Who Do Men Say That I The Son of God Am?

All right, praise the Lord, everybody. Good evening. Jesus is Lord. Um, welcome to Tuesday night Bible study. Uh, this ought to be exciting tonight. It's always exciting, but for other reasons, it should be very exciting. And I guess it's good for me to be able to teach this tonight. I was thinking about, go to Matthew chapter 16. I like to go there a lot, particularly because of when Jesus is speaking to Peter and he's speaking to the disciples, and he wants to say, "Who do men say that I am?" Okay, so let's look at Matthew 16, uh, and verse, verse 13.

"When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that I the Son of man am? Who do men, who do men say?" And they say, "Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some Elias; and others, Jeremias or one of the prophets." He saith unto them, "But whom say ye that I am?" And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered and said unto him, "Blessed art thou, Simon bar Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then charged to his disciples that they should tell no man that he was the Christ. From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, "Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee." But he turned and said unto Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men."

This is so powerful here. And so Jesus was sharing with the disciples about his life, you know, his sinless life. He's going to the cross, he's going to be crucified, he's going to be persecuted, and he's going to be killed. And I guess that is a very hard saying, something hard to accept or hear about your mentor or your leader. He says, "I'm going to be killed," but he said, "I'm going to be raised again the third day." And what this says to me, to some degree, that even though Peter just got the revelation, the revelation came from God, from the Holy Spirit, through Peter, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Just because the person has a revelation at that moment doesn't mean that they walk in revelation or revelatory understanding throughout their whole walk. It appears that this may even have been the same day. It doesn't say, but it appears like it was within the same time period. It doesn't say. But it says, then he says, and when he says in verse 19, "Thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then charged. It looks like it happened right after that. After he said this, he charged his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

Now, God had a reason for that because there's a timing for everything. And He charged them, "Don't tell anybody." Okay, Peter had the revelation through him, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." But He charged and said, "Don't tell anyone." Now, if Jesus says, "Don't tell," He has a reason for saying, "Don't tell." If Jesus says, "The time is not yet," then He has a reason for saying, "The time is not yet."

And so then He says this to them, "From that time forth," from when He said that, Jesus, He began to show his disciples how that He was going to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests, Christ, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Okay. Now, what Peter did was emotional. What Peter did was impulsive. What Peter did was, uh, an act of, an act of madness, really, if you stop to think of it. Because when it says that, "Then Peter took him," that means Peter took Jesus. And I've shared with you before that when you look at that, Peter literally put his hands on Jesus. And I mean, he actually was like rebuking Jesus. Jesus telling him, giving a prophetic understanding of what's going to be happening in the next few days or weeks or whatever. And Peter takes Jesus, you know, and then he begins to rebuke him. It says, "Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him." Okay.

So we see Peter rebuking the Lord, you know. And I remember that thought some time back about rebuking the Lord. And I thought about how many times we've rebuked the Lord, uh, not normally because we erroneously thought it was Satan. And sometimes when you don't know who you're dealing with, you rebuke the devil when it's God talking to you, you know, especially if we don't like necessarily what God is saying, or how He said it, or something that may be a little bit difficult for us to really take in. And then we said, "I, I rebuke you," saying, "In the name of Jesus, I rebuke you. I don't receive that." How many times have we done that? Then later found out there was the Lord talking to us. See what I'm saying?

And so therefore, Peter, so much like us, he says he took Jesus and began to rebuke him. And in rebuking him, it says, "Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee." Do you realize how far off Peter was? How, how far off you can get? You could walk in revelation, and the next moment you could almost be walking in blasphemy. You can walk in revelation, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," and then before you know it, before the breath is out of your mouth, good, the next thing you can be saying is rebuking Jesus and saying something like, "This shall not be unto thee." If it was not to be unto Jesus, He would have said it.

So this is letting us know about the relationship between Jesus and Peter that is building. He's building a relationship. Peter has a personality. Peter is the leader. Peter is very assertive and aggressive. And you know, we get Peter, Peter's the leader. But sometimes the leader doesn't mean that he always, Peter understood exactly the things that Jesus was saying. As a matter of fact, when we read this and we look at the resurrection, and we look and see that when Jesus was laid in the tomb, that the disciples went and hid themselves because they were afraid. See, they really, really didn't, down in their heart of hearts, believe that Jesus is going to be raised from the dead. You hear what I'm saying? They didn't believe that. Peter here, obviously, did not believe what Jesus said, "Where I'm going to be killed, and in three days, three days, and raised again the third day." Well, my goodness, you never heard of anything like that. Who has heard of anything like that before in your life? They're pretty not just predicting their death, but announcing their death along with them, not saying their death, saying, "Yeah, but I'm coming back to life again." Okay.

And so there were times when the disciples did not understand the Savior. They did not understand Him, okay? And that's what this is about tonight. Times when we don't understand God. We don't understand the ways of God, how He's handling this, how He's doing this. We don't always understand the timing of God. Why are we having to go through what we're going through? Why doesn't God, you know, save us or fix this and that, type of thing? This type of thing here with Peter is very devastating.

Verse 23 again, "But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan." Now, this is very important. Now, we know He was talking to Peter, but He said, "Get thee behind me, Satan." So, was He calling Peter Satan? Or did He recognize, listen to this, did He recognize, but tell you how vulnerable we are in the spirit realm between good and evil? Peter had just, by the Holy Ghost, said, "Thou art the Christ." And then within minutes, or within a short life of the time, through him is now coming a, a word where he has no understanding whatsoever. That Jesus literally sees that it's Satan speaking through Peter. It is the spirit behind it. It was the Holy Spirit behind him a few minutes ago when he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." But now it's not the Holy Spirit, okay? It is Satan.

So when Jesus said, "Get thee behind me, Satan," He could have said, "Get thee behind me, Peter." But He wasn't dealing with Peter. He was dealing with a spiritual force that brought, brought about that type of, um, unbelief or confusion that Jesus is not going to go to the cross, that He wasn't going to die, that He was going to be raised from the dead. You know, and then even when Jesus says, you know, "Don't tell anybody," you know, "These are the things that are gonna begin to happen, but don't you tell anybody." He turned and said unto Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Okay.

And many times, I talk about, you have to know the spirit behind the person that you're dealing with, okay? You remember, uh, Paul. Let's leave your hand here. Let's go to, um, my mind, come on, Acts. Go to Acts 16. Acts 16. I want to show you something similar. You got to know the spirit behind that, okay? Let's go to verse, um, verse 16. Acts 16:16.

And it says, it says here, "And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying." That's a mouthful. So she's possessed. She has a spirit of divination. She has masters that she's accountable to. She's making a lot of money for them through the occult, through soothsaying, through witchcraft and sorcery, okay? And it says here, "The same, the same damsel followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation." Many people debate this verse, but let's just go by what she said. She said, "These men are servants of the most high God." That was true. "Which show unto us the way of salvation." Well, what did she say that was wrong? And some people say that the article was changed, and that she said that, "Show us a way of salvation." But let's deal with what we have right here before us instead of trying to go and speculate that what would you, whether they should have put in a or the, okay?

And it says here, "And this she did many days." But Paul being grieved. Now, if she did this many days, so let's see, every time they go to prayer, and she's saying, probably in a weird, demonic type voice or tone, because when you're talking, listening to a spirit, and the spirit's talking, it doesn't sound like a human being, you know? They don't, they sound real different. They sound real different when they are, when they're possessed. You know, a person like Peter here, he was talking in his regular tone. But see, this woman here, she did this many days. Many days, many days, many days, many days. And so she's saying the same thing over and over and over and over again to Paul, to Paul, when they go to prayer, to me, that is a, a, a bold distraction and usurping your salvation. Because what she's saying every day, all the time, whenever they go to prayer, there she is. Now, why is it? It's no coincidence that every time they go to prayer, there she is. Every time they go to prayer, there she is. It doesn't say that she was in the synagogue. Where were they going to pray? Okay. In other words, this here, Paul discerned the spirit behind this thing. And "this she did many days." But Paul being grieved, turned and said to the spirit. He's turned and said to the spirit, okay? He said to the spirit. He said to the spirit. He didn't say to the lady. He said to the spirit. Now he's addressing the spirit, "I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And she came out that same hour.

So there's two different things here. Paul said to the spirit. Let's flip back over to Matthew chapter 16. And it says, "He turned and said unto Peter." With the woman, with the spirit of divination, he dealt with the spirit that was controlling the woman. Here with Peter, he turned and said unto Peter, directly to Peter, not sure that the master looked right in his face and said, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Then these words are important. He said, "Thou art an offense unto me." So what could offend the Lord? What could be an offense unto Him? Doubt, unbelief, doubt, unbelief, assumption, presumption, you know, not really listening to Jesus, not hearing what He said, or did Peter just not trust God? Did he just not trust the Lord? He had just said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Now you're taking Him and you think that you have the power to rebuke Him? You think you have the power to correct Him? Now, this was a bold mistake, negative move on Peter's part. But this also shows us how within an instant, the enemy can get control of a situation. He can get control of an argument. He can get control of something going down in your family, just like that. You think that you're handling everything well, and just out of nowhere, somebody comes up with something, and you know that it's from a very, very dark place.

"Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me." For thou savorest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. So He told Peter, "You're in the flesh." He said, "What you're talking about, this is not God." He had just said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Now Jesus said, "But now you're in the flesh." He said, "Because you savor the things that be of man."

Then Jesus said unto his disciples, He addressed this to all the disciples, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. If you're going to come after me, you got to follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here which shall not taste death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."

And so this whole relationship between Jesus and Peter, Jesus and Peter, the relationship between me and Jesus, and you and Jesus, is predicated on who He is, who you know that He is to you, who you believe who is to you. And if I would ever, if He would ever lie to me, if I would ever, if I don't take God at His word, then I'm saying, "You're lying." You know, there's an old saying that they were a lot of people, you lie. It's kind of like, if you don't accept it, are we calling Jesus a liar? Are we rebuking Him? Or we said, "I rebuke you. I rebuke you, Satan. I rebuke you, Lord," because we're not taking Him at His word. We take Jesus at His word, okay?

And so therefore, we learn. And so this relationship with Peter and Jesus, if you study it, you know, they, it was a very, it was very intense relationship because Jesus has a short time to train Peter. It's a short time to train Peter, so Peter will, will, will grow into his purpose and his destiny, what God has for him, you know. And I believe that we see Peter remaining impulsive throughout his whole life in ministry because even after Jesus rose from the dead, and He was sitting up and talking to the disciples, and He was telling Peter what would happen at the end of his life, when he got older, talking to Peter about his death, and then Peter on the blue says, "Well, what about John?" And you have to realize that if you're impulsive, if you don't stop to think before you speak, if you're in a mentoring training space or sphere, and Jesus is training you, He's already brought you to be His disciple, you don't have any business rebuking Jesus, or to think for a moment that what He said to you, it's not true.

Now, when God said, "I'll never leave you, nor forsake you," that has to be true. It has to be true. He said, "I'll never leave you, nor forsake you." He says that, that, that, that, that I should cast. Go to First Peter. I should cast all my care on Him because He cares for me. Look at First Peter. I'm sorry, guys. I turned. Second Peter. First Peter. This is chapter five. And then it says this here. Let's go to verse 6. Because we can never read too much about humility. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

So He said, "Cast all your care upon Him." All of our care. And cares for anything that creates worry and anxiety. Worry and anxiety, stress, stress, fear. He said, "Cast all your care upon me because I care for you." Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you. I got to believe that God cares for me. How do you believe that God cares for me? See, and if I believe that God cares for me, if something happens contrary, I have to know that that's not God's perfect will for my life because I already know that He cares. And my healing, my relationship is based upon what I know He said to me.

Now, listen to me. God said something through Peter. You better get this. Through Peter, but it didn't get to his head. It didn't get to his head. It didn't renew his mind. It didn't make him stop to think, "Oh, this is a great thing." When Jesus is talking about, "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it," and "Whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven." Otherwise, it's kind of like he was saying it. But did Peter not hear any of that? And sometime I wonder, did we really not hear what God said? Did we really not hear what God's word said?

So He said, He said, "Cast your care." So cast, you know, cast it. And that word "cast" is, is, uh, maybe because it's a, a fishing term, but it's a word that means to toss. You know, in other words, it has a lot of activity and aggression to it. He said, "Cast his care on me." He told Peter, remember, He told Peter, "Cast your net into the deep." Cast. He said, "Cast down imaginations." That's not a, that's not a subtle, "Oh, you know, deal with your imaginations." Deal with it. Put the love, put, put the net over there. No. Same thing with your cares. Because God knows there's some things that, that you care about that can really hurt you, you know? There's some things that you care about that can devastate your soul, devastate your soul. He knows you care. You love. We lose loved ones. We lose things, you know.

So I just need to know that God cares for me. But sometimes we just keep taking it back. We know God cares, but we keep taking it back. We know God cares. And so for God, uh, to have to, uh, speak to Peter. Now, when Peter rebuked the Lord, and basically said to the Lord, "You're lying," or "I don't want to receive this," it could have been his emotions saying, "I, I don't want anything to happen to you." It could have been out of his ignorance, out of his ignorance, that he said something like that. Because, "I don't want anything to happen to you. I don't want anything to happen to you."

But Paul had a similar situation when he was going to go to, uh, uh, Jerusalem. And Agabus, the prophet, you know, remember, he took this girdle. He said, "Well, who does this belong to?" And Paul said, "It belonged to him." He said, "Whoever wears this, whoever's this belongs to, then he went on to tell Paul that the kind of stuff he was going to run into in Jerusalem, that he was going to be persecuted in Jerusalem, he was going to be this, he was going to be that." Okay. And so that's what was going to happen.

Selena, why did God have Agabus prophesy that to Paul? Okay, about what was going to happen? Was God warning him not to go to Jerusalem? Was that God warning him? Or was that God just letting you know, "I'm letting you know in advance. You're gonna have some problems when you get there. You're gonna have to lean, you're gonna have to lean very heavily on Me. You have to use everything you've ever learned in your faith. You've got to walk in faith. You're gonna have to stand on the word of God. You know, you have to be keenly discerning in what you're going through." Because when you get into a place where there's adversaries, there's enemies, and the thing is very open warfare. So it's God warning him about open warfare? Or is He trying to scare him or tell him not to go? And then there's a time when Paul and the people that loved Paul, you know, were begging him not to go when he was gonna get ready to go, uh, another area on a dangerous missionary journey. It was dangerous. And so, and they were saying and crying and asking him not to go. And and Paul said, "Don't be breaking my heart," or "Don't try to, don't use your emotion toward me to keep me from walking in my purpose and my destiny and doing what I need to do." Because some people will be emotional, okay?

So Peter, emotional, impulsive, okay. So I cast all my care on God because God cares for me. Why? Because so I don't have anxiety, so that I don't have stress, so that I don't have worry, so that I'm not worrying, so that I'm not fearful, I'm not fruitful, so that I'm not in despair. All these things. So I cast my care on the Lord. I cast my care in the Lord because He cares for me. But it'd be something if God's just stopped there. But look at who's writing this. This is Peter. We're gonna go to Peter in a minute. Peter has grown some in writing this, okay?

So now he looks sad. Let's look at verse 8. And then he goes and he says, "Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." Who resists steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. Who resists steadfast. So God says, "I want you to cast your care on Me because I care for you." But this is what you're gonna have to do. Even though you give Me the care, you're gonna have to stand. Giving Me the care doesn't mean that you do not have to participate in your own healing, your own deliverance, your own financial recovery. We have to participate.

So He says, "Be sober. Be vigilant." Be sober. Be vigilant. That word "sober" is powerful. The Bible tells us to walk circumspect. That is, why not as fools, but as wise. Sober, you know, where we're in full control of our mind. We're in full control of our balance, our equilibrium. There's a balance in our lives. We have an understanding of what we're doing. It says, "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil." Even though you've cast the care on the Lord, you still have an adversary. Casting the care on the Lord doesn't mean that you don't have to fight. You don't have to war. Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Who resists steadfast. I love this. You got to resist. The Bible said, "If you resist, resist steadfast." Okay? "Resist the devil, he will flee from you." Resist the devil, that he will flee from you. And so Peter has come to understand this, okay? He says, "Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." Not that in your group, not in your identity, in your block, but in the world. This is something that we're looking at. You see me?

Go to Mark chapter 4 for just a moment. In Mark chapter 4, in Mark chapter 4, let's look at verse 30, something here when I get to it. Verse 35. "And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side." I'm in Mark 4:35. "Let us pass over to the other side." And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there rose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him, and say to him, "Master, carest thou not that we perish? Carest thou not that we perish?"

Now, here again, Jesus asleep in the hinder part of the boat, okay? It looks like you're gonna, it looks like here again, you're in a rough situation. The wind, adversities of life, the ship is looking like it's getting full of water, looked like the, the ship, the ship could run over. There are other little ships around you. But what do they say? They said, "Don't you care?" You don't care. And I hear that can sometimes come from a lot of people when we don't understand how the Lord is dealing in a situation. It's like, "God doesn't care. He doesn't care about us when we're sick. It doesn't care about us when we're going through, uh, despair or heartbreak, or we're going through emotional or mental problems." That He doesn't care. See?

But one of the things that we have to know, that we know, that we know, that we know, and that is that God cares. I got to know that He cares for me. He cares for me. So what are they saying when they think that they're going to perish? When they think they're going under, I should say. They said, "Master." And they basically said, "Don't you care?" You don't care. Is that an insult to Christ? That is as much as an insult as saying, taking Him by the shoulders and rebuking Him.

And so when you look at Christ's training of the disciples, you know, to be apostles, He had His work cut out for Him, you know. When you're training leaders, it's not easy to train leaders because what you're going to get with every leader, you get their vulnerabilities, you know, when you get their ego, you get their strengths, and you get their weaknesses, okay? And it all depends which one is leading at the time of correction that determines whether or not this correction is going to be fruitful.

And so what do you say here? They said, "Don't you care that we perish?" Well, later on, Peter tells us in First Peter, Second Peter, I think it is, is that God is not willing that any should perish. God is not willing that any should perish, okay? Listen, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth him should not what? Should not what?" What does the word perish mean? Should not perish. Whosoever believeth him should not perish. Should not perish. But then the Bible says, Peter says, Second Peter, "God is not willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentance." You know, God wants, He doesn't want anybody not to be saved. He doesn't want anybody, uh, uh, not to, to see glory. He doesn't want anyone going to hell. "Carest thou not that we perish?"

And so they said here, "They awoke him and said unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?" And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, "Peace, be still." And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And He said unto them, "Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?" And so when we allow fear to compromise God's word, or fear to compromise our integrity in God's word, He said, "Why, why, why? How is it that you have no faith?" You know, now Jesus is in the boat with him. He's in the boat with him. He's asleep, okay? He's the Savior. He's Lord. He's the Messiah, okay? You're walking with Him, you're learning who He is. And it's a journey to learn who God is. We don't always know what to do at any given time. And the longer you walk with Him, and sometimes the more mistakes you make, I'm going to distribute that to myself, the more you learn about Him. We learn from making mistakes. We learned, "This is not the proper way to do this."

But they woke Him up, and then they said, "Don't you care?" And it was because He was asleep. Because He's the Prince of Peace. You should have went to sleep too. But the circumstances of life, COVID, your job, your marriage, your family, all this healing and health situations and surgeries, and the wind and the waves meeting vehemently against your life and your situations and circumstances, sometimes the enemy wants to beat you down till you think that God just does not care. When you feel like you're in that all by yourself, and that He doesn't understand. And when we feel like that, if you begin to feel like that, that is, uh, that is a thought and an act of unbelief. It's not faith. It's not faith. "Don't you care? Don't you care?" How have you ever been there? You've seen like, "Yeah, I've been there." You know, like, "Hey, what are you gonna do something about this? Hey, God, Jesus, Jesus, God, where are you? When are you going to do something about this situation?"

But even though His timing may not be our timing, well, one thing that we can say, and what we can know, is that I know my God is faithful. He said He would not allow me to be tested above I'm able, but with the tests will, will, you know, give me the ability to withstand it. You follow me? And you'll give me the way of escape. You know, then that's when you have to know the word. And God does love nothing more than us reminding Him of His word. Put Him back in remembrance of His word. Not rebuking Him. And who am I to rebuke the Lord? I remember years ago, I had a girlfriend, and, uh, what a friend of mine. And we just, all of us were pretty newly saved. And so she got this revelation. She told me. She says, "Bam, she says, I know when the devil's speaking to me, and I know when God's speaking to me. I know the voice of God." She said, "When it's God speaking to me, it's because it's good. And when it's bad, it's the devil speaking to me." I said, "I wish it was that easy." Because sometimes God says something to us that we don't want to hear, we're not ready to hear, we're not ready to check, change, we don't get it, you know? We don't.

Okay, let's look at this in another text, okay? Let's look at it in Matthew. "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" So basically, he did rebuke them. Okay. I'm gonna go to Matthew chapter 8, you guys. And that's when we sing that song when it says, "When my back's against the wall, and it looks like it's over, He made a way. He always makes a way. Always. You're not ever alone in that situation or that tragedy of that set of circumstances. We can't undo it. What's done is done, but God's gonna see you through it." Okay.

In Matthew chapter 8, let's look at verse, um, 23. "And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him." Was this good? "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. Carest thou not that we perish?" And even though Matthew and Mark don't use the exact same words, that's why it's always good to understand about the Gospels, that they're different writers, and they may use different terminology, but it's the same event.

So then, well, they wake Him up. And I don't think when they woke Him up, so I don't know if Jesus is asleep. I, I don't know about men. Sometimes you guys sleep real hard. You're hard to wake up. How many know you're hard to wake up? My brother used to be so hard to wake up that we used to have to push and then run, you know, pushing because he would wake up, you know, and then he woke up ready to fight, you know, because you just can't, don't startle them. You know, don't startle them. I just think that when they got ready to wake Jesus up, He was in such a peaceful sleep that they probably were sitting there, "No, you wake him up. No, you wake them up. Don't you wake him?" "I won't." "No, I did it last time." You know, so I probably didn't say it. It was probably Peter. But anyhow, it says here, "And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish."

And He said unto them, "Why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith?" Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. And the men marvelled, saying, "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" Now, Mark did it a little different. Mark says that He rebuked the winds first, then rebuked the disciples. Matthew says that He gives us the impression that He rebukes them first, then He rebuked the, then He rebuked the wind. Either way, it happened. Both things happen. See, some people will take this and say, "See, the Bible's not true. The Bible's not consistent." But you have to understand that it is consistent. You have to understand what it says. "Master, carest thou not that we perish?"

And so now, no matter who you are, where you are, what you're going through, all the stuff that is going on, the shootings, and just the diseases, and the bad food, and then sometimes we're looking now at, you know, food shortage and food supply, and people are buying and stacking up on food and toiletries and toilet paper because people are preparing for a big, a time when we won't have access to the things that we need, you know? We still have containers sitting in the middle of the ocean someplace. And you have to realize that a lot of the stuff we get is important. It's important. And so when we, when I say we, we ran out of baby food, and then we find out that there's primarily one company, I only remember his name, one company. I don't want to know this thing because I don't want, you know, get in trouble with anybody. One company that is responsible for most of the baby food, the formula, and all that kind of stuff. And these parents, I could want, I can see some of the parents, "Master," you know, or were they saying, "Oh, I know God shall supply all my need. My God shall supply my need. I've been young, and I've known, but I've never seen the righteous forsaken or a seed out begging bread. I'll know where it's coming from, but my baby ain't starving. My baby got some milk in the name of Jesus." So then you get back, that's faith.

And see, He said, and He tells the disciples, He said, "Why are you so fearful? O ye of little faith." And see, that's what we're dealing with back with Peter in Matthew chapter 16, when he begins to rebuke Jesus for telling him the truth, for telling him that, "I'm going to fulfill every Messianic prophecy. This is the fulfillment of prophecy. You said that I am the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. I tell you that whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven. Who I tell you, and I tell you that flesh and blood did not reveal that to you." And then what does Peter do? Right away, he gets in the flesh. See, there's fear in your flesh. Always in this flesh dwelleth no good thing. And so you gotta cast. I think James said that word means to throw aggressively. You gotta cast your care on the Lord, and you gotta cast down imaginations, and you gotta do it with a type of aggression that says, "I really, really, really mean this. I really mean this."

So now we have Jesus, the Prince of Peace, asleep in the boat with all the stuff going on. And He gets up and rebuked the winds. Now, I wonder how the disciples felt after that. You know, like, "Oh, wow. Did we really just go through that? Did we just, did He ride us? Yes, He did." And there were other times when Jesus upbraided the disciples, but they always got upbraided for their unbelief. They didn't get upbraided for being human or making a mistake. It was always unbelief. Unbelief. "O ye of little faith. Why didn't you believe? Why were you fearful? O ye of little faith." It was always because of unbelief. Always because of unbelief. Okay.

Let's go to Matthew. And Matthew, let's go to Matthew chapter 14. "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" I'll tell you one thing, some of us have been in some dark places during this COVID season. And I know when I was sitting at home with COVID, that I didn't know I had. I never felt like I was perishing. I mean, I didn't know what, I didn't know. I thought it was a cold. Sure was a bad cold. But I knew that God cared for me. I knew I had a covenant with God. I'm standing on my covenant with God, you know. And even sometime I was too weak to talk, but I had, I was running these words around my head and my mind and my spirit. I was praying from the inside, you know. I was saying, I was doing everything I knew to do. You got to do everything the crisis demands. But whatever you do, if fear sets in.

So I remember my sister had breast cancer. And, uh, and I used to talk to her every night and on the phone and encourage her. We were saying to each other all that kind of stuff. She's a lot of fun. But my sister never made a commitment to really walk with the Lord, you know. She had a, she was a functional alcoholic. Everybody loved her. A lot of fun. But she was a functional alcoholic. And, and she just didn't want to make the commitment. I think she may have came here once or twice. And I would go, then I'd pick her up sometime. But anyhow, I remember when she started fearing, because she had gone through chemo, and she'd gone through it. She didn't lose any hair. She had all of her hair. And she was still working. But she was still drinking. She's drinking a lot while you're supposed to be taking chemotherapy, or why you're taking medicine, and you can't do both. You can't do both.

So I remember when fear set in, and when the fear set in, I could hear it in her voice, you know, when you talk to people. I can know when people do things out of fear. We got to be realized, the people that we love, you've got to have them know. You can hear fear in their voice. You can hear the fear. I can hear the fear. And so what you want to do? You want to try to correct it or console it. Let them know everything is going to be okay because you can hear the fear. Okay? Sometimes people say, "I'm all right. All right." But you're not all right because I can hear the fear. Okay?

And I begin to hear the fear. She did. God showed me that she wasn't going to make it. And I accepted that. It was painful. It still is. But I remember, I believed that there was a fear that took her out more so than the cancer. Fear, you know, you get a growth, you find a growth, and then they let the devil diagnose it for you. And the devil tells you it's cancer. And then he begins to build a power base in your mind. And the power base he begins to build in your mind is that it's cancer, it's this, it's that. And then next thing, you know, you got a whole blown situation, a scenario, uh, going on in your mind that's not even true. It's not even true, you know?

So we cast our care on the Lord because He cares for us. But even in caring, you still have to resist. And resisting the devil is submitting to God. So now it's faith that submits to God. If I'm in the flesh, I'm not submitted. If I'm in fear, I'm not submitted. But if I'm in faith, what is faith? If I believe, I take God in His word. I take God in His word. I take God. He said His word and heal me and deliver me from my own destruction. "I bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgiveth all thine iniquities; and healeth all thy diseases." Is anything too hard for the Lord? Ain't nothing. Heals all diseases. It renews my youth like the eagle. I thank God for renewing my youth. I remember from my 70th birthday, I was going to a dermatologist, uh, for, oh, I had some of those little tags on the back of my neck. I wanted her to get those off of my neck. She talked to me about wanting me to do Botox. I don't want to do Botox. She said, "If you just, I can do this, I could take a little bit here, I could do this." I mean, I probably would have looked about five years younger. But what difference does that make? God is renewing my youth. Either God is renewing my youth, God is more powerful than Botox. Okay? Now, I'm not on your case if you use Botox. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, God is keeping you. I mean, if God don't keep me, I can't be kept. He renews my youth like the eagles. Like the eagles. Not the yard birds, you know, not the ducks, and not the wobbling chickens. Like the eagles. And it causes me to lift me up high, high, high above my enemies, above my adversaries. And then He says, "And He fills my mouth with good things." And so good things is not unbelief, you know? "Well, you know, we know, I'll probably get cancer. Everybody in my family can catch every once in a fast. What runs in your family runs in your family." Cancer don't run in my family. Is cancer running in your family? No. I've had other members of my family die from cancer, but I'm never going to say it. What runs in my family runs where? Run out the door. Run off the door. Casting our cares on the Lord because He cares for us. Okay.

Look at Matthew chapter 14. Do I say chapter 14? Okay, my time is almost up. I want to go to verse, um, 22. Now Jesus has just fed the multitude. I love this. Oh, gosh, I just love this. I'm not gonna wreath everybody's feeling anything before I send the spirit. About two minutes. There's pleasure. Twitter. Okay. My time is almost up, so I'm gonna go straight to verse 22. Should I read all that? "And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitude away." Now, this is after feeding the multitude. Now they just saw this miracle. They saw this amazing miracle where Jesus fed the multitude. He said, "Now you get in the boat and you go to the other side." And, uh, uh, you just go do what I said to do, okay? And while He sent the multitudes away. And when He.

Had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. Trying to get away from him, and when the evening was come, he was there alone. So he had been praying for a while in the mountain by himself.

But he sent the disciples ahead of him to go to the other side. Okay, but the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a spirit!" And they crying out for fear.

But straightway Jesus spoke unto them, saying, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." Okay, so here we go again. One of the biggest things Jesus had to deal with the disciples was fear and unbelief. And that are the two things that we have to deal with today ourselves: fear and unbelief. And just taking God at his word.

So it says here, "Look who answered." Verse 28. Come on, who answered? Good old Peter. The good old Peter, the Peter, the one trying to rebuke Jesus. And Peter answered him and said, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." Now, that was a bold statement, Peter. I guess Peter's saying, "Shoot, I'ma show you I'm not afraid."

But straightway Jesus speaking to them, saying, "Be of good cheer; hit his eye; be not afraid." So Jesus said, "Be not afraid." So Peter goes all the way. He goes all the way. He said, "Okay, okay, I'm going to be afraid. I'm not going to be afraid. I'm not going to be afraid. I'm not going to pray." He said, "Be that bid me to come unto thee on the water." And he said, Jesus said, he said, "Come."

And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. Now, Peter did good. Not afraid. But this is what happens. We do this. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried, saying, "The same thing they did on the boat when Jesus was in the back part asleep and the waves and the wind got tossed." You should know by now, Jesus is going to come and rebuke the way.

So what did Peter say? "Save me." Peter wasn't thinking about everybody else. He said, "Save me." Well, he was the only one out there. So he was the only one that had the boldness to get out of the boat. And I remember we were over the other church, the men came back from an advanced women. We were going to retreat. So Fred and Betty used to go back and forth, back and forth, because the women, we called ours retreat, and the men called theirs an advance. So then Pastor Price want to say, "Well, okay, well, we should be called at the same thing. How can, how can the men be advancing? The women are retreating?" I mean, it was a big discussion. You guys got to know Betty. Betty says, "Well, we retreat so y'all can advance." Anyhow, that's just a beautiful memory. Retreat and advance.

Okay, but what did he say here? Look what he said here. He says here, uh, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." So Peter came. So what the men started saying at their advances was, "Get off the boat." You don't know if anybody remember to get out the boat. You got to get out the boat. You know, some men, it's kind of like calling a brother out. You know, some men, you got to call out. You just got to call him out. And you got to challenge him. You got to upgrade him. You can't let him get away with stuff. He has friends that let him get away with stuff. Same thing with girlfriends, but especially guys, you know, I mean, you need to check him. Some people, your brother needs to be checked. You need to check him. But if you're afraid of losing his friendship, then that's another thing.

And he said, "Come." And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. When he saw the wind boisterous, same thing. When he walked by sight, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried, saying, "Lord, save me." And immediately, that's what I want you to see. Even when you falter, even when you get to a point where it's not working the way you think it should, and you say, "Lord, save me." Immediately, God will stretch forth his hand and catch you and bring you unto him.

And then when he does, rebuke you, he said, "Oh, thou little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" He said, "Of little faith, why? Of little faith, why? Why? Why did you doubt?" And when they were coming to the ship, the wind ceased. See, a lot of these things that Jesus allowed to happen, I just, I believe Jesus knew about the wind. Jesus knew about the water in the boat. Jesus knew about all these things. But I believe what he's dealing with and she's teaching disciples that if you're gonna really follow, you're gonna pick up your cross and follow me. If you're gonna be followers of Christ, then you're gonna have to be fearless. And you're gonna face all kind of perils. And you're gonna face perils where it looks like you're gonna perish. It looks like you're not gonna make it tomorrow. It looks like it's not gonna be what it's gonna be. Looks like what are you believing for, it's not gonna come to pass. You these things.

But then Jesus is showing them in this situation and others. Immediately, straightway, immediately, straightway, immediately, straight away. He rebuked the winds. Verse 32. And when they were coming to the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped him, saying, "Of a truth thou art the Son of God." And so he's still having to show them, not prove to them, but show them who he is. "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you, but my Father which is in heaven."

And so, as impulsive as Peter was, as much as he's fearful, as he said, he's the only one I've seen ever in the Bible, other than God's enemies that are blasphemous, other than some demonic creature that is blasphemous and says all kind of dark, negative, cruel, twisted, nasty things about God. This is the only apostle that rebuked Jesus, only one. But yet God looked past that. He was still the leader. And God looked past the time that you were foolish. I'm, if you were foolish now, you know what Peter did was foolish, and what I did was foolish, and what you did was foolish. But even that, God doesn't hold grudges. God didn't hold that against you. God said, "This is an opportunity for you to learn something. This is an opportunity for you to to see where you are, locate where you are, and for you to trust me. This is an opportunity that I allowed. This opportunity I allowed this to happen so that you could grow, so you could learn, so you could walk in the power of the consciousness of who Christ is in your life, so you can say, 'I cast my care on him because he cares for me. I cast myself on him that he cares for me. Lord, teach me the number of my days that I might apply my heart unto wisdom. Lord, be with me. You said you would be with me in trouble. You said the waters would not overtake me. The fire would not burn me.' And you have to take those things to heart and really say them and repeat them back to God, repeating back to God in your prayer time and your devotional time with tears in your eyes, but repeat it back to God."

You know, Father, I know that you care. You know, and even with your prodigals, your prodigal sons and daughters and grandchildren, you know, Father, I know that you care about my grandson. I know you care about them. I know that my children are sanctified by my faith. You know, the Bible says that the the the parent, the believing parent can sanctify the unbelieving children, dependent children, especially by my faith. And I hold that. I hold God to that. They're sanctified. I just speak sanctification over them. Set them apart, God. Set them apart and keep them, keep them, keep them. Don't let anything come near them. You know.

And then sometimes God will allow things to happen, you know. And people say, "But Lord, bring him to Jesus. Just don't kill him." You know, some mothers said, "Just do anything, just do anything, but don't kill him. Anything but kill him. Just come short and kill him. You know, you break his arm, break his leg, but don't kill him." You don't pray like that. You know, God will take care of things. He knows the best way to get you and me to get our attention. He knows the best way to get our attention.

So in all these, these two incidents, okay, that both had to do with boats. The girl had to do with the vulnerability of of control because the boats were both in water. The water was also uh uh affected by the wind. And there's a lot of things going on. So you could think that something is happening, but you're seeing in both instances when they cried out to the Lord, the Lord spoke to the wind, and the Lord saved them. I guarantee you that God is speaking to the winds in your life. He's speaking to the things in your life that you don't even know need to be spoken to. That he's there when you can't be there. He's with your kids when he can't, you can't be with your kids. He is calling. I'm telling all you do, you're sitting in here calling on the name of the Lord, and he's moving over there in a mighty way. Straightway, immediately, immediately, in the name of Jesus. And that's your faith. That's what I believe. And that's why sometimes you have to, you have faith to yourself before God, because some people are not going to want to hear that. Some people, well, what are they going to look at the circumstances and say, "Oh yeah, well, how do you know this is going to happen?" And maybe this will happen. No, it's not going to happen. No, I believe God. I believe God. And maybe I don't know exactly how he's going to deliver me or deliver my daughter, and deliver my church member. I don't know.

And I had a situation the other day, you know, there's something came up that I just didn't want to happen, and it happened, you know. And we've been believing God. You've been believing God. But then I, you know, talked to my, I remember our sister, and uh, and she said with her mouth, she said, "He wouldn't listen." Okay. And so we got to listen to the voice of God. We got to hear. And sometimes we're praying for people that don't want to hear the voice of God. They don't want to, they don't want to listen. They don't want to obey. But then you got to plead the mercy of God and pray the mercy of God. But you got to walk in your authority, you know. And that's what God was teaching the disciples, how to walk and live in authority, you know, teaching them that you can rebuke the winds, okay? You can rebuke the waves that they don't overtake you.

I remember years ago, people were praying after we read in the Bible that Elijah was a man of like passion, that he prayed three years and it didn't rain. And then some people felt like, well, you could pray to stop the rain and just stop the rain, okay, because you didn't like the rain, because rain was inconvenient for you. You know, Peter said, "Save me, because I'm the only one out here on this boat. Everybody else is in the boat." He said, "Save me." Immediately, God reached forth, took Peter's hand, and laid him back in the boat. But there's some things you have to be mindful of. You can't take a selfish, uh, desire something that the only person that benefits is you. The only thing, only it just benefits you, especially that has to do with the elements, and say, "Well, I just don't want it to rain because I just don't like to drive in the rain." Well, come on now, okay? You know, when rain needs to, we need rain. It's right now in L.A. We need rain in Southern California, you know, don't we need rain? We should be praying for rain. We need rain in Jesus' name. So that's all I'm going to say for tonight. And Jesus is Lord.

Master careth not that we perish. No, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth him should not perish. And that perish, that word perish can also mean, uh, become lawless, not understand your purpose, walk in a place where it's not designed that you walk in. That the Bible says where where there's no vision, the people perish. Look at that word. How many times a parish, parish, where there's no vision, that people perish. I don't want anybody to perish. I don't want anyone. I don't want you to lose your mind. I don't want you to lose your soul. I don't want you to lose your understanding. But most of all, I don't want you to be a doubtful hearer, but a doer of the word. So be a doer of the word.

And we get to look at the disciples' lives and see how many times Jesus had to correct them before they got it. And I'ma tell you, they ended up being some incredible. Did they end up being some incredible men? Incredible leaders? Incredible, fearless. And when you look at the book of martyrs, all of them died incredible deaths. They died incredible deaths for serving God. They paid the price for serving the Lord. And the Bible tells us in Hebrews that we have not even suffered unto unto blood, you know, striving against sin. But Jesus did. And so we understand that when he said that upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. You and I can walk that. And as they used to say, take it to the bank. But it's even more stronger to take it to the bank because you can't always trust the banks nowadays. But you can take it straight to the throne of God and expect to get grace, mercy, and help in the time of need.

So Father, we just thank you and we praise you for just showing us this, not so much as revelation, but a reminder of who we are in God. A reminder that he cares, that he cares for us, that we are your children. And even sometimes we become broken and battered, and there are a lot of things that are happening in our lives. Our bodies have been ravaged with pain and sickness and disease. And sometimes our bodies have just been used for the wrong things, not to your glory. But we bring all that before you. We bring our shame and our frustration and our despair. We lay it at your feet. And we give you thanksgiving and praise for for caring. We thank you that you just care. We thank you that you've taken our our anxiety and our worries and all that that would turn us into people that you don't want us to be, that we can walk in the power of the blessings of God. And we can walk in the power of our call and walk in the power of endurance in the name of Jesus. So we give you the thanksgiving and the praise, uh, in the name of Jesus. For so many of us that have been like Peter, like the disciples, we have not always gotten it together. We've not always done it right. But we thank you that you show us your glory, that you continue to remind us, that the mind take time with us to mentor us, to correct us, because we are your anointing. And because we're your anointed, you said, "Touch not mine anointed, do my prophets no harm." So we arise and worship you. We stand, Father, and we adore you. We allow you, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to live big on the inside of us because we know that you care. And we walk, Father, like someone who knows you care. That we're coming into that place of a fuller understanding what it means to be Christ-like, what it means to be chosen, what it means to be a child of God, that we're no longer in sin or captivity, but we're walking in a place where we're clothed in robes of righteousness. And we thank you so much for loving us. We thank you so much for your counsel, for your wisdom, for your direction, that we can commit ourselves to you because you're fair and you're just, and you're a God that keeps covenant, that won't alter it. So we give you the thanksgiving and the praise for it now. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen and amen.

Let's give our Father praise. Our friend, God will use opportunity. Somebody say opportunities. He will use opportunities. He will use consequences. He will use situations. He will use circumstances. You hear what I'm saying? And he will get glory out of some kind of way. He's going to take what the devil meant for evil, and he's going to get something out of it for he'll be glorified. It'll be for your good and my good. In Jesus name. Amen. Praise the Lord.

So let's receive our offering tonight. Okay, let's receive our offering tonight. I'd like to pray for, uh, those of you that are watching via live stream, those of you at home, or those in the hospital, or wherever you may be watching from. Pray the blessings of God. Plead the blood of Jesus over you. Decree and declare the promises of God regarding healing and health over you, that there is a balm in Gilead. There is a balm in Gilead. That the Bible promises that we would serve him or worship him, he would bless our bread and our water and take sickness out of the midst of us. And the number of our days, he would fulfill. So we're thankful to God for healing, uh, your body, healing your mind, healing your broken heart, healing all those things that could create disturbance in your, in your, in your inner thinking and your ability to reason and to reconcile things in your own mind.

For those of you that need to rededicate your life to the Lord, you know, there's a time for everything under the sun. But there's a time to repent, or there's a time to apologize to the Lord. There's a time to apologize to people, but especially to the Lord. I remember one of the things that Jesus said to Peter when he said, when he said, "Get thee behind me, Satan." He said, "For you are an offense." And I believe that sometimes we don't know that the things that we say in unbelief is an offense to God. I believe that unbelief offends God when we talk like we don't know who he is, and we don't know that he loves us and that he cares about us. I believe that is an offense to God. He said it's offense, not just to God. Saying it was an offense when he talked to Peter. He said, "But you are not about the things of God, you are about the things of man." And so let's watch ourselves. You know, we all get in the flesh. Every last one of us gets in the flesh. There's not any one living any place that doesn't get in the flesh. But what you don't want, you don't want to be in the flesh so much of the time that you miss the revelatory truth of the living God working through your life and working through your body.

So I want to pray for you. I want to pray for those of you that want to receive Christ as your Savior. I'ma pray for those who are, are maybe walking in lawlessness, but you want to make a change. And you can make that change because you have a Shepherd. He said, "He restores your soul." He's a restorer of souls. He's a restorer of broken hearts. He will restore of things that you've lost. He said, "He will restore." He will restore. I describe grace and grace to the mountain, the mountain of despair, and the mountains that seemed to have overwhelmed and overtaken you. And trusting that God said that he'll never leave you nor forsake you.

So Father, I give you thanksgiving and praises. I pray for people that don't know you. And you can pray this with me: "Dear God, I believe that Jesus died for my sins and rose from the dead. Lord Jesus, come into my life. I dedicate my life to you. And I thank you, Father, for accepting me into the family of faith. In Jesus' name, I recommit and dedicate my life to you, Lord. In the name of Jesus."

Now, the other thing I want you to do is, I want you, in your own time, ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Ask him to fill you with the Holy Spirit. The Bible said, "If we then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto our children, how much more will our Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask?" Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. And then once He fills you with the Spirit, then you will have an unction from God. Unction just means it's something from way down on the inside of you that you can't control, but the Holy Spirit controls, so that you can begin to pray in an unknown tongue, to pray, and what Paul calls our heavenly prayer language. Pray in the Spirit. Prayer of the Spirit. Praying in the Spirit is a great weapon against the forces of darkness. Praying in the Spirit. The Bible says, "When we don't know what to pray for, us, the Spirit himself maketh intercession." So let the Holy Spirit take together, hold together with your spirit, praying in the Spirit. However your language may change, that praying in the Spirit. Pray in the Spirit. And then pray in the understanding. Pray on the understanding and lift up your devotion and adoration to God. Just devotion and adoration. Devotion and adoration to God. And begin to walk in that place of victory in the name of Jesus.

So when stuff comes that you know that you're not going under, you know there was a song Larnell Harris had years and years ago, and it says, uh, uh, what, uh, "When I think I'm going under, park the waters, Lord." You know, so you may have to have some Red Sea, okay? Something happened, Lord, you got to get in here, you know, you're going to have to park these waters so I can go through on dry land, you know. So use the things that He's given us in His Word as examples. Use those for, for, as, as arsenal, part of your arsenal, as prayer where you can pray those things and put yourself in, in those positions with some of the people at the bottom of the patriarchs, you know, and remind God, you know, what He did for, for Elijah. Remind God what He did for David. Remind God what He did for Esther. Remind God, you know, He's the same God with the same glory. But let's just make up our mind that we're going to walk in purpose. In Jesus name. Amen.

And so let's give right now in the name of Jesus. There are several ways that we have to give. You can text at 424-238-3699. If you're texting, those of you that have downloaded the BAM Crawford app, you know how to follow the giving instructions on there where it says to give. For those that are given via PayPal, you can give at sales@bamscm.org. Sales@bamscm.org. Or bibleenrichment@bamscm.org. Okay, bibleenrichment. Those of you who are here in the sanctuary, those that are watching via live stream, if you want to mail in a check or mailing offering, a love gift, you can make the check out to BEFIC, Bible Enrichment Fellowship International Church, B-E-F-I-C. And you can mail it to 400 East Council Street, Englewood, California 90301, USA. Okay, 400 East Council.

So we'll hear from that. So Father, we give you thanksgiving and praise for just the privilege of giving. I thank you, Father, that have been times in my life years ago when you corrected me, uh, in the area of giving, giving. And I thank you right now that my heart was open to instruction then, and it's still open to instruction now, to hear your words, to to hear what you want me to do, what you want me to give, what you want me to say. And we thank you for it. And I give you the thanksgiving and praise right now because I know that you have redeemed us. You are mighty. You're a mighty, mighty, mighty by the blood of the living Christ. I pray for everyone that is giving for the return, or every single gift in Jesus' name, meeting every single need of this ministry, every single need of the households that are represented, households that are giving, meeting every single need of our missions and missionaries and the areas that you have designated that we should help and send donations to, that we do that according to your unction. In the name of Jesus. And so we cast all our care on you because you care for us, because you love us, Father, are the pureness of your heart. And we thank you for the grace of God because you want the pureness of our hearts in our giving. So we thank you for it and we praise you. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hallelujah! Glory to God! And we don't have any questions. We'll receive, uh, coming in tonight. James, got any questions? No questions. Okay. Hey, thank you. Okay, let's take the bread. Church, I'm trying to get the bread. Okay, this hand worked better. I'm good. Tears. Let's take the bread. The Bible says we're one body and one bread. And that's this powerful. We are one body and one bread. That's the body of Christ. That's who we are all over the nation, globally. That's who we are. Every denomination, everyone that names the name of Christ. We are one body, one bread. And then one body, one, one bread is very important and significant to who we are as the living body of Christ. He's the head, and we're the body.

So we take this bread. And the Bible says, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion or the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body, for we were all partakers of that one bread." We are all partakers of that one bread. The Bible says there's a table of the Lord and the table of devils. He says we should not eat at the table of devils. There are many people that sacrifice to devils and gods and all that. But this cup that we drink here, and this bread that we eat, is symbolic of the body of Jesus, which was broken for us, and the blood of Jesus, which was shed for us.

So Father, we thank you for this bread. We honor you. We bless you. We thank you. Thank you so much that this represents our covenant. The covenant that you said you would never alter, nor you will alter or change the thing that has gone out of your mouth. So we trust you because you said that you care for us, that you would never leave us nor forsake us. You never left us without a comforter. In fact, before you went back to glory, you said, "I would not leave you comfortless, but I will send you a comforter." Thank you for the power and person of the Holy Spirit. You should to comfort us. And that we have a covenant of healing. And we lay hold to that in the name of Jesus, that we can walk in health. In the name of Jesus. We pray. Let's eat, church.

Father, we thank you for this cup. This cup represents the blood of Jesus Christ. And we give you thanksgiving and praise that the blood still speaks. We thank you. We praise you for the wisdom of God, the power of God, that you're the one that gives us the power to get wealth to establish your covenant. We recognize that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. But in all things, we give thanks. In all things, we give thanks. And you say, "Whatever we do, eat, or drink, whatsoever it is, you say, do it all to the glory of God." So to the glory of God, and into your name, we hold of this cup. And we thank you that we've been washed in the blood. That we've been washed in the blood. And will live this life of sanctification and transformation to your glory. And that we change based upon your word and your timing in our lives. And we love you, Father. And we bless you for it. In Jesus name.

Strength, church. Okay, I wanted to say to the, I guess staff is on vacation, but we have a lot of people's names on the prayer list here. And Pastor Etom's family just had a had a loss. So we're going to pray for him and his wife and their family. Um, what I want to do is possibly, uh, intercessors, is go over this prayer list. This is the week of June 12th to June 19th. And it is a lot of people. And we're not going to stop praying for these people. Some of the people are back in church, praying for other people. But then some of these people are not back in church because they can't come to church, or they won't come to church. Um, some people are doing everything else but coming to church. But it's okay, because probably if everybody came, we couldn't get them in anyhow, because we still are, uh, safe distancing. We're still wearing our mask, or what have you. But, uh, you can call and let us know if you want us to take your name off of the prayer list, okay? Because you're praying for other people. Okay? And I would think that because we put your name on the prayer list, that you are praying for other people. I would hate to think that you just have your name on a prayer list and you're not praying for anybody, and you're not coming to church, you don't pray for anybody. I would hate to think that you would be that kind of, um, uh, selfish person, you know, that you would not give yourself over to pray for people like people have been praying for you. These people have been on this list almost two years. So I'm going to do something that we can see about changing it, or I'm going to get someone to start calling on some of the people to see how they're doing and what have you, and give them somebody to pray for. You follow what I'm saying? Because this is not, this is not, this is not right. Okay. Praise the Lord.

And so that's, uh, I want to pray over this list in the name of Jesus. And if anybody wants prayer for healing, I'm going to ask if Lawrence will put a chair down for me. See if anybody does. In Jesus name. So Father, all these names under pastoral care, members and non-members, members' families, some of the people we don't know whether they're still with us or not. I pray that the members of this church will call and update, help us update the names that are here. In the name of Jesus, so we'll know what is happening in these people's lives. In Jesus name, we give you the thanksgiving and praise right now for, uh, all these, uh, leaders. We thank you for the seniors that are convalescing and growing. We thank you for those that are dealing with Alzheimer's. We thank you for every, every, um, caregiver. In Jesus name. Every person that is showing care. Everyone that has moved out of state. Some of our, our seniors have moved to be with their families in other states. We continue to pray for them. In Jesus name. We're thanking you, Father, in the name of Jesus, for healing. We thank you for rededication. And we give you glory and we give you praise right now, just for expediting recovery from surgeries and broken limbs. In the name of Jesus. We thank you and we praise you for healing the brokenhearted over loss. In Jesus name. We give you glory and we give you praise that you're holding marriages together. In the name of Jesus. We cry against mental illness and mental health issues. In Jesus name. We pray for those that are in bonds, that's bound with them. You told us to remember those that are incarcerated. So we pray for incarcerated families and loved ones. In the name of Jesus. As we pray here, you move there. In Jesus name. We honor you, Father, for your commitment to the family of faith. For your commitment to all of our families. In the name of Jesus. Where we give you thanksgiving and praise for those families that have been gone through a recent loss. In Jesus name. So we bless you, Father, and we thank you for surgery for people that are having, uh, treatments for people that are having, uh, any type of surgery, major or minor surgery. In the name of Jesus, that you continue to sow yourself strong, that you lead and direct and guide. In the name of Jesus, that you put the medical team together, the surgery team together, the anesthesiologist and the assistant surgeon, all together. In the name of Jesus, that the each member has the best team possible. In the name of Jesus, in the earth realm, to handle their healing and their health. In Jesus name. We pray for those who are recovering from COVID. And we come against any long-term effects of COVID. In Jesus name. And we give you thanksgiving and praise. And we are continuing to wax strong in faith, fully persuaded that what you promised, you are well able to perform. So when you said, "Come," when you were walking on the water, all the disciples should have come. But only one got out the boat. And I prayed, Father, that that I could be that one that would get out the boat. And we would be that one, a committee of one, that would get on the boat so that we could walk with you, so that you would not have to say to us, "Oh, ye of little faith." I thank you that our faith waxes strong in the name of Jesus. And we call those things to be not as though they were. In Jesus name. Amen and amen.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! So why don't we stand, church? Stand. Anybody want prayer for healing? If so, would you come up here now? It affects anyone. If not, it's just, if you are, you can. But if not, we will move on. We will move on. We will move on. Amen. Amen. Glory to God.

Okay, hallelujah. Now, you know, we have a graduation here on Friday evening for the best, our best students. Level two are graduating, and level one is going to be, we're going to be commending level one as well. I want to encourage those of you who have not, uh, uh, gone to BEST or thought about it, or you just thought about it, did you stop thinking about it? I'm going to challenge you again to think about it again. Think about it again, because it's a great discipline. It's a great demonstration of your love for God and your wanting to really be accurate in the things of God. And I will tell you that it's, it's work initially, but it's a joy. If you come to the graduation service on Friday, you will see how these people just build such a love, friendship, and camaraderie, helping one another, you know, helping one another with their studies and getting through this. Amen. And so don't let this be sitting right here under your nose at your church, at your fingertips, with your pastor and your chancellor. Put it together and you don't take advantage of it. Amen. So think about that. Think about it. Pray about it. If God has told you to do it, just go ahead and obey God. Amen.

So Father, I give you thanksgiving and praise. Sir, the peace of God that passes all understanding. You said it would keep our hearts and minds. Keep our hearts and minds. Keep our hearts and minds. Keep us steadfast in, uh, and moving, Father, the things of God. And we thank you that you're the God of peace. And we thank you that you are brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. I pray, God, for every single person within the sound of my voice, that you make them perfect in every good work to do your will. To do your will, working in them that which is well pleasing in your sight, that which is well pleasing on your side, through the blood of Jesus Christ, to whom we glory forever and ever and ever. Amen. In Jesus name. Grace be unto you. In the name of Jesus. God bless you, church. That's all you have to do. Everywhere you play, I'm asking you to cast them. Did you take me? You.