Pirates of the Caribbean, Pirates of Penzance, Pirates of the High Seas – they are all after one thing: TREASURE! They would not risk their lives for something worthless. So the vessels with the treasure have to learn how to fight the pirates off and how to keep the treasure.
As believers we have this treasuer in earthen vessels and the spirits of darkness are the pirates who come to rob us of our precious faith in God. Without faith it is impossible to please God for those who come to Him must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. But without faith we cannot tap into the richness of God's Grace that has become available through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Listen to this sermonFAITH PIRATES
8/26/2006
Andre Pelser
Based on a lesson learned from Elbert Willis

Commitment to something eliminates the temptation to quit before it is finished. This commitment is based on a sense of belief and confidence that what you have committed to will ultimately succeed. This is the operation of faith, but you must know how faith works in order to use it. You also need to know what robs you of your faith in God.

Like Pirates rob the ships of their treasure on the high seas, so there are faith pirates that rob believers of their precious faith. Pirates normally flew a black flag on their masts with a skull and bones as insignia. That’s how you could recognize them. Once we recognize these pirates of our faith we can prepare to defeat them and prevent them from robbing our treasure of faith in God. Here are some pirates of faith that you can defeat in your life.

1. IGNORANCE

Not knowing what faith is, can cause you to doubt.

Heb 11:1 – Faith is the substance. It is the evidence that something exists. Anything that exists first existed in the unseen realm before it manifested/materialized in the seen realm. Eternal things are from the unseen realm and temporary things in the seen realm.
Every person has been in the mind of God before being born.
Faith is something you alone can stand on, which no one else can see.
E.g.: How did Jesus walk on water? By faith! In other words, Jesus walked on a layer of faith and not on the water. He was carried by His faith (trust, reliance) in God.

2. INSISTING ON SENSE EVIDENCE AND NOT WORD EVIDENCE

Faith believes something you have no other evidence for, except believing it. The reason why you believe that specific thing is your substance of faith.

Two types of faith:
– Word faith
– Abraham believed God’s word against all hope.The Centurion asked for a single word from Jesus for the healing of his daughter.

– Sense faith
– Thomas – John 20. He insisted on seeing first before he could believe, but Jesus then told him that those who believe without having seen are more blessed than those who demand physical evidence. Once you can see it you no longer require faith.

John 15:7 “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

The Word dwells in you and remains in you. If you memorize bible verses they seem to stick forever in your memory and the Holy Spirit can bring them back to your memory. But if you study for exams and write the exams, you tend to forget everything you have studied within a few months! The Word of God is a Living Word: it continually grows in your spirit and your mind. The Word becomes flesh and dwells in you. Choose to believe the Word of God above circumstances you might presently have to face.

3. FAILURE TO HAVE CORRESPONDING ACTIONS

If God’s Word is good enough to take you to heaven/new earth, it is good to live by. Faith without works is dead. If you believe something, act accordingly. The things you believe for takes time to manifest, but you should enter the rest of faith – after the battle – and patiently waiting for it to come to pass. While you are still struggling to believe you have not released your faith yet!

Process of releasing faith:

– First hear what God is saying to you.
– Faith comes by hearing the word of God.

– You give the Word of God sound by speaking or confessing it.

– You act according to the Word you have received and believed.

An example of this is Peter when he walked on the water. He received a word from Jesus; then believed it was Him and that he could walk on the water to the Master; then he acted accordingly and got out of the boat. This resulted in a miracle. He was attacked by pirates of faith, the sense evidence of the wind and the waves and lost his faith for a moment; but then he cried out for help and Jesus helped him and asked, ‘why did you doubt?’ The two of them walked on the water to get to the boat. Does it sound unbelievable? Not if you can believe!

4. SEPARATING FAITH AND HOPE

Mark 11:23, 24:

Faith is always ‘Now’. It is the substance that hope gives. Hope is not inferior to Faith, it is the substance bringer! Abraham first hoped and kept on hoping until his faith went into operation. When there was no hope that Sarah and his old bodies could produce a child, a miracle happened because they believed God. This was accounted to them for righteousness. God wants to see that you believe His promises in spite of what you sense or feel or think. God wants to know if you believe in Him and trust Him enough to go through any trial of your faith.

People around you try to make you believe you will never obtain what you are hoping for, but faith in your heart (spirit) says: “I already have it.”
Faith is based on the Word of God which you have received. As you hear the Word of Faith being preached, it stimulates faith in your heart to believe God.

Hope
You can not act on hope; it is like the blue print of a house. You can not live in a blue print. Faith is building that house and living in it.

Divine visitations do not make you a faith hero or a spiritual giant. Gideon had a visitation from an angel and signs from God, but received no faith to overcome his fears. But he started hoping it could possibly be true! Bit by bit the Word of the Lord gave him more and more hope that the enemy could be defeated. His substance grew and grew.
Yet he was still fearful when he went down to the enemy’s camp. There he and heard how afraid they were of him. One of them had a dream that a little bread roll flattened their camp and the other soldier interpreted the dream and said it is none other than Gideon! When he heard that, he got faith. He knew then that his enemy would be defeated.

Faith is the sure knowledge of your enemy’s defeat. Faith is a quiet confidence that you will win in the end – no matter what it looks like at the moment! Your confidence is a sign of your enemy’s ultimate defeat.

5. SELF DECEPTION

The world says: “Just in case” things might go wrong one day you need insurance, medical aid. They don’t tell you what will happen if the insurance company or medical aid scheme bombs out and disappoints millions of people! They work on fear motives, but always load the fear on you. Don’t allow your new life of faith in Christ to be controlled by the old ways of thinking without faith. Cut loose and trust God 100%. If you want to take insurance do it as an investment, not out of fear. Give the spirit of fear no room in your life!
II Timothy 1:7