Look with us in Mark chapter 11. That's where I feel drawn in my thoughts tonight to speak from. Mark chapter 11. Appreciate the good meal this evening and the good fellowship and those who were waiting on us when we got here. And I appreciate this church, your pastor, and all that you do for the cause of Christ. Mark chapter 11. I'll take up reading in about verse 12. If I cough, don't nobody get nervous. That's a very common thing for me. I've got allergies and doesn't take much to stir them up. I'm a country boy, I love to hunt and fish and roll around in the grass and I like to bale hay. And when I was about, I'm guessing about 13 years old, always I'd get allergies and real puffy under my eyes and get a sinus infection. And they got me an appointment at the Graves Gilbert Clinic in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Took me down there and they had all them little vials of stuff and they stuck me on the back And there, like I said, I live in the country, out in the woods. I stayed on the creek and in the fields, and I was allergic to 42 trees and grasses. So I really needed to be in the city if you was going to move me around for that. But they said I would build immunity up to a lot of that in life, and I have. But I still have allergies to so many different things. So if I cough, don't nobody get to thinking that I'm carrying something. I say that in a little humor. My name's Jeremy and my nephew, Isaac, he's grown up now, but he was little and he'd call me Uncle Germ. And I said, it's not good to be called a germ right now in times like this when folks is all nervous, you know, about things that's been going on. but I'm glad to be here tonight and I wanna get serious now and look into the word of God and you pray for us as we try to preach and give us your attention if you wouldn't mind. Mark chapter 11, start reading in verse 12. If you wanna relieve yourself for a minute and stand with us, we'll read on down to about verse 26. It says, And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if happily he might find anything thereon. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. And the disciples heard it. And they come to Jerusalem, and Jesus went up to the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But ye have made it a den of thieves. And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him, for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine. And when they were come, he went out of the city. 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 him, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe all those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive. And if ye have ought against any, that your heavenly Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your father, which is in heaven, forgive you your trespasses. I'll stop reading right there. There's a lot of things tonight, you can be seated, thank you. There's a lot of things tonight that could be said that would be worthy to be said about the scriptures that I read, more tonight than I could cover if we was just gonna speak our thoughts tonight. But I just want to try to go with the burden of my heart and go with where I feel like that the Holy Spirit has drew me to. I guess if I had a thought tonight, it would be remember to have faith in God. That's what I want to preach on, remember to have faith in God. And I want to say that, remember to have faith in God could be worded more so to help you understand, remember in order to have faith in God. Now, I looked at that and have looked at this a lot and pondered about it. It's about six hours from my house to here. I thought about it off and on all that time. Since I've got here, it's crossed my mind several times. And then, of course, the last couple of days, when this scripture seemed, I was seemed to be drawn to this scripture, the first thought that I felt like God put in my heart is he just put in my mind the thought that I knew I had read, have faith in God. And I thought about that today, and I feel like I had a good vibe thinking about that. I thought about that, have faith in God. And I thought about if he was to come into my house and I said, have a chair, I wouldn't say that if there wasn't a chair available for you. And Jesus would have never said to Peter, have faith in God, if he could not have faith in God. He would not say to him, have faith in God, if there was no faith available. So I believe tonight, first thing, we do need to know that we can have faith in God. We do need to know that whoever we are, wherever we're from, especially if we are a believer, and Peter being a disciple of the Lord here, he wanted him to have faith in God. And I thought of the scenario here as it plays out, what was going on. Jesus had this miraculous story back in the beginning of chapter 11. Jesus rides into the city. He rides the colt that had never been ridden, and it was an amazing thing there. That's contrary to nature. We all know that. He tamed it, rode it in. They began to praise the Lord and spread their garments in the way. It was said in one place they need to hold their peace, and He said they can't do that. If they do, the rocks are going to cry out. In other words, God is going to get glory and praise to His name one way or the other. and I want to be in the crowd appraising him and worshiping him and thanking him for all that he's done, because he's done a lot for me, and he sure has done a lot for you tonight. If you're not aware of that, then just slow down a little. As I preached the first sermon I preached of the new year, I preached out of Psalms there on the thoughts of God toward us, and he said, I can't count them. They're more than I can number. and I paralleled that and read that little old song. Count your blessings, name them one by one. That'd take you a while. That would take me a while. God sure has been good to me. But anyway, I think about that and he comes into this city here and the next day he had come from Bethany. He was hungry. We know that Jesus was God incarnate and he lived in a body of flesh. He was the God man. You'll find more than one instance where he hungered He thirsted but yet there was a lesson in that for you and I who are in the flesh who are walking this life Even as he did I'm glad that our great high priest Jesus Christ God became man. He dwelt among men it was necessary for him to be made like unto his brethren and then become our high priest to the point that he is one that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities because he was in all points tempted likewise as we. You say, I'm going through it. Jesus has already been there. You can get the victory in him because he has already got the victory. He overcame. When at the end of his life, that great law of God that is so holy, that is so pure, that you and I on our best day cannot keep, be okay to try, but we're gonna come up short. God's Son, Jesus, dotted every I, crossed every T, and fulfilled it, and gives us the victory. He did not come to destroy it, but to fulfill it. us and did for us and satisfied God's holiness, the demands of the law, and did it for us, something we could not do. That's why if we're going to go to heaven, we must have the imputed righteousness of Christ over onto our account, because we are in the hole deep in debt over sin, and there's not enough good that we can do to ever pull our selves out of that gutter. But I'm glad that Jesus Christ came and stood between God and man, hung on an old rugged cross of Calvary, and through the ministry of reconciliation, through the reconciling work of Calvary's cross, can take man's hand down here and God's hand up there and bring us together and bring peace between us and God again. And with that comes fellowship. And I'm glad all of that is possible through faith in God's Son. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Now, Christ the God-man is hungry. He comes to a fig tree. He knows all of this. He knows all things. But it's not the time of the year that you would go to a fig tree and find figs. he sees it afar off, and he comes to this fig tree, and there it is, he sees the leaves, and he finds out there's nothing else there but leaves, nothing but leaves. And he speaks against this tree, and curses it, and says, from this day on no man is going to eat here, eat at this tree. And so then it goes on, and the scene kind of changes here and he goes into the temple and some tanks take place and then the next thing you see as they're back on this road again and here's Peter and he's walking along and you know Peter's always got something to say he's always noticing something he's a very curious person and that got him in trouble at times and it also got him some amazing answers But he looked over here at this tree, and he says, Lord, you know that tree that you spoke against the other day? He said, there it is. And he said, I mean, it's withered away. And all of a sudden, his answer to such a statement is, Jesus answering saith unto him, have faith in God. And I thought, I've tried still yet, and I'm not sure that I understand all there is to see here, or that it's been revealed to me, or I have come to glean all of the thoughts and the things that can help me, or that I can share with you through preaching the word of God here. But he says, have faith in God. And I just had this thought, you know, he goes on to say, have faith in God. For verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, and shall believe that those things that he saith shall come to pass, shall have whatsoever he saith. He speaks here of something in the way. And I believe that Jesus speaks from the human side. He said, Peter, I want you to know, as you go through this life, you're gonna come to places on your journey where you're gonna be disappointed. There's gonna be times you're gonna be let down. I mean, if you wanted to look at it the way we could understand it, I mean, how would you feel? Here you are. walking along hungry, thinking, oh, there's hope, I'll get me something to eat here. And you go to a tree, what a letdown, nothing on it, I mean nothing there, that's a letdown, that's a disappointment. And he says, there's gonna be times in life, Peter, as you journey along, you're gonna come to times of disappointment, things that look maybe good or far off as you draw near, you're gonna find they're not as they appear, and you're gonna be let down. You're gonna be disappointed. There's gonna be things in your way. Maybe, as he says here, like a mountain. But he says, I'm gonna tell you what you're gonna need, Peter, is you're gonna need faith in God. You're gonna have to have faith in God. And you need faith in God. Peter, have faith in God. That's like I said earlier, have a seat. Have a seat, it's available. It's there. God would not say, have faith, Peter, if faith was not available. So he says to him, have faith. I believe this is somewhat of an authoritative command, almost, by the Son of God. It's not a suggestion, even though it could be come across in a form of exhortation words or encouraging words, but yet very, very authoritative from God. Hey, if you're gonna make it, friend, you're gonna have to have faith in God. If you're gonna stand the test, you're gonna have to have faith in God. You cannot, first of all, please God without it. The Word of God says for without faith it is impossible to please God. God enters into the city through Christ and He does works, but He doesn't do many. because they don't have no faith. It said, he did not many wonderful works because of their unbelief. And so God does things for a believing people. God does things for a believing individual and a person that does not doubt. And so that is the opposite of faith. He said, if you say this mountain be thou removed and shall not doubt in your heart, but believe whatsoever thou sayest, it shall be unto thee as thou hast said. What an amazing thing. I believe that we can read the Word of God and get faith by that. Do you? The Bible says in Romans that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I have had preachers in my past, in my young life as a believer, preach simple stories, and there's nothing necessarily simple as in dull or common about the story of David and Goliath. But I remember just hearing those Bible stories and have to give a few details about how much Goliath's coat of mail weighed, and how much his armor weighed, and how little David was, and how big the giant was, but how God used him. That gives me faith to face things that seemingly come in my life. that are in my way." People, in the Word of God, Hebrews 11, read that. That's a faith chapter. People who had faith in God saw great things, and God used them. And so, have faith in God. He mentions here a mountain in the way. He mentions on down here about desires, about desiring things, having desires. You know, if you don't have no desires in your life, life will become dull for you. if you don't have any desires. But I do believe that you need to have spiritual desires, like she sang about. You want your life to count for something. Fleshly desires will lead us sometimes to hurt and disappointment, and we'll sell ourselves short of our potential, of good achievements in this life. But if we'll let the Lord guide us, here's what he said. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He'll give you the desires of your heart. Now, I believe that can go both ways. Some people, you know, try to think things that, word things that sounds more spiritual than others. It could be this. If you'll delight yourself in the Lord, He'll give you the desires of your heart, meaning He'll give you the desires. He'll put the desires in you, and you'll only want for the things that He wants you to have. It could be that. And it could be that if you just delight yourself in the Lord, that you'll just want what's right. If you'll just delight in Him, He'll give you the desires of your heart. Do I believe God could give a person a piece of land? I do. I do. Do I believe God could give someone a nice house? I do. But as long as the land's not got you, as long as the home's not got you, As long as that thing, whatever it is, has not got you, if you can receive something as a blessing and go away praising God for it, then it doesn't seem like things are that big of a problem. But when you start basing life and basing happiness on things, you must come to the conclusion that the Word of God says, a man's life does not consist of the abundance of things that he possesseth. Back home, there's a scenario. I know a man who went to work at like nine years old on a farm. He worked in a crib, a corn crib, where they would shell the corn and sell seed corn. He would literally pick through the grains of the corn and find the little kernels where the weevils would eat and cast them out. "'cause they won't sprout, you know, they're ruined." And he would do that, going through the corn. He went on that farm full-time for work at age 11. And it was a huge farm at one time, like 1,500 acres. It's been split since. One of the brothers have died off, but it was a very well-known farm. Well, this gentleman who started out working for these people, He would have been considered by a lot of people not successful as, you know, somewhat. But yet he does have a house. It's paid for. He lives in it now. He's retired, mostly disabled, a good dear friend, but he was always sort of poor, somewhat poor. And this other fella, he had all this wealth just somewhat fell right in his lap. And most people, you know, looked at the two and would have chose to be the owner rather than the servant. That's the way they would have chose in life. That's the path they would have chose. But I can say this, that it's not so now. And one of the greatest experiences in worship I ever had was in a feet washing service. I know that sounds odd if you've never been in one. It is in the Bible. It definitely can't be done in a carnal way, but it has to be done in a spiritual mode, with a spiritual meaning, but it was a glorious time. And I saw those two men get on the same plane, Because in Christ they were equal. In life they had different statuses. But the tide has changed now. The one still has his little house and his little property that it took his whole life to work for. And last two weeks ago at the courthouse door, that's fixing to sell that other fella out. It got stopped, and I was glad it got stopped. One of them, though, he sits on his little piece of ground in his little house there, and he seems content and happy. And I know a gentleman who was in the home of the other man just two weeks ago, and they used to go do things together. And he asked him, he says, you want to go with me and do this? And he never moved. He looked straight ahead and said, no. He was not happy because things have been taken away. You see what I'm saying? And so he talks about desires here. We do gotta evaluate our desires. And then he goes on and then he talks about forgiveness. And I couldn't figure out, you know, why the three things. Jesus never did just talk, I don't think. He never did just talk. I mean, say nothing. Everything he said. I mean, he said the words that I speak are spirit and they are life. Ain't that amazing? I talk sometimes, just talk, and it's nothing. It's just air. But Jesus never did do that. Everything he spoke evidently was God-breathed. Don't you believe that? And so he spoke about a mountain being in the way here. He spoke about desires of the heart. And then he speaks about forgiveness. And I believe forgiveness is a big deal, do you? Because we all need it. And what the main forgiveness, of course, is the forgiveness of sin that we must experience, that can only be experienced, and that can only be preached in the name of Jesus. There's no other way that sin can be forgiven. There's nothing else that's ever been done, and since Calvary has had to be done, for God to be able to forgive sin, but that Christ who knew no sin became sin for us. And He went and paid the debt for sin, for the wage of sin is death in Romans 6, 23, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord and Him alone. But He deals with forgiveness. And He doesn't deal with, first of all, the forgiveness that we need from God. He does get to that. But He says, forgive one another. When you stand praying, if you remember that you have an awe against someone, He said you better forgive them. Because He said if you do not forgive them, then there's no need for you to expect God, your Heavenly Father, to forgive you. So if you can't forgive, or you refuse to forgive, or if you don't forgive, you cannot be forgiven. Now if you're safe tonight, and you're walking, trying to walk in the light, and you develop a feeling, an ought, there's a hindrance come, someone trespasses against you, and you'll not forgive them, then your whole walk is through out of gear. Your whole forward motion with God and your fellowship is thrown totally out of gear. And He deals with this. And He deals with this here. And to me, I had a little trouble wrapping my mind around why did He deal with just say these three things. But there's a reason why. Because they're such a big deal. Take these vibes and feelings from other people out of it, take desires out of it, and then things in the way as we journey along. I mean, he took three things and pretty much just preached a sermon on life, life. I mean, it's about life is what it's about, friend. Jesus is talking about real life, and he says, in real life, have faith in God, and remember to have faith in God. Remember in order to, Peter remembered that fig tree, and the next word is have faith in God. And I thought about this, remembered, remembered. So many times in the word of God were we called to remembrance. This Peter here does it in his epistles. He says, I've wrote this to you to stir up your minds by way of remembrance. I believe possibly tonight there's somebody here who needs to remember something. Remember maybe an experience you've had with God. Remember a time in the past, like the writer who's wrote this song, and I'm not sure how old it is, but I just started hearing it about five years ago. It's called, Didn't I? And you've heard it. Didn't I walk on the water? Didn't I calm the sea? Didn't I run to your rescue? Didn't I do this? Didn't I do this for you? Why would you be thinking that I wouldn't do it now? Have faith in God. Remember to have faith in God. I thought of so many scriptures. I thought of a verse in, it is in Acts 20. This verse, when I hear it, If I was to read it like I think the Apostle Paul said it, a lot of times his voice has much authority, and then it winds down and it gets real tender. And he says this as he's talking about his life, and he goes down and he says what they ought to do, and then he says, remember the words of the Lord Jesus. how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. You say, well, I don't need to hear that tonight. Well, maybe you do. Maybe you do need to hear that tonight. Maybe that needs to echo. Maybe you need to remember that the Lord Jesus said it's more blessing to give than to receive. I believe that that is a big part of the Christian life. Because if you live for God, you're going to feel like you're doing a whole lot more giving than you are getting. That's the way it's gonna feel a lot of times. I know if you count, you can count your blessings, but a lot of times, you're gonna feel spent. You're gonna feel wore thin. But you gotta remember them words of the Lord Jesus. It's more blessing to give than to receive. And for some, it's easy to tithe. I mean, they got abundance of money. It's easy to tithe if you wanted to deal with that. But it's a whole lot harder to give of themself. It's a whole lot harder to give of self, and I believe that, and a lot of times we're called to service, and that's not a monetary giving. It's a giving of self. There's, back home where I'm from, the old preacher, he's gone on many years ago, he used to say this. You don't need to give a bad preacher nothing, but you couldn't give a good preacher too much Because he's giving you his life, and I'm not here at all to deal with what you paying the preacher I'm not even concerned with that, but Jesus said remember to have faith in God if you feel like it that the demands that's been laid upon you as a servant of God are too great and you just cannot get the faith to press on and just trust God and go on. You've got to remember in order to have faith, you've got to remember In order to have faith, you've got to look back. You've got to remember some things that God has said. See, God has said so many things in His Word, we have to go back. That's why if you want us to read through your Bible, you don't need to shelf it and go find another book. You can just start all over again, because I promise you, you missed a lot of things. Pick it up and read it again. Pick it up and read it again. It's a book that is so amazing. It could never be exhausted. Turn over a new leaf, look again, and remember, find something else that God has said, and you'll find faith. You'll find faith. You can have faith in God. Do you need faith in God? You're gonna have to have it. You're gonna have to have it. You need faith in God. Remember to have faith in God. Peter, have faith in God. Peter, if you'll have faith in God, you'll see mountains moved. Peter, if you'll have faith in God, them desires that's in your heart, that seeming unreal, that seemingly is so far-fetched, that you know are from God, it looks like they could never be. They're possible with God, Peter. You have faith in God. Peter, live that Christian life and forgive and live and let live. And Peter is the same one who questions the Lord, you know, about somebody and about their life. And he says, what's that to you, Peter, if they tarry till I come? Peter, what is that to thee? Come and follow thou me. I mean, there's a lot to be learned through the life of Peter. There's a lot to be learned if we look in his life, we'll find that so many times he needed to be, as my dad say, he needed his mouth mashed. My friends used to laugh at me when I was a boy. because dad was always using they heard dad said you know you're gonna get your mouth mashed you know you couldn't say that out in public now much people would wouldn't take that right but that's what they'd say to me you better behave jeremy you're gonna get your mouth mashed and they made a lot of they never did get theirs mashed but i did at 19. At 19, I got mind mashed. I sassed my dad. Y'all ever heard that kind of talk? I sassed him and got wrong with him. And I started preaching at 19, by the way. What do you think about that? That's funny, ain't it? But I did. I sassed my dad and disrespected him. And he popped me right in the mouth. Don't you talk like that. I needed that. It was a grown-up needing a child's lesson, I guess you'd say. But listen to me. Have faith in God. Have faith tonight in God. These are big words tonight. Have faith in God. Are you worried about making it? Are you worried about surviving whatever you're going through? I have been. I've been there. I've dealt with it. Desperation, panic almost, fight or flight. What am I going to do? I'll tell you what we can do, what God said to Peter and what God is saying to you and me. Have faith in God. He has never failed. He is never forsaken, he'll never ever do it, never. The worst case scenario, if you're wanting to live forever, is that something happens to you and you die, and you go to heaven and live forever. That's about as bad as it somewhat could get, really, honestly. Because all that we go through here in this life, that we call light affliction, he said it's but for a moment. And then that that comes outweighs it so much, you cannot even compare the two. They have no comparison. Have faith in God. Remember to have faith in God. Do you believe God can do something in this meeting? Do you believe God will? Are you trusting Him too? Are you looking to Him? Are you living by faith in Jesus above, trusting, confiding in His great love? Are you having faith in God? There was a brother sent me a text earlier, and he was just joking. He said, go in there and preach on everything you can think of. He had ever seen. I mean, write her back and let her rip, and then see how the meeting goes. And he's in reference to a man that went to a meeting down in Tennessee, and he kind of made some remarks, you know, at the beginning that was very, you know, really very forward and not too helpful. They weren't very edifying. It didn't seem like. He said they weren't anyway. He said, I just got off on some things. And they said, how'd the meeting go? He said, downhill from there. And so I don't want to start off on that foot tonight. I believe that we need to build in this thing. But there ain't but one way to build, and that's having faith in God. Having faith in God. If a man prays and he doesn't have faith, the Bible says that he's like the ship in the sea that's driven by the wind. He's just shoved around. But he says if that man and that man who prays with no faith and doubting, he'll not receive anything from the Lord. Do you know what says that? But if we'll pray, believe in. How do I get it, preacher? How do I get it? It's available. Ask God for it. The disciples did. They asked God to teach them how to pray. They said, Lord, increase our faith. They just come to God and said, I need this, Lord. I need you to do this for me. Give me faith. God can. God can. Now he come to this victory. and it has nothing on it but leaves and he cursed it. Now, if you don't have faith and you don't work with your faith, I'm not talking about losing your salvation now. I'm talking about there's a scenario in the book of Peter where a believer comes to faith and he doesn't follow through. He doesn't cultivate it. He doesn't add to it. temperance, virtue, knowledge, all these things we can gain as a believer and stack on top of the faith that we have built our life upon, he said, if you don't do this, he said, they'll make you barren and unfruitful in the work of the Lord. And he says, he that lacketh these things will be blind, and he cannot see afar off I think there's degrees of blindness, like some people are legally blind, but yet they're not totally blind. My neighbor, they've met him, I think, he's in his 80s, I say my neighbor, my childhood neighbor, he will pull up to the road on a four-wheeler. A country road, but somewhat a busy road at times, a state road, he'll pull up on it, he'll kill his four-wheeler, and he'll listen. He'll sit there real still. If he can't hear a vehicle, he'll fire it up, he'll go down the road and go to his farm. That's in the community where I was born and raised. And he can't legally drive because he can only see peripheral view. He can only see just a little in the house. And if he was to drive by down the driveway and there's a maple tree in dad's yard, if I was to run by that tree and stand real still, he would drive within feet of me. He wouldn't see me. If I move, he'll pick it up. My sister has a bad eyesight. It could be almost considered not safe to drive. I remember that was talked about in years past. But he says this person who does not add to his faith will become blind, and it's a degree of blindness here, that he cannot see afar off. Now, afar off could just be Pass this trial. Can't see. Pass this trial. Far off, I can't see past this trouble. I can't see past this mountain. What do I need to do? I need to exercise my faith to be able to get past this. I need to build. I need to build upon God. I need to do something. What God has given me, I need to cultivate it. I need to work it. You're not gonna get there with no prayer life. You're not gonna get there with never looking into God's word. You'll get in a bad frame of mind. and they'll get you to where you'll lose faith in God. And what God said, Christ said, Peter, have faith in God. I would challenge you tonight to have faith in God. For whatever you need, have faith in God. I'm so impressed with people. that I have been around in my life who were people of faith. I'm impressed with people in the Bible that I read about who wrought miracles, was wrought because they had faith. Many of them's names are not even called in the book of Hebrews, but it says they went through this world, they were people of faith, and the world was not even worthy that they even were here. I mean, God honors people who are people of faith. Have faith in God. Young ones tonight, young people that are here, believers, if you're a believer, have faith in God. Believe God for some things. I believed God for some things in my life, and I believed and received because God can. God can. When I say this, I'm not saying that the girls that I was interested in were all bad. They just weren't for me. I'll leave it at that. And when I thought there was not one, I thought there must be. Because God said it's not good for man to be alone. There just must be. And I say this with humor and have many times. The first time I said it, I just said it and didn't really think about it being funny. But when I couldn't find one, God grew me one. I robbed the cradle. I'm seven years older, so they say. That's a big deal nowadays. Used to be it wasn't a big deal, but I did. But God grew me one, and so I believed and received, and it all came in God's time. I did not marry until I was 26 years old. I mean, I was in a battle for my life those years being a young man growing in as an adult. and lonely at times and drove a million miles by myself and preached, but God blessed me and helped me. And you know, that's a big deal. The word of God said, whoso findeth a wife, findeth a good thing and obtain favor of the Lord. I mean, since when have we quit counting and not considering things, gifts from God? I believe a wife is a gift from God. A good church, a good preacher, brothers and sisters, we should all receive these as gifts from God in our life, things that God has given us. And oh, we should all tonight feel bad about the way we have looked at this thing. Amen. Maybe all of us should get on the altar and say, God, forgive me for not appreciating how good you've been to me, and forgive me for not having faith in you and doubting you. That's my word tonight. Have faith in God. I trust tonight that the Lord can take my feeble effort. It did feel feeble to me. It does feel feeble to me. But I do know with all that's within my being that that's where the Holy Spirit took me. Mark chapter 11 and he wrote it in my heart said preach on remember as I said remember in order to remember to have faith in God and so what does that word remember mean to you? Do you need to remember an experience tonight? Do you need to recall? Do you need to look back and say, Lord, I remember a time much like this and you got me through it. Lord, I don't believe you'll fail me now. I believe you'll come through. Lord, I want to give it to you. Lord, I want to trust you with it. Lord, I know that I can't fix it all. It's too heavy for me. You said cast all my cares upon him for he cares. Lord, you said come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. Every area's different. Now close. Every area's different. But y'all know what a victory shout is? There are some Baptists who's never seen that. But I grew up seeing it. I'm telling you, in still places I go, folks would get rejoicing and worshiping God and praising God and hollering hallelujah and whooping and a-hollering. And I thought, you know, to someone who's never saw that, you know, it might scare them or it might would hinder them or it might make them standoffish. And one day, one day I think it was on the Price is Right, you ever saw that? Somebody, I mean they was going, I call it berserk, they was going berserk over about $2,000. And nobody's offended by that. And so I thought, Lord, I'm just going to leave all that to you. And I sure ain't going to throw no water on the fire when it gets to burning bright. And if people understand that when we act that way, it's not over $2,000. It's over the fact that we've got eternal life and shall never perish. That's something to shout about. That's something to holler about. That's something to rejoice in. That's something to be thankful. That's something that ought to make us cry happy tears. That's something that ought to make us as I was in a meeting one time in a very reserved church and they were singing a song and I felt like raising my hand and I thought they don't do that here. and I know you all are fine with that, but they don't do that here. They'll think I'm a Pentecostal, not a Baptist, and God just stirred in my heart, and I thought, you know, I've got to preach here in a little bit, and I don't want to be ashamed of the Lord, and so I stuck this, closed my eyes where I couldn't see who was looking at me funny, and I stuck my hand in the air, and I was like, in my heart, I was like, hallelujah, Praise the Lord, and I heard a voice that said, am I not worthy of both of them? And I mean, the next thing I know, had both of them in the air, and I've tried in the best of my ability to never be ashamed, never be ashamed. My papa would shout, friend, I mean, he'd shout all over near Liberty Baptist Church, and the people begin to get sophisticated, and I don't know if it was him or they really felt that way, but he thought that some people sort of didn't take to that as much and it hurt his feelings, and so he went to another church, right or wrong, that's the way he felt. I don't want everybody wanna get that impression from me. Friend, we need to let loose, don't you believe that? We need to let loose and let God have his way and let the world know that we believe, that we believe, that we know, and whom we have believed, that we're gonna trust him, come hell or high water tonight, gonna believe him, take him at his word. Listen, I don't know what is gonna come tomorrow, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds the hand, who holds my hand, and I was listening to a brother preach recently. I've heard this story before about the scenario of the chess match and the young man playing for his soul, and everybody looked at it as a pitiful situation, but one man saw, and I don't know Some of you could detail this more than I, maybe Brother Craig's heard it, but there was a hidden message that most people did not see, and most people do not see. The end of it was, as he set it up, played out the scenario that looked so hopeless, he said, it's not hopeless because the king has got one more move. I'm glad I know tonight that the king of kings, he's still got a move left. Ain't nothin' tonight shakin' Him up. Heaven freein' is just as settled as can be. They sing up yonder on the hills of glory with no crack in their voice. They sing with confidence and we can down here as well sing with confidence in our hearts. We can praise God. We can preach the Word of God knowing that it's forever settled. In heaven it will not return void. It will accomplish and everything God has said that has not come to pass will come to pass. Nothing can prevent it. He is coming again. He will come when he rises up and God says go. Can't nothing stop him. They can't veto that friend. They can't put out no executive order and change it. I'm glad of that tonight, ain't you? Have faith in God, friend. Have faith in God. I'm getting a little faith in God. I need it. I said, God, I can't go down there and help Brother Craig's church. As weak and feeble as I am, fears I've experienced, doubts I've had, I can't do it, God. Before God, I said, Lord, I plead ever doubt and fear. I confess my weakness, my sin, anything that's in between me and you, cleanse me of it, forgive me, and help me, Lord. and he'd give me this scripture, have faith in God. What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do tonight? You gonna have faith in God? Let's have faith in God, church. Let's believe God. Abraham was strong in faith and he'd give glory to God and God blessed him. He believed and hoped when there was no hope and God made it happen. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith. And many more, many more, many more had faith. And God saw them through. God will see us through. I love you tonight. It's good to be saved, ain't it? It's good to know the Lord. It's good to know the Lord. If you don't know him tonight, I recommend him to you. I can just tell you that he's been the best thing ever happened to me. He's been the best friend I've ever met, and I've got a lot of good friends. But he's been so true. He's been so real. Salvation's wonderful. It's good to live with. It's gonna be better to die with. We're all gonna die anyway. He just wants to get it settled where you can die right. and know God and know that you're going to a better place. There's not one pleasure in this life, not one sin, because any sin or any pleasure of sin is for a season. There's not one sin worth holding on to. There's not one temporary possession worth holding on to. If there's anything tonight that's keeping you from turning your life over to the Lord, I promise you it ain't worth it. The whole world wouldn't be worth it. Give it all to God. Yield it. Give it. Throw it in the ditch. Your life will not count for nothing apart from Jesus Christ. But you take your life and put it in His hand, it'll be just like that old violin the fella played that you know. Very expensive violin. Oh, what a tune he played. And then somebody goes over here and gets this old rusty one, and they picks it up, and he plays just this beautiful tune. And they found out then it wasn't a violin, it was whose hand it was in. And it's all about the touch of the master's hand. And he can touch your life, and he can make something great out of you for his glory. And he can use you, as a sister sang, to build the kingdom. Amen? your lively stones as a church built up a spiritual house. It's good to be part of the family of God tonight. Brother Craig, you come on. You obey the Lord if you got a need tonight. I know there's room in the altar for you. You feel free to come. God bless you. Thank you for listening to us.