[0:00] Take your Bibles, if you would, and turn with me to Mark chapter 1, Mark chapter 1 and verse 23. We're going to read that verse. If you are in the passage of Scripture and you're reading along and you come to Mark chapter 1 and you hear this conflict going on between Jesus and these people that have unclean spirits, you're probably like, what in the world is going on?
[0:24] Because you've kind of come into the story very late, 39 books of the Old Testament. They've already been written and passed, and so you would have to know about them. And we're in Mark, which is the second of the Gospels.
[0:36] There are four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And so we're in the book of Mark, and Jesus is beginning His ministry. And so you might say, what in the world is happening? It seems like there's this big fight because in Mark chapter 1 and verse 23, Jesus goes into the synagogue, and there's a man.
[0:54] The synagogue is a place of worship that these Jewish people come together. They had to have 10 men. And they formed it kind of like our congregations today. They'd come, and they'd have Bible teachers that would come in there and explain the Bible to them.
[1:05] And so Jesus goes there to worship, and he's in that room, and there's a guy that's got a demon in him. A devil is in him. And Jesus is just standing there, and the guy looks at him and said, Hey, let us alone.
[1:16] What are you doing here? We know who you are, Jesus of Nazareth. We want to know, did you come here to destroy us? We know you are the Holy One of God in verse 24.
[1:28] So you hear that, and you're like, what in the world is going on? Well, here's the real story. You've got to go all the way back to the very beginning when God created the earth, and He did a fantastic job.
[1:41] And when He finished making the earth, He said, everything I've done is good. It is very good. And the world was fixed, and the world was great, and the world was beautiful. But somewhere right after that time, somewhere in there, this angel rose up against God and said, I want to be you.
[1:58] I don't like you being in charge. I want to be in charge. I want to rise up. We've studied that. And he wanted to rise up and be like God and to call himself like the Most High. He wanted to be like God.
[2:09] And when he did, then he goes down and starts trying to destroy everything God's done. And so what he does is he sets all these traps, and he deceives these people, these humans that are so naive and so innocent and so dumb.
[2:26] He could trick them into doing anything. And so he tricked this woman, and he said to her, you know, you can't really trust your creator. You can't really trust the guy who made you.
[2:37] You can't really trust him. I know he acts really nice. I know he built this great garden for you to be in. And I know he told you that all of it you could have except that one tree. But the real reason he doesn't want you to have that tree is because you could be like him if you ever ate that tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
[2:55] And Eve and then Adam, being kind of slow on the uptake there, took the fruit, disobeyed God, died spiritually, were cut off from God.
[3:06] They lived in open rebellion against God. And now for roughly 6,000 years, God has people that he created, the world that he made, with all the wonderful things that he had, has been under attack by this wicked king, devil, Satan, who hates God and destroys him.
[3:30] And so when he walks into the room, this man with an unclean spirit is, there's a demon in this guy. He's taken over him so much. If you recall, when Jesus says, get out of him, the demon tears him, the Bible says, shakes him, hurts him.
[3:44] I don't know exactly what happens. And then he cries out with a loud voice and he leaves. So there's this conflict going on. Now we're down to that 2017. And we're like, we don't even believe in angels.
[3:56] We don't believe in demons. We don't believe in devils. We don't believe in Satan. We don't even believe in God, hardly. And so how does this story work? And the truth of the matter is, you're in the middle of great spiritual war, and you might not even know it.
[4:09] You're in the middle of the devil doing everything he can destroy you. He wants to take away your identity as a Christian, as who you are in Christ. He wants to destroy you personally.
[4:21] He wants to destroy you physically. He wants to destroy you emotionally in every way. In fact, it is in the Gospel of John when John was writing about it. John said in John chapter 10, the thief comes but for to steal, to kill, and to destroy.
[4:37] That's what the devil came for. That's who he is. He's a thief. He went into God's creation, and he stole, and he's been stealing, and killing, and destroying ever since. But Jesus said in John 10, 10, I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly.
[4:53] So we have seen about the devil and how he's working in our world today that we ought to study it because in the book of Mark, it sure is talking about it a lot. You'd have a hard time reading the book of Mark without it hearing.
[5:05] He's casting out devils. He's casting out demons. Those that are possessed are coming to see him. So we probably ought to study that to see because we believe this is the Word of God. We don't believe this in a dry, dusty old book that stays on the shelf.
[5:17] We believe that God wrote the Bible. If you believe that, say amen. And that means that God wanted to communicate with his creation. God wanted to communicate with people, wrote a book so I could understand him and know something about him.
[5:31] So God wrote us a book. And in this book, he talks about all these demons and all this stuff. So the first thing, I'm going to study it because that's what the Bible's talking about. The second thing I wanted you to see, and we looked at it last week, is this.
[5:44] We have victory. If you're a born-again believer, you do not have to be afraid. Somebody came in and said, oh, my goodness, we're talking about devils and demons and wishes and cauldrons and bad stuff.
[5:54] It's not even Halloween, and I'm not that excited about being in this room. But the facts are you need to know that the devil's defeated and beaten and can't do anything to you, and God has the power and gives that to you.
[6:07] And we looked at that last week. Then we looked at last week how God, how Satan attacks us. You see, Satan, how many of you are born again on your way to heaven? Say amen. How many of you honestly know there was a day in my life when I realized I had sinned against a holy God?
[6:25] If you know that, say amen. And when I figured out I had sinned against a holy God, God dealt with my heart, and I admitted my sin. I just said, I want to believe Jesus. I want to be saved. Did that happen if it did?
[6:36] Say amen. Now, some of you are here this morning. You don't know that this thief who comes to steal, to kill, and destroy, the biggest thing he can do to destroy you is to take you to hell. The biggest thing he can do to destroy you is to take you to hell, to take you away from God, away from all that God made for you, away from God's beautiful plan for you, which is the thief comes for to steal, to kill, and to destroy.
[7:01] But I am come that they might have life and have it more abundant. And so you're in the room today, and you're going to be in the middle of a big quagmire right now. Listen to this. You know what's going to be happening? While I'm talking, something inside of you is going to be saying that's the craziest thing I've ever heard in my life.
[7:14] That guy's crazy. He's saying there's a God in heaven that loves you. He's saying there's a devil trying to destroy you. He's talking about demons and devils and witches, and he's talking about, oh, that's dumb. I need to get out of here. There's a war going on inside of you because the devil doesn't want you to hear this.
[7:28] If he can get you to not believe it, he'll win a battle. If he can get you to not believe it, you can die and go to hell and you're sinning. But Satan attacks us. And we looked at some of the ways that he attacks us.
[7:39] He attacks us by getting us to hurt ourselves and to not believe in God's forgiveness and his love for us. He gets us to doubt him and to doubt his word and to believe that his Bible is not true.
[7:51] He gets us to believe that God doesn't really care for us. Go to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 5. Here's the sad facts. The great majority of you have a bad idea about who God is.
[8:06] You honestly think of him as this old guy with a long beard and white hair, and he's mean, and he's got arrows in his hands, and he's up in heaven looking down like, just mess up down there one more time, and I will throw this arrow at you, and I'll destroy you.
[8:24] That's the picture the devil wants you to have. The facts are, he said, I'm come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. It's the devil that came to steal, to kill, and to destroy.
[8:37] So you might say, well, I don't know. God doesn't seem to care about me. God doesn't answer my prayers. God doesn't seem to, his word doesn't seem to come true. I don't know if it's true. That's the very way he started.
[8:48] So you're back in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 5. This is the first couple on the planet. There was a real man named Adam and a real woman named Eve. It's just as clear as day. If you believe the Bible, you'll have to believe that God created the heavens and the earth and every bit of it, and he just created it.
[9:03] Boom. No evolution. He just, boom, did it. That's probably pretty hard for you to believe because somebody doesn't want you to believe that. Somebody doesn't want you to believe that because if you believe you're an animal and you're a little more fully developed and evolved than another animal, then you can kill people and you can pick your sex and you can kill old people and you can abort babies.
[9:23] You can do anything you want to do because you're just an animal. But if you're a created being, it's going to answer to a creator God. That'll change the whole story. Now go with me to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 5.
[9:33] Here's the first thing he does when he's trying to mess people up. He might be doing that to you. In Genesis chapter 3 and verse 5, Satan is trying to get her to doubt the Bible and doubt God, and he says to her in verse 5, God does know that in the day you eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
[9:54] So here's what he said. It's what the devil said. God doesn't want you to enjoy life. God's trying to keep something from you. I mean, God wants you to have it pretty good but not real good.
[10:06] God wants you to enjoy it some but not a whole bunch. And he's trying to keep it from you. See, Eve, he said you could have all the trees and all the fruit and all the things here in the garden were yours, but that one thing, why is he keeping one thing from you?
[10:20] Why is he keeping one thing from you? Huh? Huh? Huh? Not a good God. Not a good God. And see, that's a lie you get played on you. Some of you this morning are in church, and you're like, I don't know if I'll come back.
[10:31] I'm just here to listen and go through this, and you do what you want to do. But the truth is, I know God, he'd crimp my style, man. He would block my life. He would keep me from enjoying life.
[10:41] He would take away from me what I've got. That's a devil's lie that he's been using ever since Genesis chapter 3, that God wants to somehow hurt you, hinder you, and not bless you. So that's the way the devil attacks us.
[10:54] It's another one that he does is he loves to tell you that God doesn't love you, that God doesn't love you. He wants you to believe that. In fact, it's in Job chapter 2. There's a crazy story in the book of Job.
[11:04] That's an Old Testament book spelled like job. But in this Old Testament story, this man has all sorts of tragedy happening to him. His family's died. His children are dead.
[11:15] His animals are gone. His wealth is gone, and everything is wrong. And basically, his wife walks out to him and says, I can't believe God's been this bad. I can't believe everything's falling apart.
[11:25] Why don't you just curse God and die? Basically, in Tennessee, he'll believe it's where I'm from. She was saying, you know, God doesn't love you. God hasn't been good to you. Why don't you just tell him off?
[11:37] And die. Isn't that the devil's trick? Some of you this morning are like, well, you know, I've been through a lot of mess. You don't know what happened to me when I was small. You don't know what happened to my parents. You don't know how my life's gone wrong.
[11:48] If there is a God, I don't believe he loves me. Another lie he likes to tell you is God's not, he's abandoned you. Some of you believed a long time ago. You trusted Christ.
[11:58] You were on your way to heaven. You believed that with all your heart. And then one day, you just woke up and thought to yourself, I don't believe God cares about me. I think he left me. There was a time there for a little bit. I felt like I was really close to God, but it's like he doesn't care anymore.
[12:12] That's a lie. Because the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 5, I will never leave you nor forsake you. That's the truth. But the devil would have you believe something else.
[12:22] The fact is, when things are going a little bit wrong, the devil and all the problems you're going through whispering in your ear and say, if there was really a God, he wouldn't let that happen to you. If there was really a God, he'd help you. If there was really a God, he'd be paying attention to you.
[12:35] Why'd he leave you? That's the devil. You're in a war and all those thoughts are coming to your head. All those things will try to get you to step away from believing our God. The devil likes to accuse you.
[12:46] Now, you're going to get this one. Good Christian people fall for this trick. The Bible says in Revelation chapter 12 and verse 10, the Bible says that Satan is the accuser of our brethren who accuse them before our God day and night.
[13:01] You know what the devil does? Listen to this. He likes to trick you into sinning. Like he gets you to do something you shouldn't do. How many of you, don't answer this one out loud.
[13:13] No amens, no raising of hands. But how many of you in the last year have just done something you're very embarrassed about and you wouldn't want anybody to know. And every time you think about, I really would like to get close to God, it comes to your mind, but he'd never let me.
[13:30] I messed up too bad. Do you know what I did? I'd hate for anybody to find out. And so you live in fear. But can I tell you who's accusing you? That's the devil accusing you.
[13:43] The devil's saying like, you're such a bad sinner, even God will forgive you. He might forgive some sins, but yours are over the top, buddy. The truth of the matter is that Jesus has already saved the chief of sinners.
[13:56] His name was Paul. He even says that the Bible says he's the chief of sinners. So he's already saved him. So you just come in as a low-level criminal yourself. You can be saved. Jesus loves you, paid the debt for you.
[14:06] But the devil would like to say to you, in fact, some of you are Christians and you love Jesus. But since you've been saved, you messed up and did something you shouldn't have done. And the devil is just beating you to death.
[14:19] You're like, your head's hanging low. You beat. You're whipped. You're giving up because the accuser. That's how the devil works in our lives. The devil works in our lives by causing confusion.
[14:32] Because it's all messed up. We can't figure out what's right. We can't figure out what's the truth. We can't figure out what ought to be happening. So look, if you would, in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 33.
[14:43] 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 33. See, the devil likes to confuse you. Now, some of you ever been like, I just don't know what's up and down. I don't know what's right and wrong. I don't know anymore. I used to kind of have things sorted out, but I can't figure out anything anymore.
[14:59] That's confusion. In 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 33, the Bible says, For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.
[15:12] God is not the author of confusion. Can I tell you what the devil wants to do? The devil wants you to begin to think, I'm just not sure. I'm not sure. Some days I think it's right.
[15:25] And some days I think it's wrong. And some days I think it's okay. And some days I think it's terrible. Some days I feel pretty good. And some days I just hate myself. And the devil's just having a blast with you. He's just messing with you.
[15:37] He loves tormenting God's children. He loves getting them to doubt him and not believe in him. The Bible says in James chapter 3 and verse 14, But if you have bitter envy and strife in your heart, glory not.
[15:51] Lie not against the truth. Because listen to this. You could have some bad thinking and some bad living and some bad actions. And you might think, well, this is God put that in me. God helped me figure it out.
[16:01] But the Bible says in James chapter 3 and verse 15, he said, This wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
[16:16] For where envying and strife is, there's confusion in every evil work. But the wisdom that's from above is pure, first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy.
[16:32] Partiality and so on. If you want to read that. And I just died. Can somebody send me two batteries up here real quick? Anyway, watch this if you would.
[16:46] Watch this if you would. The devil wants to destroy you. The devil wants to mess up your life. The devil wants to, the devil wants to, he wants to cause you to have all kinds of confusion.
[16:59] He's in the job of messing you up. My batteries would never go dead, but it would on today, wouldn't it? All right. Now watch this. Watch this.
[17:09] There's this confusion. Thank you, sir. There's this confusion happening. There's this confusion going on. But there's two wisdoms here. Did you notice that? You kind of think, well, it's, you kind of think like, well, it's, I just, this is what everybody thinks.
[17:25] There's a wisdom from above that's peaceable. There's a wisdom from below that's sensual. There's, there's the way God thinks. There's the way humans think. There's the way God thinks. There's the way the devil thinks. There's the way God thinks.
[17:36] And it may be the way you've been thinking. You got to get that straight in your head. So just look this way a second. I got to move on. I want you to know that in many ways, many of you are living like victims.
[17:48] I mean, the devil is just beating the holy slop out of you. I mean, it's like, I don't know what's up. I don't know what's down. I feel terrible.
[17:59] I don't want, I don't, the reason I don't serve Jesus is because I feel like I'm just not good enough. You even say that. Come on. Tell the truth. The reason I don't get saved is I don't know if he could save somebody like me.
[18:10] And all this junk's going on in your head, but the sad truth is you got saved and you should know better than that, but the devil is still beating you up.
[18:22] How many Christians don't live in joy? Don't live excited and motivated and thrilled that I know God and he loves me and I'm saved and my sins are forgiven and I'm on my way to heaven.
[18:34] How many of us live dragging our feet and hanging our heads? Even though outwardly we may act like everything's together alone, we don't feel that way. So the Bible knew the devil was going to do that to you, so he taught us how to defend ourselves.
[18:49] Look, if you will, I'm going to tell you how to defend yourself. I'm going to tell you how to victory. Now go to 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8. Now you got to look at these verses because I told you all the bad junk he can do to you.
[19:01] Not all of it. I told you a few things. I told you how he can confuse you. I told you how he can condemn you. I told you. In fact, as you know what everybody tells you on the outside, if you ever go to one of them churches, they'll just make you feel real bad about yourself.
[19:15] If you ever try to serve God, you'll just take away all your joy and you'll never be able to have fun anymore. Well, the truth of the matter is, if you ever learn to serve Jesus, you're going to find out this is like the best life possible. This is the most wonderful way to live because Jesus offers everlasting, eternal, abundant life.
[19:32] The Bible says, Can I get you to throw John 10 up there right quick? John 10.
[19:42] I want you to say that verse to me. You got to get a hold of this. Anybody tells you differently, they're lying. This is what the word of God says. Say it with me. Let's all read it out loud together. You ready? The thief comes not but for to steal, to kill, and to destroy.
[19:56] I am come that they might have life and they might have it more abundantly. The devil wants you to go to hell. The devil wants you to live miserably. The devil wants your existence down here to be horrible because he wants God to look bad.
[20:11] But Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. So what's the first thing we do to beat the devil? Stop the, would you like to have victory? Would you like to be able to go tomorrow and say, man, I don't know what happened, but I feel like for the first time in a long time, it's different.
[20:28] I mean, the confusion is backing away out of my life and the hurt. And I'm beginning to feel different. Would you like to know how? Here's the number one way. Number one, open your eyes.
[20:39] First Peter 5, 8. Now listen to this. You have to understand that the Bible teaches very clearly the apostles who walked with Jesus knew about devils.
[20:51] They knew about the devil. They knew about Satan. And they talk about it. And here's what Peter writes. Jesus has died, been buried, and rose again, and has ascended into heaven and seated on the right hand of the Father.
[21:01] And Peter's talking to some Christians. And this is what he says to them. Look at it. Be sober. That means stop playing around and think a minute. Shh. So still be quiet.
[21:12] Pay attention. That's what he's saying. Then he said, be vigilant. That means open your eyes and look around. Take off your rose-colored glasses. Quit seeing things the way the world tells you to see them.
[21:24] Be sober. Be vigilant. Because, help me, what's the next word? Your what? Adversary. And who's your adversary? Your adversary, the devil. As a roaring lion.
[21:35] He's not a lion, but he's like a lion. As a roaring lion. Walks about seeking whom he may devour. You know what the lion, you know what the devil's doing? He's walking around here saying, I bet I can take that guy's joy.
[21:45] I bet I can destroy that marriage. I bet I can tear that. Whoa! I'm going to rip them apart. They're gods and I hate God. So if I could destroy them, I would. So the first step is, if you'd wake up and realize, it's not your DNA.
[22:02] It's not your hormones. You're in a battle. You're in a battle. Second thing I'll show you. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12.
[22:14] We are to open our eyes. So what you're going to do is become aware that this is happening. And I'm not going to be able to show you as much of this as I would because the time is flying by. But in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12, the apostle Paul, he's another one of those guys that worked with Jesus, was there when he was alive.
[22:30] And Jesus has died and been buried and rose again. He's ascended into heaven. He's seated at the right hand of the Father. And Paul, right in the church that he helped work in, said in Ephesians 6, 12, guys, we Christians, how many of y'all are Christians?
[22:45] Say amen. We people of God, we wrestle not against other people. Look at the verse. Flesh and blood. If you've got flesh and blood in this room, hold your hand up.
[22:56] If you came in here and you don't have it, please leave because you're scaring me. See, we're people. We flesh and blood, but we wrestle against principalities, powers, the rulers of darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places.
[23:10] All of that are spiritual demons and their spiritual powers. See, when Satan got out of heaven, thrown out of heaven, kicked out of heaven, and took a third of the angels with him, he came down with a whole army.
[23:24] So it's like saying there, you're wrestling against generals and captains and colonels and sergeants and corporals, but you're wrestling against them, but you're not wrestling against people. So a Bible believer knows this.
[23:37] There's spiritual warfare. A Bible believer knows somebody's trying to mess you up and work you over. That's what he knows. So what's the next truth?
[23:48] I'm aware that that's happening. The next one is that I need to know that God has victory and he's got everything under control. Now, why in the world would you have some crazy thought that you know is ridiculous?
[24:03] In fact, is the crazy thoughts you think you're almost embarrassed to tell people? You're like, if I were to tell them what I really think they'd all know I was a nut and they'd send me to the nut house. Come on, tell the truth.
[24:14] I feel like I'm just, my wife's worthless. I think I'm shooting myself. When my kids were little, I thought, what was it? It said, nobody loves me.
[24:25] Everybody hates me. I think I'll go eat worms. That's why I think I'm going to let my kids say it or something like that. And so you're like, now you're starting to understand what's going on and you've got that happening.
[24:37] But you need to understand, hey, we're winners. Hey, if you're born again, well, we was in Daniel chapter 7 in my Sunday school class. If you're not involved in one of the adult Bible fellowships, you're missing it. We was in Daniel chapter 7 finding out how one day the Lord is going to come down here to this earth and say, I am in charge.
[24:53] All these humans are out of the way. Watch me set up my kingdom. Now watch this. In Psalm chapter 34 verse 7, the Bible says, The angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear him, and he delivers them.
[25:10] You want to hear a wild one? God is taking care of you if you're his. God is taking care of you if you're his. That's amazing.
[25:21] See, I've understood something. I belong to Jesus. And he loves me. And he takes care of me. I'm fixing to get on an airplane in just a few minutes. And I'm going to fly for 13 and a half hours on the way back.
[25:34] It says it's like 15 and 15 and a half hours. I'm going to get on that airplane, and I'm just going to sit back and relax because, hey, greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world.
[25:44] I've got angels all around me. God's taking care of me. He's got everything in control. I will not be the least bit scared. I've been in turbulence. I am a little pilot myself. I'm a pilot in little planes. I've been in turbulence so bad.
[25:55] I was scared to death. I was like, God, if we get down out of this little airplane on the ground, it'll be because you get me down. I was up there flying. I said, God, ain't nobody in this plane but me and you. And I hope you're giving us down because I don't think I can.
[26:08] But I know God's going to take care of me. I've been on airplanes in Peru. I'd sit down to a guy, and he'd grab ahold of those things. He'd be scared of death. He's squeezing away. And then the plane, he'd go, and he'd look at me and say, is that normal?
[26:21] I said, that's normal. He said, it don't sound good. And he'd say, you're not scared. I said, I'm not scared. You don't have to be scared either. As long as I'm here with you, you'll be all right. See, you can know the angel of the Lord encamps around.
[26:34] There's an Old Testament story about Elisha. And Elisha's under attack by a king, and he's come with his big armies, and he's about to whip him. And if you come on Sunday nights, you hear about these stories, and this king's about to whip him, and the servant's like, oh, no, man, things are bad.
[26:50] Things are bad. We're about to all get killed here. Elisha, what are we going to do? And Elisha, oh, sit down and calm down. Lord, would you open his eyes, let him see what's happening. And he opened his eyes. There's a whole army camped all about around him.
[27:01] John Patton tells a story. He told a story of how he didn't understand why these tribesmen in this place above Australia, one of those Idionjaya kind of places that was living there, New Herbie's Islands, where it was.
[27:16] He said he didn't understand why they didn't attack him and why they didn't kill him and his wife because they had no defense and everybody was on a rampage. And a year later, the chief had gotten saved. And so he was talking to the chief.
[27:28] He said, you remember that night when I was all alone and everything was falling apart? I thought y'all would kill me. Why didn't you? He said, we would have yet and had all them soldiers there. There's soldiers all around your house, big old, bright, shiny uniforms and weapons in their hands.
[27:41] And we were going to attack you, but we didn't. And Patton said, I don't think there was anybody around my house. He said, oh, there were. Oh, there were. And then he said, I think I know what that was. Read the Bible. He will protect you.
[27:54] You can trust God to take care of you. The Bible says in Psalm chapter 91 and verse four, he shall cover you with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
[28:08] That's a political way of saying you're not alone and he's going to take care of you and he's going to watch over you. Mama, you're all worried about your kids. You've got a good God.
[28:19] If you know Jesus, if you've been saved, you've got a good God watching out for you. It's the devil who wants to steal, to kill and to destroy. In Daniel chapter six and verse 22, he shut the mouth of lions when his man was laying there.
[28:33] In Hebrews chapter 13 and verse five, he said, you can trust me. I'll never leave you. I will never forsake you. In first Peter chapter five and verse seven, I want you to look at this verse. First Peter, this is old Peter.
[28:44] This is the guy that denied Jesus. This is the guy that always talking to Jesus. This is the guy that preached the biggest sermon in all of human history. I suppose. Look what he said. He told his people at the church.
[28:55] He said, guys, I know you're worried. I know you've got some concerns. I know things aren't going good. I know you're not sure about what's going to happen in your business. I know you're not sure about what's going to happen in your marriage.
[29:05] I know you're not sure what's going to happen with your children. I know you've got a lot of reasons to be all torn up. So I got an answer for you. Throw them all on Jesus. Casting all your care on him because he cares for you.
[29:18] He cares for you. Would you say that verse out loud with me if you're ready to help me? Look what it says. Casting all your care upon him for he cares for you. Some of you walked in here this morning and you got your arms full.
[29:33] You're like, I don't know how I'm going to pay my bills. My husband's not being nice to me. My wife's not being nice. My children are having problems. I got health issues. And you just got a whole mountain of junk on you.
[29:43] And the devil is like, see there? See there? God don't care about you. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says, hey, come on, come on, come on, come on. Find your place. And just throw it all on the Lord and say, I trust you, Lord.
[29:56] I know you'll work it out. I know you'll meet the need. I know you'll do what's needed to be done. So I know he's out there. But I know he's trusting. He's protecting me. And then we ask God to strengthen our faith.
[30:09] Some of you say, well, I've tried all that and it doesn't work. I've tried everything you're saying and it doesn't work. Well, that's okay. Look at what it says in Luke chapter 17 and verse 5.
[30:20] See what you're going to need to do is strengthen your faith. What you're going to need to do is strengthen your faith. And the apostles themselves said, Lord, we're trying to believe you, but we don't believe as good as we should. How many of you would say, sometimes I just don't have the faith that they ought to have.
[30:35] Sometimes I'm just worried about if I really trust God like I should. If you ever thought like that, say amen. Look at it. The apostles said in the Lord, increase our faith. So ask God.
[30:45] Say, God, help me. God, help me. How else? In Romans chapter 10 and verse 17, hear all the Bible preaching, Bible teaching, Bible reading, discipleship, everything you can.
[30:58] Fill your heart up with the word of God. Look at what this verse says. How do I get faith? Brother, how do I get it? You don't understand what I'm going through. You don't understand how bad it is for me.
[31:10] I think I might have an idea. I'm 62 years old and I've been a pastor a long time. I've been around a lot of people. But I'll tell you this. You can have victory, but here's how you get it. You ask God to help you, but then you fill yourself up on the word of God.
[31:22] Look at this verse. So then faith comes by hearing, hearing the word of God. So how do I grow in faith? The truth is you can't trust God to do stuff because you have no idea what God does.
[31:36] You have this false concept of God. You think of God as that mean old bully sitting on a throne with an arrow in his hand when he is more the God who loved you enough that he left heaven and came to earth and died on a cross and was buried and rose again so you could have salvation.
[31:53] That's the God you ought to know. He loves you and he cares. And you can pray and ask for help. You can get into the word of God. And then you can step out on faith.
[32:05] Look at Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6. You're getting ready to go home in just a minute. You're going to say, how can I have victory? Well, you're going to have to just take what God says and just step out on it.
[32:16] You have to just take what God says and step out on it. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6, without faith, it's impossible to please him. You can't please God if you don't believe God.
[32:30] See, without faith, it's impossible to believe him because if you come to God, you've got to believe he really is there. Do you believe he's there? Do you believe he's there? Do you believe he's all powerful? Do you believe he's the creator of the universe?
[32:41] Do you believe he's the savior of your soul? Do you believe? So you come to him and you believe. And what do you believe? You believe he rewards them that seek him, those who really want him.
[32:53] So if you're here today and you say, I don't know, I don't know. Well, trust God. Step out, believe in him. You see, what faith is, is I learn what the truth is and then I act on the truth.
[33:03] I learn what the truth is, then I act on the truth. So Peter was in a boat and Jesus was walking on the water.
[33:17] He was coming towards him and everybody's terrified in the boat. And Peter looks across there and says, Lord, if that's really you, you just tell me to come to you and I'll get out of the boat and start walking.
[33:30] Lord said, well, come on. I know that's a crazy story you ever heard of. He just stepped out and took off walking. On the way over there, he stopped looking at Jesus, started looking at all the junk going on around him and sunk.
[33:42] But as long as he looked at Jesus, as long as he believed he was there and who he was, he had victory. You're dealing with some stuff right now. Right now, you're discouraged. I know you got your pretty face on.
[33:53] I've had people tell me this about vision. They say, I don't think I fit in there. Everybody in that church is perfect but me. And I'm like, they got good masks.
[34:05] I got a good one, too. Ain't none of us in this room perfect. Ain't none of us in this room didn't need Jesus and don't need him every day. Ain't no one of us in this room can think we're better than you because we all sinned and came sure of the glory of God.
[34:17] There was and is none righteous, no, not one. It's only Jesus. So you're here, but that's another one of them lies the devil's telling you. You're hurting.
[34:29] You don't think you belong. You think people might mock you and laugh at you. You know where you're hearing that message? You know where that very idea comes from? You see, every one of us came here needy and begging bread from God.
[34:43] Every one of us came here saying, God, I'm a nobody. I have messed up and I can't. And God said, I can. And that's how it happened. And so you come in and you say, like, man, they all got it together.
[34:54] And I'm just here hurting and I'm begging bread if God would help me. And you think we'd laugh at you when we'd actually look at you and say, hey, we know what he'll do for you because we know what he did for us.
[35:04] If you're here and you're saved and you'd tell me and tell the visitor here or the person here that's not saved, you tell them I hurt for you because I came like you and he saved me and changed my life.
[35:15] If that's you, would you say amen? We felt that same thing. So step out. Believe God. Trust him. So you hear the gospel message and you just got to say, I don't think he'd ever save me.
[35:27] I don't think he'd ever change me. I just can't believe it. And I tell you the truth and you need to say, well, I'm just going to trust God and step out. And when you do, you're going to find out that he does save.
[35:43] That he does save. All the way back at the very beginning, the devil started messing with God's people and God's creation because he hated God.
[36:05] He's been messing with people ever since then. It thrills him to know you're hurting right now. The devil. The devil's like, they might have big houses and nice cars.
[36:20] They might be married and have fine children. But on the inside, on the inside of the inside, they know they're not right with God. And they know they're not what they ought to be. And they know they don't measure up.
[36:32] In fact, they even try to act like they measure up by the car they drive or the house they live in or the clothes they wear. Or the fine speeches they give or the nice looks on their faces. Because that's what we tend to do.
[36:44] You know what we tend to do? We get scared. We act brave. You ever notice that about people? I was in Iquipa, Peru one time. And I was talking to this lady.
[36:55] And she said, I was talking to a Spanish guy. I was brand new in the country. And she said, where are you from? And I said, well, where do you think I'm from? She said, I believe you're from Russia.
[37:07] I said, well, I appreciate that. But I've never even been to Russia. And I said, why do you think I'm from Russia? She said, because you're not yelling. And I said, really?
[37:17] She said, yeah, you know how Americans are. They always yell at you. And Russians are nicer people. Well, I is an American.
[37:30] But you know what? I told her, I said, you know why the Americans yell at you? They're scared. She said, no, no, no, no. They act like they're going to hurt me. I said, that's their defense mechanism. See, for an American, when we get scared, we're like, ah, don't you threaten me.
[37:46] We're just sitting there praying. I hope he don't really take me up on this. That's how you're acting right now. You came in here lost. You came in here without Jesus. You came in here hurting. But you're going, I put on my brave face.
[38:01] I put on my all together face. I'll act like none of this is true. I'll act like it's for somebody else. And it's not for me. But you know it's for you.
[38:12] You know it's God speaking to you. Why don't you trust him today? I want you to put your faith in Jesus Christ to be saved today. You can be. And Christian, I hate it when I see you living like a pauper in the home of a king.
[38:28] Because that's who we are. We're the children of a king. You're letting the devil beat you up. You're letting the devil take all your joy. You're letting the devil rob you and ruin you and destroy you.
[38:40] Because he came to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus came that you might have life and have it better, more abundant.