The High Cost of Unbelief

0:43 Would you turn in your Bibles, please, to the Gospel of Mark, and we are today in chapter 6. Isn't that amazing? After 22 weeks, we have made it all the way to chapter 6 of the Gospel of Mark. Mark chapter 6, we're going to be looking at the first six verses. A quick question, show of hands, how many of you here were born and raised somewhere else? Before you came here, just raise your hand. Okay, hands down, that's a good chunk of you. So when you grow up and you move out of wherever you were born and raised, at some point you have a desire to go back home. And you might even get a little bit nostalgic. You want to visit old friends, familiar haunts, and just kind of get in touch with your past. You might even want to go to your high school reunion.

1:42 and if you go to your 10-year high school reunion, it's always an interesting thing. It's like the look at me phase, you know, what I in 10 years look like or have done. You know, you want to make sure you look as good as you did when you graduated and that's sort of like you're sizing people up at the 10-year high school reunion. When you get to your 20-year high school reunion, things are a little bit different. You have made life choices. Your aging starts to show a little bit. By the time you get to your 30-year high school reunion, you're kind of looking back and sharing memories rather than trying to size one another up. If you make it to your 50th year high school reunion, you may want to go just to see who's not dead at that point. Well, in Mark chapter 6, Jesus is going back home to where he grew up, and that is the town of Nazareth, where he has spent 30 years of his life.

2:52 In Nazareth, it was a small town at that time, less than 500 people. Today it's 77,000 people. But then it was just a tiny little village between 100 to 500 people. Everybody knew everybody in Nazareth. And everybody was in everybody's business in a small town like that. So he goes back to former neighbors who watched him play in the streets. Knew him from his time in the synagogue there. And he goes back with his disciples in chapter 6. Now he has already been there once before. A year before this, right after his baptism at the Jordan River, Jesus went back privately to Nazareth and he spoke in the synagogue. And you might recall that he opened the scroll of Isaiah, chapter 61. He preached a sermon from that text where he said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to set at liberty those who are bound.

4:01 And then he closed the book and he said, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. In other words, I am the one that scripture is speaking about. They didn't like it. They got upset because he said that. They took him to the brow of the hill in Nazareth to throw him off. Now he comes back a year later. and it's like he wants to reach out one final time, this time with his disciples in tow. He comes back to Nazareth. A lot has happened in that last year. His fame has spread. He has made many disciples. The crowds are huge. Many people have been healed, but he has met in Nazareth with unbelief, Not doubt, unbelief.

4:57 And you need to know there's a difference between doubt and unbelief. Doubt is not the absence of faith. In fact, doubt presupposes that there is faith. You can only doubt what you already believe. Unbelief is different. Doubts come and go, but unbelief is a conclusion. It's a decision, a settled decision where a person says, I want to live my life without God. That's unbelief. We as Christians believe, but all Christians from time to time have doubts. When a Christian doubts, he fears that God may not exist. When an unbeliever doubts, he fears that God may exist. And there are ramifications to his unbelief. but doubt happens to be a feature of many things and many scriptures in the bible example the book of psalms how many times have you read a psalm where the psalmist is struggling with god and and struggling with an issue in life wrestling very honestly with his doubts or the book of job job himself didn't know why he was suffering so much and he wrestles out loud with God in front of his three friends.

6:20 In the New Testament, there's a story of a man who has a son that is demon-possessed, and that man implores Jesus to do something. And our Lord says to him, If you believe, all things are possible to him that believes. And the man said, I believe, but help my unbelief. He expressed honest doubt. What I love about that story is Jesus does not yell at him, does not castigate him, but he helps him.

6:56 Then there's John the Baptist. John the Baptist, who knew that Jesus was the Son of God, was the Messiah, was there baptizing Jesus in the Jordan, saw the heavens open, the Spirit of God descend on him like a dove, no doubt at all, until he was put in jail. and while he's in prison, he sends word to Jesus with a simple question, are you really the guy? Are you the one? Or should we look for another? So even John the Baptist had doubts. Doubt is not the same as unbelief. What we are confronted here with is unbelief. Doubt is the struggle of the mind that asks questions but is still willing to trust. Unbelief is a condition of the heart that actively resists God in spite of the evidence, just pushes God away.

7:54 Now, some people will say, well, I can't believe that. I'd like to believe like you, but I just really can't believe that. Oftentimes, I've discovered what they really mean is not I can't believe it, but I won't believe it. It's not a matter of their ability. It is a matter of their will. Now, when it comes to Jesus, people have been speculating as to who this guy is ever since he came on the scene. Mark says in chapter 1, verse 1, he is the Son of God, The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And he goes now to show us in his writings that this is the Son of God. But not everybody is believing that. Not everybody still to this day believes that.

8:49 There's no other figure in history that has loomed as large on the stage of human history as Jesus. yet he is very, very controversial. More words have been written about Jesus than any other historical figure. Librarians estimate that there are no less than 100,000 dedicated titles, books written about Jesus in English alone let alone all the other languages let alone all the commentaries Bible commentaries, academic papers, etc. The Magi, who came to see Jesus after he was born, called him the King of the Jews. Nicodemus recognized him as a teacher come from God. Herod Antipas believed he was John the Baptist risen from the dead.

9:48 Hmm. I wonder what the people in Nazareth have to say about him. Well, that takes us to chapter 6, verse 1, where it says, Then he went out from there, there being Capernaum, where he is headquartered, and he came to his own country. His own country is Nazareth. It's 25 miles away. It would have taken him about two days going up the steep hills from below sea level to about 1,500 feet above sea level. And his disciples followed him. And when the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing him were astonished, saying, Where did this man get these things? And what wisdom is this with which is given to him, that such mighty works are performed by his hands?

10:48 Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us? And so they were offended at him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house. Now he could do no mighty work there. except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. Then he went about the villages in a circuit teaching. I want to show you four characteristics of unbelief. Four characteristics of unbelief as seen in this town of Nazareth.

11:44 First, unbelief respects his wisdom. They note in the first two verses that this guy could teach really well. He began to teach, verse 2, in the synagogue. Many hearing him were astonished.

12:05 Unbelief at first seems noble, virtuous. it will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is indeed a powerful communicator an ethical teacher taught many wise things had a lot of good things to say and I just want you to note again we have been making note of this in the gospel of Mark that it makes note that he is teaching it uses the word teach in verse 2 and then at the end of verse 6, teaching. And that is because that's what he does most. In all the ministry of Jesus, of all the things that he does, he is primarily not a healer, not a miracle worker, not a preacher. He is a teacher. He takes the truth of God and teaches people the truth about God. That is why he is known as the teacher, and that's why we find him so often engaged in this activity of a teaching ministry. But though he is a teacher, he is different from every other teacher, from all the other rabbis. You recall when he first went into the synagogue in Capernaum. Same language is used. They were astonished at his teaching because he taught as one that had authority, not like the scribes. Different level.

13:42 Different level. And this goes all the way back to when he was young, when he was 12 years old, and he is lost in the temple. And his parents go to find him in Luke chapter 2, and they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, and all who heard him, this 12-year-old, were astonished at his understanding and answers. A little bit later in John chapter 7, they said, how does this man have such learning having never been taught? He has no formal education. How does he understand all that. In Luke chapter 19, this is now toward the end of his earthly ministry, he is in Jerusalem teaching daily in the temple, and all the people were very attentive. One translation says, hanging on every word. While he was doing that, some of the Jewish leaders sent guards to where Jesus was giving his sermon to arrest him.

14:55 They come back to the leaders without Jesus in tow. And the leaders said, why didn't you bring him? We sent you to arrest him. And this is what they answered. Nobody ever taught like this man. that's all they could say they were just astonished at his teaching his teaching was clear understandable authoritative deep educated powerful knowledgeable profound and unmatched by any speaker and you would expect that if he is indeed the son of god he should be able to be a very good speaker. I mean, the one who invented dirt is the one who gave the parable about the soils. You would expect that to be very profound and profoundly given.

15:50 The one who inspired scripture is the one who exegeted biblical text. You would expect that to be amazing. so their initial reaction in Nazareth is amazement they are astonished it's a very powerful word it means overwhelmed essentially literally it means to be struck to be outside yourself and to be struck in other words we would say Jesus blew their minds with his ability to speak he had a wow effect on his audience. But that wow effect prompts a lot of questions that they ask, four or five different questions, a series of questions. Who is this guy? Where does he get this from? How is he able to do all these things? And this is where their unbelief comes in.

16:48 Their unbelief is now looking for an explanation for these silly questions they have. They're searching for an explanation other than the obvious explanation that the reason he can be like this is because he is who he claims he is. He is the Son of God. the people of Nazareth are a good example of the soil that our Lord has spoken about in the parable that he gave in chapter 4 of Mark the sower and the seed and Jesus said some of the seed fell on the wayside the hardened soil and as soon as it fell down the birds of the air came and snatched it away and Jesus said these are the people who hear the word of God and immediately Satan comes and takes it away. These are the people of Nazareth. This is unbelief. Unbelief will acknowledge that Jesus is merely a good Bible teacher, merely a good communicator, and nothing more. Historians and philosophers have often admired Jesus' ethical teachings. I have read and I have heard for years people say, oh, yeah, Jesus, you know. He's not God, but he did say a lot of good things about love and peace and humility. But we reject his claim to divinity, but he was a very wise teacher. What is astonishing to me is a recent Lifeway research poll noted that 30% of those who considered themselves to be evangelical Christians said, and I quote, Jesus was a good teacher, but he was not God. 30% of us said he was a good teacher, but that's it, not God. And then I would say this,

18:58 if you're in that camp. You need to read a book, not just the Bible. You need to read a good little book by C.S. Lewis called Mere Christianity. It's a very, very logical, thoughtful book. And C.S. Lewis writes about this, he calls it the patronizing nonsense about Jesus being a great moral teacher. And he says, I want to prevent people from saying the really foolish thing, which is, I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would be a lunatic on the level with a man who says he's a poached egg, or else he would be the devil of hell.

19:54 End quote. So these unbelievers of Nazareth are amazed at his wisdom and his teaching. That's how far they're willing to go. So unbelief respects his wisdom. Let me give you a second mark or characteristic of unbelief. Unbelief recognizes his work as well. Go again to verse 2. many hearing him were astonished saying now notice the questions where did this man get these things well the answer is he got them from heaven and what wisdom is this which is given to him now watch this and or that such mighty works are performed by his hands the word is dunamis dunamis we get the word dynamo or dynamic dynamite from dunamis it means supernatural power they have heard about all the healings Jesus has done all the miracles he has performed it's been a year since he was there last and since then there have been so many miracles in fact just five miles away from Nazareth the very first miracle he ever did took place in Cana of Galilee He went to a wedding and he turned water into wine just down the road.

21:18 And since then, he has healed blind people and deaf people, paralyzed people, and he has even raised people from the dead. And this is why, again, it was so hard for him to even go into different populated areas because people were inundating him with the crowds that were coming. and the people of Nazareth are willing to acknowledge he's a good speaker and he has done many wonderful works we don't know why we don't know how he got all that but wow even Nicodemus recognized his powerful works remember Nicodemus down in Jerusalem he said to Jesus we know that you are a teacher come from God for no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him. But all of his miraculous works were meant to point to his identity. They should figure that out. If he can speak like nobody else spoke and if he can do miraculous signs, gee, who could that be? All of his miracles were to point to that. In John chapter five. He said, the works which the Father has given me to finish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father has sent me.

22:45 in John chapter 10, he said to them, if I do not do the works of my father, do not believe me. But if I do, though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and believe that the father is in me and that I am in the father. So back to the Nazarenes, the unbelievers of Nazareth. Unbelievers will admit that Jesus was a very powerful person. Yeah, he did miracles. But they won't give a rational explanation how a mere human could do those miracles. Even the Babylonian Talmud, you've heard me refer to the Talmud before. Let me just tell you what that is. The Talmud is a massive multi-volume set of literature of how the Jews through history applied scripture. It's filled with debates, legal rulings, stories, commentary, and the Talmud, the rabbinical records will not deny that Jesus indeed did amazing things. But they have an explanation of who he was. I'll get to that in a minute, but they just said, yep, he did amazing things. He did a lot of miracles.

24:14 Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, said Jesus was a doer of wonderful deeds. And I've had Jewish friends in Israel that I was sharing the gospel with, and I said to them, well, now you explain to me how Jesus could say what he said, claim to be who he claimed to be, and do the miracles that he did. And they will say, look, we don't believe what he claimed to be. But the fact that he did miracles is not a big deal because even in our Old Testament, in our scripture, Elijah the prophet did miracles. Elijah the prophet stopped the rain. Elijah the prophet raised the dead. So we think Jesus was just a prophet who God used to do miracles, but he was not who he claimed to be.

25:08 Well, I guess that would make him a false prophet. They haven't really worked their way through that part yet. But unbelief will respect his wisdom and unbelief will recognize his worth. But here's where it goes downhill. Third characteristic is unbelief reduces his wonder. It makes him less than who he really is. Verse 3, this is how they explain it. Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And so they were offended at him. This is unbelief.

26:04 This is unbelief. These are hard hearts. Now, there are four brothers of Jesus that are mentioned here, and at least two sisters, because sister is plural, so there's at least two. So he's got six siblings who did not believe in him. According to John chapter 7, it says, and his brothers did not believe in him. In fact, you recall back in chapter 3 of the Gospel of Mark, his brothers his family came to Capernaum to rescue him from himself to take him back to Nazareth right to because man I mean this this kid our brother everybody's following him like he's like from God or something we got to bring him home so they didn't believe in him yet and that's an important word yet they will come to believe in him one of the persons mentioned here is James James, in verse 3, the brother of Jesus, James will not only come to believe that his brother, stepbrother, is the Messiah, the Son of God, he will become the leader of the church in Jerusalem and will write the book of James. Judas will come to believe in him and write the book of Jude in the New Testament. So they will become full-on ardent followers of Jesus. But at this point, they are not believers in him. Just a quick note because of my Catholic background.

27:37 When I was growing up, I heard this doctrine called the perpetual virginity of Mary. Some of you have heard of it because you were raised in the same background I was. The perpetual virginity of Mary is a Catholic dogma that says Mary was always a virgin. She was a virgin before she was pregnant. She was a virgin while she was pregnant, and she was a virgin after she was pregnant. In fact, when Jesus was born, according to this dogma, Jesus did not come through the birth canal, but just sort of appeared on Mary's side miraculously. So she's perpetually a virgin, and I'll just say, well, you have six eyewitnesses who beg to differ.

28:29 And four of their names are given here and the other ones are just called his sisters. So there are six people who probably would say, yeah, that doesn't quite work out. But the people in Nazareth, back to our point, they're astonished by all the reports they have heard of his miracles. They're amazed at his powerful speaking, yet they refuse to put their trust in him as Lord and Savior. And here's why. Verse 3 gives it away. Here's why. They know him. He's the kid that grew up in this town. Familiarity breeds contempt, right? this is the village handyman the carpenter the carpenter the word carpenter is the greek word tech tone and it just means a handyman a craftsman somebody you can build from a number of different materials not just wood but a stonemason he'd fix your yoke he'd build your chair he'd fix something at your house. And it says they were offended at him. Scandalizo. He tripped them up, literally. They were offended at him. They couldn't explain him, and so they rejected him.

29:47 This is the fix-it man. This is a blue-collar kid. Stay in your lane. You're not a preacher. so they say, ah, this is the carpenter. Is this not the carpenter? Then notice this, the son of Mary. Now stop there. That's highly unusual. In Judaism, sons were always named after their father. He would have been called by people the son of Joseph. That's how they would have known him in Nazareth. But they don't use that term here. They call him the son of Mary, which means one of two things either A by this time Joseph has died and so she is left or and most scholars hold to this that this is an insult this is meant as a cheap slam saying or intimating that Jesus is an illegitimate child and that Mary is a whore son of Mary That was the gossip going around, you may recall.

30:56 John chapter 8, when there's a confrontation between our Lord and the leaders, they say to him, we were not born of fornication. We have one father, even God. And Jesus comes and says, actually, you are of your father, the devil. It was a very heated conversation. So Mark says Jesus is the son of God. the people in Nazareth say, he's just the son of Mary, a handyman in town. Now back to the Talmud. I mentioned the Talmud that recognized that Jesus did miracles. According to the Talmud, the Jewish Talmud, Jesus Christ was the illegitimate son of Mary. The illegitimate son of Mary, whom they fancy to be a hairdresser in Nazareth. and not only the son of Mary but the son of Mary threw a Roman soldier that she slept with named Panthera so they call him in the Talmud Yeshua ben Panthera Jesus the son of Panthera a Roman soldier that had an affair with Mary and furthermore they say he could do miracles because he learned the magical arts while he was down in Egypt this is unbelief unbelief usually due to personal bias will reduce the majesty and wonder of Jesus Christ they will diminish his actual person and this is the position of secular humanists this is the position of skeptics that some will say if he even existed that all the rest of this stuff is a myth.

32:45 You see, when you can't refute his preaching and you can't refute his power, you have to attack his person. They have no good arguments. One philosopher said, and I quote, that Jesus was a hot-tempered person, destitute of knowledge, who behaved like a wild savage. It is evident that the hoax of Christ being the Son of God, the knower of the past and the future, the forgiver of sin, has been set up falsely by his disciples. In reality, he was a very ordinary, ignorant man, end quote. They're just making this stuff up.

33:26 Some psychologists that I have read said that he suffered from delusions of grandeur. I mean, he thought he's the Messiah. He claimed to be God. Some writers claim that he was insane because he said that. Then there's the writings of John Dominic Crossan. Some of you are familiar with him. He was part of that Jesus seminar, a group of so-called scholars. He said this, Jesus may have been a carpenter, but he was probably an illiterate and belonged to a low cast of artisans. He did not preach salvation from sin through sacrifice. He never cured any diseases. As for the other miracles, no loaves and fishes, no water into wine, no raising of Lazarus, and certainly no resurrection. What happened then to the body of Jesus? Most likely it was consumed by wild dogs. See, these people just make this stuff up with no documentation.

34:31 All of that to say this, you cannot get your information about Christ from opinion polls, or from TikTok, or from Instagram, or from YouTube. You have to go to the source, the documents, the historical background. Jesus asked his disciples, who do men say that I am? Remember what they answered him? Well, some say you're John the Baptist. some say you're Elijah some say you're Jeremiah or one of the prophets were any of them right none they were all wrong the only guy in the crowd that had it right was Peter you are the Christ the son of the living God blessed are you Simon son of Jonah flesh and blood hasn't revealed this to you but my father in heaven or bingo Peter bingo you get an A on the test you got the answer right but the people in Nazareth they didn't believe now if you were to ask the Nazarenes do you believe in God?

35:34 of course do you believe Jesus is a great teacher? oh marvelous do you believe Jesus did miracles? yeah but these are unsaved unbelievers that's an important point you know because a lot of people say well I believe in God I believe in Jesus well you know what the bible says the devils believe that and they tremble so you say i believe in god i believe in jesus congratulations you have the faith of a demon what are you doing with what you know so unbelief respects his wisdom and unbelief recognizes his work but unbelief reduces his wonder. Let me give you the fourth and final characteristic of unbelief. Unbelief robs of well-being. It robs of well-being. Verse 4, Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house. Now, verse 5, now he could do no mighty work there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. Now, if I'm a sick person, I think that's pretty awesome. But in comparison to all the places and things he has done, this is a pittance. And, verse 6, and he marveled. It's amazing to read that Jesus marveled at something. He marveled because of their unbelief. Then he went about the villages in a circuit teaching. How many times in the New Testament do we read about people being astonished at Jesus? A lot. Everywhere he goes, wow, it blew him away. That was an amazing sermon.

37:27 Look it, he just rose somebody from the dead. Everybody was blown away by him. But only twice in the New Testament do we read that Jesus marvels. Only twice. And both involve faith, either great faith or lack of faith. One instance is in Luke chapter 7. A Roman centurion has a servant that needs to be healed. And Jesus says, okay, let's go and I'll heal him. And the centurion says, wait, you don't even have to come to my house. Right where you're standing, you could just say a word and he'll be healed. I'm a man of authority. I understand what authority is. If you just speak a word, it will be done. And it says Jesus marveled at his faith. He said, I have not found that kind of faith even among the Jews, even in all of Israel. And then the other time that he marvels is right here. But he's not marveling at their faith.

38:28 He's marveling at their lack of faith. He marveled at their unbelief. That's why in Hebrews 3, verse 12, we read, Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Why? Because unbelief will rob you of God's blessings. Now, when it says he could do no mighty work there, don't misunderstand that. It has nothing to do with his ability or his power. As much as saying he was morally compelled not to do any miraculous works there. And here's why. Miracles confirm people's faith. They do not produce faith. A lot of people say, well, if I could see a miracle, then I'd believe. No, you wouldn't.

39:27 You'd explain it away. You'd psychologize it away. You'd rationalize it away. If you want to believe, you will. If you don't want to believe, you won't. Remember the story that Jesus told of the rich man and Lazarus? Both of them died. And the rich man said to Abraham, who was being, Lazarus, the poor beggar, was being comforted by Abraham. And the rich man said to Abraham, Abraham, send Lazarus to my father's house because I have five brothers. Warn them lest they come to this place that I'm in of torment.

40:04 Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. In other words, they have a Bible. They can read the Bible. Let them hear what Moses and the prophets have to say. They said, no, no, but if you send him, they'll believe. And he says, no, they will not be persuaded even though one rises from the dead.

40:33 So faith is a powerful force. Unbelief is a powerful force. Faith will produce blessings, salvation, joy, peace, purpose, meaning. Unbelief will rob you of all of those things. It has devastating results in this life and in the life to come. You all know John 3, 16, right? Everybody knows that. Unbelievers know that. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. But do you know John 3, 18, two verses later? He who believes in him is not condemned. He who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. John 8, if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.

41:37 Unbelief robs you of well-being. Okay, I'm pretty much done. I want to land this plane, but I want to do so by addressing two groups this morning. Unbelievers and believers. Could be that a few of you are unbelievers, and so I want to address you first. if you're an unbeliever, you're at a place where you have just sort of formed a position, a settled position of, I won't go any further. This is who I am. It's what I believe.

42:17 I won't believe. You may have seen the power of God in other people's lives. You may have seen it in your spouse's life, extended family, friends who have come to know Christ. You've heard their testimony, you've seen the changes in their lives. They're different. But you've managed to sort of blow that off. You've rationalized it away. You've marginalized it. Instead, you should be thinking, maybe I'll try what they tried. Maybe I'll do what they did. Maybe I'll believe like they have. now I'd like to address the believers we believers though we have no physical familiarity with Jesus Christ we've never seen him he didn't grow up in our town like in Nazareth but we face a danger of spiritual familiarity we have been around spiritual things so long some of us, that we can become desensitized to the things of God.

43:32 Know what I'm talking about? We've heard all these stories. We sing these songs all the time. These truths fall from our lips. We've heard so much, so much that when we hear something, go, I've already heard that. I know that. It just rolls off. We think that if something is not new or novel, it's not noteworthy. It is. It is noteworthy. It is amazing. Don't let familiarity with truth rob you of the blessing of that truth. So, Jesus marveled twice at faith of the centurion and an unbelief of those in his own hometown.

44:29 Let me just drop a question on you for you to think about as you go. What about us amazes him? What about us amazes him? Our faith? or our unbelief. Father, we believe. Help our unbelief. we might have doubts many of us do at different times in life because of different circumstances or conversations we've had, backgrounds of things we've gone through. But those are good things. We wrestle with those things and come to a settled belief that carries us through the most difficult times of life. Father, I pray that none of us would ever grow too familiar with spiritual things that we just don't go, wow, the wonder of it all, the wonder of it all, just to think that God loves me.

45:36 He has chosen me. I am a son or daughter of the living God. I am royalty. I pray, Lord, that you would be pleased with our faith, for we read in the book of Hebrews, at some point we read, without faith it is impossible to please God. So I pray that you would be pleased by our trust, our faith, in Jesus' name.