And praise the Lord, it is good to be here this morning and trust the Lord will work in our lives and give us some help and give us some grace. And let's turn to the gospel of Mark chapter number nine, Mark chapter number nine. And we're gonna start there in verse number 14, Mark nine and in verse number 14, if you found it, you can say amen, I'll know you're there. All right, let me get Mike turned on here by the bush and we'll be ready to go here. All right. Mark 9, and we'll start there in verse 14. And this is what the Bible says, 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, 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, he foameth and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away. And I spake to my disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not. He answered him, and saith, 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 they 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 upon him? And he said, Of a child. and oft times it hath 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 thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw the people came running together, he rebuked the vowed spirit, and saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him, and he was as one dead, insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted it up, and He arose. We're going to take our text this morning out of verse number 23, and this is a great verse. This is one of these verses that you highlight in your Bible, because this verse can allow you to claim the promises of God. And here's what it says, and Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And my thought this morning, what we're gonna preach on is a simple little thought. Can you believe? Can you believe? We're not talking about the man this morning. We're not talking about disciples this morning. We're talking about you. Can you believe? Let's pray. Father, I pray you bless the word this morning. And God, we know how powerful faith is this morning. We know that faith can move mountains. Father, we know that faith can change things. God, we know that faith caused the sun to stand still one day and caused the moon to stand still. God, we know that faith has changed the course of history. And Father, this morning as we preach on this thought of simply believing and asking this question, can you believe? God, I pray that in this room that we all could believe in You. God, that we all could have some faith this morning. And God, that You could do some marvelous things in our lives by us simply believing. Bless the Word and help me to believe this morning, and help every person in this room to believe. And Father, we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. This morning as we preach on this thought of Can you believe? Can you believe? Now, can I say this? Faith is the basis for all of God's miracles in the Bible. It's the basis for all of God's miracles. It's the basis for God moving. It's the basis for His mandates. It's the basis for His marvels. And it's the basis for all ministry. Faith is the basis of all that. No doubt about it. Hebrews 11, 6 says, You see the importance of believing this morning? There must be a faith and a belief that God can do anything. Do you have that faith this morning? Do you have that belief in God? Jesus asked the man, he says, Canst thou believe? He said, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Do you believe that God can do something in your life? That's the basis of God doing something in your life. You gotta believe. The Bible says, Hebrews 11, verse 1, In verse number one, it says, faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Let me tell you, faith is not seeing. Faith is believing without seeing. And that is what Jesus was asking the man. He said, hey, you haven't seen a miracle. Your son's demon possessed. You need a marvelous working of the power of God. And can you believe it before you receive it? We can all believe in what we see. We can all believe when you see it first hand, but can you believe without seeing? Isn't that what going to heaven is all about? It's believing in God that you can't see. It's believing that God said, hey, in my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, and there you may be also. But can we see the streets of gold? Can we see the buildings that God has made? Can we see the splendor of heaven this morning? No, we can't. We can't physically see it. But we see it by what? Faith. We see it by believing in God. It's all about believing in God. Can you see that you have a future in this life? Can you see God working in your life? Can you see that physically and know for certain you cannot? But can you see it by faith? Can you believe that God's gonna work in your life? Can you believe that God's gonna take care of the problems? Can you believe that God will work through the trials that you might be going through? Can you believe that God is able this morning? That's all that God is asking this man. He says, Canst thou believe? All things are possible to him that believe. It's the basis. Faith is the basis for everything that God does. Not only that, faith is boundaryless. Do you realize faith knows no boundaries? There are no boundaries when it comes to your faith. Faith can do things that nothing else in this world can possibly do because faith has no boundaries. And I believe in that. The Bible does say in 2 Corinthians 9, and God is able. That's all you need to know. And God is able. You say, I got some problems. God is able, amen. Boy, I got some, I got, I got, I got, man, I got some mountains, and I got some giants, and I'm going through some, and God is able. God did speak the world into existence. And the world's a big place, and it's bigger than what your problems are, amen. And it's bigger than your situation, and it's bigger than your circumstances, it's bigger than your difficulties, it's bigger than whatever problem you, we say, I owe a thou, I owe 10, that, that, God, God is able, he owns the world and the fullness, God is able, amen. If thou canst believe. God is able. There's no boundaries. You'd be surprised what God could do if you can believe in Him. It all comes down to, if thou canst believe. If thou canst believe. Ephesians 3.20 says this, He says there's no limit to what your faith can do. You know who puts the limits on us? We do. We put the limits on us. Wednesday night, we were talking about that story of the woman who her husband was, he was a son of the prophets, and her husband had died, and she had nothing in her house, and the creditors had came to take all that she had, and Elisha asked her one question, he said, what do you got in your house? She said, I have nothing but a pot of oil, nothing but a pot of oil. And Elijah said, Elisha says, go borrow all the pots you can borrow, and Get as many as you can, borrow not a few, and pour the oil into the pots. So what the woman did, she got as many pots as she could possibly get, and she took her one pot of oil, and the Bible says she poured out. Now let me tell you something, she had to have a little faith to do that. Because all she's got is one pot. If she borrows 10 pots, she's going to have 10 pots of oil. If she borrows 50 pots, she's going to have 50 pots of oil. If she borrows 1,000 pots, she's going to have 1,000 pots of oil. It's going to be according to her faith, is it not? And what the woman did was she borrowed all the pots she could possibly borrow, and the Bible says that as she poured out that the oil stayed, and all the pots were full, and she goes back to Elisha, the man of God, and says, now all the pots are full, and he says, now go sell those pots, and provide for your family and live on the rest." You see, her blessing was based upon her what? Faith and what the man of God had told her. If she borrowed 1,000 pots, she had 1,000 pots of oil. If she borrowed 10 pots, 10 pots is all she got. Remember when Elisha told the king of Israel, he says, hey, let me put your hand on my hand. Elisha was dying. The king came to him and he says, now we're going to shoot the arrow of deliverance. And he shot an arrow into the ground. And now he told the king, he says, now you take your quiver of arrows. A quiver of arrows was filled with arrows. He might have had 20 or 30 arrows in there. And he says, now take your quiver and take your bow and go to the window and shoot into the ground. And the king of Israel went to the window and he opened up and he shot an arrow. He grabbed another one, he shot an arrow. He grabbed another one, he shot an arrow. Three arrows in the ground. He came back to Elisha, the man of God. And Elisha said, how many arrows did you shoot? He said, I shot three arrows. He says, you fool! You should have shot all your arrows and you would have consumed the Assyrians. But now you're only going to beat them three times. You see, it's according to your faith. When Jesus says it's according to your faith, it's according to your faith. The king should have shot the whole quiver. You see, the woman got the blessing because she gathered as many vessels as she could. The king was cut short on the blessing because he only shot three times. The question this morning is, can you believe? Can you believe? You see, faith is the basis of all God's working and miracles, and faith is completely boundaryless. It's based on if thou canst believe. If you can believe God is able, there's no telling what you can do in your life. But it's based on believing God is able. And faith is the barometer of our spiritual condition. You know, when a person's faith is lacking, It tells you that there's a spiritual problem in their life. It does. It tells you that there's a spiritual problem. You know how I judge people's spirituality? Based upon the faith that they express when we speak. Look at Luke chapter number 18. I can walk down here and leave my notes for a minute. I think I can remember what I'm supposed to preach. Luke chapter number 18. You have to love what the Bible says, because the Bible is practical. And the things that you're going through now are the things that people went through in Jesus' day. And it says, "...and he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to..." what? "...faint." What's happening in our society today? Is not people's faith fainting? Is not Christianity in decline? Don't we live in a day when people just think, well, you know, God's dead and, boy, we just gotta wring our hands now because we don't know what we're gonna do. Let me tell you, God is not dead and we don't have to wring our hands. And the world's not gonna end on Tuesday. You say, it's gonna end Wednesday morning. No, it's not gonna end Wednesday morning either. Right? The world's not going to end if Hillary Clinton becomes president. It didn't end when Bill became president. It ain't going to end when Hillary becomes president. The world's going to end when Jesus says it's time to end. And for all them Trump haters, the world's not going to end if he becomes president. You say, oh, have his hand on the nuclear button. He doesn't actually have his hand on that. The men in the silos do. Never forget that. God's still in control, folks. Calm yourself. Have faith in God. Have faith in God. Jesus said this, saying, There was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in the city, and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubled me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with him? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" What's that tell you? You have some faith in God, there's no telling what God can do. Have a little faith in God. Believe in God. Believe that God's able. Believe that God can do something. You know why this man in the story got his son healed? Because when the disciples couldn't heal him, he didn't give up. He still sought God and sought God's help. He didn't quit when he didn't get through on the first try. But see, faith is a barometer. Faith is a barometer. And that's why Jesus said, oh, faithless generation. We live in a generation of no faith. We're living in a generation that has become a godless nation. And that's sad. But we're not talking about the nation this morning, we're talking about you. And that's my question this morning. What about you? Can you believe? The first thing this morning is simply this. Can you believe in the person of Christ? The man in the text was having trouble believing, just like many do in our day. That's why he says there in our text, if you'll look again in verse number 23, Jesus says, if thou canst believe all things are possible unto believeth, and look what it says, and straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe! How thou might unbelieve! Boy, isn't that how it is most of the time? You wanna believe on the inside that God's gonna do something. but that nagging doubt that persists in your heart. Is God really able? Can you believe this morning in the person of Christ? You know, when it comes to salvation, so many times people are just like that. I've met a lot of people that want to believe in Jesus Christ. They really do. They want their sins forgiven. They do want to go to heaven. They want to be a transformed life. They want their life changed, but something keeps them back from making the next step. Right here at Fellowship Baptist Church, I have seen people grip the pew and shake. They wanted to believe, but they just couldn't step out in the aisle. I have seen people step out into the aisle, go back into the pew, step out in the aisle and go back in the pew, and they wanted with everything inside them to walk down this aisle, but they couldn't bring themselves to do it. They just could not make the next step to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. And that's sad, because believing is simply all it takes. When that Philippian jailer was there and he burst in, he said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And Paul said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thine house. I mean, it is not that the message, the path to salvation is a simple one, it's an easy one. It's believing in Jesus Christ. But yet we make it so difficult, do we not? What'd Jesus tell the woman at the well? What'd he tell her? He said, hey, if you'll simply believe, out of your belly shall flow rivers of water. What'd he tell Martha there at the tomb of Lazarus? He says, I am the resurrection of life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Believest thou this? Can you believe in God? Can you believe in me? See, believing in Christ is a simple thing. And I'm not talking about believing with your head, I'm talking about believing with your heart. Where you really believe in something. The devil believes in God and he's going to hell. But believing from your heart. You see, the man looked at Jesus that day and knew that he could perform miracles. But he was having trouble from getting it to here, down to here, into his heart. That's why the Bible says, "...with the heart man believeth in righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." I've met a lot of people that know about God right here, but they've never met God right here. To know about God here makes you a human being, but also makes you accountable to God and will put you in hell. To know about God here takes you to heaven. And that's the struggle. How many times I've prayed at this altar, this very altar, with people that said, Pastor, I believe, but help my unbelief. I've asked Jesus to save me 25 times, and I still don't know if I'm going to heaven. He said, Pastor, I believe, but help thou mine unbelief. Pastor, I'm so uncertain. I'm not secure. I don't know where I'm going to spend eternity. Because you've got to get it from here into here. And until you get it here, nothing's changing for you. If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Can you believe this morning? On the person of Christ for salvation, can you believe on the person of Christ our Savior? You know, trusting in Christ and none other It's sad, it's sad. When Hillary, I was preaching at the Tri-State Preachers Fellowship and, you know, Hillary Clinton, Secretary Clinton is a Methodist. And she believes in Calvinism, the five-point tulip theory. And she believes in predestination, that is, you're determined to go to heaven or you're determined to go to hell. And she said, well, we know, she told the Archbishop up there in New York, they call him His Eminence, he said from the lectern, she said, that we all know that salvation is by believing in God and doing good works. And I thought, I'm glad she's not a Baptist. I'm glad she's not a Baptist. And the funny thing is, she's on the wrong side of what she believes. You say, what is that? Predestination? She's going to hell, like anyone ever was. You say, why? Because you don't go to heaven by doing good works. For by grace you're saved through faith, and not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works as any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ. She is unto good works. You know why Brother Chris does good works? Because I believed on Jesus Christ. I tried doing good works before I got saved and it just wasn't working out. Dad said, hey, God's going to put your good works over here and your bad works over here. And I said, hey, I got a brain in my head. I know I'm going to hell. My brother even had it figured out. He said, yeah, if anyone's going to hell, my brother Chris is going to hell. I said, thanks, Joe. I said, but don't think so highly of yourself because you're going with me, sucker. That's what I told him. I said, we're both going to hell. Because his works weren't much better than mine. If you believe in works. If you believe in works salvation, I know you know you're going to hell. Because you know what your works are. You know what you are in secret. Thank God it ain't by works. Thank God it's by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. By His death on the cross of Calvary. Can you believe in that this morning? And the person of Christ, when it comes to salvation, and the person of Christ, when it comes to the Savior, that he is the Son of God, that he is the only way. When Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and life, no man come to the Father but by me, that's what he meant. You cannot come unto God except through Jesus Christ. Can you believe that this morning? The person of Christ. Can you believe? This morning, in the person of Christ, when it comes to our service, Jesus said, without me you can do nothing. You see, serving God has to be in faith, and that's where the power and the blessing are. Sadly, today, we do most of what we do, we do in the flesh. In the power of the flesh. And God is nowhere near it. That's the problem in our country. That's the problem in our citizenship. That's the problem in our churches. It's the problem in our Christianity. It's why we're failing miserably. You cannot succeed in the flesh. You know, you wanna be Frank Sinatra, I did it my way. You can't succeed that way. It's gotta be God's way. In faith, living for Jesus Christ. You know why so many of our young people are in crisis today? because they want to do it their way and not God's way. And of course their life is in crisis. Of course our homes are in crisis because they don't want to do it God's way, they want to do it their way. Well I don't need to be in church and I don't need to do this and hey and you know I'm fine doing it my... No, you're not fine. That's why the country's failing. We're not fine. It's why the country's going to hell. It's why you gotta have security guards at the school. It's why men are carrying guns in the churches. We're not okay. Society's falling apart. You see, when you don't do it God's way, then we're in crisis. It's why the divorce rate is 67%. We're in crisis. It's why we got these two fruit lips running for president. That tells you how in the world did these two people get to the place, I was going to say creatures, but people get to the place where they're at. How in the world did Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the worst two candidates possible, get to the place where they're at? You've got to scratch your head. One guy said, no matter which lever I pull, I'm going to throw up. That's hilarious. That's so hilarious. No matter which one I pull, I'm going to throw up. I feel that same way. A criminal like Hillary Clinton for president, you can't, it's unconscionable. And then you look at this guy over here and you think, my gosh. And it's equally unconscionable. But you gotta pull a lever. Which one you gotta pull? You just shake your head. I said, God help us. Pastors have never been more conflicted in their entire life. I've never had more trouble pulling a lever than this year. But see, the question is, canst thou believe? You know who I'm gonna believe in? I'm gonna believe in Jesus Christ. I'm not going to put my faith in the politicians. I'm going to believe in the person of Christ. Can you believe in that this morning? Can you believe in the power of Christ this morning? You know, if you're going to experience God's power, you're going to have to have some faith in God to lead and guide and direct and change things. Remember in Daniel chapter number three, the three Hebrew children? Now, sometimes life can be tough. In Daniel chapter number three, the three Hebrew children, they're eunuchs, they're living in the king's palace, and they're in the government, so to speak, and the king gets this great ideal to have his statue and have everybody bow down to it, and everybody's doing it, except for these three men. And they refused to do it. And in verse 13, Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these three men before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do you not serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now, if ye be ready, at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, and sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made well. But if ye worship not, Ye shall be cast the same hour in the midst of a burning, fiery furnace, and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" Well, Nebuchadnezzar thought a lot of himself, didn't he? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. Hey, you ain't scaring me. You have to love that. You have to love when people have faith in God and they're not afraid of the consequences. Man that has faith in God is not afraid of the consequences is a man that people fear He said if so be our God who we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace He will deliver us out of your out of my hand O King But if not be it known unto thee O King that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image Which thou hast set up. They said kill us if you want to we're not bound. I We ain't about to bow to your stinking image. You can forget it, and we're not afraid of you, and we're not afraid of that fire, and this is where we stand. They had faith in the power of God, and there's nothing more powerful than one's faith. Faith will take you through the fire, the trials, the hardship, the difficulties of life, But the question is, can you believe? Can you believe? People say, I can't believe it. I can't do it. Remember this, I can't will never do anything. I can't will never see God's divine power. Philippians 4.13 says, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Hebrews chapter number four, when the Lord gave some instruction here, this is what He said. Verse number 14, he said this, Can you believe in the power of God this morning? I know you got problems here this morning, and I got them too, but can you believe in God's power? Can you believe that God's able to deliver you? You know, if you could have the attitude that the three Hebrew children had, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, if you could say, God's gonna deliver me, but if he doesn't, God is still in charge. How many Christians say, well, if God delivers me, I'll be in church next week. Well, what if He doesn't? Where do you need to be next week? In church next week. If God delivers me, I'll read my Bible. You need to read your Bible if He doesn't deliver you. Amen. It all comes down to, can you believe in God? You see, these men believed in God. He said, we're gonna believe in God no matter what happens. Trials don't destroy your faith. Trials strengthen your faith. I was preaching to the pastors and I told them, I said, you know what some of you guys need? You know what's wrong with a lot of preachers today? They've never had a black eye. They've never had a fat lip. They've never had a bloody nose. They've never been punched in the gut and had all the wind knocked out of them. Every man in this room needs that. And if you don't have a brother to provide that for you, See me after church. Joe knocked out my last baby tooth. Pow! Knocked it out. He's given me, I can't tell you how many fat lips Joe has provided me with. He provided me with a few black eyes. You say, what'd you provide him with? Some scars on his body. You say, what'd you do to him? Well, I bit him on his arm and took a chunk of meat out. He's got a scar, looks like a birthmark. I bit him on the chest one time, as hard as I could, and gave him the biggest bruise you'd ever want to have. I can't tell you the other things I did, it's not a proper place to tell them. But I did teach him a few things about life. You say, what does all that do? You see, hardships make a man out of you. You know why the great generation was great? Because, hey, they walked uphill to school, they walked 10 miles to school uphill both ways. Right? Carrying a 50-pound or a 100-pound sack of potatoes. That's why that was the great generation. My dad used to say, I used to carry a 100-pound sack of potatoes, you know? Walked to school, it was uphill both ways. And I thought, well, Dad, you've got to be exaggerating that story. But he was tough. He was part of the great generation. Knew how to have some difficulty in their life and continue on. Did stay married to my mom until she died. And though it was better and then it became worse for a lot of years, they stuck it out. You see, just simply believing that God's able no matter what happens. You say, what if my home falls apart? God hasn't changed who He is. What if I lose my job? God hasn't changed who He is. Hey, what if they arrest me for preaching? God still hasn't changed who He is. Some of the greatest things that ever took place, took place when the preacher was in prison. Did you ever read John Bunyan's work, Pilgrim's Progress? That was written from the jail cell. Our Bible was written from the jail cell. Adversity just declares who God is by faith. Can you believe this morning? What about you? Can you believe? This man's son is deemed possessed. The evil spirit's trying to kill him. And his trouble has brought him to the feet of Jesus. Do you believe in God's power this morning? Do you believe in the person of Christ? Do you believe in Christ's provision? You know, Moses fed the people in the wilderness for 40 years. How did he feed them? By faith in God. Doesn't the Bible say God knows what we need of before we ask? And doesn't God feed all the sparrows out there? I never see the sparrows holding a sign, I'll work for food. Right? You ever seen that? A sparrow holding a sign, I'll work for food? I don't know what happens to the sparrows. I don't see them dead laying all over the place. I know this, God takes care of them. And God does supply for their needs and God does meet every need that they have. Do you believe that God can meet every need you have? I believe that this morning. But can you believe this morning? In Matthew chapter number six, And I thank God, every time I read these, I thank God for these verses. But Matthew 6, and in verse number 8, the Bible says, Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your father knoweth what ye have need of before ye ask. He's teaching his disciples how to pray. And then he gives them the model prayer, the Lord's Prayer, which says, Give us this day our daily bread. You say, what is daily all about? It's daily God taking care of you. That's why he said, lay not for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor thieves do break through nor steal. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also. And then he goes on down and says this, take no thought for your life. what we shall eat or what we shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not life more than meat and a body than raiment? Behold, the fowls are there. They sow not, nor do they reap, nor gather in a barge, yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much better than they?" God can take care of us. He went on to say, "...but my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." And he said, and God is able to make all grace abound to you, that having a sufficiency in all things, that God might supply our needs. But the question is, can you believe? Can you believe? John Clark was in China in the 90s with his wife Donna, and a man, one of the men,