Let's turn together to Matthew 17. Matthew chapter 17. We will begin our reading at verse 14. Matthew 17, 14. And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic. and sore vexed, for oft times he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.

And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief. For verily I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit, this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting." Now, the title of my message this evening is only, By Prayer and Fasting.

In this passage of We have one of those miracles that is recorded by all three of the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It is reported to us three times by divine inspiration because the Holy Spirit intends for us to recognize the importance and to learn the lessons of those things that are taught in this passage of Scripture by receiving. Here we have the healing of the lunatic, that one who was possessed of the devil, was healed by the power of Christ's sovereign word. It is a miracle that the disciples were not able to perform, but the Lord Jesus performed it like that. With the power of his word, the devil was cast out of this young man. Now there are obvious lessons to be drawn from this passage of scripture. I believe you will see them clearly as we move along. I want to show you five things tonight. First, understand this.

The best parents in the world are those who seek the mercy of God for their children. Here we have a father who comes to the Lord Jesus asking for mercy. This man recognized the great need that his son had. He recognized that his son's needs were primarily spiritual, not physical. His concern was not so much for his son's physical well-being as for his spiritual well-being.

He recognized that his son was possessed of a devil. If you read Mark's account, the father stated plainly, my son is vexed with the devil. The devil has come and taken possession of my son. The father didn't mince words. He didn't pretend his boy was something that he wasn't. He didn't pretend that his boy's difficulties were caused by some other thing. He said, my son is vexed with the devil.

The devil takes him and casts him into the fire and casts him into the water and is about to destroy him. My son needs mercy. This father came then and sought God's mercy on behalf of his son. We don't know whether this man's son was a boy or whether he was a young man, a young adult. We're not told. Probably the man had a son who was a young adult. But he came to the Savior seeking mercy for him.

Now this needs to be stressed. It needs to be stressed particularly in this day of utter materialism. Parents seek everything under the sun for their sons and daughters to make life easy for them in this world. We are all too guilty of pampering and spoiling our children, far too guilty.

Everyone has an emphasis on money and things and property and position and power. I'd be plumb delighted if I never heard anybody talk about those things again. I'd be undelighted. If I never heard anybody express ooh and ah about what somebody possesses, what they have, what they do, what name they have, what clothes they wear, we're just too confounded concerned about material things.

We want our sons and daughters educated. We want them to be to be well clothed and we want them to have position and we want them to have all the money that they can possibly gather in this world and we instruct them from their childhood to reach and grab and take what they can get. We'd be far wiser and we would do them far more good if we would instruct them to seek the mercy of God and we'd seek the mercy of God for them. Now notice what this man did for his son. I don't suggest that we should neglect their I don't suggest that we should somehow neglect their education or neglect their needs in this world. I think you know better than that. But we should not seek and crave and teach our children to seek after the things of this world. We ought to seek for them and teach them to seek the mercy of God in Christ Jesus.

This father recognized his son's great need. In verse 15 he said, Lord, have mercy on my son. He needs mercy. He needs mercy. That's what those children we bring into this world need. Mercy. If God gives them mercy, Ron, nothing else matters. Can you get over that? Nothing else really matters. It doesn't matter where they live. It doesn't matter what they wear. It doesn't matter what society they run in. If God gives them mercy, nothing else matters. God's mercy includes everything that's needed for their soul's good.

He says, Lord, have mercy on my son. He brought his son, his needy, needy son, to Christ's disciples, hoping for a cure. He didn't just ask the Lord for mercy. He did what he thought was best. And what obviously shouldn't have been the best thing, the best means of procuring that mercy for his son. The Lord Jesus had given his disciples power to cast out devils. And this man knew these disciples had gone about in Jesus' name, casting out devils. And so he brought his son to the Lord's disciples.

He said, I brought him to thy disciples in verse 16. That's what I expected. I brought him to those men to whom you had given power to test out devils. I take that to mean he used the means of grace at his disposal. He made certain that his son was in the presence of those men who came in Christ's name to test out devils." Oh, what a lesson. He didn't say, I sent him to your disciples, I brought him to your disciples.

And well, my every father and every mother who hears this message wisely hear the instruction, we ought to take great care that we raise our sons and daughters under the influence of the preaching of the gospel. That's how mercy's obtained. That's how it's obtained. I know mamas and daddies think we ought not to impose too much on our children's time. After all, they got to play ball, and they got to be in this, and they got to be in that. Oh, I would to God, you'd hear my voice. The one thing our sons and daughters need is the word of God. The ministry of the word. The message of God's free grace.

And everything else ought to be subservient to it. Everything else ought to be subservient to it. I promise you. I promise you. We have these young ladies here. When God gives you your own family, I promise you, you will regret the day. The day will come when you will regret if you do not bring your sons and daughters up under the sound of the gospel. I promise you it will come. The ministry of the Word is God's means of grace. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Mercy is obtained by that faith which comes to set us through the ministry of the Word.

But then this Father not only used the appointed means of grace He made earnest intercession for his son on his son's behalf. We don't read here that the son came seeking mercy. He should have. We don't read here that the son came and kneeled at the Savior's feet, worshiping him, bowing down and crying, Lord, have mercy on me. But as his father brought his son to the master, he said, Lord, have mercy on my son. Have mercy on my son. He's previously next to the devil. Have mercy on him.

So when you bring your family into the house of God, and you who are God's saints, when you come here, ask God to have mercy on folks who hear the Word. Don't just come and go through the mechanics of religion. Don't just come here and go through the outward exercise of godliness, but rather come here seeking God's mercy for yourself and for others. And notice this also.

This father, believing God, seeking God's mercy in Christ Jesus, obtained what he asked for. Jesus answered, said, Bring him hither to me. And in verse 18, Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour.

Wonder what we might obtain if we just believe God. Wonder what we might see happen if we simply believed God, really believed him. Wonder what we might see God do if we earnestly sought his message. I appreciate you men and your desire, reading the Word and so forth, as we prepare for worship But I don't hear much of a cry for mercy for ourselves or for others. I listen and I don't hear often anyone crying for God to be merciful. No wonder we don't see him exercising his mercy. We ought to seek his mercy and seek it earnestly if we care for our souls and the souls of those under our influence and the souls of those who come here to hear the gospel. Seek God's mercy. This man did, and we walked out, walked away that day.

The master had healed his son of his horrible, horrible possession by this devil. Secondly, learn this. Satan's influence has always Over in 1 Peter chapter 5, if you want to look at it, I want you to see something. We have before us in this text an example of the destructive influence of Satan upon those who are under his influence. This young man was possessed of a devil. Now, during the days of our Lord's earthly ministry, that was a very common thing. We see many who are possessed of devils.

I don't know much about that. And I don't plan to search for much concerning it. I'm not out looking for demons and looking to understand demonology. I'm just not interested in fooling with those things. But I'm certain that these things were allowed during those days of our Lord's earthly ministry to give opportunity for the Lord Jesus to give evidence and unquestionable demonstration of his power as God over the prince of darkness and over the demons of hell. so that as he spoke the word, the demons obeyed his very word. And I'm certain also that these things were allowed to teach us something of the nature of Satan's influence upon others.

It is always destruction. In verse 15 we read, This father said, Lord, my son's a lunatic. He oftentimes falleth into the fire, and often into the water." That is, he's just cast by Satan into destruction, into the fire and into the water. Not just falling into the straits, not just falling in the field, but he passes by the fire and falls into it. He passes by the water and falls into it because of Satan's influence.

You see here in 1 Peter 5 and verse 8, The Apostle Peter says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions were accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Now, Satan's object is to devour God's elect. We know certainly he will not devour one for whom Christ has died, he will not devour one who is called by the spirit of grace, but that's his object, and his influence is always destructive. The old serpent appears to seek the destruction of young souls especially. Probably teach those kids back there, be aware of the fact that Satan's object is their destruction. And he has many means by which he attempts to destroy those who are taken captive by him at his will.

Not likely that those who are raised under the sound of the gospel in this place are going to be easily overcome with the deception of freewill works religion. I don't suspect that's likely to happen. But Satan, if he can't get them with the dissension of antichrist religion, will bring them into reckless rioting and drunkenness. Kids have a cavalier attitude, you remember when? We thought nothing could destroy us, nothing could harm us, and our sons and daughters have the same attitude naturally, and Satan capitalizes on it. He leads them and influences them to disregard all authority, all warnings, all direction, all guidance. He directs them into moral perversity by which he seeks to ensnare not just their bodies, but their very souls.

This young man was raised by a man who feared God. Here is a man who believed the Lord Jesus Christ when few men believed him. A man who saw beyond just the material advantage of following Christ, the crowds followed him, thrill-seekers followed him, but this man followed him because he knew him to be the Lord who could cure his son of this disease. And yet his boy, the boy, this man who believed God, was vexed of a devil.

And often it happens just that way. Sometimes folks get the notion that our sons and daughters being raised under the sound of the gospel, they're somehow secured from these things. But it's just not so. The Word of God does not teach any such thing as household salvation. This man believed God but his son was still under the influence of the devil.

How often we've seen it, both in the scriptures and in our experiences. And yet, we must never despair of those who seem most in need of mercy. We must never despair of those who seem farthest away from the kingdom of God. Never despair of those who seem to be too far gone, too old, too long in the path of rebellion.

After all, this young man, just with a word of grace, was cured of his possession by this devil. When the Son of God spoke, he was immediately made whole. immediately healed, immediately saved from Satan's grasp. When we read of our Lord's miracles like this one, we should be encouraged to believe that God may yet repeat his wondrous works in the lives of others today.

Sometimes we, we kindly think, we don't say it, but we just kindly think and we act like, well, That old boy, he's too far gone. We've expended too many labors on him. It'd be a waste of time talking to more of that girl. She's gone. She's gone. Oh, no. Not until God says they're gone. Not until God says they're gone.

Seek God's mercy earnestly. Do not despair of anything. was born in a home of a man who despised God, but a woman who loved him. And Newton's mother, while he was just a baby, dedicated him to Christ. Not coming to the front of church and going to a silly ceremony, in her heart with prayer she gave him to God. And she taught him. She instructed him in the word of God until she died when he was four years old.

And Newton became quite a rogue. He soon, as soon as he was old enough, just as a young teenager, joined the business of slave trading, working on a ship and then soon had his own ship. And he made his livelihood trading in slaves. He himself became a slave to a black woman in Africa, treated him like a dog.

He escaped and had no effect on his heart. But in God's good providence, when Nukem was a grown man of years, he was called by God's grace, and he remembered the things taught him by his mother when he was just a boy, and God sealed them to his heart. And he wrote a maze in grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.

And God had mercy on him. when he was long past anyone imagining God might have mercy on him. The same was true of John Bunyan. The same was true of William Huntington. And the same was true of the man who stands here talking to you now. God has mercy on whom he will, when he will. And none are beyond the pale of grace except those whom God says are beyond the pale of grace, and I haven't heard him identify such yet. I haven't heard him identify such yet. None living upon this earth are identified in this word to you and me as being beyond the reach of God's hand of mercy. And so we ought earnestly to seek mercy for them.

Thirdly, nothing so greatly hinders our usefulness as unbelief. Our Lord Jesus says in verse 17, Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, O faithless and crooked generation, unbelief always leads to perversity. How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Almost as though the Lord Jesus was saying, when are you going to learn to believe me? Haven't you learned yet? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil and it departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart. That is, they came to the Savior secretly, in private.

And that's the time to seek private instruction. So many times I hear folks come and ask questions that affect so many people that you'd blurt them out in the crowd and I think, I wish you'd just shut up and wait till we're in private. Be glad to talk to you in private about private things. This is a private issue. And the Lord Jesus had this word given to him. The disciples said, why could not we test him out? Why couldn't we do that? Why couldn't we do that? And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief.

Now, I'm fully aware of God's total sovereignty. I'm fully aware of the doctrine of divine predestination. I'm fully aware that every elect, redeemed sinner shall be called by God's Spirit and shall be saved by God's free grace. I know the purpose of God stands forever, and it is altogether immutable, unchangeable, and unchanging. No one preaches those gospel truths more fully and more consistently than I do. I think you'll bear witness to that. But I don't. And we must never blame our failures on God. Don't do it. The Word of God places the blame on our unbelief. Nowhere else. Nowhere else.

When Peter began to sink as he was walking along the water, do you remember what the Lord said to him, buddy? He said, why did you die? Why did Peter begin to sink? Because of anything changing in God? No. Because the Lord Jesus had certainly just decided to let him sink? No. He began to sink because he ceased to believe. He ceased to have his heart continually looking to the Master.

We're told repeatedly in this New Testament of places where the Lord Jesus could do no mighty works, could do no mighty works because of their unbelief. Read it for yourself in Matthew 13 and in Mark chapter 6. When our Lord was raised from the dead, the ladies came and told the word, and they repeated it over and over again.

And the scripture says, the disciples believed not. They didn't believe. And because they didn't believe, they couldn't enjoy the blessed, blessed joy that those ladies had of the Lord's resurrection glory until he came and made himself known to them. Thomas gets the flack because Thomas said, I will not believe except I put my hand in his hand and in his side, but none of the disciples believed the report when it was first given.

When Lazarus was dead, the Lord Jesus said, Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. Martha said, I know that he's going to be raised The Lord said, I am the resurrection. And Martha continued to complain. She continued to kind of utter statements of unbelief. And the Lord finally said to her, Martha, said I'm not unto you, that if you would believe, you'd see the glory of God.

Now we must not pass over this point lightly. Faith is the key to success in the cause of Christ. Unbelief is the path to heartache, trouble, and defeat. As faith languishes, our usefulness vanquishes. Let me give you an illustration. The Israelites came to the Red Sea, and they believed God. Now, you talk about an act of faith.

Those fellows followed Moses, through the Red Sea, with that wall standing up on either side of them. I'm talking about a wall of water. You jucked that? They're standing, looking at a wall of water as they walk through Darshan to the other side. That's things.

God said, put your head rod in the sea and when they put their first step in the sea, the water fell back and they walked across the water. That same group of Israelites came to the borders of the land of Canaan and they could not enter in. They could not enter in. The whole generation perished because they believed God.

That's what Hebrews 3.19 says. God didn't change. Moses was still the same. They should have the same word from God, but they didn't believe. And so they perished in the wilderness because the word that was spoken to them was not mixed with faith.

The word of God teaches us plainly this fourth lesson as well. Faith in Christ is the most powerful influence in the world. Look on in verse 20. The Lord Jesus said you couldn't do it because of your unbelief. For verily I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you." John said this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Our faith.

Now, the Word of God gives us constant testimony to the power of faith in the lives of God's elect. It was faith in God's power that caused Joshua and Caleb to come back after spying out the land and give a good report. They said to Moses, They believed God could give them the land. Though there were giants in the land, and though there was much in the land that would cause the others to tremble in fear, Joshua came and said, we believe God.

It'll be done as he said. It was faith in God's providence that sustained Job and Hope in the midst of his difficulties and trials, so that he cried after he had lost everything, his health included, and his friends looked upon him as a hypocrite and accused him of hypocrisy. Job said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him, because he believed God's providence. It was faith in God's protection that called Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to answer the pagan king faithfully and remain faithful to God, even when they were cast into the fiery furnace. They said, we know that our God is able to deliver us. You don't have to question that. Now, whether he will or not, I don't know, but he's able. He's able to deliver us from the burning and fiery furnace.

And it was faith in God's pardon that caused that woman who was a sinner to come into Simon's house and anoint the Savior with her tears, and to wipe his feet with the hairs of her head, because she loved him through whom she had been forgiven much. last Sunday evening, I believe it was, Rex read Hebrews chapter 11 to us. There the apostle gives us example after example of faith. Oh, the power of faith. By faith that honored God, these men were honored of God. God said him that honors me, I will honor. And I'm telling you, nothing so honors God as faith. Nothing. Nothing so dishonors God as unbelief.

But Abel believed God. And believing God, he offered up a more perfect sacrifice than his brother Cain did. Enoch believed God. And because he believed God, he had this testimony that he pleased God. He pleased Him. Would you please God? It's just that simple, believe it. Noah, believing God, was weaned with fear and prepared an ark to the saving of his house. Abraham, believing God, went out of Ur of Chaldeas under a land that God had promised him, not knowing where he went, but just, God said, come follow me.

Looking for a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God, and believing God, God honored him in all things. Then the apostle concludes that 11th chapter of Hebrews with those words of admonition in the first part of chapter 12, he said, this great cloud of witnesses, these folks standing in heaven who believe God, are urging us in their own testimony, continually urging us to follow Jesus, to persevere in the faith, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, always trusting him, believing God as they have done.

Now, in this 20th verse of our text, our Lord once more compares faith to a grain of mustard seed. And we often think about mustard seed faith in its smallness, but there are other things about mustard seed. Mustard seed faith certainly is little in its beginning, the smallest of all herbs. Mustard seed faith is saving faith. saving in its object, because the object is Christ.

It's not a matter of how much you believe, how strong your faith is, do you? Little seed is planted and it grows until it becomes the largest of all herbs. That's mustard seed faith. Faith that doesn't grow is not genuine faith. Mustard seed faith grows by the grace of God.

Mustard seed faith is persistent in its desires. This man changed. He wasn't satisfied to come to the disciples. He comes to the Lord because his son must have mercy, and he would not give up until his son had mercy. Mustard seed faith is powerful in its exercise. Our Lord said, if you have faith just as a grain of mustard seed, you'll say to this mountain, be removed and put over here, and it'll obey you.

Now, I don't know of anyone who foolishly imagines That should be interpreted literally. There's not any reason to move mountains with faith. There's just not any reason to just go up to a mountain and say, you've moved out of my way. Best thing to do is just go ahead and go over it. You're going to have to. The mountain's not going to move.

But the passage is given to give an illustration of the power of faith. So that faith in Christ moves obstacles out of the way. That's what it means. stand before us and are obstacles to us, trust in Christ. They're cast into the depths of the sea. Not only that, but as we serve him, as we seek to do his will, and that's specifically what's talked about in the context, whatever obstacle is in our way, our Lord says, if you believe in him, you'll just move it aside. Just move it aside.

Why, it's absolutely impossible. Absolutely impossible. for a man with no weapons, with no powers of unusual magnitude, to go up against the Pharaoh in Egypt, most powerful king in the world, ruling the most powerful nation in the world, it's absolutely impossible for him to deliver the children of Israel out of that man's hand. But Moses did. How? He believed God. It's just that simple.

Joshua, you take the children of Israel, go into Jericho, and you march around the walls of that city. I'm going to give the city to you. I'm going to give it to you. Well, where do we get our cannons? You don't need any. Where do we get our influence inside the city? You don't need any. Well, where are we going to get our weapons? You don't need any. You just march around the city. And blow the trumpet, when I say blow the trumpet, and the walls will collapse in front of you. And you know what happened, brother? The walls fell down. How come?

Because he believed God. He just believed God. Gideon, you go and take your army, and don't even lift your sword, just cry the sword of the Lord in Gideon, and I'll deliver the Midianites to you. And he did. He did, because he believed God. just as a grain of mustard seed moves every obstacle out of the way as we seek to serve our Savior.

Mustard-seed faith is useful in its influence. Our Lord said that this mustard-seed faith will grow to be the largest of all orders so that the birds will come and find lodging in its branches. And mustard-seed faith is effectual in its work. Our Lord Jesus here says, Nothing shall be impossible unto you. If you have faith, there's a greater blessing to see.

Now, I know folks run crazy with that, and they say, well, just believe God, you can do anything. Always interpret scripture in the context. That does not mean if you believe God, you can fly. That's not what it means. That means if you believe God, you can do whatever it is God will have you to do. it is.

Nothing will be impossible to you. Believe God, and you can do his will, whatever his will is. You can say with the Apostle Paul, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Believe God, and you and I together can do whatever it is God puts in our hands and gives us opportunity to do, whatever it is.

We've seen it so often. Now, God faith by honoring it, and we ought to continually be aware of it. If we believe God, we can do whatever is required of us in our generation, serving our generation according to the will of God for the glory of God. Whatever it is he'll have us to do.

One last thing. God's work must never be attempted by the arm of the flesh. are with careless indifference. Now, listen carefully to verse 21. Howbeit this time goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. I'm convinced Satan would have us spend our time debating about whether or not fasting is a New Testament ordinance, but that's got nothing to do with the text. The text is telling us that God's work must never be attempted by the arm of the flesh or with an indifferent, careless attitude.

Those words were addressed as a gentle rebuke to the Lord's disciples. Perhaps they had become a little bit cocky. Perhaps they had become a little too puffed up, a little too big for their britches. After all, the Lord had given them power over devils, and they had had success. Hold your fingers here and turn to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. I'll give you something of their attitude. Luke chapter 10 and verse 17. The Seventy return. Remember the Lord sent out the Seventy disciples in Matthew chapter 10.

They returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject to us through thy name. I think the emphasis is just the way I read it. The devils are subject to us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fallen from heaven. Behold, I have given to you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. notwithstanding, in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject to you, but rather because your names are written in heaven."

Israel, you'll remember, became a little puffed up with the fall of Jericho. And I don't lay too much blame to them, I probably would too. If I had marched around that wall and I'd held one of those trumpets in my hand and blown that thing and watched the walls fall, I suspect I'd have kind of strutted a little bit. I suspect.

So that when AI came up against them, they said, the men of AI are just a few. There's no need for us to all go out there. They're not going to require all our strength. Oh, but it's a mistake. A fatal mistake. To underrate our foes, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness and high places. Satan will not be unseated without a fight.

This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." We get so puffed up if God lets us do anything. God gives us a little bit of usefulness, and our hearts swell with pride. It's kind of like that story about the mouse and the elephant walking across the bridge together, and they got on the other side, and the mouse looked up to the elephant and said, we sure shook that thing, didn't we? That's just about the way we are. Oh, but it's foolish. So foolish.

Don't ever presume that without Him you can do anything. Our labors are utter vanity without whose blessing. Now here are three things that I'm certain are required according to this 21st verse. If we would walk in this world and seek by faith to serve our God, we must ever seek his mercy in prayer. This kind goeth not out but by prayer. You read the letters of the Apostle Paul writing to churches and individuals. There's something he constantly, constantly says to folks when he writes to them. He's prayed for us.

C. H. Spurgeon, who preached to thousands of people, thousands of people, just phenomenal in his day, in the 1800s, he preached to thousands. His sermons were printed and published every week, distributed around the world. And he was just a young man when he went to England. He didn't have any formal education. He was not a scholar by any stretch of the imagination.

But someone asked him one time, said, to what do you attribute your phenomenal success? Spurgeon said, my people pray for me. My people pray for me. He said, when I'm preaching, All the time I'm preaching, there's a group of men downstairs, right underneath that pulpit, praying for me, praying for me. Oh brethren, pray for God's blessings on the world. Pray for the success of the gospel as it's preached.

And fasting. Now, that word fasting, I recognize, as it was practiced among the Jews, practiced in the early days of the New Testament, had to do with doing without food and water for a period of time. But the essence of it is self-denial. And I'm going to tell you something.

You can't serve Christ without it. You can't do it. I see preachers sometimes try to hold on to careers and hold on to property and preach And I keep telling them, you can't do it. You can't do it. Brother Tom Harding was called to be pastor of the church at Pikesville. He had a job. Tom's my age or older. He's nearing retirement age. Getting up there pretty close. Got a good retirement. Been working for the company for years. Had a house, property in Ashland, Kentucky. He went to Pikesville to become pastor. Sold his house, quit his job, gave up his retirement. And we'll do what we can to help them along the way. That's the way you go after it. That's the only way to go after it.

Self-denial. David said, I will not offer God that which will cost me nothing. You can't serve God unless you deny yourself. It's got to be done. And thirdly, diligence. That's what the prayer and the self-denial imply. whatsoever your hand finds to do, Solomon said, do it with all your might. God make me ever diligent in the service of your kingdom." Now, let me give you one word of application, and you carry this home with you. This is God's word to you. Let us not be weary in well-doing, for I don't see anything Don't be weary, quit looking for things to happen. For in due season we shall reap if we think. I believe God, do you? I believe God. In due season we shall reap if we think.