Welcome to SuccessfulSavior.org, the ministry of Harmony Primitive Baptist Church in Donaldson, Arkansas. This is Elder Dan Salmons preaching in our regular Sunday morning service. There's kind of a reason that I wanted us to sing The Lord Will Provide at the end of our song service today, that the idea of God's provision has been on my mind to some degree over the last few weeks, and I think it's cropped up in my preaching from time to time. But the Lord makes an intriguing statement in Mark chapter 4 that I want us to have under consideration today. First of all, the Lord will provide. Do we believe that? Now, I think that's one of those things that you're hard-pressed if you're in the context of church and someone says, will the Lord provide? It's probably not likely that in this setting you're going to stand up and say, well, I'm not so sure about that, brother. You would think, with other eyes watching you, you might be apt to think, that's not something I want to launch out against. I don't want to be up here saying the Lord won't provide. But I'm asking us to dig a little bit deeper on that question. Do we really believe the Lord will provide? And what I'm going to set before you is a concept that I've preached on before, and I've often referred to it as believer's unbelief. Much of the professing Christian world kind of makes a lot of the faith come down to, well, there's those who believe and there's those who don't. A lot of times that's maybe directed towards the gospel. Those who believe the gospel, they're the ones going to heaven. Those who don't believe the gospel, they're the ones that are going to hell. That's maybe a bit of a broad brush there, but that's a concept that's very common in Christianity out there. What I'm gonna set before you is that it's a little bit different than that, actually, and it's a little bit muddier and more confusing than that simple construct would make it out to be. What the Bible teaches is that there is an elect family of God and those people are those for whom Christ died and they will live in glory with the Lord for all eternity based on what He did and nothing else. So in that sense there's the elect and there's the non-elect. Now you get into the realm of belief and unbelief and that water gets a little bit muddier. Now, the non-elect, who are ever and always in the flesh, they are not regenerate, they have no faith, they are ever and always in the category of unbelief, right? They can't believe. They think the whole thing is nonsense and foolishness. Now, what remains of this elect family of God? Can we say like that earlier thing I said before you that, well, God's people are those who believe? the matter is much muddier than that. God's people are those who have faith, but you will find within God's people a mixture of belief and unbelief. Now, that may seem shocking at first blush, but I would just simply state this as the first piece of evidence in my case for this truth, is that to the extent that anyone continues to practice sin, and we all do, Every instance of sin is likewise an instance of unbelief in your own heart, because it is an example of you saying, I'm gonna do what I think is best, rather than what God said is best. Now you can't do anything with that other than just say, yeah, I guess I really did not believe that what God said I should do is the best thing to do. That is an instance of unbelief. So I think my thesis is sustained on that observation alone. But as you look into the Bible's testimony about God's people and unbelief, It goes way beyond that in some respects. And it's pretty disturbing. It's why I call it Believer's Unbelief. What do I mean by that? I mean there are regenerate people in this world who have God-given faith. God has given them the capacity to believe what He says. And yet they persist in not believing what God has said. These are God's people. This is me and you. It's called out to us in very stark terms in Mark 4. Before I get into that, I just want to ask this question. Are we unbelievers? Is there something in your life, a besetting sin or some practice or whatever where you just have to say, really I'm persisting in unbelief because I'm continuing to do this based on what I think is right in my own eyes. Didn't Israel do that? And then sample unto us that we can see things as right in our own eyes and decide that's what we're gonna do rather than what God said. That is a clear example of what I'm talking about. Are we unbelievers at times? To what extent might we be justly condemned as unbelievers even in our regenerate state? What has the Lord provided for you thus far? Now, we started with this idea of the Lord will provide, and we want to affirm that it is true whether we accept it or not, whether we believe it or not. It's declared in the Bible. Well, what's the Lord provided for you thus far? I hear a lot of prayers started off with, Lord, thank you for this day. And I've often made mention that I start my prayers that way. And I really, I've thought many times about this. Is that just some perfunctory opening statement so I can kind of get my mind cleared to come up with what I actually intend to pray for? It probably is, honestly, in many instances, but it shouldn't be. It's not as though we shouldn't thank God for this very day. It's probably something that, rather than extracting it from our prayers and saying, well, I'm just saying that as a opening statement so I can get my thoughts collected, what we rather ought to do is continue to pray it and enter into what it actually means to thank God for this very day that we have. Because I think, as often as not, we sort of think each day is the default setting. You're gonna have this day, I'm gonna have tomorrow, and I'm gonna have two weeks from now, and all those things. That's the way we tend to think. And we don't know those things. So the Lord has provided for all of us this day. He's provided us this life. None of us did anything to acquire our natural lives. None of us did anything to acquire our spiritual lives. The Lord has provided in that respect, has He not? Clothing, food, shelter, these are all things the Lord's providing for us. Our church, the Lord has provided that. You think about the fact that you're part of a continuous string of believers that goes back for 2,000 years. There's a miraculous provision and providence on the part of God just to make it so that you could sit in this assembly today. This church is not merely something that cropped up in Donaldson, Arkansas 120 years ago. This is something that's part of a continuous chain of God's provision for His people for a couple of thousand years. I submit we have a lot of evidence that the Lord will provide, and I suspect as often as not, the reason we might become uncertain about God's provision has more to do with what we expect to be provided than what God has promised to provide. All right, let's look at Mark 4 here. Mark 4 in verse 35, And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. Y'all know this story. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him, even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. Here are these people with the Lord of glory in a boat, that appears by every evidence here to be sinking. It's filling up with water in a storm, and we find this reaction. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow, and they awake him and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? These are disciples who are with the Lord, in person with the Lord. And are they not saying, We're not sure you're gonna provide for us. Don't you care, Lord? Look at the situation here. The boat is evidently sinking. We are taking on water, and we know where that goes. If we continue to take on water, this thing's going to the bottom. And they accuse the Lord of not caring about whether or not they're gonna perish. I submit that in that, there is a recognition that they believe it's possible the Lord may not provide for them in this particular instance. There's a lot in this. Lack of caring, lack of knowledge. Do they think the Lord needs to be informed about these things? This gives me a thought about how we pray sometimes. We often try to figure out how to pray for certain things. And I understand that idea. I've had that thought myself. How should I pray about this? I think that the older I've gotten, the more I realize it's not really about how I pray for this. It's more about the worshipful act of setting this before God and saying, Lord, resign me to your will in this. You know what I would like to have happen. And I confess that before you. It would be silly for me to hide that, because you know it already. But I'm laying it out here as an act of confession to you of what I would want. I'm suffering in this, and then yet, Lord, it's in your hands, and you're gonna provide, and I put it in your hands. Reconcile me to your will in this matter. Interesting that he says, carest thou not that we perish. That's kind of how we tend to think in these matters. If we don't have deliverance, if there's some issue that you're praying for today, maybe you've been praying for it for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, and it has not come to pass, it's not unlikely that you may feel as though the Lord doesn't really care about this matter because you haven't gotten the answer that you wanted to have, right? We know the Lord cares for us. It does mean, however, that the things that we encounter in our lives, the troubles and difficulties and the challenges and the things that we might pray that the Lord remove from us, are not an indication that He doesn't care. Though we may be apt to feel that way. Look at what the Lord does here. Verse 39, And He arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm." Now there was an answer to prayer, you might say, in this respect. They were concerned about the storm. It looked like the boat was going to sink. They called out to God. And the Lord eventually rectified the situation, did He not? Key word there being eventually. Right? And I think a lot of times the way we think about things is we think, well, you know, He's God. Why did He let us get into this situation in the first place? Right? Why on earth did He even let the boat take on water? Shouldn't we be in a perpetual state where everything is just absolutely hunky-dory and there are no problems? This is a thought that creeps into the minds of God's children. That, hey, I should live a life that's free from any adversity whatsoever. And if I'm having adversity or if there's something I'm upset about or depressed about or some situation that remains unresolved, somehow this is God not caring for me. And you know what? Here's the subtle thought that I think many of us think. If I were God, I'd do it differently. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways. He's our Creator, the sovereign God of this universe, and He knows what is best, though it may not be in agreement with what you think is best. And that's sort of the struggle of Christian discipleship in a nutshell. It's trying to reconcile the will of God with the will of man. what you have in mind for yourself. But this is a statement the Lord makes in verse 40 that I wanted to call our attention to because I think it's just jarring. Now, he's talking to his disciples here. These are regenerate men. These are men of faith who are following the Lord Jesus Christ. These are God's children, regenerate, faith-having. They are what you would say are believers. These are believers. Those people in that first category that I was talking about, many people in Christianity say, well, there's believers and unbelievers. These people have fallen into the category of believers. They're the Lord's disciples who are following Him in His ministry. And He said unto them, why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? No faith. Jesus is not saying, how is it that you are unregenerate, that you lack the spiritual capacity of faith? How is it that you do not have the fruit of the Spirit that was given to you in regeneration? That is not what he's saying. That is not the sense in which they have no faith. Elder Phelan's often taught us about the distinctions in faith, vital faith, academic faith, and faith in action. When he's talking about how is it that you have no faith, when the Lord says how is it that you have no faith here, he's talking about faith in action. How is it that you are not manifesting in your actions your faith in me? The Lord gave him that faith. You ever think about that? It is the gift of God, is what the Bible says. Think about this from the Lord's perspective, if you will, for a moment. It's like he's saying, I gave you faith. You've got faith. I don't see any of it in your behavior, such that I can say you have no faith. You have no active faith. You're not believing me. You're not believing that I'm gonna take care of you. And it's manifest in a particular word here that he calls out. Why are ye so fearful? Fear is the manifestation of their lack of faith. Bible says perfect love casteth out fear. To the extent that you have embraced and are experiencing and believing the love of God that is taught in the Bible, this type of fear gets driven out from your life because you realize it's in the Lord's hands and He's gonna take care of it. But the Lord says they have no faith. Now I'm submitting to you these are regenerate men who have the vital capacity of faith. They have vital faith because they're born again. but they're not manifesting active faith. They're not using the faith they've been given. I know a couple people that I went to high school with years ago who were brilliant people. The little standardized tests that you take to get into college, they blew the numbers out of the water. I mean, just very, very brilliant people. They had incredible minds. And yet, I know a couple of those people who have really not done anything in life. They never cultivated that mind. Some of them got into drugs and all sorts of other things and really wrecked their lives. There's a sense in which you could go to a person like that and you could say, how is it that you have no mind? See what I'm saying? They've got a mind. That's not the point you're making. It's that you've been given this incredible mind and this incredible talent, and yet you've done absolutely nothing with it. If someone didn't know about these standardized test scores that you had and the scholarships you were offered to great schools across the country that you never took advantage of, and they'd simply looked at the testimony of your life, they would say, that person, he ain't got any kind of mind at all. God gives us capacities. as part of regeneration, and then he calls upon us to exercise them. And that's the distinction between vital faith and faith in action. We've all been given faith, now we're called upon to exercise that faith and to exercise it towards the Lord. And in so doing, we drive out fear. How many of you are fearful right now about circumstances? It would be easy to have a conversation with any of you and talk about any of, let's call it a half dozen topics that are pretty hot right now, and start to uncover maybe some fears and anxieties about where things are going in our world. I think it's natural, but faith is part of how you combat that fear, right? To the extent that you get drug into the realm of thinking that all of the natural solutions we think should come to pass to fix these problems is ultimately the solution, you are stepping away from the idea of faith that says, I don't know how this is going to work out, we're going to trust God with it, and ultimately we know we win with God in the end anyway, right? Our deliverance is not in this world. Our hope is in God, and I think that case is made very clearly in Psalm 43. I think Psalm 43 is a way to double-click on this notion of how our attitudes are with respect to God's truth and zoom in a little bit closer and see what's actually going on here. It talks a little bit about our attitude, the correction we need, a worshipful response, and then kind of the bewilderment of saying, why are we this way? And I think this outlines the experience of a child of God. Now look at this first part. The first two verses are the attitude. You ever had this attitude? Judge me, oh God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. Have you ever thought about that? Man, we're surrounded by wicked people, wicked politicians, wicked government officials, wicked everywhere you look. Corruption, evil. Lord, deliver us from these things. Pretty common sentiment, whether it was 3,000 years ago, or today. For thou art the God of my strength. Why dost thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Lord, it just feels like you've just forgotten about us. Everything's messed up. We're under the rule of ungodly people. deceitful and unjust man. It just feels like we've just been utterly cast off in this. It's a common sentiment. It's occurred time and again in the lives of God's people, and that's an attitude that we have. It's really an attitude of unbelief. The Lord says, I'll never leave you nor forsake you, so how could you ever say, Lord, why have you cast me off? Now, I get it that we feel that way, but it's really not about how you feel, right? How we feel can be very deceptive. Why are you casting me off, God? Well, how do you reconcile that with, I believe that thou shalt never leave me nor forsake me. But you cast me off. The way you reconcile that, there's really no way to reconcile it, but the way you explain it is through believer's unbelief. Here's people who know something about God, they've heard things about God, and yet they're persisting in a measure of unbelief about what God is going to do to provide for them. Verse 3. How do we correct this problem? Where are you gonna find this correction? If you go out in the world, never darken the door of a church, you don't open the Bible, you're just out there imbibing in media, social media, whatever you're out there encountering, what's on TV, what's on the internet, are you gonna find this correction in that domain? Verse three, O send out thy light and thy truth, let them lead me, let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. It's talking about a light of truth here, and this is found in our era nowhere other than the Word of God and is manifest particularly in the Lord's house. This is the place of correction. We've often referred to the church as a hospital for sinners. We all have a certain sickness which may manifest itself in us appearing to have no faith. The treatment is found through regular application of the Word of God. And if we're doing as we ought in the measure of discipleship and how we're to help one another along the path, we should be putting the truth regularly before one another. And that truth needs to challenge the way you think about things. This is how I think about things. This is a correction I need. I think it's a correction we all need. It's not as though I'm somehow immune to it. I need the correction of the Word of God regularly in my life. What then is the proper response to this? So you know, you've got a bad attitude. We found a place, we found that in the Lord's tabernacle, in the Lord's house and in His Word is the source of correction for this problem, this attitude adjustment, right, is what we need. What's the proper response? Having encountered that correction, then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy. Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God, my God. The proper response for this is not recreation. You know, I think a lot of times if you think about work or you think about your life through the lens of work, you tend to think of it in terms of, well, I'm going to work for these many months. And then through that time, I will have saved up a certain amount of vacation days. And at the end of that, I'll take my vacation days and I'm going to go recreate for a week. And then I'll go back into the cycle again, right? Work, recreate, work, recreate, back and forth. Not so in this matter. This is not a matter that you recreate your way out of. This is a matter that we worship our way out of. When we come to know this truth, experience the joy of hearing the Lord's rebuke in the matter, the proper response is to worship the Lord and be thankful for His provision for you. Now at the end of this, there's this fifth verse, which is kind of interesting to me. I've had the thought myself many times. He says, why art thou cast down, O my soul? You see how after the correction and after worshiping the God who's given you these great and precious promises, there's assurance that comes over you and then a sense that says, why do I worry about these things so much? Why do I get so down about these things? There's a lot of illness and depression in this world. And I'm gonna submit to you that more of it than is known by most people, is related to someone's spiritual well-being rather than to some biochemical or physical problem that they have. I wouldn't deny that there are people who have physical problems, medical problems that lead to depression and despair. I think that's true. And I don't have any particular instance in mind when I'm talking about this, but I'm telling you under biblical authority that a great deal of what plagues God's people has nothing to do with any of that. There's been so much made in recent years about, we're gonna have to follow the science, right? And the reality is, I think God's people at times have come to this place where we're willing to follow the science, whatever that is, to a greater degree than we are willing to follow the Bible. The Bible regularly talks about people being cast down and in a terrible state, in a faithless state, being full of fear and depression and doubting and sorrow. and regularly equates it to someone's spiritual well-being, not to something that you're gonna get a pill to correct. So, while there may be instances where we need to follow science in some sort of acute medical instances or whatever, I'm saying that if you take the total domain of human depression that exists in the world, And you say, that is all confined to the realm of science, and we need to follow the science to address that problem. You have defined the domain of the problem too small. Because the Bible says, and repeatedly says, this is not about that, it's about a spiritual issue in people's lives. Now look, when we bifurcate in our minds this idea of, well, science is this thing over here, and religion is this thing over here, and then you lump all of the depression and suffering that people have into the realm of science and medical depression, you're making a huge mistake, because it's entirely possible that if someone is struggling with that issue, it exists and arises entirely from their spiritual melees and not from a medical issue at all. So, I don't know where we would draw that line. I'm not trying to define that very specifically, but I am trying to say this. The Bible clearly associates these things in the lives of God's people to a spiritual condition rather than to a medical condition. And if we get to a place where we say, I'm not going to consider the spiritual things that might be causing this in my life, I'm only going to look to the scientific things that might be causing it, it's entirely possible that you're looking to the wrong place. And you will ever and always be working on a solution that never addresses the underlying problem. If you're someone who's experiencing some of those things, I'm gonna recommend this. Don't take the spiritual matter off the table. Don't say, I'm gonna follow the science. Don't say, just because my doctor says I should do this, that, or the other, that he's got the cause right. Your doctor is not considering the possibility that sin in your life might be creating this problem. That unbelief in your life may be creating this problem. He's never gonna give that under consideration. By the way, the biochemical things that they may try to address, they may be real. And the scariest thing is that some medicine you may be given to do this may actually mask the effect of this to such a degree that you never really feel like you ever have to go work on the problem. Verse five, why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? In other words, why do I feel this way? Now that I've been given the proper instruction, I've been brought back to the truth, I'm stepping out of this wrong-headed way of thinking about things that's made me fearful and made me accuse God of not caring or casting me aside, I'm kinda now saying, why do I ever think that way? You see how when thinking properly about God's provision for us, we should never go there, we should never think that way. And you see the psalmist saying, why did I do that? Why did I think that way? Why do I get upset about this? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. Well, that's a clear example. of someone in the Bible who is disquieted, you might say depressed in modern terms, very upset, and the corrective in this is to press into what God's Word says and exercise the faith that God has given you toward the truth that He has laid out before you. This is the thing that corrects the thinking here. In that sense, God, in many respects, has given you the pill already. You just need to take it, right? He's given you the pill of faith. He's given you that ability. It's time to use that faith and believe what God has told us in His promises. And that's what will correct the issue, right? It's not found in anything else. And I'm just suggesting that the world offers up thousands of substitutes for the truth to address issues of being disquieted, fearful, depressed, etc., etc. It offers it up in the form of hedonism, go seek pleasure, money, power, fame, pharmaceuticals. All these things get offered up. Pharmakeia, which is associated with witchcraft in the Bible. The world offers these things up as solutions to this problem. But if you're not considering what the psalmist has laid out here in terms of the solution and the core problem as being spiritual rather than medical, and a right way of thinking that arises and or is corrected by the application of the faith that God has given you, then it's entirely possible that you've missed the core problem altogether. I set that before you for your consideration. In the matter of faith, the Lord delivers us. We started by saying the Lord will provide. I want to look at Acts chapter 12 and we'll do this as we close. Acts 12 is a great story because it speaks to how the Lord solves problems in ways that we just don't see how they can be resolved. I've talked to some of you at times about situations in your lives, and you tell me what's going on here, and at the end of sharing what's maybe upsetting you or what's depressing or sorrowful, we're both kind of left with a sense of, I don't really know how to fix this, right? And maybe, I suspect we feel more despair over the idea of not having a solution on tap that we could define. But is that really an impediment? The fact that our tiny minds can't conceive of some solution to the problem, is that any reason for us to lose hope over the fact that God can fix the problem? Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church and he killed James the brother of John with the sword and because he saw it pleased the Jews he proceeded further to take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened bread, and when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him." Now I've mentioned earlier in this service the importance of prayer. I appreciate the prayers of those of you in the church who are praying for one another, and I want to continue to encourage it. But I believe there are answers to prayer that this church has yet to see, and we should commit to praying for these things for one another and be more active about it. There's not anybody in this church right now who couldn't quickly write down the names of five people that they know should be here right now. Either they're members and they're not here, they're people who are not members and they would benefit greatly from being here, or they're people who hadn't darkened the door of a church in a long time and it would do them a great service to be here. Now what is the impediment in our minds to thinking those people can't ever show up? Because I know they exist. I have the list myself. And I know a lot of times we think, well, but you know, if you knew the whole situation there, that ain't ever going to happen. But you don't know the whole history. This happened and this happened. I tried to get them to come. I tried this and that over and over again. There's a thousand things on the list. I get it. I manage my own list, and I have my own list of things of all the reasons that they shouldn't be here. And as a result of that, maybe I think, well, Well, I can't really come to a solution to this problem. I guess it's just not ever going to be resolved. But who are we praying to? Who are you praying to? Right? We're praying to the God who created this world. This is not an impediment to God. A lot of times people say, well, I don't know if that's ever going to change if we prayed for that person because I just know that person is so willful with respect to what they're doing and they're not wanting to be a part of the church or whatever that they're just never going to turn things around. I don't understand. I see that observation. And I have people in my own mind that I would say kind of fall into that category. But I don't understand the religion that says, well, God's leaving it up to everybody's choice. How would you have any hope for any of those people if that was your testimony of them? I mean, they're so hardened in what they're doing, they're just never going to change their mind. What hope would you have that they're ever going to turn around and follow the Lord? I mean, that Paul, you know, he was out there murdering Christians. You think you're gonna get him in the church? Yeah, you're gonna get him in the church. You're gonna get him in the pulpit. And by the way, he's gonna write the majority of the New Testament. God is able to do above and beyond anything we could possibly imagine in this thing. And God is in the matter. There's nothing that's going to alter it. So that should provide us some confidence. in the matter. The disciples here were praying without ceasing of the church unto God for him. Now this is essentially a helpless situation. Peter's been captured. He's in a Roman prison and they got a bunch of guards on him. That seems pretty hopeless, and yet these people were praying for him nevertheless. And when Herod would have brought him forth the same night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, and the keepers before the door kept the prison. Now imagine when Peter fell asleep just then, he's probably going, well, I don't reckon I'm gonna get out of this before I wake up in the morning. I got soldiers sleeping on both sides of me, and I'm chained up. Seems pretty helpless. Verse 7, And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and light shined in the prison. And he smote Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. God can deliver someone who is in what would appear to be an utterly undeliverable circumstance. That's the part we need to keep in mind. That's that correction we found over there in the psalmist. When I realized, it's like, why have you cast Peter away? Well, when I realized that God's the one who can make the chains fall off and miraculously deliver him, now all of a sudden I want to worship God and thank you for this. Our hope is in God. You see that? And the angel said unto him, gird thyself and bind on thy sandals, and so he did. And he saith unto him, cast thy garment about thee and follow me. And he went out and followed him, and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision. Now what do you make of that? What does that mean? I'm not entirely sure I know what that means, but it seems as though Peter almost thinks I'm dreaming this in the midst of it. I don't really know what's happening. I guess I'm dreaming. I guess I fell asleep in this prison with two chains on me and a guard on each side of me, and now I'm having this dream that I'm getting out of prison, because this can't possibly be real. This itself might be an evidence of believer's unbelief. Here's Peter being delivered, and he's in such a state of unbelief that this could happen, that he's like, well, this must be a dream. That's what it seems like to me. He thought it was a vision. When they were past the first and second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city, which opened to them of his own accord. And they went out and passed on through one street and forthwith the angel departed from him." Now look at Peter's declaration here. Maybe we'll close on this. Peter was come to himself. In other words, when he kind of realized this is no dream, this is actually happening, I'm being delivered miraculously by God in this circumstance." When he had come to himself, he said, "'Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.'" He didn't really realize this until on the backside, but God miraculously delivered him. I think it put him in a worshipful mindset to realize what God was able to deliver him from. Well, I pray that's a blessing to you. Come on up, Brother Randy. What he just preached is the gospel. I want to tell you. Years ago, I went through severe depression due to a lot of circumstances, and I was committed to, I call it the nut house. And I'm telling you, that was quite an experience, you know. There's somebody that watches you while you sleep. When you go to shave, they bring in the razor and they stand there and they watch it. And I mean, they watch you, everything you do. Lots of counseling. But in this process, the doctor that was there, he told me that he was putting me on some antidepressants. And he said that I would have to take them the rest of my life. Well, I left there and I did community counseling. I don't know different counties. Many, many places I've done counseling. Tried many different types of antidepressants. There was some that I got hooked on. And I could not do anything without taking one of those pills. If I was fixing to go into a situation where it kind of bothered me, I'd take one of those pills. I mean, I really got addicted on them, and they were habit for me. The way I got off of them, I listened to a sermon one morning on TV. It was Charles Stanley. And from that point on, I put those pills down. This is the Lord working in my life. And I went on and there was times that I couldn't get insurance because I was taking antidepressants and all this type of stuff. They said the only way you can do it is to go back to the doctor and get him to release you. I went back, paid for all that, and he said, well, it looks like you might be better. So I still couldn't get insurance. But the truth is, I haven't been on depressants for 20 years, I guess. The Lord has took care of that, and it's a fact that God can deliver, so thank you. I sincerely appreciate that testimony. I don't know why I spent 15 minutes talking about depression and taking antidepressants and stuff like that, but I think now I see a little bit of the purpose in it. That was not part of my sermon notes, but I suppose it was a burden placed upon my heart. I think it's fair to say this. How many of us would not say, our nation is in serious spiritual distress right now? I mean, I've mentioned it several times that the number of empty places to sit in this church is clear evidence that if you just trace this out over the last 60 or 70 years, it's just been dropping off slowly and slowly. And this is, you know, something that has happened across the country. Christianity is on the decline in many respects, and that's problematic. Now, if the church is of value in this world, and I think we would all say it is, it's the institution the Lord Jesus Christ founded. He didn't found it for no reason. It was here to be profitable for a place of instruction of God's people and comfort and whatnot. If that's true of the church, and it's in decline, and even in the churches that exist, there's been a precipitous drop in the amount of truth from the Word of God that gets preached in those places, is it not inevitable that this sort of malaise is going to come across people? And that depression and all these sorts of things are inevitably going to result? I don't even think anyone could argue, no reasonable Christian person could argue with that. And I guess my main thrust in all this was to say, the world is gonna come in and tell you time and time again that we've got a pill to fix everything. If you're depressed, here's something you could do. I mean, this is an old, old routine. Before we had all the antidepressants and all the health insurance that would bankroll all this stuff, before we did that, it was just, it's just alcohol and opium and weed You know, there's always been some way to, well, oh, you're kind of down about something? Pour yourself a stiff drink, right? If you never consider the possibility that the matter is spiritual, I believe it highly likely that you're never actually even working on the problem. That stuff, by and large, is duct tape for the soul. You're not fixing the problem, you're just duct taping it up. But there's a solution found. If you orient your life around God's truth, examine yourselves, look and see, is this problem not a lack of serotonin in my system? It's a lack of faith. That's what it often is. Thank you for listening to SuccessfulSavior.org, the ministry of Harmony Primitive Baptist Church. This has been Elder Dan Sammons preaching in one of our regular meetings. Come and join us as we worship God in the simplicity of Christ every Sunday morning at 416 North Hall Street in Donaldson, Arkansas. At Harmony, we don't have many things you'll find in the popular churches of our day, but we do have a successful Savior. We invite you to come and see.