How to Increase Your Faith

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the Sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge P.O. Box 260 Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. I want to talk to you tonight about how to increase your faith. How to increase your faith.

Luke chapter 17, we'll read the first five verses. I'm reading in the New American Standard. How to increase your faith.

And he said to the his disciples, It is inevitable that stumbling blocks should come, but woe to him through whom they come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, then that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard.

If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times a day, saying, I repent, well, then forgive him seven times a day. Now the disciples, the Apostles, upon hearing this, said to Jesus, Lord, increase our faith.

Increase our faith. Someone left a book back here for the pastors, and it showed up in our office back there, and a week or so ago, I had some time, and so I just opened the book, and was leafing through it, and my eyes fell upon a story. It's written by some Christian evangelist.

I don't know the man, but he tells a story of a brother named George, that the evangelist had ministered to. Now George was blind, plus he suffered some physical ailments that had left him very weak and frail in his body. However, his greatest pain was emotional.

Coming from the belief, he felt that God had rejected him, and George then told the evangelist why he felt this rejection. In his church, there was a great emphasis on faith. They would teach, anything is possible if you have faith.

If you have faith, you can do anything. But this, of course, it did not stop with this, and the pastor would stand in his pulpit, and he would say, now if you have cancer, and you die, it's your fault. You just don't have enough faith.

Now if that was not bad enough, what would happen to George week after week, when he would come in, and remember he was blind, every week when George would come into the service, somebody would put a hymnal in his hands. Every week, not by mistake, but deliberately. And over and over again, the message was to George, maybe today, George, maybe today, you'll have enough faith to see.

Maybe today, you'll have the faith for God to heal you. But though George tried to work up his faith time and time again, he was never healed, and worse, it made him feel that God was angry with him. Now, I believe that some of you probably can identify with George.

At times, you feel, for whatever reason, condemned for a lack of faith. We are like the disciples who said, Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. Now, the cry and the prayer of the disciples in Luke 17 5, it ought to be the desire, I believe, is the desire of every believer.

Lord, increase our faith. We do need more faith. I need more faith.

I don't know if there's anyone here tonight who feels that he has all the faith he needs all the time. If you do, please come and see me after the service and dump and pour it out in your cup into my cup. I'd like to have some of that faith.

There are books, there are tapes, there are seminars, there are conferences that promise believers how to have more faith or to get more faith, and they're very popular. In fact, people seem to run after them. And for many, having more faith is like having more money.

You can do a lot if you have, you can do a lot or have a lot if you have enough faith or enough money. Now, the disciples' request for increased faith is a very important and worthy request, one that ought to be in all of our hearts and in all of our prayers. But I noticed something as I read this 17th chapter.

What is important about this request for an increased faith is not only that it was asked, but when it was asked. They asked for more faith at a most unusual time. Jesus was not performing some great miracle or was not doing any healing, but he was teaching.

Now, if I wanted more faith, I might ask for it right after Jesus had done some great sensational miracle. For example, you remember when the centurion came to Jesus regarding his servant that was paralyzed. And he said to Jesus, he said, just speak the word and my servant will be healed.

In Matthew 8, 13, it says, and Jesus said to the centurion, Go thy way, let it be done to you as you have believed. And the servant was healed that very hour. Now, I don't know about you.

If I witnessed that, I'd come running to Jesus and said, Jesus, I'd like to be able to do that. Could I learn how to just speak the word and people would be healed and the same thing would happen to people? That would be the most opportune time, it would seem to me, to ask to have our faith increased. Or what about asking for increased faith when after Jesus, when he was asked if he paid taxes.

He told his disciples this, he said, go to the sea and throw in a hook and take out the first fish that comes up. And when it comes up, open its mouth and you will find a stratter or a coin. Take that, take that coin and give it to the IRS for you and for me.

Now, how would you like to fish with that kind of hook on or about April the 15th? Wouldn't you like to have that kind of faith to be able to pay your bills out of the fish's mouth? Of all the opportunities the disciples had to ask for increased faith, they chose not to do it during a healing crusade. Not when Jesus was feeding the 5,000. Not when Lazarus had been raised from the dead.

Not in any other opportunity that would indicate that they wanted more power to do great things. But let's examine when and why they did say, Lord, increase our faith, because I believe there is a mighty lesson in this. Now, the need for more faith came about as a result of the disciples hearing Jesus teach on certain subjects.

Jesus had just laid down two very heavy, heavy challenges to the disciples. Two important requirements to be a true disciple. And when they heard Jesus say this, they said, wow, Lord, that's heavy.

I don't know whether we have enough faith to do what you're asking us to do. I don't know if we're capable of doing that. At least not unless you increase our faith.

And you see the disciples were honest about the insufficiency of their faith. And their insufficiency to live up to the standard that Jesus was laying down. Now, listen to what Jesus told his disciples they must do.

First of all, Jesus said, don't cause one of my new or young converts to stumble. Don't you lay a stumbling block on their pathway to cause them an injury. Look at verse 1 again, chapter 17.

And he said to his disciples, it is inevitable that stumbling blocks, or King James says offenses. It's inevitable that offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they come. Now, Jesus is saying that it is expected that in our Christian walk we're going to meet temptations.

We're going to meet difficult situations. They cannot be avoided. Expect them, he says.

It's part of growing in the Lord. But, he says, beware that you do not become the source of somebody else's stumbling or somebody else's temptation. Woe be it unto you if you cause one of my little ones to have a difficult time serving me.

Listen, my friend, there's enough temptation already in the world. Not for other people to find it in the church or find it in another brother or sister or within you or within me. Probably where this teaching must first be applied is in the home.

For example, Ephesians 6.4 says, and fathers. And that applies to mothers as well. And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

And listen, I see today too many children provoked and stumbled and hurt and angered by a parent. And the reason the children are provoked is because the parent or parents discipline their kids. Not by or in the instruction of the Lord, but by and in their own spirit rather than the spirit of Christ.

In other words, they think that hollering is discipline. And they verbally abuse their child. Now listen, mother and father, if you do this, the Lord takes your child's side against you.

He says, woe be unto you if you cause one of my little ones to stumble. But what Paul says to parents about not provoking their own child is a principle that applies to the whole church. You see, anybody who is not a new Christian, not a novice.

In other words, anybody which means you've been saved approximately six months or more, you're not a novice. If you've been saved at least about six months or more, I would say that you probably, if you're endeavoring to grow in the Lord, you're not a novice. And spiritually speaking, you are potentially a spiritual father to a newer or younger convert.

And you see, the same thing that applies to a natural father applies to a spiritual father. Don't provoke little ones. Don't provoke new converts.

Don't be the source of their temptation. And you see, one of the ways that we do this is through our spiritual pride and our intolerance. We witness the struggles of a new convert.

And we come across insensitive to their needs, insensitive to their struggles. And we put on a holier than thou attitude and say, brother, sister, that ought not to be. You know, recently I had a birthday.

And I'm not going to tell you how old I became, but I turned a decade. And if you want to find out what decade it is, if you'll go one block south of here and look up on the street sign, you'll be able to tell what it was. David lives much further uptown.

You'll get tired by the time you walk to his block. But you know something? The turning of this decade did not hit me as bad as when I turned 30. For some reason, it hit me very, very hard.

Because you see, if you're 21 or you're 29, you're still in your 20s, and that's kind of young. But when I turned 30, suddenly I had a mini midlife crisis. But in the midst of it, the Lord spoke to me and said, listen, you ought to be thankful.

And I began to count my blessings. And one of the things I discovered about being 30 is that you don't do some of the dumb things you do when you're 19 or when you're in your early 20s. Now, you do other dumb things, but... And I began to think about my life at 30, and I said, Lord, thank you.

I feel I'm maturing a little bit. I'm learning some lessons. I'm learning some things.

And I have a greater sense of responsibility. And as I was... Then my chest puffed out real big, and I thought, well, this ain't so bad after all. I have arrived.

But you know, then the Lord showed me something else. He showed me another side of the coin. And I began to look around at others that were 19 or 21, began to do some of the dumb things I used to do.

And I used to look at them, you know, with my nose up, and I'd feel intolerable towards them. And one time God spoke to me and rebuked me and said, listen, you may have learned some lessons, but you haven't always been that way. I was patient with you.

I forgave you. I was patient with you. I brought you along.

Now you turn around, and you be patient with the others coming along as well. But you see, sometimes our attitude towards little ones, new converts, can wound them. And the Lord has convicted me how I've been careless at times by what I say.

Even inadvertently saying something that hurts another believer. And I say, Lord, guard my mouth, especially to one of your little ones. Oh, but listen to me.

The worst woe, however, applies to those who sin not with their lips, but with their life. And in so doing, they take down another Christian, especially a young Christian with them. And too many times I hear the sad story in a church of a brother.

A brother in the church, he befriends a young lady who comes into the church. And because he's already been in the church, and because he knows the Word, and because he knows all the gestures and he raises his hands and so forth, there'll be a young lady that will put her trust in him, and they will develop a relationship. But the end result, I've seen it too many times, it grieves my heart, that the end result of it is that that brother is not leading that young lady in the ways of holiness, but leading her down a path of sin and causing injury to a young one.

If you cause another Christian to stumble and fall, the Lord has a very strong warning to you. Jesus said it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck. And listen, a millstone's not one of those nice gold chains.

A millstone is anywhere from 7 to 15 inches thick. No man can lift it. It was used by the animals to grind and crush the grain, and Jesus said it would be better for you to have a millstone hung around your neck and thrown into the sea that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.

You see, the Lord says if you're a seducer, under the mask of Christianity, you profess the name of Christ, but you live or act like a devil, and you weaken the hands or bring pain to the heart of one of God's sincere children, the Lord says you are committing spiritual suicide. Woe be unto you! Now you see, it's one thing if two phony Christians get together. That's a different story.

They deserve each other. It always amazes me. It amazes me.

I watch it happen over and over again. You get a carnal Christian or so-called someone not walking in holiness, living in secret sin, they got a hidden pocket in their life, and they come into the church, and in a church this size, it's always amazing how they find each other. They find each other.

They're drawn to each other. It's almost like, you know, I don't know what to describe it, but I know people who have beepers. They carry these beepers, and I guess when it beeps, they go to a phone somewhere.

Well, it's almost like I see people carrying beepers around, and one's a beeper and one's a BP. Somehow they're drawn to each other. Well, they deserve each other.

It's flesh connecting with flesh. It's lust meeting lust, and if that happened to you, then you have nobody to blame but yourself. But listen, it's another story.

If you're living in secret sin, and you lure a young lamb into your sheepfold, and you're the cause of that one's weakness, and they sin under your influence, then you're in double jeopardy. That's called double jeopardy. I'd hate to be in your shoes.

And you see, when the disciples heard this, they said, Oh, Lord, this is a heavy one. This is an awesome responsibility to walk with you. Oh, Lord, increase our faith.

Please add or increase our faith so that we can be an influence for good, that we can be a stepping stone instead of a stumbling block to somebody. Ah, but then Jesus goes on. He lays out another one of the heavy ones.

Jesus told the disciples to be on guard, to forgive. Forgive many times. Be on your guard.

If your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times, saying, I repent, forgive him.

Now listen to me. The giving of offenses is a great sin. And the forgiving of offenses is a great duty.

Jesus speaks to both the offender and the offended. And he says we ought not to do anything to cause a brother or sister to be injured. But if you have, or you're the one that's been hurt, and you tell the person that hurt you that you were offended, and if they ask forgiveness, grant it to them immediately.

That's what Jesus says. Listen to me. I think one of the greatest hindrances to our spiritual growth is when we do not clear offenses immediately.

Immediately upon being offended. Clear it before God. If you've been trespassed against or feel you have, then go and tell the other person.

They may not know it. If they acknowledge their offense, forgive them. If they don't acknowledge their wrong, you still need to forgive them for your sake.

Nobody can get on with the business of walking righteously and holy before God if they carry around a wounded spirit because somebody has offended you. I've heard people who carried a wounded spirit for years. And I learned later, many years, I was the wounder.

And I didn't know it. And the only person that was hurt was the other person. But when they told me about it, I was wounded because they didn't tell me.

And so both of us had injuries that we had to forgive each other. But what about the person who keeps on offending you? Jesus said speak to him. Rebuke him.

If he receives it and asks forgiveness. Or if he doesn't, you forgive him. What if he keeps right on going doing the same thing? Well obviously that person has a problem.

But don't let another person's trespasses or offenses damage your spirit. Forgiveness keeps your heart clean. Hallelujah.

It keeps your heart clean. It frees you of bitterness. Proverbs 24, 29 says, Do not say, thus I shall do to him as he has done to me.

I will render to the man according to his work. No, no, that is not the spirit of Christ. I believe that a forgiving spirit is one of the most liberating things that there is, my friend.

It keeps your soul from being polluted. It will keep you from being downcast. It will keep you from focusing on other people's sins.

An old African proverb says, He that forgives ends the quarrel. And there is an English proverb that says, The noblest vengeance is to forgive. You want to get even with somebody, forgive them.

Forgive them. What else can they do? Proverbs 20, 22 says, Do not say, I will repay evil. Wait for the Lord.

Wait for the Lord and he will save you. Oh my friend, the Lord's the best defense lawyer I know. Let him plead your case and not you yourself.

Let him take care of the one who's trespassed against you. You forgive, forgive, and forgive again. And then get on with the business of serving the Lord.

Hallelujah. An old Puritan preacher called forgiveness. I don't know if you understand this or not, but you know what he called it? He called it squatters rights on another man's heart.

In other words, he said, He meant that the best way to win your way back into an unforgiving man's heart is to forgive him. He said, it's like having squatters rights in a man's heart. You've forgiven him.

He's got to deal with it. He's got to deal with you. You've done what God's called you to do.

Now it's his problem and you can get on with the business of serving the Lord. Hallelujah. Now you see, it was in the context of Christ's teaching on offenses and forgiveness that the disciples heard this and said, Lord, please increase our faith.

Now few, I fear, see the relationship between faith and holiness. The disciples did. They asked for more faith to fulfill the requirements of discipleship and to live an overcoming life.

And then Jesus makes a powerful, powerful statement of faith in response to the disciples' request. You know the verse. You know it.

He says, if you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and be planted in the sea and it would obey you. Oh, please Father, I want you to grasp this tonight. I just pray the Holy Spirit will help me to convey it, the significance of what Jesus is saying about faith.

Because this verse is one of the most misquoted verses about faith in the Bible. And we do, by the way, we do like to quote it. There's a similar verse in Matthew 17, 20.

It says, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, move from here and go over there and it will move and nothing shall be impossible to you. Now most Christians have heard about mustard seed faith and they quote this verse as an encouragement in dealing with the mountains and mulberry bushes that stand in our way. But Jesus applies faith here in a way that few people understand.

And what he's saying to his disciples, he heard them talk about offenses. He heard them talk about forgiveness. He was laying out the requirements of holiness and righteousness.

And Jesus is saying to them, what needs to be done is uproot the things in your life that need to be uprooted. If you've offended somebody, take care of that. If you need to forgive, forgive.

You see, the disciples were asking for faith to live up to the standard of righteousness and holiness that Jesus was laying down. And Jesus says our faith needs to first uproot our sin. That's where it begins.

Now most of us would like to have faith to receive blessings, faith to claim, faith to climb into heavenly places in Christ Jesus, faith for this and faith for that. But Jesus says get to the rotten roots first. If you don't have a right relationship with others, then you have a mulberry bush growing in your yard.

Or you have a mountain in your way. And you need faith first of all to deal with that. And if you deal with that, then I will increase your faith.

Hallelujah. Once you got that out of the way, there's no telling how far you can go. Hallelujah.

And then he says you don't need to be a super saint to have that faith that uproots unrighteousness in your heart. He said if you had faith like a mustard seed, mustard seed faith is little faith, the little faith of little ones. Mustard seed faith is beginner's faith.

And Jesus is saying to his disciples, this is the first basic lesson you need to learn. Use the faith I've given you to uproot sin in your heart and you'll see what the power of faith is able to do. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. This is the end of side one. Today, most Christians see faith as a free ride.

A way to get something rather than to get at something in their heart. John the Baptist says lay the axe to the root. That's how you start.

And today I look out upon the body of Christ and so many Christians do not start their Christian life this way because nobody has taught them, nobody has said lay the axe to the root. But if you do, hallelujah, then you're on your way to learning what faith is all about. Apply the word to need for forgiveness.

Apply it in the areas that Jesus is teaching. Take care of the trees and then you can go on. Go with me to II Peter.

II Peter, very quickly. I want you to see something that I'm, well I was blessed by it, I don't know about you. I've already been ministered to by the word and if you do, that's just a little extra on the icing.

Hallelujah. There's another powerful teaching in II Peter chapter 1. Some years later after the incident in Luke 17, Peter writes about faith and his understanding and application of faith and when he writes it shows that he learned when Jesus first taught it. He had a good teacher, he started right, and he understood what faith was all about.

Now he tells us in verse 1 that the epistle is written to those whom he commends for having the right kind of faith. Look at verse 1. Simon Peter, a bondservant, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who received a faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. I would like it to be said of me that I have received a faith just like Peter's.

That I had an authentic Bible faith. That's the kind of faith I want. And then Peter says that there is a faith and a power that can fully equip us and enable us to live up to the standard of righteousness and holiness that God requires.

Look at it, verse 2. Verse 3, I'm sorry. Seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything we need. Everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and excellence.

Listen, nobody can ever say it is too hard to live a holy life. Nobody can say it's too hard to live like they preach at the Times Square Church. Here's why you can make it.

It says, seeing that his divine power has given us, he has granted us everything we need. Hallelujah. Pertaining to spiritual life and to godliness.

Ah, but then verse 4. He tells us the purpose of Christ and his promises. He says, look at it, for by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises in order that by them ye might become partakers of the divine nature. And what does the divine nature of Christ enable us to do? To escape the pollution that is in the world by lust.

You see, what is interesting about this is that Peter here is teaching the same thing that he learned about faith from Jesus. The very first basic lesson that we need to be taught, which is tragically missing from the church today, is that the purpose of faith and the purpose of divine power is to get your heart all cleaned up first of all. And Jesus taught his disciples about mustard seed faith and what he said was, it's not the size of your faith that is important.

What is important is that you do the will of God. Don't offend other people. Forgive.

Apply your faith to heal your relationships in the body of Christ. And if you do that, then I will give you and increase your faith. Hallelujah.

And then it goes on in 1 Peter 1, verses 5 to 8, is one of the most powerful teachings on faith in the Bible as far as I'm concerned. Let me read it to you. I'm reading from the New American Standard.

It says, Now for this very reason, also applying all diligence, I think the King James says, add, uses the word add, giving all diligence. Okay, same thing. And for this reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith, supply moral excellence and in your moral excellence, knowledge.

And in your knowledge, self-control. And in your self-control, perseverance. And in your perseverance, godliness.

And in your godliness, brotherly kindness. And in your brotherly kindness, love. Now, I want you to note that the verse begins with faith and it ends with love.

And in between are the essentials of one who walks with Jesus. One who walks in faith. And Peter says, faith is the seedbed of all other virtues.

He said, if you have faith even the size of a mustard seed, that faith should be used and applied to add Christ-like character to your life. And then he says to Peter, add to your faith. Extend your faith.

I read it to you, it says applying for this very reason, applying all diligence, but what he is actually saying is add. Add to your faith. And when he says that, what he is saying to Peter is this.

He is saying, now listen to me carefully. He is saying, choir your faith. Choir, C-H, the fellows who just sang, we call that a choir.

We have our own choir here. And that's what Peter is saying when he is using this. Now, if that has confused you, I hope it has, because I wanted you to get confused so I could get your attention.

Peter says, add to your faith. And what he means is choir your faith. Faith is like a choir.

And that word that is used there is taken from an old Grecian custom. It means to be a chorus leader or a choir leader to furnish a chorus at one's own expense. You see, the Greeks worshiped their gods through hired choruses or hired choirs.

If a man was a poet and he wrote a great writing, he would hire a choir director who would then go out and he would add all of these choir members and would put on this presentation for all of the citizens as well as to their gods. And Peter said, faith does that. He said, faith cannot stand alone.

He says, add to your faith moral excellence. Add to it discernment. Add to it patience, self-control, etc.

And he said, when you do that, you present a mighty song, a mighty course to the Lord when you begin to develop these Christ-like characteristics in your life. Now, suppose Sister Gwen, our choir leader, would come out at the beginning of the service to lead in worship and she was all alone. No choir members followed her.

And the pastors would say, Sister Gwen, where's the rest of the choir? And what has she said? Faith, pastors, faith. That's all we need is faith. I'll take care of it, don't worry.

I'm faith, I can do it all. Do you know what our response would be? Sister Gwen, faith, you better go back downstairs and pray. And you better add to your choir.

You better add to faith and bring with you moral excellence. And bring with you godliness. And bring with you self-control.

And bring with you brotherly love. And most of all, bring with you love. And when you've got them all together, then you can make a sound in the ears of God that will please his heart.

Hallelujah. You see, most of what is in the church today is a one-man choir. Faith comes out under the pulpit and teaches, that's all you need is faith.

No, no, a solo is not a choir number. A solo is not a course. Beethoven cannot be rendered by one voice or one instrument.

Much less can God be set forth by one virtue. He says, no, add to your faith. Add Jesus to your life.

Add my fruits to your life. And when you do, you make good music. You make good music.

Oh, what beautiful music. What beautiful harmony. What composition it is.

When we begin to uproot this and uproot that, and then we add this and we add that. Hallelujah. And we come out just not on one note, but we come out on all the notes, all the fruits.

Hallelujah. If we sing with the tongues of men and angels, and do not add self-control, if we do not add brotherly kindness, if we do not add love, then we have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And too much of what I hear in the church today is the gong show.

If any of you, I used to watch, when I used to watch television, I'm sorry to say, one of the shows I used to watch was the gong show. And I wasn't smart enough to know the Holy Spirit was gonging me and telling me, you need to add something because you're just making a gong sound right now. Get rid of certain things in your life so that I can add to your faith.

Hallelujah. And you see what the disciples asked for was an increased faith for an increased commitment. And the Lord will increase your faith if you increase in the qualities of holiness.

Look at the verse. I close with this. It says, for if these qualities are yours, if they're yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah. I don't know about you, but I want those qualities in me. The Lord says, I'll use you.

I'll use you. I'll make something out of you. But you gotta add and add and keep adding.

And if you do, then I will increase your faith. Hallelujah. Do you want more faith? Do you want to be like Jesus? Do you want to be more useful? Add character to your faith.

Hallelujah. Let me share something with you. If I can find it.

Yes, Saturday morning here, and I'm going to close with this. Saturday morning here, I conducted the funeral for a young man, 28 years of age, died of throat cancer. Ed Robitussio.

Now nobody can tell me that Ed did not have faith. Oh, Ed was not healed. But I want to tell you something, Ed added to his faith, a godly character.

And he went out into the presence of God, holding on to his faith and holding on to moral excellence. He wrote this, and I want to read it to you as I close. He wrote this on July 1st from Bellevue Hospital during the time when he was going into chemotherapy.

He said, Jesus, I am starting this letter by telling you I love you. I would like to love you more than I do. Right now, as you know, I feel so weak and I have pain.

Most of the time I can't focus on anything but my pain. It is that intense. I have many fears.

I am afraid. I have many feelings because I don't know what's happening to me. You see, he had Job's comforters who came in and told him if you had more faith you'd be healed.

And he had such condemnation. Sister Marianne had to go in and lift his spirit out of all of that. He said, I do feel your hand is on me, Jesus.

I don't know how I've made it thus far even with your strength. He said, I hear voices speaking to my heart and when I listen to them too I'm confused. These voices are telling me things to do, like preach, play music for you.

I want to be motivated out of love for you, Jesus, not out of fear and guilt. I want to see you as the God of love in all circumstances. Forgive me for my unbelief.

Please change my heart, Jesus. Make me love those who are in pain, especially patients in pain. I'm so tired as I write this.

I wish I could go get a good night's sleep, something I haven't had in over a month. I love you, Jesus. Give me a heart that pans after you, Jesus.

Yes, I'm afraid of more suffering. Yes, I'm afraid to die. You've humbled me greatly.

My pride, stubborn, rebellious pride is in you, Jesus. I want to go home now. I want to be healed now.

I want to forget about this place now. I'm so anxious because I'm going nuts. Yesterday, I really wanted to die.

I can't take this anymore, Jesus. Please give me a heart that says, it don't matter. Only you do, Jesus.

And you know, when Ed came into my office, the Lord, he had heard me preach a message in this church entitled, It Don't Matter. He came into my office and he gave me, he had a gift wrapped up and I opened it up and it was a bright red T-shirt with white letters on it. It said, It Don't Matter.

And at the funeral, I had it and I laid it on Ed's casket as a testimony to Ed that he had not lost his faith, that in the midst of his pain, he was adding to his faith, adding to his faith, moral excellence, a discerning heart, wanting brotherly love, wanting love. Oh, my friend, let's add to our faith, hallelujah. You want to increase your faith, increase your commitment, your faith will automatically be increased.

Praise the Lord. Let's stand together. Let's stand together.

He didn't care about the fact that he was in prison or that he had been relegated or anything else. He had a glimpse of Jesus. And then finally, John says, there is joy in being and serving as a friend of the bridegroom.

Look at verse 29. It says, he who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him