Touré Roberts - From Believing to Knowing

This is a people who will go from believing to knowing. Let’s talk about the difference between the two; let’s discuss that for a moment. It’s different, because you’ve heard that believing is awesome, and it is. There are times when I just believe God, and it’s wonderful, right? When we believe God, it pleases Him. It pleased Abraham, you know; he believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Typically, when I believe God, there is a space in my belief for an alternative outcome. Let me take my time here. When I believe God, it is possible for me to believe Him but not to have all of myself committed to what I believe. Oh, can I take my time? I’m talking to two or three people. Come on, Denver, listen up. Come on, Ellie. Look, there are times when I am genuinely believing God, but there is a space in my heart for another outcome. I’m too spiritual to say it, but I’m not committed; I haven’t pushed all my chips in. Not that any of you gamble; I don’t know why I use that analogy. I haven’t placed all my bets. I’m not betting on God fully. Can I take a moment to drive down your street? I believe Him; you know, I’m hopeful about something, but I’m not convinced. There’s a difference, there’s a difference. I’m hopeful, I believe it, I’m somewhat optimistic, but if it didn’t come through, okay. Maybe I’m in this «if it be your will» place, right? That’s believing God. But there’s another level, and I’ll be honest with you: this level requires some participation from God Himself. I’ll be honest with you; I recently, if I may testify, went from believing that something was going to happen to knowing that it was going to happen. To be honest with you, I didn’t know that there was another level to my belief. As I say this right, I thought that when I was in the belief zone, I was actually where I needed to be. I thought that was enough. I believed; I thank God I believed! I even kind of claimed it. In that moment and season, I thought it was enough. But there is another gear. So, what happened to me? We have a lot of ground to cover, but what happened to me was that all of a sudden, it went from me believing that this wonderful thing was going to happen to knowing that what I was expecting was going to happen. I got it! I need to paint this picture. I went from being optimistic about it—which is wonderful—and somehow, in my spirit, what I was hoping for surpassed what I was merely expecting and became knowledge. Oh God, I need to say this right. It transcended what I thought was going to happen, or what I was really convinced would happen. It became knowledge! Just look at the person next to you; there is no doubt in your mind that they are wearing what they’re wearing. You have no doubt; you don’t even need faith for that. It is knowledge; it is truth. That’s what happened with this thing. And the crazy thing is that this thing still hasn’t happened, but the way I feel about it is that it has already happened inside of me. My friends are saying they’ll keep their fingers crossed and all that kind of stuff, and that’s wonderful because it didn’t happen for them. But for me, that thing I’m hoping for has already happened; it has become my truth. It has become knowledge, and I’m in a whole other zone. In fact, I’m passing by what’s happening; I’m looking at the outcomes that will take place because it already happened. That’s when you know you’ve moved from believing to knowing. It’s when you already see past the thing you’re hoping for, and you begin to make plans about how that thing will affect you down the road. If that’s you, if you’ve received a revelation and you’re ready to go from believing to knowing, do me a favor and celebrate Jesus with me. I’ll be honest; I don’t think you can just take anything and move it like that. I believe God gets involved to bring you to that place, and that’s what I want to talk about. That’s the text. Let’s go to it really quickly, because I believe that the text deals with these awkward and complicated realities we all face in our walks with God. It addresses times, watch this, when our natural senses cannot support what God is doing in our lives. Sometimes God cannot wait for your natural senses to catch up with what He is doing. Oh, hallelujah! Our natural senses, as we will get into in just a second, are what we rely upon to function on the earth, and those are wonderful gifts from God. But sometimes God has to supersede your sight, your hearing, and your feelings to get you to what He is trying to do in your life because you have to cooperate with it; you have to participate with it…