I'm going to be talking to you today about bold faith. God is calling His church into bold faith, not just to believe a little bit, to move in areas that you've never been willing to move before. God doesn't want us to be run by the world that's causing us to have gray areas of our life, being lukewarm Christians that are not making an impact. God wants us to come back into the bold type of faith that wants to bring a truth into the community that we live, that's believing in the promises of God once more, and He wants to bring those into the house of God today. The church is going to have a bold faith like never before. We're not going to be in the hiding. We're not going to be afraid. We're not going to be silenced. We're not going to be afraid to ruffle any feathers and to edit what we want to say, but to bring our truth. To bring the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ like never before.

God is making a new culture here. We're making something new in the midst. And I see every day with our young people who gather together to pray, God is raising up a new culture, a new generation in this place. That we may be counter-cultural in a world that doesn't know God. We're bringing the faith back to the community. Our young people, when they graduate from college, they're not going crazy looking for jobs. They're staying and they're trusting in the Lord, continuing in their daily prayer with God. And He, for many of them, are working in their dream jobs today. That's counter-cultural. Many of our young people don't really date. They're just trusting God to bring somebody their way if it's in their will. And we have witnessed many, several beautiful marriages this day. Because God is doing it. He's saying, “If my people will believe, I'm going to meet them where they're at.” Because God is real and God fulfills His Word and He is willing to stand by it. Our young people, when they have a problem, they really, they're not going to go crazy worrying about it. They're going to give it to God. They're going to open the Word. And they're going to trust God to see them through. Amen?

This is what bold faith does. God is giving His church the bold faith so that you would have the tools to do the work of God. For healing, for deliverance, for evangelism, all that God has asked you to do. You cannot do it unless this day you receive not just faith, but the bold faith that will go out in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Faith, my friends, is the ingredient for the supernatural."

Faith, my friends, is the ingredient for the supernatural. You see, the Bible says that you don't have the power in your ability to even change one of your hairs from gray to its normal color. We are powerless in this world on our own. We cannot change anything. But if you would believe in God, faith is the ability to change, to bring heaven down to earth and to see the impossible. Who here is in need of an impossible change in their life? I know that I am! And God can do the impossible.

We know that initial faith comes in when you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and that is the first part of faith. God gives faith as he apportions it to those that He wills for the purpose of salvation, so that you would put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. But church, we know that is not where it stops. God doesn't want us to just be saved, He wants us to be fruitful. He wants us to be living in the fullness of all He's called you to. So faith does not stop at salvation. And many of us have remained stagnant at that point. But God wants us to walk in Him, to be fruitful, and to live the life in Him. This is not where it ends for us today. We are going forth. And would you answer the call for bolder faith? Hallelujah. God is calling for more!

So today we're gonna know that we need bold faith this day. We're going to believe God for bold faith, for increase. And so we're going to know that God is giving that bold faith. Faith is the catalyst for the impossible, for the Lord to move powerfully in your life, in the church, in the community that we live in. We have to be able to step into the more of God in this season. We're going after the faith that can move mountains, not the faith that is stagnant and unbelieving. You see, when the going gets tough, the tough is going to get going. Instead of hiding from God, instead of being afraid of failure, we're going to believe that God is going to call us to push through in this season. To say to yourself, even now as you sit in the seat, “I'm going through a hard time right now.” Maybe you have been, you know, going through the tests and the trials of life, but that's where God wants you to push through to show that you are a son or a daughter of the Most High. It is the power of heaven that keeps you going. And when it gets tough, we press in more. Showing what is inside of you, showing the seed of God, showing that you are a son of Jesus Christ who did not give up, who did not give in, who was not overcome, who was not threatened into cowardice, but he continued on his path. And we also, who have Christ inside of us, will rise up in our faith like never before.

We remember those in the Bible who did not compromise. I remember that we learned just recently about David who slayed the giant Goliath when he mocked the armies of God. He was able to rise up and defy defiance right in the face. He was not afraid. Some of us need to start doing that in our own lives, to defy the rebellion in our lives, wanting us to walk away from God, not wanting us to follow Him, to turn away, to do our own thing. Let us rise up and defy defiance, church. To believe that God can strengthen you to take the head off of the giant. Or Daniel, who despite the threats that were given to him, continued to pray. And what happened to him? Sure, he was thrown into the lion's den, but we know the end of that story - that God rescued him and saw him through because he was not afraid. He believed for it and God brought the miracle. Amen?

God is faithful to His Word and to His promises that He has given to you. This day, when we're coming into the bold faith for increase, you have to believe that God is wanting to bring the growth. He wants to bring expansion. He wants to bring a newness in our lives. Are you in expectation of the increase of God in your life? That's the question that we have. We open up our Bibles to Isaiah 54:2. It says, “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.” This is a picture of a tent being expanded, right? You would make your house wider when you were expecting more children. When you were expecting the more to come in, that's when you stretch it open. I'm going to read that because some of us were still looking in our Bibles.

“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.” This is about the growth. This is about preparing for increase. Have you begun to search in your heart to see, “Lord, how can I prepare You to come into my life? How do I make changes that open up my life for Your Word, for Your work, for Your voice, for Your Word to come forth in my life, to change the habits that I've always had.” That is how we prepare. This is the season of increase.

Now this reminds me, we have been studying the story of Abraham. We know that his father was from Mesopotamia and he was a merchant there. And all of Abraham's relatives lived in the same vicinity - they were traders, they were doing well for themselves. They lived in a place of idolatry, of worship of other gods. And Abraham was just going about his life, and he was fine going about his business. But one day, God steps in his life and tells him, “I want you to leave your father's house. I want you to leave your former life, and I want you to come in. I'm going to give you a new job. You're not going to be a trader anymore. You're going to be a herdsman. (He had flocks that he had to tend to.) I'm going to bring you to a new place that you've never been before. I'm going to teach you a new way. I'm going to show you how to serve Me. I'm going to show you how to follow Me. and I'm going to give you a new name.”

He changed everything about his life so that he could be a new man. In order to receive the increase, to receive the blessing, you have to be willing that God would be able to work in your life. To bring you out of your old ways - the mundane, what you used to do when you got home from work, what you used to do when you woke up in the morning. All of it has to change for God to do what He wants to do in your life. Are you willing to make the room for God this day? Are you willing to step out into the unknown?

"Where you have faith, God will meet you with his power. "

You see, Abraham had a legitimate excuse not to answer the call. God was asking him to leave everything that he knew behind. He was asking him to leave everything that was familiar. And we know that he was an older man, and so he was set in his ways. And God had Abraham be the age that he was to show us this day that nobody here has an excuse. Because we're stuck in our ways. We're doing it. This is the way I've always thought. This is the way I've always done it. But here, Abraham, who didn't know the place where he was going, was willing to walk in the unknown, in the uncomfortability, and go out on a limb for God. This is where the power comes; where you are willing to step out on a limb and God will meet you. Where you have faith, God will meet you with his power. Amen?

Now, 10 years ago, I never would have imagined even where my family in my home would be today. But God called us to step out in bolder faith. We didn't know what the outcome of our son's life was going to be. We didn't know how it was going to turn out. But He made us walk and we followed Him, trusting that he wanted more for our life. And here we are today and God wants to do the same thing in His power in the church today.

Now because Abraham was willing to move in bold faith, that's what enabled him to receive the blessing - the increase did come. He was blessed and he prospered exponentially. He received great blessing in his livestock, in his servants, in his prosperity. God gave him the land that we now call the nation of Israel. This is real. This is heaven come down to earth. This isn't make-believe. The nation of Israel was given to the people of God through Abraham and the covenant that was made. And it still exists today through the generations, we still see the blessing.

He became the father of that nation because of obedience. All the earth would be blessed through Abraham because Jesus came from his seed. He was able to bring that which would be the inheritance. So God says to you today, “do not hold yourself back.” Why are you holding back? Why are you making the tent small? Why is the expectation shortened? Why are the strings not being expanded and stretched out for what God wants to do? Why are we limiting the blessing that the Lord has for us? Think big. Think bigger for what God wants to do in your life.

It's like the woman from the story in 2 Kings, the widow, who was asked to collect jars. And, of course, the oil was being poured out into her jars and when the jars had run out, the oil stopped flowing. You see, whatever you prepare to receive from God, that is exactly how much you are going to receive. The amount that you stretch yourself, that you make yourself uncomfortable, that you go out on a limb, is where God will meet us. Hallelujah. Let us open up our ear. Lend an ear to the Lord this day that He can speak to you and He will do it in all of us. Do not hold back for God is going to do it in your day.

This last part of the verse says, “to strengthen your stakes” and that's really about sustainability. We want to make sure that we can withhold and continue what God is about to do. We have to build those strong walls, so whatever God is about to establish in your life and in your family's life, you want it to continue forever. And I think, “how do we do that? How do we strengthen the walls? And it just reminds me about what my husband preached about last week when he said that there are those gray areas in our life. But we want our lives to be confronted with the Word of God and we want to bring ourselves in alignment with the Word so that the sustainment of God's blessing can remain with us. Hallelujah.

And so my prayer for this service is not that we would settle with where we're at, not just faith for salvation, but faith, bold faith for the increase of God. Hallelujah. He is doing something more in you this day, and we are rising up to believe. Who will believe the call of faith?! Hallelujah.

So just as we have faith for increase, God is calling the church to have bold faith for breakthrough. And this is really something that I heard us singing about in worship today. But we have to know, right? That was my last sermon I think, that I preached up here. It's the time for breakthrough. The Lord Jesus Christ has come to set the captives free - for this generational sin, the curses, the illness, the addictions that we suffer with, chaos, fear, depression, mental instability, all of these things can no longer hold back the people of God. He wants us to be whole. He wants you to be well. He wants you to be right and one with God this day. And so we have to believe that God wants to do this in the church. It is the season for breakthrough. Hallelujah. Bold faith for breakthrough. And so we have been dealing with a lot of this for a long time. And over time, it may have made you feel like you are losing hope. You have obstacles or trials, and they may be continuous in your life. But I tell you, God has heard every single prayer. Not one of them has been unfruitful. Not one of them fell to the ground and was not heard by God. He has heard the prayers. He has heard and seen the tears. He has been up with you at night when you have tossed and turned with those concerns that you have had. God has seen it all. But I tell you, there is a day, and it comes for the people of God, when the scales are tipped in your favor. Hallelujah. God comes suddenly, suddenly at a moment, and He brings the breakthrough. He is the God of breakthrough. And all is changed in a moment. In a moment, that mighty mountain that was in your way, that stopped you from fulfilling everything that God has called you to do, is gone in a moment when God gives the word. Hallelujah. Everything is changed.

And we're going to go to our next scripture. It's Hebrews 11:11. And again we're continuing with this story of Abraham and Sarah. I actually, before this sermon, I never realized how much Abraham is throughout the entire New Testament. I mean scripture in Galatians and Hebrews, just Romans, everywhere you go - so God is trying to teach us something. There's something to take from the story of Abraham and I believe God is giving it today for us. And so we remember that “by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.” Right? We know this story already, but it's so powerful because this scripture is about Sarah and Abraham's breakthrough. Hallelujah. You know, in verse 7, it says that Abraham didn't even know where he was going, but he got up and followed God. Oh, the uncomfortable place. And I don't know about you, but I know for me, yeah, sure, that would make me uncomfortable, not knowing what's going to happen tomorrow, not knowing what it's going to look like, where am I going to be, what's going to happen? But that is the bold faith that God is calling us to.

We have to remember that regardless of all that feeling of uncomfortability, he went, didn't he? He went. No matter how we feel today about it, he was willing to go. And that is what we have to grasp today from this story. Regardless of how he felt, he knew God. He knew God. He trusted God. And his feet followed after the Lord. The faith was greater than the fear, if you will. Verse 11, it says that “Sarah was past childbearing age.” She was too old. And in verse 12, it's not so nice about Abraham. They just say what? “He's as good as dead.” They weren't very nice about him. And so really, what does that mean for an impossible situation? Does anybody have an impossible circumstance at home? Is anybody dealing [with] something that is insurmountable? Does anybody have something that's been in their lives for years, decades even? Because that is impossible to deal with in the natural. And that's why this world is hopeless. But we, the church, are not hopeless. For the Lord Jesus Christ has made a way. In Him, all things are possible. He gave His life and He died on the cross and He was risen from the grave and He is in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, so that your impossible would become possible with Him.

God brought forth those promises because of Abraham's bold faith. God met him where he was at, and He blasted through those obstacles as though they were nothing. Imagine God calling these huge problems of our life that we cry about, and we lose our appetite about, and we stress, and we take medication to help us calm down, and they become nothing under God. He can eradicate them. They explode before Him. They are nothing. Oh, mighty mountain, you are level ground before God. He can break them down. So all these insurmountable things that we have in our life are nothing to the Lord our God who is powerful, who is mighty, who sits on a throne where everything is made subject under the feet of Jesus Christ. We serve a mighty God and there is nothing that He cannot do.

If Abraham had remained in Ur, in Mesopotamia, God would have never been able to bring the blessing. If he was not willing to be uncomfortable, if he was just wanting to stay with what he knew, remaining stagnant, not willing to trust God, the blessing would not come. But it is, my friends, in the stepping out. It is us coming out of our seat and going to God and telling Him that we believe. And we remember many stories in the New Testament as well about people who stepped out. I'm thinking of the leper. The woman with the issue of blood who had to reach out in front of everyone in the crowds and touch the hem of his cloak. Or Jairus who wanted his daughter to be brought back to life. He had to go in front of everyone and he came down at the feet of Jesus. You see, they risked it all. Their reputation, their well-being, whatever it was that people were going to think about them. But their faith was greater than the fear. Hallelujah!

Our faith needs to be greater than everything that holds us back this day. To go deep inside of our hearts and to search out, what is it that makes me afraid? What is it that holds you back this day? is it fear of the unknown? Is it fear of failure? Sometimes it's a matter of the fact that our spouse isn't at the same place that we're at, but I say to you, “Go with the Lord, have bold faith in Him, get the breakthrough that you need that you would go back, and break others free from their chains for He is the God of breakthrough!” This is the season of breakthrough! Do you believe that God wants to set you free from fear, from depression, from anxiety, from addiction of all sorts of things? God is going to do it, that you would go and set others free. For we are those who God would want to break others out of their chains.

God's timing is perfect and, for Sarah and for Abraham, they might have been saying to the Lord, “Father, if You had only done it 20 years ago. Oh, if you had only done it 10 years ago, then maybe I would believe it. You know, I'm just too old now. It's past my time, God. You're going to have others come before me and pass me by.” But no, the Lord is never late. His timing is perfect. Hallelujah.

"Waiting time is not wasted time, for His plans are perfect for us"

Even as we sit here in our chairs, God is unfolding His plan for you this day. God's plans for you are perfect and He is doing a work even as we sit here. It is not by chance that you sit in these seats today, but God had a message for you to receive that you would come into your breakthrough. Waiting time is not wasted time, for His plans are perfect for us. When the plans of God seem uncertain or delayed, His timing is intentional and purposeful. Hallelujah. We trust in God to know what is best.

He sees the bigger picture for our life and He is aligning things in accordance with His perfect, perfect will. We can't see the big picture. We don't know, but we serve a God who sees all and knows all. The struggle and the challenge can be that we like to base things off of what we see with our eyes because we like to live in the flesh. We like to say what is possible and what is not possible based on what we only can perceive, but God sees it all. God can do all. He knows all. And He is ready to do miracle after miracle on your behalf to bring the breakthrough.

We can't believe in only what is likely to happen because if that were the case, I would not be here. You would not be here if God is only in the business of doing what looks like it can be done. In fact, we have to stand on the things that we know God does do when we are coming into our breakthrough.

Where does bold faith come from? We have to remember that God has never left you nor forsaken you. God has never left you alone. Even when you were at your lowest times, God has been with you. He has never given us as our sins deserve. He is a merciful God, and He is a kind God, and He has been kind to us. And yet, even while we were still yet sinners, Christ died for us. Amen? Even while we are at our worst, God has given us His most beautiful and precious gift, which is His Son, Jesus Christ.

This is where we get the power to believe in the Lord, because we're not believing in something that we haven't seen before. God has done it. God has pushed us to the place. He's given us the kick that we need to say, “I'm with you. I'm on your side. I'm for you. I've rooted you on from the beginning. Will you come and not judge me harshly?” Would we stop judging God and treating Him like He is like the rest of the world? He has been kind. People of God, some of us need to change our mentality about the Lord this day, because some of us won't believe in God. Some of us won't trust in the Lord. We have said that He has been harsh, but that is not the truth. The reality is that He has been kind and compassionate, gracious to us, slow to anger, abounding in love this day. And He is worthy of our trust. He is worthy of our faith. Amen. Amen.

“And so after waiting patiently,” this is Hebrews 6:15, you don't have to turn there. “So after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.” And so I ask, “have you ever waited 25 years for anything?” Because Abraham did. And I know as a church family, we also have been waiting. Despite everything, the setbacks that we have faced, we know that the tides are about to turn. And when the scales shift in our behalf, the favor of the Lord is outpoured. And so today, the outpouring of God is here for your breakthrough. There's no more waiting. God is here, and He is ready to bring your breakthrough. Take heart! Take heart, people of God, for your redemption is near. Hallelujah. At the appointed time, which of course is the right time, God sent His Son not only to save you, but to bring your breakthrough. Hallelujah! The perfect time of God is now. It is upon us. Hallelujah.

And so He is not done with us yet. Our appointed time for freedom and breakthrough has come. Hallelujah. So we need bold faith for increase, bold faith for breakthrough, and finally, bold faith for restoration. Hallelujah.

Some of you are remembering, restoration was the first sermon that we had for 2025. God is a God of restoration. God is about to restore all that has been lost to you, and not just what has been lost, but greater than what you had lost. God is not just wanting to return to you exactly what was taken, but he's going to make it better than it ever was before because He is in the business of making us whole, He is in the business of making you well, He is in the business of making you one with the Father. The Lord is the builder, He is the restorer, and He wants to make you whole in His sight, amen.

"He is in the specialty of calling the things that are not as though they were."

You see, we see this pattern throughout scriptures. For the people, they step out, and they put their faith in God, and He comes in to build and to restore. That is what He does. Abraham, we just read, thought he lost the window of opportunity because of his age, but God was able to come in. Oh, He is in the specialty of raising the dead things back to life. He is in the specialty of calling the things that are not as though they were. Hallelujah, He is raising up the old dreams, the old hopes, the old prayers, the old visions that you thought were lost, that you thought were gone, hallelujah, but God is bringing them back. Jesus is in the business of restoring - would you be restored to who you once were in God? To believe that He's actually able to do what He said He was going to do. Who will believe God's word this day? We sing the song week after week, but who will believe God this day? He is in the business of restoration of our minds, of our bodies, of our church, of the places that we lay our heads. Making a little, you know, a cocoon with us and God. He's got to rebuild that relationship. We even with Him, some of us, because we have turned away and not have the faith, it's almost like walking away, but God wants to restore that nurturing, intimate relationship that maybe you even once had with God, but making it better than it ever was.

You know, Pastor Janeth came up here, and she said that there was once a building, a temple, that was filled with God's glory, that was filled with the Spirit of God, where men would come in, and they wouldn't even be able to stand on their feet. Is God about to do that in our day? It's not about a building, but it's about us having the Lord in our hearts. Being able to sustain, to sustain, to keep God's Spirit within our bodies. We rely on His righteousness every day that He would keep us clean so that we would be able to be holders of the glory of God. He is doing it. He is doing a new thing in your day. Do you perceive it? For God is doing a new thing.

Jesus is that path to restoration and He redeems us and restores us back to God the Father. His sacrifice through what He did on the cross, He brings us back into a good relationship with God. And through the power of bold faith, we come back then to the world to become those repairers. We come to restore others. We come back to be the builders.

And if you would open with me with our verse. Turn your Bibles to Isaiah 58, verse 12. Isaiah 58:12, “You will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” You see, God is going to restore us, but then who comes back to be the restorers? He says, “your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and raise up the age-old foundations.” That's us. We become the builders. We become the restorers to restore people back to God, to demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit in our communities. We become the restorers of people who have been lost to God, bringing them back. Hallelujah. We are the builders of the kingdom, not just the bystanders, but the builders for the Lord.

God is putting this sermon on our hearts this day because some of us have lost that hope because of some struggles or life's trials that we've had. But God wants us to come back to bold faith. The call for bold faith is here. For the Word says, “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘move,’ and the mountain will move.” It is the time to restore things back to God. It is the time of restoration for the church. For God is not only interested in restoring individuals, He is interested in restoring your generations.

Galatians chapter 3:8-9. It's our last verse for the day. “Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” You see, Abraham, through his bold faith, was able to change the destiny, not only of his family, but of the future generations that would come through him. There was a seed inside of him, and that seed was about to be Jesus Christ. He was the heir - the inheritor of what God was giving to him - the blessing to the whole world. God said, “Abraham, you are blessed among all people, and you are the blessing to the whole world.”

Would you today receive the call of God to be the blessing to the whole world, changing not only your life, but your children, your family, those who live with you, and future generations after you? You see, bold faith will change the course, not only of your life, but for all generations to come after you. The way we see it is that we have two choices this day. We can either remain in brokenness, to stay in unbelief, to resist God's call, to remain spiritually stagnant, and not answer the call that God is giving you in your life even at this moment. We have the choice to remain there. But the consequence of that is that it will be a cycle of the same things that we have faced. The same fear, the same chains, the same lack of breakthrough, the same lack of restoration that not only will be with you, but also to be with your children.

But I know, people of God, that God is speaking better things for us this day. Because we are those who will carry the blessing of the Lord and we are choosing to believe and to answer the call of God. For greater, for greater faith in Him, for the boldness that God is calling us this day for. You see, He's saying that faith - stepping out - will bring the increase, it will bring the breakthrough, and it will bring the spirit of restoration through our lives.

The Lord says that when you choose to follow God, that the blessing of those who follow Him will follow after to the thousandth generation. Today, are you willing to be a generation changer? Would you step in the gap for all those who are in your household? Would you step in the gap for all of those who will come after you and even young people in this church who are watching and trying to find the way to the Lord? Would you step in the gap this day and to say, “I'll believe God and I'm going to show them the way to blessing.”