Ever-increasingfaithchurch.org

YOUR FAITH SPEAKS - BISHOP FRANK OGAGBA

YOUR FAITH SPEAKS – Bishop Frank Ogagba

EVER-INCREASING FAITH CHURCHES

P. O. BOX 3910 MMABATHO, NORTH WEST PROVINCE OF SOUTH AFRICA

TEL: +27 83 480 7992; FAX: +27 86 689 9567 +27 83 480 7992

E-MAIL: info@everincreasingfaithchurch.org

WEBSITE: www.everincreasingfaithchurch.org

TEXT: 2 Cor. 4:13 - We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;

1. What is faith?

• Heb. 11:1 • Faith is laying hold of the unrealities of hope and bringing them into the realm of reality (by acting on the Word)

• Faith is now

• Faith changes things, not God

• Believing is an action word

• Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6)

• Faith is a law (Rom. 3:27) – A law is something that works every time.

2. Where to get faith / how to develop it?

• To every man has been given the “measure of faith” (Rom 12:3) – for salvation

• Put the Word 1st – make it final authority

• Meditate on the Word – meditation increases capacity for faith.

• Act on the Word

• Decide to live by faith

• Decide to live by love

• Receive Jesus as the author & developer of your faith

3. How is faith released? 3

.1 Words are containers – the impact of words is determined by what goes into the words (i.e. faith or fear).

3.2 Words release power.

3.3 2 Cor. 4:13 - We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; Ps. 116:10 I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:

4. Importance of Words

4.1 Man created in the image of God. Gen. 1:26 & 27 - And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Gen. 2:7 - And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Hebrew – “speaking spirit”). Man is a spirit, have a soul / mind / will / emotions and life in a body.

4.2 God created the world through His words: Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. Gen 1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. Gen 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. Gen 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. Gen 1:10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. Gen 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: Gen 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. Gen 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. Gen 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. God framed His world with His mouth and you and I frame our world with our words. Heb. 11:3 - Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

4.3 God’s nature: Rom 4:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

4.4 Jesus’ birth was brought forth by prophets that declared it under the anointing of God, though the ages, until the announcement by the Angel to Mary and her response was:

Luke 1:38 - And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

4.5 Salvation comes by words:

Romans 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (“Saved” = G4982. σώζω. sōzō. sode'-zo. From a primary word σῶς sōs̄ (contraction for the obsolete σάος saos, “safe”); to save, that is, deliver or protect (literally or figuratively): - heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole.)

Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

4.6 You came into this world by words: The words your father spoke to your mother resulted in your conception.

4.7 Other scriptures about “words”:

Proverbs 13:2 A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.

Proverbs 12:18 There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.

Proverbs 15:4 A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.

Psalms 91:2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

Psalms 107:2 - Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;

5. Faith filled words dominate – the laws of sin and death

5.1 If you want to know whether you are in faith or not, listen to your words / confession:

Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh (leaks).

Mathewt 12:35 A good man out of the good (replace “good with “faith”) treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

Matthew 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

Matthew 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Example of the tea pot: Whatever you pour into the tea port will eventually come out the spout. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth “leaks” like a tea pot.

5.2 Believing comes before saying:

Mark 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. We are to say / confess 3 x more than believing (x1) Believing comes before saying. Whether for salvation, healing, finances, your marriage, protection. You believe unto, then you call it. "I call myself healed" and it is based on what He said, not how I feel. As the head of your household, what are you calling? Over your finances, your spouse, your children, your boss, etc.?

5.3 Bishop Frank Ogagba: “Where you are right now is what you have been saying yesterday. Believing is not really as difficult as controlling your words.”

5.4 Jesus watches over our words to perform it

Hebrews 3:1 - Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Do you give Jesus (and the angels) something to work with, or are your words limiting them? Use illustration of healing: Go for prayer for healing. After the service, someone asks how you are doing and you say, I have been sick for the last 2 weeks, not being able to shake this flu. The work that was started by the prayer is stopped. It is like switching the power on (prayer) and then off again (negative words)

5.5 You can choose your words and thereby determine your life. But you can not choose whether words determine your life. Why is it vain to use God's name and" "damn" in the same sentence. Because HE is not the damn-er. Jesus can not honour that.

Stop rehearsing the things you do not want in your life. To God, your family, counselors, etc.

Things like:

• "Just blow my mind”

• “Thrilled me to death”

• “Tickled to death”

• “Sick and tired of …”

• “Scared me to death”

• “I am afraid I can not do that…” Most language use death / fear to express themselves. If that is the way you normally speaks, you are not giving God something to work with.

James 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

KC: "You put God's word in your mouth, stir it with faith, and praise and honour and the glory of God in His name and His blood. You stir it around in your spirit that is born of the Holy Spirit and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, it will come out of your mouth, in your life, with the same authority that God had when He spoke it out of His mouth and said let there be light."

Malachi 3:13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? Are we "splitting hairs over words?" No, it's getting onto God's words. "

5.6 Satan destroyed himself by "saying to himself". Isa 14:13 You said to yourself, "I'll climb to heaven. I'll set my throne over the stars of God. I'll run the assembly of angels that meets on sacred Mount Zaphon.

5.7 God has never & will never do anything in the earth with out anointed words been spoken.

Matthew 12:32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

Matthew 12:33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.

Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Matthew 12:35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

Matthew 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

Matthew 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Today is the future you spoke yesterday . You don't have to continue living like you do, unless you like that. By your words shall you be justified / condemned . God appointed Jesus to be High Priest over our words. Your whole life will follow your words.

5.8 Make a decision today to change your speaking / confession "Sower sows the word"

Mark 4:14 Out of the good man's heart it's called the glory of God, out of the evil man's heart it's called judgment. Listen to what you say.

Romans 10:9-13 Notice believing and saying.

Christians spent a lot of time talking about believing, but there are no believing without saying. It is part of it.

"Go to the promises of God, meditate on them, put them in your heart, put then in your mouth, then start giving and giving & giving & giving & giving and if it looks a little slow, give some more.

Confess more,

Stand on the Word more.

Increase the Word in your heart and the Word in your mouth more.

Depend on the anointing, the Word, the name, the blood and your giving,"

Remember that for every idle / vulgar word, you will give account.

6. Closing comments:

• Your words should have the same power behind them as if Jesus had spoken them.

• “Agree with the confession of another” as a way to help each other change your confession

• Put a guard on your mouth. Never confess sickness, disease, poverty, failure, lack or want.

• Begin to believe that everything you say will come to pass, and you’ll stop saying some of the things you used to say.

• Remember: Words are vehicles - they either carry faith or doubt and unbelief.

• It is not enough to say it: have corresponding actions (lifestyle)

• Hold fast to your confession – do not just try it for a day or two.

• Calling those things that be not as though they were. Difference between truth & fact.

• The words of your mouth release the force of faith.

• A fearless confession comes from a Word-ruled heart.

• God’s word in your mouth becomes just like the Word in Jesus’ mouth

• Fear-filled words can make you sick; faith-filled words can make you well.

Prayer of repentance & commitment, then some confessions.

14.02.2009. 00:11