The Phases of Faith | Omar El-Takrori | City Light Church

Hey, what's up to our online City Light family. Man, I love you guys so much. We are about to jump into God's Word. I believe it's gonna be powerful. I believe it's gonna be relevant. And I really do honestly believe that God's gonna speak to you. So I just want you to open your heart and believe with us that God is gonna do something amazing through this sermon right now in your heart. If you have not liked and subscribed and done all the things, if you would do that, that would be a huge blessing to us as our media team tells me that it helps the algorithm. Whatever an algorithm is, I guess we want to be on it. So I love you, let's jump into God's Word. We're in a series called By Faith and I wanna continue this series. If you have your Bibles, turn in your Bibles to Matthew 14. We're about to read the biggest miracle Jesus ever performed on his time on earth. This is the feeding of 5,000 and it's a very descriptive account of this miracle. And I want you to really envision what's going on here as we read it. So let's read the Word of God. Verse 14, it says, when Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, this is a remote place and it's already getting late. Notice, they acknowledge that this is the wrong place and the wrong time for something to take place. Send the crowds away, the disciples say, so that they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food. Jesus replied, they don't need to go away. You give them something to eat. We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish and they answered and told Jesus. And so Jesus said, bring them here to me. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Everybody say instruction. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks, broke the loaves and then gave them to the disciples for the disciples to give to the people. They all ate and they were satisfied, praise God. And the disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. Somebody say overflow. The number of those who ate were about 5,000 men. And so if you were to do some simple math, we can conclude that there was over actually 15,000 people to experience this miracle. So if you're taking notes today, write down the title, the phases of faith, the phases of faith, amen. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your word.

I pray that you would speak to us. I thank you that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would convict us, you would challenge us, you would change us as we receive your truth and walk this faith journey out with you. And we thank you for it in Jesus' name. And all of God's people said a big amen. Amen and amen, amen. You know, I love reading the Bible. I like, I would consider myself a Bible nerd. Any Bible nerds in the house? I mean, all right, we'll get you there. No, but honestly, we are actually very intimidated by the scriptures initially because it's like this gnarly book, but really you don't need to go to Google. You don't need to go to chat GPT. You don't need to watch your favorite podcast. You could simply just observe the text. Just look at the text and what is the Holy Spirit saying? And as we read this scripture, one of the biggest observations that I found is simply the types of people in this story. And it begs the question as I'm reading it, it's where do you see yourself in this story, in this moment of time? And I don't know where you are in your life or in your journey or walk with the Lord. You might be new, you might be following the Lord for a long time,

but you fall on one of these sides. That when you read stories that involve the disciples, you identify as a disciple if you're a disciple. Or maybe you are new to the faith and you would say, you know, honestly, when we read scriptures like that and it's like the crowd and they're getting something from Jesus, man, I see myself as the crowd. But I wanna challenge our association today because something I have found about this life of faith is that it's not about being a disciple or being a part of the crowd. It's actually what side of the miracle are you on? There is no neutral for miracles. You are either in need of a miracle or you are a part of a miracle. And if you're sitting in this place and maybe you've just been... Consuming, consuming, consuming. I'm here to challenge you that maybe you can be used for a miracle. Maybe if you're in need of a miracle, usually the prayer is, God, I need you to do something. And then if you're not in need of a miracle, maybe life's going good right now. You know what God's saying to you? Hey, I need you to do something. And I don't know where you are, but if you're in need of a miracle, come on, you could still be a miracle.

If you are praying for an answer, you could be an answer to somebody else's prayer. Faith is not a one-time event. Faith is a continuous demonstration of your trust in God. I like to think of our lives less as a linear journey and more as a sphere, more as phases. We go through seasons. We have four seasons every year. And in the same way, our faith must be used dependent on the season or phase we may find ourself in. Turn to your neighbor and say, I'm in a faith phase. I'm in a faith phase. And so no matter what season or phase you may find yourself in, number one, you're gonna need the faith to remove, the faith to remove. You could come to Jesus with everything, but he will always ask you to give up something. Don't hesitate to come to Jesus. Don't give up something and then come to Jesus. Just come to Jesus with your everything. But I'm also gonna tell you that he's always gonna ask you for something. Jesus tells the disciples, you give him something to eat. I'm not gonna, and then it's like, Jesus, aren't you the miracle worker? Jesus, aren't you the one that supplies our needs? Aren't you the provider? You give him something to eat. This is a writer downer.

God never does a miracle without first giving a command. God never does a miracle without first giving an instruction. And so if you're looking for a miracle, start listening for instruction. Come on somebody, if you're looking or in need of a miracle, start listening for instruction. Hey, what's up family? We're about to get right back into God's word. Just before we do, I wanted to thank so many of you who have helped us financially. Maybe you don't live in Vegas, maybe you don't even live in America, but something in your heart has been stirred to help us reach literally one of the most unreached places on planet Earth. Las Vegas is the most unchurched city in the most unchurched state, Nevada, in all of America. And we're doing everything we can to reach more people with the gospel. And so to all of you who have ever given to our ministry, thank you to you who maybe have not, but have been impacted by this house, by the teaching and preaching from this house. I wanna ask you, would you consider helping us as we continue to bring the good news of Jesus to our region? You can go to citylightvegas.com and find all the ways to give there. I love you so much.

I appreciate you. I'm praying for you. Let's jump back into God's word. Don't focus on the need. Don't even focus on the miracle. Acknowledge that there is a need, but listen for his voice. Abraham, I'm gonna make you father of many nations. I'm gonna bless all nations. But first go, and then I'll show. Oh, we want God to show so that we can go. But God's saying go, and then I'll show. Hey, oh Moses, I will split the Red Sea, but first lift up your staff over the sea, and I will split it. Jesus' first miracle, turn water into wine. Some of your guys' favorite miracle for some reason. Jesus says, get the barrels and fill them to the brim with water. There is always an instruction that God is asking for before the miracle. Matthew 11, 28, Jesus says, come to me all. Just come who are burdened and tired, and I will trade you for real rest. Give to God what he's asking for. I wanna ask the question, and maybe you wanna write this down. What is the Holy Spirit telling you to remove or release right now? Is it that addiction?

Is it that relationship that you know isn't God's best for you? Is it that terrible? mindset that doesn't align with scripture? Is it that secret sin that you've been hiding, getting really good, but every time you show up places you start sweating? Sometimes it's not even just bad stuff. God wants your good stuff. Give him your career. Give him your business. Give him your collection. Give him your money. What is the Holy Spirit asking for you to give now? We make this mistake where we focus on the need itself when really the need just reveals there's a seed to be sown. The need reveals there's a seed to be sown. It's, man, it's so easy to acknowledge a need. It does not require faith to say that there's a need. A lot of people will come to the team, Pastor Jabin, Pastor Shan, and you come with incredible ideas because you see a need. It's so easy to see the need. It doesn't take faith to see the need, but I'd ask you the question, what are you doing about the need you see? We're doing stuff. The church, I mean, we do awesome things. We are getting the gospel to correction facilities.

Shout out to our correction fam watching online. Life's being changed as they are incarcerated. We're getting the Bible to the most unreached places in the entire world. We're raising the next generation. We're literally throwing on a kid's camp at no cost for the city of Las Vegas. We're, hey, we're doing stuff. So don't just acknowledge the need. The disciples say, well, we only have here. Somebody say now. Somebody say here. Jesus says, what do you have here? This tells me that oftentimes when you give and where you give are more important than what you give. This is called, how is your speed of obedience? When you give, faith is giving God what he asks for when he asks for it and where he asks for it. But we love to overthink our obedience. I call it overthinkers of obedience. Well, we pray more about timing when God's more about giving. We pray, we want more details and he just wants you to make a simple decision. We wanna overthink the amount, overthink the thing when really he just wants you to take the right action. What is the Holy Spirit asking of you? And honestly, if God wants to be specific in what he's asking you for, he will be. Pastor Javen spoke just a few weeks ago on the tithe.

It's a very specific amount. 10% of all that comes in, but we will still pray when. Funny, here's the specific amount. I'll give when, I'll start serving when. Oh, when I'm here to tell you this, you don't get to control the conditions for your obedience. Just trust God, come on somebody. Ecclesiastes says, the book of Ecclesiastes, it says, if you wait for perfect conditions, you won't get anything done. Just remove it, just release it, amen? Number two, the faith to receive, the faith to receive. Now you come to Jesus and you remove what you've been holding onto. You cast your care onto him for he cares for you. And now I want you to have the faith to receive. It gets awkward when we talk about blessing in the house of God, but I want you to know. Verse 20, they all ate and were satisfied and the disciples picked up 12 basketfuls. Do you know how many disciples there are? I begin, I asked the question, did Jesus know that by the end of this miracle, this would be the result? He's the author and finisher of our faith. He knows the beginning from the end. Jesus is God, yes. And we read stories throughout scripture where Jesus, you know, Jesus will leave the 99, go after the one. And he says, I come to seek and save that which is lost.

And sometimes disciples, people have been following a long time, they're like, man, am I getting taken care of, bro? But anytime God takes care of the crowd, he always makes sure he takes care of his crew. Come on somebody, are you grateful that we serve the God of not just enough, we serve the God. of more than enough. It's actually God's joy for you to be resourcefully blessed. Amen. Now, I'm not talking just money, although it does include money. I'm also talking relationally. I'm also talking with your health, wholeness, that God wants you to be prosperous. The Bible says, as your soul prospers, so too you would be in good health. This is God's design and heart for you, and it's his joy. Why? Because he gets the glory for the increase. The religious spirit will always try to block your blessing. Look to your neighbor and say, don't block your blessing. Matthew 25-21 is the parable of the talents, and we read about this master and his servants multiplying what they were given from the master. And then this is what the master says when he comes to his servants. He says, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a little. I will set you. Set. Ruler over much. Look at this. I love this. Enter into the joy of your master. Abundance, prosperity, blessing. It's a setting. It's a place. Now, something Pastor Jabin said years ago when we were at the HQ building right next to Lee's Liquor. We had communion every Sunday. I'm just kidding. We were doing this breakthrough course, and he said this

gem for the young people. He said this bar. He says, he said, I found in life, when you live this blessed life, this life of generosity, open hand, open to receive, open to give, that when you trust Jesus and when you're faithful with the little, God will make you ruler over much. Longer than you had to be faithful with the little. So if it feels like a lot right now, it's because it's a seed. But a seed has the garden. The seed has the produce. The seed has the abundance. So just sow the seed, and God will bless you. Isaiah 119 says, if you obey me, you will have plenty to eat. Somebody say plenty. Luke 6 38. It says give. The faith to give. The faith to remove. And this Greek word give is actually a continuous of giving. You don't just give once. It's a continuous. Give and give and give. This is, and it will be given to you. Good measure. Press down. Come on. Shaken together and running over. It'll be poured out on your lap. When you give God, you're not enough. He will always make it more than enough. I was asking my friend a couple weeks ago a couple questions. He actually is a pastor. This friend of mine has been saved a very long time. I would consider him a seasoned saint. Any seasoned saints in the house? I said, hey, how healthy do you want to be? He said, as healthy as possible. How smart would you like to be? As smart as possible. How strong would you like to be? As strong as possible. And then I asked him, how rich would you like to be? Just enough to pay the rent. Just enough to put food on the table. You see, why do we get all awkward? I looked at him and I said,

that's selfish. You should be, want to be blessed. You should want to prosper. Why? Because you can't bless those if you yourself aren't blessed. And so God is trying to get something to you, so we receive it by faith. And we say, and God's not just trying to get you to zero. Dave Ramsey's trying to get you to zero. There's this, there's a story in John chapter 5 where this man has been struggling with a disability for over 38 years. And in John 5, 6, Jesus comes to this man. It says, when Jesus saw him lying there, he learned, Jesus learned that he'd been in this condition for a long time. And he asked them, do you want to be well? Do you want to be well? Jesus, why are you asking this question? Well, he's been in his dysfunction for decades. And if you're in the same place, but you're walking with God, God doesn't leave you in the same place. He takes you from faith to faith, glory to glory, strength to strength. So Jesus asks him, do you want to be made well? This word well in the Greek, one of the translation is human flourishing. Do you want to do more than just walk? And the reality is that's God's plan for you. Not to just be healed, not to just be set free, but to walk in the abundance. Come on, the Bible says those who are planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish, amen. Amen. As the keys come up, just write this down.

Am I restricting what God wants me to receive? And I'm not just talking money. If that's where your mind went, maybe God wants to do a work in there. Because we're not supposed to serve a spirit of mammon. You know how I know that most people serve a spirit of mammon, is that money stresses them out. The lack of money, the fear of losing money, and people who are actually wealthy, usually understand that all money is is a tool and all money is is it's a resource and it shouldn't stress you out. But we serve God, the God of the abundance, seedingly, abundantly. Jesus said, I'm coming to give you life and life more abundantly. It's the God we serve, amen. Quick review, number one, faith to remove. Number two, faith to, number three, the faith to remember, the faith to remember. I'm gonna read another portion of scripture and I wanna preface before I read this, that this is not the same scripture I read at the beginning of this sermon. Matthew 15, this is a, scholars would say this is about two to a couple months since the time of the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus, in verse 32, 15, 32, it says, Jesus called his disciples and said to him, I have compassion for these people

and they've already been with me three days and they have nothing to eat. I don't want to send them away hungry or they may collapse on the way. The disciples answered, where can we get enough bread in this remote place? Bro, why are you asking this question? Just a couple weeks ago, I turned up for the crowd. We did. Where can we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd? A crowd that's smaller than the last one. Seven, or Jesus asked, how many loaves do you have? They said seven and a few small fish. Okay, so you have the exact ingredients from the last miracle to do something today. He told the crowd to sit on the ground and then he took the seven loaves and the fish and he gave thanks and broke them and gave them to disciples to turn into the people and they all ate and they were satisfied. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. Somebody say overflow. The contrast between these two lead me to this realization here that you could forget what God has done and it could mess with the miracle. I'll say it like this. You can miss the faithfulness of God

simply by your forgetfulness. Jesus feeds the 5,000 in Bethsaida, which was primarily Jews. Then they feed the 4,000 in Decapolis, which is primary Gentiles. And here's the observation we can draw from these two texts that God can do the same miracle, come on, in a different place. He could do the same miracle for a different person. But did, have you forgotten? Have you forgotten the faithfulness of God? Some of us are in a really good place right now and you forgot when it was bad. Some of us are in a place of need, a bad place. Don't forget that it was good. Don't forget what God has done. Have the faith to remember. What if God had not forgotten? What if the miracle is actually found in your memory? What if the miracle is found in your recollection of what God's done in your life or in somebody else's life you see? Early 2000s, I was a young lad. And my mom let us know that her sister, her name is Pia. I'm Filipino so it was Thetopia. She let me know that Thetopia was diagnosed with leukemia, a very aggressive cancer. And usually in the moment you're just like, this doesn't happen to us, not our family. This happens to other families, sorry. But don't we think that? We're exempt. And so the process to get a potential cure for her cancer is to find a perfect blood marrow match. And so they look into here and now they look at the family, they start testing the family and the siblings and their blood. And it was a miraculous match that my mom was the perfect match

for my aunt's blood. And so I remember there was years that she would go back and forth to LA to do these procedures to get the blood out. And I'm here to stand today that our Thetopia, by the grace of God, is fully healed, cancer free, walking in full freedom, going to Bible studies, loving the Lord. And we love, praise God. I want you to remember the excitement of that praise. Because fast forward just a few short years ago, my mom texts us, our siblings, I have a younger brother and an older sister. And she says, hey, not the best news. I have breast cancer. That's exactly the first thing to go is worst case scenario. But how, but what we start to worry, we start to wonder. But then there was a moment where the Holy Spirit reminded, did you know that the Holy Spirit isn't just our comforter? The Holy Spirit is our reminder. Jesus said, I'm going to give you the spirit. He's going to remind you of all the things that I've said and all the things that I've done. And so the Holy Spirit said, if I did it, then I can do it again. If I did it, I can do it again. If I did it for them, come on, I can do it again. Oh, we do a standing ovation for the first miracle. But what was the last time you gave Jesus a standing ovation for the miracle he's already done? Give him praise for what he's already done. He's proven himself already. Oh, come on, somebody. Everyone on your feet. Don't forget what God has done. Have faith to remember. Have faith, whatever you're believing God for, God did it for somebody else. And if he could do it for them, he could do it for you. Amen. Did you get a word today? Come on, can we give him praise? Hallelujah.