Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen. All we want is for the lord to be glorified. And that name is Jesus. And everything that we do in worship, everything we do in prayer, everything we do in teaching, is to glorify and lift up the name of Jesus Christ. Come on, give Him praise. Give Him praise. Become the praise and worship of true and living God. Amen. We thank god for him today. First, I want to give honor to god who is the head of my the Dr. Thomas Jefferson Rogers Jr. in his absence. Also, his wife, First Lady Tafiris Rogers. We want to honor her in their absence. It takes a lot to keep up and do for a man of God. And so I want to acknowledge them to Pastor Emeritus Walker and to Sister Walker. And to our deacons, official staff, members, visitors, and of all of God's children, I'll ask it to my wife. It's just good to be here in the house of the Lord. Just one more time. We want to thank our choir, our magnificent choir, and our musicians. our ushers, our security team, and our media ministry. We greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen? Let us pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, we just want to thank you today, dear God. And we want to give you all the praise, the glory, all the honor, in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, we pray that you reduce me. I ask the Lord that you use me, dear heaven and father, for your benefit. I ask the heaven and father that you let me say what you want me to say and clear my mind while I can think right. We pray, dear heaven and father, that your word go forth with boldness and inaccuracy. Let it accomplish what you sent it out to do. And we pray to heaven and father that it does not come back void, but it will accomplish what you sent it out to do. We ask the Lord that you anoint your word to heaven and father. We ask that God as it fall on these ears, give them a listening ear and a heart that's ready to understand what thus said the spirit of the living God. And we pray to God that there's any, that's not saved. Give them a thirst, hunger, and a desire to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. We thank you, we praise you, and we magnify your holy name. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. This morning our scripture is coming from the book of Saint Mark. And we're going to be looking at chapter 9, verses 14 through 29. That's the book of Saint Mark, chapter 9, verses 14 through 29. And we have to say amen. And it reads, and when he came to his disciples, He saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed. And running to him, saluted him. And he asked the scribes, what question ye with them? And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit. And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth and gnasheth with his teeth, and penneth away. And I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not. He answered him and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you bring him unto me? And they brought him unto him. And when he saw him straightway, the spirit tear him. And he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, of a child. And oftentimes it have cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thine mind unbelief. When Jesus saw that people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit saying unto him, thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee come out of him and enter no more into him. the spirit cried and rent him sore and came out of him and he was as one day in so much that many said he is dead but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose and when he was coming to the house his disciple asked him privately why could not we cast him out and he said unto them this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting. Amen. You may be seated. This morning we want to talk about, Lord, help my unbelief. Lord, help my unbelief. This text of desperate human need and the disciples' failure contrasts sharply with the glory of the Transfiguration. It shows the reality of living in the world in the absence of Jesus Christ. Our neighborhoods are showing a reflection of people trying to live in this world without having a relationship with the Lord. We can't turn on the news. We can't read the paper. We can't log on to social media outlets without showing that the world we live in don't have faith, care, or hope in Jesus Christ. And I stop by here this morning to let you know that Lord, help my unbelief. We as children of God must exercise faith. We don't generate faith within ourselves. Faith is a wonderful gift from God through his Holy Spirit. Often, our walk of faith is tested by trials and tests that God allows to come our way. God designs these tests to grow and deepen our faith in him. Listen, I don't care who you are, I don't care how much you know, I don't care how deep you are in the Word of God, but you're gonna have some trials, you're gonna have some tests, and some days gonna come our way. And so I stop by here to tell you, Lord, help our unbelief. When it comes to our Christian lives, however, we are usually not as concerned about the power of God. Even our testimony that we have for Jesus is weak. not strong or powerful for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We say we serve the Almighty God. We say we serve the true and living God, but yet our testimony of Jesus Christ is weak. The faith we have in Christ appears to be weak, not powerful. We should have strong faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because we serve the one true and living God. And so we serve a God that can do everything, but he just can't fail. Lord, help my unbelief. When we look at this text, This text is a spinoff from the Transfiguration. Jesus was on the mount and he took Peter, James, and John with him. They call them the sons of thunder. He left the other nine down here by themselves. But because of this text right here, they was off to themselves. And sometimes we get tests, we get trials that we don't really know that's going to come our way. But we got to understand that Jesus does everything for a reason. And so when you look at this text right here, the first thing that I see is that we got to present our problems to Jesus Christ. When you look at this right here, when Jesus and the three disciples returned to the other nine disciples, they saw a large crowd gathered around the nine disciples and the scribes who were teachers of the law arguing with them. And so we got to understand that's just how it works. There was arguing with them because they really didn't understand that they were still babes in Christ. They thought that they should be more knowledgeable than what they was. Jesus had been working with them, but they still was babes in Christ. Part of our unbelief is not having a solid relationship with Jesus Christ. Sometimes we fail because we don't have a relationship with him ourselves. Listen, can't nobody know how you feel about Jesus. Don't nobody know what your relationship is but you and the Lord. And so if you don't have a solid relationship with the Lord, then we need to work on the relationship that we have with him. So because of that, part of our unbelief is because we don't have a solid relationship in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. These nine disciples were still in the learning stages. Although they were spending time with Jesus, they were young and really did not know how to utilize the power of God. We all have been there. We really, sometimes we bathe in Christ, we really don't know how to utilize the power that has been given to us through Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. The scribes were attacking the disciples because they could not cast out the demons in the young boy. The scribes did not claim the power to work miracles, but as teachers of the law, they knew the word of God better than the disciples did. So if the disciples could not demonstrate God's power in other ways, they risk losing their credibility. Same way it is with us as children of God. See, we go to work, we live in our communities, and sometimes when we come to church, we lock up, we say we love the Lord. We'll flip down the aisle, we'll say we want to praise Him, we want to lift up, hold the hands, but when we go to work, we're totally different. And so when people see us, our testimony of Jesus Christ is weak. And so because of that, because we really don't have a deep relationship with him, a lot of times we fail Jesus the way we live our lives. And that's the way it was with these disciples. They was in a threat of losing their credibility because they was expecting them to be able to cast out this demon. Just like the scribes and Pharisees, they knew the law and the word, but they did not know Jesus. Knowing the word of God is good, but we must know who Jesus is as well. It is impossible to develop belief in faith when you don't know where the source of faith comes from. Listen, you can't have faith in a God that you don't even know for yourself. See, when we start to want to cast out devils and start doing things and we don't know who Jesus is, that's a problem with all in this self. You can't live off of me. You can't live off a pastor. You can't live off mama and daddy. You got no Jesus for yourself. It is impossible to develop believing faith when you don't know where the source of faith comes. The young boy had several problems. The mute spirit was a demon, also producing seizures. The father of the boy stepped up to explain what the dispute between the scribes and the nine disciples was all about. He had already brought his son to the disciples to cast out the demon to no avail. And now he was explaining to Jesus what happened and the reason why they was arguing down there. This father knew his son was in bad shape. He was deaf. He could not speak. The demon would give him uncontrollable seizures and try to take his life. The disciples could not help him, but he had sense enough to bring his problem to Jesus Christ. Sometimes we don't understand. We go through things. We actually go through trials, tests, and everything, but we don't have sense enough to bring our problems to Jesus Christ. This man has sense enough to bring his problems to Jesus. When you look at this right here, Lord, help my unbelief. We as children of God got to understand that no matter what we going through, I don't care how great, I don't care how small it is, we got to take our things to Jesus Christ. He's the only one that can help us. We can't help ourselves. You can go to all the doctors you want to go to. You can talk to all the two head doctors you want to go to. You can go talk to anybody, but if you don't give it to Jesus, you just on the wrong path. This expression and the dilemma that even the believers can be nagged by doubt and hopelessness. This father took the correct course by appealing to Jesus for help. We will take our issues to everybody, but we just won't take our issues to Jesus Christ. There is nowhere, no person, no place for us to go, but to Jesus Christ. If we cannot bring our problems to the Lord, where else can we go? We struggle with our problems, our trials, and our tests, but we don't have sense enough to bring our issues to the Lord. We must have faith and trust in the God of our salvation. Lord, help. Lord, help my unbelief. So when you look at this text right here, not only is it that they present our problems to Jesus, but also power in the faith of Jesus Christ. When you look at verse 23, he said, if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes. Jesus wanted us to understand that we must trust and have confidence in him. just like Daniel in the lion den. See, we love to talk about Daniel in the lion den, but what we don't understand is that Daniel had faith. He had faith in the Lord. See, he had folks that falsely accused him, talked about him. They cast him in the lion den. And so, in an insult to injury, they try to say, well, maybe the lions wasn't hungry. Maybe they was asleep. Well, let me tell you about Daniel. Daniel had faith in the Lord, and because he had faith in the Lord, he used the lions for a pillar. He went to sleep on the lions. And when he went to sleep on the lions, and when they realized that Daniel was a faithful man and was telling the truth, they end up casting his accusers in there. And let me show you something. It's so deep in the Word of God, it says that before they even reached the bottom of the pit, the lion started tearing them to smithereens. Let me tell you something, that's just how God is. We gotta have that faith in the Lord just like Daniel had. We gotta have that faith to trust him no matter what the situation look like. Sometimes the outcome might be dim, sometimes it might be grim, but we gotta have that faith that shows that we got power in the name of Jesus Christ. Listen, let me tell you something. We live in a world right now where you need Jesus. Everything is going on. We're facing an election coming up. We got the economy going crazy. We got folks doing everything up under the sun. Let me tell you something. I don't see how you live without Jesus Christ. The thing about Daniel is what God is, what people mean for a bag. God will turn it around for good. We serve an almighty God. Let me tell you something about our God. God is still making a way out of no way. He's still opening blind eyes. He's still putting food on the table where you don't even know where the next meal coming from. Let me tell you something. He's still opening the doors that no man can shut. We still serving Almighty God. I don't care what nobody say to you. I don't care what it looks like. We still got power in the name of Jesus. We as children of God must trust and believe in God of our salvation. Jesus told him, if you could just believe, all things, all things are possible. Jesus addressed the crowd, but especially his disciples, saying, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? In other words, how long am I going to put up with you not believing in the Word of God? Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 says, but without faith it is impossible to please him. He who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek after him. Let me say something, we cannot please God without faith. You can try it all you want to, but you got to have faith, trust, and believe in the God of our salvation. Faith in the living God is always rewarded, no matter how it looks out. No case is too difficult for our Lord. Our God got the whole world in His hands. And there's nothing, there's nothing that's too impossible for God. Lord, help our unbelief. When you look at this text right here, not only is there power in the faith of Jesus, but there's also prayer. that changes things. Jesus took the opportunity to teach his disciples. After they asked the question, why could we not cast it out? That was a great question for his nine disciples. Sometimes we go through things. Sometimes we question God. We question God all the time. and requested him because we really don't fully understand. So Jesus took the time for them to understand why they was having difficulty with this demon. He said, this kind of demon can only come out by nothing but prayer and fasting. Jesus said that prayer and fasting were required to prevail in some difficult instances. Fasting helped us to focus our energies on the resources available in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let me tell you something, there are some things that's easy for us. When you give your life to Christ, when you are a child of the Most High God, when you're following Him, when you're devoted to Him, there's some things in our life that's easy, but there's some things that's hard. And Jesus said, some things, they don't come out, but through prayer and fasting. I don't care how you try, I don't care how you study, sometimes you gotta spend time with your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And that's why he was trying to get his disciples to understand, listen, there's some things gotta come out through prayer and fasting. In other words, there's some devils out there you just can't do nothing with. There's some folks that do everything under the sun and they don't care who you are. There's some demons out there you just can't do nothing with unless you got the power of Jesus Christ. Let me tell you something, prayer changes things. One thing I can tell you about children of God, we don't like to pray. We like to do everything else, we just don't like to pray. We love to sing. We love to read. We love to preach, but we just don't like to pray. Prayer changes things. If you want something to change your community, then you need to get on your knees and pray. If you want something to change your family, then you need to get on your knees and pray. If you want something to change your household, you need to get on your knees and pray. Prayer changes things. These demons attempted to destroy The young boy showing us again the purpose of demon possession. Let me tell you something. The devil come to steal, kill, and destroy. He don't care nothing about you. While you trying to spend all your time with the devil, you better be spending time with the Lord. He come to kill us. He come to annihilate us. And if he can take you out without giving your life to him, you're going to lift up your eyes in hell. And so you got to realize that prayer changes things. When you look at this word of God, in verse 18, this word, penance, I got to looking at that this morning and this is, this word penance. And it means to fail gradually in health or vitality or to waste away through grief, pain or hunger. This word is frequently used in all versions as to wither. as in the fig tree and other plants withers. If a plant withers, it gradually loses its strength and vitality and strength in size. the spiritual warfare that we are in, the devil uses any means necessary to destroy us and to kill the confidence that we have in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Don't let nothing take the confidence you have in your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The only way you're going to build confidence is being on your knees, praying to a God, the God of our salvation. We have to understand that that's what the devil is. The devil want to snuff us out. He don't care about you. You might think he care about you. You might be thinking you having fun, not giving your life to the Lord. But when you really stop by and survey, see, I'm going to tell you something. Sometimes I just sit back and think. about how it used to be back in the day, and how things are for me right now. And when I really look at that right there, we ain't missing out on nothing that's going out in the world. When you know who Jesus is in the free part of your sin, when you know who the Lord is for you, you ain't missing out on nothing in life. People think that going to church, serving the Lord is boring, but let me tell you something, I come here to get power in the name of Jesus. When we know Jesus as Savior, the devil can't do nothing but what the Lord allow him to do. We are all in the hands of the Lord. We gotta understand that we walk by faith and not by sight. Things might not always look good, but if you know who Jesus is, you walk by faith and not by sight. That's who we walk by. When our ways get confused, our life gets hard, and our future looks dim, we need to always maintain the faith we have in the Lord. The disciples had previously found success in casting out demons, but in this incident, they were powerless. And let me tell you something, Jesus had empowered his disciples. In Mark chapter 6 verse 7, he had empowered them. He sent them out two by two. And he gave them power to overcome demons. And they had forgot about the power that the Lord had given them. But when God gives you power, it doesn't mean you have to quit the thing that you're doing. You still got to pray. You still have to fast. You still have to read. You still have to spend time with the Lord. You gotta understand that we are powerless without Jesus Christ. These disciples needed to recognize that spiritual ability comes through complete dependency on God's power, which is available to us through prayer. Like the disciples, we cannot afford to become dependent on our past successes, which can cause us to become self-dependent on ourselves. Sometimes we think that we have arrived. Sometimes we think we have made it. We ain't made it nowhere. You ain't going nowhere without Jesus Christ. I don't care how educated you are. I don't care what kind of job you got. I don't care if you hit the lottery and you're a millionaire. You ain't going nowhere without Jesus Christ. We got to have self-dependency on Him. Reliance on God through prayer is a constant process. We can depend on God to see us through every situation. And we can depend on God to continue to lift us up and to let us go through the things that we're going through. Even when we don't understand, we need to still trust in the God of our salvation. Let me tell you something, Lord, help my unbelief. We need help in certain areas of our lives. And so we got to understand that God is a God and he loves us. But we got to understand that we got to have help through him. Don't fall down on the Lord and not believe in the things that God have for us. God still will see us through every situation, even though it's difficult, even though it's hard, even though it's grim, God can still see us through every situation. And so we got to understand that, Lord, help my unbelief. And we see, as I close, we see that Jesus is the God of our salvation. And he's the God of our salvation because Jesus did something for us that we could not do. See I'm reminded of a story of the seven sons of Eskimo. See, sometimes we get like that. See, we think we can tailor off somebody else's faith. When you look at the seven sons of Sceva over in the book of Acts, they wanted to cast out demons in Jesus' name. Well, let me tell you something about these seven sons of Sceva. They didn't know who Jesus was for they self. Let me tell you something about the devil. The devil know you. He know who belong to the Lord and he know who don't belong to the Lord. You can come to church and perpetrate all you want to, but if you don't know who Jesus is, the devil know. And what they did was they said that we adjure you by the name of Jesus. So they said that Jesus we know, Paul we know, but who are you? God wanna know where you at, where you hiding at today. And so you got to understand that we serve Jesus who is the Christ. And so if you don't know who Jesus is, you know you don't have a relationship with him. Let me tell you something about the Jesus that I know. He came down through 42, 42 generations. Let me tell you something, he lived on this earth for 33 long years. And let me tell you something, he did his public ministry for his father. Jesus is the second person of the Trinity. Jesus is what pure love looks like. When you look at John chapter 3 verse 16, it says, for God so loved the world. that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Let me tell you something about our God. Let me tell you something. They forced a crown of thorns on His head. The blood came streaming down. They whipped Him all night long, not just for me, but for you also. And let me tell you something about that. He died. He died. He died. I say he died. But he did not stay dead. That's how the story ends. See, the devil wants you to think he died. But he didn't just die. He did not stay dead. Let me tell you something. He was in the grave on Friday. He was in the grave all day on Saturday. He was in the grave all day, all night on Saturday night. But early, early in the morning, early, he got up. I don't need to get up, but he got up with all power in his hand. And let me tell you something about Jesus. If you give your life to him, I guarantee your life will never be the same. Lord, Lord, help my unbelief. The doors of the church is open. If you are healed and you want to give your life to Jesus Christ in the free pardon of your sin, we invite you. We implore you to give your life to Jesus Christ while the blood is still running warm in your veins. Let me tell you something about Jesus. Jesus don't want to lose nobody. He want everybody to get a life to him. He know who going to get a life to him. He know who going to be saved, but you got to make the first step for yourself. When you make a step for the first step, he'll make two steps. Jesus will actually ingratiate you into his family. The doors of the church is open. If you don't know who Jesus is, come give your life to Jesus Christ. Jesus died for us, but he didn't stay dead. He got up with all power in his hands so that we can have life. He said that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved. Let me tell you something. God is too good. You can come by 11. Christian experience or a candidate for baptism. The doors is open. You can come. If you don't have a church home, we invite you to this church. We have a pastor who loves the Lord. and he will love to have you in this family so that we can continue to worship together. If you don't have anywhere to worship, we invite you to come down. You might have backslidden. you might need to be reclaimed. But God is married to the backslider. He is a restorer. He will restore you like none before. But you have to be the one to make the step. You have to be the one to give your life to Jesus Christ. Thank God for Jesus. Thank God for him, for everything that he has done for us. Lord, help my unbelief. The doors are still open while we sing. The doors, they're still open. The doors are still open. You want to trust Him today. Trust Him. Yes, yes, trust Him. Reverend McCoy, we have one on Christian experience. That's Dolores Wells. We have one for baptism, Ariana. Amen. God bless you, baby. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. George, how you doing? You've heard about these before? Yes. And your mic too? Mm-hmm. Do you think these will strike in the summertime? Yes. Do you think they'll feel safe? Yes. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I believe and die for my sins. Huh? He did not say that. He got up on all found. He didn't say that. I'm giving my life to Jesus Christ to be my personal savior. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for saving my life. Amen. We're going to baptize you next Sunday at 1030 service. Amen? Amen. Yes. Yes. We have four classes for new member orientation. It's at our Sunday school time at 9.20. You may even make it. OK, you can come next Sunday for Sister Woods and Sister Oliver. When you get here, they'll point you in the right direction so that you can start your class the next week in May. May God bless you. Amen. Reverend McCoy, we have Ms. Gretchen Hill, candidate for baptism. Amen. Amen. Ms. Hill, the best decision you have ever made in your life. Amen. We thank God for Jesus. Amen. Amen. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God? Absolutely. Do you believe that he died for your sins? Yes, sir. You want to be after him? Yes, sir. Confess it with your mouth. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I believe that he died for my sins, but he did not stay dead. He got up. with all power in his hands, I will give my life to Jesus Christ for my personal saving. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for saving my life. I'm saved. I'm saved. I'm saved. Amen. Hallelujah. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank God for Jesus. We're going to talk to her son after children's church. She said she wanted her son to get baptized as well. We're going to talk to him after church service. Amen. Amen. Thank God for Jesus. Amen. Amen. We thank God for them giving their lives to Christ and those who are come so that they can be a part of this worship service. Amen. Amen. Listen, I got just one thing for us as New Bethlehem members. I just asked. We have a large congregation. Please don't bombard our pastor. Let him get his rest. Uh it's okay to to text him to check on him and he love when y'all call and check on him but we have a lot of folks that love pastor Rogers and we just ask that we do it sparingly so that he can get his rest. Amen. Amen. Amen. If nothing else, claim my attention. We ask that you all stand. Thank you, Reverend McGee. He went over to and children's church today. Amen. Let us pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, we just wanna thank you today, dear God. And we wanna give you all the praise, the glory, all the honor. in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, we thank you for those who gave their life to you. We pray to heaven and father that you able us to God to wrap our love and arms around them. Help us to God to the cycle them to heaven and father. Help us to teach them, nurture them to heaven and father so that you can use them to heaven and father in your kingdom. We pray to heaven and father that you work with this church, this church family. We ask that you touch each and every household that represent up here. Touch those that are watching virtually. We thank you for him right now in the mighty name of Jesus. And we ask that heaven and father, you continue to strengthen us as a family. Continue to unify us to heaven and father for your purpose. And we ask the Lord that you help us to continue to undergird our pastor. We ask that you touch his body to heaven and father. We ask that you heal him to heaven and father in the mighty name of Jesus. We know you will heal him and we thank you to heaven and father right now. We claiming it in Jesus name. And we're asking, dear God, that your will be done in our lives. We pray, dear God, that as we depart from this place, that you give us traveling grace to heaven and father and arriving mercy. We thank you, Lord. We praise you in the mighty name of Jesus. And we just pray, dear God, when everything is said and done, you receive all the praise, the glory, all the honor. In the mighty name of Jesus, we do pray and do thank you. Now, may the grace of God the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit. Rest, rule, and abide with each of us. Let us henceforth, now and forever, say amen. Amen.