I get to listen to what I've got to say here. I want you to open up your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Kings chapter number 18. 1 Kings chapter number 18. I really appreciate all the work that's gone into the place this week. A lot of work accomplished on the buildings. And as you can see, you actually can see the building now from the street. That's a wonderful thing. It's been going very well. and appreciate all those that have been involved. Jeremiah got a lot of work done out front today. I'm sure you noticed the nice new bark and just the landscaping, and he's been working very hard with that and others with the plants as well, and really appreciate that. And this is God's house, and we ought to take care of it. And God is continuing to bless and provide for us, and I'm so thankful that he does that, and I'm so thankful that we get to be a part of it. First Kings chapter number 18, and we're going to start reading in verses 17 and read down through verse number 24. First Kings chapter number 18, if you find that, would you go ahead and stand one more time? Give you one last chance to stretch here for a second. First Kings chapter number 18 and verse number 17, And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Balaam. Now therefore send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophet of Baal 450, and the prophets of the groves 400. which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. Let them, therefore, give us two bullocks, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under. And I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under. And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord. And the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, it is well spoken. And here we have a familiar passage of scripture, of course, where we're going to find out who the real God is. And it's a wonderful thing to see God do some miracles in our lives. And we see several miracles in the Bible. And these are real life things that actually happen. And the title of this message, Is Your God Real? Is Your God Real? These guys knew he was real. They saw it firsthand. And what a blessing it is. We'll pray. And after I pray, you can be seated. Father, thank you, Lord, for all the truths of the Bible that you've given us. Boy, miracle after miracle that you've revealed to us through these pages. And God, I pray that you'll help us to know you're real in our lives still today. God, I pray that that you'll help me to just reveal your word as we look up some passages of scripture and think on the things, Lord, that you've done in the past and maybe give a few testimonies of how you're still working today. God, you are real in our lives. Lord, I don't want to go through this wicked world without knowing you're real. Help us to understand that you are a real live God that wants to work in our lives. And I pray you'll speak to every heart here today. Lord, I realize we're all tired. Many of us have worked long hours this week and even today. And God, I pray that you'll help us to be attentive, help us to get exactly what we need from your word and use me, God, to be a part of that. And the Holy Spirit, Lord, as he speaks to our hearts, and we'll praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Is your God real? So here we have a challenge here between Elijah and Ahab. And Elijah, of course, God sent Elijah to do this thing here. And I want to step back, actually, if we can look back, if you want to, maybe there in that passage there, if you look back chapter number 17, or maybe you can refer back to that if you'd like to. But this man, Elijah, what a man of God. Boy, you hear some of these stories and you think it's amazing that God used such a man of God. And Elijah was a powerful man. God blessed him and God did some miraculous things through Elijah. And I look back in chapter number 17 and There was a three-year drought in the land. And here's in the Bible, in chapter number 17, God commands the ravens to feed Elijah. How would you like to be fed by ravens? And trusting the Lord. And then he would drink from the brook Cherith until, because of the drought, it dried up. And then now where's he going to go? And then God told him to go to Zarephath, where where he was fed by a poor widow woman. You remember the story where God sends him to this widow woman and she's got one meal left and the barrel's almost empty and she's got just a little bit of oil left and a little bit of meal left and God sends Elijah to her to ask for that last meal. What a bold preacher. Hey, I know you're about ready to die, you and your son, you're going to have your last meal, but I want you to feed me first and then you can feed yourself. I always thought that was a unique story, but that's what God wanted him to do. And sure enough, she did exactly what the prophet had asked To do and she cooked that meal and made cakes for him and and fed them and then remember we saw them She saw the miracle how how God continued to provide and and she never ran out of meal She never ran out of oil and God continued to provide and she saw a real live miracle How many have ever seen a miracle like that where God provided something for you? And many of you raised your hand and you've seen miracles in your lives I don't know about you. But when I see a miracle that I know God did that that does something for me and It just does something for me. In fact, I don't want to live my life without knowing that God can do miracles. I mean, we live in a God-forsaken world. Why would we want to stay here if there wasn't a real God? And that's what I want to challenge you tonight. Hey, do you see some miracles that maybe God's performed in your life and you know your God's real? So then later on, her son gets sick there in chapter 17 as well. And then he dies and Elijah prays and asks for his life to come back. And sure enough, miracle number two, I mean, her son was dead. And he arose from the grave. What an awesome thing. And then all of a sudden, in verse number 24 of chapter number 17, it says this here. It says, the woman said unto Elijah, said to Elijah, now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord that's in thy mouth is truth. Hey, this this woman knew that her god was real She saw something real and and young people one of the reasons I asked for the tj to keep you in here It's a shame that many of our our teenagers, uh, they get out of high school And they they they get out into the real world maybe go off to college or maybe go into the workforce And and and and they're done with church And they kind of get out of the will of God. And they quit on God. Because you had to come to church because mom and dad brought you to church. And you had to come to church because it's maybe required for your education, or whatever it may be. And that may not be the case. I'm not saying that's the case. But many of you are here because you want to be here. I'm sure most of you are. But many times we see this, where young people get out of the will of God. And I'll tell you what I believe part of it is. God's not real to them. God's just not real. Why would you want to live for God if he wasn't real in your life? And you know, this lady here saw a couple miracles here. And God did some real things there. And I want you to understand, young people, and all of us need to understand this, our God is real. Our God is real. God is able to do anything he wants to. And we need to see that he's real in our lives. And if you don't see that, you know what I would do? This is what I'm doing. Beg God to show you he's real. I wouldn't go to church just because I have to go to church, just because it's the right thing to do. I want to go to church because I want to be in church. Hey, when you show up and when you walk through these doors, I hope you come in and say, boy, I hope that God's going to give me something that I need, because God's real. Every day you wake up, you ought to pray and say, God, I want you to give me something that I need or use me somehow, because Lord, you're real. I want you to show yourself real to me today. Well, that's worth living for. And it's exciting to see God do that. And then when it brings us to chapter number 18, and God sends Elijah to go meet Ahab here, as we mentioned, and gives Ahab a challenge here. And Ahab got to go first. They already made the altar. They've already cut the bullock. They put him in the altar. And he cries down from his gods. And he's hoping that his god's going to light the fire. Nothing happens. Call him again. Maybe he's sleeping, you know, and I love the story Elijah's just mocking the guy like hey, you know, they start cutting themselves, you know the story I'm sure well and and nothing happens because there was no real God there because Ahab's God was not the real God and then all of a sudden Elijah it was his turn and I like how Elijah handles this thing. He says, I don't want there to be any confusion here. He said, I want the whole world, I want everybody that's here to understand that God is God. And what does he do? Of course, he's got the bowl up there. He's got the 12 stones that represent the 12 tribes of Israel. And he sets up the altar. And he's got the wood there. And everything's set up and ready to go. And then he brings in, he said, bring in four barrels of water and drown that thing. Water and fire just don't usually mix. And then he says, I want to make sure that everybody understands this here. Four barrels isn't enough. So he says, let's bring four more in. And he drowns it again. He said, that's not enough. Let's do it again. 12 barrels of water to drown this altar out and then He calls upon the name of the Lord verse number 37 chapter number 18. He says hear me. Oh Lord hear me That this people may know I love that word that these people may know that thou art the Lord God and that thou has turned their heart back again and Fire came down, it consumed the burnt sacrifice, it consumed the wood, it consumed the stones. The Bible said it consumed the dust, and it licked up the water. That's my God. Is that your God? I mean, is your God real like that? Have you ever seen God do a miracle like that in your life? I'd like to see that. I've never seen that happen, where God just did that. But I have seen miracles in my life, and many of you have seen miracles in your life. And you know what? I'm challenging my Sunday school class with this on a regular basis, and I want to do the same thing, because I'm tired of living a mediocre life. I'm tired of just going through the motions. I'm tired of just getting up every day and just reading my Bible because I'm supposed to read my Bible and spending time in prayer because I'm supposed to. I want to see God. I want to see God. I want to know that God is working in my life. I want to know that God is a powerful God. I mean, we read it in the Bible and we hear testimonies of how God may be working through different people in the Bible, but I want to know that my God's real. Are you there with me? Do you want to know God? I mean, do you want to know your God is real? There's so many people in the Christian life that live a religion. What a miserable life to live. And many of us have been there maybe, and maybe you're there right now, and you're like, man, what's the use? Why do I even keep going? Hey, listen, I'm telling you something. There is a real God in heaven, and He's alive today. We gave an illustration here how God came down, and there's only one explanation for what took place right there at that altar. Look, it's God. That's the only explanation, and God did that. Have you ever experienced something that only God could have done? I was thinking of Daniel. Here's a man, 80-some years old, and he's thrown into the lion's den. What an amazing thing. for standing for right and doing what he's always done and just praying to his God. Look at Daniel chapter number six. Daniel chapter number six and verse number 20. Daniel 6 and verse 20 says, and when he came to the den, he cried. So he was cast into the lion's den. Of course, the king didn't like the idea that he had to be cast. He liked Daniel. And all of a sudden now, he's standing there and he comes and the king, look at verse number 19, then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel. And the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest, continually able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angels, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me forasmuch as before him innocence he was found in me. And also before the old king have I done no hurt. I like what it says there in verse number 22. He says my god Hey is your god is god your god? Have you made God your God? Hey, if you have a miracle-working God in your life, He's your God. And it's a wonderful thing when you see God do that in your life. Daniel saw a miracle in his life. Moses and the children of Israel, they saw a miracle in the parting of the Red Sea. Look at Exodus chapter number 14 and verse number 31. Let me just read it to you. I've got it written down here. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians. And the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord His servant Moses. Hey, you know why I believe God allowed those types of things to happen I mean they were coming out of Egypt as you know the story and and God used an amazing man to be able to have a part in that Moses and and now they're all of a Sudden he just pulled him out of Egypt and now they're standing before the Red Sea It's like God you brought us all the way this far only so we could die. What's going on here. I Well, sometimes God allows tragic things or allows obstacles in our life so that we have to learn to Depend upon him and trust him through those through those obstacles. And again, what did God do? God part the Red Sea and the children of Israel got to see God What a powerful thing And you can have the same thing happen to you today. What about David? Hey, teenagers, what about David? He took a stand for right. He took a stand for what he believed in. He stood up against fear. He stood up against a giant and slew Goliath. And in 1 Samuel 17, verse 46, it says, this day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand. and I will smite thee and take thine head from thee, and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth. Here it is, that all the earth may know that there's a God in Israel." Hey, you know what I'd like to see happen with our teenage group and I think I think we have this happening brother TJ You're doing a great job with our teenagers and parents are doing a great job with the teenagers But I'd like to see our our teenagers get on fire for God that they have a boldness of God to where they stand for right no matter what everybody else is doing but they stand for right and they get the power of God on their lives and They don't care about what everybody else thinks but they just want the power of God on their lives Hey, what happened to the generation of young people that says yeah, I just want God's power in my life Don't don't worry about what everybody else thinks that what everybody else says about you. Hey, man, let's just get on fire for God I'll tell you what if one of you teenagers was get the power of God in your life and get on fire for God. Hey It'll grow It'll spread. Just like these fires we've had going around, they're hard to put out. Hey, if you'll just get on fire, if one of you would just say, hey, look, I'm just gonna set my soul on fire, it'll spread. And God could use you in an amazing way. Hey, if you'd figure out, if you'd get on your face and say, God, I wanna know you like you're my God. I wanna see the power of God in my life that I know it's you, dear God. Well, if you'd get on your face and just say, God, I want you to do something supernatural that I know I could never do in the flesh, that nobody else could ever do in the flesh, that nothing, it's only you, God. If you can get sincere and get a hunger and a thirst after that kind of righteousness, after that kind of a God, it's amazing what God could do with the teenagers. It's amazing what God could do with a church, a Grandview Baptist Church, if a teenager got on fire for God like David did. That's something to think about, teenagers. Get God in your life. If you've never seen God do something miraculous in your life, teenagers, why don't you ask God to do that for you? Why don't you ask Him? Why don't you ask him? Because he will show himself real to you. David knew the power of God because God has worked in his life time and time again. That's why he could stand up against Goliath with boldness and power because he knew his God was real. There's not one thing you teenagers couldn't face if you knew God was for you and God would help you through it. That's the power of God. That's the power of God that only God can give to you, and you could stand for Christ. The Apostle Paul said this here. He said, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, Philippians 3.10. Hey, do you know him? Have you seen his power personally? It's one thing to know about God. It's another thing to know God. We understand that. These are all reminders. Let me give you just another illustration. You three boys right here, why don't you come up here real quick. This is our modern day Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were probably just as goofy looking as these guys back in that day. These are fine young men right here. Well, this one's okay. This is my son over here. These are fine young men. I love these guys. These are wonderful men. These are men that stand for right. Why don't you guys bow down to that idol right there? We'd say, T.J., but don't do that. No. Why don't you guys bow down to that? Why don't you bow down to the idol? Come on. Why not? Just bow down to it. No, they don't want to bow down to it because they love their God. And hey, if you don't bow down to it, the fire's going to come, and you're going to wish you'd bow down to that thing. You're going to be the fire, Brother Chris. Wake up, Brother Chris. Wake up. Get over here. Get over here, Red. Get over here. You get to be the fire. You get to be the fire. Stand up and come over here and just be their fire. Come on over here. Come on. You can fan the fire. All right? I like it when Pastor uses me because it helps me stay awake, so that's what I'm doing here. You get to be the fire. Just be the fire, man. We're just having fun here. That's what fire does, man. Just like that, all right? What a goose I am. Anyway, no, I'm just kidding. Don't ever use me in an illustration like this, OK? Here's the fire, all right? Hey, why don't you guys bow down? Hey, we're going to get this fire seven times hotter. You better bow down. Not to the fire, to the idol over here, all right? Hey, they get thrown into the fiery furnace. They get thrown into the fiery furnace. All of a sudden, all of a sudden, King looks out here and he says, wow, these guys are in the fiery furnace. You guys are walking around like, wow, this is awesome, man. They're in the midst of the fire. They're in the midst of the fire right here. Look at this. Man. All of a sudden, the fourth guy gets in there. King's looking and he's like, there's a fourth guy, man. There he is. The likeness of the Son of God. I don't know if it really was the Son of God now. But anyway, no, it was. All right? And hey, if that was Brother TJ that was one of these boys, he'd be looking at that and he'd say, hey, what's up, homie? Give me some knucks, you know what I mean? And hey, go ahead and be seated. I just did that, I don't know why I did that, probably just to change up the monotony, I guess. Hey, but there's some boys right there, the Hebrew children, that they knew their God was real. Wouldn't that be an awesome thing to be in the fire and God Himself showed up in the midst? Good job, fellas. Man, you stood the test. Hey, this wasn't a made-up story in the Bible, that really happened. I mean, that really happened. I don't know that you really believe that. Do you? I mean, do you really believe that really happened? You know, I have to ask myself that question sometimes. Did these things really happen? I mean, is Jesus really real? Is God really real? And you might be super Christian, and you might be, yeah, I know God's real. Do you really know God's real? How many people are quitting on God, and they've gone to church all their life, and they act like, man, we got this thing down, and we got it all together, and then something happens, someone rubs them the wrong way, or whatever, I don't know, something may happen. All of a sudden, God's not real anymore? I mean, is God really real in your life? I don't know about you, but I want to know that God's real. I don't want to just go through the motions and hope that I'm going to heaven when I die. Although it is a faith, I understand that. It takes faith. None of us have never been there. We weren't there when the Bible was written. But hey, listen, I know God's real. I know God's real. And I'm asking God to show himself to me on a regular basis because I want to know that I know that I know that God is real in my life. I don't want to get up and just, and just live a superficial life. I want to know that God's real. Hey, young people, listen, if you want to make it in this world, you're going to have to know your God is real. If you're going to stand against wrong, if you're going to stand for right in this God forsaken world, your God is going to have to be real. I'm just telling you, you're not going to make it. You're going to get out from the rules of a mom and dad or the school or whatever it may be. If your God's not real, you're just not going to make it. Your God better be real. Hey, we need the same thing. It's not just for teenagers. It's for adults It could you could have been saved for 30 40 years. We need to know God's real I'm just saying we need to know that God is real We serve a miracle-working God he's all-powerful He's all-knowing and by the way, he never changes these things happen in the Bible of old and they'll happen today God can still work miracles Why do I preach this kind of a message? Maybe just for myself. I don't know. I just I want to ask you have you lost your fervor? Have you lost your fight? Have you lost your zeal? Have you lost your excitement for God? Have you lost your excitement for lost souls? Listen many of us have been saved for a long time and and if we're not careful We just get up every day because we know it's right to do we get our Bibles out and read it That's not a bad thing There's nothing wrong with just going to church because it's what you're supposed to do. But you know what would be awesome? If it was real. If it was real. And I think you understand what I'm talking about there. Maybe you left your first love, and you need to get back to a real God. Maybe you lost your passion. Maybe we need to get it back. I want to see God working in my life. I want to see God do the impossible. I've just got a little bit left here, but I want to give you some just personal things that God has just done in my life. And I know some of these things you may like, yeah, this is kind of stupid. To me these particular illustrations was just another opportunity for God to say that was me That was me and and this is what this is the kind of stuff I'm looking for all the time, you know, we first moved here as many of you know, it was just quite a struggle and And you know and God has really done quite a work. I love it here now people have asked me Hey, you're not leaving. Are you I hope not. I don't want to move again. I But God has really done a transformation in my life. He really has. I was just thinking, though, back when we first came here, I mean, we were only here for just a short time, maybe just three or four months, I forget. Somebody had given us a nice gift to help take care of some Christmas gifts for our kids, and that was a blessing, that was wonderful. And I was sitting over here, I think I was sitting right over here, one of these sections over here, we're having a bus meeting. And somebody that I'd only known just for a short time, and they weren't even here that long, they came up and they gave me an envelope. And I stuck it in my coat and didn't think much of it. I just, oh, thank you, you know, and I listened to the bus meeting. And later on, I got home and I opened it up and there was 10 $100 bills in there. I'm thinking, Lord, you've already met our needs. You know, we were able to have a nice Christmas and things like that. And right around that time, I'm thinking, I don't, what did you give me this for? I didn't know what to expect. Know what was going on. I told my wife, I said, we better hang on to this because there might be some reason that we need that. Sure enough, I got a call from my realtor, pipes were frozen up and I had to go back, fly back to Pennsylvania and get the trailer fixed up and fix the pipes. And the Lord took care of all of that. And that was exactly what we needed. That thousand dollars was exactly what I needed to get that need taken care of. I thought only God could do that. I thought only God could do that. And I love that. And that was exciting. And I know there could, I never told anybody, of course, I didn't even know I had the need. He took care of the need before I even had it. And they said, this is from a mutual friend. I don't even know who gave it. I don't even know who actually gave it to me. It's a wonderful thing, but God did it. With this, a couple years ago, we were putting in this playground out here. Many of our folks got to help with that, and that was a joy to be able to do that. And we were getting into our wet season, and like, Lord, we really got to get this playground finished. You know, we've got a lot of dirt out there, and when you get dirt wet, it gets muddy, and that's not good. The kid's tracking in the building. You know, we need to get some bark chips out here. And so that was back when the Swonger's parents were here, and they were jumping in to help. And Brandon was helping us out. And I was teaching a couple math classes. And I taught those two math classes. I said, Brandon, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go down. I want you to get a machine. We needed like 200 yards of bark chips, cedar chips, 200 yards. The day before, I had gone down and checked down here where we were going to get it. And they had more than 200 yards sufficient. I said, I need you to go down there. We borrowed somebody's trailer. Packed in 18 yards in that one trailer. It was a lift trailer. And I said, Brandon, I need you to go down and get some machinery over here. And we'll get that going. And we'll try to move that as quick as we can. That morning, I had prayed. I said, God, we have got to get this done today. Lord, we really need your help. And I was earnestly praying that God would help us to get that project done today. And when he went down to the rental place, all the tractors were rented out. He went down to the bark chips. Mind you, the day before, there was plenty of bark. He went down there. There wasn't even enough for one load. I'm like, gee, thanks, God. Wasn't exactly what I was thinking, you know. I mean, I was hoping we'd get this done today. We had people lined up to help, things like that. I'll be honest with you, I was having a little bit of a pity party, as you might as well understand. I was a little upset with God, and I'm like, God, what in the world? Good night. And I believed because I asked God that he was going to answer my prayer. I really believed that. And I was kind of having a fit with God. It's like, Lord, what are you trying to do here? I don't understand why you didn't answer my prayer. God, I really felt like this is what you wanted me. I felt like today was going to be the day. Why didn't you answer my prayer? And I got a little upset with God. And I made a phone call, and it was somewhere here in Oregon City, and I said, do you guys have any bark chips? You know, we're just trying to figure this thing out. And lo and behold, not only did they have bark chips, but they were able to bring a semi-truck of bark chips out here, and they blew the whole thing in in one day. Yeah, amen. There is no way. If we actually did it the way I was going to do it, there is no way we would have got it done today. That day, there's no way. But God answered my prayer. Hey, listen to me. Now you may think, oh, that's just coincidence. But it wasn't coincidence to me, that was God. I don't know about you, but I was pretty excited that day when we got to stand and watch somebody else do the work that we prayed about and God took care of it. That was a blessing. And I go back to that, I'm like, God, that was awesome. I love that. And it's a wonderful thing. Another one here. I was in my Sunday school class. They've heard all these. They're probably bored to death by now. But so we had somebody shut off the the septic tanks back there. Don't do that, please. I've locked them up now. It backed up. There was like two or three inches of water in the lower floor down there in the educational building. And I'm thinking, OK, I don't know what to do. Pipes must be plugged. So I pulled the drain cap, and I was going to router it out. And lo and behold, I figured out that somebody shut it off. So I went and turned the pump back on, and it sucked all the water out. But it had this drain cap cover off. And I put the screws on the back of my tailgate. And so I finally went back to go put those screws back in there and it dawned on me, I forgot about those screws, I had closed the tailgate and so they've got to be somewhere down there on the ground. I'm looking for a long time and it was one of those things, God please help me find these things. You ever lost something and you're just like, God please help me to find these things? And I was begging God. I'm like, Lord, I know they're just little bolts, but I don't want to go down to the store and figure out which bolts they are. I got to get this and that. And I'm begging God. And I'm, and I know it seems like the littlest thing, but I'm like, God, please help me to find these things. I was just begging him. I'm like, God, you know, you can show me where these things are at. Why won't you show me where they're at? I was getting a little upset about it. Everything. I left. I finally couldn't find them. Like, okay, whatever. No big deal. Pulled out, I had my truck back down there in that area. I pulled out of there, drove all the way around whatever. I drove home. Next day I come back, parked my truck, bounced around back here in the back. And I taught my math classes again. Came back out there. I was still consumed that God did not show those to me. I was still consumed about that. See, my father-in-law one time had, I'm going to digress here for just a second, but he told me, he asked me, he said, do you guys get a house yet? I said, no. Huh. I've been praying about that. As if God was actually going to answer his prayer. That convicted me. He really believed that God would answer his prayer. I mean, he really believed that. That convicted me. And I was going back to that, and that's what was going on in my mind at this time. God, you know you can show me where these things are at. Why won't you? And I was under, and I'm like, God, you have got to answer my prayer. I believed that God was gonna show those to me, folks. I went back out there one more time. Mind you, I had already driven home. I had bounced around all over the place. I went back out here. My truck was sitting out here. I looked underneath there. And I wish you could see it. I wish you could go out to my truck and see. The tailgate had opened up. It closed. But setting right on the, what do you call that thing where you put the hitch in? It wasn't the bumper, but it was the hitch, the little hitch, the receiver hitch, right? And it was sitting, both of them were sitting on top of that. Both of them. I'm looking at that thing, I'm like, that's not even possible. I'm thinking, if it even fell on there and landed on that area, that would be a miracle. But it stayed there all the way home and all the way back here. Now, I know that's the craziest little thing, but I was excited that day. You know why? Because God was just saying, hey, listen, I'm real. You see what I'm talking about? Listen, if we don't experience those kinds of things, what's the life worth living for? Why are we living the Christian life if we don't experience God that way? These guys were experiencing it in the Bible. God is if he if he is the same today and isn't change. Why can't we experience those things today? God is amazing. I Have a couple in my class that Brett and Megan Kemp and They got word that Megan has cancer And man, we were just, I mean, it was like bad, like it was already progressed quite a bit from what I understand. I mean, it was for sure, she's got this cancer. I mean, they're just ate up about it. And we're like, what's going on? And they went back a couple of weeks later. Now listen, Brett was telling me, he was explaining to me again the other day. He said, there was no doubt that she had cancer. I mean, the CAT scan, everything showed that there's absolutely no doubt she has cancer. A couple of weeks later, she goes back and the doctors are like, we can't explain it. There's nothing there. There's nothing there. Let me tell you what Brett said to our class. He said, you know, and he was just being real, he was just being honest. He said, you know, my wife and I had, you know, we just weren't quite seeing eye to eye. And we were having little squirmishes. But when we found out she had cancer, all of a sudden, those little things didn't mean anything. You know, God can do whatever He wants to do. And God can use cancer, if He has to, to get us right with Him, or whatever it may be. Hey, let's just let God be God, and let's just trust Him. Let's just trust him. They saw a miracle take place and there's no denying it. They know that God performed that miracle I told you the story and I'm almost done here, but I told you the story about how I was of course I'm selling windows with Kemp's windows and and I told you the story I still my class same thing and it was along these same lines I said I want to see God do something real That was the whole purpose of it I wanted to see God bless some of you heard many of you heard the story, but maybe haven't so I'll tell it again. I And I thought I had a big lead coming up, and I thought, Lord, Lord, just put on my heart. I want to give something to the building fund. And so I just prayed, and I even told my class about it, told my father-in-law. He's a praying man, and told others about it. And they were praying. Everybody's praying that I could get this big lead, because I wanted to be able to give my profits that I would make on that lead to the building fund. And really what I was looking for, and I told my class, I want to see God do it. I don't want it to be something that I worked out. I want to see God do it. That's what I was really looking for. And that's what I'm always looking for. I want to see God do it. Sure enough, I go out on this lead. It was on a Monday. I get out there, and it was just the complete opposite. It was nothing. It was a piece of glass. Well, I guess it's almost embarrassing, to be honest with you, praying about this thing. It's like, God, I thought you were going to do something. Now I have to go back to my class and tell them it was two pieces of glass. You know, I was a little embarrassed about it. But then Tuesday I went to another appointment. And we were talking, and I'm selling the windows to these people here. And we got to talking about lead times, I think, is what it was that actually got that going. And they said, how long is it going to take? I said, well, it's probably about two months out right now. And I said, I work at a church in Oregon City. And I said, we're having a hard time just finding people to come out and give us an estimate. And we got to talking about that. Oh, have you heard about this group here that comes out and helps build buildings? And we got talking about church a little bit and things like that. And so I'm writing up the sale. And the Lord's like tugging on my heart. Here's a family that's a Christian family. We're talking about the building fund. It's like neon lights going off. The one yesterday was not the one. Today is the one that I wanted you. This is the one you're looking for. So I write it up and everything, and they write me the check. And I told the lady, I said, you guys are going to appreciate this. I want to tell you the story. And I told her what was going on there and how I wanted to give that to her. I said, the commission that I'm making off of this sale is going towards our building fund. They just thought that was great. $2,000, they said, we'll give to the building fund. I thought, man, praise God. What was powerful about it is that God did it. I thought that was pretty cool. Then she wrote another check to the church for another $1,000 just to our building fund. I thought, it doesn't get any better, God. It's not about the money. It's not about the amount. But God did it. I was thinking of this this week. You know, Brother Chris had mentioned about, you know, giving $500. I think I mentioned this to my boys. I said, you know what would be neat? If a group of teenagers got together and somehow raised $500 so that they could give that and actually give $1,000 to the building fund. I thought, wouldn't that be awesome? That a group of teenagers would do that. And so there it is. There's your challenge. See if you can do it. And we'll see how that goes. God can do it. God could do it. I'd like to see that. I think that'd be an awesome thing. One last story here. Kind of goes along the lines with what my father-in-law was saying when he asked if we had found a house yet. Huh. I just can't believe that God didn't answer my prayer. Huh. Gabe Stevens was telling me this. We were discipling him and Leanne on Sunday night. And Gabe said this last Sunday. Cameron Howell, I don't know if he's in here, he's probably in, I think he's in Iwanus, but Gabe was telling the story. He said, yeah, Cameron came up to me and asked me, he says, how did your Sunday school class go today? It's all man. We had a great day, man. We had a great attendance. It was a great spirit We gave it gave quite a bit of money for the for the missions conference. It was just a great day He said good. So I prayed for you last night and We have our men's our men get together our staff get together. We pray on Saturday nights and Cameron was going there Looking for that blessing because he was looking for a return on his prayer request You know, here's the problem We believe that God is real We know He's real. We just don't do anything with it. I mean, we say we believe that God's real. We say we believe that God can do it. Our problem is we just don't ask Him to. Hey, we have not because we ask not. I don't know about you, that convicts me. That really convicts me. I want to see that God's real and I want to see God do something powerful. When was the last time that you personally saw God do something in your life that you knew could only be done by God? This verse here, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened. That is a promise from an almighty God that can do anything. And we just need to trust him to do that. Hey, let me ask you something. Is your God real? Is your God real? I hope he is. Let's pray. Father, Lord, I hope that you'll speak to every heart here. God, I know that you've just challenged me with this in recent days that I need to see you working in my life. And I pray, God, that we can have that same thing. Lord, I pray that if there was just one here tonight, that you set their soul on fire again. There might be somebody here that was just right on the verge of quitting, and Lord, they just need a fresh anointing of your power. And God, I hope that maybe that could take place tonight. Lord, there might be somebody here tonight that doesn't even know for sure, I mean 100% without a doubt that they're going to heaven because they just don't know the real God yet. And Lord, if that's the case, I pray you'll help them to get that settled because you are a real God. You can save us unconditionally. It's not because of our goodness, it's because of your goodness. Help us to get that settled.