We mentioned again at the outset of this meeting that the Lord had led me to as much as possible to be a help and encouragement. To cause us to focus our thoughts and attentions to some of the great things that we as believers have. the great things that God has left for us, the great things that enable us to go through and deal with the circumstances of life. It's amazing to me how many folks there are that say they know the Lord, and as far as I know, they do. But somehow, someway, they expect to get through life without any problems. They think that once they're saved, the rest of their life is just joyous. And indeed, being a child of God is a joyous thing. But life is full of trials. Life is full of problems. You know, there's no magic cure. There's no magic pill. There's no magic potion that makes problems go away. But we have a Lord and Savior who will help us through all of them. And will deliver us safely on the other side. I am so very, very thankful for that fact. The theme verse that we've had this week has been in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 4. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them. Because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. And I hope that becomes a reality to us as we go through after this meeting closes and into our service for the Lord wherever it might be. Open your Bibles now please to the book of Mark chapter 11. Mark chapter 11. And we'll begin reading tonight with verse 20. Mark chapter 11, and beginning our reading this evening with verse 20. And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursed is withered away. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God, for verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any, that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. Let's pray. Dear kind and gracious Heavenly Father, as we come to you this evening, Lord, again, we're so thankful for this week that you have given us. Our Father, we're thankful for the presence of thy spirit here each night. And dear Lord, I just pray that your spirit would work freely amongst us this evening. Dear Lord, I just pray that you speak to our hearts and show us exactly our standing before you. I realize, Lord, that I've asked that each night, but Lord, it is so vitally important that we do that very thing. And dear Lord, I pray that you'd stir our hearts tonight, stir our faith, and dear Lord, I'd ask that as we leave here, that we'd be greater servants of thine, And dear Lord, if there be any here tonight that's lost, this will be the very hour that you draw them unto yourself. Encourage the discouraged, we pray. And dear Lord, what you'll do, we'll thank you for these things we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. The subject I'd like to draw our thoughts to tonight is the great power of biblical faith. The great power of biblical faith. The key to that is it has to be biblical faith. Right? Going out here and grabbing up a rattlesnake or a copperhead and waving it over your head in church doesn't show me faith, it shows me stupidity. It doesn't show me great faith in God, it shows me somebody who is trying God and tempting God. And that's something we're not supposed to do. Same thing if we would drink poison to try to prove something. Let me tell you, if your life doesn't prove the faith that's in you, doing something ridiculous isn't going to do much good either. God never called us to do such tomfoolery as that. It's just not there. And while I hope to look at this primarily on the positive side, I would be a bit remiss if I didn't mention this one little thing. And keep it before you all evening long. That which is not of faith is what? Is sin. Every action, every deed, everything you do for the cause of Christ, everything you do in your home, if it's not of faith, It's sin. That's what the scripture says. And it's a serious matter that we must be aware of. Faith is one of those subjects that will fill our hearts with joy. Will excite us when other things won't. And every time we look at it, we'll have our hearts thrilled. And at the same time, each and every time we look at it, we'll find a challenge to us. a challenge to the way we live and the way we look at things. Faith is one of those things that is of the utmost importance in the life of a child of God, both from a practical standpoint as well as a spiritual standpoint. There comes a time in our lives, I don't care how old or young we may be, But there comes a time in our lives when the only thing we have left is our faith in God. Circumstances will array against us where there's no way out. And your only hope comes in your faith in the Lord. That He will deliver. That He will provide. That He will take care. There's times in our lives when a doctor may come in and say I have done all I can do and say I can't do anymore. Now I'm not saying this is a promise that every time God's going to raise that person up. Sometimes it's his will to take them home. But as long as there's life, there's hope. And we can have faith that God will have his perfect will, whatever it might be. this precious family that has dealt with this horrible tragedy this week. I don't pretend to stand up here and say I know how you feel because I don't. But I do know this, talk about your faith. David, in dealing with the death of his child, he made a statement that should resound in our ears whenever death comes to a little one. And it should encourage us and I hope it will give you courage as well and encourage you. David said in regard to his son that I cannot go or he cannot come to me, but I can go to him. That's hope, isn't it? That's hope. Death is not a permanent separation for the child of God. It is a temporary one. And that, it doesn't make the hurt go away, but it helps. and it helps a great deal. Faith. How do I know that to be so? Because what God has said it, and the faith that he has granted me enables me to believe it. And I know it to be true. I haven't lost a child, but I've lost a parent. I know how God can bring you through tough times like that. I didn't mean to make your grief more, but it just fit with what we're looking at here today. I'm sure that there's not a single solitary child of God here tonight that would not agree on the importance of biblical faith and at the same time does not have a desire to have more faith or greater faith or stronger faith. It's only natural that we should desire those things. As we consider the subject of this great faith that the child of God has, we realize that it is a miracle. How? Because it's not something that we possess naturally. In our flesh, we are skeptical of most things, are we not? If you're not somewhat skeptical, you're going to be fully gullible, and that's not a very good way to be either. But skeptical, we question, we wonder, we doubt. If I'm going to believe it, I want to see it, I want to touch it, I want to smell it, I want to know it's there. It's kind of like the old saying, all fishermen are liars except for me and thee, and sometimes I wonder about thee. But we're skeptical. really gives us problems when it comes to faith. Faith is believing that which is impossible. Faith is believing that which you do not see. Faith is believing in one that you've never beheld with your eyes. Faith is trusting and depending on that one that you know is in you but you can't really fully explain him to anybody. and walking by his leadership and guidance. That's faith. Ephesians 2a tells us that faith is the gift of God. The gift of God. It's something that he freely gives to his children. In fact, in Romans chapter 12 it talks about how the folks have a measure of faith. A certain amount. Some more than others. This is like anything else. Some have trusted God more than others. Some have depended on God more than others. Some have lived by faith and some have not. I really think, and this may sound a bit mean and I really don't mean it to, but I think it would do well if every single solitary child of God, especially somebody starting out, if sometime in their lives They had to have a whole stack of bills they couldn't pay. They had to have problems that they couldn't take care of. Because it's through those experiences you find out what God can do. Right? You see, you know, faith is not something that comes as long as we're skipping down the path, everything's fine. Faith comes to us, it strengthens through the trials of life. Much as tempering a piece of steel. How do you do it? In the fire. Right? And a piece of steel that hasn't been tempered isn't worth a great deal. In your faith tonight, if it cannot stand to be tested, or if it has never been tested, really isn't worth a great deal. But when you know what God can do, and you know what it's like to have to depend on Him to bring you through, you know what faith's about then. And you can move forward. We know that it's God who enables us to believe on Him for salvation. We talked about that a little bit last night. And it's also something that is growing inside of us as long as we go back to the Word of God. Remember last night we looked at faith cometh by hearing and hearing, what, by the Word of God. So that's how our faith goes and grows. It's God who empowers you and I as children to believe Him. to glorify Him, to serve Him, to honor Him, to praise Him. It's all His enabling within us. And it's those things, beloved, that we can do because of the faith that is in us that sounds so true to the hearts of other believers. You know, I like to hear from somebody who's been serving God for a long time. I like to sit down and talk with them. I like to hear what they have to say. Why? Because they have some experiences to share. Experiences that will help us. And this is something that the lost does not understand. If you're here tonight and you're lost, I can guarantee you don't understand any of this because you've never experienced it. This is only given to those who are saved. You can, but you haven't yet. There are so many things that God does for us, and I think really everything we've looked at this week so far is beyond our minds to understand. And there are instances when liberals are running rampant and trying to discredit everything that goes on. I heard a fellow tell me one time, and we was kind of talking back and forth, and I kind of pinned him down a little bit on miracles of the Lord. And he said, well I'll grant you that the Bible speaks of miracles and I felt like saying, well nice of you to do that. They said, you know what happened in them miracles? And I wanted to hear what he had to say. I said, what? He said, God just caused what was naturally going to happen to speed up and happen. Really. Guess what? This bottle of refreshing water We could sit it here. Now granted, it'll be empty before the light's out. But if it weren't, it could sit here, if it would be a thousand years before the Lord returns, when he returns, it's still gonna be water. Water don't become wine on its own. Right? But that's the way they think when they're trying to explain away miracles. They tried to make them be what they really aren't at all. Faith is what has allowed believers to receive answers to prayer for things that have appeared to be impossible. I remember in the book of Joshua, Joshua chapter 10, they were in a terrible battle, the Israelites were with the Amorites, and it hadn't fully been decided And Joshua commanded that the sun would stand still so that Israel could defeat the Amorites. And guess what happened? The sun stood still. Now we know that technically the sun is not what moves, it's the earth that moves. So what happened was the rotation of the earth stopped and then started back. Well that can't happen. As fast as the earth rotates, everything's going to wind flying off into space. It didn't. Don't tell me it has to, because it didn't. And the Israelites prevailed. Isaiah chapter 38. You'll find King Hezekiah, King Hezekiah was a godly man. He made some foolish mistakes in his latter years, but he was a godly man. And when he was told, yeah, I'd like to have somebody come to your house. I'd like to have Brother Stoner come to your house and look at you and say, get your house in order, because you're going to die. Thanks for coming. Good to see you, too. But that's what happened to Hezekiah. And what did he do? He immediately cried out to God. And God answered his prayer and added 15 years to his life. Don't tell me it's impossible God did it. Life is in his hands, right? He's the one who tells the heart to begin beating. He's the one who tells the heart when to stop beating. It's all in his hands. In Genesis chapter 22, Abraham's in a spot. He finally has the son of promise, Isaac. And God tells him to go offering as a sacrifice. My son? No, Abraham never questioned. The scriptures tell how that he rose early, got everything ready, and away they go. They get there and Isaac, he knew what was going on to a point. He looked around and said, we got everything we need. We got the wood, we got the fire. By implication, we have the knife, we got everything we need. But where's the animal? In what prophetic words? God will provide himself. And that's what he did for you and I. God provided himself. In the New Testament, we find the reason why Abraham could do this is that his faith in God was so strong in the knowledge that Isaac was the son of promise that had he offered him, God would have rose him right back up. His faith never wavered. Remember that when he was ready to offer him, he had to be called, his name called out twice. Stop! He was ready to do it. Not that he didn't, not that he despised his son, no. He loved his son. But he loved God more. And his faith in God was stronger than even the natural affections that he had. Let me tell you something. All of us can have faith that strong too. I'm not saying God's going to have us all for our children. That's not what I'm saying. But what I'm saying is our faith in God can be just as Abraham's in as much as our love to God is stronger than any bond on this earth. Our affection to God is stronger than anybody, any bound bond whatsoever in this earth. And our faith in Him is so strong that we know, regardless of what happens, God's gonna take care of us. That's what, we all can have that. In Joshua chapter 14, I listen with a smirk every time I hear Brother Stoniker talking about his age. He's just a pup. I keep telling him he's got 30, 40 more years in him at least. You right? What can happen? God can use an old man? Yeah, lookie here. Joshua chapter 14, Caleb was 85 years old. 85. As Bobby would say, well stricken in years. And yet Caleb believed God for the power that was necessary to go and claim a mountain that was inhabited by giants. He came to Joshua and said, give me that mountain. I want that mountain. That's the land that had been promised to me and I want it. And he went and took it too. His faith in God. That's my land. God gave it to me. These people got to go. God gave it to me. Right? What keeps you from serving God the way you want to? What obstacle is keeping you from doing the things for God that you want to do? And more importantly, what obstacles keeping you from doing the things you ought to do in the service to God? God can take care of it. I'm going to say this and then move on. I promised myself and my wife, I said, I'm not going to be as long-winded tonight as I have been. I had good intentions. But I remember, I'm not going to be too long-winded. But I remember, I used to see it a lot. You know, God blesses a home with a child. There may be one, there may be several children, you know, in the home. And have you ever noticed when one of them gets a cold, it takes a whole family to stay home and wipe that kid's nose? Have you ever noticed that? My wife and I promised when we found out God was going to give us a child that we would never use him or we didn't know what it would be at that point to use our child as an excuse to stay out of church or as an excuse to keep from serving God because she and I both know that God can remove an excuse. Can he not? He can take care of that. So, we must put our service to God first and foremost. In 1 Samuel chapter 17, David, when he was still a boy, not old enough to be in the army, out taking care of the sheep. He goes to take provisions for his brothers and he goes to find out how the battle's going, to take word back to his father. And when he gets there, it's at a standstill. Here in the valley is this giant who is cursing God, cursing God's people, defying the God of heaven. And there wasn't an Israelite in the camp that was brave enough to go down. It should have been King Saul. Right? He was the one who should have went down. But they wouldn't. David said, let me at him. Well, you're just a boy. And he has been a man of war from his youth. You know, he'll grind you up into powder. And David relayed the story, here's where faith comes in, how that God had already delivered David out of danger when he should have been killed. And he declared that there was no way that this uncircumcised Philistine will stop the plan and purpose of Almighty God. He cannot. Let me at him. And he took his sling and a few smooth stones, got him down on the ground, then took Goliath's own sword and whacked his head off with it. Faith in God. The last illustration that I want. In Daniel chapter 3, you'll find three Israelites, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They wouldn't bow before the decree of the king. They wouldn't. Well, they knew how they would be provided for. No, they didn't. Because they declared, they didn't know whether God would take them out of the fire or not. But all they knew was they would not bow to any man and worship a man. Their love for God was greater than their fear of man. What is it? What law, what decree would come out of any organization that would make you quit praying in public, that would make you quit worshiping God in the open? What decree would make you stop reading your Bible and declaring the truths of God's Word? Whatever that is, my friend, that order, decree, ruler has become your God because you're following Him. Our faith is to be strong, to be strong in what was going on. More I could go into here, but I got to move on. What's the object of biblical faith? Verse 22 makes it very clear. Have faith in God. Have faith in God. Not anything else. Not God plus or minus. Just have faith in God. We ought to have faith in God's person. You cannot mistake the blessed fact, the tremendous blessing, that if you're here tonight and saved, that God Almighty is your Father. and you can address him as such. Father, talk about a kinship that's there. Not just some great, powerful, benevolent being that you have to approach fearfully, but as Father, my Heavenly Father. What a blessing. What an outreach of His love for us. That's the person that our faith is. And as your father, he cares about every need in your life, whatever it might be. Your needs, not your wants, but your needs. Tell you something that just tickles me, and I can't get a hold of it, but a hundred years ago when I played basketball, And no, we didn't use a peach basket, we had regular baskets like they have now. But when I played basketball, everybody had those canvas Chuck Taylor Converse. And they were just a good shoe to wear. And you know what? We paid $20 for them things. $20 for a pair of tennis shoes. Good luck finding them now. I saw a pair, I see a lot of people wearing them and they're still good shoes I suppose, but when I look at that price tag, I just kind of go, my, my, my. I should have, if I'd have been, if I knew then what I knew now, I should have went out and bought out about a hundred pair of them and started selling them now. But you know what? That was a lot of money. $20 was a lot of money then. And because it was something that would help me and something I needed, my dad always made sure I had a pair. Because he was my father. Other boys on the team, they were on their own. Not to say that he didn't care about them, because he did, but I was his son. They weren't. God cares for us as our Heavenly Father. He loves us. He provides for us. He cares for us in ways that we can't even begin to imagine. And my friend, if you're here tonight and you're lost, you have no clue. Because you can't address Him as Father. You're still lost. Right? You can leave here tonight proclaiming Him as Father. But as of right now, you can't. you're on the outside looking in. As your father, he tells us to bring our needs and burdens and concerns to him. We're not dealing with some disconnected deity without any compassion or care for his people whatsoever. We are to come to him with simple, childlike faith. Childlike faith. You know, a child A child will believe you on just about anything you tell them, won't they? We had a neighbor girl, she wasn't a child anymore, at least not chronologically. And I hate to say this, I'll say it this way. She was a female of indeterminate hair color. Okay? So you know what I'm talking about? Let you know the kind of person that she was, or is. We were taking her down to a dentist one day and We come off the road, and there's a big veterinarian's clinic there, and I was going to pick with her a little bit, and I said, look at her. We can just take you over here to the vets. As serious as a heart attack, she said, no. I said, why? I can't go there. I'm not a veteran. The same person in our living room one evening, and these weren't toe socks either, they were just regular socks. I had her convinced she had her socks on the wrong feet. I guess I can be kind of mean sometimes. But the bottom line is, and to the point, we ought to just have childlike faith in God. He says it, that's all we need to hear. You don't have to prove it, you don't have to verify it, you don't have to back it up. He says it, that settles it, and we go on. And we accept what He has. This tells us that when we look to God, we look to Him and know that just as a child can trust their parents for every need, we too can trust our Heavenly Father. We can have faith in God's promises. When it comes to the promises of God, we have the Lord's guarantee that He will keep every one of them. Now, let's tie this up in a nice little bow here for just a second. How do we know? How can we be sure of this fact? Okay. Remember when we looked about the power of God's Word? When we talked about things like that? We found out His promises where? in the scripture, right? That's where we're at. We also saw last evening that Jesus declared that heaven and earth would pass away, but not one word of this blessed book would pass away. It'll all be fulfilled. So if you find it here, then you can be rest assured it's going to come to pass. You have faith in his promises, each one. God will not back away from a single promise that he's given his people. We also have to keep in mind that neither prayer nor faith is a blank check. It's not an opportunity for us just to go out and do what we want and get what we want and all that kind of thing. But what it is, is an opportunity for you and I as God's people to demonstrate our confidence not only in God, but in God's written word. That's where our faith is. Because remember, again we saw last night, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It all comes back together. It all joins up together perfectly. Faith is always based on the clear word from God. That's genuine biblical faith. That which will sustain us. We have faith in God's power. It's one thing to make a promise. And it's altogether different to have the power to keep that promise. I could go up to any one of you after services tonight and say, you know, I want to help you. I'm going to give you a check for a million dollars. And I promise you, I'll give it to you. Well, I could promise I could do it. I might even sign that check and put my name to it. But you better be able to jump pretty high if you get ready to go cash it. Because I don't have the power to make it any good. Right? Our faith is in one who has the power to bring to pass everything he said. And don't have to wonder. God's children are going to have absolute confidence in God's power. Keep in mind, he has the power to do whatever he will in all matters. We can have faith in God's purposes. When it comes to our faith in God, we must always remember that God has an eternal plan. He always has. We talk about flying by the seat of our britches. We talk about doing something on the fly. We just make it up as we go along. Well, it didn't work that way. God doesn't work that way. He knows the end from the beginning. Right? Do you realize that in the book of Revelation, John declared that he saw us in heaven? Do you believe that? He saw us in heaven! All those years before we were ever born. God sees the end from the beginning. So, we can have faith in the one who knows all things. not just making it up as it goes along. God possesses all power in heaven and earth. God will never do anything at all outside the bounds of his eternal purpose. He just won't do it. It's like every now and again you'll run across someone who says, you know, I know what the Bible says, but... Well, you just as well leave the but out. Because God's not going to do what he's already declared that he won't do. Or God's not going to do what he's already declared that he shall do or will do. It doesn't matter. Our thoughts and opinions don't factor into that. He will not do anything that's not part of his plan. He'll not do anything we ask just simply because we ask it. But he will always do those things that he wills to do, and he will accomplish all things that he has planned to do. Remember we looked about Tuesday evening, the thing was we deal with prayer. How that we have to live close enough to the Lord, our lives more in tune with him, so that when we pray, we're praying in his will. And we're asking for the things that we ought to. The opportunity of biblical faith, and I want to finish up here real quick, quickish. Faith is what allows us to believe the impossibles we've already touched on. And it also, well, in the illustration here, I thought I could skip that, but I'm going to hit this. Jesus was not just picking words when he talked about the mountain, being able to move a mountain. That was a common illustration that was amongst the Jews in that day. You know, when you was going to, when you was up against something that was just impossible, they'd say, well, you just move a mountain. Let's do that. But Jesus was showing them, you know, through faith you can move that mountain. Is that a reality to you folks? Through faith. I'm not talking about taking the mountain on the left side of this valley and paying it on the right. Though God could do so if he chose. But I'm talking about that mountains in front of you. That mountain of doubt. That mountain of despair. That mountain of trouble and turmoil. That mountain of disappointment. Through faith. God can and will remove them all. He will. If it's between you and your service to God, He will eliminate that mountain. Well, there's giants on those mountains. Well, that may be true. But being a giant's never slowed God down from slaying one, has it? God can take care of whatever that is. Do you believe it tonight? Do you have faith to believe that? Or do you think I just don't know what I'm talking about? Faith. Not doubting. Trusting God. That's what we're talking about tonight. This type of faith gives substance to the promises of God in our lives. Titus 2.13 says, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. He has us with a promise of the resurrection of the dead. In 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. If Jesus hadn't rose from the dead, we'd be in terrible shape, wouldn't we? That's right. Faith in God and His Word is what makes all these future promises present realities to us. There are some that are skeptical and they question and they wonder about the second coming of the Lord. Paul talked about it as though it was imminent. We've heard about it all of our lives. Our parents heard about it. Our grandparents heard about it. And it still hadn't happened. Well, that doesn't shake my faith at all. I still know it will happen. And I'm still going to proclaim it. I'm not going to set a date. But I'm going to proclaim that it's going to come. His coming is imminent. How do I know that? Because he said he was coming back. That's enough. That's good enough for me. He said he was coming back. And I'll conclude with looking at some obstacles of biblical faith. Sadly, there can be. There can be obstacles that keep you as a child of God tonight from fully experiencing everything that God has for you. Now, I'm a mite on the greedy side when it comes to some things. You know? I mean, you don't get a profile like mine unless you take your fair share of what you like to eat. You know? And I got scripture for that. I do. Ain't you ever read in the Bible where it said the righteous would be made fat? It's in there. Look it up. Don't look at me like that. It's in here. But, you know, I think that we ought to have what God has for us. Every bit of it. And the beautiful thing is that God can bless you to the fullest abilities of your talents and time that he gives you. And it's not going to take one thing away from what he can do for me, what he can do for them, or anybody else. He has it all. But there's obstacles that hold you back. One of the biggest ones is unbelief. Unbelief. Doubt. Boy, that's a plague, isn't it? I heard a story one time of a church out in Texas that was experiencing in that area a tremendous drought. And they called for a prayer meeting on such and such night. And they were going to come and all the folks there at the church was going to pray that God would send rain. And when they came there at the appointed time, there was just one little old lady who showed up with an umbrella. What's that say? That says there was just one little old lady there that had faith in God. It was kind of like, you know, honestly, I've heard with my own ears, I've heard preachers that when a revival meeting closed, I've honestly heard some of them say, well, it turned out about like I expected. You know, why do you bother? Have faith in God. I know at Lily Valley, whenever we schedule a meeting, I think it's gonna be the greatest one we've ever had. I pray to that end. I pray to that end at Rupert. I pray when I hear of one of our sister churches having a revival, I pray that God would send you the greatest revival that you've ever experienced. Why? We need it, don't we? We need it. And we need to have doubt removed from our service to God. Our forefathers served God as they did because they didn't question him. They didn't doubt him. They believed him. And we need to be the same way. A cold heart of doubt will hold you back. Selfishness. Big I and little you. God give me what I want. I don't care about anybody else. I just want what I want. That's not going to do you a great deal of good, folks. Sometimes there are instances when we have to put what we want on the back burner, isn't there? That's right. There's sometimes we have to put our desires aside. Amen. And to look to somebody that may have a greater need, somebody who may have a greater burden, somebody who may have a problem that's just a little more than mine. Yes, sir. Don't be selfish. Don't be the kind of person, if you hear about God blessing a work somewhere that you all of a sudden start trying to find reasons why he shouldn't be. You know, well they must have done, they must have started going to our meeting, they must have started doing this, they must be starting doing that. No, it may just be they're doing the same thing that you're doing, God's blessing their work. Right? Don't be selfish. Don't be selfish if somebody in your congregation gets blessed with something that you'd really like to have yourself. Be thankful that God gave it to them. Selfishness and greed are things that will destroy your relationship with God. And the last one is unforgiveness. This is one that always I have problems with. I'm going to confess that I do. I can hold a grudge with the best of them. And I have a very difficult time forgiving. I've said this before, when Elaine and I were still members here, we went downstairs one Sunday morning to get ready for choir. And a fellow that was a member here, caught me and he gave me all the reasons why my going to Lily Valley was wrong and how I didn't know what I was supposed to do and you know that's not the right process and then he went and told me with him that he knew that the preacher didn't believe that I was wrong too. I said hmm that's funny because he and I prayed about it just a couple nights ago but you know and I got mad. I come back through come up in the choir loft mad. I sang mad. I sat down mad. I opened my Bible mad. I listened to him as he started preaching mad. I didn't know what that scandal did. About halfway through he started preaching how he can't hold a grudge. Took all the fun out of being mad. But unforgiveness, we don't hurt anybody but ourselves. Right? You may be here tonight and somebody may have done horrible things in your life. They may well have hurt you more than you could even talk about. They may have caused you great harm and may still be causing you harm. That's between them and God. Right? Don't hold a grudge. Don't be unforgiving. I'll close with two patterns in regards to this. When they were nailing Jesus to the cross, What did he declare? Father, forgive them for they know what they do. Now, I don't know how many of those men that were involved that day that later on God saved, if any. But I do know this. Any of them that died lost, that was one sin they didn't have to give an account for. Jesus asked the Father to forgive them. Well, that's God. Okay. Come over to the book of Acts. Stephen is about to be stoned He knows what's going to happen And he says God To not hold this sin to their charge Where did he learn that pattern of Jesus? If a man that's about to be stoned to death can forgive those who are going to kill him and Who are we to hold a grudge against somebody that just hurt our feelings? Or did even something may have hurt us? But we're still here, right? Faith. The only way you'll ever be able to fear or forgive is to have faith in the Lord and in his promises. So may God help us tonight to remember what God has given us, what God has done for us. Help us, dear Lord, help us to remember that there's nothing that we cannot accomplish in this life. And may we not ever allow anything whatsoever to cause our faith to teeter in any way, shape, or form. May your faith in God tonight be stronger than it was when you came here. And if you're here tonight and lost, This is foreign to you, it don't have to be. If God has spoken to your heart, do that which the Lord would have you do. Brother Stoniger. I can pray many prayers. Lord, I do believe that thou mightest.