Faith Building Facts
Key Passage: Matthew 11
Date: August 26, 2024
Of course, Joel, Brother Joel is the one that taught her all she knows. I mean, and Joel’s one to do it, you know. Amen.
Turn your Bible, if you would, to Matthew chapter 11 for a bit tonight. Matthew chapter 11. And I felt like the Lord wants us to go this way. I would think that a message like this might be more for our younger folk, but you just never know what God has in mind. It might be for some of us older people, amen. Us wiser people. Shouldn’t say older people. How about that, you know?
But just for a bit, I think I’ll do a follow-up next Sunday. Just have to pray about it. But faith-building facts. Faith-building facts. You know, the soul world loves to criticize and critique and try to create any kind of doubt it can in your mind or your heart.
And sometimes it’s just good. These are just five different facts we’re going to go through tonight, a little different angle. But sometimes it’s good to do this just to build our faith in what we’re believing in and standing for. And especially when you get a lot of critics, an hour of time. Of course, we know in the last days there will be mockers, and there are for sure.
And you can go on the Internet and find just about anybody critiquing and criticizing and saying that’s not true in every angle in the world. And so sometimes this is the answer for that.
We’re just going to go through some faith-building facts tonight starting over here in Matthew chapter 11. And we’re talking a bit about John the Baptist. John the Baptist here, he was in prison. He had stood for truth and stood against Herod taking his brother Philip’s wife, and for that reason he was put in jail. Eventually, he had his head cut off. Stand for what’s right, for truth, and something happens while he’s in prison. We’re going to look at it for just a minute here tonight to kind of get us going as a springboard.
Would you stand, please, as we read God’s Word together? Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11, and starting in verse number two: “Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples.”
Let me just start off saying he knew who Christ was. In fact, his mother and Mary were cousins, so somewhat related, somewhat through Mary. Twice, John the Baptist had already said, “The Lamb of God would take away the sin of the world.” He had pointed his apostles to Jesus. He already knew who Jesus was, but now watch what he’s doing here.
He sent to his disciples and said unto him, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” Well, John the Baptist already knew that.
But John the Baptist is in prison, and he’s putting his life on the line. He’s having a little doubt here. He’s like, “Wait a second. Is this thing all a hoax? Is this really the truth? Is he really the Messiah? Is he the one?” He’s having a little doubt here. Watch how Jesus just—just lambastes him and shoots all that down. No, Jesus doesn’t do that. Watch what Jesus does. Look at this here.
“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see.” Notice that again. He doesn’t rebuke John the Baptist. He encourages him. “Go show them again.” He knows this. He’s seen this. “Show them again: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” That’s always interesting. He included that. The poor have the gospel preached to them. That’s a good sign Jesus is working when the poor have the gospel preached to them. “And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me.” John, you’re going to be blessed. Don’t let this stuff offend. Offending in the Bible is where it causes you to stumble; you stop following the Lord. And he said, “Blessed is the guy who’s going to have opposition. I know you’re in prison. Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me.”
Verse number seven: “And as they departed, Jesus began to speak to the multitudes concerning John.” “That sorry guy doubted me right in the heat of the battle.” He says, “What went ye out in the wilderness to see?”
A reed, shaking in the wind? I mean, kind of a wimpy fellow, just, you know, in the wind, it kind of shakes me. No, he’s a… But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in king’s houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, “Behold, I send my messenger before thee, which shall prepare thy way before thee.” Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist; notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
He’s bragging on John the Baptist. I’ve studied it out. I wanted to preach on them, but I couldn’t prove it from the Bible, so I didn’t. I haven’t. But it seems maybe Jesus had said it loud enough for those followers to hear, so they’ll go back and tell John, “John, you know what Jesus said about you.” But I can’t prove that from the Bible. Maybe that’s not true. But either way, Jesus is bragging on John the Baptist. We know that. But he’s doubting a little bit. He’s just thinking, “Man, this whole thing is just a crazy system. I’m following nothing true.” He’s just doubting everything. Is that the Messiah or not? And Jesus, he really helped him. He gave him some faith-building facts, really. And we’re going to try to do a little bit of that ourselves tonight, just as the Lord leads.
It’s amazing. This great man, he said there’s none greater among men than John. This great man, in the heat of the battle, he’s doubting a little bit. I’ve already mentioned it. Jesus doesn’t belittle him. He doesn’t lambaste him. He realizes, hey, he’s human. Those things happen. By the way, Satan can put doubts into your mind, you realize that? He’s good at that for sure.
And can I say this, doubts aren’t necessarily bad. If someone’s doubting their salvation and they deal with that, that can lead them to say, “Hey, I’m not saved. I need to get saved.” Well, that’s a good thing. Or maybe it’ll lead them to say, “Well, let me study out. Let me remember, did I really do what the Bible said?” “Yeah, I did. I am saved.” And it leads to more faith and more assurance. So doubts aren’t necessarily the worst thing in the world, all right? And John the Baptist was going, and Jesus said, “Hey, tell him this, this, this, this, this.” And it gave him faith-building facts. He was kind of helping him through the tough times. And we’ll just try it a little bit tonight to prepare you for tough times.
I thought about a relative of mine, a niece of mine. She was in college. And, you know, the professors in college like to belittle Christians—not all of them, but a lot of them do. And boy, he was just lambasting Christianity and kind of mocking it and making fun of it. And I’m not saying everything she did is exactly the right way to handle it, but I’ll tell you what she did. He was just giving Christianity a hard way to go and just making fun of it a little bit in the class and intimidating—nobody wanted to say it—intimidating the students. And boy, I tell you what, my niece, she’s got—she ever once in a while she can stand up, and at this honest, what she did in the middle of class, he was just lambasting Christianity and how, you know, it’s just a bunch of potent people don’t know what they’re talking about, whatnot. And she literally said out loud, she said, “Laugh it up, fatty. Judgment Day’s coming.”
Now, I’m not saying that may be the best way to handle it, but at least she stood up, amen. I don’t know how much that won him over to our side or anything, you know, but she stood up for it. But try to just kind of prepare us for when those things happen.
I thought about my old preacher, Brother Hives, when he was a young man. He went to a college that really wasn’t more like a secular college at the time, and it created doubt in his mind. And he read his Bible through on his knees, “Hey, Lord, is this real or not? Is this the truth or not?” And that comes. So just trying to give us some faith-building facts real quickly tonight.
Number one, number one—y’all ready? Five things real quickly tonight. Number one: Our Savior, our Messiah—you check it out—of all the religions of the world, our Messiah, our Savior, is not in a tomb. That’s our trademark. That kind of separates us from everybody. The Muslims, Islam, about 23% of the world—you can go to Mecca, and Mohammed, their leader, is in Saudi Arabia. His body is in this glass case, and it’s like one of their high and holy sites where their Savior, their Messiah, their prophet, is in a tomb. You can go to a tomb, but it’s the empty tomb for Christianity.
You go down through the list: Joseph Smith, he’s the one that started the Mormon religion, Joseph Smith. His tomb or his burial grounds is in the Smith Family Cemetery in Navajo, Illinois. He’s the founder of the Mormon religion. Charles Taze Russell, that started the Jehovah’s Witnesses, he’s buried outside Pittsburgh. There are plenty of popes over there in Rome and Italy, and their graves are there. See, that’s where they lay. Buddha, he was cremated, but they have a right-tooth relic. Confucius is buried in China. I’m just talking about these leaders of these religions. You can find out where they’re buried, but you can go to Jerusalem, the place we think our Savior lay, his body laid for three days, but it’s empty, friend. Because we serve a risen Savior. See, he’s the one. He said, “I was dead, and I am alive forevermore.” That separates us. Our Founder is risen from the grave. That separates us from the rest. That’s point number one. We’ve got to go quickly here. We’ve got five of them, so we’ve got to go quick.
Number two, number two, the accuracy of the Bible. Look, if you will, over in Leviticus chapter 17 for just a minute here. We’re just kind of doing a couple different things tonight, a little different message tonight. Leviticus chapter 17. And two verses here I want you to notice, and really some phrases in them. Leviticus 17. And look at verse number 11, first of all. Verse number 11. Leviticus 17, verse number 11, when you’re there, would you say, “Amen?” Good deal. Verse number 11. The Bible says, “For the life of the flesh is in the what? Blood.” He goes on—there are doctrinal things going on here—but I want you just kind of get that. “We’ll finish the verse, and I’ve given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul.” Look down, verse number 14, verse number 14. “For it is the life—it’s about the blood—for it is the life of all flesh, the blood of it. It is for the life thereof; therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh; for the life of all flesh is in the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.”
But that little phrase, “The life of the flesh is in the blood”—wouldn’t it have been good if years and years ago in early America the doctors would have took the Bible for face value? You know George Washington, the father of America, our first president, George Washington? He was sick. In the medical practice of that day, it was to bleed a person. They thought, “Well, you know, we’ll just take some of that blood out, and it’ll help them get better.” Well, if they had stuck to what God said way before that… They say they think they bled George Washington of about half of his blood. No wonder he was weak and sickly and nigh unto death. And now modern science, we understand that before there was modern science, the Bible told us the life of the flesh is in the blood. I mean, way back when they thought otherwise, God put it in His book.
I’m just talking about the accuracy of the Bible. Now, think about the Bible for a minute, just little phrases like that all through the Bible. But think about it: at least 40 different men God used to pen it. Can you imagine one book that has 40 different authors? 40 different men over 1,200 years—some will go up to 1,600, but at least 1,500—at least 40 different men, most of whom did not know each other. There were different occupations: some fishermen, some shepherds, some kings—all different occupations—that God used to pen the Bible, some scholars, different parts of the world. 40 different men over well over a thousand years this book was penned, different authors, different places, different occupations, and it fits together amazingly. It’s incredible. In Sunday school, we’re studying a little bit about Moses and how the New Testament and Moses all tie together. It’s just an incredible book that fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. It’s like, “Wow. How on earth?” You get a book that’s over 300 pages long, and you’ve got one author, and it takes me a year to write it, and he contradicts himself half the time, you know. But you’ve got a book, 40 different men that penned it over a thousand years to write it, all different places, and it fits together. It doesn’t contradict itself. Friend, that is only one reason: because all those men weren’t the author of the book. They were the men that penned the book, but the Author is God Almighty. That explains it. I mean, there’s just nowhere around that: the accuracy of the Bible, the history of the Bible.
There’s so much that can be said on all these points. The book of Daniel—really, our critics don’t like the book of Daniel because it’s got so much history in there that has already been proven true, and they don’t like that. During the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon was predicted—by the way, it was like the superpower of the world. By the way, the statue, remember the statue? It was the head of gold. It was probably the best worldwide power there ever has been: Babylon. And yet during that time, the Bible predicted that there would be Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. The Bible. And you know what happened after that? Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. I’m just talking about the accuracy of the Bible. Daniel’s amazing, amazing book. Look over in Daniel chapter 8, just briefly here, Daniel chapter 8. And some could probably do much better than I on this, but just amazing, the accuracy of the Bible. Look over in Daniel chapter 8 and just a little history from the book of Daniel. Good to see Brother Tim coming in there. But Daniel chapter 8, and I want you just see this briefly here. Talk about the accuracy of the Bible. Daniel 8 and look in verse number 20. Daniel 8 and verse 20. And he’s given us a little history here. Daniel 8:20, the Bible there says, “The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.” Now, that rough goat is the king—that’s Alexander the Great. All right, we know the name now. Verse number 22: “Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of that nation, but not with his power.” Now, I point that out just briefly to say that the Bible told us what was going to happen, and it happened just like that. And this ram and Greece and Alexander the Great—after Alexander the Great, he kind of boom, he just rose to power so quickly. Then boom, he fell off, and it divided into four kingdoms. And one of those kingdoms, the most powerful of those four kingdoms, went and plundered Israel and Jerusalem. The Bible tells us all that. We didn’t take time to read over. I’m just saying the history of the Bible. Look, you realize if our critics could just show one major flaw in the Bible, they’d be all about that, but they can’t, because it’s accurate. The accuracy of the Bible. Thousands of years ago, these things are written, and they came true. And what’s just a faith-building thing with the accuracy of the Bible? By the way, chapter 11 talks about these four kingdoms and whatnot.
But here’s an amazing thing. Look over in Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24 in your Bible. I’ve got it covered up in my Bible. Matthew 24. And this is Jerusalem. This is Jesus. And he’s coming out. And the apostles were talking about, “Boy, Jesus, look at this temple. Isn’t it magnificent?” And Jesus says something about it. Matthew 24. And by the way, that temple was amazing. It was the Second Temple. Herod really did a lot of additions on the temple there, and the buildings were amazing. And look what Jesus says about it. Matthew 24, verse number one: “And Jesus went out and departed from the temple. And his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
Now wait a second. I mean, at that time, if you had made that statement, you’d be like, “Whoa. Not one stone left upon another? What in the world? How could that be? Man, he’s exaggerating.” But you know the honest truth is, in 70 AD, when Rome and Titus, that ruler there, that general, they came in to take Jerusalem and the Jewish people just standing against them, and they had a siege around. And boy, the Jewish people, they could be stubborn people, you know. And Rome was just infuriated by that siege. And eventually they took it. And, you know, they burned the temple. And you know what happened when they burned that temple? You know the temple is full of this stuff called gold that we like a lot? And gold gets hot enough—what happens to gold? It melts, and it leaks down between all the stones of the temple. And those soldiers—some say they weren’t supposed to do it, but they said, “We don’t care. Man, there’s gold in there.” A little difference according to who you read by. Josephus talks a lot about it. But you know what happened? You know what happened? They took every stone, just like Jesus said, because they wanted that gold that melted down in there.
Now, friend, I’m just talking about the accuracy of the Bible. You just mark it down: the Bible is true, friend. I mean, you just start from the beginning to the end, and the accuracy of the Bible. They used to make fun a little bit of us: “Well, Revelation, it talks about those two witnesses, and everybody in the world can see them being killed and dead. And how in the world can everybody in the world watch one thing?” Well, that’s pretty easy nowadays. They don’t make fun of us on that one anymore. The Bible’s always true. That book of Revelation was penned, you know, around what was it, 95 AD? We’re talking about all those things over a thousand years ago, and the Bible’s always correct for it. Just talking about some faith-building things that might build our faith a little bit. I mean, our only one, praise the Lord, our Savior is risen, and then just the accuracy of the Bible. It’s amazing. And they try to criticize it all they want, but it stood the test of time. By the way, the old King James has been over 400 years, amen.
Number three. We’re just trying to get five things, just trying to build our faith a little bit tonight. Number three: Other religions, and I’m talking about—you can’t cover all the religions—but I’m talking about major religions. They have major flaws in them. They really do, just amazing. We’ve already talked about Islam, over 20% of the world, 23% of the world, some say. But Islam—well, you know, if you really study out the life of Mohammed, their leader, he led in 27 military campaigns against innocent people, murdering, raping, plundering. Well, I don’t know about you, but if that was my faith leader, founder, I’d have a problem with that religion. You can’t find that in Jesus Christ. Not with that, but Mohammed, he had—it’s a little debate—at least 11 wives, some say up to 13 wives. Study now. I don’t know about you, but I have a little problem with that. Just talking about, and by the way, 23% of the world is Muslim. In the Hadith, it says, “I am the prophet that laughs when killing my enemies.” Well, that sounds like a good spiritual leader, doesn’t it? Wow. And the Bible says, “Love your enemies.” What about that?
Let’s keep going. Charles Taze Russell, he’s the founder of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He said the Lord was coming back in 1914. I’ve even studied out in history; it’s very clear. He was pretty adamant about it: “Lord’s coming back 1914. Let’s get ready for it.” Man, you know, we’re over 100 years later, 110 years later. He hadn’t come back yet. I’m just talking about major flaws. You study out these major ones—there are major flaws there. You can study out Christianity and you won’t find that. See?
And Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion, he was arrested for being a glass-looker, bank forgery, and for treason. He practiced polygamy. Here’s another one we’re not sure exactly: had 28 to 34 wives. Wow. And was killed on June 27, 1844, while in Carthage Jail. Shot three men in the process, but none of those men died; he did. I’m just talking about flaws. There are major flaws with these major religions. I mean, Catholics, which they claim to believe the Bible—and I didn’t mean every Catholic person is lost. I’ve met some Catholic people that say, “I know it’s not good works that saved me. I know Jesus Christ’s blood saves me.” But they go to a Catholic church that teaches good works save. See, that’s what the Catholic Church teaches. Check it out. That’s what they believe: Jesus plus good works. What does the Bible say? Jesus said, “I am the way.” He didn’t say, “I am part of the way.” He said, “I am the way.” “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” See? And I’m not saying every Catholic person is lost if they’re believing in Jesus Christ alone that saves, but the church teaches good works salvation—Jesus plus. But anyway, they say they believe their Bible, and they also teach that Peter was the first pope, and they believe a pope ought not be married. But three times the Bible talks about Peter’s mother-in-law. Well, what guy in the world would have a mother-in-law without a wife? That’s a major flaw right there for sure. I’m just saying, just trying to build their faith a little bit in Christianity, and I had all the other religions. You check it out, study it out. They’ve got major flaws in them.
Number four. Number four: Israel gives proof, proof of the truth of Christianity. Now think about this thing, just Israel. It’s been prophesied—it’s Ezekiel 36, 37, 38, in other places. But it was prophesied because of their rejection of Jesus as a whole, and they’re just rebellious in the Old Testament, that they would be plundered, they’d be oppressed, and they would be distressed, just spread around the world, and they had been. In 70 AD, Rome, and really from there, they just spread them around the country. The Bible over there in Zechariah 36:12—countries—they were just spread around the country, countries around the world. They were dispersed for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. Then the Bible prophesies their regathering—not just regathering as a people, but regathering back to the land. And sure enough, sure enough, after all those hundreds of years—I can’t remember exactly, maybe a thousand years—I think it was over a thousand years. Yes, it is, of course. But in 1948, they regathered back to the land of Israel, not just as people, but back to the same homeland and to become a nation again.
Now, friend, name me one other people that was dispersed around the world for a thousand—over a thousand—well, over 1,800 years—and then 1,800 years later, those people came back to that same homeland and started that nation back up. You can’t find that. You can’t find anything close to that. And then that not only came back to the homeland, but their nationality—I mean, you spread people around the world. I mean, in America, we’re the melting pot of the world, and there’s a lot of truth to that. I mean, I’ve got a little bit of everything in me, you know. I got a lot of Hungarian in me from my dad, but my mom’s side, we got a little bit of everything in us, you know. And that’s kind of typical in America. But even nationally, the Jewish people came back to the homeland, and the Jewish people as a race. Wow. I’m not saying there’s not any intermingling there, but you just don’t know. There’s not another thing like that in history. And yet the Bible told us that was going to happen all those years ago. The nation of Israel—if nothing else, if I just studied the prophecies about Israel in the Bible and I studied our world and what’s going on, I’d have a hard time not believing there’s something to this thing. How in the world? You just don’t hear of that.
And then not only that, but how many leaders of the world have tried to kill the Jewish people over the years? Of course, the main one we think about is Hitler and the Holocaust, and six million Jews—that’s for sure true—but there’s so much in history of people. There were full-scale persecutions against Jews in many places in the High Middle Ages in Europe. The Crusades were followed by expulsions, and all English Jews were banished in 1290. 100,000 Jews were expelled from France in 1396. In 1421, 1,000 were expelled from Austria. Many expelled Jews ended up fleeing over to Poland. I’m just saying, I’ve just got a little bit of history. There are so many people over the years that have persecuted the Jewish people. Why? Why so many go out to that race right there? Because that’s God’s chosen race, and Satan’s after them. It’s just amazing. You study out history on it, folks. You may be a better historian than me when you study it out. It’s just no way around. It’s like, “Wow, how in the world?” I’ll tell you how in the world: because the Bible’s true. From the time of Egypt when they oppressed Israel to now, how many have tried to stamp out the Jewish people. It’s amazing. Even today, the Muslims—I mean, talk about Iran. We studied out not too long ago on the Wednesday night series. They want to wipe them off the face of the map. How many of those nations around there have much, much more people, their population, and their land masses just would swallow up Israel? Israel is about the size of the state of New Jersey. Population, almost 9.5 million. It’s the 98th country as far as population in the world. There are only 195 nations in the world. And yet all these nations around there, they’re trying to wipe out Israel, and they can’t. It’s the world’s superpower, this little bitty, tiny nation, 9.5 million people. How in the world can you explain that? God. That’s how you can explain that. That’s the only way. Friend, they’ve been after them forever. Iran, you know, they’re supposed to attack any time, and Hezbollah is supposed to attack any time. And what’s going to happen? God’s going to take care of Israel. That’s what’s going to happen. Friend, I’m just saying there are so many things, and much, much more we’ll cover tonight. Maybe we’ll cover more next Sunday night. But just faith-building facts of Christianity: Our Messiah is not in the grave, the accuracy of the Bible, all the other religions, they’ve got major flaws in them, and Israel gives proof of the truth of Christianity.
And then the last thing tonight, we’re going to be done for tonight. Look over in John 16, verse number 24. John 16, verse number 24. This is more personal. I’m sure if you’ve served the Lord very long, that you have some of these yourself that you could tell. And they’re really just a faith-building thing that God’s built into Christianity. I’m thankful for this.
But John 16, look in verse number 24. John 16 and verse number 24, he says, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” Now, here’s what I’m getting at: when I have an answer to prayer, or you have an answer to prayer, it just builds your faith. You’re going to have a hard time having your joy full if you’re just doubting everything. And just answers to prayer. Every person in this room here, if you’ve lived for the Lord very long, you could give testimonies just like I’m going to do it. I’m going to do it because I’m the preacher now. If you want to stand to preach, well, that little boy preached this morning too, so, you know.
Anyway, you’ve heard me tell the story, and I was just—I wasn’t this little. I don’t know how old I was, maybe just—I would just say eight, nine, maybe 10 years old, I don’t know. But you’ve heard me tell the story how we needed a tire for one of our cars. We didn’t have the money for it. And I, you know, the family was praying for that tire, and they got me involved with this thing and praying for the tire. And I’m walking down the railroad tracks, pop bottle hunting, amen. And, just, it’s a brand new one. Figures that fell off the train. There’s a brand new tire out of all the different sizes of tires. It’s just the right size that we needed that we’ve been praying about. And that was good for this little fellow when I was a boy to realize, “Hey, this thing’s real.” Answers to prayer.
I never forgot in Bible college one time. I had a problem with my car, and I can’t remember the whole situation. But I remember I had bought a part for my car, and I lost that thing, and I looked for it all over the place. I lived in the dorms at the time, so I blamed every one of my dorm mates. I mean, you do something like that. You know, what did you do with it? When you get married, you ask your wife, “What did you do with it?” And she said, “Well, that’s where you left it over there, buddy,” you know. But I looked for that thing all over the place. I mean, sincerely, I looked, I don’t know how long, and I was frustrated and mad, trying to go to college. I didn’t have money, and I’d already paid for that crazy thing. And I’ll never forget, I got down on my knees in my dorm room. And I said, “Lord, help me find that crazy part. This is crazy.” But it’s honest truth. I lifted up my head and looked, and right over there in just a little spot, I saw that part. I’d been looking at that thing for ages. Now, I don’t know about you, but if you’ve lived for the Lord long, you’ve got stories just like that. And those things will build your faith. God’s kind of built that into Christianity—just faith-building things.
I thought about this afternoon. We, for a time, we were just looking everywhere and anywhere for land and a building and whatnot. And someone had set a meeting—Ms. Brenda’s husband, Brother Darrell—he had set up a meeting. He worked with a man whose family owned tons of land around here in Smyrna, where Public Storage says they own that—those townhomes they’re building behind Public Storage, they own that. I can’t remember all the other side of Smyrna they own that—the Lee family, Lee Victoria Parkway is the Lee family; they own so much of Smyrna. And he set up a meeting, and Brother Darrell and I met with this man. We got to ride around in his Cadillac Escalade. We were uptown, I tell you what, friends. We rode all around Smyrna, and “We own that,” and “We own that,” and “We own that.” And out of all the land he showed us that day, this land over here—I said, “Boy, we’d like to get that land right there.” Ms. Brenda reminded me of this; Brother Darrell reminded her and told me, and I kind of forgot about this, but that’s the land we—I forgot Raleigh’s first answer was he said, “You don’t want that land. He said it’s in a floodplain.” Well, I was so young and dumb, I felt like that was the land. I didn’t even hear of that part. That’s why I forgot about it. The honest truth is, it’s a good thing we didn’t get the land because it wasn’t a floodplain since then. When they built Home Depot over there—I don’t know how many around here remember that before Home Depot was in Smyrna back in the day—you know, and it was up a little bit. Remember they dynamited some of that, and they dug that out, the rock and the dirt? Well, you know where they took a lot of that rock and the dirt from? They took it to that land over there. You know how expensive it is to move all that dirt and rock and everything and bring it over to land and build it up? A lot of expense. We’ve got the geotech reports from the land, actually. We’ve had it for a while. And here’s what I’m saying: when we didn’t own the land, somebody else paid all the money to get it lifted up, to get most of it out of the floodplain. Praise the Lord for that. God knew a whole lot better than this old boy. But now we own that land. I said, “That’s it,” you know. And he said, “All right,” you know, and that’s what he had said. I’d be talking to family, “I’d give you a good deal on all that stuff.” We never heard a thing. Then God opened it up over here, and we moved here. Brother Dylan called and so on. I moved over here. And all these years later, we tried to build here, couldn’t build here, doesn’t perk here. And we started looking for land, and God opened that land up. You’ve heard me tell these stories so much, but it sold that land in a little bit more where the bread store and O’Reilly’s and all that is. It sold all that. Maybe all that land sold for about $3.5 million years and years and years ago. Well, my friend, you know, prices don’t go down, especially around here, prices on land. They’ve shot sky high. And the fact that we got 15 acres over there after they had sold that for $3.5 million all those years before, and everything’s going sky high, and we got those 15 acres for $1.3 million. And it was the exact same spot about 20 years ago. It’s 20 years ago now that we agreed on. Friend, the only way you can explain that is God. God put that whole thing together. Now, I don’t know about you, but for me, it builds my faith. God’s working. God’s real, and I pray to a real, living God that hears our prayers, and He’s working things. And when God answers your prayers, there’s something about it. When God answers your prayers, it gives you faith—this thing’s real. And, friend, I don’t know where you’re at tonight. Maybe the devil is trying to put just doubt in your mind, but you ask God; He’ll show you. There are faith-building facts all over the place.
Our Savior is not in the grave. He’s risen. That Bible’s accurate. It’s amazing how accurate the Bible is. All the other religions—you study about them a little bit—there are major flaws in them. Israel—wow. How in the world have they been after Israel so many times, and yet they stand? And after 1,800 years, they came back to the same spot, started that nation. You can’t find anything else like that in all history. And then the answers to prayer. Praise the Lord for those. By the way, it might be a good thing for you to think about the answers to prayers that God’s given you. He’s there for you if you served Him, on those answers to prayer.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes tonight? Maybe you’re here tonight, you just need to thank the Lord. “Oh, I’m so thankful. I don’t serve someone that’s in a casket somewhere. I don’t have to go by and look at his body. Oh, I’m so thankful. I pray to our risen Savior.” Maybe just worship Him a little bit tonight, praise Him a little bit tonight, thank Him a little bit. Thank you, I serve a risen Savior. I talk with Him this morning. Amen. The song goes…
Maybe here tonight you say, “I need to be more open about it. I don’t need to be on the defense and be on the offense telling others about my risen Savior. I won’t be ashamed. I don’t want them to kind of push me in a corner somewhere.” No, I’ve got the truth. I’m going to let the truth shine.
Maybe here tonight, you just say, “Hey, you know, Satan’s been creating doubt in my mind. I needed that tonight.” Whatever the need, would you spend a little time with the Lord? Would you stand tonight? Would you stand tonight? Would you just spend some time loving on Him and thanking Him and saying, “I want to let Your light shine brightly?” Would you do that? Father, thank you for Your goodness. Thank you, Lord. We get to serve You. Thank you for the proofs and the truth You’ve given us over and over again, Lord. Help us to look at those. Father, would You build our faith tonight? We’ll thank You for what You do in Jesus’ name. Amen.
You know, the Bible calls Satan a roaring lion. He’s not just a lion, but he’s roaring. His goal is to incite fear into us and intimidate us. And sometimes it’s just helpful to see the facts, the faith-building facts. And, you know, it’s kind of like when the devil roars right in your face trying to make it out, you just say, “Hey, man, you got bad breath. Back off there.” I’m standing for the truth here. Don’t be intimidated by him. Just keep shining. “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.” Amen. Hide it under a bushel? No, let it shine. That’s what this world needs. And praise the Lord, we’ve got the truth. What a blessing. Good to have you in church tonight. Thank you for being here. Praise the Lord. I’m on the winning side. We get to come and serve the Lord in His house. What a great, great thing. By the way, by the time I get everybody in here, not a bad crowd for the folks that are out of town. Praise the Lord for that, and glad you’re in church on a Sunday night. Tomorrow starts Rutherford County Christian School. Wow, starting up tomorrow. And we’ve got the—we’ve got the paddle machine ready to go back here. No, I’m teasing about that. We don’t have that. But amen. Excited about it. Tomorrow’s it. And be praying for a great start of the school year for our church. Good to see everybody here tonight. Glad you’re here. What a blessing. Praise the Lord.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - ＂Faith Building Facts＂ - Sunday PM 08⧸18⧸2024 [98PbhMh8VcY]