Leon Fontaine - Filled with the Spirit
Hey, everybody! It's great to have you with me today. I love diving into God's Word and teaching His Word and just sharing what does God's Word say. So take a moment, relax. Listen to this a few times today and make sure that God's Word gets on the inside of you. You know, I'll never forget when I was 17 years old. My mom and dad were pastoring in Weldon, Saskatchewan, and I had seen so many miracles under their ministry. My dad had ben healed under Branum. Back in those days, he had an amazing healing ministry, given up to die of rheumatic fever. My grandmother, which be my great grandmother. I helped load him on to, I think it was a train and got him into northern Alberta where he was healed. And the doctors have examined his heart since and said that he had the scars on his valves and on his heart that showed that he had one time had a rheumatic fever. He was given up to die. And in a miracle service, he prayed and miraculously right there received energy and strength and his heart was restored. He was in his teens.
So 16, 17, 18 right in that area. We actually have the dates. I'm pretty sure we even know the service that he was at in northern Alberta when he received that miracle. So from there he met my mom. I mean, they pastored together for decades. My mom still pastors with us, with Sally and I here at the church. And when we look at, so when I was 17, so I was used to see the miraculous. Dad would bring in, I remember names like sister Gourlay and the Dearden's and brother Clark. And all these different ministries that would come in and they would operate in miracles. The gifts of the Spirit would be on display right there in our service and I saw miracle after miracle.
My mom and dad would pray all the time for miracles and story after story. And I saw with my own eyes the gifts of the Spirit in operation as God would show them things. And they would know things about the church, about us boys, the family. I watched gifts of miracles take place. So I grew up seeing the miraculous. But now, something happened to me when I was 17. I was listening to this message on faith. And all of a sudden, it dawn on me. You know, the Bible says and unless you pay attention and focus when you hear God's Word, then it won't profit you anything. Well, I was doing that for some reason in a very deep special way.
And, you know, the Bible even says that if you don't mix faith with what you hear, it doesn't even profit you. And so, then it says in Mark chapter 4 that the measure of thought and study that you give to the truth determines the measure of virtue and knowledge and more besides that comes back to you. So this ability to pay attention to the Word can do stunning things in you. I'm 17. I'm listening to a message on faith and this revelation hit me. That we are not living on this world not able to determine how we live. I had adopted in my own way or probably I hadn't even thought it through at the age of 17. But I had adopted in my own way this kind of, you know, God is going to do what He's going to do. God's in control. You're going to have to walk through stuff.
There's going to be suffering and heartache and brokenness. And so I just kind of, you know, and God's will as to when He does miracles and when He doesn't do miracles. I had developed this kind, even though it was my parents' doctrine. I had developed this kind of a thinking. It's interesting because I'm a pastor of a church now with thousands of people who attend, and people have been here for a decade or two, will tell me what their beliefs are and it's not even what I believed. Yet, they've heard me week after week after week. I'm 17. I'm hearing this message on faith and it dawned on me that I had a part to play in what my life would be like. I had a part to play that I could determine with the miraculous flow in my life, or what I just walk out the pain and the heartache.
I could determine will my life be one of blessing, or will my life be one of just the curse as it's written in Deuteronomy 28:16 and on. The lights went on on me. That what I was listening to, what I was doing as a man. That I had this, "Am I going to grow in faith"? So this whole topic of faith just exploded in my young mind as a teenager. Now, absolutely faith, and you can use your faith to make it through storms because there are periods of time. Whether it's political, or job related, or things going on or droughts if you're a farmer, or lose you're... There's lots of time. Absolutely! That you had to use your faith to stand through the storm.
But my thinking of that was more, that so faith will get you through your entire life without miracles but at lease you'll be able to stay true to God through the hell on the planet. And all of a sudden, I began to recognize that faith is such an important topic. That faith comes from the Word of God. You know, faith cometh by hearing and hearing the Word of God. That when you hear the teaching of the Word as an unsaved person. That the teaching of the Word brings faith. Then you've got to choose to engage God's Word and to believe. And that faith to believe, that Jesus is your Lord and Saviour comes from the Word that you teach. Well, I'd always that I had to convince people and I was quite the gifted talker. Then I realized that you share the message of Jesus and in that message faith comes. God provides this faith. But that person's will still has to make a choice.
I began to realize that in the New Testament I couldn't even find us fighting demons, fighting people. That faith was the fight. The fight to stay in faith and to be a faith person. I found out that faith, it was the only way to please God. I found that the way to overcome anything in the world is faith. I found out the just shall live by faith. I found out that the way to move problems out of your life and to speak to these mountains which is symbolic of the things that are in your way, in the path that God has for you is faith. That every believer's been given the measure of faith. And all of a sudden, this topic exploded in my heart as Holy Spirit began to reveal to me this life that I could live.
Now, I am 57 years old and so that is what? 40 years ago that that happened to me. And I have just found out year after year that this topic of faith is so crucial. I found out through getting into God's Word, that Satan comes to steal the Word of God so that you can't grow faith. You know, faith is a process I discovered, and Mark 4 talks about it. And Satan comes immediately to steal the Word that is sown in your heart. What is Satan so afraid of? He is afraid that you will learn to use your faith. I found out that faith, Jesus taught us, was the servant of the believer, as He goes through that parable. Which of you having a servant before He sits down to eat won't have Him looked after you. You can look after yourself with God's promises by developing and learning and growing in this area of faith. And so there is such an attack on the faith. This issue of learning the Word of God growing in faith.
Now, do people takes things too far? Of course, they do. We've got people today who they have some form of Bible thinking, religious thinking who they cut themselves and they all put hooks through their mouth, then hang themselves from boards. They'll crucify themselves trying to please God. Walk up hundreds of steps and damage their knees trying to please God. We got people handling rattlesnakes trying to show their faith. So is there for every mile of truth, there is two miles of ditch. But I'm not going to throw a topic out because some wingding person does crazy things with it. And I'm not going to throw a topic out because some, you know, very strict person who doesn't want to, they're in the ditch on the other side, that they're just going to serve God and that's it.
I began to dive into the topic of faith. I found out that to move in the gifts of the Spirit it required faith. I found out that to be filled with the Spirit of God and to pray in other tongues required faith. It doesn't matter which way I looked, I found out that this measure of faith I had been given was up to me to work this process of faith until this God kind of faith. I found out that when it comes to faith, that we have an earthly faith of the mind. And everybody has a certain amount of faith but it's a head faith. It's the five senses that are thinking and, "Okay, I've tried that chair out. I've checked its construction. If I sit in it, it won't fail". But there is a faith that the Bibles says in Mark 11:22 and on, that it is the God kind of faith.
And so when we are given a measure of faith, why would God give us a measure of faith that is just a mere human faith. No, all humans have their own kind of faith. They only to believe things and trust in things. But when God gives us a measure of faith, and the Bible also teaches us that all men don't have faith. And he's talking there about the God kind of faith. And so I'm throwing a bunch of stuff that just exploded in my mind in my late teens. And I pray that this topic of faith will somehow capture your heart as you recognize that God is a faith God. That we've got to understand and just dive in because God's Word is alive. It is precious. It does something to our mind. It does something to our heart.
And so as I go into the verses today, let's begin to unpack some of the teaching of God's Word. We just touch on a little bit, but it is so crucial. In Psalm 101:06, as we go to the Old Testament. God is saying here, "My eyes are upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with Me, he that walketh in a perfect way, a mature way he shall serve Me". This faithful. This word "faithful" means people who are full of faith. People who believed what God said to them in the Old Testament. That His eyes are ever on them. Another words He's saying that as they believe and trust God, that the things that need to come into being, come into being.
In John 6:63-64, Jesus is speaking here and He's saying, "It is the Spirit that gives life". What kind of life? Well, that life is Zoe life. Did you know the Spirit of God gives healing. The Spirit of God gives peace. The Spirit of God gives restoration. The Spirit of God heals broken hearts. The Spirit of God can shut the mouths of lions. So it's the Spirit that gives life and the flesh profits nothings. So Jesus is saying here, "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life". You know, when you go through the topic of the word faith, you'll see it, you know, a little bit in the Old Testament. But probably ten times more between two to three hundred times faith is mentioned in the New Testament. And I haven't got the accurate count, but I think it's around 20 to 30 times in the Old Testament that talks about faith.
And why is that? Because with this new covenant since Jesus has come to this planet. You and I are a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold everything has become new. If you are simply walking through life waiting for heaven. You've been lied to. If you're sitting in a church where you don't walk out feeling inspired, feeling that the God's Word works. That you could pray, and prayers get answered. If you don't feel that, you're in the wrong church. You shouldn't be in a church because you can pass out your business card. You shouldn't be in a church because it's got a fun kid's program. In our Sunday schools and kids' ministries, we teach those children the Word, who are they. I mean, from the youngest two and three-year old's. You know, who they are? They're God's kids. God loves them. There are truths that we can start at a youngest age and up. Where are you doing?
I think there's going to be a massive wakeup call today and the readjusting of where people go to church because you should be feeding on God's Word. Now, that is up to you to do. But if you're going to bring people to church who need Jesus and that's what you're called to do. Then you need to bring them to a church that teaches the Word of God. I'm tired of hearing someone, "Here's what I think about this verse". I don't care what you think about that verse. Let the Bible interpret the Bible. In a mouth of two or three witnesses, let everything be established. We need teaching. For the pastors that are listening to me today. Get up and teach God's Word. Teach what Jesus did from the cross to the throne. Teach the authority of the believer.
What is faith? And as you teach it properly, people will stay out of the ditch or you're always going to have a little wildfire. My dad always say, "There's always enough wet blankets to put out the wildfire". But recognize that Jesus is saying that His Word, it is Spirit and it's filled with life. And so if you want your life to change. So as I begin to talk with different pastors, I found some churches. It was some of the greatest soul-winning times they've ever seen. People getting saved and set free. People are literally are coming to their church. The church is rising up. As businesses disappear, they believe God for another one. Someone got sick, they believed God for a miracle. You know, all the things that were going on. It's like the churches that have the Word of God has been taught to them.
You know, there's a verse in the Bible in Romans chapter 10 where it's talking about getting saved. And it says, "God's Word is the word of faith which we believe". The word of faith. Wow! When we hear God's Word, it causes faith to rise up in us. In Hebrews 3:19, I'm telling you. I'm trying to challenge you to understand the purpose of faith for you, okay? Hebrews 3:19 says, "So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief". Teaching here about the Old Testament, is they're going to the promised land. Then it says, "Now, let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them because of not being mixed with faith in them that heard it".
I have found that when I listen to someone preach or teach. And by the way, I listen to great preachers every day. I love to hear the teaching of the Word. And I'm not looking for new revelation. I'm listening to them teach topics that I teach and probably just as well as them. But I need to feed on the Word of God as well. And so it says when you mixed faith with what you hear, it profits you. And so there's a choice here. You can listen to someone teaching and the enemy is going to be firing thoughts at your mind. I have watched people. You know, well, I don't like that guy because he's dressed weird. He talks funny. You know what, some of the greatest teachers I've ever sat in there didn't look cool, didn't dress cool, didn't have cool voices. You know some of them, but it didn't really matter as I began to listen to them. I could see faith beginning to rise out of them.
You know, I would go to different conferences around the world, where I've been invited to speak at conferences. We would go into the green room where the speakers are. And some of the conferences, they would have as many as 40 speakers. You know, where we just day after day after day, you get this little 30-minute spot or 40-minute spot. And there's others or it's just me and a couple other people and we've speak for session after session. But here's the thing I'm just going to say. I would go into the green room where we would meet, and the leaders of the conference will talk about what their goal is and where they want to go. And I would look around and all of the men and the women that were there, who then been gathered from out the four corners of the earth to teach the Word of God.
And, you know, when I was younger, because I started, I was invited to speak literally in my 20's. I would go to speak at many the great conferences of the Full Gospel Businessmen in different cities, and so I had the chance to see. But when I was younger, I remember looking at them. And when you're young, you judge people by appearance first and I mean, everyone does. And I remember looking at them thinking, "Oh, where did they find this people"? And then if you'd happened to sit in the session that they spoke, they get up on the stage and they would begin to speak. And your mouth would hang open as I would grab my pen as the teaching of Word brought revelation after revelation to me. And I looked right past the weird looking clothes and the nasal voice and the combed over, or whatever it was that, you know, that we can judge when we're young.
Actually, when we're old, too. And I would see that this person had disciplined themselves to get to know God, His Word. And this beautiful gifts started to flow out of them. I'd watched someone else get up and not a teacher, they would be a preacher. And as they would proclaim the truths of God's Word, you could sense the faith rising in people. Others would come up there and share in a testimony the story of what they were doing in that country, or what they were doing in that city. And they would show pictures of governments working with them. And I mean, I've sat and worked in ministry with men who literally are like the friend of Presidents and Prime Ministers. And they've given them just a leeway to bring in church and to minister the needs and the faith they had to rise up and others would see the miraculous. I mean, people just get healed. Everybody, well, who got up.
And so what reason I'm saying that is I began to recognize, don't look at the cracked pot. You know what I mean? We are all just jars of clay inside of us. God has placed a calling. But it's up to us to grow in this topic of faith. Now, those of you who are watching. You're not the five-fold ministry, a pastor, a leader, a teacher. It doesn't matter. If for you to grow in faith, to see God's miraculous flowing your children, in your marriage, in your career, in your body. What are you going to do when the enemy, you know, this world just brings the curse where we are literally living on a curse filled world, sickness, diseases, viruses, poverty, wicked people attacking.
You know, protect all of this stuff. Yet God has promises for you and I because we are born-again believers and we are in the kingdom of God. There's only two kingdoms in this planet. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of the enemy. Kingdom of light. Kingdom of darkness. You need to become a person of God's Word. If you have been bored by God's Word. If you've got an excuse that you continue to say, "Well, I just don't get anything out of the Bible when I read it". Well, then starts listening to preachers. Start listening to men and women of faith and every day feed on God's Word. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And I want to challenge you today. This topic of faith you better know it through and through.
You better understand that where it comes from, that without faith, it's impossible to please God. It's how you overcome the world. It's how the just shall live. It's how you move mountain. It's how you overcome anything in this world. I could just go on and on and share with you why faith is so crucial. It's purpose in your life is that the God kind of faith which is what it says in Mark 11. That it's the God. You know, the Bible says have faith in God. You know, Greek scholars literally means have the God kind of faith. It's not an earthling kind of faith. It's the kind of faith God has, Jesus has. And you've been given the measure of that kind of faith because there's two kinds of faith. That kind of faith.
Now, it's up to you to grow it and it's not a mind thing. Mark 4 teaches us that God's Word must be meditated on, focused on day after day. And that when you do that, that His Word takes root in your heart and it begins to grow. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I'm listening to others and I am speaking God's Word. Which is something so few people do. Speak the promises of God every day. Just say, "It is written". Claim a promise say, "I, that is my promise in Jesus' name". Just start there and watch what takes place in your life. God bless you.