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We would be able to retain and understand what we hear tonight and use it in our lives for many years to come. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Now, we just finished the Sermon on the Mount last week, and there's an interesting pattern in the book of Matthew. I don't know if you noticed this, but all throughout the book of Matthew, from the beginning to the end, it starts out with a story, and then it has a sermon where Jesus preaches, and then it has another story, and then it has another great sermon, and another story. Usually it's about one or two chapters of story, one or two chapters of preaching, and so on and so forth. And so we just finished this great sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, and in chapter number 8, verse 1, you remember he was up in the mountain, just preaching to his disciples. A lot of people think that he was preaching this to great multitudes and crowds of people, but if you remember, in chapter 4, he was surrounded by the multitudes, he left the multitudes and went up into the mountain, his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor, and on and on, and he preached that great sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. Now look at chapter number 8, verse 1, it says, when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. Now, I want to show you something interesting. I saw a pattern in chapters 8 and 9, and this pattern, there were two things that just kept happening over and over and over again, and it was extremely repetitive in Matthew 8 and 9, this exact same pattern I want to show you. But first, I want to show you something else. Look at Luke, chapter 12. Turn over to Luke, chapter 12. And I want to show you this concept, and then I'm going to show you how many times this occurs in Matthew, chapter 8 and 9. God is just drilling this into us, and it's very repetitive, but look at Luke, chapter 12. Now, in Luke, chapter 11, let me just show you a few sample verses from Luke, chapter 11 before we get into chapter 12. Look at verse number 44 of Luke, chapter 11. In Luke 11, Jesus is preaching a very pointed, fiery type sermon. It says in verse 44, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. Then answered one of the lawyers and said unto him, so one of the people's answering Jesus here, one of these lawyers, he said unto him, Master, thus saying, thou repotest us also. He says, wait a minute, the sermon that you're preaching applies to us, you're offending us. And then here's what he turns around and says to this little wimp who says, wait a minute, you can't say that, that applies to me. Look what he says, woe unto you also, lawyers! He says, okay, now let me just call you by name, since you're so irritated by the fact that I hit on your sin, let me just point you out. Oh, now that you've got me on the subject, woe unto you also, you lawyers, for you laid men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touched not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you, for you built the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. And so he's just preaching this fiery sermon, I mean he's just tearing it up. Now look at verse number one of chapter twelve, and that's just a sample, I mean this is a very long sermon, but look at chapter twelve verse one. In the meantime, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, I mean that's a pretty big crowd because the Bible names a lot of pretty big numbers, this is an innumerable multitude. Nobody could even count this crowd of people. An innumerable multitude of people, in so much that they trode one upon another, and he began to say unto his disciples, and he begins to preach again, and he preached another great sermon. But listen to this, there's so many people that came to hear Jesus, it says that they were stepping on each other, they trode one upon another. That's a pretty big crowd, that's a huge crowd. Now look at this though, verse number thirteen, and one of the company said unto him, Master speak to my brother that he devi... Okay, so one of these people in the crowd addresses Jesus in verse thirteen. He's still preaching this sermon the whole time, but look at verse twenty-two now. And he said unto the multitude, is that what it says? No. And he said unto his disciples, now who's he talking to? He's talking to his disciples, that's who he's talking to, but is there a giant crowd there? Yes. There's a huge innumerable multitude of people, but he's speaking to his disciples. Now look at verse number thirty-two and thirty-three, and I'm just skipping through this just for sake of time, but look what he says. Fear not, little flock. Now who's, is he talking to a little flock? He's talking to an innumerable multitude of people. But he says, fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Now you'll see this pattern all throughout the four gospels. Huge crowds coming to hear Jesus, but who's he interested in? Who's he talking to? He's talking to just the few people, the few people who are really interested in selling out for God. The twelve disciples, who when he said, follow me in chapter four, Matthew, he said, follow me, and they immediately left the nets and their father and they followed him. You know, they immediately dropped what they're doing and said, I will follow you. And that's who he's talking to, that's who he's preaching to in this big crowd. He doesn't see the big multitude, he just sees his disciples and he's preaching. He says, everybody else can listen in, but I'm preaching to the few, I'm preaching to my disciples, I'm preaching to the little flock. Now look if you would at Matthew eight and nine, I'm going to show you this pattern. There are two things in Matthew eight and nine that keep arising over and over. The first one is this concept that I just told you and I'm going to show you it several times. Look at verse number one. When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. So automatically he just has crowds thronging to him again. But look at verse number four. He just healed a man of leprosy in verses two and three. And in verse four, Jesus saith unto him, see thou tell no man. Now is he trying to get a big crowd? No, he's saying, look, don't tell anybody about this. Let's keep this quiet. Look at verse number, let's see here, look at verse number 16. Okay. Verse number 16, it says, when they even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils. Here's another big crowd. Then look at verse 18. Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to the department of the other side. He saw these big crowds thronging to him and he said, okay, stop, let's go to the other side. And he gets his disciples, gets in a ship and leaves the crowd. Look at verse number 23. When he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And then in verse number 33, this is after he, and I'm just blowing through this because I'm just showing you the pattern. Verse number 33, this is after he cast out these devils and did this great miracle. It says, and they that kept them fled and went their ways into the city. These are the people that saw the miracle they did and told everything and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. And in verse number 34, chapter 8 says, and behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coats. I always crack up when I read that. They all come out, they're excited about what Jesus did. They want to come see this man, Jesus, and they come and as soon as they see him, he wasn't what they expected. And they said, why don't you leave? Why don't you just take off Jesus? And they sent him away. Look at chapter 9, verse number, let's see here, verse number 8, it says in verse number 8. But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. So again, the multitudes are observing the great works of Jesus, they're thronging to him. But look at verse number 9, and as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man. You see, the multitudes in verse number 8 saw Jesus, but in verse number 9, Jesus didn't see the multitudes. Jesus saw a man. Do you notice that? Notice the emphasis on the individual. Notice the emphasis on the few. Notice the emphasis on one man named Matthew, and he saith unto him, follow me, and he arose and followed him. That's the kind of person he's looking for. He's not looking for somebody who comes when it's popular, you know, when all the miracles are happening, when it's exciting, when there's crowds there. No, he's looking for the man who's just going to drop everything and follow Jesus all the way until he goes to the cross for the next three and a half years. He's not looking for somebody who's going to show up just for the exciting big crowd. It says in verse number 10, it came to pass as Jesus sat at meet, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. Again, just crowds thronging to Jesus. Look at verse number 25 of chapter 9. It says, but when the people were put forth, that means he sent the people out of the room, he went in and took her by the hand and the maid arose, and he brings this woman back to life. Then in verse number 30 of chapter 9, and I'm just blowing through this, but it says, and their eyes were opened, Jesus just finished healing a few blind men, and their eyes were opened and Jesus straightly charged them, saying, see that no man know it. He says, don't tell anyone, but they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country. And then look at verse number 36, I'm almost through showing you this, but it says, but when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them and they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labors into his harvest. And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits. So here he is. He looks at this great multitude of people. He has compassion on them. He feels sorry for them because they're like sheep with no shepherd. They have no direction. They don't know what they're doing. They don't have any purpose. They're unsaved. And he says, the harvest truly is plenteous. He says, look at all these people that have come to see me. They've come for the miracles. They've come for the power of God. And they need somebody to lead them. They need somebody to win them to Christ. They need somebody to preach the gospel to them. And he says, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors are few. And then what's he doing in the next verse? How many labors does he line out? Does he line out? Twelve. Look at that. It says, and when he called them, he says, this is how I'm going to solve this problem of not enough labors. He called them his twelve disciples and gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out. And it says, you know, he sent them out preaching in verse number seven. It says, and as you go preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is in hand, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely ye have received, freely give. And he goes on and he says, preach the kingdom of God's hand. Look, God is not looking for some giant multitude to do his will. He's looking for one man named Matthew to follow him and to do his will. He's looking for twelve men who will turn the world upside down. And you'll notice that the emphasis with Jesus is always on the individual. We could go through also in these chapters and see the individual over and over again. In verse number two of chapter eight, it's a leper being healed. One man. One man who has leprosy. In verse number five, it's one centurion that needs something from God. You know, in verse number fourteen, it's Peter's mother-in-law who's sick. He takes the time to go there to her house. He leaves the multitude and goes to Peter's mother-in-law's house just to heal him. All throughout the Bible, you'll notice this and just look for this when you're reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Watch how Jesus will just home in on one person. He'll just home in on just two people and talk to those people. And the multitudes coming to him is more of a byproduct. He never went out and said, Hey! Hey everybody! Come hear me! Come hear me preach! Come see what I can do! See, he wasn't, the Bible says that his voice was not heard in the streets. He wasn't out there trying to rally a bunch of people together. No, he was looking for the individual. He was looking for two, one, here. Look at Nicodemus, the story about Nicodemus in John chapter three. John chapter four, it's the woman at the well. A woman who's been married to four different men and divorced four times, and she's living with her fifth, just common-law husband. And he takes the time to just spend all his time just talking to her just to get her saved. And then what's the first thing she does? She goes out and gets a whole bunch of people saved. So he picked the right person, didn't need to talk to. And so Jesus is constantly concerned with the individual. What can we take from that? Our life matters. Our life matters. Our life matters. Don't ever think, what am I, just one person? One person is everything. One person is enough for the Son of God to leave a multitude of 6,000, 8,000, 10,000 people and say, no, I'm just going to deal with this one person. Because, hey, I only have three and a half years on this. In my ministry, I'm not going to mention this multitude because they're not that interested in the things of God. Every time I bring up the fact that the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has not where to lay his head, they're gone. Notice that in verse number 20 of chapter 8, and we went through this on Sunday morning. But this man that he's talking to, where he tells him, look, I don't have a place to sleep tonight, necessarily. Is that all right with you? And then the next man has an excuse about burying his father. Look at verse 23. And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. Who did he end up with? He ended up with the same 12 people that he had originally. These two guys that he was talking to in verses 19 through 22, they didn't end up coming along because they were just interested in the popularity. They were interested in the excitement and the fun. You see, the Christian life is a life that's not a foot race. It's a marathon. It's not measured in days and weeks and months. It's measured in decades. Your Christian life will be measured in decade periods, not in what I've been serving God for two years and three months. God says, look, you're just getting started. Because he's not interested in a crowd that's going to be there for one day. He's interested in 12 men that are going to serve him for the next 70 years. See, that's going to end up to more. I was doing a little bit of math, and I love math, as you know. I was thinking about, boy, if somebody would just be a consistent soul winner and just say, I'm just going to win somebody in the Lord every week of my life, that's a very reasonable goal. I mean, that's very doable. I find that in my soul winning, give or take, if I spend for every hour I spend out soul winning, I usually see about one person saved. That's me personally going out soul winning. If I spend four hours out soul winning, I'm probably going to see four people saved. And it might be three people at one door at one time and then a couple hours of nobody being saved. But if you just go out and you're faithful and you pray for God's power, I find that about one person gets saved in an hour of soul winning. So let's say you set a goal and said, I am just going to get one person saved per week. That's my goal. I'm just going to go until somebody gets saved every week, one person. That's very reasonable, and that's something that you could maintain. Well, if you do that, that's 52 people that you've won to the Lord per year, obviously. If you do that for 50 years of your life, if you do that from say the time that you're 20 to the time you're 70 or from the time you're 16 to the time you're 66 or from the time you're 30 to 80 or whatever, you know, just 50 years, typical lifespan, well, you've won 2,600 people to the Lord. That's a lot of people saved. 2,600 people, that's a pretty big crowd that you got saved. But then let's just say one in a hundred of those people goes on to become a soul winner. One in a hundred of those people becomes a soul winner. They go out every week and win souls. Or let's just say that throughout your life, because one in a hundred would only be 26 people your whole life that you trained. Or let's just say you could influence 26 people that are already saved and teach them to be a soul winner and get them excited about it and so on. So you win 2,600 people to the Lord, and if you can get 100 people to be a soul winner and they do what you did, well, now you've won 67,600 people to the Lord. Now, that's pretty good life. Can you imagine getting to heaven, having 67,000 people behind you, and say, here, Jesus, let me show you all the people that I brought with me. Is this all right? Is this good enough? Boy, he's going to say, well done, thou good and faithful sir. And you know what the Bible says that Jesus will do if you do that? He said that if he comes back and he finds you doing what he told you to do, which is to win people to Christ and baptize them and teach them to observe whatsoever things I've commanded you to do, and lo, I'm with you all the way to the end of the world. He said, this is what I'm going to do. He said, I am going to take off my belt, and he says, I am going to sit you down at the table and I'm going to push your chair in for you, and I will serve you. That's what he said he'll do. Can you imagine that? I mean, he said, if I find you serving God when I come back, he said he would ungird himself and serve you hand and foot and say, here. I mean, we're talking about the son of God. Can you imagine the son of God saying, here, sit down. What can I get for you? You need something to eat? You need something to drink? Let me serve you. Can you imagine that? God says, that's how bad I want you to do my will, and that's how thrilled I am with anybody who will do my will and who will do what I tell them to do, but there's a few. It's the little flock. Out of the multitude that no man can number, it's the little flock that he's talking to that's going to be that fired-up soul winner that's going to do that, and he will serve you when he comes back. It's amazing. But off from that point, and you'll see that just all throughout the Gospels, but especially in Matthew 8 and 9, I just couldn't help but that jumping out. He was constantly sending people away, constantly leaving the multitude, and he just keeps ignoring people and just focusing in on certain people that he's talking to. Well, another pattern that I saw over and over again was this concept here. He talks a lot about faith in these two chapters. He talks a lot about faith when you pray because all these people in the story are asking him to do something. They're asking him to heal them, or they're asking him to do something. Look at verse number 2 of chapter 8. It says, And behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. He says, look, if you want to, you can heal me in my leprosy. Well, what a great statement. He doesn't walk up and say, Can you please heal me? He says, Jesus, if you want to, you can heal me in my leprosy right now. He says, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. See the faith there? He's saying, I know you can do this. And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Now, this is also a picture of salvation because leprosy in the Bible pictures sin. All the way through the Bible, you see, leprosy is a picture of sin. Why? Because here's what it is. It's something that just starts out real small. You pick it up somewhere from somebody else. You pick it up and it's contagious and you get a little bit of awe on you and pretty soon what happens? It just starts eating away at you until your whole flesh is consumed. And it's something that just moves and creeps up and it's something that's incurable. But notice how this man got saved because this is a picture of salvation. Who's getting the credit here for this man being healed? Was it anything that this guy did? I mean, did he say, God, I know that if I live right, I know that if I begin to, if I sell everything I have and follow you, I know that my leprosy will be healed. No. He just says, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Who's the emphasis on? God. And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will. He says, of course I want you to be healed. And he touched him and he healed him. And notice the key word. Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. See, salvation happens immediately. It's not a process that you go through where you go to some altar and you're begging God and you're crying and, oh, you know, and then finally you just break through. Finally you pray and beg God enough and you break on through. I remember I was talking to an independent fundamental Baptist and this teenage boy, he wasn't sure that he was saved. So he said, I'm going to go down to this beach here. And there was like an ocean. I'm going to go down to this beach and I'm not coming back until I'm saved. You know, and he was going to go down and like plead with God or something. I mean, it's ridiculous. He was going to plead and he was going to beg God and get a hold of God until he got saved. No, he says, it's immediate. Immediately you get saved. You just open the door, as he said, and come in and you'll be saved. If you just take and eat of the bread of life or drink the water, it's like drinking a glass of water. It's like opening a door. It's like eating a piece of bread. It's like asking for something. That's how simple it is to get saved. And it happens immediately. But look at this. Look at verse number 5. And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion beseeching him and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. Listen to this. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I'm not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. Look at the tremendous faith. He says, you don't have to come to my house to heal him. You're God. Just speak the word only and he'll be healed. And he says, I'm a man under authority, having soldiers under me, and I say to this man, go, and he goeth, and to another, come, and he cometh, and to my servant, do this, and he doeth it. He says, look, I know how to order people around and I know that you can just say that it's going to be done. And Jesus said, when Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to them that followed, verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. What's he saying? The centurion was not even a Jew. The centurion was a man. He was a Roman. He was Italian. And he says, I can't even get my own people to believe in me the way that you believe in me. He says, I have not found so great faith, not in Israel. And I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west, he's talking about people from all different nationalities, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom, he's talking about the Jews, the children of the kingdom of Israel, but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Boy, this is what I love about these verses. It says that we, as people that are saved, are going to be able to go to heaven. We can actually sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Isn't that neat? I mean, think about your favorite Bible characters. Sitting down and talking to them. Wouldn't that be something? I mean, you actually get to meet the people in the Bible and sit down and talk to them. And God says you're going to be able to do that. Well, that sounds fun, doesn't it? Sit down and just ask them questions and talk to them about it. And boy, just sitting down with loved ones that have gone on, that have gone on to heaven, and sitting down and talking to them, that's exciting. I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to seeing these Bible characters and everything. And in another place, Jesus says, but you're going to be, he's talking to the Jews, he says, you're going to be weeping. You're going to be upset because you're going to see these Gentiles who you despised, who you looked down upon because they were of another race and who you thought you were so much better than them. You're going to see them sit down with Abraham and Isaac. This is another gospel. And he says, and yourselves cast out. Well, that's a terrible thing. But that's unfortunately the Jews rejected Jesus while he was on this earth by and large. And then look at verse 13. And Jesus said unto the centurion, go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the self same hour. He says, basically in another place, he said, according to your faith, be it unto you. He says, you're asking me to do something and based on how much you believe is whether it's going to happen. And of course, this man had such faith, his servant was healed in the self same hour. Look at, let's see here. Look at verse number 23. And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him, and behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves, but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we perish. And he saith unto them, why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Now look at this. We just finished seeing a couple of men who had great faith. And then we see Jesus rebuking his disciples because of their lack of faith. Now, why did they have a lack of faith? What is faith? Well, I taught this when we were in the book of Hebrews. Faith is always in response to God's word. The Bible says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. A lot of people say that they do things by faith, but they can't show you the Bible verse that they're basing their faith on. Every time you have faith, it needs to be based on something in the word of God. Now, I go to somebody's door and I say, do you know for sure if you died today that you'd go to heaven? And they say, yeah, I think so. I think I would. And you say, well, how do you know that? Well, I just have faith. And you say, OK, well, is there something in the Bible that tells you that you're going to heaven? Or is there something that your faith is based on? Or do you just have faith that somehow you're going to go to heaven? Look, your faith has to be based on something. My faith has found a resting place not in device or creed. I trust the ever-living one. His wounds for me shall plead. And see, faith should always be based on the word of God. Now, why did they have a lack of faith thinking that they were going to perish in the waters? Because in verse number 18, he gave commandment to depart onto the other side. He said, we're going to the other side. And if you read this in a different galaxy, I think it's the book of Mark where he says, let us pass over onto the other side. He says, look, we're going to the other side. And here they are. They think that they're going to die on the way there. Did Jesus say that they were going to make it to the other side? Yes. But they didn't have faith in what he was saying. Faith is always based on the word of God. Here's an illustration. If I said, you know what? I'm just going to put my whole paycheck in the offering plate. I don't know how I'm going to pay my bills. I don't know how. God is going to take care of it. And I just put my whole paycheck in the offering plate. Is that faith? No. Because nowhere in the Bible did God tell me to do that. But if I say, you know what? Money's tight this month, and I don't know how I'm going to pay my bills, I have to tie what God told me to do. And you say, I'm just going to put it in there by faith. See, that's faith. Because it's something that God actually told you to do. And you say, I'm just going to sell everything I have and all these goofy things, but is it something that God told you to do in the Bible? Well, then it's not faith. Faith is always based on when you read something in the Bible or hear something preached from the Bible, and you say, maybe it doesn't make sense to me, maybe I don't see humanly how this is going to work, but I am just going to obey what God has said. I'm just going to believe that God's word is true. Faith is when you believe God's word. That's how you get saved. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me has everlasting life. You hear God's word and you believe what it says about Jesus Christ and about salvation. And then the next example. Matthew 9, verse number 2. And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed, and Jesus seeing their faith, the people that brought him on the bed, not even the man that's on the bed, and Jesus seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. And then if you turn the page to, let's see, Matthew 9, verse 18, it says, While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. Look at the faith there. He just makes a statement to God. God, if you put your hand on my dead daughter, I know she'll be alive. Can you come do that, please? And then look at verse 21. While he's on his way to doing that, it says in verse 20, And behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years came behind him and touched the hem of his garment, for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. Look at the faith again. She said, I know that if I can just touch his garment, I'll be healed. And then let's see. Look at verse number 28. Well, 27 says, And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus saith unto them, and here's the key, Believe ye that I am able to do this. They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, and this is what I pointed out earlier, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened, and Jesus straightly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. Now, the question is, Do you believe that I'm able to do this? God is saying. Oftentimes we pray, and we're not believing that God knew. Do you believe, this is what God is saying, Do you believe that I'm able to provide your financial needs? Do you believe that? When you pray and ask me for your help? Do you believe that I'm able to help you get those loved ones saved, that you want saved? Do you believe that I'm able to do that? Reminds me of a story. Me and Brother Jimenez, who's going to be coming out here, I'm just really looking forward to him coming, and I'm looking forward to just being out soul winning with Brother Jimenez. I remember, and this brought it to my mind, Praying and believing. You know, praying that you're going to, believing that you're going to receive what you're asking for. By getting people saved. We're sitting in a restaurant. This is six months ago, something like that. We're sitting in a restaurant. This is before I came here, so maybe a little longer ago than that. We're sitting in a restaurant. We're sitting in a Mexican restaurant. And all of a sudden I just said, You know what? I said, Roger, we're going to get so and so saved. One of my relatives, distant relative. I said, we're going to go get so and so saved. Now this person that I was going to go get saved, people have been praying for this guy for literally 20 some years. Literally. Oh, God, help me get saved. You know, they bring it to church as a prayer request. Would you please help this loved one to get saved? And I said, this is exactly verbatim. I just said, you know what, Roger? I said, I don't know why. I just hit the table. I said, Roger, we're going to get so and so saved. And he's just like, okay. And so his wife drove home. And I got him in the car. We drove like 45 minutes to this person. We didn't know if he was going to be there. We didn't know what the situation was going to be. We drove there. We pull up the car, and this is dark. This is nighttime. We pull up the car, and we're in front of the wrong house. We thought it was his house. So we pull up the car, and we're pumped up. I mean, we're just, we believed, okay? And so I get him out of the car, and I said, let's pray right here. Let's just get on our knees on the ground right here. And so we're just in front of this house, and we're just on our knees, okay? And nobody was home. It didn't look like. But I'm like, God's going to do this, okay? Even though nobody was home. So me and Roger just kneel on the ground on the pavement or right down the sidewalk, and we prayed for 15 minutes just out loud. We just took turns praying that we would get this guy saved for 15 minutes. We didn't care if anybody said, you know, we didn't care because we were on a mission, okay? And so we prayed for 15 minutes. Now, remember, people have been praying for 20-some years. We prayed for 15 minutes. We got up off our knees. We walk up to the door. It's the wrong door, okay? It's kind of anticlimactic. But then we get in the car. We drove a block down the street, and we get to the right door, okay? And hey, he was home. And hey, his wife was not home. That's a great situation, right? You get somebody alone. That's the best time to talk to them about the Gospel and talk to them about their... We knock on the door. Hey, how you doing? We come on in. We sit down. I open my Bible, preach the Gospel to him. He bows his head in praise and gets saved. Glory to God. Why? Why did he get saved? And this is somebody who preachers have witnessed to. People have given him the Gospel. People have talked to him. They've brought him to church several times. Why did it not work? I don't know why, and I don't really care why. But I'll tell you why it did work. It worked because we said, God is going to do this. We're going to get him saved. I don't care if I waste my drive for 45 minutes there, 45 minutes. Who cares? Because it's worth it. Because it's worth it. Because God's going to do this. And we got on our knees and said, God, do this. And see, here's the thing. We didn't just pray some prayer. We like put some action to our prayer also. And we said, God, we're going to do our part. And then we expect you to do your part. And we believe. I mean, I was confident. I mean, I could have made a fool out of myself, you know, saying in front of him and his wife, we're going to get him saved. And then we get there and he's like, get out of here. Slam the door. I would have looked like an idiot. But I didn't. No. I just knew that we were going to get him saved. And 15 minutes of that kind of prayer can sometimes be more than the kind of prayer that just prays for something but thinks it's never going to happen. And by the way, the people who have been praying all those years, they didn't believe that he was saved after he got saved. Oh, he's not really saved. Because his life didn't turn around. He didn't roll out of bed the next morning and jump out of bed with the Bible in his hand and say glory to God and be some perfect Christian the next day. It kind of shows the problem is that they weren't praying, believing. Because even after it happened, they didn't believe it. And then a couple months later, I hear the report how he's going to an independent... he goes to an independent fundamental Baptist church to visit. And he goes to church and stuff. And oh, but no, there's no way he's saved. He's probably not going to grow around those people either, by the way, because they don't have any faith. They don't believe anything. You imagine praying for something for 25 years and then it happens and you know, it didn't happen. It's like, okay, whatever. Well, here's a good verse for you. Matthew 21, 22. Flip over if you would. Because there's a lot about prayer in the book of Matthew and we saw a lot about prayer in chapters 6 and 7 of the Sermon on the Mount. But look at Matthew 21, 22. Look at this verse. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive. See, the confidence that you have in prayer is a great factor in getting your prayers answered. If you believe that, he says, if you believe that I'm able to do this. All things are possible to him that believe that the Bible says. See, our faith is the determining factor for whether God answers our prayer. Look, what's the determining factor for whether you're saved or not? Faith. That's the only determining factor. Well, by grace are you saved through faith. It's not what you do that gets you to heaven, it's what you believe. What you believe determines whether you go to heaven or hell. Do you believe that it's through yourself or do you believe that through Jesus Christ? You say, how much do you have to believe? How deeply do you have to believe in order to go to heaven? This is how much you have to believe. God says, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God is raised unto the dead, thou shalt be saved. You have to believe enough to just open your mouth and say it. That's not a lot, is it? That's not a huge amount of faith that it takes to get saved. But here's the other key. In Acts 8, 37, he says, if thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest. Now, what it means, I believe with all my heart, doesn't mean that you're just going down to some beach somewhere. I believe with all my heart, God. No, it's believe with all your heart means that 100% of your belief is in Jesus. It means you're not believing in anything else, too. You're not believing in baptism to get you to heaven. You're not believing in the Roman Catholic Church and the rituals to get you to heaven. You're not believing in your own good works and you're cleaning up your act and turning it over to belief to get you to heaven. You're just believing 100% on Jesus Christ. You're believing with all your heart. How much of that belief do you have to have? Well, Jesus said if you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. So he says, you don't have to have all this faith. He just said, just have enough faith to open your mouth and just tell me that you believe that. And if you say, I don't trust in you alone, and if you mean that, you're saved. That's all you have to do is believe. Well, when you're praying after you're saved, whether you believe that God is able to do it is a big factor in whether it's going to happen. Now, how does God know whether you believe enough that he's going to do it? Well, that's where you step out in faith. For example, he probably could see a little bit of my belief because he saw me get in the car and drive down there and take the time to go there and invest some time. That's a little gas. I was just trying to show God I believe this. If you think about fasting, we're talking about doing one day of fasting next week for the big day. If you'll deprive yourself of food for 24 hours, and that's harder for some of us than for others. For me, that's like murder to go 24 hours without food. I'm going to be in the emergency room after that because I don't really have a lot of reserves on me. But if you go without food for 24 hours, you probably believe that God's able to do something if you're going to invest that. If you go without food for several days, you really believe that God's able to do something. And that's what fasting is all about. You show God that you believe that he's able to do this. Do you believe that God is able to get you over the sin and the addictions in your life? Do you believe that he's able to do it? Well, then, who was I telling? I think I was telling Amanda about this. My dad, when he quit smoking, he had this little thing. And I didn't even know that my dad smoked growing up. He smoked before I was born. And I didn't even realize that, but I always saw this in the cover and I was wondering where did that come from? And it was this little glass vial, and it had a cigarette and a match in it, and it said, in case of emergency, break glass. So it was like, in case he just had to have a cigarette, I guess you break this. And it's funny because my whole 18 years that I lived at home, that was just sitting in the cover and I looked at it, and I didn't understand what it was about. But then I figured out, oh, you know, he used to smoke and he was quitting smoking. Somebody gave him that as a joke. But you know what? Same thing whether it's cigarettes, alcohol, rock music, television, whatever the addiction is, gambling, whatever. You know, you run into people all the time, and they say, you know what? Man, I'm finally getting rid of my filthy DVDs. You say, well, what'd you do with them? Oh, I put them in a box and taped them up and put them in the closet. It's like, what? Do you believe that I'm able to do this? Do you believe that God is able to deliver you that? Then why is it taped up in the closet? You know, or women that say, you know what? I went through my wardrobe and I found all the low cut and the slit in the skirt and all the tight pants and tight skirts and tight shirts and all the pants in general. And I just, I'm not going to wear them anymore. And what'd you do with them? You know, they're up in the closet. Just in case you backslide, you don't have to spend all that money and buy it all again. Just in case you fall off the wagon. Hey, man, your DVDs are expensive. Rock music CDs are expensive. Alcohol is expensive. No, you have to dump it down the drain and just watch it all go down the drain. And then you're shown, God, I believe that you're able to do this. I believe that I don't have to be a slave to the devil's addictions. I can just believe that you're able to do it and just get rid of it. And I just believe that I'm not going to need it anymore. See, that's how you have to put a little bit of faith into these prayers. See, we need to pray a prayer like David prayed in Psalm 51. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. See, he prayed, clean me up, God. Straighten me out. In Psalm 139, he said, try me. He said, search me and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me. He said, God, will you please just look at me and find everything that's wrong, find everything that I need to change, and search it out and show me what it is and just clean it up in my life and straighten me out because I want to be closer to you, God. I want to serve you, God. But, see, if you pray that kind of a prayer, you've got to believe that he's able to do it. And so that means that the pain... I mean, it was painful for me when I took my rock music CDs and threw them in the drafts. That hurt. I mean, I had like 125 CDs. I had 75 cassettes. I had about 45 LPs, you know, and about maybe 20 video cassettes all pertaining to the music that I listened to. And it hurt. I mean, I'd spent a lot of money. I'd agonized on these purchases. I'd searched rare used record stores and found these vintage, you know, recordings of my favorite bands and everything. You know, it hurt. But I just believed that God was able to deliver me from it. And there came a time when the only way for me to quit listening to it was when I just threw it in the trash can. I mean, that's the only way to get rid of anything. And so you have to just step out in faith and say, I don't need the remote control. I don't need the DVD. I don't need the rock music CD. I don't need the wrong clothing, whatever it is. You just have to get rid of it and say, God, I believe that you're able to do this. And that's the kind of prayer that God answers. See, there are many ways to get your prayers answered. One of them is to pray believing, like we just talked about. How about 1 John 3.22? Let me just show you a few of these and then I'll be done. 1 John chapter 3, verse 22, if you turn there. Because the whole chapter of Matthew 8 and 9, and I'm going to preach something different out of Matthew 9 next week, but the whole chapters of 8 and 9 are trying to show us a few things. Number 1, they're trying to show us God's not interested in the crowd. God's interested in you personally. One person, you or you or you or you or you or you, saying, I am going to sell out for God. That's what he's interested in. That's what he's excited about. More than some big crowd somewhere. More than some big excitement somewhere. He says, I'm interested in you selling out for God. And we can see 67,000 people saved just from you or more. I mean, this isn't the maximum. The sky is the limit for somebody who sells out for God. And it doesn't matter, I'm talking about male or female, rich, poor, young, old, sinful past or grew up in a Christian home. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who it is. He just says, do you believe I'm able to do this? Are you willing to sell out for God? Are you willing to take up your cross daily and follow me? He says that I'm interested in you and I'll empower you to serve me for your life. And see, many people say, and then when you come to Heaven, I'll take, I'll ungird myself and I'll wait on you hand and foot and serve you because I'm so proud of you. But look at 1 John and then the other thing he's trying to show us is that the thing that's holding us back in our Christian life, the thing that's stopping us from seeing these great miracles that people saw throughout Matthew 8 and 9 is our lack of faith, our lack of believing that God's able to do it. Do you believe that I'm able to do this? I love that phrase. But look at 1 John 3.22. And I'm just giving you these in closing just while we're on the subject of prayer. 1 John 3.22 reads, And whatsoever we ask, well, wouldn't you love to be able to say this? And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him because we do, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. He says, by the way, whatever we ask God to do, He does it for us. Boy, isn't that kind of arrogant? No, He just says, look, whatever we ask, we get it because we do the things that are pleasing in His sight. You want God to answer your prayer? You ever pray that you want God to answer? Do what's pleasing in His sight. That's how you get what you want from God. You do what's pleasing in His sight. You pray believing that God is able to do it. You show God that you believe that He's able to do it. Then you do the things that are pleasing in His sight. The last one, John 15-7. Gospel of John 15-7, here's another one that'll help you get your prayers answered. And that's what we all want, is to get our prayers answered. John 15, verse number 7. We want to see the power of God. We want to see the things that they saw in Matthew 8 and 9 that drew that great multitude, that brought all those crowds of people. John 15-7, the Bible says, If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Look, don't casually read over these promises of God. Look, God is really going out on a limb here. Don't just blow by that. Look, if somebody made a statement to me like that, if somebody said to me, like my wife, I'll say stuff to her like this, and she smiles because she doesn't look like her, I'll make her an offer like this, like, hey, if you do such and such, I'll do such and such. And, boy, she'll jump on that, and she'll find a way to do it. You know, like, she talked me into that swing set. You know, if he memorizes Ecclesiastes, the whole book, then he gets a swing set. So, man, she's on that. We were talking about something, I don't even remember what it was, but we were talking about something else, and I'll throw something out there, and she doesn't forget about it. No, she's going to find a way to extract whatever I said I was going to give her. She'll find a way to do her side of the bargain so that she can get what she wants from me. It's the same thing with God. Look, don't just blow by these. If God says whatsoever you ask, that's a pretty big command, that's a pretty big promise that he's making here. So I would just be just studying this and just dissecting it and saying, okay, what exactly do I have to do in order for this to be me? Because this is what I want. We saw that we've got to believe that he's able to do it, and we've got to show him that we believe that he's able to do it. We saw that we need to do the things that are pleasing in his sight, and then you can turn around, and this is how you pray. You turn around and you say to God, look, God, look what I did that was pleasing in your sight. Now it's time for you to... Look at what they were saying, and this is the whole chapter. Look what they kept saying. Look, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. He says, you're the one who decides whether... That's the way you've got to say to God. Make statements to God. Don't just ask God for something. Say, God, I did what was well pleasing in your sight. Look what you said right here. Did you mean this? This is true, right? Of course it's true, God. It's got to be true. And I did what was pleasing in your sight. That means that you're going to answer my prayer, God. And so that's... God likes that when somebody has faith like that. And so this last one, he says, if you abide in me, what does that mean? To abide in Christ. What does it mean to abide in Jesus Christ? Well, it's kind of on the other side of the coin there. And my words abide in you. Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Well, look, here's what it is. It's twofold. It's number one, abiding in Christ. That means that you don't get up in the morning, read your Bible, and just kind of leave God there for the rest of the day. That means you don't just come to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and just kind of leave God there. It means you're just constantly abiding in Him. It means now the thought goes through your head that doesn't involve God, Jesus Christ, the Bible. That means that when you wake up, you're thinking about the things of God. Throughout the day, you're thinking about the things of God. The Bible says the wicked, this is what it says about the wicked in Psalms, God is not in all His thoughts. See, God needs to be in all your thoughts. And so the Bible talks about in Deuteronomy 6, when you get out of bed, be talking about the things of God, be talking about the Word of God. When you're walking down the road, be talking about it, be thinking about it. When you go to bed at night, eat, breathe, and sleep, and drink, and live God's Word. And so that's how you're abiding in Christ, just constantly fellowshiping with God, constantly cognizant of the fact that God is there, thinking about the things of God, reading the Bible. Everything is wrapped up in God. Now, look, when you've got the radio on and you're listening to the Backstreet Boys, you're not thinking about God. You're not thinking anything about God. I know what you've been listening to. No, I'm just kidding. I know. Me too. Me too. We'll talk later about what's good in music. No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, you need to feed me with the band name so I can use stuff that's more current. But anyway, look, you're not thinking about God when you're watching some filthy sitcom. And you know what? People get all up on my grill about preaching against the television. Oh, you're a fanatic. You're crazy. You know what? Every time I start to think, well, you know, maybe I'm just a little bit too extreme. This is what happens without fail. Well, you know, maybe whatever. Maybe I just quit harping on that or whatever. Then I'll go to some Mervyn's somewhere where I work on fire alarm systems. I'll be doing a fire alarm test at some Mervyn's. I'll walk into the break room, and there's the television. And everybody's gathered around it, worshipping it. And there's Frasier or whatever, one of these sitcoms. And I think that either God times it this way for me or else every television show is just filth and wicked as hell. But every time I walk into the break room, I'll walk from point A right here to point B right here. I'm just walking, trying to get somewhere. And in that amount of time, I hear some filthy joke, literally, every time. I mean, it's never just some innocent conversation. It's always some sexual innuendo. It's always some perverted statement. It's always some homosexual slur on these shows. And I'm just thinking to myself, I was right when I preached against the television. I was right when I beat that television with a baseball bat. I was right. Praise God, I preached that, because I was right. And every time I see a television, I'm just confirmed that I was right. Because God is just showing me, yes, Steve, the television is as wicked as hell. And I'll keep preaching it. I don't care if anybody likes it or not. Because it's wrong. Because it's wrong to not be thinking about God and all your thoughts, but to be thinking about filth and bathroom humor and all the other garbage that's on the television. It's junk. And not only is it junk, not only are you exposing yourself to sin, but you're taking up time that you were supposed to be thinking about the things of God, time that you were supposed to be spending with your family, time that you were supposed to be educating and rearing your children, time that you were supposed to be just enjoying good, clean, nice things with your family, or thinking about soul winning, thinking about praying, thinking about Bible reading, thinking about your friends, your family, spending time on things that matter in life. That's why I initially got rid of the television. When I got rid of the television, I didn't think it was wrong to watch television. I was still listening to rock music for years after I got rid of the television. I got rid of television for the simple reason that it was sucking up time that was valuable to me. And I found myself sitting in front of it, and oh, man, five hours just went by. And so I said, I'm not going to let this thing suck away my life from me. I'm going to spend my time on things that matter. And so abiding in Christ means you're constantly thinking about Him. Everything in your life is revolving around Him. Whether, therefore, you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God, the Bible says. And then number two, He says, and my words abide in you. This is when you have God's Word inside you. Memorizing the Bible is what it's talking about. Memorizing the Bible is a lost art, but it's very, very important. Boy, it irritates me. I hear preachers sometimes. And preachers will stand up and preach, and they will quote 20 verses in a sermon, all wrong. You know, they'll quote them inaccurately. And that really irritates me. And sometimes they'll quote it inaccurately, and it will, like, help their point that they're making. You know, like, they change it a little to fit in with what they're saying. Because they just don't take the time to quote God's Word accurately. Look, this is God's Word. Remember when we read the Living Bible? Remember one of these days I was preaching against Bibles? I pull out the Living Bible, and it said, this is a paraphrase of the Bible. It's expressing the same thing that the author was saying in different words. Sometimes that's what preachers are doing. They get up and they express what God said in different words. And they're constantly paraphrasing the Bible, paraphrasing the Bible. And God says, look, preacher, memorize God's Word. Look, Christian, when you're soul winning, when you're winning people to Christ and you don't have your Bible with you, you better be able to quote that Roman's Road and quote it right. Not your little mixed up version of it. You know, I've won people to the Lord many times without a Bible. No Bible in sight. Because I just, you know, I just didn't have a Bible on me. And I just, I had the Bible right here in my head. And I just started talking to them, and I won people to the Lord like that. And they prayed, and they took my word for it. That's what the Bible said. And they got saved. So, at least memorize the Roman's Road. At least memorize the verses that you use soul winning. Because you don't know when God's going to give you that golden opportunity to win somebody to the Lord. And your little wit and charm is not going to do it. You must have the Word of God to win people to the Lord. But number two, don't you want to have your prayers answered? Get God's, God's Word needs to just abide in you. And then you can point at God and say, God, you said whatsoever I ask. There's another promise of the same thing in Psalm 1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and here is the promise, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Huge promise. Again, it's abiding in Christ, constantly abiding. And you say, that's extreme, that's fanatical. There's all these other avenues in my life that have nothing to do with God. Well, then fine, be in the multitude. That's fine. You can be like everybody else. Be in the multitude. Be in the 5,000. I don't want to be in the 5,000. I want to be in the 70 apostles. Be in the 70, I want to be in the 12 apostles. Go ahead and be in the 12 apostles. I want to be in the inner three, Peter, James, and John. And go ahead and be one of the three. I want to be the one, John, the disciple who has leaned his head against Jesus at the last supper. The disciple who is called the disciple whom Jesus loved. That's who I want to be. I don't want to be this broad spectrum. I want to be the guy who is always thinking about God 24 hours a day. And not just at church time. Not just at devotional time. But all the time. And God says, that's who I'm looking for. That's these chapters. The whole thing is wrapped up in that one thing. I'm looking for one person who will say, I'm going to have a faith that's greater than the people around me. I'm going to abide in Christ more than the people around me. I'm going to see the power of God more than the people around me. Because I'm going to be sold out 100% of the time. Eat, breathe, and sleep God's word. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. God, I just thank you for these great chapters from the word of God. And Father, I just thank you that over and over in the Bible you show us your great power. And you show us just ordinary people just like us. Just like me. Just like the people in church tonight. Who are just people who believe God. And they don't have any special power. They might be of this race or the other race as we saw. They might be a centurion. Or they might be a blind man. Or they might be a leper. Or they might be a woman who is an elderly woman in the story. Or it might be a little girl. Or it might be a mother-in-law. But whoever it is, you give these promises to. And you're not a respecter of persons, God. So I expect you to answer my prayers. As well as the people that are here tonight that want to sell out for you, dear God. O God, please just help us to see the power of God as these people saw in the story.