone and she's healed. Others might be a word of wisdom. Someone is afraid and worried about their future which a word of wisdom is. And all of a sudden, a word of wisdom will come and I say, "God wants you to know that when it comes to the future, He is telling you this". And all of a sudden, they get healed through a word of wisdom. He can heal through tongues and interpretations. He can heal through the gifts of miracles, of the gift of faith, of the working of miracles or through gifts of healing. Like, God knows what that person needs. And when you and I are responsible and learn to be sensing, sense the Spirit of God, Holy Spirit will decide how to minister to that person. But that's actually what I want to talk about because out of this has come great confusion. People think that because Jesus did nothing except the Father showed Him, that then for Jesus personally it was up to God if He had healing or protection. But now we need to be careful, all right?
In Ephesians 6:10, it says, "Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might". And then it gives us all of the armor of God for us as a believer. So, we literally in these all of God's Word as we learn it and know it. It helps believers to walk in health, to walk in protection. In fact, we have to be careful when we look at the gifts of the Spirit because those are normally for us to minister to others. But when it comes to you getting a miracle, let me read the verse that applies to believers. It says in Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace are ye saved by faith". In other words, you gotta believe in God's grace. What is God's grace? That He's already healed you. He's already given you prosperity. It's already His will and you simply have to believe that you qualify for it. Grace is God's ability. You know, everyone thinks it's just unearned favor. But what is the unearned favor of God? It's His ability in your life.
And so when the Bible says for by grace are ye saved by faith. The word saved doesn't just means saved from hell. It means saved from sickness, saved from poverty, saved from early deaths, saved from, you know, all sorts of mind, all the promises of God that are for the believer. Okay. We access them by simply believing in His grace, believing that we are righteous because of Jesus. That His grace, His unearned favor is ours. And so when it comes to the Christians receiving healing, to the Christian receiving prosperity, to the Christian receiving protection, to the Christian receiving peace, receiving joy, walking in blessing, walking victorious. All of these, we're not waiting for Holy Spirit to release it. We're not waiting for God to give it a check mark or an okay.
And so a lot of people had tied the moving of the gifts of the Spirit for the unsaved, towards baby Christians, towards ministering to others who were really hurting. This is flowing through us to others that's as the Spirit wills. But as far as you as a believer walking in a place of healing and this is for you today. Today is a day of salvation. And this word sozo or sotirios does not mean that we have wait for the gifts as though as the Spirit wills and we're waiting for Him to make a decision as to when He heals us. No. All of that is incorrect according to the scripture. For by grace God's unearned favor it's already yours. You must believe. All right. So faith brings God's grace or faith causes God's grace to flow into our life. And this grace is what brings change. Whereas so many people have thought that it's the gifts of the Spirit that I'm waiting for.
Now, there's an overlap here that I'm not being dogmatic about. And of course, you could say, "Well, if all of sudden, an incredible miracle takes place and a growth disappears". You could say, "Well, that's the gifts of healings". I guess you're right. But at the same time the way it ministered in my life was by me believing in God's grace. That it's mine and that it's just laying right here in a hospital the presence of God will flow in my life and His grace will touch me. So by grace is how we get saved from sickness, disease, early death. And it's by believing that in His, the gift of righteousness and in the gift of faith. So what it does is it removes this thinking of I'm waiting for God to move. I'm waiting for God to give it the okay. I'm waiting for God to give a nod. I'm waiting for the gifts of healing to kick in to operation which is only as the Spirit wills. No, you can believe God by faith in His grace. And this, I believe is the primary way that the miraculous, because you see, getting healed is like I think there's two levels higher than that.
You see, getting healed is wonderful if you're sick. But there's a higher level than getting healed and it's walking in health. Walking in health is better than continually needing a miracle because another sickness attach itself to you, and another sickness attach itself to you. And so you're going, "Okay, God, I need a miracle". And then the highest level I believe of healing is that there's such a presence of God on you that it just flows off you unto others with just a faith and excitement and passion people get around you and they get miracles. So we receive this goal of our faith which is that His grace. Now, His grace is an already given thing. God's grace is given to us and Jesus qualified us on the cross. So sozo which means saved, does not just means saved from hell. It means to heal, protect, deliver, preserve, do well, make whole, keep well, deliver, rescue from destruction. All of this is your birthright and it's not as the Spirit wills as though there's a wondering about it. It's yours. Okay? Now, most people they struggle in this area because they simply get the two mixed up.
Now, I thank God that at times when I wasn't getting a miracle and I wasn't, didn't know some of this stuff. That I would be a disservice as a rookie Christian and a person would be operating in the gifts of miracles. And bam! Something happened in my life or someone ministered to me, touched me and a miracle of healing took place. I'm so glad that that happened. But you need to know the predominant way that a believer should begin to flow and understand the miraculous is you growing in faith. Romans 10:17, faith comes by hearing and hearing or understanding the Word of God. The crucial piece of information in the Bible is the cross.
In fact, from the cross to the throne. This period of time is crucial to understand the whole Bible. The entire Bible is pointing towards Jesus. Even the Old Testament Christians could not go to heaven until Jesus died for them. All right, they went to a place of waiting. And that's why Jesus had to literally go to this place of waiting in hell and preach to this captives before, because until you accept Jesus as your Saviour, you aren't born again. So everything in the Bible points toward Jesus. And when you understand why He died, why He went to hell, why He took the curse, why He became sin, and took our sin. And then why He arose again, and then in His resurrection He went and seated at the righthand of the Father. I mean, from the cross to the throne this beautiful teaching of Jesus is where you understand grace and faith. And that grace doesn't just automatically work. It's by grace are you saved through faith. So you and I must believe in the finished work.
Now, so many people think they're in faith because they believe that in the gifts that God could heal me and now Holy Spirit decides when. And they have mixed up what the birthright of the believer is as opposed to the nine gifts of the Spirit that flow through us in ministering to others. So, and there's other ways, by the way, that you can minister through others like through the prayer of agreement. And there's other prayers that they can make profound changes in your life as well. So grace is not automatic. Grace again is God's unearned favor. And what is that favor? It's His power to change. It's the power of God to change anything in our lives. So grace is not automatic. It works in the areas that we operate in faith.
All right, now faith comes only in the areas that we've heard the good news about Jesus. And that He is our righteousness. This is crucial. So rather than sitting around and waiting for someone to have a healing line that can touch you. You must believe and begin to study the Word about Jesus. And as you realize that, and according to Romans 5:17-21, that we have a gift of righteousness. Meaning, you're righteous. And when you give your life to Jesus Christ, you are born again. So because you're born again into God's family, you are righteous. You are a member of the family of God with all the rights and privileges. Even though you're not making perfect decisions. Even though you're making mistakes. You see, it's kind of like this. All of my kids. I got five children Sally and I, are born Fontaine. And they got it by being born into the family. They didn't earn it. They don't always act like Fontaine but they're Fontaine. And even when I have to correct them and say, "Come on, we don't talk like that. We don't do that. Stop you guys. This is not what we do".
I'm always teaching. I'm correcting them. But this gift of being in right standing with the name Fontaine. They got it through birth. They didn't get it by earning it. And the same is true as you and I as children of God. You are a child of God by birth. That's why the term born again. But some thinks it's not so cool anymore born again. I don't like the term. Man, it's an incredibly powerful, amazing term because it is saying that you are born into God's family because of Jesus and faith and what He's done for you. And once you are born into God's family all the promises of God you're qualified for and you're not waiting for the gifts to kick in of operation. Your faith is believing, and your faith is believing in God's grace. And as you believe in God's grace, you get it because you're righteous. Faith is not about believing for things. Okay, now it does. But listen to me, faith believes in His grace. Faith believes that it is what brings all change. God's grace, unearned favor, God's ability. Grace remains in our lives where there is righteousness.
So, and where the devil will attack you is, are you righteous? Are you in right standing with God if you had bad thought or did a bad thing? And so he always attack you. You're not worthy. You haven't done enough good things. You know, God's not gonna do this for you. And he'll just lie, lie, lie, lie. But once you know the Word of God and the truth. That is, you've already been qualified 2000 years ago. God knew Leon Fontaine would be here. He knew what I would need from His grace and it's all been given to me already. That's why Peter says that we've been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. You have every physical miracle you're gonna need. He's given it to you. His grace to stay healthy has been given to you. His ability, His grace to stay protected until old age when you go has already been given, all of these promises you have been qualified for. So as we begin to understand faith, grace, and righteousness.
These three words will change your life. And then you can begin to move from this waiting. You know, there's a story of a man in the New Testament who would sit by a pool and the Word says that as an angel came and stirred the waters the first person into the pool would get the miracle. And so Jesus came down and talk to one of those men and he said, "I love to get healed but I can't get in to the pool. So as soon as the angel stirs the pool the first guy in gets a miracle. It's never me". So Jesus ministers to him and he gets a miracle. And that story reminds me of so many Christians today waiting for a powerful person who has the presence of God on their lives to come in and get them a miracle, to push them into pool by faith or by grace or by personal gifting or by this person operates.
And so because we look at people like that we'll fly around the world getting in healing lines, trying to get in to the right churches, trying to get in front of the right man or woman of God. Now, listen to me, for the unsaved and for baby Christians that's a great thing to do. But if you wanna know how to get there, like if you need a miracle to heal you and you got to find the guy around the world and it's a 10-hour plane trip. And then you gotta get a hotel and you gotta find this guy and wait till he come because you don't know his number. You can't get a hold of him. But he got to be preaching at 7 o'clock, so you get to the auditorium and he's gonna be speaking. You get in line. You get a miracle. Cool. But now, you're out driving your car. You get an accident. You're lying on a highway dying. Where you gonna get your miracle from now? You're gonna try to fly down to that place on a 10-hour trip and get a hotel. No. You need a miracle right now. Where you gonna get it from?
Well, if you believe that you need a man of God to get it for you. If you believe it's as the Spirit wills and a person's job to come to do that for you. You're really stuck. God for his people has said, if the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead in Romans 8, dwells in you. Then it quickens your mortal body. It doesn't say if the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you when He decides you're ready, He'll heal you. It doesn't say if the same spirit that raised Christ body from the dead dwells in you, then at some point He will do a miracle and He'll choose whether if it's of gifts of miracle or gift of faith or you know, a working, gifts of healing or work. No, no. It says to you and I as believers, as in the family of God that the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us. It quickens.
Now it's in the present tense. It quickens our mortal body. The miracles, the help, the support, the supernatural strength that you need is not sitting around wishing, hoping, and praying to see what God's gonna do. And often people will share a miracle if I was just praying and hoping and God touch me in traffic. Good, I'm glad. But I just want you to get a correction here. That this power, this presence of God, it's all yours to solve any problem. And it's given to you by grace. Grace, this beautiful word is God's unearned favor. And what is the favor? If I say to you, "I'm gonna do you a favor". Your next question will be, "What favor"? It might be to loan you my car. Give you my motorbike. But what's the favor? What's the unearned favor? This grace that God's given us, His ability. His ability conquers everything, protection, heals you, brings joy, peace in your life. But you gotta believe. You gotta believe.
And for by grace are you saved from anything and everything. By faith you must believe in God's grace, believe in the finished work of the cross. You must believe that you have the gift of righteousness. Which is what it says in Romans 5:17 and on. And I'm promising you listen to this message over and over. And for all of you that have been sitting here and waiting. Somebody even waiting for decades to get healed from that disease. Believed in God for decades for the time when God's gonna touch you and prosper you. And you're still waiting for the right timing of Holy Spirit. Listen to me, all of these promises are yours now. Today is the day of salvation. Begin to look at God's grace and recognize, believe. Believe it's today that it's been given to you. And when you begin to get attack about you're not good enough. No, I am in right standing with God as a gift. Righteousness means in right standing with God. And when you begin to believe that as you go to the Word, you're gonna just find, I mean, read Romans 5, chapter 5 over and over and over again until you realize the power of this verse.
Romans chapter 5, let me read you a verse in closing. For if, by the trespass of the one man, Adam, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace. How much grace? Abundant. The word abundant always means more than you need. How much grace do ever? Every problem, more than you need. And you've got the gift of righteousness. What is a gift? It's given freely. And it says, you're gonna reign in life through this one-man Jesus Christ. You fall in love with Jesus when you understand His grace. The price that He paid so that everything you need would come through grace. It would come by you believing in that grace, believing that you're righteous because of Jesus. God bless you. I hope you'll tune in again tomorrow as we continue to empower you and show you who you are, and you can see God's supernatural strength and power go into your life now. God bless you.