From Faith to Faith, Strength to Strength, Glory to Glory: Becoming Worshipers

From faith to faith, strength to strength, glory to glory: that, the pastor teaches, is how God grows His children when they become worshipers. Faith grows as we keep hearing God’s Word, strength grows as we gather with other believers, and glory grows as the Holy Spirit changes us in His presence. Praise breaks the enemy’s onslaught, and worship changes the worshiper.

This is the first message in the From Faith to Faith series and builds on his ongoing teaching about becoming worshipers. 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 you can take this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was posted on March 28, 2023, and runs about 65 minutes, closing with a prayer to receive Christ. The pastor opens by explaining the difference between praise and worship, then moves through Moses, the veil of the law, knowing God as Father, and finally the three stages in the title.

He corrects a common misquote along the way. People often say God brings us from faith to faith and glory to glory, he notes, but Scripture also says we go from strength to strength, and that middle step matters.

Praise That Stills the Enemy

The pastor says the church often calls the fast songs praise and the slow songs worship. There is overlap, but praise is thanking God for what He has done, is doing and will do. Believers should always be people of praise, because out of the mouth of babes God has ordained strength to silence the enemy and the avenger (Psalm 8:2). He notes that the Hebrew word can be read as either strength or praise.

His counsel for hard times is direct: get your praise on. Thank God more. Get up in the morning and dance before the Lord. He shares that while the church was building its school, it faced serious opposition involving the city. At a meeting, a prophet told him the onslaught would stop if he danced before the Lord the way David danced (2 Samuel 6:14) every morning for ten days. He did, and he describes a great victory.

He recalls a pastor who limited singing to fifteen minutes and discouraged raised hands, clapping or dancing so visitors would not feel uncomfortable. His reply: this is not my house; it is God’s house, and the only one I do not want to make uncomfortable is Him.

Is that about God’s ego? He tells of visiting a former pastor who had left the ministry and fallen into alcoholism, who said he could not serve a God with such an ego. The pastor’s answer is that God does not need our praise; He is sovereign. He wants it for us. Praise destroys the enemy’s onslaught and breaks the power of bondage in your life.

He gives Timothy as an example. As he tells it, Timothy was pastoring a very large church in Ephesus when Nero’s persecution turned brutal, attendance collapsed, and Timothy was ready to quit. Paul did not merely sympathize. He reminded Timothy of the faith in his mother and grandmother and told him to stir up the gift of God within him (2 Timothy 1:5–6). Stir it up, the pastor says: be active, clap, wave banners, dance.

He adds that the Lord rejoices over His people with singing (Zephaniah 3:17), which he describes as God celebrating over us. He also quotes a Spanish-speaking worship leader at a church plant in Green Bay: we say we want to go to heaven to praise God forever, yet we will not even sing here. That, the pastor says, does not make sense.

Worship That Reveals God’s Ways

If praise thanks God for what He does, worship is being still before Him, reverencing Him and listening, so that we can do what He asks. In those quiet times He gives revelation. Worship, he says, is getting to know who He really is.

Moses is his example. Moses went to the tent of meeting regularly and developed a desire to know God. On the mountain he asked to see God’s glory. The Lord placed him in the cleft of the rock, covered him with His hand, and let him see His back, because no one can see His face and live (Exodus 33:18–23). Afterward Moses’ face shone so brightly that Israel could not bear it, and he had to cover it with a veil (Exodus 34:29–35).

Yet God keeps saying, “Seek My face.” The pastor explains the paradox: what dies in His presence are the things in us that hinder a relationship with Him. It is not our effort that removes them.

Under the law, he says, people were so afraid of breaking one of 613 commands that they focused on perfect performance instead of relationship. He points to the man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath and was put to death (Numbers 15:32–36). He observes that the Ten Commandments are mostly about relating to people rather than to God, which suggests relationships with people are harder than relationship with God.

That is why Scripture says God made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel (Psalm 103:7). Israel knew His acts; Moses knew His ways. Praise helps us; it quiets the enemy and calms an unruly mind. Worship changes us.

From the Veil of the Law to a Father

The pastor says the same veil that covered Moses’ face lies over people who live under the old covenant mindset today. He mentions the doom-and-gloom prophecies easily found online that announce God’s curse on the earth. That is not true, he says: all judgment fell on Jesus at the cross. The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

How do you know if the veil is still there? If you believe you are not good enough to have what God wants for you, or that your life falls short of His love being lavished on you, you still have an issue with the law. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:16–17).

God is not only our God; He is our Father. We are born of water at natural birth, but we must also be born of the Spirit (John 3:5), born again of incorruptible seed, the Word of God (1 Peter 1:23). In 2 Corinthians 6:17–18, God says, “Come out from among them and be separate… I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters.”

Coming out, he explains, does not mean retreating into monasteries; he notes that such attempts to escape an unholy world did not produce holiness. It means letting go of what ties you to the world for help and salvation: the belief that more money, a better job or a better spouse will fix you. God says, I will be your Father and your supply.

Being a father, he admits, is the best and the hardest of roles, because a father provides and also disciplines. God chastens those He loves (Hebrews 12:6). In His presence, He may correct us, and we must receive it as for our good. If we walk away, the world’s grip tightens. Our failures never strain our relationship with God, he says, but He wants us to grow, and He does it by drawing us to Himself, not by scolding.

He describes a chain he taught the previous week. Each stage produces the next:

There is a liberating power, he says, in embracing God as Father, not as a sugar daddy but as the One who loves, is kind and merciful, and also corrects. That is why John the Baptist told the Pharisees to bear fruit worthy of repentance (Matthew 3:7–8): their strength was their own skill at the law. Corruption grows on its own like weeds in an untilled field, but good fruit needs good seed, received whether the Father is applauding us or chastening us.

From Faith to Faith, Strength to Strength, Glory to Glory

This is the heart of the message. The pastor adds that Jerusalem above is the mother of us all (Galatians 4:26): we are born from heaven, and we must let God keep sowing seed. Some people stay with the Lord only while it is all love; when correction comes, they leave. Staying open to Him, he says, is worship. Here is how he lays out the three stages:

Faith to faith. The church reads Romans 1:16–18: in the gospel “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.'” Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). He has read the Bible at least a hundred times, he says, and still a verse will suddenly open up. Revelation comes because we keep hearing. Everything God is doing is for our benefit.

He shares a story to show that faith is relationship, not law. His mother, a nurse, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. He says she stood on the healing Scriptures and, by his account, later received word that she was healed. Years later she became ill again, and as he prepared to pray, he says the Lord told him he was doing it only for himself. He told her it was all right with him if she wanted to go to heaven, and two days later she did. Pressing her to fight on, he says, would have been legalism.

Strength to strength. This comes through the assembling of the saints (Hebrews 10:25). He tells of a farmer who prayed that he did not like raw flour, lard or raw eggs, but loved the biscuits once they were baked together. We may dislike the ingredients of a season, but God is bringing something great out of it.

Psalm 84:4–7 says, “Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will still be praising You.” Those whose strength is in Him pass through the Valley of Baca, the valley of weeping, and make it a spring. “They go from strength to strength.” Believers who gather instead of staying home grumbling turn hard places into pools of blessing. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you (James 4:8).

Glory to glory. This comes through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of liberty. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). “We all,” he stresses, not only the pastor. God asks us to obey Him not out of fear of punishment, but so that we can grow and be changed. Life matters, and what we do matters.

Naaman and the Breaking Point

To show why we need each other, the pastor tells the story of Naaman from 2 Kings 5:1–14. Naaman was the most celebrated general in Syria, but he was a leper. A young Israelite servant girl in his house said a prophet in Israel could heal him, and he listened, despite the voices that must have mocked him for taking advice from a little girl.

The king of Israel was alarmed, but Elisha sent word through his servant: go dip seven times in the Jordan. Naaman was furious; Syria had better rivers. Then his servants reasoned with him: if the prophet had asked something hard, wouldn’t you have done it? He went, dipped seven times, and was healed.

Everyone has a breaking point, the pastor says, including him. In those times you need people close to you who will tell you the truth, not just sweet words. That is part of going from strength to strength.

He gives one more picture. Suppose God gives you a promise, and before it is fulfilled everything seems to go wrong, even the place you expected to lead burns down. If you keep hearing what God said, faith to faith, and keep gathering, strength to strength, He may raise up something greater than you imagined. God is not a man that He should lie; if He said it, He will do it (Numbers 23:19).

The glory, he adds, must be God’s. So praise Him at church, at home and in private. He describes walking a couple of miles almost every day, praying and praising at the top of his lungs.

A breaking point, he concludes, is a good place if you keep building an intimate relationship with God. Many people want God only to heal them, fix them or provide for them, but not to know Him. He closes by inviting anyone without Christ to receive a new heart and the Spirit of God, and to call Him Father.

Growing as a Worshiper This Week

These steps come straight from the pastor’s teaching on going from faith to faith, strength to strength, glory to glory:

• Get your praise on. When pressure builds, thank God out loud and, if you can, dance before Him in the morning.
• Be still and listen. Set aside quiet time to worship, so you learn God’s ways and not only His acts.
• Keep hearing the Word. Read and listen to the same truths again and again, in good times and bad.
• Do not skip the assembly. On hard weeks, come anyway; that is where strength to strength happens.
• Receive correction. When the Father corrects you, stay open instead of walking away.
• Let go of worldly props. Name one thing you lean on for security and give it to God as your Father.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 Becoming worshipers: praise and worship
• 1:06 Psalm 8: praise stills the enemy
• 2:15 Ten days of dancing like David
• 3:20 It is God’s house
• 4:20 Praise is for you, not God’s ego
• 5:25 Timothy: stir up the gift
• 7:28 Zephaniah 3 and a Green Bay church plant
• 8:45 Worship and Moses on the mountain
• 11:09 Living under 613 laws
• 12:40 Israel knew His acts, Moses His ways
• 15:27 The veil and knowing God as Father
• 16:56 Come out from among them
• 19:30 A Father who also disciplines
• 23:30 Worship, revelation and intimacy
• 30:00 Corruption grows on its own
• 32:46 Faith to faith, strength to strength, glory to glory
• 36:31 Romans 1: from faith to faith
• 39:04 Romans 10:17: keep hearing
• 42:12 His mother’s story
• 45:38 Strength to strength and the farmer’s biscuits
• 48:09 Psalm 84: the Valley of Baca
• 51:49 2 Corinthians 3:18: glory to glory
• 53:10 Naaman and the breaking point
• 1:01:25 Relationship and invitation

From Faith to Faith Series

This is the first message in a four-part series at NTC Ministries. Continue with the next teaching:

• You are here: From Faith to Faith, Strength to Strength, Glory to Glory: Becoming Worshipers
• Next: From Faith to Faith, Strength to Strength, Glory to Glory, Part 2 — Making the Valley of Baca a Well

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to dance or raise my hands to worship?

The pastor encourages expressive praise, such as clapping, dancing, shouting and waving banners, because he believes praise breaks the enemy’s onslaught and that church is God’s house, not ours. But he also teaches that worship includes being still before God, reverencing Him and listening. The point is not a style but giving yourself fully to God instead of holding back out of fear of what others think.

Does my failure damage my relationship with God?

According to this message, no. The pastor says our fallibility never strains our relationship with God. God does want us to change, but He does it by drawing us to Himself, not by scolding. He says God wants us to have faith in Him rather than live in fear of our failures, which is what life under the law produced.

Why does the pastor say heaven is our mother?

He points to Galatians 4:26, which says Jerusalem above is the mother of us all. His point is that a born-again believer is born from heaven by the seed of God’s Word. Just as a child keeps receiving from its parents, we must keep letting God sow His Word into us, whether that comes as encouragement or as correction.

Scripture References

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

• Romans 1:16–18 — from faith to faith
• Romans 10:17 — faith comes by hearing
• Psalm 84:4–7 — from strength to strength
• 2 Corinthians 3:18 — from glory to glory
• Psalm 8:2 — strength that silences the enemy
• 2 Timothy 1:5–6 — stir up the gift
• Exodus 33:18–23 — Moses sees God’s glory
• Psalm 103:7 — His ways and His acts
• 2 Corinthians 6:17–18 — I will be a Father to you
• 2 Kings 5:1–14 — Naaman healed

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

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