I'm just kidding. The faces we get to look at. No, I'm just kidding. But we have been on a rollercoaster ride as a church this month. My family has. I know you guys received a letter from me while I was away. Just a lot of things that God has been doing in my heart. And let me give you some advice. Don't fight with God. Don't fight with God. When you do, He always wins. and you end up paying for it, those kind of things. But I've been wrestling with God for a while about some things. There have been several people who've told me about it. They say, preacher, something's wrong with you. I'm like, no, nothing's wrong with me. But there is something wrong when you begin to argue with the Lord about His will and His way. See, the thing about the ministry is when you serve the Lord in any capacity as full-time surrender, God calls you to preach, listen, you're His vessel. As His child, you need to do what He tells you to do. No matter what. No matter what. I don't care if you've worked a job for 20 years and you're just on the verge of retirement. If God says go to the mission field, you go to the mission field. If God says go here, you go here. If God says go there, you go there. We're His vessels to do with what He wants. If we always got our way, we'd be in our little bubble. We'd never do anything else. And, you know, that's the way it is. I just want to say, first of all, thank you to this church. We love you very much. And we sure thank God for the three and a half years that we've been here, and all the love that you all have shown my family and me. And I have grown in more ways than one, spiritually and physically. You guys are good cooks, so I've grown that way. But I will say, this is family, and we love you. But we have to obey the Lord. It doesn't always make sense to us. It doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't make sense to my wife, my kids. It doesn't make sense to any of us. But God never promised to make sense to us. He just promised that He has a plan and He has a purpose and that we need to obey His plan and His purpose. And I do want to say thank you to the men of this church that have been able to just take the reins and carry on the work. We have some good men in this church, some godly men in this church that I'm grateful for. And just other people that have just stepped up, ladies in the church that have just stepped up and done the work. And that speaks volumes, volumes for this church. Oftentimes, a pastor gets a recognition for the way a church is. But the fact of the matter is, this church wouldn't be anything, first off, without the Lord. The church is nothing without Him. But second off, without people that are willing to serve and willing to do things. A lot of times the preacher is the one that gets the pat on the back because they say, wow, what a church that is. They give credit to the preacher, but really the credit goes to people that are willing to be sensitive to the Lord. And over these past couple weeks, I've been praying, asking the Lord for direction, and God has opened some doors, or opened a door for my family. to go and be the senior pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Martinsburg, West Virginia. We will be here till next Wednesday will be my last day as pastor, and we'll be transitioning, trying to move and get things situated to begin to start another ministry, another chapter in our life. But let me explain something to you. A ministry's not built on one person. If this ministry fails because my family leaves, then it was built on the wrong thing. It's built on the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I want to challenge you to continue to serve the Lord No matter how much we miss people or going to miss people because the fact of the matter is we already do and we already have and we're going to But it's not goodbye forever. We'll see you again on this side of eternity or in heaven. It's going to be that way. We don't intend on being strangers. We'll still be around. I'm still going to try to, you know, antagonize people at camps and different things like that and send Lisa dog presents and all kinds of things like that instead of cats. And, you know, we've made lasting friendships, lasting family relationships and being here. And it has been a tremendous, tremendous, tremendous three and a half years. God has allowed a lot of things to be accomplished. But it's not because of me. It's because of him. And it's because of you and the work that you guys are willing to do. And let me challenge you to continue. I don't know what the future holds, on who's gonna be stepping into this role, but I know God knows. And God already has somebody designed to be here. Here's my challenge to you, when that person gets here, follow them as long as they follow the Lord. Get behind them, pray for them, support them, and God will do wonderful things here. But in the meantime, don't just sit by and do nothing. Continue to do what's right. Continue to win souls. Continue to reach people. Continue to bring people here. We have some godly men that preach godly messages. We have some wonderful Sunday school teachers, some wonderful people in ministry. And we are going to miss you greatly. And we do thank everybody for the love and the compassion and the understanding. I will be honest with you, even as a pastor, I can get in the flesh sometimes. I've been on an emotional roller coaster this past three weeks, especially even when I pulled back in the parking lot here. Just an emotional ride. But we don't serve based on emotion. We do things because God tells us to do them. And if we just did everything we wanted to do, we'd never do anything for God. We'd just do our own thing and we'd never do anything. But I want to say thank you to the leaders of our church. You deacons, thank you so much for backing me, supporting me, all the things that you've done for me. I sure appreciate you and love you. And everybody else here, I love you. My family loves you. We're grateful, grateful, grateful for you. And by the way, Daisy, you have to play your song for Miss Lisa before we leave. I told her, I would make you do it, okay? So you gotta practice and try to do it, if you're able to. I don't care if you mess it up, you gotta at least try, all right? But the thing is, tears are a good thing. Tears are, they show sincere love. And they show compassion. They show, I'm just glad we're not leaving because of a church split. I'm glad we're not leaving because of a valley experience. You know, it's a time where we can just rejoice in the fact that we're willing to serve the Lord no matter where that is. And listen, if God calls me to Africa, I'll go. If God tells me to go on the other side of the world, I'll go. Why? Because I'm His. And I'm His to do with what He wants. And we don't always understand those things. But the fact of the matter is every person in this room that is a child of God, you need to obey God's will no matter what it is. And my mind was asking the Lord, and I was begging God to slam the door in my face and just let us keep going and doing what we were supposed to do. I know my kids were praying, God, slam that door, whatever. But I want to say thank you, not only to this church, but I want to say thank you to my family, my wife and my children. It's not easy. It's not easy leaving people that you love, people that you're close to, your friends, But I'm glad I have a family that supports me and that's willing to follow me no matter where God takes us. And if it weren't for them, I couldn't be where I'm at today. If it weren't for that lady right there, I wouldn't be able to be a pastor. If it weren't for those kids, I wouldn't be able to be where I'm at today. And so I wanna say thank you to this church and I wanna ask you to pray for us. Pray for the ministry. Pray this prayer for me that I'll never change on this book. There's so many preachers that are changing. And the next preacher you get here, I know the men in this church, I know they're not gonna let somebody who's a compromiser come here. But church, listen, you ought to guard this pulpit. Guard this place. For the last three and a half years, that's what I've tried to do, is guard this. Why? This is God's sacred desk right here, where the word of God is preached, where lives are changed. And you need somebody here who's not afraid to preach this book, who's not afraid to stand on righteousness, who's not afraid to stand for what's right. And though mileage-wise we'll be a little distance away, our hearts will still be here, still praying for you guys, still loving you, and still rejoicing over what God will do here. And I'm looking forward to what God has in store for the future for my family. It's a new chapter in our life, but We're nervous, we're scared, we're excited all at the same time, a lot of emotions at the same time, but I'm determined to continue on for God no matter what. And I do want to just say thank you to everybody. I can't say it enough for all that you've done for my family and how well you've taken care of us over these last three and a half years. As we do leave and begin to start a new chapter in our lives, we're not leaving with bitter feelings, with hardness in our heart towards people. We want you to know that we love you. We love you very much, and thank God for you. All right, let's get in the Bible, because I'm about to start crying hard. Luke chapter 17, Luke chapter 17. I listened to the messages that the men preached while I was away. And I wanna say this, men, thank you. Thank you for being sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Thank you for listening to him and preaching what he tells you to preach. It's good to know that there's men here that'll do that. And I'm sure grateful for you. And I thank you guys for your faithfulness in all that you do. Luke chapter number 17. I would invite you to stand with me as we read the Word of God, please. Luke chapter number 17. Verse number 1, the Bible says, Then said He unto the disciples, It is impossible, but that offenses will come. But woe unto him through whom they come. Hold on, I got to pause for a minute. Is this how all of you that wear glasses see all the time? It's all blurry like that because I can't see a thing right now. I feel like I'm getting old. I got to do this now so I can see it. Can I borrow somebody's glasses? You got some? I could see clearly a few minutes ago. I don't know what's going on here. It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the sea, then he that should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourself, if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, but if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again unto thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. And the apostle said unto the Lord, increase our faith. And that's the verse I wanna key in on tonight. This is the time when Satan can hurt people's faith. It's a time in our church right now where our faith can get a little weak. But I want to challenge you tonight to increase your faith. And I'm going to try to teach you a little bit through the Word of God tonight on how to increase your faith. And I just give you some a pattern out of the Bible to how to increase your faith. Some things that you need to do to keep your faith strong in the Lord. And so I'm gonna preach that to you tonight, how to increase your faith. Let's pray, Lord, we love you. Thank you for the day that you've given to us. Lord, as I stand behind this pulpit, for one of the last times and I'm gonna be here for a while. Lord, I need your touch and I need your help tonight. But Lord, I ask you to please move in amongst us here this evening. Lord, we're in a very, very weak time. But Lord, where we are weak, you are strong. And Lord, I pray that you just bind Satan and the devils of hell from this church Would you be with the leaders of this church, the deacons, the men of this church, as they seek out a new pastor to take the place of the pastor that you've given me here for these three and a half years? Lord, may they find someone that is holy and righteous and godly, that loves you, that won't compromise from this Word, that'll stand true to it. They'll see many souls saved and lives changed. But Lord, I ask you as I preach tonight, may you allow me to be your mouthpiece. Lord, I stand where the flesh will fail me. Lord, we have emotions going crazy inside of us, just like the church does. But Lord, I pray that as we focus in right now and key in on your word, Lord, that you'll just erase our feelings tonight. And Lord, you'll just help us to be sensitive to your Holy Spirit. Lord, I pray that you'll help us to increase our faith. Lord, we don't always understand your will. We don't always understand your way. But Lord, we know that your way is perfect. And Lord, we sure love you and thank you for all that you've done. Lord, bless the message tonight. If there's anyone here that does not know you as our personal Lord and Savior, I pray they'll trust you tonight. And Lord, we'll give you the praise, honor, and glory for it in Jesus' name, amen. You can be seated, thank you for standing. As I think about faith, is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. We're faced with decisions every day of our life. We're faced with trials that come. We're faced with circumstances, situations we don't understand, even one as our church is going through right now. But the fact is, our faith must remain strong. If it doesn't, If the foundation is destroyed because we allow our faith to be destroyed, it says, what can the righteous do? And listen, we have a job to continue to do. Our job is not based on a person that's here on this earth. Our job is based on a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I wanna challenge you tonight about your faith. And I want you to examine your faith here this evening. Hudson Taylor once said, it is not great faith that we need, but faith in a great God. See, the reason that we can have great faith is because if we put our faith in God, we have a great God. So by putting faith in a great God or allowing God to dictate what faith is all about and allow God's faithfulness to run over into our life, that helps us to have great faith. But the apostles said unto the Lord, they said, increase Our faith and the lord said if he had faith as the grain of a mustard seed he might say into the sycamore tree Be thou plucked up by the roots And be thou planted by the sea and it should obey you they said lord increase our faith He's saying listen. It only takes a little bit of faith to accomplish great works It only takes a little bit of faith to accomplish wonderful things I thought about the day that I had to exercise faith and that was in believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for my salvation. The faith that I had in believing in the finished work of Jesus Christ did a humongous work. That work that it did is it took someone who was doomed and destined for hell, picked them up out of a horrible pit and set their feet upon a rock and established their going. And my life has never been the same. He put a new song in my heart, even praised him to the Lord. And that's what just a little bit of faith can do when you trust in the one who has all power. And so I want to challenge you tonight to how to increase your faith. Firstly, you have to exercise your faith. You have to exercise your faith. Now, I don't like that word in my vocabulary. It's it's a curse word. Exercise is not something I really enjoy. I my life versus bodily exercise profits little. OK, I'm not a big exercise guy. I tell people I do one set up a day, half in the morning when I get up and half when I go to bed. That's my exercise. And this I'm good at this exercise. I got strong arms from doing this. OK, I don't like exercise. But the fact of the matter is We must exercise our faith. Look at James chapter number two, if you would please. James chapter number two. Verse number 16 and 17. And one of you say unto them, depart in peace, being you warned and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Now here's what James is saying. James is not saying that you have to do works in order to have faith. What he's saying is because of faith, you ought to do works. He's saying faith without works is dead faith. What that means is exercising faith in the Lord takes a word called discipline. It takes discipline in order to exercise faith. It said faith without works is dead. What James is saying, he said, listen, I'll show you my faith by my works. If you're gonna exercise faith, you're not just gonna sit in a pew and never do anything for God. If you're going to exercise faith, it's going to take discipline for you to get up in the morning, go to your Bible, spend some time with the Lord, ask God to help you, and you go along by studying the Word of God, by getting into the Word of God, and it takes discipline. How many of you, I don't like it, but how many of you enjoy getting up before the sun rises? There's miss Jody's the only person in here and Bobby they enjoy it. They're they're weird people. Okay No, some people don't even know that the Sun comes up gradually. They just think boom it pops up and then boom it's gone They don't really understand that there's a sunrise in a sunset, but you know what if you're gonna have The right kind of faith and your faith is going to be increased in the Lord listen you're in a time right now church where you've got to have some discipline and Understand some things that you're gonna have to purpose to exercise Your faith you're gonna have to work it out. What's that mean? You can't just sit by an idol doing nothing You've got to go forward and do something for God Every morning you ought to get up and exercise faith in getting into your Bible and allowing God to speak To your heart look at Romans chapter number one Romans chapter number one You say, well, I just don't know if I should live by faith. Look what the Bible says, verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. So what's God saying is, He's saying if you're going to be a just person, you should live by faith. He's saying the just shall live by faith. You know what it's going to take? It's going to take you exercising, having some discipline, not being ashamed of the gospel of Christ. We have too many churches that are ashamed of the gospel. They're ashamed. I don't know about you, but the day I got saved, I haven't been ashamed about that since the day I got saved. I'm excited about it. I'm glad I don't have to spend one second in hell. Nothing about me has to go there, and I'm glad for it, and I'm not ashamed of it. And if you're going to increase your faith, you need to exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You got to get up every morning. Discipline yourself to read your Bible. Discipline yourself to be a soul winner. Discipline yourself to walk holy as he is holy. It takes some discipline in your life. Take some discipline. You have to exercise faith. It says, secondly, if you're going to increase your faith, not only you exercise it, but I've already talked about the word of God, but you've got to examine God's word. Got to examine God's word. I didn't say just read God's word. Examine it. What's that mean? Study it. Get into God's Word. Not only do you have to have discipline, but you got to have diligence in what you're doing. You got to be diligent in it. You got to have a plan about it. Look at Romans chapter number 10. Romans chapter number 10. So how do I have faith? Lord, increase our faith. Okay, well, the just shall live by faith. You gotta exercise it. Faith without works is dead. Well, how do I have faith? Verse 17, so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by what? The word of God. You must, church, must, must, must, must, must get into God's word. And not just read God's word and be a hearer. The Bible says to be a doer of the word. not just see some words on a page, but actually go to the Bible, understanding what it is. It's God's inerrant, infallible, perfect Word of God. And as you open those pages, you're not just reading something that some man somewhere thought of something to write. This was the God of all the universe that penned something for you and penned something for me, and we ought to go to it with diligence and examine the Word of God. It's gonna take us to be diligent in doing it. You're going to have to have a plan in doing it. If you want to increase your faith, you've got to get into the Word of God, because faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. You'll never hear what God has for you if you're not in God's Word. As I was wrestling with God over this decision, there was a verse that he came and kept bringing to my mind and kept bringing to my heart, and I was reading through the book of Revelation, and I got to Revelation 3, verse 8, it says, I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it, for thou hast a little strength, and hath kept my word, and has not denied my name. Every time I tried to tell God, no, I don't want to do it. He said, I set before you an open door. I said before you an open door that no man can shut. And I don't know about you, but if God opens a door, I want to walk through it. Because God's best is on the other side of that door. And no matter what God has in store for this place, if you'll stay faithful to God, you'll exercise faith, you'll have some discipline in doing it, you'll be diligent in the work of God, you'll allow the Word of God to motivate you and to help you along the way, you will see God's blessings and God's best for your life. You will see it. That's where it comes from. It takes some diligence. But you're not only exercising your faith, that's faith in practice. Practicing it, exercising it, putting it to work, putting legs to your faith. We can say all day long, God, I love you. God, I want to serve you. But we never do anything for God. That's dead faith. That's dead faith. When the disciples were asked the question by Jesus, he said, do you love me? They said, yes, Lord, I love you. He said, feed my sheep. You know what he said is don't just say it with your mouth. Show me with your actions that you love me. That's exercising faith. That's exercising faith. And then examining the word of God takes diligence. But when you exercise your faith and you examine the word of God, here's what I want you to understand. When you go to God's word, here's what you ought to have. An expectation from the Lord. Have an expectation from the Lord. That's delighting in whatever he shows you. Delighting in what he shows you. Guess what? I wasn't happy about having to change direction, change ministry, change focus, but I delight in the fact that God has a plan for my family. I delight in the fact that God allows me to serve Him no matter where that is or who it's with. I'm glad and delight in it. I delight in it. I thought about Psalm 1. It said, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. That word blessed is an old English word for the word happy. Nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight. is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. If you want to have strong faith, you want your faith to be increased, you don't go around the wrong kind of people, hang out with the wrong kind of influences, you seek godly counsel, godly wisdom in those decisions, but you go to the Word of God and you delight in it, and it says he'll be like a tree that's planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth its fruit in the season, his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall Prosper so there's a recipe between the word happy and prosperous and it's this delighting in God's Word Meditating upon God's Word allowing God's Word to give you a good root system so that you can flourish for him That's exercising faith have an expectation in the Lord Look at Psalm 27 Psalm 27 When you go to the Bible, having expectations from God, let's throw away the fast food religion mentality, and let's look what the Bible says in verse 14. The first four words say something that speaks volumes. It says, wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Listen, you can ask God this, God why? God, why are you doing this? But here's what you need to do. Go to God's Word. Exercise faith. Delight in His Word. Expect something from Him, but wait on Him. Wait on Him. Delight in Him. Look at Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. Why should you wait on Him? Increase our faith. Our strength is getting small. Our faith is getting weak. What do we do? Look at verse 31. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. So if you're gonna exercise, or if you're gonna have increased faith, you need to exercise your faith takes discipline. You gotta examine God's word with diligence. You gotta have expectations in the Lord, delighting in whatever he has for you. But also you gotta evaluate God's work behind the scenes. You say, what do you mean? I'm gonna take some discernment and see what God is doing. Think about what God has already done behind the scenes while you've been wondering what all's happening, what all's going on, Look at Psalm 126. Verse three, the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. You know what you do to increase your faith? You think about the works that God has done. You think about what he's done despite who we are. You think about the works that God has done for us. The good things that he's done. The people that have been saved. The baptismal waters that have been stirred. The missionaries sent out. The people that have been saved because of those missionaries. The people that are here in this church that God has brought by our way because somebody made contact with them or just God just happened to bring them here for no reason at all. But because people were faithful and because think about that, evaluate God's work. Think about what God has done. Take some discernment and quit thinking about everything else and the critical circumstance and the hardness that you're going through and think about the goodness of God. Think about how good God has been to Tabernacle Baptist Church. All throughout the years, how God has done a work in Salisbury, North Carolina. You say, well, how do I have increased faith as I think about God's works? And man, it makes me glad. I get excited. I think about the things that the Lord has done. Look at Joshua 23. Verse 1, and it came to pass a long time after that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age. And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age. And ye have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto all these nations because of you. For the Lord your God is he that hath fought for you. You know what Joshua was telling them? You know what you get to experience? You know what, I'm old, I'm stricken in age, my life's about to end. But I want all of you to remember something. I want you to remember what God has done for the nation of Israel. Now listen, just because God has placed a new chapter in my family's life, and though we're not going to get to see you all every week and every day, let me tell you this, God has been good to this place. Don't ever forget about the goodness of God. You want to have increased faith, you're going to have to evaluate God's works. It's going to take some discernment on your part. Satan's going to throw some things out there and say, oh, well, this person didn't love you, or this might have been the problem, or maybe somebody was mad at this, or maybe something was happening with this. Throw all that aside and just think about the goodness of God. Understand what God has done. Understand how good God has been I look at this crowd tonight on a Tuesday night Thanksgiving week and I think why is everyone here? Maybe it was because somebody wanted to come and hear where pastor called what was going or what what God was going to do Maybe he didn't come to hear from the Word of God, but you're here tonight and you're here for a reason but I'll tell you this Satan is going to try to attack this church and Here's what you all need to do together increase your faith increase your faith Here ought to be your cry, Lord, increase our faith. And you know what he's going to say? You've got to exercise it. You've got to build it up. Don't just sit by and expect other people to jump in and do the work that's here. Everybody ought to do their part. If you go through the book of Acts, that little church at Tyre, all of them were there to help the Apostle Paul. They all prayed with him. They went down to the water with him and prayed as he was getting off. They came, women, children, all of them said, we're all going to do our part. You gotta exercise that faith. You gotta examine God's word with diligence. You gotta have expectation from the Lord, delighting in His word. You gotta evaluate the works of God. Don't ever forget about God's work, but here's what else you gotta do. Endure and embrace your trials. Endure and embrace your trials. What's that take? Dedication. Dedication. Paul said, I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I kept the faith. You know what that took? Dedication. It took dedication. It took somebody that was enduring the hard times. Look at James chapter number one. Somebody just preached out of this chapter the other day as I was listening to the sermons. James chapter number one. Look at verse 3, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Listen, when your faith is tested, you've got to be dedicated. You've got to be dedicated. You've got to endure. Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. I think of Job. When Job went through all that Job went through, it said he held fast his integrity. He didn't charge God foolishly. He did what God wanted him to do, despite the trial, despite the tragedy. It takes some dedication. Look at 1 Peter chapter number 1. Verse 6, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, yearn heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Church, here's my prayer for you. Don't let Satan destroy your faith. Endure Embrace the trial. Be dedicated. Be where you're supposed to be. Do what you're supposed to do. Don't look at the circumstance as, what are we going to do? Say, God, what do you have for us to do? Let God lead you. Let God guide you. Embrace the trials. You say, well, why does God drag churches like this through deep waters? God never drags his children through deep water to drown them. He drags them through deep water to cleanse them. And understand this, this is a time where your faith is gonna be tested. It's a time where my faith is gonna be tested, and my faith has been tested. It's been tested for a while. God doesn't like it when you tell him no. God doesn't like it when you fight with him, when you argue with him. But you know what kind of burdens get released when you just say, Lord, here am I. Use me. Trials may come. Paul said in chastening often, in starvation, stonings, all that Paul went through, you know what he said? I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I kept the faith. Church, listen, you've got to exercise your faith. It's going to take discipline. You've got to examine the Word of God. It's going to take diligence. You have to have expectation of the Lord and delight in His Word. You're gonna have to evaluate God's works, take some discernment and look around at the good things that God has done. Don't always dwell on the bad things. Satan's always trying to get you to focus on the bad things. Think about the good things. Think about the happy times, the memories, what God has done in this place, what has been accomplished just because of faithfulness. Remember the goodness of God. But then endure and embrace the trial. Just be dedicated. When Daniel was faced with a new land, in captivity, the Babylonians just besieged his country, took him away from his family. He's now forced to come to a place in his life where he has to make a decision whether he's going to defile himself or he's going to do what's right. It said, but Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself. You know what he did, Brother Miller? He endured and embraced the trial. And he said, even though it could cost me my life, I'm going to be dedicated. I'm going to do what's right. So listen, if you're going to have increased faith, you're going to have to work at it hard. You're gonna have to let God lead you. Get in God's word. Study God's word. Don't just wait for the word of God to come from this pulpit. Because I'll tell you what you'll be. You'll be a sick, weak Christian. You gotta be in it every day. Be diligent at it. And your faith will increase. Brother Doug, there's been times I didn't want to read this. Because I knew God had something that he wanted from me. And you know what we say, God, that doesn't seem fun. But you know what? Joy comes in serving Jesus. There's no greater joy than being in God's will. No greater joy. And though there's sad times and though we're gonna miss everyone here, I'll say this, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. And God will bless this church. And you can have increased faith if you'll just purpose to be diligent and dedicated, delighting in His Word. Just be sincere and real and do what God wants you to do. And God will bless. Now with heads bowed,