Today we have a special guest. His name is Joshua. And he's going to talk to you about one facet of faith; but I want to talk to you about this with simplicity, not with complexity. I just love to see the things of God made simple because that's exactly why Jesus came, to take that which was out of our reach, put it into our reach, so He came to us in order that we might come to Him and so He made everything simple.

Moreover, I want to talk to you about faith that has action and the importance and the incredible partnership between those two, putting “boots” to your belief, and Joshua is going to tell us about it.

It's one thing to pray for things to get better. Granted, there's nothing wrong with hoping and believing that things will get better. But there's one step of faith that's missing, and this is the key to seeing God do great things and this is it: when we put “feet” to our faith, when we put “boots” to our belief, when we put action to our convictions, that's when we start to see God do extraordinary things.

For example, are you struggling with addiction? You can hope, believe and pray, and that's all good. But are you a part of a recovery program? You lost your job. You can pray, hope and believe for a new one. But where's your resume, and are you knocking on doors? When you put action behind your faith, things start to happen. If being treated badly by your spouse, you can hope and pray that they change, but do you treat them in the same way, or do you treat them in the way that you want to be treated?

The Bible says that,

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after
they had been encircled for seven days.” (Heb.
11:30)

God identifies Joshua by his actions. Jericho's walls fell down because they circled them seven times. What did they do? Stand there believing? No. They were praying? No. They were hoping? No. They were marching. They added action to their faith. Now, God said, “I'll tear the walls down, but you better not just stand there and hope. You get out there and you circle those walls.”

You see, the bottom line is this: When God sees action behind what we believe, extraordinary things begin to happen. When God sees your action behind your faith ?? I can say I want my marriage to do better, but when God sees me working on it, things extraordinary happen. You see, when God sees me staying quiet when I would like to give my wife a piece of my mind when I don't have many pieces to spare and yet He sees me being quiet, things start to happen because I'm adding action to my faith. I'm giving “boots” to what I believe.

When He sees you getting to work just a little earlier because you had been praying and hoping and believing for a promotion, then extraordinary things begin to happen.

Or when you forego that desert or that extra piece of bread because you've been praying and hoping to lose weight ?? now we're getting down to business here, see ?? extraordinary things begin to happen.

When He sees that I'm willing to give when I could use a bunch myself, extraordinary things begin to happen. Because, you see, God has promised us good things. Question is: When are you going to possess it? Moses lived on promises for 40 years.

You know what God is saying to Joshua? Moses lived on promises for 40 years. Now it's time for you to possess those promises. You got to go get those promises.

According to Josh. 1:1-6,

“The Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun,
Moses’ assistant, ‘Moses My servant is dead.
Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you
and all these people, into the land of Israel. Every
place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I
have given to you … Just as I was with Moses,
so I will be with you. I will not leave you or
forsake you. Be strong and courageous.’”

LESSON: FAITH IS INTENTIONAL.

Are you struggling with your marriage? Go get counseling. Get into a men’s group. You’ve got to do something about it. Then you can take possession of it. Then I can promise you a healthy marriage.

Now, you are going to have to be courageous.

The Lord said,

“Only be strong and very courageous, being careful
to do according to all the law that Moses My servant
commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right
hand or to the left, that you may have good success
wherever you go.” (Josh. 1:7)

In Daniel Chapter 3, King Nebuchadnezzar threw three children of Israel into the furnace because they refused to bow down to his idol. But because they put their faith and courage into action, God rescued them and they came out of the fire unscathed. In chapter 3 of the book of Daniel, the three said, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” So the children of Israel put action to their faith, that wherever they set their foot down God released the extraordinary miracle on them in the furnace.

GOOD SUCCESS IS BASED ON OBEDIENCE AND IS EXPRESSED IN ACTION.

Even reading the Bible, the goal is not only to know more about what the Bible says. Let's read this next scripture.

“This Book of the Law shall not depart out of
your mouth but you shall meditate on it day
and night, so that you may be careful to do all
that is written in it. For then you shall make
your way prosperous, and then you shall have
good success.” (Josh 1:8)

That’s why in James Chapter 2 it says that faith without action is dead. Did you know that you can have dead faith? You can be dragging around a dead faith if you have faith without action. And as gross as that sounds, I wonder how many Christians drag around every day a dead faith.

You say, well, how do we put action to our faith? It doesn't have to be very big. When you go to work and you throw a hundred percent into your job, you're adding action to your faith. When you're kind to those that irritate you, you're adding action to what you believe. When you stop before you want to gossip, you're putting action to your faith. When you tithe knowing that you can use that for something else and you need as much as anybody else but you tithe, not out of abundance but you tithe out of faith, you're adding action to your faith and doors begin to open.

And so I know those of you that are here, you don't have a dead faith. You have added action to your faith. So like Joshua, let's have an intentional faith. Like the three Hebrew children, let's put action to our faith. Let's put belief and “boots” to our belief.

Let me ask you: What is it that you really want? What is it that you believe God has given you a promise for? Then add action to it. Start adding the action to it. Hence, that is when extravagant and extraordinary doors begin to open.

Some of you have had a dream that you've been praying about and hoping for. Others of you have had a promise that you've been standing on for a long time. Can I encourage you today it's time to take it to the next level? I'm going to ask you to put some intentionality into your faith. And I, along with Joshua, would declare to you that God will help you to overcome, and you're about to see extraordinary things. Do you believe that? Amen. I do too.

Questions:

1. Why did Joshua take his men and march around the walls of Jericho?

2. Why is faith without action dead?

3. What are examples that we can do to bring about action to our faith?

4. Why must you give with faith first?