Sound of Faith

Sharon Hardy Knotts: 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.

Guest (Audience): Yes.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: I just heard this literally almost as I was going out the door and I thought, "Oh, I got to remember that because I hope it'll fit. I'm going to throw it in here, hope it'll fit." But anyway, it was a story I was listening to on the radio about a surgeon who was a Christian surgeon and he was doing an open heart surgery on a lady who was, I think, the member of the church he went to. And she had a very serious defect with her heart and it required open-heart surgery.

And he told her up front that we're going to have to stop your heart while we're doing this. But when the surgery is over, all I have to do is touch the heart and it'll go back to beating.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: So, the operation was in progress. It was finished and it was successful. And but when he whatever he did to the heart, it didn't beat. And he did it again and it didn't beat. And so it didn't matter. Every time he touched it, nothing happened. And he finally walked around to the head of the bed, took off his surgeon's mask and bent down and whispered in her ear and said, "Mrs. Johnson, your surgery is successful. I repaired your heart. Now you tell your heart to start beating."

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: And guess what happened? What happened?

Guest (Audience): It started beating.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: It started beating. Amen. Because that's how powerful our thoughts and our words are to affect our physical health. Amen. Out of the abundance of our heart, our mouth speaks. So, that means that whatever we're meditating on, whatever we're thinking on is going to come out of our mouth and our bodies are going to respond whether good or bad. Amen. It's in your thought life that that sword is forged.

It's in your thought light. It begins. So what are you feeding your mind? What is the menu that you have for your mind? That's another whole message that I don't have time for. But let it suffice to say this: the meditation of our spirit can become the medication of our flesh.

Guest (Audience): Hallelujah.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: So if you meditate, you can medicate. Amen. Whatever you meditate on because it says, tells us in Proverbs, I believe it's 23:4, 23:7, "As a man thinks in his heart, so shall he be."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Another words, whatever you think is what you're going to become. Amen. Whatever you're going to you're going to be what you think and you're going to get what you speak. So your meditation is important because out of your mouth, you're either going to speak that which is going to bless and make you healthy and whole, or that's going to cause your problem to only get worse.

Saints, listen to me, when you speak doubt and fear and unbelief, it's like you take the sword out of your mouth and stick it in the devil's.

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Because there are no Let me tell you something, you're either going to get the good or the bad. There's no neutrality here. Do you understand that?

The Bible says we're ensnared by the words of our mouth. That's Proverbs 6:2. We're ensnared by the words of our mouth. And sometimes when we're believing God for healing and we're on our way, but we ensnare our own selves by things that we say.

Or things that other people say that are negative, we cannot let them get into our spirit. I don't know how many times I fell for that. I repeated that mistake many times. I would get in the service and God would touch me and I would feel touched and I would really be encouraged.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: And somebody would say something, and most of the time they didn't even have any idea. I'm not talking about saying something real, real bad, but just say something, a little something that would strike fear in my heart. And then it seemed like it just undid everything that I had just received from the Lord.

And I had to get smart. I had to get smart and begin to realize when I got really touched, get ready. Get the shield out there. You just got something really good from the Lord. He really touched you. Now get ready, be prepared. So that when that fiery dart comes, you're immediately ready to quench it.

Guest (Audience): Yes.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: And not let it take root in your heart. Amen. So Moses told the children of Israel in his final words to them, it's in the book of Deuteronomy. And you know, Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy more than any other book.

And Moses told the children of Israel in Deuteronomy, the 30th chapter, verses 14 through 19, he said, "But the word is nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. See, I've set before you this day life and good and death and evil, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: So he says that we've got to make the choice. The way we choose is what we speak. Amen. And I've said this before, but it bears repeating here. God is always voting for you. He is on your side.

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen. He's always voting for you. But you have an adversary. The devil who's always voting against you.

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: How you vote will determine the outcome. And you've got to vote. Now, how do you vote? How can you cast your vote? By speaking the Word of God. What I told you last week, homologeo, saying the same thing that God's Word says.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Confessing what God's Word says. God is telling you and you're, if you're healing, whatever the case is, you find the verses, the scriptures that pertain to your need. This is what God says in His Word. You've got an adversary that's trying to whisper doubt in your mind and fear into your heart. Amen.

And there you are. You've got to cast your vote. You've got to decide which way you're going to go. Amen. And when you say amen to the Word of God, and when you agree with God's Word and you speak out of your mouth what God's Word says, you've just wielded the sword of the Spirit and Satan is going to flee. Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Now, here's the thing, saints, when you speak the Word of God in the name of Jesus, it is the same as Jesus speaking. He said in Luke 10:19, "Behold, I give you." You need to put your name in there. Behold, I give Sharon. Now, I want I'm going to we're going to say it again. You say your name this time. You ready? On three. Two, three.

Guest (Audience): Behold, I give [audience member's name].

Sharon Hardy Knotts: That was a little on the weak side. You you know, you got to say this like you you believe it.

Guest (Audience): Yes.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Let's try it again.

Guest (Audience): Behold, I give [audience member's name].

Sharon Hardy Knotts: That was much better. "I give you power." We already discussed it, exousia, authority over all the power of the devil. But I've got to express that by speaking it out. And the devil's going to come and say, he's going to make you feel weird or uncomfortable or awkward. He's going to say things, "But you feel silly saying that or doing that."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Or he's going to say, "Oh, little you, you haven't even been saved that long." Or he'll say, "You've messed up so many times. You've backslid, and everybody knows you've backslid before. He can't mean you." The devil is a liar. Amen. The first thing you've got to settle in your mind is that he means you.

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen. The first thing that you've got to understand is that you are a child of God. And you overcome him. Revelation 12:11 says, "We overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony."

Guest (Audience): Yes.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: The blood is Jesus' part. He did his part. The testimony is your part and my part.

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: All we need to be eligible to use the name of Jesus, all we need to be eligible to use the sword of the spirit, the Word of God, is the blood of Jesus. That's all you need to be eligible. You can be saved one minute. You can be saved one second. After the blood of Jesus comes upon you, you are eligible to use the name of Jesus.

Guest (Audience): Hallelujah.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen. Here's how it works. Revelation 19:10 says, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." We all we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. The sword of the Spirit. This Word, when the Holy Spirit quickens that Word in our hearts. Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: The testimony of Jesus, the written Word, and we prophesy. Now don't be thinking, "Thus saith the Lord." I'm not talking about that. The word prophesy simply means to flow forth. To flow forth. When the Holy Spirit takes that testimony of Jesus, that written Word in your heart and he begins to anoint it and quicken it, you've got to let it flow forth.

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: He supplies the exact Word that you need when you need it. And what you've got to do is release it. The devil is a liar. Here's one of my favorite verses, Hebrews 2:11, "For both He that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all of one. For which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: You know what this means? We are as sanctified as Jesus is. We're just as sanctified as He is. Both the sanctifier and the sanctified.

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen. And the sanctified is me. We are one. So stay under the blood. As long as you're under the blood, you don't have anything to worry about. If you get out from under the blood, confess your sins. And He's faithful and just to cleanse you from your sins. Amen. To apply the blood fresh and anew.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Here's another one of my favorite ones, Ephesians 1:6, "To the praise of the glory of His grace, He hath made us accepted in the beloved."

Guest (Audience): Hallelujah.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: God has made you and me accepted in His beloved Son. You know, the Bible records that three different times God spoke out of heaven and said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

Guest (Audience): Yes.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: In fact, the temptation that we just read, prior to that, the last thing, the very last thing that Jesus heard before He was driven by the Spirit to go into the wilderness, was when He was being baptized in John, and His Father spoke out of heaven and said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased."

And yet the devil was brazen enough to challenge Him right off the bat on His identity. When the last thing he heard was God say, "You are my son and I love you."

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen. And three times God did that. So, if we're in the Beloved, then God is saying to you and me, He's saying, "This is my beloved daughter, Sharon."

Guest (Audience): Yes.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: "In whom I am well pleased." You put your name in there. Now, every one of us at some point have we have heard Satan say, "God doesn't love you."

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: When you're in that really bad test and you feel really like you're just abandoned and you don't feel God's presence like you want to and, you know, you just see, "I don't understand why this is happening to me." It's in those times of perplexity. It's in those times of bewilderment that Satan will come and whisper in your ear and he'll say, "God doesn't love you."

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen. Now, what if he came and said to you, "God doesn't love Jesus"? What would you think about that?

Guest (Audience): Lie.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: You would just laugh. You would think that that's just totally absurd. "God doesn't love Jesus."

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen. Well, if we're in Jesus, amen, and we're in the Beloved, when the devil comes and tells you, "God doesn't love you," you need to say, "That's absurd. That's ridiculous. I'm in the Beloved."

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen. And if you know you're accepted in the Beloved, then you know that God loves you and you know then that you are eligible to use the name of Jesus and speak the Word of God. John 3:35 says, "The Father loves the Son and has put all things into His hands."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: If He's put all things in Jesus' hands and we're one with Him, He's put all things into our hands. Jesus said in John 14:12 and 13, "The works I do shall you do also, and greater works than these shall you do. And whatsoever you ask in My name, that will I do."

Now, we're going to look at several stories right now to show you that Jesus had faith in His own spoken Word. Let's begin in John the 4th chapter, John 4:46.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: "So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him and besought him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: "Then said Jesus unto him, 'Except you see signs and wonders, you shall not believe.' But the nobleman said unto him, 'Sir, please come down before my child dies.'"

Sharon Hardy Knotts: "So Jesus said unto him, 'Go thy way, thy son lives.' And the man believed the word. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: "And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him saying, 'Thy son lives, thy son lives.' And then he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better, when he began to amend. And they said unto him, 'Well, yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.'"

Sharon Hardy Knotts: "And so the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, 'Thy son lives,' and himself believed and his whole house."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: So this is very powerful. Amen. Here he comes to Jesus and his son is literally at the point of death. And when he gets there, he asks Jesus to come with him. Now, he's a nobleman. This means that this is a rich man, a man of means, a man of property. But how many know it doesn't matter how much money you have, you can get in situations where money can't get you out?

Sharon Hardy Knotts: And you can have money and the best health insurance that they have in the United States of America, but you can get in a place where the best doctors at the best hospitals cannot cure you. And he came to Jesus and he said, "Please come to my house and pray for my son before he dies." But Jesus just looked at him and said, "Go your way. Your son lives."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Now, this is a fulfillment of Psalm 107:20, "And He sent His Word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction." Amen. All that Jesus did was send the Word. And when the father was on the way home. This was the next day, the next day he was on his way home and he met the servants met him and said, "Good news, good news, your boy is alive."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: He said, "What time? What time did he get better?" "Oh, yesterday, about 1:00." Cuz that's what time it was. Yesterday about 1:00 the fever left him. And he knew it was at the exact moment that Jesus sent His Word. Because there are no time barriers. There are no distance barriers in the Word of God. The only barrier is unbelief. But the Bible says that the father left believing the Word that Jesus spoke.

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Guest (Audience): Yes.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: He left believing the spoken Word of Jesus, and Jesus had faith in His own spoken Word. When he said, "Go, your son lives." Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Now let's turn to Matthew the 8th chapter. This is one of my favorite ones. I'm going to try not to spend too much time here. If you would like to get this message in more detail, what we're about ready to read in Matthew 8, you can get it on CD. It's called The Faith That Jesus Marveled. Reading in Matthew 8:5. "And when Jesus entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion beseeching him."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Now we're reading about two Capernaum stories back to back. Let me just throw this out to you. In Hebrew, the word Neham is healing. Neham is healing. So this is a city of healing. And Jesus came, amen, to fulfill it. So this is a centurion that came to him.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: And saying, "Lord, my servant lies at home sick of the palsy and grievously tormented." The man was paralyzed and also in terrible pain. And you don't know what terrible pain is unless you've had nerve pain. And that's what was going on with this, his servant. And he said, "I will come and heal him." Now in this time, Jesus was ready to go home with the centurion.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: But the centurion answered and said, "Lord, I'm not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof. But speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me, and I say to this man, 'Go,' and he goes. And to this one, 'Come,' and he comes. And to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: "And when Jesus heard it, He marveled and said to them that followed him, 'Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.'" Look at verse 13. "But Jesus said unto the centurion, 'Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.' And his servant was healed in the self-same hour."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: So we have another example of Jesus sending the Word. However, this time, Jesus was ready to go home with the centurion. And this is remarkable in and of itself, simply because a rabbi, which Jesus was, a Jewish rabbi would not enter into the home of a Gentile. They would be unclean. And perhaps this centurion knew that.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: He knew that. Now, remember, he was a Roman soldier, but he had a hundred soldiers under him. Amen. And so he obviously knew something about the Jewish ways, and he realized that if Jesus came to his house, that Jesus would be defiled ceremonially, and probably it would cause Jesus to get a whole lot of stuff. We all know the Pharisees love to have something that they could grab on to.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: And so this man said, "That's not necessary. It's not necessary for you to come to my house. In fact, I'm not even worthy. I'm a Gentile. I get it. I'm not worthy that you, a Jewish rabbi, should come to my house. But it's not even necessary because I I've been watching you. I've been hearing about you. And if there's one thing I understand, I understand authority."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: "Because I am a man of authority, and I'm a man under authority." Amen. He had authority to tell some of his soldiers, all of his soldiers, "Go," and they obeyed. "Come," and they obeyed. "Do this," and they did it. And if he would have gotten a messenger come riding in the town on a white horse and said, "Rome is recalling you, leave immediately." You know what he would have done?

Sharon Hardy Knotts: He would have left because he was under Roman authority. And Roman authority was empirical. It was supreme. It was absolute. And if Rome recalled someone, be it a soldier, a governor, or whomever, they had to obey and return to Rome. He said, "I understand authority. I'm under authority. I obey the authority of Rome. And I have people under me and they obey what I tell them. And I've been watching you, and I've been hearing of you, and I have figured it out. You have authority over sickness. You have authority over disease. You have authority over demon powers. You say sickness, 'Go!' and it goes."

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: "You say, 'Devil, come out!' and the devil comes out."

Guest (Audience): Yes.

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: "I don't need you to come with your bodily presence because you have authority in the supernatural world. I've got authority in the natural world, but you've got authority in the supernatural world. All you've got to do is speak with authority, and that paralysis is got to get out of my servant's body. All you've got to do is speak and the pain will have to leave."

Guest (Audience): Amen.

Guest (Audience): Yes.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: 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 he's the Bible says, "He marveled at their unbelief."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: And he was not able to do many, didn't say he was not able to do any. 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. Saved some few, it says that he laid hands on. So you see, Jesus marveled.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: 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."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: 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. But 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.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: "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 the authority of Jesus' name and the Word of God.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: 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 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.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: 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.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: 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 onto, 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."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: 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.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: 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.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: 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 three-CD set. Offer SK136, that's SK136.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: 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. Till next time, this is Sharon Knotts saying, Maranatha.