Join Sharon Knotts for an inspiring exploration of faith and the spoken word in this transformative episode of The Sound of Faith. Discover how God’s creative power is channeled through our words, inspired by biblical teachings and personal experiences. Sharon shares insights from her journey, highlighting the pivotal role of authority and the importance of faith in transcending despair and manifesting miracles.
Greetings, friends and new listeners. I’m Sharon Knotts, welcoming you to The Sound of Faith, because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Today’s message is part of an in-depth study entitled The Spoken Word Series, which includes teaching on the creative Word of God, because everything that’s created visible and invisible, God spoke into being. also the living word the revelation of the two mouth sword of the spirit which is the spoken word of god when we speak what god has quickened to our spirits this teaching is the culmination of my own personal journey from a place of deep despair to an authorized and dynamized deputy of the spoken word of god and the bible says jesus marveled At his faith. And there’s only one other time recorded that Jesus marveled. And sad to say is he went to his hometown of Nazareth. And the Bible says he marveled at their unbelief. And he was not able to do many. Didn’t say he was not able to do any. Amen. said he was not able to do many wonderful works because of their unbelief. But those who did not have unbelief, which were in the minority, but those he could minister to, and he did. Save some few, it says, that he laid hands on. So you see, Jesus marveled. And he says, I have not found so great a faith, no, not in all Israel. In other words, saying amongst my own Jewish people, I haven’t heard this kind of faith. This Gentile. Because this Gentile had this type of brain. And he was able to come up with this analogy that said… I understand authority. And you see, saints of God, and this is another one of my messages where I go into this in detail. Authority above all. If we can understand authority, we know that Jesus has authority. And we quote Luke 10, 19. We’ve been quoting it our entire Christian life. If you come to Faith Tabernacle, it’s one of the first verses you’ll ever hear Brother Hardy say. Behold, I give you authority. But you’ve got to understand that when you speak, you’re speaking in the supernatural realm. You don’t see it in the natural realm. Amen? But when you speak, something happens. The powers of darkness understand the authority of Jesus’ name and the word of God. And in both cases… The sick person got healed in the same hour that Jesus spoke. In both cases. Amen? In both cases they were healed by the spoken word. He sent his word and he healed them. And you and I have the authority to do the same thing. To speak the word of God in the name of Jesus. Because authority releases activity. In the supernatural realm, authority releases activity. Authority is the name of Jesus. The activity is the power, the creative power that’s in the spoken word of God. Now let’s turn to Mark, the 11th chapter. Mark 11, and beginning with verse 12. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if happily or if perchance he might find anything thereon. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves. For the time of figs was not yet. Pay attention to this next verse. And Jesus answered and said unto it. Now, is that a grammatical error? He answered. You answer something that speaks to you. Right? You answer something because someone’s already said something. Okay, I just hope you saw that. And Jesus answered and said unto it. Well, who’s the it? The tree. So obviously the tree was talking. Now don’t go getting goofy on me. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. And his disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem, and Jesus went into the temple, and they began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves. All right, and let’s drop down now to verse 21, verse 19. And when the evening was come, he went out of the city, and in the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursed is withered away. Let’s stop for a moment and look at this. First of all, let me tell you that ironically, the word Bethany means house of figs. That’s what that name means, house. Bet is house, and the other word ani is figs. Bethany means house of figs. Amen? So they were coming. It was the morning. Obviously, Jesus was hungry. We saw that he was hungry. Amen? And he saw from afar off this fig tree, and it looked beautiful. It had huge, big leaves on it. Fig leaves are huge. They’re very big and showy. I guess that’s why Adam and Eve picked them. Oh, well, some of you will get it later. So he saw that it had all of these leaves on there. But when he got up to it, his mouth by then, I’m sure, was watering, expecting, oh, to get a bite of that nice, juicy fig. And there wasn’t a single fig on the whole tree. Now this is very important because fig trees are unusual. Because, listen to this, this is opposite of the norm. They produce their fruit before they produce their leaves. They produce the fruit before the leaves. Amen. And that means, because usually it’s the opposite way with most fruit trees. Amen. So that meant if they already had leaves on it, it was supposed to have figs on it, fruit on it. Amen. So what, why did Jesus get upset and curse the tree? because they had profession without possession. They professed, look at me, look at how I look, look at all my nice green, big showy, I’m a showing off all my leaves. I’m showing off, but I have no fruit. Amen? And that’s a whole nother message. But it really angered Jesus because he answered it. He answered the tree because Jesus in the supernatural realm was getting a picture of this tree that had the audacity to show off all its leaves. but had no fruit and he was hungry and he wanted something to eat and he came thinking, this is going to supply my need. This is what I need. And you know, I’m getting ready to preach that other message and I don’t need to do that. And a lot of that happens in the spiritual realm today. That happens in churches today all over America. People go to churches because they have all this show and all this promise. All this promise. But when the hungry soul needs to be fed, there’s no figs, there’s no fruit. A lot of show. Amen. That’s all I’m going to say about that. But Jesus answered the tree, an inanimate object. He spoke to it. He answered it. Amen? Because we learned in the very first week of this series, we learned right in the beginning that because he created everything with his spoken word, He can communicate to everything with his word. We learned about how the stars and the sea and the animals, et cetera, all respond to his spoken word because by reason of creation, he has authority over them and they obey. And we learned that he not only framed it all, he upholds it all. That was week one. Amen. And so we’re seeing here like a little sidelight of that because he created that fig tree. He had the authority to curse it. Now he cursed it, and they went on to the temple, and boy, he had a busy day that day. I didn’t read it because I don’t want to get off track, but I have to wonder because that’s just the way I think. That’s the day he went in there and house cleaned. That’s when he went in there and threw out all the money changers and overthrew the tables and opened up the cages and let the birds go free and all the sheep and the goat and then he got a cord and began to whip the… I mean, I think that that fig tree really got him upset. I think he figured, while we’re house cleaning, we just may as well clean house. Yes! You know how that happens to you. The other day I was looking for one simple little magazine. A book that I needed. One of my dad’s books. And I know I have it. I saw it not long ago. I’m looking. By the time that I finished, the office had stuff, boxes and stuff all over the floor. Because as I began to look for it, I don’t need you. Why am I saving you? And I mean I had a bag full of boxes to get rid of. Because once I started looking and cleaning, I said, I’m going to get rid of it all. And that’s how I think it affected Jesus. To him, he got a message in the spirit. When he got to the temple and said, look at all this show. Look at all this merchandising. Look at all this they’re doing. But where are you ministering to the people? They’re blind. They’re deaf. They’re sick. They’re paralyzed. They’re leprous. And you got all this show. You’re fleecing the people, you money changers. You’re ripping them off. And they’re wounded and they’re hurt. And he just cleaned the place up. So they leave the temple. They’re on their way home. They would have passed that same tree. But nothing was said on the way home. Nobody said anything about the tree. Apparently the tree looked the same. I believe it looked the same. I don’t think it looked any different than it did that morning when he saw it. But the next morning when they got up and they were going back to the temple and they passed it, Peter said, oh my goodness, look, Jesus. The tree that you cursed is withered up from the roots and it’s dead. Amen? So this is a message for somebody. Sometimes when you’re praying for something, it could be healing. Often it’s healing, but other things as well. And you know that you’ve prayed the prayer of faith and you know you’ve touched God, but you don’t see a change. You don’t see a change in your body. You don’t see a change right now in your symptoms. You cannot cast away your faith. Amen? Jesus spoke to that tree and that tree listened to him. But let me tell you something about fig trees that will help you out. First of all, fig trees grew to 30 feet high. And as high as they were above ground, their root system was below ground. That’s a lot of roots. Yes. and he cursed it at the root. Now the roots are what? Underground. Can you see the roots? No, you don’t see the roots. But he cursed that tree at the root and that tree began to die and shrivel the moment that he spoke to it. It took 24 hours because when they came back the next day, then they saw that the tree was withered and that whole tree, that’s another thing, that whole 30-foot tree with the big, big leaves was dried up. Now you know that is powerful because I can tell you and you probably know, in the summertime if you trim some of your bushes and trees and you take limbs off, it might be a week later before they’re dried up. They’ll be green for days yet. Amen? And so they came back the next day. So that shows us that sometimes when you curse something at the root and you tell it to die, You may not see a change immediately, but God’s word is performing. God’s word is under the ground, as it were. So don’t cast away your faith. Continue to believe. So let’s see what Jesus said to Peter. Let’s go on to the next verse. Verse 22. And Jesus answering saith unto them, have faith in God. Let’s stop for a moment. This is very powerful because the Greek actually says have the faith. What does that mean? Have the same kind of faith that God has. Well, what kind of faith is that? God has faith in his own spoken word. When he said, when he said, it happened. Every time that Jesus said, go, your son lives. Go your way, your servants made whole. God has faith in his own spoken word. Jesus had faith in his own spoken word because he cursed that tree. Amen. And he expected it. And when he saw it the next day and Peter and the rest of them were all like, oh, my goodness. Jesus was like, oh, really? Wow. He expected it because he had faith in his own word. Here’s the thing about it, saints. People make this mistake all the time. I know I’ve been there. They have faith in their faith. Having faith in your faith is going to fail. You can’t have faith in your faith. You can’t go around and say, well, I know I got faith. I know I got faith and I prayed and I know I got faith. You may have presumption. And that’s not faith. You can’t have faith in your faith. You’ve got to have faith in the Word of God. When your faith is in the Word of God, it doesn’t matter what you see. It doesn’t matter what you hear. It doesn’t matter what you feel. When faith is in faith, all of those different things, sight, hearing, all your senses can throw in a curve. And all of a sudden, your faith starts shaking because you had faith in your faith. Let me show you this illustration. Some of you have heard me say this on Sunday night, but a lot of you haven’t. If you were to go up into Minnesota right now, and they already have like a couple tons of snow up there, and you know they’re the land of a thousand lakes. So if you’re 10,000 lakes, I believe it is. If you wanted to go to Minnesota, which I don’t know why you would, but if you wanted to go up there and go ice fishing… You know where they drill a hole in the ice and you ice fish? Amen? So I want to ask you a question. I want you to think about this. Would you rather have a little bit of faith in ice that is four feet thick or a whole lot of faith in ice that’s only two inches thick? Now, if you know it, don’t let the cat out of the bag. But a lot of these people have never heard this before. So how many would rather have a little bit of faith in ice that’s four feet thick? I saw three hands. How many would rather have a whole lot of faith in ice that’s only two inches thick? Let me see your hand. Some of you are noncommittal. I do not call people names when they mess up. I’m going to ask you again. Would you rather have a little faith in four feet of thickness or a whole lot of faith in two inches? Which one? Do you know you would be surprised the first time that I asked this on a Sunday night, and those of you who are here will remember, most people said they would rather have a whole lot of faith in two inches of ice. Your faith is only as good as what it’s based on. Your faith is only as good as what you’re basing your faith on. Amen? And I would much rather have… Four feet of ice. Give me four feet of ice over two inches of ice. Amen? So you see, you can’t have faith in your faith. Your faith is only as good as what it’s based on. And you’ve got to have your faith in the word of God. Amen. Amen? So that’s what Jesus said. He said, have the faith of God. Now the next two verses are paramount. Let’s read them. For verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith… shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them. This is very powerful. Notice that Jesus said believe one time and he said say three times. The emphasis is on the speaking. When faith is in your heart, your mouth will speak it. Amen? In another place, when the disciples came to Jesus in Luke, the 17th chapter, and they said, Lord, increase our faith or multiply our faith or give us more faith. You know what he said back to them? He didn’t say, okay. He said, if you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, you might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou removed, be cast into the sea, and it shall obey you. Now let me tell you something about the sycamine tree. The sycamine tree is in the same family as the fig tree. It also has great heights. It also has great root system. But he’s telling us that we can speak to the sycamine tree. And he just told us we could speak to the mountain. Now Jesus said, all you need is faith the size… of a mustard seed. The mustard seed is the smallest herb that grows in the Middle East. It is even smaller than a grain of uncooked rice. Amen? But in another place in Matthew, Jesus said, if you just take that little seed and put it in the ground, it’ll grow a tree with many branches and all the birds will come and rest in it. Amen? So why did he liken our faith, the faith that we need to speak to the mountain, the faith that we need to speak to these huge trees, which represent the impossibilities in our life, why did he liken our faith to this tiny little seed? Is it because of the size? It has nothing to do with the size, lest you think it has to do with the size of your faith. It is the fact that the mustard seed cannot be divided. You know how they take seeds and put them together? Oh, I saw one the other day. Oh, what was it called? It was called like broccolette. They put together broccoli seed and Brussels sprout seed. And they’ve come up with a new vegetable. How many know that both broccoli and Brussels sprouts are great cancer fighters? Amen. Broccoli is a huge breast cancer fighter. And they’re very important in your diet. But they put them together because sometimes, depending on how you cook them and all, Brussels sprouts can be a little hard to eat. But they put them together and they come up with this new vegetable that it’s broccoli and Brussels sprouts mixed together. Okay, I said that to say this. They do these kinds of things all the time. That’s how they come up with seedless watermelons and seedless oranges. And they come up with, oh, Madeline gave us some apples and pears from one of the farms out there where she lived. And honestly, the one looked like an apple. It was shaped just like an apple. But it was the color of a pear, and it tasted like a pear. That’s because they crossbreed. You can’t crossbreed a mustard seed. Amen. It’s too small. It’s not able to be divided. Well, why do we care about that? Because it’s not the size of your faith. Amen? It is not the quantity of your faith. It’s the quality of your faith. It must be pure. It must be undiluted. It must be all faith and no doubt. Amen. He said, if you will not doubt in your heart, you cannot have any doubt mixed in. So you see, it’s not just a matter of getting your faith ministered to, although you must do that if it’s taken a beating and a whooping, you need to get it ministered to, but you’ve got to get out the doubt. Amen? Don’t go around saying, but I prayed and I believed and it just didn’t work and it didn’t happen. Because the reason is there’s nothing wrong with your faith. God doesn’t give out bad faith, junk faith, no good faith. The problem is there’s doubt in there. You examine and you’ll see there’s doubt. And the very fact that you say, I believe God and it didn’t happen. You just confessed. Confessed. You have doubt. If you’re battling with doubt, like I said last week, be smart enough not to give it life and speak it out. Be smart enough, amen, to realize I’ve got doubt. And when they said increase our faith, he didn’t give them a formula to increase their faith. He said all you need is all faith, pure faith, and no doubt. Amen. Therefore I say unto you that you will have whatever you desire, whatsoever things you can say. But it’s not enough just to say it like it’s some little magic formula. Okay, Sister Sharon said to say, so I’m going to say this, I’m going to say this. Sometimes people go around saying, by stripes I’m healed, by stripes I’m healed. But they don’t really believe it in their heart because at the same time inside their heart they’re already thinking, but I don’t know if I’m going to get better or what if this happens or what if that happens. See, it’s not going to work then. Right. You got to get rid of the doubt. He says, so whatsoever things that you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them. Listen to this. You must believe when you pray and pray when you believe. Well, what do I mean by that? When God has quickened something to your spirit, and some of you has done that today, in your spirit, do not give doubt a chance to get in. Do not give the enemy a chance to come and unsay and undo what God has said and done in your spirit. When you feel that your faith has been ignited, that’s the time to pray. That’s the time to speak. And let me say this. Sometimes we’re praying and praying when we need to be taking authority. There’s a time to pray and there’s a time to take authority. There’s a time when you’ve got to say, you foul spirit of death, I command you to go. Amen. You say, well, how will I know? Well, that’s what the Holy Spirit will do when he’s in control. Amen? When God gives you that rhema word and you are anointed and you feel quickened in your spirit, that’s when you speak it out. Listen to what I’m about to tell you. It is possible to speak without faith, but it is impossible to have faith and not speak. It is possible to speak without faith. That will get you nowhere. But frustrated and discouraged. But it is impossible to have faith and not speak. Faith will well up in you and you will have to speak it. I’m going to give you scripture. 2 Corinthians 4.13. I’m almost finished. 2 Corinthians 4.13 says, We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed and therefore have I spoken. He’s quoting the Old Testament. We also believe and therefore speak. You see, faith is not just believing. Faith is believing and speaking. How many see this? This is the key. It’s not only that you believe, but that you speak. You do have faith to believe. Because you would not be here today if you claim to be saved and claim to be a Christian. You have faith. And you had to get saved by speaking with your mouth. Hold your place there and go to Romans 10, verse 8. But what saith it? Now he’s repeating the Old Testament. The word is nigh thee. I read this to you a few moments ago from Deuteronomy. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart. What is it? The word of faith. How many are following me? What’s in your mouth? What’s in your heart? The word of faith, which we preach, which I’ve been doing for three weeks. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believes. under righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, and confession is made under salvation. Saints, it’s not enough to believe. You’ve got to also confess. You’ve got to speak with your mouth. The very same way that you got saved was that you heard the word of faith preached. What shall we say? How shall they hear except there be a preacher? How shall you preach except it be sent? Amen. How are they going to believe of him whom they have not heard? And repeat, I’m quoting now from Romans, the other part of Romans, where he’s saying, because they’ve got to hear the word of faith in order, they’ve got to hear preaching in order to believe, in order to get saved, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. The very way that you got saved is by believing in your heart and speaking out of your mouth is the very same way you receive everything else from God. It’s a divine principle. It holds true for everything you’ve received from God. everything. So in closing, I’ll say this. We hear a lot about today of people having ADD. And some of you say, I have ADD. That’s why I can’t sit still and hear the preaching. I got attention deficit disorder. That’s why I got to get up and leave. Well, I’m telling you tonight or this morning, I should say, you need to have spiritual ADD. And here’s what I’m talking about. In summary, A, we are authorized by the blood of Jesus. This is the only authority that Satan recognizes and it makes us eligible then to go to the next step. D, we are deputized by the name of Jesus. You know, if you’re a wannabe and you haven’t been authorized by the blood, you might be like those seven sons of Sceva. They heard that Paul was going around casting out devils in the name of Jesus, so they decided to try it too. And they went to somebody’s house who was demon-possessed, and they said, now, we adjure you in the name of Jesus to come out. And what happened? The demon in the man said, Jesus, I know, and Paul, I’ve heard of, but who are you? I don’t recognize your identity. And the demons in that one man beat up seven brothers and they ran out of the house naked and wounded because they weren’t authorized. They weren’t authorized by the blood of Jesus. So when you’re authorized, you’re deputized to use the name of Jesus. And The last D, you are dynamized to speak the word of God. When you speak the word of God in the name of Jesus, the authority releases the power. Amen? And that is what we have. And that is the one weapon against which Satan has no defense. Do you believe it? Now we’re going to put it in operation. If you have sickness in your body. if you’re battling a disease or some sort of what would seem to be a long-term thing or even what you might consider to be an impossibility, we are going to agree with you this morning. Notice I said agree because you have to do your part. I can seek God and have the anointing on my life, but you’ve got to do your part because if you don’t do your part and agree and believe, I guarantee you before you get home, Satan will come and whisper in your ear, you didn’t get anything. It doesn’t work for you. You have got to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. So I want everyone here today, as the music comes and the singers come, I want everyone to stand on your feet. And if there’s any here this morning that you want me to pray with you, agree with you, and stand on the word of God that says, if any two on earth would agree as touching anything they shall ask, In my name it shall be done. Stand on the word of God that if the elders of the church lay hands on the sick, the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord will raise them up. Amen. Stand on the word of God that you shall lay hands on the sick in my name and in my authority and they shall recover. They shall get well. Amen. So if you need healing here this morning or any other difficult situation in your life, come on up here across the front and we’re going to pray for you and with you. There are many of you up here that I know have serious medical issues. Many of you, I have no idea why you’re up here. But the Lord does. He knows. Amen? So it doesn’t matter because you’re coming before the Lord and we are agreeing with you. I’m going to lay hands on you. Brother Hardy will be praying for some. And the elders will be praying for some. We are all in one mind and one accord. Right now, before any hand is laid on anyone, we’re going to agree right now. for people that need miracles. There are people here that they are facing serious operations. There’s people here that have illnesses that they can’t seem to overcome. But the devil is a liar. Amen. Father, right now, in the name of Jesus, we come into agreement as the body of Christ, as the saints at Faith Tabernacle, We agree in the name of Jesus that everyone that’s here that is presenting themselves with a sickness or a disease in their body, we take authority over sickness. We take authority over disease. We take authority over inflammation. We take authority over pain. We command the spirit of affliction to go. We command disease to leave their body. We curse cancer cells. At the very root, we command them to be withered and dried up and cast out. And Lord, for everyone that is facing a problem that seems insurmountable in the natural, we take authority over hindrances. We take authority over vessels the enemy is using to come against them, to stop their victory. And we command in Jesus’ name that the powers of darkness, the authorities of darkness are broken. And we call forth for the manifestation of healing. The manifestation of victory. The manifestation of peace. The manifestation of financial blessing. To come forth in Jesus name. Call on Jesus. Amen. I really hope you’re being blessed and spiritually enlightened by this teaching, the Spoken Word series. This revelation was forged in my spirit during a time of prolonged suffering in my body, which triggered emotional and mental anguish. I had always had a strong spirit of faith, but after being homebound and bedridden, I despaired. And in my distress, I begged God for a word to hold on to. And He gave me John 15, 7. If you abide in me and my words abide in you… you will ask what you will and it shall be done honestly i was disappointed i wanted something more dramatic but then i began to get this revelation of god’s spoken word and gradually as i put it into practice i overcame the attacks of the adversary the foundation is the creative word the word of god literally spoke everything into existence he framed the worlds and he upholds all things by the word of his power The revelation is the authority that Jesus, the word of God, made flesh and dwelt amongst us, had himself and gave to us to speak the word as a sharp two-edged sword against the enemy. The literal Greek says two-mouthed sword. One mouth is God’s and the second is mine or yours. When we speak forth the word that God quickens to our spirits. This creates the one weapon against which Satan has no defense. Rhema is not a magical formula. It is the active living word of God, a word from the word that comes out of our mouth. The application is the illumination of Jesus’ own ministry by which he demonstrated faith in his own spoken word and its unlimited authority over time and distance when he sent his word and he healed them. Friends, I urge you to order the spoken word series. The complete set is a 3D set. Offer SK-136. That’s SK136. Please send a minimum love gift of $15 to The Sound of Faith. P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Or order online at soundoffaith.org, where you may also order on MP3. But to order the Spoken Word Series by mail, send your minimum love gift of $15 to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Request offer SK136. Until next time, this is Sharon Knott singing Maranatha.
