The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 6: Mount of Transfiguration - Will You Cast Out the Demons That Torment

Episode Date: April 10, 2022

God does not reveal Himself to us so that we can sit and soak it up on the mountain top, but so that we can be sent and serve on mission.

Amen and amen. Let's try this one more time, church. If the tomb is empty, anything as possible. You're getting really good at this. Hey, if you got your Bibles, grab them. We're going to be in both Matthew 17 and Mark chapter 9. Matthew 17 and Mark chapter 9. And if you're new here, I just need to give you a little warning.

If you ever show up and you see this little anointing oil on the table, then you're in for a doozy, all right? So about 50 minutes from now, we're going to pray, we're going to be praying for one another. we're going to anoint with oil and pray that the demonic is cast out, that chains of addictions fall, that marriages are restored, that prodigals come home. It's going to get a little charismatic. In fact, our charismatic brothers and sisters are like, it's about time, all right? Now, you Baptist, just hang in there, all right?

Relax, take a breath. It's going to be fine. We're going to do it by the book. We're going to read it straight out of the Bible. And you Catholics, I don't even know what to tell you. Here you go, all right. Just receive this. It's going to be fine.

It's going to start out real fun. It's going to get real intense by the end. Let's go, Matthew chapter 17. The Bible says this, and after six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, his brother, and he led them up a high mountain by themselves. Now, the details in the Bible matters. If you'll remember, I told you a couple weeks ago, that Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, and he wants his audience to know that Jesus is the greater Moses.

And God tells Moses to go up on a mountain, Mount Sinai, and he was going to give him the law and take a wild guess how many days it took for Moses to be ready to get him. get up on the mountain, take a guess? Six, good job, your theologians, all right? And so six days, Jesus goes up on this mountain, and he takes with him three people, Peter, James, and John. You ever wonder why Jesus always chooses these three? That Jesus always chooses Peter, James, and John to do all the cool stuff.

I mean, this little girl dies, and Jesus goes into her house and brings her back from the dead, and guess who he took in there? He took Peter, James, and John. that in the Garden of Gassimony, when Jesus is going to go pray, he tells all the other disciples you wait here and pray, Peter James and John, you come with me. Now, the younger you are, the more likely you are to think, well, that's not fair.

I need you to just write this down. Fairness is not a biblical value. In fact, I told you during the last series that my least favorite commercial on the planet is that AT&T commercial. My friend used to work for AT&T, but then he got saved out of that nonsense. Now he works here at the church, okay?

It's that commercial where the family goes in, of the one I'm talking about. They're like, do we get the same deal that everybody else does? And the girl says, imagine this. And she gives the little girl a sucker. And she's real pleased with her sucker. And this she says, and imagine I give your brother

a better sucker. And she hands her brother a better sucker. And the little goes, goes, that's not fair. I'll tell you what's not fair that you got a sucker. You didn't do anything to deserve that sucker. That's not your sucker. You don't even have a contract with AT&T. That's your parents' contract.

And you're blessed because of them. And then she takes away the little sucker and gives them a big sucker. And now she's happy. That's what's wrong with. our country right there. I'm telling you, all right? I hate it so much. I wish you to invite. Oh, you won't fair here. Give me your sucker. Eternal damnation. That's what you get. That's what I wish would have happened. But I don't get to write the 18 into commercials. Anywho, fairness is not

a biblical value. Now, many theologians and commentators will say, well, the reason that Jesus always picks, Peter, James, and John is because they're his favorite. They're the most fateful. They were the first disciples. He likes them the best. I want to go on record and say, I disagree. Now, if you've been around Bible study, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, pastor. But John is the disciple that Jesus loved. I'll give you that, okay? But it only says that in the book of John, written by John.

You don't give to give yourself your own nickname. You understand what I'm saying? Here's what I think happens. I think these are the three that cannot be trusted. I think Jesus is down at the bottom of the mountain. He's like, all right, boys, you sit around the campfire and right. worship songs or whatever you're going to do. I'm going to go up on the mountain of transfiguration. I'm going to display my glory. I'm going to spend some time with the

father and you just wait here. And then as he walks away, he's like, wait a second. Peter, James John, get in the truck, come with me. That's what I think. Because one chapter before this in Matthew chapter 16, guess what Jesus calls Peter? The devil, he says, get behind me, Satan. Look, you think you've got some emotional wounds from people saying mean stuff to you growing up? When the Son of God calls you to the devil, there's some serious counseling you're going to have to go through to get that off of you. You know what I mean? And then just a few chapters later by the time you get to Matthew chapter 20, James and John make a power play. They send their mom to Jesus to elevate them to senior VP of Jesus Incorporated.

I think these are the three biggest screw-ups of the whole bunch, which is really good news for most of us that attend 1122. Is it not? That if God can use these screw-ups, he can use a dysfunctional family like us. and a redneck from Dillon, South Carolina, to do exceedingly more than you ever dreamed or imagined. Amen. So this is good news. So the boys go up on the mountain, verse two.

And he, Jesus, was transfigured before them. I don't even know all that this means. It's a metaphysical term meaning that they could still recognize Jesus, but something happened. His body changed. He looked different. He was displaying his glory. The best thing I can come up with is this,

is I told you last week I was going turkey hunting this week as turkey season, which means the sermons are going to be better because I'm in the woods more. You're welcome, okay? I do it for you. And so this week, man, I'm in the woods, and I saw a gobbler. Here's a picture of a gobbler. I need to show you what a wild turkey looks like.

Some of you think it's in a bottle and others think it comes from public. Neither are true. That's a wild turkey. That's what they look like regular. But then when you, at just the right time, spring season right now, and you get them a little then they will transfigure into this, boom, transfigured.

Do you see that? It's awesome. Okay, regular, all right? Then transfigured, glorious. And then if it goes just right, there's a boom, and then they turn into that. All right, so, don't email me. All right, so Jesus is transfigured. My friend Chris Brown, not the recording artist that goes to jail all the time,

but I have a pastor friend that lives in San Diego named Chris Brown. My pastor friend, Chris Brown, says this. He says that the transfiguration is when his divinity is bursting forth through his humanity. He says that the miracle is not that Jesus displayed his glory on the mountain of transfiguration, but the real miracle is that the glory of Jesus was shrouded in humanity for 33 years. And up on this mountain, he hits pause on that miracle to just display who he really is, and he was transfigured before them. and his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.

Luke is going to say that his face was shining and that his clothes were like lightning. Mark records this too. Mark interviewed Peter. And Mark is always like the least descriptive of all the gospel writers. Here's the way Mark says it. In Mark 9-3, Mark says, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. them. Now, I don't know if this is how it actually happens, but this is how it happens in my mind, so just go with me. Okay, I imagine when Matthew and Luke and Mark all get to heaven, and they're

comparing notes on what they decided to write in the gospels. And I can imagine Luke's like, hey, Matt, do you remember the transfiguration? Matthew's like, oh, yeah, it was crazy. He goes, well, what did you put? And he was like, I was trying to think of like the brightest, the most intense, the most powerful thing in all of the solar system. And so I described it like the sun was inside the face of Jesus and beams of light were just erupting from his face. What about you? What did you put? He was like, bro, the most intense thing I could think of is you ever walking along at night and your eyes are adjusted to the dark and then out of nowhere there's like a clap of thunder and a strike of lightning and you almost have to like reel back.

What about you, Mark? And Mark's like, I said it was like tied with bleach. Okay, so they're unscribing it, but there's Jesus. Face like the sun. on, like lightning, like really well-washed clothes. Okay, there he is. But I will tell you, I think Mark's on something. Because when the angels show up to the empty tomb, this is how their clothes are described. And when Jesus returns in his glory in the book of Revelation,

and John, his fishing buddy sees him, he doesn't give him to the bro hug and say, what's up home boy, that's not what he does. His face is like lightning, and his clothes are bright and white, and he falls down on his face and he worships him. There's something going on here. And behold, verse three, and behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him. Now, here's the thing.

When I read that Moses and Elijah are standing with the glorified Christ on top of the mountain of Transfiguration, as 21st century Southern evangelicals, you just stare at me. But don't worry, I'm a professional I can handle it every week, all right? In the first century, if you were a good Jewish boy like, Peter, James, and John, and you saw that Moses and Elijah were talking to Jesus, you would be freaking out. You see, Moses is the one that God used to write the law, and Elijah was like the major of all the major prophets.

And what's actually happening on the mountain of Transfiguration is the personification of the Bible is happening on this mountain. This is the third time we've covered this scripture. In Romans chapter 3, the Apostle Paul is going to say it this way, that no one will be justified by works of the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to a manifestation of righteousness that is apart from the law. And on this mountain, the law, Moses, and Elijah, the prophet, are bearing witness to the manifestation of righteousness that God has sent on our behalf, Jesus.

Literally, the Bible is being personified on top of the mountain of transfiguration. and then Luke lets us know that what they're talking about is Christ's death, his resurrection, his ascension, and one day his return. So this is a really, really big deal. Again, I'm not sure exactly how it happens, but you've got to think about this, man. There's Peter and James and John, and they're checking this out, and then out of nowhere, here comes just out of the ground, I guess, just here comes Moses. He's been dead for 1,400 years.

He's got a beard and a staff and a tablets, and you're like, that's Moses. and then right next to him out of the ground just here comes a guy with a staff and a beard and like a name tag that says Elijah I don't know fire from heaven you know they're like this is it and then as they make this assessment verse four

and Peter said well of course he did remember we studied Peter before he's always going to talk first he's always going to talk most and Peter said to Jesus I mean think about okay here's Peter James John there's Moses, he's been dead 1,400 years, Elijah's been gone for 900. He didn't even die. He like took an Uber chariot up to heaven.

He just walked out to heaven. Now he's back. And they are bearing witness to this manifestation of righteousness apart from the law. That's going on right there. And Peter's like, hmm, there's a glorified Christ, there's Moses, there's Elijah. I should probably say words. And so Peter sticks his head in there and says, Lord, it is good that we are here. All right.

I love Peter so much. Makes me feel better about my own discipleship, but maybe you jot this down. If you ever find yourself in the presence of the glorified Christ and Moses and Elijah, maybe it's not about you. Maybe that's not the time to open your mouth. You ever say something dumb?

And as the dumb is leaving your head, you're like, oh no. I said the quiet thing loud. Oh. And do dumb words like toothpaste. Once it's out, it don't go back in the tube, all right? some of y'all going to try to put toothpaste in the tube this afternoon. All right, it won't go.

And as they're leaving, you're like, I was sitting here in this meeting. Everybody assumed I was an idiot. And now I have opened my mouth and confirmed all of their assumptions. So here's what men do. Women, I don't know what you do. You're probably better than us at this. Here's what men do.

They're like, ooh, ooh, I said something dumb. I know how to fix this. More words. It never goes good, does it, husbands. All right. It is good that we are here. And then it says, if you wish, I will make three tense here. One for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.

The way Mark records is this. Here's what Peter says. Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents. One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, for he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Here's some biblical advice, regardless of what you believe. When you don't know what to say, just don't.

but he can't help it. He says, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, talking, talking. No, seriously, who wants a tent? I can make tints. I'm super good at it. Mo, what's your favorite color? I'll make you one in blue,

put a little canopy on it, a little rangard. How about you, Eli? Hey, where are you guys going? He's just talking, talking, talking, talking, talking. In just a little while, God himself is going to show up and he's going to rebuke Peter.

And it could be because maybe what Peter's doing is he's treating Jesus and Moses and Elijah as if they're on the same level. And God, the Father's going to show up and said, no, they ain't roommates. this is my son, the second person of the Trinity. But if I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, I think Peter is a lot like a lot of us,

that we love that mountaintop moment. Do you ever have those kind of like spiritual mountain top moments? Man, I hope you do. Because a bunch of us work real dang hard around here to help you have those kinds of moments. I can tell you, sometimes it's at a worship service, Honestly, man, when we were just showing that video with those four people sharing testimony about God

and singing, I'm no longer a slave of fear, man, I'm into it, all right? Or our worship night. Did anybody come to the worship night last Sunday? Woo, if you didn't, it's your fault, man. I told you to be here, so that's on you. It's on you. I got two hands up and tears flowing and I just felt like, I felt like the Shikana glory of God was falling in the place.

And if I just opened my eyes, I'd be face to face with the Almighty God like Adam was. Don't you love those moments? I think Peter is like, hey, I got an idea. This is awesome. I mean, this is why we've been following you. To see the glorified Christ, why don't we just stay here? And I'll just, I can make a tent for everybody, okay? I'll give you a tent.

He's like Oprah with tents and you get a tent and you get a tent. and you can attend, and we could just stay here in the presence of God forever. The only problem is Jesus doesn't stay on the mountaintop. He doesn't. I mean, moments matter. These moments in church matter where the saints gather together to make much of Jesus, and God fills us up with his glory and his presence and his power, but we were not created to just sit and soak in the moment.

Because the ministry most often happens way down in the valley. and Jesus doesn't always stay up on the mountaintop. He takes you there for sure to get you ready so that you can walk down into the place of ministry. That's what's going to happen. Verse 5. And he was still speaking. No, seriously, we can stay, I promise.

Listen, some of you are that way. Every year we do saturated, you come up to me at the end of it, some of you, and you're like, that was amazing. I don't want to go home. I'm sorry, but you have to. Okay, we're going to lock up. No, we should do like 17 days of saturated. God bless your ministry, no, all right.

Now it's time to take what we were doing in here, the worship in here, and we need to worship out there by the way we serve one another. And he's still speaking, that's what he's saying. When behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. That's what he said, it's baptism too.

And then he says, listen to him, which is Hebrew for, shut your mouth. You know, it's really hard to listen when you're doing all the talking. especially to God. I can't tell you the number of times I have said, you know what, we just need to seek God's guidance on this. And then we go to God in prayer,

and then we pray like we're idiots. We spend all of our time in prayer informing God as to what's going on in the situation and going ahead and giving him suggestions of how he ought to respond to us. Dear God, I don't know if you know this, but the stock market's not doing what I need it to do. He's like, I'm pretty aware of everything that's going on all the time.

What if we did a lot less talking and a lot more listening? And so he says, Behold my son in whom I am well, please, listen to him. And when the disciples heard of this, they fell on their faces and they were terrified. And the reason that they're terrified is they think they're about to get killed. They think they're about to die. Because remember, these Jewish boys, they know the Torah, they know the first five books of the Bible, they have read Exodus.

I'm sure they've memorized Exodus 19 and 20. this is where God gives the Ten Commandments. And in Exodus chapter 19, this cloud, this tempest descends upon Mount Sinai. And God says, Moses, consecrate yourself, and you come up here. But if anybody else touches this mountain that has any sin in their life, you will die. I don't care if it's you or your wife or your kid or your dog or your parakeet. Anybody that is sinful that touches this mountain, I will kill you. And then these three boys are like, uh-oh, we waited six days to come up this mountain.

And there's our leader. and when Moses went up the mountain he took three named people and we got one to who three of us oh no and now here comes God himself is a cloud descending and I think they think we are dead people because we are sinners before an almighty holy and just God and so they fall on their faces because they're terrified and then look what happens but Jesus came and touched them saying rise and have no fear why because God is the same yesterday today, today, and tomorrow, and he never changes. But through the blood of Jesus Christ, it is a new day, and we have a new covenant. And the fear of God for the post-resurrection believers is just different.

God is to be honored, God is to be hallowed, God is to be revered, God is to be respected. But 189 times, Jesus says that the almighty sovereign judge and king of the universe is our heavenly father. That when Jesus died on the cross and he pushes up on his nail pierce feet and he says, It is finished. An earthquake cracks right through Jerusalem, and it tears this curtain that separated the presence of God from the people of God, and it tore it from the top to the bottom, not bottom to top, like we work our way up. But God said, man, get this out of here.

Come to me through the blood of Jesus, and we get to come to God as our heavenly father. You see, the Bible says this in 1 John. This is love. Not that we love God, but God loved us and sent his son as a propitiation. for our sin. What does propitiation mean? A payment that satisfies. I'm so proud of y'all right now.

You're the only church in America that knows that word. It's got more than three people in it. All right. Praise God for you. It means a payment that satisfies. This means when Christ went to the cross and he says it is finished, it satisfied the law of God,

it satisfied the justice of God, it satisfied the wrath of God. Which means if you are in Christ, God cannot be dissatisfied in you because he's completely satisfied in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is why the Bible says that God delights in you. God sings over his children.

God dances, hear that Baptist, over his children. Yeah, A.W. Tozer says, the most important thing about you is what you think when you think about God. And he's not frustrated with you. Not if you're in Christ. And we have access to him like a kid has to their father. Look, man, my kids have access to me that nobody else has. My daughter, Reagan Capri, 12 years old, delightful. Sixth grade.

Pray for us. She will come be bopping in the house. We have nine options to sit in our living room, and she picks the one that's halfway next to me. She will prop right down next to me, put one leg on my leg, put her hand on my head, swirl it like this, and go, what's up, big guy? You do that, bro? You go into jail.

You can't touch me that way. You understand? And yet, in Jesus, he says, arise and have no fear. Why? Because perfect love drives out fear. And God demonstrated his perfect love for us in this, that while we were yet still sinners, died for us. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. By the way, that's how you deal with fear. You fix your eyes on Jesus only, and the fear has to leave. Because fear is a spirit.

Paul tells Timothy, God did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind, and those things only come through Jesus. They lifted up their eyes and they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them. And Jesus commanded them, tell no one the vision until the son of man is raised from the dead. He says, all right, boys, keep this into yourself until I pull off Easter because people won't believe it anyway. And on the way down the mountain, on the way down the mountain, he basically just shares the gospel with him. That's what he does. And then when they get down to the bottom of the mountain, they walk into a mess. I think I've told you this every single week, but pay attention.

Pay attention. The mess often follows the mountain top. just how it goes. So if you've got your Bible, flip over to Mark chapter 9, Mark Chapter 9. Now, it's the same event. I hesitate to call it a story. I don't like to use the word story when I'm describing the events of the Old or New Testament. Because it's not a story. If I say story, then oftentimes you will think like veggie tails or flannelgraph. That's not what it is. This is an actual event. And the reason that we have different accounts, it would be like watching the same football game, but you watch highlights on ESPN or on Fox Sports. They might decide to cover some different details, but the score never changes.

I don't know, let's pick a game, just at random. Georgia, Alabama, National Championship. All right? Now, if you watch it on ESPN, they'll show one thing. If you watch it in Alabama, it's as if it never happened, but it actually did, and the score never changes. That's still 3318, praise God. All right, so they walk down the mountain, and they walk into a mess.

Mark 9, verse 14. And when they came to the disciples, these are the ones that did not go up on the mountain. They saw a great crowd around them and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw Jesus, were greatly amazed, and they ran up to him and they greeted him. And Jesus asked them,

what are you arguing about with them? And none of the disciples are the religious people answer. It's like you hear your kids fighting in one of the bedrooms. You go, what are y'all fighting about? Nothing. We were just hearing prayer requests.

No, you're a liar. Okay, that's what's going on. because they know they're in trouble. I'm going to tell you, when I read that, I thought, well, isn't this a picture of the modern church? That there are people in need. There are people that need hope, they need healing, they need freedom. And then church has just spent all of their time, effort, and energy

just throwing stones at each other online about who's not doing it right. This angers Jesus. And then someone from the crowd, we'll find out in just a second, it's a father and someone from the crowd answered him, teacher, I brought my son to you for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down and he foams and he groans his teeth and he becomes rigid. So I ask your disciples to cast it out and they were not able.

Again, don't think story. See, if you've been around Bible study, you already know how this ends. But this is an actual dad. He has a first name. His friends probably had a nickname for him. He had a job that he got up every day and he went to. He had a permanent address. And his son is seized by this demonic spirit.

And he doesn't know what to do. And he's in utter desperation. Because every parent knows this. Ain't no pain like kid pain. Right? This ain't no pain like kid pain. and this dad has heard that this miracle worker has shown up to town because he's heard rumors that there was a girl that was dead

and maybe Jesus brought him back to life and he's heard this man can walk on water and this man can feed 5,000 people with just a little bit of fish and a little bit of bread and he's heard that this man commands the waves and the wind and they do what he says and maybe this dad is thinking and I'm sure he's tried everything because if your kid was sick what would you do for your kid you do whatever it takes right sell the house sell the car go wherever you have to go for your kid, right? And now he's just thinking,

maybe if I could just get my son to this miracle worker, maybe just maybe he could do something about it, and he shows up on the scene, and there are to the disciples, and he brings the kid two to the disciples, and instead of doing something to bring healing to the boy, they get in a denominational argument with the religious leaders. Matthew says that this dad falls on his face and cries out. Rabbi, I brought my son to you for you to heal him

and your disciples could not. You see, there's no pain like kid pain. There's no pain like kid pain. And the reason there's no pain like kid pain is because there's no love like kid love, man. Y'all know this. Perfect. I love my wife.

I love her so much. We've been married 22 years. I love her more now than ever. If I talk about her too much, I'll get like a little shaky lip, I don't know what happens to me, okay, but I will. But there's just like a different gear in there for your babies, is there not?

I mean, I can remember, man, the happiest day of my whole life was when we found out that we were having a boy. I mean, I went to all those appointments and we go into that little room and that doctor puts that little goopy stuff on your wife's belly, and then, you know, and you're looking at that little TV and you're like, okay, come on, here we go, here we go. I'm like, oh, no, baby, I think we're having ET. This looks like, this is terrible. And then all of a sudden, the doctor sees it, she goes, Mr. Martin, congratulations, you're having a boy. I'm like, you dang right. And I scooped her up. I did, I picked her up.

Gras said, put her down. So put her down. It's pumped, man. Called my daddy. He said, hey, Daddy, we're having a boy. And you know what he said? Actually, I said, I made a boy. Daddy, I made a boy.

He said, I knew you had it in you, son. That's what he said, all right? So I named him me, J.P. Martin, the fourth. I'm the third. My dad's junior. I was almost junior, junior, that happens where I'm from sometimes. So we're into me at my house. At least I am.

And on the day that thing was born, I'm telling you, man. Go in there, and it's a little bit chaotic. Anybody that tells you as a beautiful is, they're lying. It's a horror movie. It's not awesome. Once all that situation was over, they wrapped that little thing up in that burrito of love, and they bring him to you, and I'm holding him right there,

and I thought, all right, all the love I have to give, I'm pouring into this little thing. And I looked at him, man, and he looked like Hulk Hogan. He had a skullet. You know what a skullet is? Ball on top, mullet in the back. First thing I thought is you can take the boy out of Dylan but longer him, you know?

It's mine, man. My love for my children helps me love my wife more. It just does. And then four years later, we're pregnant again, mostly Gretchen, and we find out, we go back to that room, that little, and then I'm looking, come on, you know, and she says, congratulations, Mr. Martin, it's a girl. Grech said, you okay?

I'm going to be okay. Now listen, there's nothing greater than being a girl dad. There's nothing greater. But it takes a higher level of protection and commitment in this jacked-up world. So we went through the same situation, but I was a little more informed, so I stayed way up here north of the bed, just dropped me in like Spider-Man every once in a while. You're doing all right. I'll be back here, right?

And then when all that situation was over again, they wrapped her up. They handed me little Reagan-Capree. And I simultaneously taught two things. I would die for you. and I would make somebody die for you. And I'm not even kidding. I feel like I could run this from one of our prison campuses, art. I could do that.

We could just stream out to you. And here's the crazy thing, though. If you've got multiple kids, you know this. Nobody tells you this, but it's just true. When we found out we were having a second one, I began to think, I didn't feel like I could ask anybody this. Am I going to be able to love the second one like I love the first one? Because I did not, I did not dole out my love very good.

I put it all on the first one, and I don't think, what if I don't have any left for the second one? But in the moment you meet your second kid or third or fourth or fifth or how many you have, you realize that you can give all of your love away, and then you still have all of your love to give to the next kid because love is an inexhaustible resource because God is love. Ain't no love like kid love, and ain't no pain like kid pain. And so Jesus answered them, oh, faithless generation,

he's talking to his disciples and the religious people who ought to know better. He says, how long am I to be with you? how long am I to bear with you, bring him to me. And they brought the boy to him, and when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground, and he rolled about foaming at the mouth. Hey, pay attention to this. In the New Testament, the demons are always the first one to recognize who Jesus is,

and the religious are the last. Do you know why? Because the demons see Jesus, the son of God, for who he is, and they quake. and the religious can't see him for who he is because they have this religious construct and he just won't fit in there. Do you know what the thing that Jesus got criticized for more than anything else?

He said this, why are you hanging out with those people? And Jesus says, because I came for the sick, not the well. Listen, man, if you're new to 1122 and your last church was a little more buttoned up than this one and it's a little too grimy for you here, hey, welcome, man, because this ain't a country club, this is a hospital for sick people. And it is a mess, praise God.

because Jesus came to seek the mess. And so Jesus asked the father, how long has this been happening to him? And the dad said, from childhood, not birth. There are Greek words where he could have said from birth. He was born in this way. It's not what he says. From childhood.

Do you know what this means? That the dad and mom bring this boy home from the hospital. It doesn't work that way, but you understand what I'm saying. They get home and they're holding that little baby and they love him just like I love mine and you love yours. and they got hopes and they got dreams. And for a little while, everything's great, man. Everything's normal.

And then one day something happens, and one of them thinks something's off here. And they don't want to say it out loud. And there's typically one that's always suspicious and the other parent is like hopelessly optimistic and denies the reality. And then it came to a point where it was undeniable. And he was seized and he's grinding his teeth

and he's foaming at the mouth. And the dad says, it is often cast them into the fire and into water to destroy him. Why? Because that's what the enemy does. We have an enemy, a thief, and he only wants to kill, steal, and destroy. And think about this. They lived on the Sea of Galilee.

They don't have stoves and microwaves. So three times a day, all day, every day, people are cooking on the open fire, and they live right next to the Sea of Galilee. Ultimately, what this dad is saying is every step of my son's life, the enemy is trying to take him away from me. Because that's what enemies do. That's what demons do. And then he turns the corner.

And this dad makes his request. He says, but if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. This is big, man. He says, but if. Notice he doesn't do any negotiating with Jesus. He doesn't say, what do I have to do so that you owe me a miracle? Can I give some money to your ministry? Will that help?

Could I pray some kind of particular prayer? And that will unlock the miracle code? Maybe I can be good and go to church like four weeks in a row then? No, that's not what he does. He ultimately is just saying, I've done nothing to deserve your help, but I just need a favor, God. And then notice, he does not say help him.

He says help us. Why? Because if something's wrong with your kid, man, it's tearing down the whole house, amen? If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And Jesus says to him, if you can, all things are possible for the one who believes. And then notice the response to the dad. Immediately, he doesn't check to see if this is theologically accurate.

This is not like he's in disciple group and he's got, I have an unspoken. That's not what he does. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, I believe. Help my unbelief. I want to believe. That's why I came here. I'm hoping you can do something. I'm not totally sure.

But I believe. I want to believe. But man, when I look at my boy, he is seizing as they are talking. I've got this big old pile of unbelief. And oftentimes it seems to overwhelm me. And my belief is tiny and my unbelief is huge. Maybe the most honest prayer in all of the Bible. You ever been there?

You ever been there? You got a prodigal son, a prodigal daughter? and the first question you asked when that happens is what did I do wrong? You begin to believe the lies of the enemy that you screwed up and you tried to do everything. All right, you raised them in the church. They've been about 100 VBSs, got saved at camp every year you sent them. Baptized them when they were seven and a half and now they shot you the bird.

They shot God the bird and they're ruining their life and it's tearing down your whole family. You're like, come on, God. Why not my kid? Why don't you bring my kid home? or you find yourself in an impossible marriage and you stood in a vow I mean you stood in an altar and you made a vow till death due as part and you meant it

but apparently they didn't mean it because they packed up and left and you're like God I want to believe you can restore my marriage and every single time I go to church and they show some marriage video it all works out great for them why not us God and you look at your situation

you look at divorce papers and you say I want to believe but I need you to help me overcome my unbelief or you went to the doctor and the cancer was gone for a while and now it's back and you're gripped with fear and you want to believe but your circumstances lead you to think I got a whole bunch of unbelief

or anybody struggle with an addiction and you've been going to the meetings and going to the meetings and you're working the steps and you've heard of people just having those desires just miraculously taken away and you pray that and you pray that

but it's not your story. and you come before the Lord and you say, God, I believe, but I need some help here. I need you to help me with my unbelief. I've been there. I mean, I've been there. I don't know what you think my life is like, but it's probably not what you think it is. A couple of few years ago, my brother and sister-in-law find out they're pregnant, and they're the sweetest people on the planet, man.

Justin and Maggie, they moved here now. Justin works at the retreat center. He's leading a retreat there right now, I think. Maggie's on the worship team at their church up there and will be here. They find out they're pregnant and then one day, 36 weeks in, Maggie doesn't feel the baby moving, goes to the doctor and he has passed away. And then it's almost an insult. You have to go to the hospital and be induced to birth your dead baby.

And then they took pictures and they sent us the pictures. And you look at Little Nash, man, he's six pounds. He's got hair, a little fat face and you're just like, come on, man. Just wait, just breathe. Just breathe. Come on. And when I found that out, I'm crying out to God. God, I believe, but you've got to help me with this. you got to help me overcome my unbelief? I don't understand.

I mean, you give life, you give breath. The breath in our lungs is from you. So why don't you breathe the rule of life into this one? I don't understand, God. I believe in you, but I got a whole bunch of unbelief. I mean, help me understand. They just wanted to raise little disciples. They go to church, they love you.

They'd be incredible parents. Help me understand why some of the best, what would be the best mamas on the planet have the hardest time having babies and the most ill-equipped or the most fertile humans on the planet. Help me understand that one, God. I believe, help me overcome my unbelief. You ever been there?

And look, man, sometimes it goes good. I mean, just in the past year, I've prayed for Joy and Amy and Tina and Ben and they're all healed. Praise God. Praise God. But sometimes it don't go that way. You ever been there? About 12 years ago, I found out a girl from our church is in the hospital, 15-year-old girl named McKenzie Wilson. Pastor Ben and I hot in the truck, we head to Wilson's, we walk.

on to her floor, turned the corner into her hospital room, and her mama's step is laying in the bed with her daughter. She's all hooked up to everything. And Blake, her daddy, looks at me and says, what do we do? And I just cried, man, just cried and cried and cried. I said, I am so sorry. I had a little one-year-old blonde cute girl at my house, and I thought, oh, no. And then we pray, man, we press.

This is what we do. We pray. I got anointing oil, and I'd already figured it out for the Lord. I was like, all right, Lord, let's do this. This is what we're going to do. Okay, I'm going to roll up in here, and I'm going to put oil on McKinsey and you're going to stand her up out of that bed and I'm going to walk her by the hand out into the lobby where there's like 250 kids from bowls and all over Jacksonville

and they're going to see a miracle of Jesus and give glory to God. Come on God, you can do this, right? You can do this. I believe you can do this. I mean, one time you healed a lady by accident. You didn't even mean to. You're like, who touched me? She got healed. So let's do this one on purpose. Come on God, we got this. Four days later, she passed away. Now on this side of it, for sure, I can see that God has been at work through her life and legacy to do all kind of things. But if I was writing the script, that's not the way I would have written it. Have you ever been there? Or this was tough, man, this year in October.

The church was so gracious to give us a sabbatical. We thank you for that. My man, my best friend and I are in Scotland. His mama's right there. The dude that built all of our churches, the seats that you were sitting in. were built by Brad Bowen and we hike up into the highlands that chase red stag

and Bradley doesn't make it back dies of a heart attack in the hills and I'm like God help me understand there's a long list of people I would have taken out he ain't on my list he spends his whole life

building churches and I believe in you and I trust in you but you gotta help me with this unbelief you ever been there this is where this dad is this isn't some

This isn't some like storybook kind of thing. You understand this is a real dad with a real problem with a real son. And he prays the most honest prayer. He comes before Jesus. And he goes, Jesus, I got nothing to bring except my little bit of belief and my whole lot of unbelief. And I'm just, I'm not trying to make a deal here. I'm just bringing it all to you. And you know what Jesus doesn't do?

Jesus does not reply to the man. Well, I tell you what, get out of my face and you go and, work on your faith, and when you get your faith up to like miracle level, then you come back and maybe I'll do this for you. It's not what he does. The Bible says, this is what Jesus does. And when Jesus saw the crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, you mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.

And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse. So that most of them said he is dead, but Jesus took him by the hand and he lifted him up, and he arose. That's a foreshadowing of Easter. and when he entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, why couldn't we cast it out? And Jesus said to them,

this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. Let me ask you, church. Is prayer your first response or your last resort? You see, I think they were just mimicking the actions of Jesus and not being plugged into the power that is available and is only one prayer away. I mean, let me ask you, if the Spirit of God, if the Holy Spirit left your house,

how long would it take for you to know? You just raise in your family on good conservative moral values or are you plugged into the very power of God through His Holy Spirit? He says this kind can only be cast out by prayer. Here's the point of the Mountain of Transfiguration,

I think. That God does not reveal himself to us that we could just sit and soak up on the mountain. But he reveals himself to us so that we can be sent and serve on mission because the ministry happens down in the valley. And so church, what we're going to do? is we're going to close the way Jesus says we ought to close.

But we're going to pray. And I would just ask you, anybody here like this dad, anybody here got a serious need, and you feel like you're in an impossible situation. Well, I'm here to tell you once again, if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. And for anyone who is in Christ, I promise you, eventually everybody's healed, amen?

Eventually all who are in Christ are healed in His presence. Because if you put your faith in Him, he's going to wipe away every tear. There is no disease, there is no pain, none of those things. But on this side of heaven, he says you have not because you ask not. So some of you have a prodigal son or daughter, and it breaks your heart, man, and it's not your fault. And you were praying like crazy that they will come to their senses and come home. And so we're going to invite you to come and pray. And notice, maybe the issue that you have is not even with you personally,

but you need to come on behalf of someone else, just like this dad did. Or maybe for you, the impossible situation is a financial one, it's bankruptcy. And it wasn't even your fault, man. You tied. You brought your first and best to the Lord, and something happened to you, and you feel crushed by this pressure, and you say, God, I need you to do something. For some of you, it's a health issue.

For some of you, it's a loss of a loved one. You feel lonely. For some of you, it's fear that you are going to be. gripped by fear. Every time you look at your circumstances, you're paralyzed by fear. And again, the Bible says fear is not a feeling. Fear is a spirit. But God did not give us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. For some of you, you feel like your marriage is impossible. And listen, and you read a book on communication and it didn't fix it because maybe it's not just a communication issue, but maybe Jesus needs to get up in the middle of your marriage

and buying some stuff and lose some stuff, and there's a battle that's not against flesh and blood. But there's a spiritual element to it. Or maybe for you, it's, you harbor this unforgiveness. And maybe you harbor unforgiveness to get somebody else, and the bitterness in you is growing and growing and growing, and you're asking God to rip that out so that you can forgive other people just like Jesus has forgiven you.

Or for some of you, though, you just can't, no matter how hard you try, you have not been able to receive their forgiveness of Jesus. when he died on the cross, he forgave everybody else's sin. But your abortion, your affair, you feel like you're bound up by that. And it's gonna take more than a talk for me to unbind that. Maybe you need the Spirit of God to come in here and do a miracle in your life.

Or maybe for you, this is a hard one oftentimes for Christians. Maybe you struggle with depression. And you never even had a category for that as a Christian. And you look around at your circumstances, and circumstantially, everything should be all right, man. You got plenty to eat. You got a pretty decent house. You got a pretty decent family.

And you should be happy, but you just can't turn happy on. And something's wrong in there. I mean, what do you think that is? I have people ask me this week. So, Pastor, you mean to tell me you believe in the demonic? Mm-hmm. It's the only way I know to explain this world. What do you think?

It's just poor choices in life? Mm-mm, man. You know anybody that struggles with an addiction? addicted to the bottle, addicted to pills, addicted to pornography. What do you call it? You talk to anybody with an addiction and they will confess to you, listen, I don't want to go down that road anymore. I've made a promise 100,000 times I'm not doing this anymore because I know where it leads and it's going to destroy everything. And right now in church, I feel like I have power over it.

But by Tuesday, it's almost as if there's another thing that bates me down a road and then blames me for walking in and I pay the penalty. What do you call that? Yeah. I think our battle is not against flesh and blood. I think we have to do what the Bible tells us to do. James, the brother of Jesus, says this. In James chapter 5, he says, is anyone among you sick? That could be physically sick. That could be mentally sick, spiritually sick, relationally sick.

And you feel hopeless? The Bible says hope deferred makes the heart sick. I think I'd rather be physically sick than have a sick heart. He says, is anyone among you sick? And then he gives us instructions. He says, if that's so, then here's what you do about it at church. You don't fake it. Fake you's doing just fine.

You bring the real you before a real Jesus, and you bring the kind of prayer where you say, God, I believe, but I need you to help me overcome my unbelief. And he says, you gather the elders and the pastors of the church together. You anoint with oil, so we got oil here. We're just going to do it by the book. Listen, I am not a faith healer.

I'm just a Bible believer. We're going to anoint you with oil, And you're going to confess. Confess your sins to one another. You'll be forgiven. Then he says that the elders, the pastors, the leaders of the church will pray over you and the prayer of a righteous man is great and effective.

Not because the person praying is awesome, but because the person that we're praying to, Jesus Christ, is awesome. I mean, the way Jesus finishes this thing in Matthew is this. When the disciples say, why could we not cast it out? He says that then 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 is impossible for you. So even if you just have the tiniest little itsy-bitsy, tiny little speck of faith, then Jesus says, that's plenty. That's plenty. Because a tiny little bit of faith in an infinitely powerful God is infinitely more powerful than putting all your faith in trust

in your current circumstances. So whether you've prayed for healing 10,000 times, or this is the first time you've ever said out loud, I need God to do something in my marriage that I can't do. Whatever it is, he invites every single one of us to come by faith and to trust and to pray. And ultimately that we would come not looking just to be blessed, but we would come so that we could be closer and closer

to the one that blesses us. That we would cry out, God, I believe. help me overcome my unbelief. I'm going to invite you to stand right now. I would invite our anointers at all of our campuses to begin to make your way forward right now. And if you would say, that's me, I need help. I need prayer, whether it's physical, financial,

spiritual, mental, whatever it is, I'm going to start praying. And the moment I start praying, if you need prayer, you just need to go ahead and start coming. Don't wait till the end, because we might be here a minute. And I'm telling you, right now the enemy is whispering to you as to all the reasons that you should not come down here

and get prayed for. And I'm telling you that is the spirit of fear and perfect love, cast out fear. I pray that you would hear the perfect invitation of Jesus Christ and he is saying, you, and you, and you, won't you come? Let me pray, and as I start praying,

you come on and get prayed for. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. And God, we just want to do what your Bible says to do. Lord, I pray against the spirit of fear. God, I pray that today chains of addictions would fall off.

I pray that marriages would be restored. God, I pray that bodies would be healed. God, I pray that fear would no longer rule, but the love of Jesus would run fear out of here. God, the enemy has no place in your church. Lord, I pray that prodigal, sons and daughters would come home. Lord, I pray that depression would turn into joy. God, I pray that addictions. would turn into being captivated with you and you alone.

And God, we pray this in the only name that matters when we pray. We pray this by the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Won't you come?