The Money Comes By Faith

Welcome to 30 Minutes Towards Victory. Hi, I'm Greg Marcus. I'm the pastor of Imperial

Valley Christian Center. This is the TV ministry, the TV program of Imperial Valley Christian

Center. We call it 30 Minutes Towards Victory because our purpose with this program is to

build you up. It's to encourage you. It's to lift you up. It's to give you hope. Give

hope to the hopeless, like they like to say. We want to encourage you. We want to give

you hope that your tomorrow is going to be better than your today, that your tomorrow

is going to turn out good because God wants you to have a good life. God wants you to

have a good life. We believe that if you'll keep listening to these programs, if you'll

come and be a part of Imperial Valley Christian Center, that you'll begin to experience the

victory in life that God wants. You and your family will begin to experience the victory

in life that God wants you to have. That's what we're all about at Imperial Valley Christian

Center. That's what this TV ministry is all about.

That's what this TV program is all about. Anyway, right now we're on the subject of

prosperity. We've been talking about it for several weeks, and I've been trying to show

you that the Bible teaches that God wants you to be rich, that God wants you to prosper.

He wants you to be abundantly supplied. The Bible teaches. I understand that your denomination

doesn't teach that. I understand that your theological seminary doesn't teach that. I

understand that's not part of your official denominational doctrine, but the Bible teaches

that God wants you to be rich. Hallelujah. But now we're on to the second part of the

subject is, well, okay, Greg, how does the money come, yeah? So the Bible teaches that

God wants us to be rich, but how does the money come? How does the money come? And that's

what we started talking about this week. That's what we're going to talk about this week.

Last week, we started talking about it. That's what we're going to talk about this week as

well. Okay, so we began talking about how does the money come, and I was explaining

the subject of prosperity. You know, I grew up with a religious background like most Christians,

you know, and I heard somebody teaching about prosperity, and the first thing I thought

was, well, I don't know if that's right. I don't know if that's okay, you know. The church

I grew up in, they kind of left you with the impression that, you know, God was against

material things. He didn't like material things, or at the very least, he didn't think they

were very important. Can you see that? Well, I don't know about God is the way I thought

about it, but I need material things. I need material things. I need material things. I

need material things. You know, unfortunately, when I go to the grocery store, they want

money. Amazingly enough, you know, when I go to Staples to buy office supplies, you

know, I try and tell them, but I'm a pastor of a church. We're doing God's work here,

and they say to me, well, then give us some of God's money. I'm just teasing. They don't

say that, but my point is this. You know, I go to Staples. They want money for their

office supplies. Can you see that?

They want money down here, and so I heard this teaching on prosperity, but I rejected

it, you know, and I explained to you that I determined that I was going to study it

for myself, and so for about 10 or 12 years, every time I'd open up the Bible, I had this

question in my mind. I had this question. Does the Bible teach? Does the Bible teach

that God wants us to be rich? Does the Bible teach that God wants us to be prosperous,

or does the Bible teach that God wants us to be rich? Does the Bible teach that God

wants us to be rich? Does the Bible teach that He doesn't care, or does the Bible teach

that He wants us to be poor? Hallelujah. So I'm studying the Bible, and after studying

it, like I said last week, for about 10 or 12 years, I became absolutely convinced, as

I am to this day, that the Bible teaches without question, unequivocally, no question about

it, from Genesis to Revelations, the Bible teaches that God wants us to be rich. He wants

us to be prosperous. He wants us to be abundantly supplied. He wants you to be rich.

That's what the Bible teaches, and that's what I've been trying to show you from the

Bible as well. I've been trying to show you that those promises that God made, that He

would make us rich. You know, one of them, everybody knows, the Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want. The Lord, that word want means lack. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall

not lack. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not lack. When the Lord is your shepherd,

you ain't supposed to be lacking.

Because He's a good shepherd. He'll take care of you. He'll see to it that you don't

lack. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not lack. Anyway, so I'm convinced. I'm convinced

that God wants us to be rich, that the Bible teaches, that God has promised to make us

rich, and yet I go to God, and I said to Him, but how does the money come? How does

the money come? I'm asking God, how does the money come? God, I don't understand. Yes,

I see in the Bible that Jesus became poor.

I can see that we, through His poverty, might be rich, God. I can see that Jesus became

a curse, so that that blessing of Abraham could come on us through Jesus. I can see

that. I can see in the Bible that you want us to be, that you have promised to give

us power to get wealth, but how does the money come? And one day I heard in my heart, down

here in my spirit, man, I heard these, I heard this from God. He said this. He said, the

money comes the same way everything comes from me, and that is by God. I can see that

the money comes by faith. The money comes by faith, and that's what I've been trying

to show you. That's what we started talking about last week. How does the money come? It

comes by faith. Look here in Galatians chapter 3. We read about the blessing of Abraham,

and we saw that the blessing of Abraham made Abraham rich. God had promised. God had sworn

oath. God had entered into a covenant with Abraham, and part of that covenant was the

promise that He would make Abraham rich. God had promised. God had sworn an oath. God had

made Abraham rich, and we saw in the Bible, in Genesis chapter 24, we saw that Abraham

became rich. We saw that Isaac, his son, became rich. We saw that Jacob, his grandson, became

rich, and the scripture we've been focusing on for all these months is Deuteronomy 8.18.

We saw that when the children of Israel were entering into the land that God promised them,

that Moses said to them that God was the one who was going to cause them to become rich.

He would give them power to become rich.

He promised them. He promised them to be rich, to satisfy, to fulfill, to complete

the covenant that He had made with their fathers, the promise that He swore to their fathers,

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Hallelujah. Well, how did they get the money? How did they get

the money? How do we get the money? How does the money come? And I showed you here in Galatians

chapter 3 verse 9. Verse 9, So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

We're going to receive the money the same way Abraham got the money.

He got it by faith.

We're going to be made rich the same way that Isaac was made rich.

How did Isaac become rich?

By faith.

We're going to become rich the same way that Jacob became rich.

How did Jacob become rich?

By faith.

Everything we receive from God, we receive it by faith.

So that's what God said.

I said to God, God, how does the money come?

Okay, clearly the Bible teaches you want us to...

How does the money...

He said to me, it comes the same way everything comes from me.

It comes by faith.

The money comes by faith.

The money comes by...

Well, when he said that to me, I knew what he was talking about.

Most Christians have no idea what faith is.

Faith.

I heard that word.

We're of the Baptist faith.

We're of the Catholic faith.

No, that's not what it means.

Hallelujah.

Most Christians have no idea what faith is.

They wouldn't recognize faith if it came walking into their house

wearing a two-piece bathing suit.

Hallelujah.

Carrying a sign that said, I have faith.

They would still not recognize it.

They have no idea.

Most Christians have no idea what faith is.

But when God said to me, he said to me,

you receive it the same way that you receive everything from me by faith.

That's how the money comes.

By faith.

I knew instantly what he was talking about.

So I explained to you last week that everything I'd received,

I'd use my faith to receive many things from God.

I was born again by faith.

I explained to you last week.

I received the infilling, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

The endowment of power from on high by the Holy Spirit by faith

with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.

I received that by faith.

I prayed in the Holy Spirit by faith.

I explained to you last week.

Hallelujah.

I'd also heard teaching that the Bible teaches that God wants us to be healed.

That God wants us well.

Well, you know, fortunately for me, unfortunately for me,

the church I grew up in, they were kind of against material things.

Hallelujah.

But fortunately for me, the church I grew up in, they still believed in miracles.

They still believed that God healed.

They believed in miracles and healing.

So I didn't have any trouble believing that God would heal.

When I heard some, the preachers,

preacher preaching and he'd say, you know, the Bible teaches that God wants you to be healed.

I said, well, yeah, of course it does.

There it is.

The Bible says God wants you to be sure enough.

The Bible teaches God wants you to be healed.

And so I had been healed by faith any number of times.

So, for example,

one time is the example I like to use that one time when I was still in college.

And in those days, you know, I play basketball every afternoon.

And one day I came home to the place where I lived and my wrist was hurting me.

And I had had this condition in my wrist where it would swell up and it would become stiff.

I don't know exactly what it is was one of those things that it would come and go.

You know, maybe it would come for a couple of weeks and it would go for several months.

Then it come back for a couple of weeks.

And, you know, when when it was here, I could barely move my hand like this.

I couldn't straighten it out.

It would be extremely painful to go like this.

And like this would be very painful.

If I put my hand like this, you could kind of see there was kind of a swollen

this or a lump here on this part of the wrist.

Well, that particular day, you know, I came home.

My wrist was hurting me, you know, like I couldn't move it.

And I said, you know, I'm going to pray for God to heal me.

What am I talking about? How does the money come?

How's the money come? It comes by faith.

That's what God told me.

What I want you to see is I knew what he meant.

I knew what faith meant.

I knew how I'd use my faith to be

born again. I'd use my faith to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

I'd use my faith to be healed.

And I want to show you what how faith works.

I want to show you how to receive the finances by faith.

So now listen up.

So my wrist was hurting me.

I'm going to pray for God to heal me.

I'm going to pray for, you know, I've been putting up with this since I was a teenager.

I'm going to pray for God to heal me.

And so I said, God, in the name of Jesus,

I ask that you heal me of this problem with my wrist.

And, you know,

I put my wrist and it looked the same.

It felt the same. Nothing to change.

But I'm learning to walk by faith.

I go to a word of faith church, just like Imperial Valley Christian Center.

They're teaching us to walk by faith, not by sight.

So immediately when I said, well,

I know that Jesus said in Mark, chapter 11, verse 24, Jesus said,

if I want to receive my healing, I have to believe that I received it when I prayed.

I have to believe that when I prayed,

I got my healing.

Jesus said in Mark, chapter 11, verse 24, he said, what things soever you desire,

when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them.

What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them.

So I I've desired healing for my wrist.

I just ask God for healing for my wrist.

So now, according to Jesus, if I want to receive him, I want to get my healing.

I got to believe that I have it, that it's mine, that I'm healed.

I got to believe.

I'm healed while I'm still sick.

I got to believe my wrist is healed, even though it's still in pain.

Hallelujah. So I know that I'm just learning to walk by faith.

I don't know as much.

I didn't know as much then as I know now.

But once I knew I got to I got to believe

that my wrist is healed, even though it doesn't look healed.

I got if I want to receive, according to Jesus,

I got to believe my wrist is healed while it's still in pain.

So I thought this I said, well,

if I was healed, if I if I was healed, if I really believed I was healed,

what would I be doing right now?

If I really believed I was healed, what would I be doing right now?

And the thought came to me, why I'd be playing basketball,

because that was the time of day I play basketball.

And I thought, oh, no way.

There's no way I can play basketball.

My wrist, this is I'm right handed.

I'm going to shoot. I can't even I can't even move my wrist.

How am I going to shoot? How am I going to dribble the ball?

How am I going to do?

I can't do anything.

My wrist is in pain.

And then I thought, well, I guess I'm I'm going to have to believe God.

You know, if I believed I was healed, I'd be playing basketball.

So I remember I took the basketball.

I remember I even put it under my left arm.

So I'm walking along because I couldn't hold it in this hand.

And so I'm walking along and I walked

to the place where I played basketball was two or three blocks,

maybe four or five blocks away from where I live.

And the next thing I remember is I'm playing basketball.

You know, I mean,

I started thinking about other things, forgot about my wrist going on about my

business, but the next conscious thought I had was I'm sitting there playing

basketball and dribbling the ball and shooting the basket.

And suddenly I realized my wrist is healed.

It's healed.

It's well, it's whole.

I am healed.

I am whole in Jesus name.

I am healed and whole in Jesus name.

I am healed. It was gone and it's never come back since.

And that was,

you know, over 20 years ago.

Hallelujah.

Maybe more than twenty five years ago.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

My wrist was healed.

What am I talking about?

How does the money come?

God told me God told me he said the money comes the same way.

Everything comes from me.

It comes by faith.

The money comes by faith.

And so that's what I want to talk to you about.

How to walk by faith.

I want to talk to you about how to walk by faith.

And the first thing I want to

show you is what is faith?

What is faith?

So let's turn over to Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews chapter 11 and verse one.

And it says this in the King James Bible, it says this.

Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.

Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for.

It is the evidence of things not seen.

Now, many of the translations.

If you read any of the modern translations, they'll translate that differently.

And I would say they're more interpreting it than translating it because most

of the translators are reading that scripture.

Now, faith is and they think it's talking about a definition of faith when,

in fact, it's describing how faith acts, what faith does.

It's not really giving us a definition, per se, of faith.

So the modern Bibles will

translate it something like this.

Now, faith is being confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see.

Well, that's true.

Faith is being confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see.

But that ain't what that scripture is talking about.

That scripture is talking about faith is the substance of things hoped for.

Faith is substantial.

It's perceptible.

It's touchable.

Faith is faith is the substance of things hoped for.

It is the evidence of things not seen.

I remember when I was studying on the subject of faith and I just I remember I

was just started the practice of law and I began meditating on this scripture at

home one day and I was mad and I wanted to know what faith was.

What is faith?

You know, I'd heard some people say, well, faith is acting on the word of God.

Faith is acting on the word of God.

And that sounded good to me.

And then I heard other people say, well, no, faith cometh by hearing, faith cometh by.

And these were people who liked each other.

They weren't even contradicting.

They were just saying different things.

One was saying faith is acting on the word.

The other one would say faith cometh by hearing, faith cometh by hearing,

faith cometh by hearing, faith is acting on the word.

And so I want to figure out what faith is.

So I began studying this.

And one day I'm meditating on this scripture.

Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for.

The evidence of things.

Not seen. So I'm driving to work now.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

The I'm trying. What is faith?

What it now?

Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

The evidence of things not seen.

Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for.

The evidence of things not seen.

I'm meditating on it, you know, and I'm I'm going to work.

I get there to the office, you know, and you know how sometimes you get a song

stuck in your head and you can't get that's what happened to me with that scripture.

All day long.

That scripture was going over and over in my head.

I'm eating my lunch.

That scripture is going over.

Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for.

The evidence of things not seen.

Now, faith on the way home.

Now, faith is the substance of things all day long.

Now, faith is the substance of things.

It almost had a life of its own.

Now, faith.

And I remember I was walking through the bedroom, our tiny little apartment we had

when we were first married and walking through the bedroom towards the air

conditioner, one of those little window units.

I'm walking towards.

And find that scripture has been going through my head all day.

And finally, I turned to God and I said, God, either tell me what it means or leave

me alone. And when I said that, the Holy Spirit spoke to me.

And he said this. He said this.

Who is faith the evidence to or to whom is faith the evidence?

Who is faith?

It says here faith is the evidence of things not seen to whom is faith.

The evidence.

Hallelujah.

And as soon as I heard that, I instantly knew what this scripture was talking about.

Instantly, I understood.

You know, I mean, maybe evidence made more sense to me because I was practicing law.

And that's something we talk about and think about all the time.

Evidence. I need some evidence.

We're going to win this case.

Boy, we need some evidence.

You know what I'm saying?

And so what I saw was that what he's talking about there, what the Bible is

telling us here in Hebrews chapter 11, verse one.

Is that faith gives substance to what we hope for.

Real faith gives substance to what we hope for.

It produces evidence of things that we cannot see.

Hallelujah.

So when you're really operating in faith, you will give.

When you really got the word of God in your heart, when you really have faith

in the word of God, you will be giving substance to it.

When you really got the word of God.

Is alive in your heart and you really have faith.

You will be producing evidence of things not seen.

Now, let me let me give you some examples of that.

But before I do, I need to explain to you the word hope.

And this is a subject I talk about all the time.

People are tired of hearing about it.

In fact, I talk about it so much.

But I want to make sure you understand what the word in the Bible word for hope means.

Most of the time in modern English, when we use the word.

Hope, we mean something like, boy, wouldn't it be great?

Wouldn't it be wonderful?

You know, you ask somebody.

They went to a job interview and you say to him, did you get the job?

And they say, well, I hope so.

What does that mean?

Well, they don't know, but they'd really like it to be.

So, you know, you call somebody and you say, did you get the raise?

Well, I don't know, but I sure hope so.

You go up. Are you going to win the lottery?

I don't know, but I sure hope so. So we use.

And hope to refer to something we wish were true.

But in the Bible, hope does not mean that at all.

Hope doesn't hope in the Bible the way the Bible uses the word hope.

It means something we know is going to happen.

It means something we're sure is going to happen.

It means something we're expecting to happen.

So I like to refer to it as payday hope.

You know, you expect to get paid at the end of the month or you expect to be get

paid at the end of the week. Hallelujah.

You're not wishing, you know, if somebody came to you and says, are you going to get

paid at the end of the month, most people, if you're at a job long enough,

you're at a person with, you know, has money to pay you.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

When do you get paid?

Well, I hope I get paid at the end of the month.

What would that mean?

They weren't sure about it.

You call somebody.

Are you going to get paid at the end of the month?

Oh, yeah, sure.

Hope so.

Yeah, but most people, most

people are expecting to get paid at the end of the month.

They're so expecting to get paid.

They've already spent next month's money this month.

They're so sure they're going to get paid at the end of the month.

They already spent that money from from the negative.

They already spent it this month.

They got plans for that money.

They're thinking about, oh, man, when payday gets here, I'm going to I'm going

to go buy this. I'm going to go buy that.

I got to I need some of this.

I'm going to get the car fixed.

You know, I'm going to get the oil by myself.

And as soon as payday comes, I'm getting myself.

Some new tires.

That's Bible hope.

You're expecting to get paid.

Hallelujah.

So here when the Bible says now faith

is the substance of things hoped for, that's what it means.

Faith is the substance of what we expect to happen.

Faith is the substance.

And that's true of all Christian faith.

So, for example, you say to a Christian, what's going to happen?

Do you when you die?

I'm talking about a real deal Christian, not just one of these church going Christians.

You know, I'm talking about someone who has a relationship with God, someone who's been born.

I don't care what church you belong to, but you've been born again.

You have a relationship with God.

How do you ask that Christian?

What's going to happen to you when you die?

What's going to happen to you?

Well, I'm going to heaven.

I'm going to heaven when I die.

Well, wait a second.

That that as old as you are, that probably won't happen for 30 or 40 years.

How do you know where you're going?

Where are you going?

Well, the Bible tells me I'm going to heaven.

So what's going to happen to you when you die?

I'm going to heaven.

Can you see they're given substance to their hope?

The hope of going to heaven when they die.

They're giving by talking about it.

Can you see that another hope that we

Christians are supposed to have is the hope of the soon return of Jesus.

Hallelujah.

We expect we Christians expect that Jesus is coming back.

Well, you know,

if you really expected that to be true, you'd give substance.

If you really believed it, you really believed that Jesus was coming back.

You wouldn't be doing all that funky stuff you're doing.

If you really believed in your heart that Jesus was coming back,

you would give substance to that hope, that expectation by changing your life.

That's how you can tell most Christians don't believe nothing.

If you really believe that someday you

would stand before the throne of Jesus and give an account of your body,

you'd have to explain what you had done in this life.

Hallelujah.

If you really if you really had that hope in your heart,

you would give substance to it by getting your act straight.

Can you see what I mean?

Notice Jesus called you up on the phone.

He said, I'm coming to your house next Friday.

Hallelujah.

You'd have to get rid of all those porno porno magazines.

You know what I mean?

You'd get rid of that liquor that you had in the cabinet.

You know, you know what I'm saying?

You tell you.

OK, OK, kids, we've got to stop cursing.

You know, we've got to stop cursing this way.

Jesus is coming Friday.

We want everything to be nice for you.

You would give substance to that.

The reason that most Christians don't their lives don't change.

They don't give substance to the promises

of the Bible is because they don't have faith for those things.

They're not real to them.

See, when you got faith, it's a real to you.

Can you see that?

So now faith is the substance of things hoped for.

It acts.

Faith gives substance to what we expect to happen.

Faith is the evidence of things not seen.

Hallelujah.

Well, what's not seen?

For example, most Christians, if you're a real deal Christian,

you believe that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.

So you might say, so you believe Jesus?

Oh, yeah, Jesus is risen.

How do you know Jesus is risen from the dead?

Did you see him?

Well, no, I never saw him risen from the dead.

But I know in here.

In my heart, I know he's risen from the dead.

See, you're given evidence of things not seen.

Can you see that?

Faith is the substance of things hope for the evidence of things not seen.

So all Christians who believe that Jesus is risen from the dead and when they said

Jesus is risen from the dead, they're giving producing evidence of that which is

not seen, that's faith me when I prayed to be healed of my wrist,

prayed for my wrist.

Prayed for my wrist.

Nothing is different.

The healing is not seen.

I can't see my healing.

I can't feel the healing.

But going to play basketball with a wrist that doesn't work is producing evidence

of things not seen. What was it that was not seen?

The healing.

What was the evidence of this?

My acting like I am healed.

Hallelujah.

Now, I said all that to say this.

I meditated on that scripture, Hebrews chapter 11, one, and here's what I learned.

I want to teach you what faith is.

And faith has two parts to it.

This is the important thing.

Faith has two parts to it.

It has an inside part.

It has a knowing it has a revelation and then it has an outside part.

It has action.

Can you see that faith is the evidence of things not seen.

The not seeing things.

I see them down here on the inside and I

produce evidence of them out here on the outside.

Faith is the substance, the tangibility, that which is perceptible

of the things hopeful of what I expect to happen on the inside.

I expect Jesus to return on the inside.

I expect the prayer to be answered on the inside.

I expect the.

The people paid off on the inside.

I expect the money to come.

Faith gives substance to faith acts like it's so.

Hallelujah.

Faith has two parts.

I want to talk to you about how the money comes.

Unfortunately, I'm out of time, but I'm not finished.

I'll see you later.

Bye bye.