Truth or Senses?

Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. —John 20:27

Here we see Jesus appearing to His disciples after His death and resurrection. He came through the wall of the upper room and in person showed them that He had been raised from the dead. He had told them many times before He was crucified that He would suffer, die, be buried, and be raised up on the third day, but they did not believe Him. Here was proof in person of His resurrection. Thomas was not present when He appeared to the disciples, so they told Thomas about Jesus’s visitation. But Thomas would not believe Jesus was alive unless he felt the wounds and touched the nail marks. Thomas’s only evidence was that he had seen Jesus on the cross, dead, and then buried. Jesus appeared a second time and went right to Thomas. He told him that to have to feel Him and touch Him in order to believe in Him was being faithless! “Faith . . . is the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1, emphasis added), so to believe in only what you can see and feel is to be faithless. Thomas could have easily said, “I know He died, but if you say He is alive, then I will believe that.” But he still had too much confidence in his natural senses. Believe you are blessed because the Word says so, healed and anointed because the Word says so, on top and full of joy because the Word says so. Do not be controlled by feelings or circumstances—it is being faithless.

Pastor Tom Kehres

A Better Way of Walking

For we walk by faith, not by sight. —2 Corinthians 5:7

After the new birth, which brought you into a relationship with God, you will be challenged to live or walk in a new way. Before you were born again, you lived by what you saw and what you felt. If things were going good, you had a good day; if things were going bad, you had a bad day. If you felt healed, you were healed; if you had a symptom, you were sick. Feelings and emotions ruled your life. God’s desire, accomplished through His Word and His Spirit, is to slowly change your evidence in life from feelings and emotions to His Word. His Word never changes. It said the same thing yesterday that it says today, and it will say the same thing tomorrow. If His Word says I’m blessed, then I am going to believe His Word; yes, I’m blessed. If it says I am to rejoice, then I will, in spite of whether I feel like rejoicing or not. The more time you spend in the Word and make the commitment to believe it and obey it, the more you will see your walk, or daily life, change. Soon stability will come into your life, and instead of being up and down, hot and cold, you will remain constant in your everyday life. Feelings and emotions are not bad or evil, but they must be put in their right place: subject to the Word of God. We walk by faith and not by sight.

Pastor Tom Kehres

Great Faith 

But speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. . . . I have not found so great faith. —Matthew 8:8, 10

Your life has the potential to come to a place of living in great faith. God is always looking to use people who are living in faith. Here Jesus found a man who had great faith. He said that the results of great faith would be: “As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee” (Matthew 8:13). Whatever great faith believes, happens. Great faith will move the mountain, kill the fig tree, stop the storm, heal the leper, and open the blind eyes. It does not waver; it does not consider the natural evidence. It believes one thing; it thinks one thing; it considers one thing: the Word! Great faith knows the Word is true, it knows the promises of God are sure, and it is fully persuaded that God will do what God said He will do in spite of any natural opposition. “Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed” (verse 8). Speak the Word only, and your marriage will change. Speak the Word only, and your finances will change. Speak the Word only, and your health will change. Speak the Word only, and your children will change. But speak the Word only—not the problem, not the situation, not the lack, nor the symptom! Speak the Word only! We are moving into a time of great faith in the body of Christ. Revelation is being opened up to the Church like never before! The Word is more available to us than to any other generation! Live streams, podcasts, DVDs, TV, radio, recordings, church services, all these and more are available to us in this day and hour. Why? We are going to need great faith to do a great work! Don’t get caught in unbelief, and don’t stay on a weak and little faith level—come up to a great faith and a full-of-faith level. We will give glory to God!

Pastor Tom Kehres

Full of Faith

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. —Acts 6:8

Let’s revisit Stephen, a man who was full of faith. The Bible tells us that Stephen must have been full of the Word (see Acts 7) to be full of faith. No Word = no faith. Little Word = little faith. Full of Word = full of faith. Stephen stood out among the others because he was full of faith. Notice the results of living a life full of faith: he did great wonders and signs and miracles among the people. He did—Stephen did. Again, how did he do them? God chose him to do them? God picked him as a sign-doer? As a miracle-worker? No! Stephen chose to live his life full of faith, and the result was signs, wonders, and miracles. This is good news, because it means you can choose to be weak in faith, strong in faith, have little faith, or be full of faith. The choice is yours! You can sell out to the Word; you can read it, you can study it, you can hear it and hear it. You can consider the promises of God rather than the problems of the world. All Christians want to live in power and victory, but few want to take the time to build their faith through spending—investing—time in the Word. You will be full of something! It can be fear, worry, doubt, and unbelief, or faith and the promise. What you consider, what you think on, will be what you are filled with. You, too, can be a person full of faith and power; you, too, can be worry-free; you, too, can be a person full of faith and doing great wonders and miracles among the people. Choose to be full of the Word!

Pastor Tom Kehres