Matthew 17, going through the Gospel of Matthew on Sunday morning. We are at verse number 14. Matthew 17 and verse number 14. And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him, that is to Jesus, a certain man, kneeling down to him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic and sore vexed. For oft times he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief. For verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove. And nothing shall be impossible unto you, howbeit This kind goes not out but by prayer and fasting. The scene that I just read to you immediately follows and is directly related to the scene in the passage before, which is the Mount of Transfiguration. You remember that Jesus had taken three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, up into a mountain for a season of prayer. And on that mountain, the Father allowed the glory of Christ to break through that veil of flesh for the disciples to see Christ in His full glory. We call it the Transfiguration after verse number 2. The Bible says that His face shone like the sun and His garment was as white as light. on that mountaintop, Elijah and Moses also made an appearance. So the disciples are privileged to see something that no man has ever been able to see. But now the Lord and those disciples come off of that mountain. They come back to the other disciples and a multitude that is waiting for them. One of the first people that they encounter is a father who has a son who is plagued by a devil. And he beseeches the Lord to help him with his son. His son is described in very pitiful terms. He's possessed of a demon that is torturing him. The point of the story is not to tell you that Jesus has authority over demons. Because that point has been made several times throughout the Gospels. But the point of the story is as a background for the failure of the disciples to cast out that demon. Evidently this father has brought his son to those nine disciples who had been left behind. They had earnestly tried to cast out the devil and they had utterly failed. Jesus does what they could not do, the man goes his way. And then sometimes later, the disciples, bothered by their own failure, get in a private conversation with the Lord, and their question is, why did we not have the power to perform that miracle? Now, at first glance, there's a number of lessons that we can take from this story. One of the most obvious is that you cannot live on a mountaintop and still help people. You remember Peter had wanted to build three tabernacles up there on the Mount of Transfiguration and let's just stay up here. But the problem is that down below there are real people with real problems that we are called to minister to. And you cannot sit in your ivory palaces and still have any kind of ministry. You have to touch people if you're going to be able to reach people. It's good to come to church and have a good church service, but if it stops there, then of what use is it? There's a world out there that is hurting. There's a song that we sing sometimes that has the phrase, how can we reach a world that we never touch? It's good to have mountaintop experiences. It's good to see the glory. But you can't be so heavily minded that you are of no earthly good. I believe when you come to church, it ought to be a glorious experience. I don't like boring church. You might be able to tell, I don't like slow church. I don't like quiet. Man, when I come to church, I want to worship God and I want the Spirit to be moved and I want you to leave revived and charged up and excited about Jesus, but it better not stop there. Because this week you're going to rub shoulders with hurting people and confused people and unsaved people and we take what we experience in the mountaintop experiences of our Christianity and we go into a lost world and we share Christ with them. So one of the lessons is you can't just live on a mountaintop. I think another lesson that we take from this story is that after great victories often comes great defeats. One of the most glorious scenes in the gospel is followed by one of the most glaring defeats in the gospel. And how many of you know that you can be on a mountaintop on Monday and be in the dumps on Tuesday? I mean, you can come to church and leave church shouting in your soul on Sunday night. And tomorrow your boss cusses you out and all that shout just leaves, huh? Because there's real life that we have to deal with. Nobody, nobody just stays on the mountaintop. Values and defeats are a part of all of our lives. And in fact, the mountaintop experience strengthens us and prepares us for the low spots and both are necessary. Because if you just live on a mountaintop, you would be of no good to men because you would be full of pride is what you would do. But God sends you valleys every once in a while, but if you lived in the valley all the time, then you would be so defeated you wouldn't be of help to anybody either. And so, there's lessons to be taken. The focus of the story is this. Why could not we cast him out? It is the failure of the disciples. And it's a very troubling question to all. And there's a reason why. I want you to hold your finger here. I want you to come back to Matthew chapter number 10. Matthew chapter number 10. This is several months prior. The Lord sends these disciples out two by two on a preaching tour. And I want you to look at Matthew 10 and look at verse number 1. When He had called unto Him His twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out. and heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Look at verse number 7. He says, As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Here it is. Here's your ministry. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. Now, what's troubling them in Matthew 17 is that months prior, He had given them the power to do the very thing they failed to do. He gave them the power to cure the sicknesses. He gave them power to cast out devils. Now, I believe that Matthew 10 is apostolic power. I believe it is given to them while they're preaching a kingdom message to a Jewish audience. You don't have this power today. I want to make that clear. But it's given them that power. Hold your finger here. Go to Mark chapter 6. Mark chapter 6. Not only were they given the power, but they exercised the power. Matthew chapter number 6. Look at your book. Verse number 12. The Bible says they went out and preached that men should repent and they cast out many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them. They've been given the power, they have gone out and they have done those very things. But something has happened between Matthew 10 and Matthew 17 and they have lost the power that God has given them. And with a father begging them, with a son being tortured, with nine disciples trying, they could not make that devil come out of that boy. Well, I wonder why? And it bothered them. What happened? What happened to the power that you bestowed us? Why could we not do that? By the way, I believe that we would be okay to draw a parallel in that story to the church today. Because we pray all the time for the power of God in our lives and the power of God in our church. And we recognize that we need the power of God on our behalf. And without the power of God, my preaching is in vain. Without the power of God, your witnessing is weak. Without the power of God, our prayers go unanswered. However, the western church Western Christianity has for a large part lost the touch and has lost the power of God. We come to church and we sing and we preach and we testify. And if we're good enough, we can manufacture a good church service. We can manipulate the order of the service, manipulate the crowd, so that everybody leaves and says, boy, that was good and we enjoyed it. And a lot of preachers have become professionals in the pulpit. And they've learned to depend upon their personality, their skill, their rhetoric, their ability. And we learn how to manipulate a service. And we learn how to manipulate an invitation. And we learn how to give a good response. And they'll even say that that was powerful. But I say to you this morning that if there is anything that is going to happen of eternal value, it will not be your ability. It will not be my ability. It will be the power The power of God on our behalf. We must have God's power. The song says that all is in vain unless the Spirit of God moves. We need God to move. We need the Spirit of God to deal with sinners. We need the power of God to be displayed in our churches. And it makes us ask the question, why no power? Why is so much of our Christian life and our worship and our service done in the arm of the flesh without any real demonstration of the power of God? Why could we not? Why did we lose the power? In Matthew's Gospel, Matthew is going to highlight one response of Jesus about a lack of faith, and we'll look at it in just a minute. But there are two parallel accounts to this story. One is in Mark, and one is in Luke. Luke's Gospel especially gives some information that Matthew doesn't give. And I know I'm preaching through the Gospel of Matthew, not a harmony of the Gospels, but I want to take you for a minute to Luke chapter 9. Because in Luke chapter 9, I believe you get a picture of some of the things that were going on in the disciples' lives that cost them the power of God. Now, in Luke chapter 9, here's what you have to understand. That in that one chapter, Luke covers what Matthew covers from Matthew 10 through chapter 17. He obviously omits a lot of material that Matthew has, and it's the same time frame as Matthew 10 through 17. In fact, look at Luke chapter 9, look at people in verse number 1. Then he called his twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases. This is Matthew 10. Look down at chapter 9, look if you would, in verse number 37. Came to pass that on the next day, the day after the transfiguration, when there come down from the hill, much people met him. Behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son. He is my only child. Lo, a spirit taketh him. He suddenly crieth out, it tarreth him, that he falleth again in bruising, and hardly departed from him. And I besought the disciples to cast him out, and they could not." Now we're in Matthew chapter 17 there, alright? So this is the time frame that Luke chapter 9 covers. But in Luke chapter 9, I believe that Luke puts his finger on the spirit, or the attitude, of the disciples in this chapter, and I believe that it gives us insight into why they lost the power. How do you lose the power of God? This is introduction, alright? I'll get to the message in just a minute. How do you lose the power of God? Well, the first thing that I see in this chapter is they had an inflated spirit. Look back at verse number 10. Luke 9, look at verse 10. The apostles, when they were returned, told them all that they had done. Now, I don't want to read between the lines. I don't want to accuse the disciples unjustly. But when all that you can talk about is what you have done, you will lose the power of God. It has been said, and I believe that God will not use a proud man. Nor will God share His glory with man. And if you have to have the spotlight on you, then you'll not have the power of God on your life. I am leery of some preachers who always have to be the star of their own illustrations. They always want to tell you about what they've done. How big a church that they have built? How many powerful sermons that they have preached? We have a success syndrome in the independent Baptist movement and it is absolutely killing us. We have begun measuring success by numbers only. How big is the crowd? How big is your church? How many do you run? How big is your offering? How busy are you preaching out? None of it really makes a It doesn't matter. But when we have this success syndrome, here's what the mentality does, is it breeds dishonesty. Then you have preachers inflating their attendance numbers, people boasting of doing more than what they're really doing. It is the curse of the inflated spirit. That's why a pastor has to be so careful who he recognizes and who he doesn't. Lest somebody get offended. I mean, why does she get to sing the solo? Why did the preacher put him in that class? Why did the preacher pick that couple to do that ministry? And by the way, anybody that's a pastor, you guys know, if you ever put somebody in a position, you can never remove them from the position. Because nobody can do it as good as they are, and you are bound to offend somebody. Somebody help me a little bit, huh? The inflated spirit. Really, what all of us need to remember is you are absolutely nothing without the help of God. Deflated spirit. There's a second spirit in here. Look at verse number 49. It's an inconsiderate spirit. Look at verse number 49. John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him because he followeth not with us. John's out there on this preaching tour and run across somebody else. Here's what he's doing. He's casting out devils. That's a good thing. And he's doing it in Jesus' name. However, the cardinal sin is that he followeth not with us. We saw him preaching and casting out devils in your name, but he is not part of our fellowship. So we told him to stop. He's doing a good thing, and he's doing it in Jesus' name, but he's not part of the 12. He's not part of our group. He's not in our huddle. He's not in our camp. He's not part of our little clique. He's not in our circle. He didn't graduate from our school. He's not in our fellowship. So we have nothing to do with him. Now, I have to clarify this, all right? Don't you run out of here and say, that preacher just opened up the door for us to hook up with every heritage in town. Okay? Because if you heard that, it's because you wanted to hear that. I'll tell you right now, there are some people, some churches, who are not going to hook up. There are some people I'm not going to fellowship with. All right? And I can give you some examples, and I'm trying to be nice, and so I won't. But there are just some people, listen, other churches can do what they want to, you understand? I'm concerned with what Victory Baptist Church in Milton, Florida does. I don't care what every other church in town does, but I still believe that separation is a good thing. However, independent Baptists have become so cliquish and clannish that we won't fellowship with anybody if they don't cross every T exactly like I do and dot every I exactly like I do. If you didn't graduate from my alma mater, if you don't believe the gap theory just like I do, if you listen to a preacher that I don't like, then I'm not going to fellowship with you. That's in fundamentalism is what it is. And when you become so spiritual that the Trinity can't fellowship with you, you too spiritual. Amen? And then consider it spiritual. Look at verse number 51. Look at this. It came to pass that when the time was come that he should be received up... Where's my verse at? I'm losing my verse. I'm losing my verse. I got excited at my own preaching. That's bad. That's bad. That's bad. I wanted to find this verse, but I can't find it. Just forget about it. Where's the verse where they're going to burn it? Oh, here it is, verse number 54, verse 54. He said, verse 52, they sent messengers before his face. They went into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. They did not receive him because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, We'll bow that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elijah did. Now, I've always thought that was kind of funny because they ain't got the power to cast out a devil. How are you going to call fire down from heaven? We priests gave an invitation, nobody come. Let's just burn them to a crisp. Pride, pride has put them on a pedestal and watch this, they look down. on anybody who is not as spiritual as they are. There are some men who will never be able to help people because they have a low view of people. I can listen to a man preach one time and I can tell you what he thinks about Jesus, what he thinks about himself, and what he thinks about other people. And I know that people are worldly and carnal and selfish and rebelling and hard-headed as Billy goes. I know all of that. But if you put yourself up on some high spiritual plane and everybody else is a notch below you, you have no power in your life. Where is the love of God? Where is the grace of God? Where is the kindness? An inconsiderate spirit. I've got to hurry through the introduction, get to the message. Let me show you something else. There's an immature spirit. Look back at verse number 46. Then there arose a reasoning among them which of them should be greatest. What a thing to argue over. Arguing over who's the greatest when really none of them were very great at the moment. It is immature to be concerned about what position somebody else gets. It is immature to be concerned that somebody else receives more than you. It is immature to be offended that you didn't get your name in the bulletin. It's hard to get your name in the bulletin around here. We don't have one. But it's immature. Somebody sang Happy Birthday to somebody and didn't sing it to you. I'm going to tell you, that self-promotion spirit will cost you the power of God. Now, there's three or four more in here that I don't have time to get on. Come back to Matthew 17. But when I examine the scene in Matthew chapter 17, I believe that there are some spirits that have hindered these men in their ministry. Yes, there is a lack of faith. We'll talk about that. But it's not their only problem. It is their failure that is the theme of the narrative. And the story is not here to tell you how much faith the Father has. The story is not here to tell you how powerful Jesus is. The story is here to tell you that the disciples failed. And nobody likes failure. Again, we broadcast our greatness and we say nothing about our failures. I want you to know how great I am. How wonderful a pastor I am. How good a preacher I am. If we have a record attendance today, we post it on Facebook. If it's low attendance, we don't say anything. That's where we're at in the fundamentalist movement. But can I tell you that there are some lessons that you learn in failure that you cannot learn in success? Failure is a great teacher. And the Lord will even allow you to fail so that He can teach you some things that are learned only in the school of failure. How else are you ever going to learn that I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me if the arm of flesh never fails you? How are you ever going to learn that when I am weak, He is strong if you never feel your own weakness? Because it is our weakness that drives us to his strength. It is our insufficiency that drives us to his sufficiency. And failure is a school. And when I look at Matthew 17, I believe that God is teaching His disciples something from failure. And so I'm preaching this morning on lessons learned from failure. And I've got three. They are so simple. So simple. Here's my first lesson. I believe that you learn in this story, you will never advance beyond your need for Christ. The Mount of Transfiguration focuses on the three disciples that were with Jesus. But this story brings us back to the nine that were in His absence. It is while Jesus was away that these men have failed at this miracle and they're being called out on it. I'll show you that in a minute. The reality is that without Christ present, they really were no more than anybody else. Now, you and I don't have Christ physically present. But we have been given the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, that empowers us. And I would tell you that without the power of Christ, we really are no more than anybody else. The first thought I would say to this is we need Christ when criticized by our detractors. Come back to Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9, let me show you something that Mark tells us. Mark chapter 9, look at verse number 14. When He came to all His disciples, He saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them." This is with the nine. "...straightened all the people. When they beheld Him, they were greatly amazed. And running to Him, saluted Him. And He asked the scribes, What question ye with them?" So when He comes down, here's what's going on. The scribes have gathered around the nine disciples and they're in a debate. Well, I wonder what they're questioning the disciples about. Look at the very next verse. One of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son which hath a dumb spirit. Do you see the word answered? The question is, what question ye with it? What's the dispute? What's the argument? What's going on here? And the father answers the question. I have brought unto thee my son which hath a dumb spirit, and they could not cast him out. Now, I don't think I'm reading too much in the text to make the connection. The scribes are questioning the disciples over their failure to cast out the demon. They're jumping on this boy, but we have found a weak spot and they're using it to cast out on the disciples themselves. And if you try to live with Jesus, If you try to do a work for God, you are going to have your share of critics and skeptics and detractors. And here's what we want to do. I want to have a good comeback. I'm going to get me a good answer. I'm just going to put it right back in their teeth. That's not the answer. No, no. If you want help, it is not to make sure that you've got a comeback. No, the best thing is to take it to the Lord and say, Lord, I need your help with this. Because the Lord can confound the critic. The Lord can strengthen you even in the face of criticism. The Lord can validate you as His servant. He'll never advance beyond His need when criticized by a detractor. Here's the second thing. When confronted by the demonic, come back to Matthew 17. Back to Matthew 17, verse number 14. When they had come to the mountain, there came to Him a certain man, kneeling down to Him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son. He is a lunatic and sore-vexed. For all times he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. When you read what Mark, what Luke, what Matthew says about this, this is an extreme case of demonic power. Some translations say that he had epilepsy. It's not what the Bible says. I don't believe that he's having seizures as a medical condition. But he's been possessed of a devil, and that devil is torturing him. It makes him have convulsions. It makes him injure himself. It makes him jump into a fire. It makes him jump into the water, try to drown himself. Mark adds that he has a dumb spirit, speechless. He can't say anything intelligible. It's an extreme case. I've never faced anything like that, and you probably never have either. But here's what I'm told. I'm told that the devil is like a roaring lion, and he's walking about seeking whom he may divide. And He may not possess your child and make him have convulsions and jump into the fire, but He would like to destroy your children. Do you believe that? I tell you that the devil is against every marriage in this church. He is against every spiritual decision that you make. The devil is against every teenager. He's against every young couple. He would destroy your home. He would destroy your church. He would destroy your testimony. And you are powerless against him without Christ. But greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. We are conquerors through Jesus Christ. And Satan is a defeated foe. You need Christ when facing demonic forces. Here's the third thing. You need Christ when challenged by defeat. It bothers the disciples that they couldn't. And they come to Christ and they're looking for answers that probably embarrass them. It has knocked them down a notch is what it has done. But they've realized we have no power of our own. And so they go to the One who has all power. The answer is not just to try a little bit harder. The answer is not to pull yourself up by your bootstrips. No. The answer is to run to Christ. I am nothing and you are everything. I am weak and you are strong. Their failure drove them to Christ. And that should be the ministry of failure in our lives. May it teach us that we need Him. I cannot preach. I cannot pastor. I cannot witness. I can't just live the Christian life without His power. You never advance in the Christian life beyond your need for Christ. It's the second lesson that we learn from Faith. Oh, this is so simple, so simple. We'll do deep another time. This is simple. You never advance beyond your need for Christ. You never advance beyond your need for faith. Look at verse number 19. Matthew 17, look at 19. Why could not we cast Him out? Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief. If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you should say unto this mountain, remove hence to the yonder place that you move, and nothing shall be impossible unto you." It's not the first time that the Lord has upbraided them for having little faith. I think of four different times He's challenged them on little faith. And I would suggest that most of us would probably fall in the little faith category. I'm out of time. Well, I'm not out of time. Matthew 6. I'm hurrying. Let me show you something. Look at Matthew chapter 6. See if I can show you something about faith. Look at Matthew chapter 6. I'll pick it up in the middle of the passage. Verse number 30. Matthew 6 verse 30. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Matthew 6, the Lord is talking to them about food and raiment, and how that He would provide that basic need for them. However, as long as they have food in the cupboard, they could trust God. What do you do when there is no food in the cupboard? What they struggled with, here's what they struggled with, was that faith ran out when provisions ran out. They had faith in what they could see in their hand. But that's where faith stopped. That's the limit of most Christians' faith right there. Look at Matthew 8. Look at Matthew 8, look at verse number 26. He said to them, why are you fearful, all ye of little faith? Then He arose and revealed the winds and the sea, and there was a great call. If you would have asked these disciples, do you believe the Lord can take care of you and that the Lord can protect you, they would have said yes, they would have said amen. And listen, we preach on the divine care of God because everything is going just right in my life and I pray that God can take care of His children. But then the storm comes. And little faith runs out at the point of the storm. Faith goes as far as the storm. And where the storm begins, faith runs out. Look at Matthew 14. Look at Matthew 14. It's hard to criticize Peter here, but look at it. Matthew 14, verse 31, immediately, Jesus stretched forth His hand and caught him, Peter, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Now, Peter has enough faith to get out of the boat. and walk on the water, all right? It's a little hard to criticize him for it. But the Lord rebuked him and here's the problem. Your faith was only strong when there were no waves. But when the waves come up, now your faith ran out. As soon as you saw a problem, that's where faith stopped. Little faith is believing God when you have something in your hand. When I have resources, when I have food, then I say, oh, I believe that God's providing. When I don't see any danger ahead, I say, oh, I believe that God takes care of His children. When I have calm in my soul and the storm clouds are not rising, I say, I have faith in God. But great faith is when you say, I trust God when I have no provisions. I trust God even when the enemy comes against me. I trust God even though I'm in the middle of a storm. I still trust God. You'll never get to a place where you don't need faith in the Christian life. Come back to Matthew 17. Let me show you this verse here. Boy, I struggled with this verse here. Verse number 20. Here's what he says. If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed. Now, here's the problem that I have. He's just upbraided them of having little faith. So he turns around and says, if you have faith as a mustard seed. A mustard seed was the smallest seed known in Israel. So how is it that the rebuke for having little faith and then turns around and says faith is something as tiny as a mustard seed? Boy, I stood over that for a couple of weeks. There are still three preachers that I call when I need help. I get two or three preachers that I call and say, please, please, You know, help me here. And I thought, how is this? How can this be? Tonight, you're going to hear both Tony Stark talking about Awanda and his vision for really Africa, really all of it. And you're going to hear a man tonight who believes that God can use him to evangelize an entire nation. That's what you're going to hear tonight. I can't wait. He has great faith. But that great faith wasn't just dumped on him when he got saved. Mustard seed, it is small, but it doesn't stay small. It grows into something very big. The mustard seed, the illustration is not that you just need to have a tiny little bit of faith. No, your faith may start out small, but as you exercise that faith, that faith will grow. You'll hear a man tonight that started out with little faith, but over years of believing God and seeing God do the impossible, that faith has grown. I asked my dad for help on that. Here's the point of verse number 20. Here it is. There are some things that you cannot do on your own. You're going to need God to provide. You're going to need God to intervene. You're going to need God to meet the need. And there will come a time when you become so self-sufficient in the Christian life that you don't need to trust God. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. You never advance beyond your need for faith. Can I give you one more? You never advance beyond your need for Christ. You never advance beyond your need for faith. Here's the third lesson. You never will advance beyond your need for prayer. Look at verse 21. Howbeit, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. I've got to just put this plug in here real quick. I have a lot of Bible programs online that I use and hundreds of commentaries and what have you. And most of them are just popular commentaries, and most of them are not Bible believers, but you're just trying to find a thought, find something. I don't know how many of those commentaries said that in verse number 21, the words, and fasting, was not in the original text. It's added by some scribe. Now here's my question for you. How would you know that? You've never seen the original text. You've never met anybody that has. And you don't know anybody that has a third cousin that's ever seen the original text either. The originals have all been destroyed. No scholar has ever seen them. So how can you say something was not in the original? It's there. It goeth not forth but by prayer and fasting. Now, the particular problem in Matthew 17 is spiritual warfare. We can apply it to any area of the Christian life. Prayer and fasting, the key to the power of God's faith, bridges the gap between what you can't do and what God can do. And prayer is how you exercise that faith. I don't have time to preach this. I wish that I did. I'm out of time. There is a great model for prayer in this passage, and it is that Father. And you want to look at that Father coming to Jesus just the way that you and I ought to come to the Lord. Write it down if you want to think about it. He comes humbly. He comes honestly. He comes helplessly. He comes hopefully. I tell you, come in prayer. Prayer is not big words. Prayer is not pious phrases. Prayer is a humble heart coming to an all-powerful God in complete honesty, recognizing my own inability and trusting God to supply the need. There has never been a great revival in the history of the world that wasn't first preceded by somebody praying and believing God. There's never been a great missionary endeavor that wasn't first preceded by a man praying and believing God. And you will never get so high spiritually. You will never advance in the Christian life beyond your need for prayer. How many of you this morning believe what I preach? Say Amen. How many of you believe that God can do impossible things? You believe that? Say Amen. I believe that. Let's stand together, would you? I pray for the power of God in our churches and the power of God in our lives and our homes. I've got a situation right now. I'm all home right now that desperately needs a miracle. We're going to sing 506 in just a minute. I'm all home right now that desperately needs a miracle. And I'm close to it in my heart for the last week has been breaking over this. How many of you will commit to me to pray for an unspoken request? Let me see your hands. An unspoken request. I believe with all my heart that God can intervene in that situation. And we need God in our home. We need God in our churches. We need God in our children. And no matter how advanced that you are, no matter how advanced you are as a Christian, you'll always need Christ. And you will always need faith. And you will always need prayer. Now, let me tell you something this morning. We're going to sing in just a minute. If you're here this morning and you've never been saved, if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I want to tell you, this is the day that you ought to get saved. Jesus Christ died on a cross for your sins. Your sins. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. It's death. And He took your death on that cross. You say, how do you get saved? By faith. By faith. You need Christ. You need faith is what you need. You need to call Romans 10. You call upon Him. And if you're here this morning and you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, we're going to sing. You ought to come. You ought to just make your way to this altar and come. I'll have somebody meet you with a Bible and trust Christ today.