Believe Then See

((music playing)) ((music playing)) >> There's a truth about trust that needs to be addressed. Because there's a lot of people that use the word trust, but they don't really understand all that it means. Have you ever had somebody that you barely know walk up and ask you the silly question, "Do you trust me?"

Why no, frankly. The thing about trust is that trust takes time to develop. It requires a length of relationship. Trust begins with an expectation. Whenever you meet somebody, you have an expectation of how the relationship is going to go. And then, if they meet or exceed your expectations, you begin to develop beliefs.

And then, only through the process of time and belief, do you begin to put trust into the capabilities of the individual? This is the natural process of trust. You see, trust takes time. And a lot of people say that they trust the Lord, but what they really mean is that they hope that God will, or they feel that God might, or they believe that God could.

And when you come down to the biblical definition OF TRUST, THAT'S NOT HOW GOD WORKS. GOD DOESN'T want you to hope, God wants you to know. God doesn't want you to feel, God wants you to believe. God doesn't WANT YOU TO ACT LIKE HE MIGHT, GOD wants you to behave as if he already did.

God is looking for people who have the kind of trust just because he said so. Our natural desire is that we want to see it before we're willing to believe it. And then, once we have enough evidence through what we've seen, once we've built up some experience, we start to trust.

But God doesn't work that way. GOD SAYS, "I WANT YOU TO believe it before I ever show it to you." This is what Jesus said to doubting Thomas. He said, "You have seen me and believed, but blessed are those." Say that with me. "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO TRUST ME JUST BECAUSE I SAID SO. BLESSED are those who trust me without needing to know all of the details. Blessed are those who don't need answers, they're just willing to be obedient. Blessed are those who are willing to come into my presence filled with joy even though my promise is yet fulfilled in their life.

Blessed are those WHO BELIEVE HEART, SOUL, MIND, AND BODY that my word will not return void, BUT IT SHALL ACCOMPLISH the purpose for which I sent." Jesus is looking for people who believe in him even when nothing else seems to BE GOING RIGHT. THEY HAVE TRUST THAT GOD IS TOO GOOD to be unkind and HE IS TOO WISE TO BE MISTAKEN, THAT HE IS the Lord who knows all, that he is faithful from generation to generation, that he IS ABLE TO DO exceedingly and abundantly above all THAT YOU COULD ASK, THAT ALL THAT YOU COULD THINK, AND ALL THAT YOU CAN IMAGINE.

GOD WANTS YOU TO TRUST HIM. WHICH means that you have to believe and you have to behave like you believe. You know any believers who don't behave like they believe? The Bible calls this double-minded. And the book of James says that a double-minded person is unstable. If we had to see it first, it wouldn't be an exchange of grace through faith.

If we had to see it first, it would be a fulfillment of God's performance. But that's not how God works. He says, "If you want to see it, you have to believe it, and then behave like you believe it, and I'll show it to you." He's not a see to believe God, he's a go and show God.

What did he say to Abraham? "Go to the land that I will show you." Until Abraham started going, God didn't start showing. And there's a lot of PEOPLE WHO ARE STANDING around saying, "Lord, if you'll just give me a little more information." And he says, "You got all the information I'm going to give.

Get going." You want to see it, start behaving like you believe it, and I'll start to reveal it. God wants you to start moving so that he can reveal what he's got in store for you. And when he shows you what's in store for you, here's what his promise is to Jeremiah.

He says, "It's going to be great and mighty things that you know not." He's saying, "You haven't seen anything yet. You think you know what I'm going to do, you have no idea how good I'm going to show you what I've promised you." GOD SAYS, "YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ANYTHING YET."

He says, "Abraham, do you want a son?" Abraham says, "Yes, I want a son." God says, "You haven't seen anything yet. I'm not only going to give you a son, but I'm going to make your descendants like the sands of the sea and like the stars of the sky, and I'm going to give you a one descendant that's going to change the whole world, and he's going to be Jesus Christ of Nazareth."

He looks at Moses and he says, "Moses, do you want to get the children of Israel OUT OF EGYPT?" HE SAYS, "YES." HE SAYS, "YOU HAVEN'T seen anything yet." He said, "GO TO PHARAOH AND WATCH HOW I GET YOU OUT OF BONDAGE. WATCH HOW I GET YOU ACROSS THE RED SEA.

Watch how I feed 2 million people IN THE WILDERNESS. WATCH HOW I BRING water out OF A ROCK. WATCH HOW I GUIDE YOU WITH A CLOUD BY day and a fire by night." Whenever it comes TO THE WAY GOD is going to do what he has promised to do, believe me, based on who he is and what he does, it is great and mighty things that you know not. >> ((applause)) >> God says, "You haven't seen anything yet."

In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul writes, "Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard what has entered into the mind of men, the things that God has prepared for those who love him." God says, "You haven't seen anything yet because I am the Lord who is able. I am the God who is able to keep.

I am the God who calls those things that are not as though they were. I am God almighty. I am God all-knowing. I am God everlasting. I am God king above kings and lord above lords. I am alpha. I am omega. I am creator. I am conqueror. I am redeemer.

I am deliverer. I am the master. I am the savior. I am the healer. Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing is too difficult for me." >> ((applause)) >> In our text today, Jeremiah chapter 33, verse 2, it says, "Thus says the Lord, the Lord who formed it, the Lord who established it, the Lord is his name."

Does this sound like God is repeating himself? He's not. What he's telling Jeremiah is, "Jeremiah, I am the Lord." Now, that word translates Jehovah. And what he's saying with Jehovah is, "I am the God who makes everything out of nothing. I don't even need material when I get started to work.

All I have to do is say it and it's settled." And then he says, "I am the Lord." And the next one is not Jehovah, it's El Shaddai. He says, "I am the God who makes something out of nothing, and I am the all-sufficient one." And he says, "JEREMIAH, I STARTED THIS THING, I'm going to finish this thing."

And then he says, "CALL on me because you haven't seen anything yet." God wants you to expect the incomprehensible when it comes to believing in him. When you read great and mighty, those aren't flowery words. What they mean in one word is incomprehensible. You don't have the ability to even believe what God is going to do.

When God does great and mighty things, you're not going to be able to fathom it. Aren't you thankful that God is not hemmed in by our understanding? That he doesn't have to work on our terms and in our definitions? Isaiah said it this way, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts."

He's saying, "When it comes to working with God, don't put your expectations on him because he will have a way of exceeding any expectation that you have." You see, when it comes to trust, one of the ways that we keep ourselves from being disappointed in natural relationships is through expectations.

It's our expectations that cause disappointment when they're not met. And while you cannot control what people do to you, you do control what you expect from them. And when you have low expectations and someone does what you expected them to do, even though they shouldn't have done it, you're not disappointed because what do you expect?

Have you ever said that? Now, disappointment comes WHEN YOU SET HIGH expectations and they don't meet the expectations, and then you get offended. The problem with this pattern of expectation is that every time that you put your expectations on God, you hurt yourself. Because his ways are not our ways.

And his thoughts are not our thoughts. And what happens when you put your expectations on God, your timeline, your process, your details, the way you want it done, when God doesn't do it the way you wanted him to do it, when he wanted you to do it, like he wanted like he wanted him to do it, people start to say, "Well, I waited on the Lord, but he didn't come.

I asked the Lord, but he didn't answer. I needed God, but he didn't show up." THEY START TO TAKE THE POSITION THAT BECAUSE GOD DIDN'T meet their inferior expectations, that God failed. Let me tell you something. God never fails. HE MAY NOT GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT, LIKE YOU WANT, when you want, but if you'll give him the opportunity to prove himself faithful, he will exceed every expectation that you have ever had. >> ((music playing)) >> If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, faith would have no meaning and hope would have no future.

But Jesus did rise, >> ((music playing)) >> and the same power that raised Christ from the dead now lives in every believer. Because Jesus lives, you can walk in victory today. With your gift of any amount, you'll receive an encouragement greeting card eight-pack and a vial of anointing oil, tools to strengthen your ((music playing)) prayer life.

And with your gift of $150 or more, you'll also receive two copies of Pastor Hagee's brand new book, From Tomb to Triumph, one to keep and one to share, plus a fruit of the spirit tumbler, along with the cards and anointing oil. This leather-bound book contains that power that you need to experience.

Call the number on screen, use the QR code, or go to jhm.org/victory. Don't limit God with your expectations. And I mean that as sincerely as I can. Yes, believe that God will, but don't put him in a box built by your expectations. Because every time you do that, you hurt yourself.

Prove it to you in the Bible. Triumphal entry, Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem. The streets are filled with people, and what are they shouting? Hosanna! Hosanna! Here he comes. Messiah! Rome is ruined. Caesar is gone. We are going to win. When they saw him riding into town at the first of the week, they expected a new kingdom.

When they saw him arrested at the end of the week, what did they say? Crucify him. What's the difference between Hosanna and crucify him? Jesus didn't do what they thought he was going to do. They had an expectation. He's going to kick Rome out of town. And we're going to be back in charge.

And when he didn't do what they wanted him to do, they said, "Kill him." AND THERE'S A LOT OF PEOPLE SIT IN CHURCH EVERY WEEK, and they don't have the courage to be honest WITH THEMSELVES, BUT THEY'RE ANGRY WITH GOD BECAUSE HE DIDN'T DO WHAT YOU WANTED HIM TO DO, WHEN HE WANTED YOU TO DO IT.

But think about this. If he would have come and done what they expected, you and I would be lost forever. God could see beyond their expectations, and what he could see were sinners in the future that needed salvation, and he knew that the only way for us to be grafted into the covenant that he made with Abraham was for his son to die, and for his son to be able to build a bridge where God has made a way, and there seemed to be no way.

Don't limit God with your expectations. Why do people stop trusting the Lord? Not because God failed, but because he didn't do it the way they wanted him to. But here's a question based on the text today. How can you give up on him when he's never given up on you?

If you build trust through experience, God has never quit you. Here Jeremiah is sitting in a prison cell. Jeremiah was faithful to do what God wanted him to do. And although he is not where he thought he would be, the only person who shows up to comfort him is the voice of the living God.

God is faithful to us, not because we deserve it. God is faithful to us because he promised that he would be. And God is not a man that he would lie. Second Timothy chapter 2 verse 13 is one of the places where we see the promise of God's faithfulness.

He said, "If we are faithless, meaning if we don't trust in him, he remains faithful." Why? Because he cannot deny himself. If it was a reciprocal thing, if we were faithless, he'd say, "You forget me, I forget you, offsetting penalties." But instead, he says, "Even when you don't have faith, I'll remain faithful.

WHY? BECAUSE I SAID I would do." Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 9. It says, "Know that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations." Look very closely at that verse. He is the faithful God, who keeps two things, covenant, everybody say covenant, and mercy.

Everybody say mercy. For a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments. So much in this one verse, but I want you to key on these things very quickly. One, covenant and mercy. Why do those two things go together? Because the covenant is a binding agreement, and it cannot be broken.

So when you hear somebody say something very ignorant, like God has broken his covenant with Israel, that verse right there in Deuteronomy says he's not going to do it, and he keeps it for a thousand generations. Now, that's an okay spot for an amen and a hand clap if you want one. >> ((applause)) >> If he can break covenant with them, he can break covenant with you.

But why is it important that he has covenant and mercy? Because the covenant is unbreakable, and you and I need mercy. If he installed the covenant down to the last dot, down to the last letter, down to the last term, you and I would be ruined before the sun went down.

But because he's God, he says, "I've got the right mix. I've got the covenant, and I've got mercy. And my mercy is renewed every morning." Covenant is a binding and unbreakable agreement. His word is the covenant. His word endures forever. Matthew 24 says, "The heavens and the earth will pass away, but my word will by no means pass away."

Psalms 89, it says, "My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips." So his covenant is bound by his word, and his mercy endures through his faithfulness for a thousand generations. If God is that good to you, HOW CAN YOU QUIT ON HIM when he's never given up on you?

Jeremiah 33 and 1, the Lord says a second time, "The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time." Aren't you glad that God is sometimes willing to repeat himself? Jeremiah needs encouragement, and God shows up in Jeremiah's jail cell and says, "Jeremiah, I know you're not where you thought you would be.

I know this didn't go the way you wanted it to go, but I want to remind you of something I've already told you." In Jeremiah 32 verse 26, it says, "The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, and the Lord told Jeremiah, 'Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh.

Is anything too hard for me?'" He was reminding Jeremiah, "I'm the same God who told you earlier, I'm going to do it, and all I'm coming back to do is remind you one more time that I haven't forgotten what I promised you, and if you'll call on me, and you'll expect the unexpected, I promise you, you haven't seen anything yet."

I'm glad that God repeats himself. I'm glad that he's willing to tell us again and again until we get it. I'm glad that whenever we give God the opportunity, he proves himself faithful. Here's what he said in Deuteronomy chapter 31, and this is something he says to his children over and over and over and over again.

Deuteronomy 31 and 6, "He will not leave you nor forsake you. Say that with me. He will not leave you nor forsake you. This is what God told Moses to tell the children of Israel. Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you.

He will not leave you nor forsake you. That's what he said in Deuteronomy. Go the next book over and what did he say to Joshua in chapter 1 beginning in verse 5? He said, "No man, Joshua, shall be able to stand before you. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

I will never leave you nor will I forsake you." NOW, WHY WOULD GOD REPEAT HIMSELF HERE? GOD IS reminding Joshua, "I'm the same God who got Moses out of Egypt and through the wilderness and I'm the same God who's going to help you get through the promised land."

Whenever you're looking for evidence that GOD IS FAITHFUL, JUST LOOK BACK TO HOW HE TREATED those who came before YOU. AND IF GOD DID IT FOR THEM, GOD WILL DO IT FOR YOU. What did he say to Moses? He said, "Be strong and of good courage. I am with you."

What did HE SAY TO JOSHUA? "Be strong and of good courage because I am with you." Go to 1 Chronicles and you'll see what David SAID TO SOLOMON. DAVID SAID to Solomon, "Be strong and of good courage because I am with you." David said, "The Lord, my God, will be with you.

He will not leave you nor forsake you and till YOU HAVE FINISHED ALL OF THE WORK FOR THE service of the Lord. 1 Chronicles chapter 28 and verse 20. David is saying to his son what God said to Moses and what God said to Joshua, "Be strong and of good courage.

I am with you." To those who are still holding on and still trusting and still waiting on God's timing, I want you to hear the Holy Spirit bring those words into your heart and into YOUR MIND. BE BOLD and be strong and of good courage because God is with you.

He will not leave you. He will not forsake you. He has not forgotten YOU. HE KNOWS EXACTLY where you are and HE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED. >> ((applause)) >> What did Jesus say to his disciples when he told them to go into all the world? I am with you until the end of the age.

Hebrews chapter 13, he himself said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Over and over and over again, God says, "I'm not going to give up on you. Don't give up on me." >> ((applause)) >> So, can you trust him? Even when you don't see it, can you believe it?

Even when everything goes against you, is he still worth it? Whenever you don't have anything to stand on, is he enough to keep you solid? When all of your good ideas are used up and all of your strategies have failed, can God still make a way? When family and friends walk away from you and everyone else rejects you, do you still believe that he is for you?

Can you trust him when they heat up the furnace seven times and they say you're next? Can you trust him when they tell you you're going to spend the night in the lion's den? Can they trust him whenever he goes with you to the doctor's office and the doctor gives you the diagnosis you didn't want to hear?

Can you trust in the Lord with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, with all of your strength? When everything else says give up, can you put your trust in him because he said, "IF YOU'LL CALL ON ME, I'LL SHOW you great and mighty things THAT YOU KNOW NOT."

I'll close this message this way. You do the call. He sends the answer. He doesn't answer before you call. You have to call and then he answers. Most of us would prefer that God would just show up and say, "I knew I knew you needed this." Believe me, he knows you need it.

But the evidence of your trust says, "God, even though I don't see it, I'm going to call on you." Because the one that you call on determines what you're looking for. If you walk into a room and you tell somebody, "I called my doctor." They don't look at you and say, "Oh, do you need a home loan?"

No. You call a doctor, you want medicine. You call a banker, you want money. You call a lawyer, you want out of jail. I'm just kidding. That's not your testimony, maybe. You call the pastor, you want wisdom. >> [applause and music] >> Who you call on determines what you're looking for.

And I'm not telling you not to call the people in your life that have ability to help you in circumstances. But what God is saying is before you call man, would you call me? Before you seek from them, would you ask me? Because if you need medicine, I'm the great physician.

And if you need finances, I am Jehovah Jireh, your provider. And if you need an advocate, I am the advocate that stands before the throne of God on your behalf night and day. If you're looking for a name that moves mountains, use my name because I'm the God who holds the mountains in a scale and the hills in a balance.

IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE who can get YOU THROUGH THE STORM, I'm the God who rides on the wings OF THE STORM. CALL ME and I'll make principalities flee. Call me and I'll break the CHAINS OF ADDICTION. CALL me and I'll make a way where there seems to BE NO WAY.

CALL ME AND I'LL PUSH THE GATES OF HELL right off of the HINGES BECAUSE I AM THE CONQUEROR of death, HELL, AND THE GRAVE. CHILD OF GOD, NO MATTER WHAT YOU NEED TODAY, CALL ON HIM AND HE'LL ANSWER YOU. I want to thank you for joining us for today's program.

Remember this, when it comes to the things that you trust in life, trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not to your own understanding. I want to remind you that if you would like to watch this program in its entirety, it's available on our website, also on YouTube, or any of your OTT apps.

I also want to let you know that if you're in the San Antonio area, come and see us for a service. We would love to have you. Hagee Ministries ((music playing)) continues to proclaim the truth of God's word around the globe. Together, we are providing humanitarian aid across Israel, ((music playing)) community service initiatives at home and abroad, and transforming the lives of young mothers at the Sanctuary of Hope.

Your partnership today ensures we reach ((music playing)) the generations of tomorrow through many of today's social media platforms and live web streaming. Become a Legacy Partner today. Call the number on your screen or go to ((music playing)) jhm.org/partner. The hatred we saw on October the 7th toward Israel and ((music playing)) the Jewish people was not new.

It was a chilling reminder that anti-Semitism never sleeps. In Pastor John ((music playing)) Hagee's new book, The Middle East Conflict, The Origin of the Jew Hatred, Pastor Hagee exposes the spiritual and historical ((music playing)) roots of anti-Semitism and why it's exploding across the globe today. Now is the time to take your stand.

Available on Amazon. You've been watching Hagee Ministries. Looking for more content ((music playing)) to help you in your daily walk? Listen to our podcast or subscribe ((music playing)) to Hagee Ministries on YouTube. Be blessed and join us tomorrow.