The Church of Eleven22 - Saturated 2021 - Friday: Pastor Bruce Frank

Episode Date: September 17, 2021

I hate church, good to do. Very, very good to see you. Again, Pastor Jobby and I have known each other maybe seven years or so now. And believe it or not, our churches are in some ways joined at the hip. You guys have had a blessing in Nashville, North Carolina, whether you know it or not. Because actually when we met about seven years ago, it was just down the street at Sawgrass at a Tebow tournament. And they paired Jobby and I together in this golf tournament. And really, we were debating at the time what we wanted to do child sponsors. and we wanted to plant churches and we wanted to do it together, but we didn't know anybody who was doing both together. And over about 18 holes of golf and some discussion there, by the time I got back to Asheville, North Carolina, we started a partnership with compassion. And so just on that note, what you all have set the trend for in planting churches and sponsoring kids.

Now I think we've got 3,500 kids in Ecuador now that are being blessed because of what you guys have started and set the way. So, man, thank you very much. And let me just also say one of the thing. And you guys know this, I think. I know your church is about 10 years old, and some of you all have been here, maybe all the 10 years.

But sometimes when your pastor's there, the average pastor stays about 18 months. I don't know if you know that or not, but we move around a lot typically. And number one, not just that when your pastor's been there 10 years like yours has been, it's sometimes easy to take him for granted.

And I know you love him and I know you honor him. and that's an awesome. You've already sense the culture is great here. But I would just say this. You do need to understand. You don't have a perfect pastor, but you've got a godly man who loves you.

He loves Jesus. He loves the word. He is tremendously respected around the country. I'm just, I can't emphasize it. I've not met a person yet that doesn't have a tremendous amount of respect for not just the way Jobi leads and how Jobi leads, but also the way that he loves you guys as well. So, man, honor him.

him, love him, continue to just pray for him as well. You've got a great, great, got a great pastor. You got a great church. You got a great town. I mean, how fun is it to come? We woke up this morning and pulled back the shades and boom. I mean, the beach. I mean, it's, it was awesome. I mean, the beach is great. Don't take, don't get me wrong. Beach is awesome. We get to live in the mountains, all right? So we love visiting the beach. We love living in the mountains. And so we do live in Nashville, North Carolina, it is a weird place for sure, but it is a, it's a beautiful place. And I know people sometimes kind of dis on the mountains in North Carolina, like, well, those are small and those are the, those are little, you know, the smoky mountains.

And the reason they're smoky, by the way, is because there's so many trees there, the vapor comes up, and so it gives it that name. But the mountains might not look big from, you know, when you're looking at them compared to, let's say, the rocky mountains, but try climbing one of those things. And it is like you, several times. I've started a climb and like halfway up, like, nope, not going to happen. Go back down. And as a matter of fact, they're the highest mountains in the east.

All right. So when you look at him, you're like, man, those mountains are awesome. The mountains are great. They're great to look at. They're pretty. They're phenomenal living. But there's a passage that actually the Lord put on my heart like two and a half years ago as I was kind of preparing a series of messages that has become very personal to me

because it does deal with mountains. And mountains in the Bible are those things in your life that have seemed to become immovable. They seem to be unchangeable. In a lot of those ways, it's kind of like those hikes I've taken. You go up about halfway, and you're like, you know what, they're too imposing. I'm not going to finish it. I'm going to check out. They're kind of like those strongholds that you know are not God's best for you.

They're not God's best for your life. But they just seem impossible to change. I mean, it's the marriage that it's the marriage. marriage that is a lot more woe than it is wow. You're like, you know what? We came to saturated because bottom line, is this kind of like our last chance of trying to make this thing work? It's for that parent in here, and you've got a prodigal,

and you've been praying for a long time, and you know what? It just doesn't seem like anything's moving. There's no softening of the heart. There's nothing at all. Whatever that is, think about that. What is that greatest area of desperation in your life? That secret habit that you can't break. You come to church, you get fired up, you feel victorious,

and by Tuesday you're already back in the gutter again. Or that lost, loved one that you love. Maybe you're married to that person. Maybe that's your mom or your sister or your dad. And you're like, you know what? And here's what, it's easy to lose hope. And what happens is when we lose hope, we go from hoping to coping. We go from hoping.

You know what? God's going to do something awesome. I'm going to see God bring the... I can't believe, by the way, the lineup of the songs tonight. I was like, they didn't know what I was preaching. And when you start going to raise a hallelujah and God's going to show me a victory, it's like, man, God is good. God is good.

But a lot of times when you can sing, raise a hallelujah, God's going to bring a victory. And you believe it and you believe it, but weeks turn into months and months turn into years and sometimes years turn into decades and you don't see it changing. And it's easy, you know what, the hope, and I'm hoping, I'm hoping. And then the hope is just gone. and you go from hoping to coping. That's what mountains are in the Bible. And so what I want to talk to you about today

and from Matthew chapter 17 is I want to talk to you about, you know, the fact that, you know what, your mountain can move. Your mountain can move. The start of that can actually start tonight. And what I've been praying today and what I'm asking God to do and what we want to ask God to do is I want God to do for you what we see God do for a man 2,000 years ago in God's word today. So here's where we are.

Matthew 17. I'm going to read the text. This is one actually that I know that Jobi mentioned at lunch today that you guys have looked at at and you've really fixed on what the context is and the context is the Mount of Transfiguration. And what happens oftentimes as you see in the Bible, it goes from the mountaintop and you're going down into the valley. And that's what happens here. I mean, Peter, James, and John, they're up on the mountain and they see, they just get the cover of humanity pulled back and they get to see deed. it's an amazing thing.

But then they go back down to the valley and then they see this scene happening. When they came to the crowd, a man came up and said to him and kneeling before him said, Lord, have mercy on my son. For he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire

and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples and they could not heal him. And Jesus answered, oh, faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me. That's what we want to do tonight.

Bring him here to me. And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. And then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, why could we not cast it out? And he said to them, because of your little faith, for truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.

Loved one, here's what I'm praying, is I'm praying that your mountain can move, and the pattern that you see is it starts off. The mountain beginning to move starts off oftentimes with your desperation, with you just being desperate for God to move. Desperation comes from the word despair. Despair means to lose hope and to lose hope into such a fashion that you do something radical or unusual or emotional. Now, I don't know what the age limit is in here or the age range isn't here, but there's a

movie years ago called Mrs. Doubtfire. Come on now. All right, if you don't know who that is and you're under 40 and you don't know what, just Google that thing. and you'll be good. But Mrs. Doubtfire was played by a guy named Robin Williams, who was a genius. I mean, he's just a genius comic. But the basic story is this, is that his whole, he's an actor and his whole life is messed up.

I mean, he's just spiraling out of control. His wife leaves him. His wife, because his wife is so messed up, the wife gets custody of the kids, full custody of the kids. And he is so desperate to see his kids because he loves his kids. He wants to see his kids, and he's so desperate, he just does something crazy, and he actually dresses up like an English housekeeper, and he applies to be the maid at his own house. And he gets the job.

You're like, no way. It's a movie, all right? It's a movie, but he actually gets the job. He gets the job. And so the movie's kind of a mixture of sad, funny, inspirational at times. But the whole point is what you and I know. when you are really desperate for something to happen, anything to happen, you will do some things that are desperate.

And you've got a dad in this story, and he is desperate. The text simply says a man came to him. And I know one of the things Pastor Jobi tells you all the time is when you talk about narratives in, especially Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, this is what's called, they're called parallel passages. And so you see this story in the synoptic gospels. You see these in, not just in Matthew, where we are today, but you see this in Mark and Luke, and everyone sort of gives you a clue. He talks about, okay, there's a lot of times where it's like you watch, like you're going

to watch the highlights of the Alabama, Florida game, and you might watch it on ESPN, you might watch it on Fox, and you might watch it on the local station. It'll be the same game, but it will have different highlights. That's the way this story is. And so when you look at it, he says he came and he kneeled, and then he said, but Luke says, I beg you, look at my son. Mark's even more desperate. he says, I brought him to your disciples, and they couldn't do anything.

I brought him to the church. I brought him to your assistance. I thought I was going to the right place. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I brought him there, and they can't do anything. And this is a real man. This is not once upon a time. This is a real man. This is a dad.

We've got some dads in here. We've got some moms in here. This is a real dad. He's got a name. He's got a home. He's got a job. And he finds himself in a place of utter desperation. And what his desperation is, is his son is sick.

His son is sick. And if you're a parent, you know there is no pain like kid pain. There is no pain like child pain. And in this case, you see from the other ones, it's his only one. It's his only child. And then the cool part, and Jobi and I were talking about this before, this text actually says, it says he was like this from childhood. not from birth, but from childhood.

So the idea from childhood means there was a period of time when things were awesome. I mean, think about it. I mean, if you're not a parent, that's like one of those awesome things that could happen, especially early on. I mean, you're at the hospital, and it's great, and here's this little boy, and they got all these blue things they give him, and they give him all this Florida Gator stuff, and it's like, it's amazing, and they got the nursery back there, and it's like orange and blue. It's going to be amazing for this little boy, and they sit there. there and they show pictures and it's, all their neighbors come over and they have baby showers,

and it's just a phenomenal time for some period of time. We don't know. Maybe a year, maybe two years, maybe even like three years. It's just an amazing. It's like him, it's her, it's a little baby, he's growing, things are going awesome, he's walking, they're teaching him out of catch, and then somewhere in there, something begins to happen. Maybe the mom notices it first, and maybe there's like, hey, you know what, little Johnny's not, he's not acting right today. It's not acting right today. It's like, oh, he'll be all right, he'll be all right, and then maybe the next day she calls him more, and it's like, listen, something's wrong

with Johnny. Something's wrong with him. You need to come home from work. And then pretty soon, little Johnny starts having seizures. Little Johnny starts to obviously show signs that things are not well. And like any parent, any parent at all worth

their soul, is going to do everything they can. And in this case, at this point in time, he's like hurting himself. It's says he's throwing himself into both fire and water. Remember, this is way back 2,000 years ago where they would have open campfires and they were right by the Sea of Galilee. And so this son is actually hurting himself. The dad can see it. One text says that he actually, he's watching his son be destroyed. And he did all he could do. I mean, listen, you're in some

situations and you've done all you can do. Everything you can think of, you have done. And so is this dad. I mean, he probably asked his disciple group, man, please. to pray for my son. Something's wrong. We're not sure. He did that. When his son went through himself in the fire, he would pick him up and he would try to heal his wounds and he would hold him.

You know, he would sell all this stuff he had. He would liquidate. He would sell the house, sell the car, downsized just so he could get the very, very best doctors. All this went on over and over and over again. And years went by and Mark's gospel said it simply was he was watching his son be destroyed in front of him. and so what this dad at some point is like how long is this going to be like this when is it going to be over will we ever be okay again listen to me here's what you got to understand about trials and difficulties and desperation when you talk about trials it's not the it's not the depth or the

darkness of a trial that is the most difficult correct I mean you might be going through hell on earth but you know what if you get people to pray for you and you kind of pony up and you make things good. You're like, I can get through almost anything. So it's not, it's not how deep the trial goes. It's not how dark the trial is. It is the duration of the trial. When is this ever going to end? When is this ever going to get better? How long is it going to be like this? Book of Proverbs chapter 13 says, hope deferred makes the heart sick. hope deferred meaning hope you hoped for a while and you hoped for a while and every time you hoped you're you walk out of church and i'm never going back to that website i'm never going back to

that destructive habit i'm going back to my family and then by tuesday or wednesday or thursday it's right back where it was and after a while it just hurts to hope so you stop hoping because love when it does it's it's a hassle to hope i mean it's much easier much easier to doubt much easier to be negative, much easier to lose hope. It is a hassle to hope. I just don't think God's going to, I don't think God's going to change this. I've been praying for my mom for 20 years. I just don't think he's, I don't think it's going to change. I just don't, I don't think my prodigal's coming back. I mean, we did the best we could. We took him to VBS. We took him to student camp. We got him the best counselors. We did what we could. And he is tearing our family apart.

You know, I just don't, I don't think our marriage is going to make it at all. I mean, I just, you know, I don't know we're just incompatible. we're going different directions, we're just too different. It's just, we're broken, it's loveless, we're just trying to get through until the kids go off to college. And then you finally get up just, you can even come to church, and your hope kind of gets up a little bit. And then you're like walking in the parking lot. And then you sing all these awesome songs, raise a hallelujah, and God, you know, I'm going to see the victory. And then you see like negative Nancy in the parking lot.

She's like, when are you going to leave that bomb, you know? When are you going to leave that guy? You don't need to put up with that. You just need to go. It's like right back to square one. And the truth of the matter is it hurts to hope. It hurts to hope. Hope says, I don't have something and I need it.

This needs to be, and it's not. This was my dream, and my dream is shattered. And again, time goes on, hearts get hard, tears dry up. and again you go from hoping just to coping and you get used to living in that. Sometimes if you ever go to like the circus, you know, you see that big elephant and he's got that chain around him and you're like, what is that? It's a little steak in the ground. That thing could rip that thing out like immediately.

Like, why is that holding that big, awesome animal down? And then you learn the story. They do it when he's real small. And he gets used to. And he tries to pull and he can't pull it out. And then the bigger he gets and he gets strong enough to actually pull it out. But he's been trained. it's never going to be different.

It's always going to be this way. And so it wasn't different. And when I tried, and so it can never be different, that's what's happening. And so somewhere in this story, and by the way, this can get you in despair. One of the Psalms that got me through a particular time, Psalm 2713 says this.

I would have despaired. I would have despaired if I did not believe that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I would have despair. if I did not believe that I would see the goodness of the Lord. You know, we're just saying about how good God is. I would have despaired if I did not believe that I would see the goodness of the Lord,

not just in heaven, but I would see him in the land of the living. There will be a time. He's like, I believe that the goodness of God can restore my marriage. He can bring the prodigal home. He can heal me. He can give us the baby. Whatever that is. I believe that God can do that.

That's what Psalm 27 is saying. And so here's the bottom line is this dad hears something that, man, this miracle worker's in town. He'd heard some stuff that he could make a difference. He'd heard some rumors about 5,000 people being fed. He'd heard some rumors about some people being healed. And so he's like, maybe, you know, maybe what do I have to lose? I don't have anything to lose.

And so he comes up there, and when he gets there, Jesus isn't there. He's up on a mountain. He's like, just like preachers, man, they're always out of the office. I mean, I can't even get him when I want him. And I'll talk to the associate pastors, and the associate pastors, they can't do anything. They try, they try, they try, they can't do anything at all. And then finally, I mean, he just, Jesus comes back down. And again, Matthew says, Lord, have mercy on my son.

Luke says, I beg you, I beg you to look at my son. I remember Jim Simball, I was a longtime pastor up at Brooklyn Tab. When he talked about prayer, he said, you know what? He said, nobody really prays because you're supposed to pray. Now, I know we've had 21 days of prayer here, and that's awesome. But he's distinguishing between prayer and crying out. And you know, the Bible actually does that if you don't know that. Go look in the Psalms sometime and do a study of the difference when it just says he prayed

and when he cried out. Cried out is the idea of desperation, intensity. God, you've got to do this. If you don't do this, it's just not going to happen. And symbolist says, you know what, nobody prays because you're supposed to pray. You pray because you need to pray. It's like, I got to pray, I got to pray, I got to give this to the Lord. And that's where that kind of humor is seen.

And Mark's gospel says, you know what, if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And then that's where Jesus is like, if I can, if I can, all things are possible for one who believes. And that's, listen to me, loved ones, that's when the dad cries out. I do believe, help my unbelief. I do believe, help my unbelief. In other words, he's saying there's an area I believe in general, but there's an area I've ceased to be able to believe in. There's an area I used to hope and I used to believe and I used to think the marriage would get better and I used to think we'd have a baby and I used to think the product would hum hum, and I used to think my health would be restored and I used to think that my church would take. I used to think that, I just don't think that anymore. And he says, I do believe, help my unbelief. I believe, help me in this one area. I mean, please understand. Have you ever been there? I mean, you ever been there? We're like, come on, God, you can do it. I mean, come on. I know, I know Church of 1122. If the tomb is empty. I mean, please understand. Yeah, you're like, say that, you know, you can do it, you can do it.

But I need you to do what I have been unable to do. I need you to do when I've been able to do. And you're like, what's Jesus going to do? And Jesus is awesome. It's like Jesus meets him where he is and he'll meet you where you are. And verse 17 just simply say, he just says, hey, bring him to me. Bring him to me. Verse 18 says he actually rebuked.

he rebuked the demon and the boy was healed immediately. Now, this isn't really the sermon tonight, but somewhere in your theology, you need to understand and make some room for spiritual warfare. I mean, somewhere in there, I'm not talking about a guy with red horns and a pointy tail, but somewhere in your theology, somewhere in your worldview, you need to make room. Do you honestly think, do you think that marriage is messed up? up just because you lack communication skills and, you know, you like hunting and she likes ballet. Really?

Really? No, that's not the whole thing. You really think that addiction is just because, you know what, I've just made some bad choices. Really? You really think that prodigal is not coming home just because they have a bad peer group? You've got to make room. And that's one of the things he's like, you know what, bring him here to me, bring him here to me, and it starts off.

And what you see here is he responds to active faith. It starts with you being desperate. And that's the question, are you desperate? Is there something God's laid on your heart that's the biggest need? And you're like, I want you to go from just coping. I want you to come back to hoping tonight on Friday night. It's saturated. I want you to come back to being able to sing with confidence.

You know what? God is going to bring the victory. You want to be able to say with David, you know what? I would have despaired if I did not believe that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. He wants you to come back to that. But it's going to take, or at least one of the things you see all the time, is he responds to active faith.

Faith is huge in this passage, loved ones. It uses the word faithless, little faith, mustard seed faith. I mean, faith is huge in the whole Bible. I know you know that, but every page is like a page of faith. I mean, just a general overview of the foundational truth of the Bible is the glory of God. I mean, this church knows that. A lot of churches don't even know that. I mean, the foundational truth of the whole Bible is the glory of God.

You know, God loves us, but it's not about us. It's about God. It's about God's glory. It's God's majesty. It's about how do it make God look awesome in this? The theme of the Bible that brings God glory is the gospel. I mean, that's the theme of the Bible. You know what?

From Genesis all the way to Revelation, the whole theme of the Bible is the redemptive story that, you know what? I'm going to send a rescuer, and he's going to live the life that you were supposed to live and then die the death that you deserve to die. And then if you'll repent and embrace him by faith, you know what? I'll make you a son or daughter of God. I mean, that's the whole middle section. That's the theme of the Bible. But if you got the, what is the whole idea of the truth of the Bible and then the theme

of the Bible, without a doubt, the message of the Bible, listen to me, is that the benefits of this almighty, all-knowing, all-loving God, this redeemer, it is accessed by faith. Quick perusal. Matthew, don't turn to these. Matthew 8. Why are you afraid, oh, you of little faith? And then he arose and rebuked the winds and calm the storm. Matthew 9, take heart, my daughter, your faith has made you well.

Boom. Instantly the woman was made well. Matthew 13, this is the one that needs to make sure we don't ever let happen in Jacksonville, Florida. Don't let it happen in your home. And don't let it happen in the Church of 1122. Matthew 1358. And he did not do many mighty works there. Why?

because of their unbelief, because of their unbelief. Matthew 15, O woman, great is your faith, be it done for you as you desire, and her daughter was healed immediately. Listen to me, biblical faith is just confidence in the person and the work and the promises of God. I'm believing what God says. I believe what he says. I'm going to act upon it, even if my feelings are not there quite yet. Everything about your Christian life is about faith.

everything. That's the way you got saved. If you're saved, you got saved, you know what, by grace you're saved through faith. It's when you turn away from your sin. And now, you know what, I'm turning from my way of trying to make life work, and I'm embracing Jesus by faith. I'm trusting him. That's how you got saved. But you also got to understand that's how you're going to have victory. First John 5 says, everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. That's how you overcomes. I mean, I know one of these central verses at the Church of 1122, Romans 8-1. Half of you guys know it, okay?

There's now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, that the only way you live that is if you actually believe that. And you let the voice of God speak louder than the voice of the world. That's the only way that works. That's faith. That's faith in action. So the way you have victory over temptation. You take something God said like 1 Corinthians 13.

There's no temptation as overtaken you, but that which is common. to man and God is faithful and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide a means of escape. If you believe that, then you're like when temptation drops in front of you, what happens? You start looking that God has provided a way out of this. That is faith. And if I can just do kind of one thing, listen, we have let the faith teachers and the unbiblical prosperity gospel, the prosperity teaching cheat us out of the faith teachers and the unbiblical prosperity

teaching cheat us out of the power of biblical faith. We've let them take it away from us so we don't even want to touch it anymore thinking we can't touch that because it's been so abused. But listen, biblical faith, mountain moving faith. It's not faith in faith. It's not how much faith you have. It's like, oh, I'm going to get more much faith. If I have enough faith, then God will do X, Y, or see, listen, God is not a genie. We rub the lamp or say a particular formula and God's obligated to answer. He's not a lot. He's not a genius. He's not a genius. He's not a genius. He's not a genius. He's not, a vending machine, put a quarter in, he's obligated, that's not a good God, but God's a good God, God's a great God, God loves you, and mountain moving faith is not faith in faith or the size of

your faith, it is the object of your faith. It's the object of your faith. Let me just show you this and here, and I know one of the things that, I mean, I love this church, and one of the things we have is like, just if it's not, it's got to be right here, right? I mean, you don't need four ways from Pastor Bruce or six ways from, you need, like, what is it right here? I mean, one of the goals that I have at our church is that somebody will look at what I'm doing and go, you know, I could do that. It's right there. It's like, great. If it's not right there, I'm probably doing it wrong. So it's right here. So look there with me. Verse 17. There's like three types of faith in here. There's no faith. There's faithless. That's the scribes. What do you know what's interesting is the scribes actually were the experts. And there was 322 prophecies about the coming Messiah. And here they are 10 feet from the. the Messiah, the fulfillment of the prophecies, and they didn't even recognize him. You know how scary that is?

What that means is, you can be saturated and hear all these songs and look at all this word and talk all this church language and yet not know Jesus. That's frightening. And so that's what you want to make sure you know. You don't want to leave out of here saying, that was an awesome deal. I love their facility and that was funny or whatever that was without saying, you know what? I know that I know. Christ has saved me.

He's forgiven me. He's adopted me. He's redeemed me. He's rescued me. That's what you've got to know. Right? You don't have to even wait to the end. I mean, right there with your eyes open.

You can actually do this with your eyes open. You can actually say, you know what? I'm repenting of my sin, and I'm embracing Jesus by faith, all right? I'm not the boss of me. You're the boss of me, all right? So I am putting all my trust on you, what you did on the cross. In Jesus' name, amen. All right?

You've got to make sure that that has been done, all right? Because, again, you can come to church all you want to. But they were right by Messiah. I didn't even see them. Had religion, and they didn't have their relationship. And even the disciples didn't have really cool faith at all. Because look at verse 20. It says they have little faith. That's the disciples. Those are, they're coping, but they're not hoping. Now, that's better than no faith, correct? And that's where some of you are. You're like, I got a little faith. I got a little faith. I got a little bit. I came to the church tonight for Pete's sake. I mean, isn't that worth something? I mean, it is. It's all right. It's good. It's a start. But what mountain moving faith is, he says that mountain moving faith is like a grain of a mustard seed. It's small. And this is the dad in a story. And so what he's saying is not the size of your faith. It is the object of your faith. He's like, I took a tiny little, tiny, itty-bitty little faith, but I put it in a resurrected

Christ and then everything changed. Everything changed. And here's what you've got to understand. There's a couple of ways this worked out. Because in the Bible, faith is oftentimes a verb. Faith is action. Faith is something not you just talk about it. Faith is something you actually do. So on one side, on one side, there are some things you. do. When God wants to perform a miracle, there are some things that you do. And so I guess my question before we get to the, what God does is, if you've done what he's already told you to do, have you done what he's told you to do? Because, I mean, what he said is he says, bring him to me, do a physical act. Now, question on the floor. In order for Jesus to heal the son, did the son need to be

brought to Jesus? No, of course not. He's healed at a distance before. All right? He's like, I mean, the centurion's son and the centurion's child is like her servant boom do that he can heal at a distance um okay you all remember that some of you all probably have this at home

remember the deal about footprints in the sand this is like another old one okay raise your hand if you've ever seen footprints in the same you don't know what I'm talking about it's like it's a very it's a nice little deal it's like you know footprints in the sand and you all give me you're at the beach you ought to know this thing all right so footprints of the sand

is basically you know what you're walking along and, you know, and then all of a sudden I only saw, he kind of gets miffed at the Lord because he's like, you know what, when I was really going through a difficult time, you know, I only saw one set of footprints. And that's when the poem kind of goes, yeah, but that's the time I carried you. And it's really good.

And that's great for like 90% of life. All right. But if you're desperate, you know, you've got to ask the question, have I done everything. So here's, I don't know who wrote this, but it's a different one. It's kind of a takeoff on that one.

It's a little different. It's called butt prints in the sand. Here's the way it goes. One night, I had a wondrous dream. One set of footprints there was seen. The footprints of my precious Lord, but mine were not along the shore. But then some stranger prints appeared,

and I asked the Lord, what have we here? Those prints are large and round and neat. But Lord, they are too big. for feet. My child, he said in somber tones, for miles I carried you alone. I challenged you to walk in faith, but you refused and made me wait. You disobeyed. You would not grow, the walk of faith you would not know. So I got tired. I got fed up, and there I dropped you on your butt. Because in life, there comes a time when one must fight and one must climb, when one must rise and take a stand or leave their butt prints in the sand.

All right, so here's the point. All right. So the question is, the question is, have you done what God told you to do? I mean, have you done? He's told you to do some different things. Don't overlook what he's told you to do in gaining what God is wanting to do in your life. You often see when God does miracles. He tells them first to take a step of faith, just like he did this dad.

I mean, for example, feeding the 5,000. Did he need the few fishes and loaves? Of course not. If God wanted to, he could like plop the chick-fil-a right down there. He didn't need that, but he used what they already had. When he heals the guy and he's like, take up your mat and walk, was that necessary? It wasn't, it didn't have to happen when he spit in the ground and then healed it. He could have done it a hundred different ways.

When he healed the lepers, and he says, go and show yourself to the priest. And it says, as they were going, they were healed. In other words, go and do something. I'm telling you to do something. And so for us, there's some basic ones before we cry out to God. If somebody's like, if one of the pastors here says, you know what, go to a marriage counselor, and you're like, I don't want to go, I don't want to go. I just want God to heal it.

Bro, he's trying to heal it through a biblical marriage counselor. All right? Humble yourself and go there. You're like, I'm not sure of my teen. And bring them to the student ministry. That's not everything, but that is a start. You're like, I'm lonely. I'm lonely.

I'm lonely. He won't get into like a discipleship group, right? I can't break this addiction. I'm sure we got recovery groups here. I'm always spending too much money. I mean, put a budget down. There's some basic things that God says you do. What you do, I don't have to come do.

But in this case, the dad had done, you could rest assured just he'd done everything. And so finally what he does is what I want us to do, and that is he just cried out to God. He didn't just pray, he cried out to God. He didn't just say, you know what, I pray. No, he cried out to God. God, I do believe, but I've ceased to believe in this one area. Help my unbelief. I need you to do what I have been unable to do.

I need you to bring the prodigal home. I need you to heal the marriage. I need you to break the financial bondage. I need you to do this. And by the way, the disciples at the end of the story of one of the other ones that says, you know what, this doesn't even come out. This kind of thing doesn't even get done without. It says prayer and fasting. I know you've been fasting for like 21 days, but now it's like, all right, let's make sure we're doing the prayer part. And what you're basically

going to pray is, God, take that mountain, that place that I've ceased to hope. I want to have faith to believe that you will do for me what you did for that dad 2,000 years ago. Because sometimes you need somebody to just come along and almost believe with you and believe for you. and to show you that you're just coping now. My story, I mean, I know a month or two ago when Joby was there, I know he's told some Billy Graham stories. Well, you know, Billy Graham, you know, live, like, right up where we are, all right? Their family goes to our church.

So, you know, if I use a Billy Graham story, it's got to be like our true one because their family is there. So, but true story is, like, when I first moved to Asheville, like back in 08, it was probably maybe less than a year later because we had a bunch of people that work out of the cove and, you know, worked for Mr. Graham at that point and all that. So long story short, I got invited to go up there and went up there and show you how awesome my wife is. We all got invited up there and she was like discipling some girls and she did not, this is when you've married a gospel fox is when she doesn't break an appointment to disciple teenage girls

to go see Billy Graham. I'm like, the girls will understand. She's like, I got it. I was like, so the boys and I went up to see Billy Graham up in the Holy of Holies. up on the mountain. That's where we went. And got up there and we talked for a couple hours and we walked in and it was about a year after his wife had died. And Ruth's picture was like right behind him. He was sitting there. He was 91 at the time.

And so we go in there and you start sharing things. And I mean, just by the way, sometime you got heroes from a distance and you meet him and you're disappointed. That's not this at all. I mean, humility, winsomeness. I mean, everything you're like, I hope he's like that, was like that 100%. So we go in there, and after a couple hours, my boys had to go take driver's ed or something, and they took them back. And so I thought it was kind of wrapping up.

And the guy that set up the meeting actually said, Pastor, talking to me, and Pastor, why don't you pray for Mr. Graham? Honestly, I was like, don't screw this up, all right? It's like, don't mess this up. So I'm like, I'm bringing out like my best prayer, all right? Not now laying me down to sleep. I'm doing my best prayer. And so I'm praying. I'm praying as good as I can.

And then I started, I remembered he talked about how much he missed Ruth earlier in the conversation. So I'm like, okay, this is, I can pray for that. And so I was like, you know, God, thank you for the resurrection. And thank you. We're going to see our loved ones in heaven. And I start kind of praying like that. And man, the Lord is my witness. I started hearing a sound.

I started hearing a sound. But we're proud. So I'm kind of like peek up and Billy Graham is crying. And the first thought that came through my mind is, son, you're going to hell because that's like the unpardonable sin. You made Billy Graham cry in his own house. So, I mean, I honestly got flustered, and I just finished the prayer like, thanks for the sun and the stars and the moon and amen. I mean, I really did.

I just, I didn't know what to say. So finished my prayer. I thought we were about to go, and then the guy that was with us, he said, or no, he didn't even say it, but I started to stand up and Mr. Graham goes, hey, sit back down on him. He goes, I want to pray for you. And listen to me. Earlier in the conversation, at that point in time, my mom, I come from a, I didn't grow up in church. So came to Christ through a basketball coach when I was 17.

My three brothers, they'd come to Christ shortly before that. But my dad had already passed, but my mom was still alive, but she didn't know the Lord. And, you know, you get four evangelical fired up sons sometime. You know, we don't even know we shared the gospel where there probably a hundred times, but it's hard to hear it from your sons that you've, you know, changed their diapers and all that stuff. So all that being said, I'd said, you know, we're praying for my mom. mom and, you know, praying she'd come to the Lord and all this stuff. And listen to me. He goes, he goes, I want to pray for you. And so he prays in general for ministry, but listen

to me, when he starts praying, when he starts praying for my mom, I mean, he's 91 at this point. He was frail, his voice was crackling, but when he started praying, you got a 91-year-old man, he doesn't even know my mom. He just met me. He prayed the most theologically passionate, crying out to God for the salvation of a woman that he did not even know. I mean, he was like he was 50 years old again.

Literally, I mean, his voice almost, he was like the guy back in the horse again where he's like the young man, and he's just praying and he's crying out to God, save this one. Please, God, you can do it. And he's quoting the scripture and all, and just praying.

And man, I'm just, I'm a wreck, and he finally gets to the end. And he's like, amen. Man, I was like, I was just sweating. I was like, oh, my gosh, that's unbelievable. Listen to me. I actually got in the car, and I'm going down the mountain. I call my brothers up.

I'm like, man, she don't have a chance, man. Billy Graham. Billy Graham just prayed for her. She just, he just prayed for her. It was amazing. And listen to me, loved ones. Listen to me. Six months later.

We've been praying for her for 20 years. Let it, 20 years. And to be honest, after about 10 or 15, you don't pray quite as earnestly. You don't pray quite as energetically as consistently. You don't cry out quite as desperately as you did early on. And then I hear a guy that doesn't even know my mom, cry out to God. God, you can do it.

You can do it. You can do it. Six months later, my mom gets saved. Six months later, she's calling me up. It's like, hey, honey, did you know, did you know this in the Bible? You know this is in the Bible? You know this is in the Bible? I've been reading in the book of James.

I'm like, my mom is on the phone talking to me about the Bible. And here's what I'm saying. Sometimes not only do you need somebody to believe for you, it's almost like intercessory belief, you know what? I believe God's going to do something there and just cry out on your behalf. And some of you need to cry. God didn't even bring up something on you that's like it's personal on you, but you know there's somebody in your. your life. You know there's a neighbor and their marriage is about to go into the toilet. You know

that they've got a prodigal. You know they've got a health problem. You know they want a baby. You know all of that stuff. And God wants you to cry out on their behalf tonight. But there's a whole bunch of us also. You just need to cry out. You need to be like the dad. I do believe. I do believe, God. I really believe. But in this one area, you got to help my unbelief. And all that God is asking you to be able to say is, you know what? I'm going to get to the front of that church. I'm going to give this thing to God. I'm going to cry out to God in faith. I'm going to say, I do believe.

Help my unbelief. Psalm 5015 says, call to me in your day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will glorify me. I will deliver you, and when I deliver you, I'm going to get the glory. That's the way it's supposed to work. And so when you pray, when you make your way up to the front of this church,

you pray, you pray for your marriage. God, you know what? I'm praying that our story, our story is that we were ready to call it quits. and we go into a saturated event. My spouse has walked out. He doesn't want to make it. I'm calling on the Lord, and you answered, and we're going to glorify you.

And you're going to pray for that prodigal. And you're going to pray, and you say, you know what, God, you've said that you're going to bring my sons and daughters from the north and the south. And God, I'm praying you bring my son back. I'm praying you bring my daughter back. If your health is an issue or your finances issue, I'm not talking about faith and faith. I'm talking about faith in the object who is Jesus and he's a good God. We're just saying about it.

And so right now, I'm going to pray. I'm going to pray for you, but while I'm praying, whatever campus you're at, whether you're here at San Pablo, whether you're at the other campuses, you don't have to wait for me to pray for a minute and 22 seconds. You can say, you know what, I'm going to get to that front. I love the fact. You guys got like kneeling benches. Awesome. We're going to get those at our church within a month. I can probably say that.

We're going to get that. Because that means, you know what, we're intentional about this. And so I'm going to pray, and either you can wait until I say amen or you can get down to the front and say, you know what? I do believe, help my unbelief. That area of greatest need, of greatest desperation, of greatest heaviness on your life, that's what you pray for. God, I believe, but I want to believe again. I want to believe in this area.

I don't want to cope. I just don't want to coast. I want to hope again. Biblical hope, by the way, is not like, oh, I hope it happens. Biblical hope is it's going to happen. It's just a matter of when, and it's just a matter of how. And so I'm going to pray, and then you respond. Father, thank you so much for a story of a dad who,

was desperate. He just, he was desperate. He loved his son. He didn't know what else to do, but he cried out to you. He's like, have mercy on my son. And you answered. You answered. And what he had tried to do for years. Doctors had tried. He tried everything he knew. And you changed it instantaneously. Immediately he was healed. And God, our prayer tonight is, you said, called to you. Call to you. You you in our day of trouble. And for so many folks tonight, there's a day of trouble right now, right now, meritorily, financially,

relationally, whatever it is, it's the day of trouble. And God, as they call on you, we're going to just claim, Psalm 50, verse 15, we call on you in our day of trouble. You will deliver us, and we will glorify you.

God, we take your promise that says that your eyes move to and fro throughout the whole earth to strongly support those whose hearts are completely yours. And God, right now, just like we sang, we sing about surrender, we sing about the victory, we sing about all of that stuff. But God, right now, we are crying. It's a lot easier to sing surrender than it is to do.

And so, God, right now we want to surrender. And we want to ask you, God, we do believe, but help our unbelief. God, I pray that in the coming days and weeks, maybe even before they put their head on their pillow tonight, they would be able to see at least a small answer, You know what? God, God, we look back and we see Elijah, and he just prayed, you know what, there's going to be a rain, and all he saw was the cloud the size of a man's hand. But he's like, that's it, that's it. That's what's happening. God, I pray you to help him to see just a cloud the size of a man's hand.

That prodigal picking up the phone, that spouse repenting, coming back, showing some interest, whatever that is, God, show them enough and just build their faith and build their faith. And God, as the Saturday comes, and then his Sunday comes, and then his Monday comes, God, by the, Glory of God, just shine in this place. And our prayers are, God, that you, Isaiah says, you would rend the heavens and come down. You would just rend the heavens and come down. God, that's our prayer, that you would make a way. You are the waymaker.

You would make a way. There absolutely is no way. We love you. We pray it for the name, in the name, and for the glory of Jesus. Amen.