Greetings, friends and new listeners. Welcome to this program of the R.G. Hardy Ministries. I'm Sharon Knotts thanking you for joining us today because we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And today's message by my father, Brother Hardy, is certainly a faith-boosting, refining, and energizing Word of the Lord.
Abraham's kind of faith. What is it? Do you have it? Let's find out together as we join Brother Hardy for Abraham's kind of faith. Hallelujah.
We're continuing our series on Abraham's kind of faith that's in my book. And we found out what faith is. How many say amen? in our last message. And I want to bring in a word that is in connection with faith, that you have to use with faith.
And the word is hope. In Romans 8, 24 said, hope that is seen is not hope. A lot of people have a misconception of what hope means. Our modern day interpretation of hope is wish. I wish it doesn't rain today.
I wish it doesn't snow. How many has been wishing out here last couple of weeks? But you're not certain it won't. are you? See, the modern meaning in them is wish.
Oh, but not the spiritual meaning of the word hope. In the Greek it's elpis, E-L-P-I-S. If you want to look it up. Huh? And it's actually the second phase of faith.
After you pray the prayer of faith, then you've got to do something. When most of our prayers don't happen right now. Amen? When you pray, you're asking God to give you a car. A car don't float out of heaven, and you just jump right in it and go.
Or you're asking God to give you a house. The house doesn't float out of heaven that moment.
So you've got to add something to your faith, the second stage of faith, because in between the time that you pray and you're assured in your heart that God heard you and you're going to get it and the answer's on the way, the devil's going to come and try to get you to throw your faith away. How many say amen? The meaning of the biblical word hope is patient, confident expectation of the fulfilling for the things for which faith has believed God's Word for. Boy, that's a mouthful, ain't it? Patient expectation for the fulfillment which faith has believed God's Word for.
Now that I want to preach on kinds of faith, and the first one I want to preach on is little faith. Jesus had been ministering, praying for the sick. He was exhausted and they got on the boat to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. And he was so exhausted that he fell asleep.
now remember Jesus was human as well as he was divine he was just as human as any other man or woman in this place he had to sleep he had to eat how many say amen he had to have proper rest he could get tired get weary remember the one time he came to the woman of the well He was tired, thirsty. How many say amen? She came and because he was always trying to get somebody saved, he began to minister to her and he got a surge of spiritual strength.
So here he is, exhausted from preaching and praying for the sick. Thousands. Thousands would come and just touch his garment. But every time he touched his garment, like I preached with the little woman who had to issue him blood, every time somebody touched him with faith, power went out, virtue went out. And anybody who knows anything and has a healing ministry knows when virtue goes out, your strength goes out with it.
And when people say that God doesn't heal, brother, you can't minister under the power of God and be sick. and you can't stand it, especially praying for the sick and casting out devils. How many say amen? A lot of times when you cast out devils, you're exhausted.
So he's exhausted and he falls asleep. And here the devil's got one of the best times he's got to stop Jesus. He's got the Lord and he's got his main apostles in one little boat. And he's on the treacherous Sea of Galilee that any time from the horns of Hading, the wind can come and stir it up to a boiling pot. Amen?
And I can almost see the reasoning of the devil. This is my chance. I can kill Jesus and all of his apostles, and I've done won the victory. And all of a sudden, the devil got in the storm. And it was a terrible storm.
One like Peter, James, and John, the disciples, never seen.
Now listen, they made their life on that lake. They were fishermen. Amen. Man, they knew the storms and the weather. But this storm they had never seen anything like it And they began to get fearful And they ran and woke up Jesus Now the storm was great but Jesus was so tired that it didn wake him up.
So exhausted and tired, didn't wake him up. And the father finally went up there and shook him and said, Master, care not that we perish? They knew without a miraculous intervention they were going to die. And Jesus got up and rebuked. He brought two rebukes.
First of all, he rebuked the disciples and said, O ye of little faith. You see, I believe Jesus was thinking when they said, don't you care that we perish? I believe Jesus was thinking, how can you be destroyed when I'm on board? How can you be destroyed when I am on board? How can you be destroyed when Jesus said, I am with you always?
How can you be defeated when Jesus is on board? And the problem of it is they didn't believe they had little faith, and that's our problem a lot of times. we have a little faith when catastrophe comes. He rebuked them. Oh, yeah, little faith.
How long have I been with you? Haven't you got it yet? Haven't you learned yet? He expected them to do what he did to rebuke the storm. These are the ones that were the foundation of his church.
and they were to go out when he left and heal and do miracles and signs and wonders. How many say amen? And here they were, scared to death, having learnt a lesson. How long have I been with you? What more?
Don't you see what I'm doing? Don't you see the miracles I've been doing and you're supposed to do the same thing? And the modern Christian is supposed to do the same thing? John 14, 12 said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The works that I do shall you do also, and even greater works shall you do, because I go unto the Father. But they were still bound by sense knowledge.
What they saw, the wind and the waves. What they heard, the raging. Instead of having faith in the man that could still the waters. instead of having that same faith and say, I'm going to do like Peter did one. I'm going to step out on the water.
They should have had enough faith and say, like Joshua says, sun stands still, moon stands still, and it stood still for almost 24 hours. But instead they were scared to death. How are they going to go on and evangelize the world and establish Jesus' church when they didn't have but little faith? See, some people have little faith, but I preached a few weeks back that if you have the faith of the grain of mustard seed, that's the littlest, that if you use it, it'll do it. They thought that they had such little faith that they don't use it.
The devil comes up and tells them, you just got so little faith, and this is such a great problem, you can't do it. See, the devil also has control over the elements of the air. Did you know that? He gets in storms and tornadoes.
Somebody said, I don't believe it. I'm reading it to you. He got up and he rebuked the winds and the waves. Would he rebuke his father? How many say amen?
He rebuked the devil that got in them. He knew it was the devil. He knew it was the devil's plan to destroy Jesus and his disciples. The devil won most of the battle because all of the disciples were doubters. But the Lord didn't doubt because he had faith in his Father's Word and his Father's power and ability.
him and he say amen. He had faith in almighty God, his Father, and we're supposed to have that same faith in God the Father and God the Son. Try it.
Next time that the weather's threatening you, get up there and try rebuking it. Yeah, I can see Jesus now waking up. Hey, what's all the commotion? He said, don't you care we're being destroyed? Can't you see we're going to die?
Jesus said in his thoughts, how can you die? I'm on board. I'm going to show you what you should have done. You rebuke the devil. What does the Bible say?
Rebuke the devil, he'll do what? Flee you. He told the winds, shut up. Told the waves, lie down. And then they say amen.
And they were saying, what kind of man is this? they should have knew it had to be the son of God see he was showing them he was allowing all these things to happen to show that he was divine he was deity he was the son of God how many say amen but they weren't getting it he had to answer them don't you see it yet I ministered to people for years and I say don't you see it yet amen the devil tries to shake my faith and say, Nathan, you're preaching to them. They don't see it. I'm going to preach it anyhow. I'll believe it.
Going to stir me up, keep my faith sharp. I'm going to have the victory every day. Thanks be I might be in a battle, but I'm going to have the assurance I'm going to come out the victorious. I'm going to tell the devil, you might as well quit. Save yourself a bunch of wounds.
Because Jesus said, I give you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions. And when I tread on them, I'm going to tread hard.
Some of you people got that weight you ought to really give it to them How many say amen Jesus said we're not going to perish. I'm on board. No man takes my life. I got authority to lay it down and take it up. I've got to go to Calvary.
That's the only place that I can die is on Calvary because I got to become a curse. How many say amen? Well, the Bible, you see, Jesus had to die on Calvary. He couldn't die any other way and save man because on Calvary it said, curse it, be the man who hangeth on the tree. And Galatians said he hung on that tree to save all of them that were under a curse.
How many say amen? He had to become a curse. The devil played on that in the Garden of Gethsemane. that the Son of God, the Holy, the righteous one is going to be a cursed thing. But he loved us enough that if you got my message in the magazine this month, he wouldn't come down.
Oh, the devil's trying to get him to come down, but he wouldn't come down. He's going to try to get you to come down off of your faith, but don't you come down. Stay on the mountaintop of faith. Stand your ground. God's going to do it.
How many say amen? Second kind of faith is temporary faith. If you want to follow me reading in Luke the 8th chapter and 13th, 14th verse. First of all, I'm going to read Luke 8, 5, and 8. A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down and the fowl of the air devoured it.
And some fell upon a rock and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. I want to preach on this second, the rock. Then the Lord in the 13th verse says, they that are on the rock, They on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy. And these have not root, have no root, which for a while believe. How do we get saved?
It's what the Philippi jailer asked Paul. He said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. these people believed they were saved. Hmm? Oh, I know a lot of religious organizations preach that you can't be lost once you get saved.
Oh, but I don't know. I can't help it. I see it here. Huh? Said the stony ground people for a while believed.
They were believers. and in time of temptation, they fall away. They believe for a while. The first ground fell on the wayside and immediately the devil stole the word before they got out of the church. The second ground believed for a while but because they didn't dig down and get deep and get the Word in them and get little roots out of them, you know, little rocks out of them, get the root of bitterness out of them.
How many say amen? They went home with the Lord for a while, but when the first test come, they said to the Lord, so long. Temporarily faith. Temporary faith. How many say amen?
What kind of faith do you have? Do you have a faith it's okay as long as everything's going all right? Everything's going all right, I believe. But then the test comes. A financial test comes.
A test comes on your job. A test comes in your family. Huh? You didn't get what you want when you thought you should have had it and what you should have had. And you get mad at God and you accuse God.
People accuse God. Man, I'm not that bold. Because I know God's a loving God and he loves me. And no good thing will he withhold from me if I walk uprightly. Huh?
huh? If I just live righteous, if it's good for me, if it's not given to me when I'm living right, then it's not good for me. There was a lot of things in my early life and ministry that I wanted God to do, and it didn't do. And I really got peeved about it, but I didn't quit God. You know, I pouted a little bit.
I didn't accuse him. But then as some time went by, I praised God that I didn't get it. Because I knew I wasn't ready. God knew I wasn't ready, but I didn't know it. And God had to let me know that I wasn't ready.
Let me speak to some young ministers now. They got to call to preach. How many say amen? Now, being called to preach, being prepared and qualified to preach, then being commissioned to preach and being sent to preach is two different things. He called those 12 disciples, But he couldn't commission them to keep on doing the work that he wanted them to ultimately do.
He couldn't even use Peter because Peter, at the crucial time of Jesus' trial, denied the Lord. And even to prove it, when the little damsel said, you're one of them. He said, no, I'm not one of them. I mean when the devil's crowd come around me say you're one of them I say bless God I'm one of them I a child of God I an heir of God I a joint heir with Jesus because when the saints go marching in I going to be one of them How many say give the Lord a clap of them you going to be one of them I remember God called me in prophecy and told me what my ministry was going to be. And I immediately packed my bags and I was ready.
I thought. But God let them bags packed a long time before I was ready. How many say amen? God had to prove me and test me. God had to develop me.
God had to develop my faith. That's why Jesus gave his disciples a three and a half year Bible course. And still, like I said, Peter at the end was failing. Here our salvation was in the balance. If these men were not ready, we wouldn't be here.
How many say amen? Then, 40 days, he'd give them a postgraduate course. After three years personal ministry, you'd have thought they'd have learned everything about ministering. Three and a half years with Jesus. How many say amen?
I remember when I was coming up young, I watched everybody God was doing, see what he did. I'd go into service and I would discern the situation and I was saying how are they going to get out of this one because I knew that I was going to find myself in a lot of the same situations how many say amen huh he had to rebuke them after the resurrection he had to rebuke Thomas Thomas said, no, I got to see it. I still got seeing faith. I got feeling faith. I don't see it and feel it now.
I ain't going to believe. Jesus said, poof, out of nowhere, he's in the middle. He always was there, but he made himself known. He said, Thomas, come on up here. Stick your hand in my side.
Stick your hand in my hand, and don't be doubting, don't be believing. He said, Thomas, you believe because you've seen, but blessed are they that have not seen yet believe. Everybody say, man, you've got to see it and believe, and you're blessed. Temporary faith. Everything's got to be going all right.
Can't take it through the test. The Bible said in Hebrews that Jesus was tempted in all points like as we, without sin. People say that he couldn't sin. Oh, well, the devil was forefooled. and if he couldn't sin, then God was playing a charade and a joke, tested him when he couldn't be tested.
Amen? I want the devil to test me on something I can't do. I might make out it's a tough test. Oh. How many say amen?
How many hear me? temporary faith. Everything has got to be rosy. If you don't get your oil well or grain elevator, you're going to quit God. I've had some come in because they thought they were going to grain elevator or oil well.
In other words, for prosperity. But when prosperity didn't come, they quit God. I think the greatest prosperity is to have prosperity in your soul. That's the greatest. How many say amen?
Because I don't worry about money because God has promised to supply all of my need.
So you might have a million dollars and need two and you're one million short. But I believe being rich is having what you need when you need it and when I need it. And if you believe when you need it, God is going to give it to you. But my God, but in spite, but, but means contrary to what's happened up ahead, I shall supply all of your needs according to my riches in glory. Praise Him.
Amen. What an inspirational and soul-strengthening word of the Lord by my father, Brother Hardy, Abraham's kind of faith. what do you need when you have prayed the prayer of faith but time is passing with no visible fulfillment when things seem to be getting worse instead of better when you're facing insurmountable obstructions and even setbacks and you just feel like giving up what you need is abraham's kind of faith the kind of faith that won't lose hope even when hope is against you that will enable you not to stagger at the promise of God in unbelief, but to be fully persuaded that what God has promised, he is able to and will perform. You need the faith of our father Abraham, who believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. The Hebrew literally says, Abraham believed God and said amen.
And Paul told us in Romans 4 that we are to walk in the steps of our father Abraham. And this anointed, insightful teaching by Brother Hardy will tell you how you can walk in Abraham's kind of faith. How you can have hope when even hope is against you. This entire message is on CD and can be ordered for a love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. Request offer 100.
That's offer 100. Our mailing address is R.G. Hardy Ministries, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Or order online at rghardy.org.
That's rghardy.org. Once again, the offer is $100 for Abraham's kind of faith. And your love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. The mailing address is P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203.
Until next time, this is Sister Sharon saying, Maranatha.
