Crazy Faith, Part 1 — Thinking of Others Before Yourself

Crazy faith, as Dr. William P. Hohman teaches it, is not a reckless gamble. It is what simple faith looks like after years of obeying God in small things, and it grows out of one foundation: thinking of others before yourself. In this first message of the series, he shows how fear pulls people into survival mode while faith turns them outward, and why selflessness is the doorway to the miracles God wants to do through you.

The message was preached in the early weeks of the 2020 pandemic, when many people were afraid and hoarding what they could. Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps for living this out this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This message comes from a New Testament church service at NTC Ministries in Merrill, Wisconsin, posted on March 30, 2020, and streamed while the sanctuary was sparse. After a time of worship, Dr. Hohman opens in prayer, asking God to help the church comprehend the length, depth and height of His love, and then begins a new teaching on what he calls crazy faith.

The recording runs about 69 minutes, with the sermon itself starting a little after the sixteen-minute mark. It ends with prayer for people living with long-standing troubles and a thank-you to everyone who supports the work of the ministry.

From Simple Faith to Crazy Faith

The title came from a conversation with a minister friend. The two were swapping stories of God’s goodness in their ministries, and after hearing Dr. Hohman describe what happened when he simply obeyed God, his friend told him he had some crazy faith. Dr. Hohman answered that every believer should have it. His friend agreed, but observed that most people never even start with simple faith.

One of the stories he shared shows what he means. In a country he had never visited, he ended up living in a Muslim household and was invited to speak at a medical university. Between 150 and 200 doctors and staff came to hear the word of the Lord, and he prophesied over many of them. On his next visit, the head of the university, who was also the head surgeon, told him God had given him a promotion.

The promotion was that he had left his position to pastor a church. Dr. Hohman uses that to make a point: being used in ministry is greater than anything we can do physically on this earth, so everyone should become ministry minded. But the step of faith that opened the door was not something he dreamed up himself. It was obedience to God.

That is the order he wants the church to see. You first show yourself faithful in simple faith, and only then can God use you in the ways that others might call crazy faith. The foundation for both, he says, is thinking of others rather than yourself, and the rest of the sermon builds on that one idea.

Fear Turns Us Inward

Dr. Hohman remembers the weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks. He heard remarkable testimonies on a New York radio program, including an elderly couple who sold everything to go and share Jesus in the Middle East. Churches across the United States, including his own in Merrill, filled up as frightened people looked for answers, and some prayed to receive Christ.

A couple of months later the fear faded, and so did many of the people. They had never really become attached. That led him to pray that people would come to God not through fear but through His love and compassion, with hearts so changed that they would never go back to their old life. As he prayed, he understood that the answer meant Christians would have to start reaching out to others.

When people face a threatening situation, he explains, nearly everyone drifts into survival mode: forget everyone else, I need to protect myself and my stuff. He saw that in the hoarding of toilet paper and hand sanitizer at the start of the pandemic, and in a distributor who sat on thousands of masks while insisting he was not hoarding them. Fear, he says, makes otherwise good people do strange things.

The only answer is the overwhelming love of God. As Scripture puts it, fear involves torment, but perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). People of faith who know God and are intimate with His love tend to be courageous, he says, precisely because they are focused on helping other people. Selflessness is not only good for others; it is crucial for our own survival as well.

Care About the Lives of Others

The first key verse is Philippians 2:4, which Dr. Hohman reads from the Easy-to-Read Version: “Don’t be interested only in your own life, but care about the lives of others too.” You come out ahead, he says, when you start looking beyond your own concerns.

He illustrates it with the film Schindler’s List. Oskar Schindler arrived in Kraków in 1939 intending to make his fortune from the war and staffed his factory with Jewish workers for practical reasons. When the SS began destroying the ghetto, he protected his workers to keep the money coming in, but he soon realized he was saving lives. In the closing scene, surrounded by about a thousand people he had saved, Isaac Stern hands him a gold ring and quotes the words “whoever saves one life saves the world entire.”

Dr. Hohman says that is true. When we reach out to other people we do good for the whole world, and we also discover that God takes care of us as we become like Him. The second key text makes the same point. Galatians 6:10 says that whenever we have an opportunity, we should do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of faith.

The problem, he notes, is that we let opportunities go by without recognizing them. So the first step is to start praying and asking God to give us opportunities. Even with six feet of distance and quiet streets, believers can still talk, reach out and help. Being isolated is not the same as being sealed off from the people around us.

The Young Man in the Woods: Crazy Faith in Action

The heart of the sermon is a story from Dr. Hohman’s years in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A young logger cleared some of his property, and while he worked, Dr. Hohman talked with him every day about the goodness of God. The young man put up with it politely but clearly did not want to hear it. A few months later, Dr. Hohman was laid off from construction for the winter.

Praying at home one morning, he asked the Lord for an opportunity. Immediately the Lord told him to go and help that young man. His wife Pam suggested he call the logger’s wife, who thought she knew where he was cutting. He put on his long johns and insulated boots, drove half an hour, found the truck and followed a skidder trail about half a mile into the woods.

From the top of a hill he saw the young man sitting on a stump with his head in his hands, crying. Everything was falling apart. He could not pay his bills, and his marriage was on the rocks. He said he could not afford to pay anyone. Dr. Hohman replied that God had told him to come and help, not to get paid. They prayed together and went to work.

Driving home, he wondered what he had done. He hated woods work. But he kept going back, sharing the Lord a little at a time, and after about a month the young man asked Jesus into his life and wept like a baby. Two weeks later his wife called to ask what had happened to her husband, because he was a different man. The couple began attending church together and invited Pam and him to a banquet as their guests.

Then the young man came to their door with his wife and a check: a share of the pay from that job, because he could not withhold it after what God had done for him. Dr. Hohman says he never did it for a paycheck, yet God rewarded him abundantly and the bills they could not pay were covered. The table below sets this story beside the other examples of selfless obedience he gives in this message.

Jesus, the Model of Selflessness

Jesus is the ultimate model. Matthew 20:28 says the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Before Bethlehem He was seated at the Father’s right hand, and Colossians 1:16 says all things were created by Him. Yet the King of kings humbled Himself to serve His own creation.

He never said He deserved better. Humility, Dr. Hohman teaches, is how we grow and increase in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11), and pride comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). He admits he has learned this both ways, especially in his early twenties.

Humbling yourself may mean forgiving the person who wronged you or honoring a spouse who does not seem to deserve it. That might look like simple faith, but to some people it looks crazy. He reads 1 John 3:16–18: if a believer who has enough sees a brother or sister without even basic needs and does not help, God’s love is not in that person’s heart. Our love must be shown by what we do.

Christian living, he says, is very practical once it is removed from religion, which keeps us selfish. Paul wrote that when he became a man he put away childish things (1 Corinthians 13:11). Dr. Hohman quotes Billy Graham: the smallest package he ever saw was a man wrapped up in himself. Selfishness says my needs matter more than yours.

Meeting needs does not always take money. You may have a talent or a gift someone else lacks. He and Pam have given away about half a dozen cars, once when they had none of their own left. About a week later, a man who had just given his life to Jesus told him God was telling him to give Dr. Hohman a car, and it was probably a better one.

Lose Your Life to Find It

Stepping out of your comfort zone is how you tap into a kingdom that is activated by faith. Jesus could not do many miracles in one town because of their unbelief (Matthew 13:58), while elsewhere everyone was healed and fed. Believing in God is not enough, Dr. Hohman says, because even the devils believe and tremble, and faith without works is dead (James 2:19–20).

In Matthew 16:25 Jesus says whoever loses his life for His sake will find it. That does not mean leaving this earth. It means losing the comfortable, practical life and being willing to give it away. On a recent mission trip he walked about four miles down a steep mountain so new believers could be baptized, without water, twenty years older than anyone else in the group.

On the climb back he nearly passed out and asked the Lord why it was always him. The answer was that God could trust him to do what He asked. A motorcycle came up the trail and carried him to the top. The tribal chief then told him that because he saw how much Dr. Hohman loved his people, he would give the land they had hoped to buy for a church.

His final illustration comes from the South Tower on September 11. Brian, on the 84th floor, was helping people down the stairs when debris blocked the way and a woman urged everyone to go up to the roof. Hearing a cry, Brian left the group and found Stanley trapped behind a wall on the 81st floor. Together they climbed down through the debris and reached the street before the tower collapsed. Those who went up were never seen again.

In Dr. Hohman’s words, they saved each other: Stanley by crying out for help, and Brian by deciding he needed to help somebody. That is what God does. He saves us and the people we reach out to, and He brings promotion and acceleration into our lives. Believers face a culture hostile to God and an adversary who wants to steal and destroy, and selflessness is crucial both for others and for our own growth in the kingdom.

Living Out Crazy Faith This Week

Dr. Hohman closes with a simple charge: do what God is asking you to do, and do not reason it away. Here are practical steps drawn directly from this crazy faith message:

• Ask God for an opportunity. Pray each morning, as he did when he was laid off, for someone you can help that day.
• Start with simple faith. Obey in small things, like a phone call or a visit, before looking for something dramatic.
• Refuse survival mode. When fear says take everything for yourself, ask who around you has a genuine need.
• Use what you have. Your time, a talent or a gift can meet a need just as much as money can.
• Humble yourself. Forgive the person who wronged you, or honor someone who does not seem to deserve it.
• Look ahead with God. Do not look back at the past; look around, see who needs help and help them.

He also prays for people living with chronic problems, whether physical, social or emotional, declaring that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came to give life more abundantly (John 10:10).

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 Welcome and opening worship
• 16:25 Opening prayer over the Word
• 17:26 Where the title crazy faith came from
• 18:42 The head surgeon who became a pastor
• 20:02 Simple faith comes first
• 21:08 Churches after September 11
• 24:27 Survival mode and fear
• 30:32 Philippians 2:4 and Schindler’s List
• 33:03 Galatians 6:10: do good to all people
• 34:29 Pray for opportunities
• 36:23 The Lord says go help the young man
• 38:16 Crying on a stump in the woods
• 39:51 He gives his life to Jesus
• 43:42 The check at the door
• 44:51 Matthew 20:28: Jesus came to serve
• 48:32 1 John 3: love shown in action
• 51:08 Giving away cars
• 53:20 Faith without works and Matthew 16:25
• 54:29 The mountain baptism
• 57:33 Acceleration and promotion
• 58:48 Brian and Stanley in the South Tower
• 1:03:41 Closing prayer
• 1:06:11 Prayer for chronic issues

Crazy Faith Series

This is the first message in Dr. Hohman’s teaching on crazy faith. Continue with the next part of the series:

• You are here: Crazy Faith, Part 1 — Thinking of Others Before Yourself
• Next: Crazy Faith #3: Faith Takes Courage in Your Weakest Areas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is crazy faith the same as taking reckless risks?

No. In this message the steps Dr. Hohman calls crazy all began as obedience to something God asked, not as ideas he came up with himself. He says it was God, not him, and that he simply took the step. Crazy faith only looks crazy from the outside. To God, he says, it is normal, and it rests on years of simple faith and on a heart that is thinking of others.

If we are not saved by works, why do good works matter?

Dr. Hohman addresses people who use “we’re not saved by works” as a reason to do nothing. His answer is short: you are not saved by your works, but you are saved for them. Faith that never acts is dead, according to James. Good works do not earn salvation; they are the evidence that God’s love is actually living in your heart, and the way His kingdom is activated around you.

Why should I help strangers and not only my own family?

Dr. Hohman warns against a faith that only takes care of its own household and refuses to be inconvenienced. He says his own children are in full-time ministry and love Jesus, even though he did not live only for his household. Galatians 6:10 says to do good to all people, especially the family of faith. Reaching beyond your circle is how God’s love reaches people who would never otherwise hear it.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Philippians 2:4 — care about the lives of others
• Galatians 6:10 — do good to all people
• 1 John 4:18 — perfect love casts out fear
• Matthew 20:28 — the Son of Man came to serve
• 1 John 3:16–18 — love in deed and in truth
• Luke 14:11 — whoever humbles himself will be exalted
• James 2:19–20 — faith without works is dead
• Matthew 16:25 — lose your life to find it

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

Watch More Messages

If this message stirred your faith, there are hundreds more teachings from NTC Ministries waiting for you. Browse the full sermon archive and keep growing in the faith that thinks of others first.