Mark chapter 6, verse number 6. Stand with me and we'll read one verse. It sure is good to see you tonight. Amen. We'll read one verse. Verse number 6. The Bible said, And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went around about the villages teaching. Can you picture the Lord marveling? I bet you can't picture it. And I'm going to tell you why you can't picture it. Because you think of the Lord marveling at something like me and you would marvel. When we marvel, we're like, how'd they do that? Not the Lord. Father, I pray You'd help me for a few minutes. Lord, I sure do love You. Thank You for the good day You've given us. Thank You for the good day You gave us Sunday. God, I sure appreciate everything You do for the love that You have, for the patience that You have, for the goodness and the kindness. Lord, help us. Lord, as we read 1 John 1-5, help us just to know, to know, the love of God and the very same love that we're to have one for another. Help us, I pray. Help us tonight now. Give us your word in Jesus' name, I pray. Amen and amen. Amen. Please pray those churches. I'm asking you. I don't want to have to call other preachers and say, will you pray for our church? I don't want to have to do that. But I'm not beyond it. I did not. I did not. No, ma'am. I looked up the word marvel. And this word, this word marvel, it's a word that, as I said a while ago, we really, we scratch our head, but I'm amazed. And it actually means to wonder, to wonder, to be amazed, to become surprised. You think the Lord was ever surprised at something? You think He ever wondered about something? I don't think there was ever a day. I believe we can take the Bible and prove to you tonight that nothing caught Him by surprise. He said, I'm the first and the last, the beginning and the end. If he's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, he's been in control the whole time. We have fretted over the fact that there have been a few times in our lives we've seen a few presidents that we thought, man, I didn't vote for him. How did he get in there? But we've read that how he'll set up a king and he can take them down too. And when you think It's as bad as it can be. Be reminded, it can always get worse. Anybody remember when Bill Clinton was president? Well, I guess he was more like Speaker of the House than she was president. He gave all the speeches, I don't know. And you thought for sure, it can't get no worse than this. I want to preach on this thought. And he marveled. And he marveled. That, to marvel that which has the power to arrest your attention and cause a person just to stand there Engage. You ever just seen something that, man, you just. Last year, last year, last January, we was out in Dallas and we went to the building that President John F. Kennedy was shot from. And literally, I mean, it was almost just kind of eerie to thinking about all that. And we were standing in places and just looking and you just. Let's tell you the standard is. We were marveling. We were amazed. And whenever whenever they got finished with everything. But I mean, when I say finished with what I'm talking about going all the way through the whole building and everything, you almost come to this conclusion. This was all a setup. Well, did you know that most of everything we see nowadays, I'm one of these people, I don't deny it. I'm a conspiracy person. I believe there's more to these stories than what's being told. I don't believe that it was an accident, he's riding along in a convertible car, open to the view of the public. This man shoots him, then another man shoots him. And then this other guy dies of old age quickly. I mean, come on. I don't believe, I don't believe, I don't believe an airplane hit a building 60 stories high and the metal beams in the bottom of that thing melted and crumbled. I don't believe that. Sid, can you prove it? I think I can. I think I can. But there's things that we see in life that amaze us. You know what thing amazes me? Young people. Now, girls may be like this, but I can't talk about girls. I'm going to talk about boys, because I be one. All right? Boys, boys, boys, when they get to a certain age, they have the power. They can blot out reality. Somebody help me. Do you know what I mean by that? Blood out reality. What do you mean by that? You can ask them a question and you already know the answer. And they look you dead in the face and say, no. Not me. And they're praying on the inside, dear God, let them believe me. But I don't. Because I was one. We tried, Brother Darnell. It didn't work. Daddy would just tell me, he says, Son, I don't know more believe that than the man in the moon. How many of you have ever heard somebody say that? I don't know more believe that than the man in the moon. What's the man in the moon got to do with me trying to save my hide right here? What could there have been? What could there have been for him to marvel at. What is so amazing that the Creator, the Son of God, the first and the last, what is so amazing that He's going to go, wow. Well, I'm going to go back to what I said earlier. Our focus on the word definition is wrong. That's why it's so important to have a dictionary. That's why it's so important to read the whole context. Okay, so I've read you verse number 6, but can I read you verse number 5? Because verse number 5 is really where all the issues get started at. Verse number 5 right here, the Bible says this, And he could there do no mighty work. Are you kidding me? You're going to tell me Jesus couldn't do something? Well, the Bible said He couldn't. There was a problem that was hindering the Savior from doing the kind of things the Savior liked to do. Like helping people. Like healing a man's daughter in the previous chapter. Like healing a woman that had been sick for 12 years. Like healing a maniac and literally giving him direction for his life in a ministry. He said, go home to thy friends. Hey, when that guy got right with God, hey, when he got back into the right mind, he wanted to go with the Lord. You know what you and I should want to do whenever we get right with the Lord? We ought to want to walk with Him. We ought to want to follow Him and serve Him and live for Him. That's what this man wanted to do. And the Lord said, no, go home to thy friends. There was somebody back there somewhere. The Lord said, I know you've got friends. I wonder if it was them friends that tried to chain him up and keep him hurting himself. So we see right here in verse number 5, the Bible said that he could there do no mighty work save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk. and heal them. So there was a few that didn't have the problem that's occurring in verse number 6. And the problem that's occurring in verse number 6 is making the Lord stand there in amazement. And when it says He marveled, again, I'm going to say He wasn't saying, how can this be? He's marveling Are you listening? He's marveling because he knows what he just did. He knows what his ministry's been for 30 years, or for three years they've lived with him. He's in his hometown now. And no doubt a lot of the people that may have known him since the time he was a boy, raised up. This man right here now, the Lord Jesus, is an amazement because these people knew Him and they still don't trust Him. They still don't believe Him. You know it's real easy for me and you if you're not careful. I'd probably appreciate a little amen or two right in here somewhere. It'd be real easy for me and you if we ain't careful. We'll forget about how good God's been to us. And all of a sudden we'll get to thinking Oh, he can't fix this one. I mean, we'll get off out there in the left field, looking at the storms of life, looking at what's going on in our country, looking at people laying on a college campus somewhere on the ground demonstrating. I mean, let them lay out there. I figured out another good way to make them want to get up and go back to class. Put a car out there. Put Jesse Craggle under the steering wheel. I said, what's wrong with Jesse? He's blind. And just told Jesse, say, Jesse, drive it. Enjoy yourself. I mean, it wouldn't take very long, though. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. They'd all be running. They'd all be going. There wasn't nothing for him to marvel at. Listen, the very stars in the sky are numbered. Look over Psalm chapter 147. Psalm chapter number 147. Look with me. Look with me. Psalm chapter 147. Are you with me? Verse number four. He says in Psalm 147, he tells us the number of the stars. He calleth them all by their name. How is the Lord going to be startled at? We're used to say, Lord, how many stars is up there? Like that. He got it. Oh, you want to know the names of them? I got it. There was nothing. There was nothing. The only thing there was for him to marvel at, and this is what he marveled at, their unbelief. They just didn't think he could do, even though they'd seen it. Well, I'm not trying to cast stones at these people, because I want to be reminded of this. How many times have I seen people that I've said, there ain't no way the Lord could change him. How many times have you heard somebody say, well, I'd come, but the roof would fall in? I always tell them, come on. We've got knowledgeable people at the church. They'll put it back up. Come on. There's people that don't believe that Christ can do what Christ can do, even though he's done it for 10 years, 20 years, 50 years. A hundred years. He's been setting tables and feeding people. George Mueller had that in the orphanages, that children's home, and he had so much faith in God. Even when they didn't have food to put in a table for the Joe, he would tell them to set the table. God will take care of them. Well, you could go on, and God did. And you can go on and on about people that have trusted Him so much. So much. But then there are some that still won't. You know these people that are present right here? This is people that are in His own country that have seen Him. That knew Him. Some of them have seen Him do some of these miracles. Some of them know people that He has done miracles for. But yet, it ain't enough. It ain't enough. And He marveled? He marveled at their unbelief. Do you think maybe He might marvel at our unbelief sometime? Do you think there's ever a time that we wonder, Lord, what are You doing? Can I ask you this? Does it matter? If he's doing something, would it be good? If he's doing something, would it be right? I mean, if he's doing something, would it be beneficial? Would it be something for his glory? Hey, if I leave here tonight and get a record away home and I say, what are you doing? He might say something like this. I wasn't doing nothing. You wasn't paying attention. We blame so much on the Lord anymore. We've talked about that. The washing machine tore up today. Oh, the devil's at my house today. The washing machine. The 20-year-old washing machine tore up. That you've been overloading for 20 years. Everything ain't the Lord giving judgment. Everything is not the Lord chastising His children. Say, but would He do that? He will chastise His children. But everything is not chastisement. Sometimes things just happen, but unbelief stands out. I don't think he can. I don't think he will. I don't know how he's going to do it. Well, the best of the three answers that I just mentioned right there is to stick with, is I don't know how he's going to do it. And just let him do it. Just depend on him. Here he is right here, and he's looking at this crowd, and this crowd's got their unbelief that's just going crazy. Oh man, he's walked in such an upright manner. He has been a perfect example for humanity. He's heard all the stories. They've heard all the stories and told about the miracles all the way from Galilee to Capernaum. And yet, with all that going on, with all of the teachings of Christ, Some of them still had the power. But when He's standing before them right now, He's standing before them right now in demonstration of power and deity. And they're looking at Him with cold, critical unbelief. Unbelief. You know, a pastor a preacher that's preaching evangelists, a preacher, pastor, missionary. He can tell when people's interested. And I've heard people say this before, well, the reason I don't look interested is because you ain't making me interested. I found out there's two things that makes a sermon interesting into most people, not all. Some people really like hearing something from the Bible. But I found out in my years of preaching, there's two things that makes people really say, that was a good message. Number one, it's got to be real funny from start to finish. And listen, I like to laugh. I like to laugh. You better know, I just, I believe that's one of my last verses of Mary Hart, do what's good like a medicine. I like to laugh. I like to have a good time. But there's times, there's times, I'm telling you, That laughing just don't fit in right there. And then another good message, a message that will get a great response, is giving statistics of some kind of horrific situation that took place in life. That people are amazed at. But if you stick with the Bible, and all you do is read Scripture, I promise you, if I come in here on Wednesday night, and all I did was read 1 John 5 chapters. That's all I did. People would leave here saying, what was that about? Well, it'd be a message from John. The things that made the Lord marvel was these people didn't believe. You know what makes people marvel today? People, not the Lord. People marvel today when somebody says, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. You know what makes them marvel today? They say, if you don't get right with God, you're going to be in trouble. You said you was a Christian. Hey, you said you was a Christian. You know what makes them marvel? Whenever you tell them, you told me you was a Christian, and you keep living like you're living, God's going to take you out. And they're like, oh, no, no, come on now, don't. Don't say that. But I'm telling you, don't you know for him to stand there in total amazement? How can you know that I have done what I have done for so many and I come here to try to help you all and you won't even let me help you? That's exactly what happened in verse number 5 and verse number 6. Now, what else could he say? What else could he say? You know what I'm thinking? What would you want to do? What would you want to do? What if you went to your doctor tomorrow, and all these people coming out bragging on him, how good he was, how he helped you and everything, and when he called your name, You got in there and said, no, you're not helping me. I know you helped everybody else, but I don't want no shots. I don't want no medicine. I don't want no counseling. I don't think you really helped me. Wouldn't it be good if somebody could just come to church and say, Lord, whatever I need, help me. Whatever I need. I don't know what I need, Lord. I'm in such bad shape, I don't even know what I need. But I know you do. And if you give me what I need and give me the wisdom to understand that it's from you, I want to see how the Lord responds to this. How do you think, Brother Leroy, how would you respond to this? Brother Ron, if you'd have been the Lord, how would you respond? Brother Dan, I mean, he tried to help them. Them people that was healed, that he laid his hands on, I wouldn't be surprised if they wasn't all older people, and they wasn't nobody else. They tried everything. That's what happened to Chapter 5. All them people had tried everybody else. From the maniac down to the woman with the issue, they had tried everybody else. He was a last resort. And he still did it. That's the kind of guy he is. Ain't he wonderful? Wow. I love him. I feel so bad that I've treated him a whole lot different than he's treated me. Verse 7, He changes everything. You would have thought He would have been so frustrated with mankind. They wouldn't go to the synagogue with Him. They didn't believe Him. Their unbelief just overwhelmed them. And in verse 7, He just keeps on keeping on. He just keeps on keeping on. He keeps on teaching. Nicodemus said, Rabbi, we know that our teacher comes from God, so nobody can do these miracles that I do, except God be with you. We know we know you're a teacher from God. Verse seven, he said, and he called unto him the twelve and began to send them forth by two and two and gave them power. over unclean spirits and commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only, no script, no bread, no money in their purse, but be shod with sandals and not put on two coats." I want you to go out and I want you to do the job. Now, if I'd have been there, I would have said, Lord, You just tried to do something here and they wouldn't listen to you. What makes you think they're going to listen to us? Have you ever felt like that? I have. Lord, that old preacher just kept on preaching and kept on working and kept on plowing. What makes you think a young preacher? There was a time years ago, several several preachers would come to church and I'd just snap my collar and preach. And these guys have been to Bible school. I figured they were smart. They've been to Bible school and got all the stuff and everything. I told my preacher, I said, I feel kind of, to be honest with you, I feel kind of intimidated. Me preaching to them because they're so smart. I know they are. He said, don't worry about what they got. He said, you just worry about what you've got. And you know, whenever we get to the place where we quit focusing on everybody else. Because if you look deep enough in everybody's life, you find unbelief. But the Lord keeps working with them. And the Lord keeps blessing them. And the Lord keeps using them. Brother Gary, who would have ever thought that God would use sinners like us? Who? You know what it is? You've just got to make your mind up and say, God, let me do whatever you want me to do. I ain't going to be picky. Do you really think 30 years ago Darnell Robinson prayed and said, Lord, I wish that you'd let me preach on the street somewhere where they'll holler and cuss at me? Well, look at him now. And for that, you know what I'm going to say? This ain't got nothing to do with me now. Ain't got nothing to do with me. But just me on the outside looking in, I'm going to say, what a blessing. What a blessing. Next week, Brother Dan McLucas is having a revival meeting. Brother Gary's preaching over there. And Brother Bobby Drury. And what a blessing, Brother Gary. What an honor. I preached over at Brother Dan's before, and I'm telling you, I don't care if you go somewhere to preach. If there's four people there. If there's two people there. I have literally went to preach, not counting my family, where two people was there. I said, thank you Lord. Thank you for opening these doors. My unbelief would have hurt that service. I say, let's don't let unbelief get a hold of us. I believe he can. You believe he can? You believe he can? You know what he can do? Whatever he wants to do, whatever we'll let him do, let's all stand together. Let's all stand together. Thank you for coming out tonight. I believe he can. And I believe it will. As long as I don't hinder it. I don't want to do it. Amen.