Matthew chapter number 12, and I want to look at a situation. Have you ever been faced with situations and you thought, we just need to look at that a little closer? And when you looked at it closer, you found out there was a totally different meaning to this situation than what you thought was there. Now, if you do have a telephone on, you might want to turn your ringer down a little bit. Sister Debbie helped me with mine. And I'm looking at it. It was a help, Sister Debbie. Thank you. And emergencies take place. People, we have family members all over the country that are sick and going through things. And sometimes it reminds me, there was an older lady at Swamp Road Baptist Church. Brother Joe Smith's wife passed away. And probably very few, if anybody out here knows who she is, but they're having a funeral today and they asked us to pray. Brother Gary is going over there to be part of that funeral. And then preach for Brother Joey tonight. And so let's pray for him. And I always appreciate the Lord opening doors for people that are here to preach. Brother Jeff, you preaching this afternoon at the nursing home? Amen, brother. And Brother Bradley went home, he had the songbooks with him, but Brother Josiah went and got the songbooks, and they're in his vehicle. So Brother Josiah will be leading the singing out there. And he'll probably need a banjo picker, but God gave him one. However y'all work that out between y'all, okay? If it's where you can, 3 o'clock this afternoon, not the nursing home, at the retirement center. over on Gross Road, if it's where you can, go out. But Jeff, you and your sister, Sister Beth, y'all sing together. Y'all look like y'all would be a good duo. Might go out there and sing a song. Colton will play guitar for you. Wouldn't that be good, Colton? You play for them while they sing. And if they need help, just help them out. Amen. Matthew chapter number 12. We'll start reading about verse number 22. I want to encourage you, please, church members, I want to encourage you to be here tonight. Please. We need you. We need you. Which thing of song says, I need thee every hour? Oh, yes. And if you support A missionary, you really need to get their support in today. And, if you was wanting to do something special for your missionary for Christmas, you got to get it in today or they will not get it before Christmas time. Okay? So, just want to mention that. But please be here tonight. Something special going on. We just need you. We need you here. Okay? Matthew chapter number 12, we'll start reading verse number 22 if you'll read along with me. The Bible says, Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. The Bible said in verse 23, and all the people were amazed and said, is not this the son of David? Bible says in verse 24, but when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub. Now in the Old Testament, it was pronounced Beelzebub. It was B-A-A-L. And it's the same one. The prince of the devils. Anybody know who that is? That's the devil. That's Satan himself. Okay? The Bible says, And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. And every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How shall, then, his kingdom stand? Father, I pray that you'd touch my heart. Help me, God, I know I'm an unworthy vessel. But God, I pray you'll cleanse me and I pray, Lord, that you'd anoint me. I pray that you'd use me. I pray that you'd fill me. May the grace and the power and the strength of God himself, Lord, I pray, God, speak through my lips this morning and help us. Help us, I pray, O God, to see the precious Lamb of God. And Father, we'll thank you for it. Lord, if there's somebody here today that's never been saved, if they've never trusted you, as their Lord and Savior. I pray that today will be that day. I pray they will not leave here today still on the same road headed to eternal damnation. But God, I pray that today will be the day of salvation for them. God, this can only be done by You. Only You. So for this little while, I pray that You would help us get a glimpse of Christ. and talk about Him and to lift up Him for the honor and glory of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. I'd like to preach on this thought if I could for a little while. Don't let the devil get you down. Don't let the devil get you down. Has anybody here ever ever got to the place where you just felt kind of discouraged in the Christian life? You know some things that you'll do when you start getting discouraged in the Christian life? Is you'll start giving up on where you are and what you're doing. When you start getting discouraged in the Christian life, you'll start questioning God about what God's doing with you. Can I say this? When He called the disciples to follow him, he spent a good little while teaching them. And I've mentioned this over and over and over, and one of the things that they didn't even know how to do as disciples that was following Christ was pray. And finally they broke down one day, so interested and so intrigued by his prayer life, so powerful, that they asked him, they said, Lord, teach us how to pray. I dare say, for pride's sake, none of us have ever done that. I've met some folk that could pray, and boy, I'm just telling you, Brother Dan, it felt like heaven was opening up and the glory was just falling down. And I'd be standing there or kneeling down beside them thinking, man, wish I could pray like that. I know you ain't never done that. That's OK. That's OK. We're going to be preaching on pride tonight, so come on back. But I'm just saying, I'm saying this morning that there's some things that you and I just don't know how to do as a Christian. We wish we could. But if we'll give God time, He'll teach us. But in the meantime, don't let the devil get you down. Just because you might not preach like But the Tom Hayes, don't let the devil get you down about that. Because you might not be able to sing like, maybe like Kristen was singing a while ago. I can't help it. I can't help it. Don't throw no stones at me, okay? She's my daughter. She's my, that was my firstborn. And to me, she has a beautiful voice. Then my second born came along. And to me, she has a beautiful voice. People have said, can you turn her down? And we've tried that. It don't work. She's got a voice way beyond the power of a microphone. And if you turn her down, she's going to turn her up. I've seen her sing in churches where they didn't have PNA systems, and she sang just as loud, she just didn't sing as long. And it just got stripped out. So, I'm just saying, I appreciate that. Not only just her, but Brother Alex does a great job. Sister Taryn has a beautiful voice. Anybody else? Anybody else that sing? We just appreciate it. I mean, you might not sing just like Sister Terri, but don't let the devil get you down about it. These kids, these kids coming up in the church, these young ladies, the singing, they're impressed by y'all. They're influenced by y'all. They do a good job. These girls come up here and sing. And they'll have three or four or five of them up here. Man, they're up here just doing a great job and just singing. They're singing the best they can for the glory of God. I'd say what they need to hear is, thank you. Good job. You're a blessing to me. Otherwise, the devil's going to get them down. And so this morning, if we could, if we've read this text, the Lord didn't do nothing wrong. The Lord did the kind of things that the Lord does helping people. I like to see people help people. We took a load of scrap off the other day, me and Brother Chris. And I like it. I like it whenever we just kind of got this thing we do. And I kind of like it, Brother Chris. Whoever makes the most money has to buy the other one something to eat. Ain't that good? Well, another day he made the most money. I'm shouting the victory. But I was sitting in the restaurant and there was an older woman. There was an older woman headed to the door to come inside. And Brother Chris had walked out to his truck for just a moment. But Brother Chris seen this older woman coming to the door. And Brother Chris, I mean, But then he shifted out of low gear into second gear. And before he got to the door, I think he was in third gear. But he beat that lady to the door and reached up and grabbed that door in front of her and opened that door up. Just doing a good thing. Just a good thing. I know you probably didn't, I never said nothing to you about it, but I was watching it. I like to see the chief at Camden Baptist Church doing a good thing. You better do a good thing once in a while. If you don't, the devil's going to get you down. Said, we're not doing it. We're not supposed to work our way to heaven. Ain't nobody said nothing about working your way to heaven. You know, if you've thought about this here, if you quit trying to be so doctrinally correct with everything and impressing everybody with what you know, you'd enjoy the Christian life a little more. You might even be able to sing. Shout. Amen. Everybody needs some reference on how to shout. Get with me after church, I'll send you some videos. Shouting women, dancing in the aisleways. Say, we're supposed to dance. Well, I ain't say that, but I'll send you some videos. At least it'll make you stand up. Hey, it won't hurt you to stand up every once in a while and say, Whoo! Glory to God! Say, people think I'm charismatic. Well, they think you're dead right now. What's the worst? Huh? And you want God to use you if we have him take your purse? Lord have mercy. I'm saying, I'm saying you let the devil get you down and you'll look like a corpse. Dressed in fine linen with nice hair. Hey man, we've got enough hairdressers in here, you dial us. We got somebody to fix your hair while you're in the casket. Amen. Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil. Ben wondered why in the world that these wise Pharisees didn't notice that part. I mean, here the man is possessed with the devil. I don't know what all he was doing as he's possessed other than the fact that he's blind and he can't speak. And that might have been all that was happening. I mean, there was a young boy that was possessed with the devil and the Bible says he was cast into fire and out of fire. I mean, he was physically tormented and burned and no doubt scarred. But here's the man that don't say nothing. Uh oh, wait a minute now. He ain't saying nothing. He don't say that he's a Baptist. Just that he don't talk. He don't say nothing. And he's possessed with the devil. I'm just trying to get two and two put together. Does that mean that if you don't never say nothing, that the devil will not let you speak? I'm going to keep my pen out just in case I need it for another little add-on that he gave me. Let me say this. When you do right, when you do right, the devil's going to be critical. Now, nobody said nothing about Brother Chris holding that door up. I thought it was a nice gesture, Brother Chris. And I thank you for doing it for that older lady. I think it's something that men should teach their sons. There used to be a day that men would say, now son, watch what I'm doing here. Son, Don't never let me see your mama open that car door. You do it. There used to be a day about that. Now, we're living in an hour when we got little reversals going on. Dad will say, now son, and son will say, now I don't want to. No, there's a better way. Now, why don't you listen to me, Dad? I'm smarter than you are. You say, but thank the Lord ain't like that around here. My dad was 50, 57, 58, whenever he passed away. And I was grown. We had three kids. And I promise you, I did not correct him. There's something wrong in the hour whenever we have the younger society correcting the older society. We've talked about them in front of our children and told them how Granny's over there in the nursing home or Grandpa's over there got some mental issues and we've talked about everything to the kids thinking it's okay to talk about them. I told Brother John this, I'll say it again. I said, don't never let your kids know you can't. My dad didn't never let us know he is sick. He just got on up and went, Brother Leo. He provided for the family. He had to work. Amen. Proverbs 31, there's the virtuous woman. The Bible says she rises up early. She considers a field and she buys it. You know what my daddy would tell me about when I got sick? He'd say, you ain't sick, boy. You just don't want to work. Our kids get sick now? Come on, help me now a little bit. Our kids get sick now? We call 911 and make them sit in the middle of the floor so they don't fall no further. We're teaching them to be just as puny as they can possibly be so somebody else will wait on them hand and foot. I'm just saying, it might not seem like a good thing, but if you just teach them to grow up, I have my neat young men right here. Hey, listen, they might not be 18 or 19 or 20, but they're still able to work. Brother Tracy, this young man right here, he knows how to work in the yard. Get him a rake. I mean, don't start him out riding the lawnmower. He's got to start at the bottom and work up. But it builds muscles. And you'll walk in here one day, and these other boys will look at you and say, wow, how did you get them big muscles? You'll say, I'm a raker. Makes you want to go home and rake a little bit today, don't it? Well, some people, some people you couldn't encourage if you give them a brand new ice cream sandwich. Amen. Oh, an ice cream sandwich got your attention, didn't it? I'm happy about that. The Bible says that all the Lord did was heal him. And the Pharisees was critical. Wow! All you've got to do is good and somebody is going to be critical. All you've got to do is have a ministry and somebody is going to be critical. All you've got to do is preach Jesus and talk about, hey, we spent most of the Sunday school hour this morning preaching on loving one another. And somebody in their heart, they might not have said it out loud, but you was critical. Well, you're always critical about that. That's what you ain't got. Whatever you do that's right, the devil's critical. Last part of that verse, right there in verse 24, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. They said the only way he does what he does is that he's possessed with Satan. That's what they're saying. But if we look back up here in verse 23, and all the people were amazed and said, is not this the son of David? You know who the son of David was? And you said, yeah, that's the son of Jesse. Oh, no, no, he's more than that. We're talking about now, this is the Messiah! This is Him that was to come. This is Him that was promised. This is Him present before us. I'm telling you, these Pharisees got mad about that and the devil fired off in their hearts. And I mean the worst and very worst thing that they could ever do, they said it right there. They said, no, this is not the Son of David. No, this is not the Messiah. I'll tell you who it is. It's the devil in the flesh. That's what they said about Jesus. I say, just here, you're going to do something good for the Lord. Somebody's going to be critical. I hope that ain't me, Brother John. Brother John, I'm glad y'all are over here this morning. You need a break. I want you to do this regularly, OK? Not every week, but I mean, you know, more regularly, OK? You needed that, Sister Mandy. You need me to come in here and just preach the devil out of you. He ain't right. You focus on helping others. The devil has input that never pleases God. Never. Never. Say, I don't like that preacher. That other preacher they had over there. I don't like. Wow. What did that preacher do to you? Brother Hayes said this last night. over in Callaham when he preached over there. He says, I prayed in my hotel room that God would let me be a blessing to you. And I've come in here and God's letting me be a blessing to me. The message. You know what I mean. The message. The message. I know I ain't a blessing to me. Kidding me? I woke up this morning and went and looked in the bathroom and I was like, whoa, what happened to you last night? I mean, it's like you got to go to an animal training class to get your hair to submit. Everybody know what I'm talking about? Wake up in the morning, and I know why my mother-in-law don't come out early in the morning. One time I walked out and my hair was just, you know, going every direction. I scared her. I scared her. And then next thing I know, she's fixing her hair like I had my hair. Going every direction over there. I said, well, I've set a trend and he realizes. It's okay, ain't it? The devil, the devil, he wants to say something. The devil wants to say something. You focus on helping others and the devil don't have input. And it'll never, ever, it'll never please God. What's wrong with me and you loving each other? What's wrong with you coming to church looking for a blessing? What's wrong with you coming to church singing Amazing Grace? How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. What's wrong with us coming down to the house of God and seeing somebody that might look a little bit discouraged and just go out of the way and say, hey, I just want you to know it's good to see you this morning. I'm glad to be in the house of God and I'm glad you're down at the house of God. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with that? What's wrong with that? I'll tell you what's wrong with it. It's helping somebody, and the devil don't like it. Go ahead and admit with me. Go ahead and admit with me. Sometimes we listen to the devil more than we do God. He's critical. He's critical. You preach too long, preacher. Yeah, what else did the devil tell you? And that message, it just wasn't no help to me. What else did the devil tell you? You want me to keep going? Oh, we go out there and knock on them doors. I say we. Brother John and his family, for the most part, is all that does it. They probably appreciate some help. They could use the Saturday off from time. Dion, I'm sorry. Well, you and their family. Amen. Amen. I told her last night, I said, you're a preacher. I said, yeah, but you ain't got but one person in your church, it's Molly. Okay. I said, I did. I said, no, I told you. I said, you're preaching to Molly. I said, that's okay. Molly's a preacher. She's preaching to you. Y'all got your own churches. And you're encouraging each other. Don't look at me like that. I didn't say God called them girls to preach. Okay? That's where we're at right now. We're living on such an edge. We're waiting on the preacher to say something wrong. Come on, help me right now. Tell me something else that the devil told you. Huh? I'm just trying to say, if we just let God be God, just let God be God, You might be a whole lot happier Christian. You might be a whole lot happier about serving the Lord and pleasing God. If you'll just notice that when you're focused on helping others, that it's the devil that has something to say. I want you to notice something right here. The accusations was powerful. And you've got to, hey, admit this with me. Brother John, how many times has people said things to you, you want to quit? Admit it with me. I have. Are you listening? You say, but that ministry, that ministry, all these kids and they're noisy and... What else did the devil tell you about me? I'm just going to be honest, Brother John. There have been some times as the pastor, I want to quit. because of all the good, positive input that I received. I'm being facetious. That means I'm being sarcastic. Turn in your Bibles over to chapter 9. Matthew. Matthew chapter 9. But sometimes I can't give it. Sometimes I can't give it. I just gotta say something. But what you're saying is Maybe useless. You're saying what you're thinking and you're not really all that smart to start with. I'm trying to speak in Jesus name right now, OK? Next week, Brother Leroy will be here, all right? It'll all be better then, right? He loves you. That's all he's talking about. He loves you. Come now. He'll be here next Sunday, as far as I know. Ain't next Sunday the 18th? Is that right? He'll be here next Sunday. Right in your pocketbook. I'm forewarning you. I'm letting you know. You say, oh, he's coming after his money. What else did they take? You see, we have acquired a critical spirit that is unholy. Chapter 9, I said, didn't I? I'm going to read a few verses. Let's start in verse number 27. The Bible said that when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us. Well, they thought he was the Messiah too, didn't they? And when he was coming to the house, the blind man came to him. I was thinking about this text as I was reading it. I watched Brother Darnell try to get around. I watched other blind men. I watched Brother Jesse try to get around. Do you have any idea, maybe, what kind of a task it might have been for these two blind men to keep up with Jesus? I mean, other than the fact Brother Darnell has got extremely keen hearing. Brother Jesse, I think, well, he's up in Delaware probably this weekend, as far as I know, and his hearing is so good he probably hears me right now. Whatever it was that these men had to use when they're bumping off trees or stepping off in the ditch and having to get up, they thought it was so important that they were going to keep following the sound that was coming from the Son of David. They knew he could do something but darn him. It was worth the trouble. It was worth the trip. It was worth the inconveniences because their faith was greater than everything that come along that way with it. The Bible says in verse 28, when they was coming to the house, the blind men came to him and Jesus said unto them, believe ye that I am able to do this. And they said, they said unto him, yea, Lord. That'll get you saved right there. Hey, you say, you mean all you can do is just say Lord? Well, Paul said this on the road to Massachusetts. What will thou have me to do, Lord? You know what he done? He submitted. He wasn't talking about all the things he didn't like. He said, what would thou have me to do? Me and you. Me and you, Lord. What would thou have me to do, Lord? Well, I'm telling you, when you just get with your God, Well, it's just you and him, and it ain't nobody else. Listen, listen, there's probably a lot of things that goes on in this world that I don't understand. I don't understand the political side of this world. I don't understand our president. I don't understand the vice president. I don't understand, as you just go down the ladder of the governors and the senators and the congressmen, I don't understand all that kind of stuff and what they do. But I know one thing. I know there's one that's interested in what I've got to say and what I've got to do. And I'm interested in doing everything that he wants. God forbid I spend God's good time wasting it. The sheriff of Jacksonville, I don't even know his name. I don't care. I know he's got a job to do. I hope he does a good job. I'm going to leave it there. I'm not going to spend time blasting the brother of Donald Link. Most people don't even know who he is. He's a good brother and he's trying to do something for the Lord. You know what? I'm on the same side he's on. I've never heard him. I've never heard him say one bad thing about nobody. I don't want to be around preachers that all they are is critical of everybody else. There's an unholy spirit involved in that. There's an unholy spirit. I like hard preaching. I met a man one time, the only time he ever shouted when he preached against You going to tell me I can preach on Calvary and you can't get excited? You going to tell me I can preach on being redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and you don't get stirred? There's something wrong. But I can preach on stealing. I can preach on being a wicked husband. I can preach on being a horrible wife. I can preach on being a terrible father. Amen! Amen! I can preach on everybody going to hell. Some preachers I've met, they don't never preach on nothing but going to hell. I met one. I went up to the church. I went to the church where he pastors. I went there. He had about six people, members of their church, and every message was on hail. Well, couldn't you just see them growing? Thank you, Brother Dan. That's exactly right. I'm just telling you, if you'll preach the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, everything else will get in its place. The gospel. The gospel. Let's look. Let's look right here in chapter 9. Let's finish reading right here. Let's finish reading. The Bible says in verse 29, Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it unto you. And their eyes was opened, and Jesus straightly charged them, saying, See that thou See that no man knoweth, but they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country. As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with the devil. So how come he told them not to tell nobody? How come he told them not to tell nobody, and they went out and spread abroad? You know, sometimes the Lord will just give you an opportunity to do something just to see if you can submit. How many times have you told your children, you didn't do what I told you the last time? Wouldn't it be something if we got to heaven and found out God was going to give us all kinds of blessings, but we couldn't fulfill what He told us to do? Sometimes just submit, brother Tracy. Sometimes just sit there, just sit there, just sit there and submit. Not to me, to God. Pride won't let you do that. Won't let me. Won't let me. The Bible says, and they went out, behold they brought to him a dumb man possessed with the devil. When the devil was cast out, the dumb man spake, and the multitude marveled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. Are you kidding me? This has been recorded in the Bible. And they're saying this, nothing like this has ever been seen amongst the Jews. Wait a minute. Elijah done some pretty powerful things. According to what I believe the record shows, Elijah performed about seven miracles. Elijah said, I want to double portion If you read the recordings of Elisha, I believe he done about 14 miracles. But here these folks said it was never done in all of Israel like this. But here's what happened. Here's the man that is Elisha. Elisha raised up a young boy. He was dead. This man wasn't dead. This man was blind and dumb. Couldn't speak. Elijah called fire down out of heaven and burned up the prophets of Baal. Elijah come as a judge, and he come with the liberty to take life. That was anti-God. Elisha comes, wants the double portion, and he's one that calls a bear out of the woods and killed a bunch of kids for making fun of him. He got a double portion so he's able to take life, And he lays across the kid and breathed on him and he gave life back. He got a double portion. Taken and given. But here's a man right here that's alive. He is not dead. And this man can't speak and this man can't hear or can't see. And God done something real miraculous. You know, we don't think about it like this as often, but every day God's doing something real big for us. Chances are great the people that live in the next town besides where this man lived, Brother Colton, never heard of it. So many things that Jesus did during this time were not recorded. So where do you get that from? That's exactly what John said. If all the miracles that he'd done were recorded in a book, the world itself would not contain it. The world itself wouldn't hold all the books? Let's read on. Bob said they marveled. Did they marvel? You know what the word marvel means? It means amazed. You know what's amazing to me? When God saves an old sinner. You know what's amazing to me? When God takes the hate out of somebody and puts the happy in them. I tell you what disappoints me is when God takes the hate out of somebody and puts the happy in them and it ain't long down the road you see them and the hate's back in them. What happened? What happened? Somebody help me right here. What happened? I'll tell you what happened. they quit being around Jesus. Because it was being around Jesus that got them happy. It was being around Christ that got them saved. It was being around the Lord that gave them the joy that they had and made everybody else look old and marvel. Let's look. Let's look right here. Let's look. I'm about done. I'm about done. That'll make you shout. I know it will. The Bible said, but the Pharisee said, he casteth out devils through the prince. of the devil. They said the same thing about him. Now look close. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing every sickness. Are you kidding me? Surely. Somebody help me right here. Surely there was somebody left out. Do you think maybe he missed somebody? The Bible said every sickness. Everybody that was sick is what it says. You say you believe the Bible now. All right. Wait a minute. He said every sickness and every disease among the people. How can these things be? That's the Lord. That's the power he had. That's why on that morning, on that day, on that night that you came to Him and said, Lord, I'm a sinner and I'm headed to hell and I can't save myself and I don't know what to do. He said, I know what to do. If you'll let me, I'll make you white as snow. I'll pay your sin debt. I'll wash your sin away. Nobody else can, but I can. Nobody else knows how, but I know how. I'm saying He can heal every sickness and every disease. He can do it. Will He do it? Sure He will. He can do it. Thank God He can do it. The Bible says in verse 36, that when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad. as sheep having no shepherd. The accusations, don't let the devil, don't let the devil get you down. I'm going to leave you with this. I'm going to leave you with this. The Bible said in verse 34, but the Pharisee said, he casteth out devils through the prince of the devil. They're saying he's possessed with Satan. That's what they're saying about Jesus Christ. Now you just go ahead and be honest with me, that's about to make me and you want to quit. They think I'm demon possessed down there in the church house. They think I'm full of the devil. They think because I ain't doing it like they think they ought to do it, that I'm just full of the devil, and I don't know what I'm doing, and I don't know which way to go, and I don't let your little boy sing, and I don't let you preach, and I don't let you take up the offering, and I don't let you pay the parking lot, and I don't let you... Build a building, and I mean just on and on and on and on. That preacher don't know what he's doing. I don't know what he... And Jesus just goes ahead and fixed a blind man, and helped his eyes where he could see, and helped his ears where he could hear. And the Bible says that they spoke that about him. And the Bible says in the next verse, it bothered him so bad, you know what he done? He just got up and got on his donkey, if he had one, and walked wherever, however he got around. And Jesus went, verse 35, all about the cities and villages, teaching in all their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease. among the people. You know what it done for him? It just stirred his heart. He said, listen, I recognize the devil. Every time he says something, I know I can perceive in their hearts what's going on in their heart and their mind. I can tell when they're unhappy. Can I tell you, friend, I've been pastoring for about 21 years now, full time, and you come to me with something you don't like and tell me it's the Spirit of God within you. I know the truth. I know it's your flesh. I know you just don't like it. I know that you're just being stirred by the devil. I'm saying it didn't bother Jesus and it ain't bothering me. I'm going to go ahead with God. We're going to preach the gospel. We're going to lift up Jesus. We're going to magnify the Lord. We're going to build a building. We're going to make room for these kids to come in. We're going to do everything that God told us to do all for the glory of God. For the glory of God. Not for me. I'm a nobody. I'm a nobody. I'm way down there. He's talking about me. Well, probably so. But you was talking about me, too. So, yeah. Yeah. You know how school kids are, you know. Used to watch them little old kids get out there fussing back and forth. Little old boys, little old girls. Nanny, nanny, baby. Oh, yeah. Y'all said that. Everyone would be smiling. You heard that, didn't you? Huh? And girls get on you pretty rough, don't they? Amen. I pray for you, son. I pray for you, but I don't have no mercy on you. Amen. I'm just saying, don't let the devil get you down. Don't let the devil get you down. Just go and do what God told you to do. On your job, you be that witness. Amen. When times is hard on that job, you be that witness. You're going to walk in there one day and Brother King's going to be madder than an old she-bear. And it's going to be up to you, because he knows God, and he's been around God, and he's worshipped God. And it's going to be up to you to let him get a glimpse of the glory one morning, so that he can worship God one more time. And I'm not going to listen to you whine and cry about how bad it is over on your job, because you're having to strike an arc once in a while. I'm just going to go, whoo-hoo! Shout the victory! Give God the glory! Amen! Well, some metal together for me! And just go on with God. And just go on with God. Brother Darnell, I do hate it that you're blind. But I do believe this, God lets you see things that I can't. Sometimes I'm thinking, I feel bad because I've just tried to, everybody has, you admit with me. We've all cut the lights off and closed our eyes and tried to get around in the dark. Boom, boom, boom. Hit my shins and hit my head. But that's every day. But every once in a while, while me and you enjoying with liberty this. And we're not using it for the glory of God. He ain't fighting that battle no more. But it's magnifying the Lord. And he might be sitting at his house. I don't know. But I believe he could. Because I've been to his house and we sat at the table many times. But he might just sit there by himself once in a while. And when things start seeming kind of gloomy, it'd be real easy to pick out your favorite song. I said you better have a song. I can just picture Brother Darnell sitting there right by himself. Sing it. There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus. I know I'm by myself. No, not one. No, not one. No friend like Him is so high and holy. No, not one. No, not one. Hey, friend, let me tell you something. Jesus knows all about your struggles. He will guide you. Boy, that songwriter knew something right there, didn't he? There's not a friend. Come here, ladies. Let's get this phone. Let's sing it. Let's sing it. Let's all stand together this morning. Don't let the devil get you down. Don't let the devil get you down. Can I encourage you? Don't let the devil get you down. Don't let the devil get you down. Don't let him try to take away your joy. Don't let him try to discourage you into quitting. Don't let him try to take away all the good stuff that the Holy Ghost of God put down in your heart. You say, Brother Edmund, it's just hard to get here. It's as hard as you want it to be. You can make an excuse for anything. I don't like to go Christmas shopping. But my wife wants me to go once in a while. So I just say to you, I'll go. That's what he does. That's what he does. Quit nodding your head. She don't give me a good look about you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. For Christ. For Jesus. For Christ. For Christ. For Christ. For the Lord Jesus. Don't let the devil get you down.