Chapter number four first John chapter four and I let's see what the master has for us tonight And I want you to get there unless all stands we give reverence to the mighty powerful life-changing Word of God Amen That's the first John chapter 4 and verse number 4 and the Bible says in first John chapter number 4 verse 4 good verse Helping verse we've been going for a series and now we will continue that tonight. I This is the last one or not tonight, but I will continue tonight on this thought a little Bible says in verse before the Bible says ye are God little children and Have overcome them because greater is he that is in you then what? Then he that is in the world and we're talking about the power to overcome And tonight we're going to talk about something that you and I need to overcome and that's going to be over in matthew 13 verse 58 Let's run there. We'll read them. We'll pray. Uh, the bible says in matthew 13, i'm looking verse number 58 That's the last verse in that chapter. Uh, the bible says this and he referring to jesus the bible says that he did not not many, mighty works there because of their what? Unbelief. I want to talk about this little thought, the power to overcome unbelief. Father, I pray tonight for your mighty help. I pray God for your direction, your guidance. Ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit. I pray God that you seep through my pores and I pray God that you flow from my lips and let your words penetrate our hearts and help us tonight I pray God to let the world become alive to us, perhaps as never before. I pray God that the light, yeah, the light bulb will come on tonight. I pray God we begin to see some things that perhaps we have not seen clearly before. And for that, God, we'll thank you. I pray God that you challenge us as well as encourage us. And by the way, Father, there's one among us who was not truly saved, but born again. I don't know for sure if they died right now, but heaven is their next stop. I pray God, this will be that night they receive Jesus as Lord, Savior, and King. Father, I pray to help somebody, because I know that somebody, I need some help from you, because I know that I do. And for that, God, we'll definitely thank you. God bless all that we do. I've got a sense of breath of your Holy Spirit to bring upon us. I want to inspire us, to motivate us. I have no doubt to help us and for that God will thank you. And if there's anything else I'm leaving out, yes sir, meet that need too. And when we all leave tonight, I pray God that all of us will be able to say one accord, my how good it has been to be in the house of God. Lord bless all these young people that are here, all these teens, these high schoolers, and middle schoolers, and the list goes on. Bless each of them in a tremendous way. And I pray God, yeah, I pray God, yeah, I pray God, they are tapping into something tonight. It took me a long time to tap into, but I pray God they'll tap into that tonight, God, and they'll do something with their life. I want there to be life-changing, mind-blowing. Mom, well, I'm so excited that they're here tonight, and I pray God should bless them with a double blessing, and we'll thank Him. Well, that's it. We'll stop here, Father. In your Son's name we pray, Jesus. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. May we see it. The power to overcome. The Bible says in 1 John 4, the Bible says this, he says, ye are of God. I like that. Little children, that word that means Christians, or an infant, a converse, and have overcome, you've gotten a victory over them because, and this is the reason why, because greater is he that is in you than what? that he visited the world. And how many of y'all believe that? Amen. Okay. Do you believe that enthusiastically? Amen. All right. Okay. Last morning, check and see if the pulse will react. Listen, my friends, God has caused the Holy Spirit to move on the inside of us. One of the teens asked me a question today about the temple of God, and who was in charge of that temple. Of course, where's the temple at today? We are the temple. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, and we are the temple of God. And therefore, we ought to be careful how we take care of God's temple. Amen? What we put in this temple, whether it be through our mouth, or whether it be through our mind, our eyes or our ears, we should be careful about what we see this temple of the Holy Spirit of God resides in. But one of the wonderful things about this is this, that because He lives inside of us, He gives the power to overcome some certain things in our life. And one of those things is unbelief. Unbelief. Now, flip back with me. You may still be there. Back over to Matthew 13. And the Bible says here, "...and he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." That word, unbelief, means this. It means faithlessness. It also means disbelief. But watch this. It also means disobedience. Interesting. He says, it says faithlessness. That means less faith. In other words, my dear friends, not a whole lot of faith, but also it says disbelief, which means I don't believe it. And sometimes my friends, there's things that God has promised us that we simply just don't believe. And sometimes we, as a body of believers, refuse. to believe. It continuously amazes my mind how I hear certain Christians, and Christian folks love God, I'm assuming how, but they use that word that the world uses to try to stifle us or hinder us from being witnesses for Christ, and that's these two words, judge not. Judge not! And what amazes me is they'll use these words and have no idea what it really means. That is what's mind-blowing. Because when you begin to read the Scriptures, all the Scriptures, it tells us to judge this and to judge that. But when we see these two words, what we do is we take a little pencil, a little knife, a little pen knife, and we cut all the words around there out, from around there, and we pull that out and say, it's just not. where in the same scriptures he says beware of false prophets. Now how in the world, if I can use the world's expression, how in the devil can I recognize who is a false prophet if I don't make a decision about who is a false prophet and who is a real prophet when the Bible says to beware, beware of false prophets. But what happens is this, because the world has forgotten John 3, 16, and now they're focusing on, they don't even know what this verse is even at, but we'll say it's judging life. Now, my dear friends, because they told us what it means, now we follow right along with them. And what happens, my dear friends, is it will hinder us from going forward with God because we've taken on the personality of the world and not the Word. It's the word that makes us free, my friends. And the Bible says that when Jesus makes us free, we are free indeed. But I want to tell you, as folks who are believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, don't let the devil, let the demons in hell hinder you from being a good and effective witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. Because what happens is this, what we're doing, we follow what the world says, is we'll be disobedient. The Bible tells us to warn those who are unruly. Don't you call me unruly. Wait a minute. If you're acting unruly, if your life is out of order, if your life is unarranged, the Bible commands me to warn you. If I don't warn you, then guess what's going to happen to me? Yeah. He gonna spank my backside, amen, because I don't do what I'm supposed to do. As parents, if you don't teach your children right, my friends, because of fear of them not liking you, then God's gonna whip your behind as well as my behind. He holds us accountable. But we have so much fear. But there's something that lives inside of each of us that God has placed there. When you and I receive Christ as our Savior, with the Holy Spirit, and he will empower us to overcome all these obstacles that the enemy tried to use to hinder us. Now watch this. The Bible says here, and he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. The first thing I want us to look at is the power of unbelief. Unbelief has a power. Unbelief has an ability, but it ain't a good one. One of those is this one, my dear friends. The power of unbelief causes many, number one, many miracles to never be experienced. Many miracles are never experienced because of unbelief. Now look what the Bible says back in verse 58. And the Bible says, well look at verse 57. And the Bible says, and they were offended in him. But Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor or despised, saved or kept, in his own country and in his own house. And some of us can witness to that. The people that would despise you the most, the ones who would dishonor you the most, well you are those who are the closest to you, and you're just trying to be a good witness and be an interpreter to them. But oftentimes, that's where you find the least of honor. But now watch what he says, this is our main thought here, verse 58. And the Bible says, and he, Jesus, did, I'm about to, And he did not many mighty works where? There. The two words mighty works mean miracles or miraculous works. Jesus Christ did not perform many mighty works or miracles there, the Bible says, in that spot, in that place. Why? Because the Bible says of there, not his. It was not his lack of power or his lack of ability. But the Bible says because of their unbelief. Well, guess what, ladies and gentlemen? Because of unbelief, we don't see as many miracles in our life take place as we could. Now, the Bible doesn't say none. It says not many. There were some that were performed there, a few. but not many. And the same thing applies to our lives. A lot of times we'll see a few miracles, a few miraculous things take place, but not as many as we could because of our unbelief. Oh, I know what it can be! It sounds like, I don't see how that's going to work out. But what's the Bible say in Matthew 21, verse 22? Whatsoever we shall ask in prayer, what? Believing we shall receive. Belief is a key ingredient to receiving things for the Master. How did you get born again? Belief. What sends a person to hell? Unbelief. My dear friend, it's important, it's powerful when you and I believe as well as it's powerful when you and I disbelieve. The Bible shows us that not many miracles were experienced there because of unbelief. Secondly, not only are the power of unbelief many miracles never experienced, but also mountains not removed. Look what the Bible says in Matthew 17 and verse 20. Matthew 17 verse 20. It's going to be okay. I'm going to get us out of the dungeon. We're in the dungeon right now. We're coming out in a few minutes. Look what it says. Somebody's got to go, oh my soul. We all messed up. Look what it says here. in Matthew 17 and verse number 20. The Bible says, we'll look at verse 19. Then came the disciples of Jesus apart and said, why? Why couldn't we cast them out? Why couldn't we eject them? Why couldn't we bring deliverance here? And Jesus said to them, because it's simple. One plus one equals what? Somebody said three. No. But then the Bible said, because of your... He's talking about his disciples. These are ones he selected. He chose them. But the Bible says, he says, because of your unbelief, your disbelief, for verily, truly, surely, trustworthy, I say unto you, if, question mark, as well as choice. If, he says, ye have faith, as a grain, not grains, grain of mustard seed. I wonder if I still have my office. Somebody brought me some mustard seeds. I wonder if I still have my office. Somebody brought me some mustard seeds. I wonder if I still have my office. Somebody brought me some mustard seeds. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder if I still have my office. I wonder So what does that mean, my dear friends? Many mountains are not removed because of unbelief. What mountains in your life right now? It's huge. I mean, it's humongous. I mean, when you get up in the morning, that mountain is right there in front of you. What is that huge thing that's so big? It takes over your thoughts. It takes over your mind when you're trying to read your Bible. You can't think clearly because of that mountain. You're trying to sleep, but that mountain is enclosing you. You're trying to focus. You're trying to do whatever it is. That mountain is just seemingly getting closer and closer and closer. And it seems like there's no way out. I'm not going to make it because of this huge, big, gigantic mountain. But the Bible says, if we believe. Believe what? Believe His Word. What does His Word say about your particular mountain? You can't forgive? What does He say? The Bible teaches us that God will give us the power to be able to forgive. But you know what you gotta do, don't you? What, preacher? Ask Him. Ask God to help you to forgive. Ask God to help you to have compassion. Ask God to help you to extend mercy to those who did not give you mercy. Those who did not give you a kind word. But ask God to help you. And the Bible says, ask. Well, let's look at it. It's in Matthew 7, verse 7. Look what it says here. We're in the same neighborhood. Go over to Matthew 7, verse 7. Look what the Bible says here. The Word of God says in Matthew 7, verse 7, the Bible says, ask. Ask, and it might be given you. No. He says, ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Now those two words, shall find, mean get. That's good right there. If you're sick, you're going to get it. He says right here, ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be what? Opened. Unto you! Are we asking? Are we seeking? Are we knocking? Listen, my dear friends, if you got a mountain in your life, ask God to help you believe that He's able to take down that mountain that's hindering your progress, that's stopping you from proceeding in life. And He'll help you. But what happens oftentimes is because of unbelief, the mountain's still up. Man, I ain't gonna never get through this situation. I ain't gonna never. This thing ain't never coming down. What'd you say? It ain't never. It ain't. You believe that? Yeah. Well, that's part of the problem. I never forget, I believe it was Charles Spurgeon, if I'm not mistaken, when a young preacher came to him and said, he said, Charles Spurgeon, he said, man, I'll never get anybody. I'll never see anybody get saved. Never. Our preachers, nobody ever gets saved. This is what some of you expect somebody to say every time you preach? He said, no. He said, okay. You don't expect that in the eagle, because everybody gets saved. A lot of times we go through life, it ain't going to work, it ain't going to happen. You don't know them devils over there. No, but God knows them. Amen. He knows how to take care of that situation. Yeah, there's some hard folks. Listen, are they any harder than Pharaoh? Yeah, I remember Pharaoh. He would not let God's people go. But he had plague after plague after plague after plague, and finally said, Molas, get these folks out of here. God knows how to take care of the, quote, pharaohs in your life. But you and I need to trust God. You and I need to believe that, because if not, many of those mountains will never come down. But not only that. Not only that, there's so many others. Lastly, this one, not only the power of unbelief, many miracles never experienced, mountains not removed, but also we get the Master's disapproval. Look what the Bible says over here, Mark 16 and verse 14. We all know who the Master is, the Master Jesus Christ. Look what the Bible says in Mark 16 and look at verse 14. The Bible says this, Here's a situation where a crisis has arisen. In verse 14, Mark chapter 16, the Bible says this, Afterward he, Jesus, appeared unto the eleven. Because remember, Jesus ain't no longer there. He's dead. He hung himself. The Bible says, Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat. And the Bible says he upbraided them with their what? Unbelief and hardness of heart because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen." That word here, abradance, means to chide. The word chide means to express disapproval. Jesus Christ did not approve. He was disappointed that the disciples did not believe that folks had seen him and that he had been resurrected from the grave. The Bible says, that he chided them. The Bible says that he abraded them. The Bible says he was disappointed in them. Do you know what, my dear friends? When you and I don't believe God's Word, that causes Him to be saddened, but also causes Him to chide us. I told you this is disappointing. I told you, let me write in the Word. I mean, we got this big old, this is a big joker, man. And there's all kind of promises that's in the Word of God. Somebody listen. You remember the list of how many was the promises in the Word of God? Anybody? Oh, y'all got Fs for this week. Huh? Over 3,000. That's a lot. Promises. And what he wants us to do is what? Believe. Come on now. I mean, this bill gotta be paid, and I'm telling you what, ain't nobody got no money. So I don't see, I don't see, I don't see. Is that what you're walking by? Right. Right. Amen. The Bible says we walk by faith, not by sight. Amen. Because what I see might be gloom and doom, but if I walk by faith, by trusting His word, my friends, God can work things that are impossible and make them possible. Amen. If we believe. Right. We're just saying, preacher, something, there's a power in unbelief, but it ain't good. That power of unbelief, many miracles never experienced, mountains not removed, master's disapproval. But then one thing I do like though, is next we see this, the pity of unbelief. The pity of unbelief. Now nobody likes to be pitied. Don't pity me. Well this is a case that you don't like to be pitied. Look at the Bible series right here. Run with me over to 1 Timothy 1 and verse 13. 1 Timothy 1 and look at verse number 13. This is one time when you and I are going to be so excited that pity was extended to us. Look at 1 Timothy 1 and look at verse number 13. The Bible says this, in 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 13, and let's look at verse 12. The Bible says this, and Paul is speaking to the young Timothy. He says, And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he did something. He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was, let me tell you what I was, before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, but I obtained mercy. Why? Because I did it ignorantly. In what? Unbelief. He says, you know what? Jesus Christ had pity on my unbelief. That word right here, compassion or mercy, means compassion, but it also means pity. He had pity on me because of my unbelief. I was ignorant. But you know what? Even though I was ignorant of my unbelief, He showed me mercy. And do you know what my dear friends? God ain't walk around somebody, you know, because He do know who you are. He don't walk around like this going, you know what? I'm through with you. I'm done with you. You don't want to believe me. Then just forget the whole thing. You know what he does? He gives us mercy. Mercy. Pity. Mercy. But now sometimes we all want, I want more mercy. You better get that mercy. I would have mercy than have blisterings. Amen. Give him mercy, Lord, mercy. And Paul said, he gave me mercy. He showed me pity in my unbelief. But not only that, lastly, we see the prevailing over unbelief. There's a prevailing over unbelief, and it's a very simple little thing. It's not, listen, you don't need a college degree, you don't need a doctorate, you don't need a science degree or any of those things. Let me show you this, this is real simple. Look what the Bible says over here, and let's run over to Mark chapter nine and verse 23. Mark chapter 9 and look at verse number 23. Are you struggling with unbelief? I'm not talking about your salvation. I'm just talking about believing that God will take care of certain things. Take care of your family, your home, your mom, your dad, your children. I mean, your whole home is in a disarray. It's in an uproar. I mean, this is craziness. I mean, it's madness. But look what the Bible says right here in Mark chapter 9 and look at verse number 23. By the way, that word prevailing, it means to dominate, control. It means to abound, victorious, overcome, overrule. Listen, there's something that can overrule your and my unbelief. There's something that can have dominion over our unbelief. What is it preacher? The Bible says in verse 23, Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, if it's possible, if you have the power to believe all things, are possible to him that believeth. And that's the present participle, which means continuous. And the Bible says, and straightway the father of the child cried out. He screamed and said with tears. Oh, it's good to have tears. Lord, I believe. But notice something. Help! Help! Thou my unbelief! That word help there means to relieve. It means to aid. Aid my unbelief, my unfaithfulness, my faithlessness. Lord, I need help. I believe, but help my unbelief. What is he doing? Confession. He is confessing that he has some areas of unbelief. I believe, but help me where I'm struggling to believe yet. And my friends, when you and I confess that, sometimes we don't want to confess that. You know, don't speak that word. You better tell him, you know, who you have struggling to believe in. I mean, I know that you can take care of my health situation. I know that you can take care of my finances. I know that you can take care of my family, but I must confess. I don't see how. I'm struggling to believe, because in my mind, when I say, OK, Lord, we can do it, I can't help it, Lord, but at the same time, in my mind, I'm trying to figure out how. I'm trying to see how. I'm even trying to see how I can do it. I'm trying to see how I can work it out. I just want to help you. Do you think he needs our help? The man here, his child is about to die, and he says, listen, I can't help myself. Lord, help me. Confess it. But all of the time, we don't want to confess it. We don't, no, I believe, I believe, I believe. Inside, you'd be falling apart. Say, Lord, I do want to believe. So help me in my unbelief. Help me to trust you, that this big mountain that I'm facing, this circumstance, those people that's after me, are those people that are condemning me with their words, are those people who've attacked me in one way or another. Lord, help me to believe that you can bring deliverance, because I'm struggling, Lord. What are you going to do? Watch what he does here. Here's an example for us. The Bible says this in verse 25, when Jesus saw that the people came running together. He rebuked the foul spirit, the Bible says. And then the Bible says this, you don't need to rebuke the foul spirit, but he said this, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, I order you, I command you, come out of him. And enter no more. I like the no more part. No more into him. And the Bible says, and the spirit tried and went, the Bible says, and him soar and came out of him. And he was as one dead in so much that many say he is dead. Now, I've seen that in church before. That's why sometimes, listen, I'm just reading the Bible. Don't beat me up. When I was growing up, though, we'd have folks that we would say they were shouting, and the Holy Ghost had a hold of them. And they'd fall out and be laid out. I've seen them wallow, wallow, wallow, on the floor, all kind of stuff. And folks said, the Holy Ghost, man, the Spirit was in them. I said, have I read that in the Bible? It ain't a good Spirit that's in them. I'm just talking about, check the Bible out. No, but, but mama's, I ain't talking about what mama said, I'm talking about what the master said. Which one, which one has more weight? With my experience, I don't care about your experience, what does the master say? I'm telling you my dear friends, and that's what happened, this young boy right here, when that evil spirit came out of him, he was laid out, and like he was dead, and I've seen that. I've seen him come by with smelling salt, they keep a smelling salt, and they put that in their nose, and they come out of that joker. Anybody ever had a taste of smelling salt? We'll wake you up. You kids don't want to get up anymore and go to school? Get some smelling salt. They get up. They're like, whoo! And you have to give them up no more for the rest of the school year. But nonetheless, he lay out like he's dead, like evil spirits left him. And the Bible says this. The Bible says, but Jesus took him by the hand, lifted him up. The Bible says that he arose. And when he was coming to the house, his disciples asked him, Paul said, why do not we cast him out? He said, because this time come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting. Something takes more than just prayer. It takes prayer and fasting. But you know, we start messing with our stomach. You're like, oh man, fasting. I tried it for half an hour, but me, I tell you, that was rough. But I tell you what, if it gets bad enough, and you want God to do something, man, you start fasting and praying, and you will be amazed at what happens when you fast and pray. Now, that first day, you hear somebody like, you crazy. But spiritually, you'll be reading that Word. All of a sudden, it's amazing when you do it. All of a sudden you'll be reading stuff and all of a sudden you'll be seeing it differently than what you've seen before. Like all of a sudden your mind starts grasping it in a different way. That second day, it's like you start feeling that connection with God. I mean I can't explain it to you except for you got to just simply do it. But then when you start fasting and it comes time to come off your fast, most times you don't want to stop. Because you're having such a connection with God. There's such a peace there. There's such an enjoyment of reading the Word of God and praying in communion with God. You don't want to stop fasting. But you got to. Because if you don't, you can't fast for life. Or your life will be very short. And of course, there are different types of fasts. Maybe one day we'll talk about different types of fasts. But nonetheless, he told me this time coming forth by prayer and fasting. But the key I want to point to is this. This man had a situation of unbelief. But he confessed his unbelief to Jesus Christ. And the Bible says, because he confessed his unbelief to Jesus Christ, that Jesus healed his son and changed everything. That's why it's so important for us to confess. The Bible says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to do what? Forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. But now confession ain't just going, well, I'm not going to go up there. I'm sorry, Steve. I didn't mean to do what I did. I mean, I'm not supposed to do this and stuff. See, so somebody said they're supposed to. That makes me nervous. I'm not supposed to love them. You do your kid like that? I'm supposed to love him. You love him, you can't help it. You might be disappointed with him, but you can't help but love him. They could be acting like some of the worst rascals you've ever seen in your life, but they're in your heart and you love them. I mean, sometimes you want to be a man to death, but your love, no. It don't change that love you have on the inside. You'll be saying, I gotta love him. That's what you say when you know you're supposed to, but you know you really don't want to. So listen, be honest with him about the whole thing. Just say, Lord, I know I'm supposed to forgive him. I know I'm supposed to love him. And Lord, but you have to help me because I don't really want to love him. And Lord, I'll be honest with you, I don't really want to ask you to help me to love. I ain't being honest with you. So I need you to help me to ask you to really ask you to help me to love like I'm supposed to. And Lord, help me to be honest and be sincere with what I'm saying right now. Matter of fact, if my words aren't sincere right now, help my words become sincere by the time they get to you. Now I know y'all go through all that kind of stuff like I do. I got issues. But nonetheless, it works for me, amen. What are you saying, preacher? Simply this. There's the power of unbelief, the pity of unbelief, but then there's a prevailing over unbelief, or overcoming unbelief, and that is confession. And here's my two questions and a thought. My first question is simply this. Has unbelief overwhelmed your mind? Has unbelief overwhelmed your mind? Secondly, will you have the courage? That's a key word right there. Will you have the courage to acknowledge your unbelief? Will you have the courage to acknowledge your unbelief? A third one is simply a statement. Let's ask the master, like this father did right here, to help us. Lord, help my unbelief. So I can have victory over it, power over it. And so I can see more mountains come down. I can see many more miracles take place in my life and in the lives of others. We were praying for the Duffs, their relatives down there, when they had their bad motorcycle accident. One husband lost his leg, the wife lost her leg. It seemed like they were not going to make it. But folks started praying all over this place. Praying. Not just here, but all over the country, people were praying, interceding on their behalf. Now he's about to come home. That's called a miracle. a miracle. How many more miracles do you want to see take place in your life? Let's ask God to help us to overcome our unbelief. Father, thank you for your many wonderful blessings. I've done my best, Father, to give out the Word of God to these precious souls who have gathered here tonight. They didn't have to come, they could've been anywhere else, but they chose to be here tonight. And I pray God that just for that, you'll bless them in a very special way, a unique way, a life-changing way. And I pray God that you help each of us. Help me with my areas of unbelief, Father. Help us all. We struggle in certain areas, Father. We believe in certain things or something we struggle with. We just gotta be honest about this thing. And God, I see you help us. And for that, God, we'll thank you. And Lord, if there's anyone that just come talk to you for a few moments about anything, maybe had nothing to do with this message, they can talk to you, though. I pray God they come and talk to you and trust you to help them. Father, if there's anything else, take care of that too, please. We need you, Father. In your son's name we pray, Jesus. Amen.