Leon Fontaine - Be Strong
The greatest hindrance in your life. The thing that stops you the most from going where you want to go whether it's relationships, thinking, finances, God. The greatest thing that stops you is you. People don't like to hear that. We need to grow up in our faith when it comes to being a believer. It says that all through the Word. Paul will say it in different way. He'll say grow up. Get passed the basic doctrines. It's time to begin to recognize God's Word and know it more so than just a, and he'll even list the basic doctrines. Do you spend enough time in God's Word to get passed just the basics? Are you still begging and pleading and wondering why things aren't working?
In Psalm 78:41, it says, "Again and again the children of Israel tempted God, and they limited Him in their lives". It was a fantastic day for me when this revelation exploded on the inside of me. That I am my greatest limitation. I can do something about every area of my life that has lacked. I can do something if the curse is walking its way through an area of my life, if the promises aren't coming through. The things I'm believing for, new seasons of my life aren't happening. It was an amazing thing to recognize that it's me. I'm the one limiting God. And then rather than get offended or angry or mad, to dive into the Word and say, "Holy Spirit, guide me, lead me, show me what I can do to rise up, to grow".
In 2 Peter 1:1-4 are four stunning verses. Four verses that bring such clarity to the new covenant. And it starts out by saying here in, that, "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained precious faith". Just stop right there. If you've got something that is precious to you. It's very valuable to you. And here it's talking about faith. But he uses the word precious faith. That means that there is a faith that the believer has in the new covenant that is very precious. Why? Because it produces every time. The Bible does not say some mountains moved when spoken to. The Bible does not say that you can have faith real heart faith and things still won't move. It doesn't teach that. Those are the teachings of human people trying to reason their way through the Bible when they can't get results.
One of the most important things you'll do out of this message today is to begin to believe. I am what's limiting my life. Nothing else. God is not limiting your life. The enemy doesn't have the power to now. He could be by turning your beliefs against you, turning your power against you. But that's just you again limiting because you won't deal and understand what it is that the enemy really has for, how does he do it? Well, he's called the accuser. He's called a liar. He's called a deceiver. He's not called powerful. He's not called amazing. He's not called omnipresent. He's not called omniscient. He's not, no! He's called a liar, a deceiver, an accuser. Which means when things go wrong in your life, he is going to try to work you to believe a lie. You, if you've given your life to Jesus Christ, you have a precious faith. You have a faith that works.
So many people today they'll be looking at this and they're saying, "Leon, are we in the last days"? Well, of course, we are. Of course, we're in the last days. And then we bring up all the crazy teachings that are out there on the end times. And ones I call crazy are the ones where believers who believe in the promises and the new agreement still don't have an ability to rise up in victory. That is so wrong. He's not coming back for a white doubt church. Jesus is returning for a church without spot and wrinkle. A victorious church. The promises of God still work. Daniel who is, wrote prolifically about the end times under the inspiration of Holy Spirit. Even pinpointed countries and things that history shows us have happened. Daniel wrote about them before they happen. We can look back on these thousands of years later and see everything that he said that happened.
One of the things he says in verse 32 of Daniel 11. He's talking here and he says, "Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery". That's the first part of the verse and he's just talking about the enemy trying to come in. But this is what it says, "But the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits". It doesn't say, you know, in brackets, "Well, except towards the end of the world. Except towards the end of time". No, great exploits will always be done by people who know their God. By people who have, who understand faith, who understand this new covenant, who believe. It says so clearly. You need to write this on your fridge somewhere. Daniel 11:32, "But the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits".
Peter, 2 Peter 1 again. We were talking here about how that we have a precious faith. This precious faith has an ability to believe. Now, people think, "Well, Leon, how much faith is needed"? You see, faith is, they used to teach things like, faith will move the hand of God. Now, I don't know what they mean by that because it's not accurate as far as God is waiting, and then if you believe, He'll do it. He's saying to you and I here in 2 Peter 1 that I've already given you all things that pertain to life and godliness. Where did He give them? He's placed them within Jesus and Jesus is within our spirit as it's a done deal. It's yours and its simply believe. Your faith is precious. Are you feeding your faith the Word of God? Or are you feeding your doubts? You know, if I took a Chihuahua and a Great Dane and I chained them here so that they could fight.
You say, "Well, the Great Dane is going to win". But what if I stop feeding the Great Dane but I feed the Chihuahua. Eventually, that Great Dane, that huge dog is going to lay there with hardly an ounce of energy left. All the Chihuahua is got to do is walk over there, put his tiny little teeth around the windpipe and do a little bit of a bite and help him to die. Whatever you feed becomes powerful in your life. And whatever you don't feed. So because we live in a fallen planet with an enemy, you are so drawn and focused on what CNN says and what people are saying. And then you want to be entertained. I've worked so hard. I just need to be entertained. Tonight I'm going to watch successions of my favorite new TV series on Netflix. And you'll sit there in this mouth hanging open drool coming out of your side of your mouth just going through, just put my brain on tilt.
I don't want to put my brain on tilt. I enjoyed good movies and things at times. But I want to feed my mind the Word of God renewing it every day. I want to feed on the bread of life which is the Word of God. Because when you do, you can actually get up and go live a life rather than watching somebody else have an exciting life on TV. Get one yourself. Learn to rise up and have victory. Do great exploits, Daniel said. The people who know their God. People who know the Word, who know their covenant with Him which is through Jesus. It says, "You can do great exploits". Not me. You! We're talking about you.
So many people have faith in certain leaders and certain things, but you need to make God's Word so personal that it's about you. In this portion of scripture here in 2 Peter 1:1-4, it says here that grace and peace are multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. Now, peace is not as the world gives. There is a peace and this peace that comes from God will make you look so confident that people will want you in leadership. The peace of God will make you look so attractive. It will make you look so together. And even though you know, it's His peace.
Now, the world can't have the peace of Jesus. Think of the most confident person. The most able person and if they do not know Jesus Christ as their Saviour. I had said so. Then that peace is not a godly peace. It's a facial expression. It's an ability to think under pressure and stress but they do not know a peace that passes understanding. They do not have a peace that is not as the world gives. And you'll see it because it will destroy them on the inside. Disease will begin to rise up. It will put pressure on their relationships. It will cause them to get them so unifocus that they can't enjoy every area of life because they got such a big organization to run or they got so many battles to fight. And you wonder, "Okay, what's going on"? But there is a peace and this peace is multiplied in your life as you learn about Jesus.
It says here in 2 Peter 1. You see, you can have a great gifting and you can achieve great things. But if you don't have God's peace, the very greatness and the very success that you get will destroy important things in your life. It will destroy your peace. It will destroy other areas. It's kind of like this building that I'm standing in right now. And they quickly put it together for me. They did a great job. But this is designed these pillars to hold up one floor. We put a second floor on it. They might hold it. We put a third floor on it. They might hold it. We put a fifth floor on it. At some point the very success and growth of this building growing it up will destroy it because the foundations won't support it. The foundations of our lives are Jesus, His Word. The powerful principles of God. And if you can find success without them for a while, it will cost you.
What will cost you? Success without Jesus will cost you. Stop looking at this planet as though this is where you get a life. As though this is the only place, so you have to have a bucket list. I've got to run with the bulls. I've got to glide the Grand Canyon. I've got, and you get all this. Listen, it doesn't matter how much you do or don't get done on this planet because Jesus is going to rebuild. There's going to be a new earth one day, and it's going to be without all of the things that make it hard to handle and it's going to be even better than it is. And you'll be able to see and enjoy and do things for eternity. But to think that your life is this short 70 years on this planet is a lie of the enemy.
And so I want to encourage you today, that this divine power hath given to us the next verse says, all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him. Again, it is saying that what is limiting you is your knowledge. Yeah, well, Leon, I just rely on the verse that says. You know, I just call out to God and He answers. I know the Bible has some greatest escape clauses. That if you if need something, you can call out to Him. All right? But I've got news for you. The Bible says it's time to grow up. It will says things like God once winked at our ignorance but now expects us. You see, Holy Spirit is on the inside of you and His job is to teach you things, to show you things. Now, He's not going to download it. It's as you begin to read and feed on God's Word that something changes on the inside of you.
There's a powerful version, portion of scripture in Isaiah 59:21. Listen to this and see if you recognize some incredible principles. "As for Me", says the Lord, "this is My covenant, my agreement with them. My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants", says the Lord, "from this time and forevermore". What He's saying? He's teaching you and I that the promises of God, the principles of the cross. Don't just hope that your kids go to church. Don't just hope that your grandkids will know Jesus. What do you do as an adult? Are you teaching your children to speak what the Word says rather than to speak what the world says. Are you teaching them to speak what the Bible promises, then the pain and the suffering they're experiencing. Because whatever your mouth is full of is what you are prophesying into your future. Every human being on the planet is a self-proclaiming prophet. What you are speaking and believing is what you are allowing into our futures.
Now, you might say, "Oh, I didn't even allow that". Okay. Well, then, you haven't learned and grown in the things of God to begin to speak the promises to push that aside. And here's where so many people get offended because I've got losses and I've had painful things happened to me. People I've loved have left early, and stuff I wanted didn't happen. And the second I get offended is when I'm blaming God, blaming the devil, blaming my leaders, blaming my spouse, blaming my parents, blaming somebody. But when I can recognize, no, no, no, no. I'm done with the blame game. I'm done. It's me that's limiting God. Ah, when I begin to finally go, "Thank You, Jesus, because if it's me, I can change me". It says here as well in Isaiah 59:19, "So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him".
You've heard that verse. Do you know what it means? It means regardless of how the enemy comes in. I don't care if he comes in through viruses. I don't care if he comes in through a country. I don't care if he comes in through wrong leadership. I don't care where he comes in. If there is a people who are called by his name, who will speak the promises and stand up and make their life count. The Bible says He lift up a standard. That word "standard" is kind of unique. When you look it up in the Bible, it literally means there is some kind of a thing that goes on. If any enemy attacks you and they begin to run in terror, is what it means. Something is lifted up from by the Spirit of God whether it's the angel of God. And it doesn't even say how or what. It just says whatever that attacks is, it begins to run from you in terror.
One of the promises of God says that your enemy will come at you one way and flee before you seven ways. They might even have a concerted attack on you. They might be all coming together to take you out. But man, when they run into the standard, the defense system that God has placed there. It says they'll just turn and run. And over and over again God's people in the Old Testament saw it. Whether it was Gideon. Whether it was all these great men and women. And it says that whole countries, armies, that banded together to take out God's people. It says they run for fear and they just collected up all the wealth and the things that they left behind. Why do Christians wait until they're sick and then try to believe God? You are to begin to speak the Word of God that says, it doesn't even come near my dwelling. It doesn't come anywhere near my family. It doesn't come anywhere near my home.
This is what the Word of God says. My challenge to you. Let's begin to recognize today. There is nothing outside of you that is limiting you. So if the enemy can get you looking at him. If they can get you looking at God as His... You know, it's kind of funny how the devil got Eve to look at God as the one who was stopping her from becoming all she could be. That's exactly what happened. You know, God knows the day you eat of that tree. You're going to be like Him. You know, the crazy thing was, she was already like Him. She was made in His likeness and image. Adam and Eve were two kids of God, children of God. And yet somehow, and he's still doing that today, making you think like coming to church and knowing Jesus isn't where the greatest joy is.
One of the things I teach our kids and whenever I would do youth. I'd always explain to them. There is no blessing that God has placed on this planet that isn't better with God. You're going to party better when you recognize that He has placed guidelines on it. You're going to have an amazing sex life when you get married and recognize this beautiful gift. Okay? Also has sharp edges that can hurt you. The other day, yesterday we had a bunch of family over. And they were, we are, we had some boiling oil or some oil that we're making some stuff up.
And so we had put a little sign up. "Hot oil be careful". And I thought, "Well, it's kind of cool". You can kind of cook with it. But it's got a dangerous side. It's kind of like a knife. You can cut your bread but don't let a three-year old grab that knife. They'll cut themselves so bad. They'll need stitches. Everything that is good. You hand a surgeon a knife. They'll cut that growth off and help you live longer. Hand a gangster that knife. He'll kill people. So many things. Well, we say, "Well, God is just trying to stop me from having fun". No. He knows how to prosper you so your marriage last.
So my challenge to you. Stop thinking that there's other things that are out there. Recognize the power of the Bible. Dive in there. Teach your kids. Teach your grandkids the wisdom of knowing Jesus. Having Him alive on the inside of you. And a closing thought, I want to live with you before we pray is when you look at God's Word, it says here in Isaiah 59:21, "As for Me", says the Lord, "this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth". Okay, stop right there. I have found as I continue to grow in the things with God. That when any situation arises because I have meditated and read through the Bible, and just every day set aside a little bit of time to get to know Jesus and His Word. Holy Spirit will put a verse in my mouth.
Many of the great old preacher I used to hang around with as a young boy would talk about God would literally cause a certain verse in the Bible to become real to them. It would rise up on the inside and they will begin to speak that promise. So many situations in our lives Sal and I were believing God for something. A verse that we've read and meditated will rise up and we'll begin to speak out loud. The Word says this. The Word says this. Just like Jesus did when He was trying. When not trying, when He was being tempted by the devil. He didn't just say be gone. But He said, "It is written. It is written. It is written".
Why aren't you speaking the Word? That is a powerful form of meditation that plants the Word in your heart. And then as you speak the Word, it literally is prophesying your future. It is setting boundaries on the enemy out. It is setting realities for the angels of God and the Word of God to begin to go and to create a future for you that is beautiful. God breathe. God spoken. Stop letting the enemy attack your precious faith. This is the victory that overcomes the world and everything in the world even our faith.