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(upbeat music) 00:00 --> 00:02 - Hey, this is Pastor John Ryan Cantu 00:02 --> 00:16 from PNEUMA Church in Houston, Texas. 00:16 --> 00:19 Thank you for listening to the message today. 00:19 --> 00:21 I hope that it blesses you 00:21 --> 00:22 and all those that you share it with. 00:22 --> 00:24 God bless you. 00:24 --> 00:24 (upbeat music) 00:24 --> 00:27 And so I also wanna give a special shout out 00:30 --> 00:34 to any spiritual fathers in the room. 00:34 --> 00:36 I know that we have many of them. 00:36 --> 00:38 Thank you for all that you do. 00:38 --> 00:39 Thank you for discipling men and making men of God. 00:39 --> 00:44 You know, today, I don't really wanna beat you down today, 00:44 --> 00:46 dads, 'cause every Father's Day is a word of man up 00:46 --> 00:51 and stop being lazy and be the priest of your home 00:51 --> 00:53 and all that stuff. 00:53 --> 00:54 Nine years of preaching, I just realized the other day 00:54 --> 00:56 that I've been pastoring a total of nine years. 00:56 --> 00:59 Next year will be 10, the big 10. 00:59 --> 01:02 Wild, that's wild. 01:02 --> 01:04 And so nine years of preaching these hard sermons 01:04 --> 01:07 to men on Father's Day, 01:07 --> 01:09 which is the day that we should be celebrated. 01:09 --> 01:11 So I wanna encourage you today instead, 01:11 --> 01:14 because I look at our church and I think about our church, 01:14 --> 01:18 because yeah, we can look at the world and we can say, 01:18 --> 01:20 man, there's a bunch of dads that aren't dads. 01:20 --> 01:23 They're not fathers. 01:23 --> 01:24 But when I look at our church, I see men of God. 01:25 --> 01:29 I see men of God and I'm grateful for that. 01:29 --> 01:31 We have godly men leading their families. 01:31 --> 01:35 We have single men who are godly men. 01:35 --> 01:37 And yeah, there might be a few that still need to learn 01:37 --> 01:41 how to be godly, but you know what, you're here. 01:41 --> 01:43 You're here. 01:43 --> 01:44 And when you're in the right place, 01:44 --> 01:46 and everything good begins by being 01:46 --> 01:47 just in the right place, right? 01:47 --> 01:49 So you're here and I wanna encourage you, 01:49 --> 01:52 and anybody else, whether you're a man, 01:52 --> 01:53 whether a woman, married or not, this word is for all of us. 01:53 --> 01:56 So I'm gonna ask that you would stand with me 01:56 --> 01:59 and go to the Gospel of Mark chapter nine, 01:59 --> 02:01 Mark chapter nine, 14 through 29. 02:01 --> 02:05 And this is the passage I've read on many, many times before. 02:05 --> 02:08 I've preached it many times before. 02:08 --> 02:10 And it's not really a Father's Day message, but that's okay. 02:10 --> 02:15 If you have it, say amen. 02:15 --> 02:18 - Amen. - Amen. 02:18 --> 02:19 Chapter nine, 14 through 29. 02:21 --> 02:23 Chapter nine, 14 through 29. 02:23 --> 02:25 I have it up here on the screen. 02:25 --> 02:26 It says this, "And when they came to the disciples, 02:26 --> 02:30 "they saw a great crowd around them 02:30 --> 02:33 "and scribes arguing with them. 02:33 --> 02:35 "And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him," 02:35 --> 02:37 him being Jesus, "were greatly amazed 02:37 --> 02:41 "and ran up to him and greeted him. 02:41 --> 02:42 "And he asked them, 'What are you arguing about?' 02:42 --> 02:46 "And someone from the crowd answered him, 02:46 --> 02:48 "'Teacher, I brought my son to you, 02:48 --> 02:50 "'for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 02:50 --> 02:53 "'And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, 02:53 --> 02:55 "'and he phones and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. 02:55 --> 02:58 "'So I asked your disciples to cast it out, 02:58 --> 03:00 "'and they were not able.' 03:00 --> 03:02 "And he answered them, 'O faithless generation, 03:02 --> 03:04 "'how long am I to be with you? 03:04 --> 03:06 "'How long am I to bear with you? 03:06 --> 03:08 "'Bring him to me.' 03:08 --> 03:09 "And they brought the boy to him. 03:09 --> 03:12 "And when the spirit saw him, immediately 03:12 --> 03:14 "it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground 03:14 --> 03:16 "and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 03:16 --> 03:17 "And Jesus asked his father, 03:17 --> 03:19 "'How long has this been happening to him?' 03:19 --> 03:21 "And he said, 'From childhood.' 03:21 --> 03:22 "And it is often cast into the fire 03:22 --> 03:24 "and into water to destroy him. 03:24 --> 03:26 "But if you can do anything, 03:26 --> 03:27 "have compassion on us and help us. 03:27 --> 03:29 "And Jesus said to him, 'If you can, 03:29 --> 03:32 "'all things are possible for one who believes.' 03:32 --> 03:35 "Immediately the father of the child cried out 03:35 --> 03:37 "and said, 'I believe, help my unbelief.' 03:37 --> 03:40 "And when Jesus saw that the crowd came running together, 03:40 --> 03:43 "he rebuked the unclean spirit, 03:43 --> 03:45 "saying to him, 'You mute and deaf spirit. 03:45 --> 03:47 "'I command you, come out of him 03:47 --> 03:49 "'and never enter him again.' 03:49 --> 03:50 "And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, 03:50 --> 03:53 "it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, 03:53 --> 03:56 "so that most of them said that he is dead. 03:56 --> 03:58 "But Jesus took him by the hand 03:58 --> 04:00 "and lifted him up, and he arose." 04:00 --> 04:02 Amen. 04:02 --> 04:03 Let's pray. 04:03 --> 04:04 Heavenly Father, I thank you for this Sunday, my God. 04:04 --> 04:07 I thank you for this word that you've given your servant. 04:07 --> 04:10 Lord, I pray, Father God, 04:10 --> 04:11 that it would not fall on deaf ears, my God, 04:11 --> 04:14 but it would impact, Father, I pray, 04:14 --> 04:16 Holy Spirit, that you would be on my lips, my God. 04:16 --> 04:18 I pray that I'd be sensitive to whatever you wanna do 04:18 --> 04:19 and whatever you wanna say, Father God. 04:19 --> 04:21 And I pray for healing through this word. 04:21 --> 04:23 I pray for restoration. 04:23 --> 04:24 I pray for freedom and salvation, my God, conviction, 04:24 --> 04:27 my God, whatever you wanna do, Lord. 04:27 --> 04:28 This is your moment, Father God. 04:28 --> 04:30 Speak through your word in Jesus' name, amen. 04:30 --> 04:33 Amen, you can be seated. 04:33 --> 04:35 The title of my message today is It's Possible. 04:35 --> 04:39 It's Possible. 04:39 --> 04:40 Can you declare that with me? 04:40 --> 04:41 It's possible. 04:41 --> 04:42 It's possible. 04:42 --> 04:44 What is possible? 04:44 --> 04:45 Anything, anything is possible. 04:46 --> 04:48 Those were the words of Jesus in this passage 04:48 --> 04:50 when he tells his father, this little boy, 04:50 --> 04:52 anything is possible if you just believe. 04:52 --> 04:56 And this is not a story about demonic possession. 04:56 --> 05:01 I know sometimes we like to draw out doctrine 05:01 --> 05:04 from this passage about demons, 05:04 --> 05:06 but this is not a teaching on the demonic realm. 05:06 --> 05:09 This is a teaching about faith. 05:09 --> 05:11 This is about divine authority and divine power 05:12 --> 05:17 that come not from a calling to deliverance ministry, 05:17 --> 05:21 but to anyone who possesses unwavering faith 05:21 --> 05:24 in the power and the authority of who Jesus is. 05:24 --> 05:26 Anything is possible for those who believe 05:26 --> 05:29 and who Jesus is, amen. 05:29 --> 05:31 Now, I don't know how many of you believe that, 05:31 --> 05:35 but anything is possible. 05:35 --> 05:37 That's a pretty big word. 05:37 --> 05:39 Anything is infinity. 05:39 --> 05:40 Anything is anything. 05:40 --> 05:41 And it's possible when you believe. 05:42 --> 05:46 And so when you see that and when you read that 05:46 --> 05:49 or when you hear it, you might have some beef with the text 05:49 --> 05:54 because you're like, well, I've believed before 05:54 --> 05:57 and it didn't happen. 05:57 --> 05:59 I've declared before and it didn't happen. 05:59 --> 06:01 I've had faith before. 06:01 --> 06:03 I've believed before. 06:03 --> 06:05 You can't say that it's possible if you believe 06:05 --> 06:08 because I have believed and it didn't happen. 06:08 --> 06:11 And so you might have some beef with that, 06:11 --> 06:13 but I wanna challenge you today 06:13 --> 06:14 'cause I want us to understand something. 06:14 --> 06:17 This does not mean that faith is like a magic formula, 06:17 --> 06:22 that you get whatever you're asking for. 06:22 --> 06:25 We've treated it that way. 06:25 --> 06:27 We've treated faith like that. 06:27 --> 06:29 And so because we've treated it like that, 06:29 --> 06:30 we try to collect all the faith 06:30 --> 06:32 so that we can collect all the blessings 06:32 --> 06:34 because the more faith I have, 06:34 --> 06:35 the more my prayers will be answered 06:35 --> 06:37 and the more I'm gonna have. 06:37 --> 06:38 There's often a confusion between faith and the faith. 06:38 --> 06:43 There's a difference. 06:43 --> 06:46 See, when we talk about faith, 06:46 --> 06:47 it's usually tied to a promise, right? 06:47 --> 06:51 Typically, that's when we talk about faith, 06:51 --> 06:55 it's about faith in something, 06:55 --> 06:58 something that God said, something that he did. 06:58 --> 07:01 That's good, that's great. 07:01 --> 07:03 But the faith is tied to who God is, not to what he said. 07:03 --> 07:08 And I can make a very good argument 07:09 --> 07:11 that when the Bible is talking about faith, 07:11 --> 07:13 it's talking about the faith. 07:13 --> 07:15 Not all the time, but most of the time. 07:15 --> 07:18 It's talking about trust in God, not faith in a prayer, 07:18 --> 07:23 not faith in what you declare, faith in God, period, period. 07:23 --> 07:28 And so Hebrews 10, 19, 23 says, 07:28 --> 07:31 "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence 07:31 --> 07:34 "to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 07:34 --> 07:37 "by the new and living way that he opened for us 07:37 --> 07:39 "through the curtain that is through our flesh, his flesh, 07:39 --> 07:42 "and since we have a great priest over our house of God, 07:42 --> 07:45 "let us draw near with a true heart 07:45 --> 07:47 "in full assurance of faith, 07:47 --> 07:50 "with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience 07:50 --> 07:53 "and our bodies washed with pure water." 07:53 --> 07:55 He says, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope 07:55 --> 07:59 "without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." 07:59 --> 08:04 Notice that it's not for what he promised, 08:05 --> 08:09 it's for he who made the promise is faithful. 08:09 --> 08:13 God is faithful. 08:13 --> 08:15 This is faith in God, this is the faith. 08:15 --> 08:17 I hope I'm explaining myself 08:17 --> 08:20 because some of y'all are confused. 08:20 --> 08:21 What I want to caution you on 08:21 --> 08:26 is that we not prioritize the faith 08:26 --> 08:29 of what we're asking for, the faith of our prayers, 08:29 --> 08:32 the faith of our declarations and the steps 08:32 --> 08:35 that we're taking in wisdom, 08:35 --> 08:36 in faith that is going to produce a desired outcome. 08:36 --> 08:39 We have to make sure that we don't prioritize that faith 08:39 --> 08:42 over the faith of who Jesus is. 08:42 --> 08:44 We cannot allow an unanswered prayer 08:44 --> 08:47 to taint our relationship with the Father. 08:47 --> 08:50 That is what we find a lot of in Christianity 08:50 --> 08:55 because there is a confusion between faith and the faith. 08:55 --> 09:00 And so you read a passage like this 09:00 --> 09:02 and you're like, "Well, I believed for a healing. 09:02 --> 09:04 "I didn't get the healing, what happened?" 09:04 --> 09:06 The word is obviously contradictory to reality. 09:06 --> 09:09 No, context matters. 09:09 --> 09:12 And I believe that when we're talking about the faith, 09:12 --> 09:17 we're talking about faith of who God is. 09:17 --> 09:20 Not every Christian can say, "If I lose everything today, 09:20 --> 09:22 "I'm still gonna be in his presence tomorrow." 09:22 --> 09:24 Not everybody can say that. 09:24 --> 09:25 Not everybody can say, "If God doesn't do the thing 09:25 --> 09:29 "that I'm believing him to do, 09:29 --> 09:31 "I'm still gonna have faith in him." 09:32 --> 09:33 But I want you to hear me. 09:33 --> 09:37 Faith cannot be, it can't be dependent 09:37 --> 09:40 on the things that God does or doesn't do. 09:40 --> 09:43 'Cause if I'm believing God for a supernatural healing 09:43 --> 09:47 and I'm calling upon all the saints and I'm saying, 09:47 --> 09:50 "Can you pray for me?" 09:50 --> 09:51 And I'm believing for it and I'm declaring it. 09:51 --> 09:54 And I'm already declaring myself healed in Jesus' name. 09:54 --> 09:58 And then God doesn't do the healing 09:58 --> 10:01 and now I don't have any trust in him, 10:01 --> 10:04 I have a flawed faith. 10:04 --> 10:05 Now, it works the other way as well. 10:05 --> 10:10 Because if I'm doing all of those things 10:10 --> 10:12 and I'm declaring my healing and it's gonna happen, 10:12 --> 10:14 I'm gonna walk in the faith and I'm praying 10:14 --> 10:16 and I'm believing and then God does the healing, 10:16 --> 10:18 now if I give him more trust, 10:18 --> 10:20 like he's earned some type of faith brownie points, 10:20 --> 10:23 my faith is flawed. 10:23 --> 10:24 Because God does not owe us anything 10:26 --> 10:31 and God does not need to earn your trust 10:31 --> 10:34 the way that your spouse needs to earn your trust. 10:34 --> 10:37 God does not need to earn our trust. 10:37 --> 10:39 If you have accepted him as Lord and Savior 10:39 --> 10:42 and you have a real relationship with him, 10:42 --> 10:45 your faith should be unwavering, 10:45 --> 10:47 no matter if he does or if he doesn't. 10:47 --> 10:50 Because when it comes to the faith, 10:50 --> 10:53 the thing that matters the most is that Jesus died 10:53 --> 10:56 for your sins to give you life eternal 10:56 --> 10:58 and now I walk in victory and I have that faith 10:58 --> 11:01 that I walk in victory over the enemy 11:01 --> 11:03 and over the power of sin that even though I walk 11:03 --> 11:06 through the valley of shadow of death, 11:06 --> 11:08 I fear no evil because I know that he is with me 11:08 --> 11:11 and his rod and stab comfort me. 11:11 --> 11:13 That's the faith because I know him, I know who he is. 11:13 --> 11:18 Because I know who he is, my faith in him remains. 11:18 --> 11:22 When I used to teach apologetics, 11:22 --> 11:26 I would tell my students, I would tell them 11:26 --> 11:29 what's known as the Epicurean paradox. 11:29 --> 11:33 So the Greek philosopher Epicurus, 11:33 --> 11:35 he presented this little riddle 11:35 --> 11:37 and it can be summarized like this. 11:37 --> 11:38 He says, "If God is unable to prevent evil, 11:38 --> 11:42 "then he is not all powerful. 11:42 --> 11:44 "If God is not willing to prevent evil, 11:44 --> 11:47 "then he is not all good. 11:47 --> 11:50 "If God is both willing and able to prevent evil," 11:50 --> 11:55 which we believe, "then why does evil exist?" 11:55 --> 11:58 So first of all, sin is a real thing 11:58 --> 12:02 and we live in a fallen world which God plans to rid of 12:02 --> 12:05 upon the return of Christ, amen. 12:05 --> 12:07 That's number one. 12:07 --> 12:09 Number two, there's a reason that this question 12:09 --> 12:12 bothers the world so much and it doesn't seem to bother 12:12 --> 12:15 God loving, God fearing Christians on a personal level. 12:15 --> 12:19 Yes, it might be hard to, it might be a head scratcher, 12:19 --> 12:23 right, because it's meant to kind of trap you, 12:23 --> 12:27 but personally it doesn't bother me that much 12:27 --> 12:30 because when you know who God is, 12:30 --> 12:32 your faith is tied to who he is, 12:32 --> 12:35 not what he does and not what he doesn't do, 12:35 --> 12:37 not what he allows or what he doesn't allow. 12:37 --> 12:40 This is where your faith starts to look a little foolish, 12:40 --> 12:43 because it seems like everything that happens, 12:43 --> 12:45 everything that God allows to take place in your life, 12:45 --> 12:49 you have an answer for. 12:49 --> 12:50 Because we say, "Well, I don't know why, 12:51 --> 12:53 "but God is still good. 12:53 --> 12:55 "I don't know why. 12:55 --> 12:56 "I don't know why your son died of cancer 12:56 --> 13:00 "at a very early age. 13:00 --> 13:02 "I don't know why that God allowed that, 13:02 --> 13:03 "but God is still faithful." 13:03 --> 13:05 God knows all things, he knows best, right? 13:05 --> 13:08 You see how these answers seem to kind of dodge 13:08 --> 13:11 the real questions? 13:11 --> 13:13 It dodges the question of why does evil exist? 13:13 --> 13:15 I don't know. 13:15 --> 13:16 I don't have a direct answer for why God allows 13:16 --> 13:19 certain things to happen to certain people, 13:19 --> 13:22 but my answer is sufficient to guard my faith 13:22 --> 13:25 in who he is because I know him personally. 13:25 --> 13:28 So my challenge this morning is really to know God 13:28 --> 13:33 on a deeper level, because if you don't have 13:33 --> 13:36 a real relationship with Jesus, 13:36 --> 13:38 or maybe you're just getting started, 13:38 --> 13:40 and I know that we have a lot of people 13:40 --> 13:41 who are just getting started in their faith journey, 13:41 --> 13:44 you might think of faith like a formula. 13:44 --> 13:49 That's the way that you maybe think of faith. 13:49 --> 13:50 In fact, maybe faith is such a foreign concept to you 13:50 --> 13:54 that you think of faith as positivity. 13:54 --> 13:56 And so you're like, "Yeah, I'm gonna get the job. 13:56 --> 13:58 "In Jesus' name, I'm gonna get the job. 13:58 --> 14:00 "Yes, everything's gonna be okay in Jesus' name." 14:00 --> 14:02 And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. 14:02 --> 14:04 It's gotta start somewhere, right? 14:04 --> 14:06 And in fact, that's how the faith of kids starts out. 14:06 --> 14:11 I'm not calling your faith childish, 14:11 --> 14:13 but I mean, I guess I am calling it childish. 14:13 --> 14:16 It's okay. 14:16 --> 14:17 I want you to understand something. 14:17 --> 14:18 That's the way that faith in children starts. 14:18 --> 14:22 It's the cutest thing ever, man. 14:22 --> 14:25 Anytime Leila's having an anxious moment, 14:25 --> 14:28 she's not feeling good. 14:28 --> 14:30 Ellie, I thank God for Ellie. 14:30 --> 14:31 Ellie is such an encourager, man. 14:31 --> 14:32 She's such an encourager. 14:32 --> 14:34 And she'll tell Leila, "Sissy, just pray. 14:34 --> 14:36 "God will help you." 14:36 --> 14:37 She says it every time. 14:37 --> 14:39 "Just pray. 14:39 --> 14:39 "God will help you." 14:39 --> 14:41 And it's so cute, and it melts my heart. 14:41 --> 14:43 And I love that she's starting to develop that faith. 14:43 --> 14:47 But if we're honest, the way that she's thinking, 14:47 --> 14:49 yes, it's innocent, but it's faith as a formula. 14:49 --> 14:52 It's if you pray, it's gonna happen like that. 14:52 --> 14:58 I can't snap with that hand. 14:58 --> 15:00 Like that. 15:00 --> 15:01 That's faith as a formula. 15:01 --> 15:05 And that's how it begins when we come to God. 15:05 --> 15:08 That's how we think of faith many times. 15:08 --> 15:10 It's like, okay, the more you have, 15:10 --> 15:12 the more stuff will happen to your favor. 15:12 --> 15:15 Leila is starting to come out of this phase. 15:15 --> 15:18 She used to think the same way, because faith develops. 15:18 --> 15:22 But now she's asking some different questions. 15:22 --> 15:25 Like, "Dad, how come when we prayed for that thing, 15:25 --> 15:28 "it didn't happen?" 15:28 --> 15:29 Those are real questions. 15:29 --> 15:30 She said the other day, "How come that when I prayed 15:30 --> 15:35 "to be healed instantly because I was not feeling good 15:35 --> 15:39 "and I wanted to feel better right away, 15:39 --> 15:40 "how come it didn't happen right away?" 15:40 --> 15:44 And these are great theological questions 15:45 --> 15:47 that all of our kids ask. 15:47 --> 15:49 And you know, a lot of times we try to answer these 15:49 --> 15:52 with theological and mental gymnastics, right? 15:52 --> 15:56 And that's good. 15:56 --> 15:57 They need to understand the theology of everything 15:57 --> 15:59 and the logic behind everything. 15:59 --> 16:01 But I would encourage you to begin with a personal type 16:01 --> 16:06 of answer before a profound theological one, 16:06 --> 16:08 especially with your children. 16:08 --> 16:10 And so the answer that I gave Leila is, 16:10 --> 16:12 Leila, sometimes our prayers don't get answered. 16:12 --> 16:15 That doesn't mean you stop praying. 16:15 --> 16:18 Sometimes the things that we're believing for, 16:18 --> 16:20 the things that we're hoping for, 16:20 --> 16:21 they don't happen the way that we want to. 16:21 --> 16:22 That doesn't mean that you stop believing. 16:22 --> 16:25 And the thing that is always true, and I told her, 16:25 --> 16:27 the thing that is always true is that Jesus is still God 16:27 --> 16:31 and Jesus is still good and Jesus is still faithful 16:31 --> 16:34 and Jesus loves you and anything is possible 16:34 --> 16:36 in his presence. 16:36 --> 16:38 See, when you build upon that type of foundation, 16:38 --> 16:42 that's when your faith moves beyond the shallow waters 16:42 --> 16:46 and into the deep because you are anchored in who God is. 16:46 --> 16:50 So no wave, no storm can take you out 16:50 --> 16:53 because you are anchored on God. 16:53 --> 16:56 And so maybe God didn't do it. 16:56 --> 16:58 Maybe God said no. 16:58 --> 16:59 Maybe God didn't help you the way that you wanted to help. 16:59 --> 17:02 Maybe the divine aid didn't come in the form 17:02 --> 17:04 that you wanted to. 17:04 --> 17:06 Maybe you asked God for more money 17:06 --> 17:07 and God gave you an Uber job. 17:07 --> 17:09 And you're like, really God, you want me to drive an Uber? 17:09 --> 17:11 Yeah, that's what I'm giving you. 17:11 --> 17:13 Maybe you asked God to save your marriage 17:13 --> 17:16 and God opened the schedule of a marriage counselor for you. 17:16 --> 17:19 Maybe you asked for healing and all God gave you 17:19 --> 17:22 was a way to manage the pain. 17:22 --> 17:24 We need to be people who believe in miracles, 17:24 --> 17:29 but before we believe in miracles, 17:29 --> 17:31 we need to believe in the miracle worker. 17:31 --> 17:33 And the miracle worker is not a magician, 17:35 --> 17:37 he's not a performer, he is a good and wise God 17:37 --> 17:40 with a will of his own to do or not to do. 17:40 --> 17:44 He is a father that disciplines his children. 17:44 --> 17:46 He's a father who takes a step back to teach us lessons. 17:46 --> 17:49 He's a father who loves us. 17:49 --> 17:52 That's the truth. 17:52 --> 17:53 That's the faith that you need to hold to. 17:53 --> 17:56 When you are anchored in him, 17:56 --> 18:00 nothing is gonna sway that faith, nothing. 18:00 --> 18:03 And that is the faith that we need to be teaching 18:03 --> 18:06 our children, not just if you, whatever you pray for, 18:06 --> 18:10 you're gonna get, no, no, that's good, 18:10 --> 18:12 but before that, you need to be anchored in who God is. 18:12 --> 18:16 Because if you're not anchored in who he is 18:16 --> 18:21 and you're taking a Hail Mary of a type of prayer 18:21 --> 18:23 and it doesn't happen, you're gonna be off to see 18:23 --> 18:26 because you were never anchored in the miracle worker. 18:26 --> 18:29 So all that to say that this story 18:32 --> 18:33 isn't about a demon-possessed boy. 18:33 --> 18:35 It's about a father who moved from shallow faith 18:35 --> 18:41 to deeper faith. 18:41 --> 18:42 The story starts by, you still with me? 18:42 --> 18:47 The story starts by saying that the disciples, 18:47 --> 18:50 they were surrounded by the crowds 18:50 --> 18:52 and they were arguing with scribes. 18:52 --> 18:55 So there was a big commotion of some sort. 18:55 --> 18:57 The Bible doesn't really tell us 18:57 --> 18:58 exactly what the argument was about, 18:58 --> 19:00 but commentators have made some pretty good guesses 19:00 --> 19:02 that I think are viable. 19:02 --> 19:03 So if you think about the scribes, 19:03 --> 19:06 what were they doing? 19:06 --> 19:08 They were always spectated on Jesus and his works, 19:08 --> 19:11 because they were looking for a reason 19:11 --> 19:13 to accuse him and imprison him. 19:13 --> 19:15 And so they wanna find out how it is possible 19:15 --> 19:18 that Jesus is doing all these miracles. 19:18 --> 19:20 And if you remember, he's even been accused 19:20 --> 19:22 of being empowered by the hand of Satan. 19:22 --> 19:25 So they're arguing with the disciples 19:25 --> 19:28 who tried to cast out the demon from this boy, 19:28 --> 19:31 but they couldn't because of a lack of faith, right? 19:31 --> 19:34 And so one suggestion is that the scribes 19:34 --> 19:35 were arguing about whose authority 19:35 --> 19:38 they were attempting to exorcise this demon. 19:38 --> 19:41 By whose authority are you doing these things? 19:41 --> 19:43 They asked Jesus the same question before. 19:43 --> 19:45 By whose authority are you doing all of these things? 19:45 --> 19:47 Now, the disciples did have the authority of Jesus 19:47 --> 19:50 to cast out the demons. 19:50 --> 19:52 They couldn't do it, so it was kind of a bad look for them. 19:52 --> 19:55 From there, maybe the argument led into the scribe saying, 19:55 --> 20:00 Mr. Disciples, you're giving this man, 20:00 --> 20:03 this father, false hope. 20:03 --> 20:04 Because you're over here and you're declaring 20:04 --> 20:06 and you're shouting and you're acting weird, 20:06 --> 20:09 and nothing is happening. 20:09 --> 20:12 Stop, stop using the name of God. 20:12 --> 20:15 So I don't know, that's kind of the thought. 20:15 --> 20:18 This was a big deal, and it was enough to draw a crowd. 20:18 --> 20:22 And so when Jesus gets to the foot of the mountain, 20:22 --> 20:24 this is after his transfiguration, 20:24 --> 20:26 and he sees all of this and he asks the question, 20:26 --> 20:29 what are y'all arguing about? 20:29 --> 20:31 And neither the disciples nor the scribes care to answer. 20:31 --> 20:36 So all of a sudden, the father of this boy, he speaks up. 20:36 --> 20:40 And he says, Jesus, my son is possessed by a spirit, 20:40 --> 20:46 and man, I need this thing out of him. 20:46 --> 20:49 You weren't here, so I asked your disciples. 20:49 --> 20:53 Your disciples couldn't do it. 20:53 --> 20:55 At this point, I'm sure everybody's feeling embarrassed. 20:55 --> 20:59 I mean, again, I like to go really deep 20:59 --> 21:01 into the actual, into the picture of what's happening. 21:01 --> 21:04 I'm betting everybody's embarrassed. 21:04 --> 21:08 Like the disciples were given authority to do this work, 21:08 --> 21:10 they could not do the work. 21:10 --> 21:11 Now the religious leaders are involved, 21:11 --> 21:14 and so this is a big, scandalous event. 21:14 --> 21:16 And if I were the father, I'd be embarrassed 21:16 --> 21:19 and I'd be doubtful. 21:19 --> 21:21 Because he came in faith, but now his faith has been tainted 21:21 --> 21:26 because he tried and he had no success. 21:26 --> 21:30 The disciples tried, they had no success. 21:30 --> 21:33 You know, whenever we pray for someone 21:33 --> 21:39 who doesn't know Jesus, I want you to lean into this, 21:39 --> 21:42 this is really important. 21:42 --> 21:43 We have to realize what we're doing 21:43 --> 21:46 because there is power in prayer, 100%. 21:46 --> 21:49 God can do whatever he wants, through whomever he wants. 21:49 --> 21:52 But we have to be, we have to realize 21:52 --> 21:56 that we as prayer warriors, we who pray for people 21:56 --> 21:58 here at the altars, we who receive prayer requests 21:58 --> 22:02 on behalf of a coworker or a family member, 22:02 --> 22:05 and we present it to the church, 22:05 --> 22:07 we have to realize that when we pray over their request, 22:07 --> 22:11 we're asking God to heal a symptom. 22:11 --> 22:14 This is not a rebuke, this is not a correction, 22:14 --> 22:17 this is just practical awareness 22:17 --> 22:19 that I wanna bring to your mind 22:19 --> 22:20 and I wanna challenge you. 22:20 --> 22:22 Because the God that I know, the God that I read about 22:22 --> 22:24 in the scripture, the God that I have 22:24 --> 22:25 a personal relationship with, the God that I know 22:25 --> 22:27 many of you have a personal relationship, 22:27 --> 22:29 very rarely is he concerned with removing symptoms 22:29 --> 22:33 of problems. 22:33 --> 22:34 Removing a symptom is not transformation, 22:34 --> 22:39 it's not restoration, and it's not healing. 22:39 --> 22:42 God is in the healing business, 22:42 --> 22:44 God is in the restoring business 22:44 --> 22:46 and the transforming business. 22:46 --> 22:47 That is what God does by knowledge of who he is. 22:47 --> 22:52 God is not about just taking the ugly 22:52 --> 22:55 of what you can see on the surface, 22:55 --> 22:57 he's about digging into the root 22:57 --> 22:59 to remove the problems that you can't see 22:59 --> 23:02 and that no one else can see 23:02 --> 23:03 so that a real life-changing event 23:03 --> 23:05 can take place in your soul. 23:05 --> 23:07 That is what my God is concerned with. 23:07 --> 23:11 And so when somebody comes to prayer to you, 23:11 --> 23:16 I'm commissioning you, the church, 23:16 --> 23:19 because many times people will go to you 23:19 --> 23:22 in a very desperate moment in their life, 23:22 --> 23:24 they don't know who to go to, 23:24 --> 23:25 they don't have a relationship with Jesus, 23:25 --> 23:27 they're not gonna go to Jesus directly, 23:27 --> 23:28 but they know one of the disciples of Jesus. 23:28 --> 23:31 They know the man, the woman of God 23:31 --> 23:35 who has a personal relationship with Jesus, 23:35 --> 23:37 who's always talking about Jesus, 23:37 --> 23:38 who's always posting that he or she is at church, 23:38 --> 23:41 they know that you follow Jesus 23:41 --> 23:44 and because you follow Jesus, 23:44 --> 23:46 maybe you have a little bit of authority 23:46 --> 23:48 to do the things that Jesus can do 23:48 --> 23:50 through the power of the Holy Spirit. 23:50 --> 23:51 They don't know any of this stuff theologically, 23:51 --> 23:53 but they know that you're a disciple, 23:53 --> 23:54 so they're gonna go to you and they're gonna say, 23:54 --> 23:57 can you please pray for my marriage? 23:57 --> 24:01 I need help, I don't know what else to do, 24:01 --> 24:05 I'm in a desperate moment. 24:05 --> 24:06 I need you to pray for what's going on. 24:06 --> 24:12 So this is my challenge to you, 24:12 --> 24:13 I want you to pray for the marriage, 24:13 --> 24:15 I want you to pray for whatever is the need 24:15 --> 24:19 that they are struggling with, 24:19 --> 24:20 but also please find a way 24:20 --> 24:22 to point them to a belief in Jesus. 24:22 --> 24:25 I hope that you're hearing me, 24:25 --> 24:28 I hope that you're hearing me. 24:28 --> 24:30 When people come here at the altar 24:30 --> 24:32 and they don't have a relationship with Jesus 24:32 --> 24:33 and they're saying, hey, I need you to pray for my mom, 24:33 --> 24:37 she's sick, I need you to pray for my marriage, 24:37 --> 24:39 I'm gonna pray for you, 24:39 --> 24:40 but how's your relationship with Jesus? 24:40 --> 24:43 Because I can pray that God take care of the symptom, 24:43 --> 24:48 but what you need is God to take care of the disease. 24:48 --> 24:50 That is the power of prayer that I'm talking about. 24:50 --> 24:56 Because what happened to the father 24:56 --> 25:00 of this demon-possessed boy, 25:00 --> 25:02 it might happen to the people who are going to you 25:02 --> 25:05 asking for prayer. 25:05 --> 25:06 In fact, many times it will, I've seen it. 25:06 --> 25:10 They'll come to church in a desperate season, 25:10 --> 25:12 they'll pray at the altars for their symptom. 25:12 --> 25:15 They might even say the prayer of salvation 25:15 --> 25:17 because hey, the more I can get, 25:17 --> 25:19 the better for my problems. 25:19 --> 25:21 The more faith I can collect, 25:21 --> 25:23 the more answers I'm gonna get. 25:23 --> 25:25 And when the pastor's prayer is not enough 25:25 --> 25:28 and the prayer of the saints is not enough 25:28 --> 25:29 and the consistent church attendance is not enough, 25:29 --> 25:32 they'll eventually start to look somewhere else 25:32 --> 25:35 because their belief was misplaced. 25:35 --> 25:38 I believe that this father needed to have 25:40 --> 25:43 an encounter with Jesus. 25:43 --> 25:45 I'm so thankful, looking back, 25:45 --> 25:48 that the disciples were a little too proud 25:48 --> 25:51 and they couldn't actually do the thing 25:51 --> 25:52 that God gave them authority to do 25:52 --> 25:54 because they needed a lesson in faith. 25:54 --> 25:57 Because had the disciples just did the miracle, 25:57 --> 26:00 this father of this demon-possessed boy 26:00 --> 26:02 would have never met Jesus. 26:02 --> 26:04 And then he would have never had the stories 26:04 --> 26:07 later on in his life to tell his son, 26:07 --> 26:09 do you remember when I took you to Jesus? 26:09 --> 26:12 Do you remember that one encounter that we had with Jesus 26:12 --> 26:16 when you were convulsing and the spirit wanted to kill you 26:16 --> 26:21 and I didn't know what was gonna happen to my little boy? 26:21 --> 26:24 Do you remember that day that we met Jesus? 26:24 --> 26:27 Do you remember what he did for you 26:27 --> 26:31 through the power of belief in who he is? 26:31 --> 26:34 Worship team, come up please. 26:34 --> 26:37 I want you to hear this because so many times 26:39 --> 26:42 we try to heal the symptom. 26:42 --> 26:45 We see a spirit that needs to go and we call it out 26:45 --> 26:49 and a lot of times in deliverance we bring the name of Jesus 26:49 --> 26:52 without bringing the person of Jesus. 26:52 --> 26:55 I'm gonna say that again because somebody needs to hear it. 26:55 --> 26:59 We're constantly saying, in the name of Jesus, 26:59 --> 27:03 in the name of Jesus, I command you in the name of Jesus, 27:03 --> 27:06 and we never introduce the person to Jesus. 27:06 --> 27:09 And maybe we know this, we do this because we know 27:09 --> 27:15 that demons tremble at the name of Jesus. 27:15 --> 27:18 We know that spirits might flee at the scene 27:18 --> 27:21 when you start to declare the name of Jesus, 27:21 --> 27:24 but if you never fill that heart with the person of Jesus, 27:24 --> 27:28 those spirits might come rushing back in with a vengeance. 27:28 --> 27:32 When the name of Jesus is no longer being declared 27:32 --> 27:35 by the saints, the spirits are gonna start to take note 27:35 --> 27:38 that you are all bark and no bite, 27:38 --> 27:40 that you just wave around the name of Jesus 27:40 --> 27:43 like it's a sword but you never do anything with it. 27:43 --> 27:45 One day the Bible says that people are gonna say, 27:45 --> 27:48 Lord, we prophesied in your name, 27:48 --> 27:50 we did miracles in your name, 27:50 --> 27:52 we cast out demons in your name, 27:52 --> 27:54 but if you never took the power of the name of Jesus 27:54 --> 27:57 and let it penetrate the depths of the soul 27:57 --> 28:00 and the heart you never understood 28:00 --> 28:02 where the true power lies, 28:02 --> 28:04 (congregation cheers) 28:04 --> 28:07 I'm trying to correct faith this morning. 28:07 --> 28:11 I imagine the disciples were saying, 28:11 --> 28:19 in the name of Jesus, the name of Jesus, come out now, 28:19 --> 28:23 do it, I command you in Jesus' name. 28:23 --> 28:25 They were using their authority 28:25 --> 28:28 and they were doing all the Pentecostal things 28:28 --> 28:32 that we say to do, but it wasn't until the Father met Jesus 28:32 --> 28:37 and had a real conversation with him. 28:37 --> 28:40 Can we take out the spiritual lingo real quick? 28:40 --> 28:45 This man had a real conversation with Jesus face to face. 28:45 --> 28:50 There was no speaking in tongues, there was no anointing oil 28:50 --> 28:56 there was no beautiful pads by Brother Zeke, 28:56 --> 29:01 there was none of that. 29:01 --> 29:02 It was a real conversation where Jesus gets personal 29:02 --> 29:07 and compassionate and he asks this man questions 29:07 --> 29:10 that Jesus already knew the answer to. 29:10 --> 29:12 Like how long has this been happening to you? 29:12 --> 29:14 Boy, tell me a little bit about it. 29:14 --> 29:16 Tell me, when did this begin? 29:16 --> 29:18 Tell me your story. 29:18 --> 29:20 There's so much more than we read in the scriptures. 29:20 --> 29:23 I'm sure there was a real exchange. 29:23 --> 29:25 See, the power of faith comes not from a what, 29:29 --> 29:33 but from a who. 29:33 --> 29:34 And this might be, or it might be that the healing church, 29:34 --> 29:40 listen, that you have been looking for 29:40 --> 29:42 to take place in your family. 29:42 --> 29:43 Maybe it's not gonna happen until you, Father, 29:43 --> 29:47 you, Mother, have a real moment with Jesus 29:47 --> 29:50 where you allow him to press deeper 29:50 --> 29:53 and ask questions, real questions, 29:53 --> 29:56 where you begin to realize that healing doesn't come 29:56 --> 29:58 from the church, doesn't come from the pastor, 29:58 --> 30:02 it doesn't come from one prayer, 30:02 --> 30:04 it comes from a real encounter with Jesus. 30:04 --> 30:08 I like how one commentator said it. 30:08 --> 30:12 I'm gonna read it real quick. 30:12 --> 30:13 He says, "The disciples had been tempted to believe 30:13 --> 30:17 "that the gift they had received from Jesus 30:17 --> 30:20 "was in their control and could be exercised 30:20 --> 30:23 "at their disposal. 30:23 --> 30:25 "This was a subtle form of disbelief, 30:25 --> 30:29 "for it encouraged them to trust in themselves 30:29 --> 30:32 "rather than God. 30:32 --> 30:34 "They had to learn that their previous success 30:34 --> 30:36 "in expelling demons provided no guarantee 30:36 --> 30:38 "to continued power. 30:38 --> 30:39 "Rather, the power of God must be asked on each occasion 30:39 --> 30:43 "in radical reliance upon his ability alone. 30:43 --> 30:47 "When faith confronts the demonic, 30:47 --> 30:49 "God's omnipotence is its sole assurance, 30:49 --> 30:53 "and God's sovereignty is its only restriction. 30:53 --> 30:56 "This is the faith which experiences 30:56 --> 30:58 "the miracle of deliverance." 30:58 --> 31:01 Faith is something that develops over time, 31:01 --> 31:07 but the key maturing moment of your faith happens 31:07 --> 31:11 when it goes from thinking that faith is a formula 31:11 --> 31:15 to faith in who God is. 31:15 --> 31:17 Faith is not a formula, it's a command. 31:17 --> 31:22 (soft piano music) 31:22 --> 31:25 Jesus tells a man all things are possible 31:25 --> 31:27 to the one who believes. 31:27 --> 31:30 Without context, that sounds like faith is a formula. 31:30 --> 31:33 This is why so many Christians don't always understand 31:33 --> 31:36 how faith works because they don't read the Bible. 31:36 --> 31:39 It's another sermon. 31:39 --> 31:41 At faith value, at faith value, 31:41 --> 31:44 this sounds like faith is a formula. 31:44 --> 31:46 It sounds like magic, it sounds like Disney World. 31:46 --> 31:48 Just use your imagination and believe in it. 31:48 --> 31:50 Anything can happen. 31:50 --> 31:52 But in context, it's not that this man didn't believe 31:52 --> 31:57 in what could happen. 31:57 --> 31:58 You still with me? 31:58 --> 32:00 Just two more minutes. 32:00 --> 32:01 I want you to understand something. 32:01 --> 32:04 This man originally brought his son in faith. 32:04 --> 32:09 What was he doing out there if not with a little bit 32:09 --> 32:13 of faith that he was gonna find Jesus 32:13 --> 32:15 and Jesus was gonna do this miracle? 32:15 --> 32:18 And then he didn't find Jesus but he found the disciples 32:18 --> 32:21 of Jesus and again, in faith, he allowed them to try. 32:21 --> 32:24 The Bible says all I need is a faith the size 32:24 --> 32:27 of a mustard seed and I can make mountains move. 32:27 --> 32:31 This man had faith but in his dialogue with Jesus, 32:31 --> 32:36 he admitted some level of unbelief. 32:36 --> 32:39 Maybe because of his past experiences. 32:39 --> 32:43 Maybe because before he prayed 32:43 --> 32:46 and the prayer wasn't answered. 32:46 --> 32:48 Maybe because he's proved that simply believing 32:48 --> 32:50 in an outcome doesn't always produce the outcome. 32:50 --> 32:54 I know that our faith has been tainted at times. 32:54 --> 32:57 I know that it has. 32:57 --> 32:59 But you know what? 32:59 --> 33:00 For those of us who love and know God deeply, 33:00 --> 33:02 we go back to God every single time 33:02 --> 33:05 and we say, Lord, help my faith. 33:05 --> 33:08 Let me never forget that there is power in who you are, 33:08 --> 33:12 that there is power where you are, 33:12 --> 33:14 that with you, all things are possible. 33:14 --> 33:18 And it's never about if you can. 33:18 --> 33:22 It's always about if you will. 33:22 --> 33:24 We have to believe that God can do all things. 33:24 --> 33:28 That was the first rebuke. 33:28 --> 33:30 What do you mean if you can't? 33:30 --> 33:32 If I can, you clearly don't know who I am. 33:32 --> 33:35 Because a man or a woman of God who has knowledge 33:35 --> 33:41 of God intimately knows that God can do all things. 33:41 --> 33:45 I know that God can do all things. 33:45 --> 33:47 I want you to ask this church, 33:47 --> 33:57 sometimes we fail to ask God bold things, bold prayers. 33:57 --> 34:05 And I wanna encourage you, 34:05 --> 34:11 any parents in the room today 34:11 --> 34:12 to move past the shallow waters of your faith. 34:12 --> 34:15 And man, just dive deep, dive deep. 34:15 --> 34:17 I'm challenging you, man, of God 34:17 --> 34:20 who prays over his family, pray bold prayers. 34:20 --> 34:24 Because we serve a God who can. 34:24 --> 34:27 And if God can do all things, 34:27 --> 34:30 shoot, I can ask him anything. 34:30 --> 34:32 There is nothing too small for God. 34:32 --> 34:36 Ask boldly. 34:36 --> 34:37 Some of you have reduced your prayers to something so small 34:37 --> 34:42 because you have some disbelief in you 34:42 --> 34:46 and God is calling you to know who he is today. 34:46 --> 34:49 I am the God who can. 34:49 --> 34:50 I am the God who can do all things. 34:50 --> 34:53 Ask the bold prayers. 34:53 --> 34:58 For the man or the woman who has this type of faith, 34:58 --> 35:04 like me, I believe this. 35:05 --> 35:08 I'm almost done. 35:08 --> 35:10 Teach this to your children. 35:10 --> 35:12 Teach it to your children. 35:12 --> 35:15 Have them know that the foundation of faith 35:15 --> 35:17 is not in a prayer, it's in a person. 35:17 --> 35:19 Have them know that nothing matters more 35:19 --> 35:23 than their faith of who Jesus is 35:23 --> 35:25 and what he did for them on the cross of Calvary 35:25 --> 35:27 so that they would always know 35:27 --> 35:29 that the healing has already been done. 35:29 --> 35:31 They will never have to question if Jesus loves them 35:31 --> 35:34 because of faith of who he is. 35:34 --> 35:37 They will never wonder if God is listening 35:37 --> 35:40 because of what he's already done. 35:40 --> 35:41 Now for the man or the woman this morning 35:41 --> 35:43 who is not there yet, 35:43 --> 35:46 maybe you've always thought of faith as a formula. 35:46 --> 35:47 I wanna encourage you to go deeper with Jesus 35:47 --> 35:50 and have an encounter with him today 35:50 --> 35:52 because God doesn't just wanna clean up 35:52 --> 35:55 what's on the surface, he wants to go deeper. 35:55 --> 35:57 He wants to introduce himself to you as Lord and Savior. 35:57 --> 36:01 When you know the Lord to this degree, 36:01 --> 36:03 you will do all that you can 36:04 --> 36:06 to make sure that your children know him as well. 36:06 --> 36:09 So I'm challenging you to move into the waters, 36:09 --> 36:11 into the deep waters of faith in God. 36:11 --> 36:14 And for everybody else in the room, 36:14 --> 36:15 I'm gonna ask you to stand. 36:15 --> 36:16 Let me remind you that in God, listen, listen, 36:16 --> 36:24 in God, what? 36:24 --> 36:26 Everything is possible, anything is possible. 36:26 --> 36:30 Don't you doubt his goodness. 36:31 --> 36:34 Don't you doubt his love for you. 36:34 --> 36:36 Don't you doubt his love for your family. 36:36 --> 36:40 Don't you doubt that just because God hasn't done it yet, 36:40 --> 36:43 that he's forgotten about the prodigal in your family. 36:43 --> 36:46 You keep praying, man of God. 36:46 --> 36:48 You keep praying, woman of God. 36:48 --> 36:50 You keep fighting, you keep declaring, you keep going. 36:50 --> 36:54 Don't let the faith waver because my God can do all things. 36:54 --> 36:59 In the next chapter of Mark, 37:00 --> 37:01 the disciples asked Jesus a question. 37:01 --> 37:03 He says, who can be saved? 37:03 --> 37:06 And Jesus says, with man it is impossible, 37:06 --> 37:10 but not with God, for all things are possible with God. 37:10 --> 37:15 Someone say that, with God, with God. 37:15 --> 37:18 I believe that some of us need to have God stay 37:18 --> 37:22 and dwell with us in our home 37:22 --> 37:25 so that we begin to know God in an intimate way, 37:25 --> 37:28 that we will know that he is the God who can. 37:28 --> 37:31 He is the God who can and has all the power, 37:31 --> 37:34 all the knowledge to do whatever he wills. 37:34 --> 37:37 Let me pray over you right there. 37:37 --> 37:40 Holy Spirit, I pray right now, right now, 37:40 --> 37:42 over this group of individuals, of parents, 37:42 --> 37:47 my God, men and women, Lord, I pray for their faith, God. 37:47 --> 37:51 I pray that you would keep them, my God. 37:51 --> 37:54 I pray that you would have a real moment with them, my God, 37:54 --> 37:56 where they cry out to you, Father God, directly, 37:56 --> 37:59 and they say, Jesus, show me your glory, 37:59 --> 38:02 and you would reveal it to them, my God, 38:02 --> 38:04 and you would press deep, my God, 38:04 --> 38:06 and you would let them feel the love and the compassion 38:06 --> 38:09 that you have showed so many of us, my God, 38:09 --> 38:11 so that they would know who you are 38:11 --> 38:13 and that no matter what happens in their life, 38:13 --> 38:16 no matter what you allow to take place in their life, 38:16 --> 38:19 no matter how dark, no matter the valley, 38:19 --> 38:22 no matter, Father God, the evil, 38:22 --> 38:23 that you are still there, and you are still their God, 38:23 --> 38:27 and that you love them unconditionally, Lord, 38:27 --> 38:30 I pray in Jesus' name that that type of faith 38:30 --> 38:33 be found in the house this morning, Lord. 38:33 --> 38:35 In Jesus' mighty name, I pray, Lord. 38:35 --> 38:40 Men of God, I wanna invite you, I wanna invite you, 38:40 --> 38:44 come, come, everybody come, everybody come this morning. 38:44 --> 38:48 If you're a parent, I want you to come this morning, 38:48 --> 38:51 and I want you to encounter Jesus. 38:51 --> 38:54 I want you to stop thinking of faith as a formula 38:54 --> 38:56 and start thinking of it as a person. 38:56 --> 38:59 We serve the God who can. 38:59 --> 39:01 We serve the God who can. 39:01 --> 39:03 We serve an infinitely powerful God. 39:03 --> 39:06 And some of you need to start praying prayers 39:06 --> 39:10 that you stop praying. 39:10 --> 39:11 Some of you need to pick up those prayers. 39:11 --> 39:15 Some of you need to ask boldly of the Lord who can, 39:15 --> 39:19 who can do all things. 39:19 --> 39:21 - Thanks for listening. 39:21 --> 39:24 If you'd like some more information on PNEUMA Church, 39:24 --> 39:27 visit us on our website at mypneumachurch.org. 39:27 --> 39:31 If you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe 39:31 --> 39:34 or share it with your friends on social media 39:34 --> 39:36 and tag us @mypneumachurch. 39:36 --> 39:39 Thanks again, and God bless. 39:39 --> 39:41 (gentle music) 39:41 --> 39:43 [MUSIC PLAYING] 39:59 --> 40:02