Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: All right, stay standing, Stay standing. I want to share
Speaker 1: with you today a story in Mark chapter nine, Mark
Speaker 1: chapter nine, verse fourteen through twenty nine. And let's don't
Speaker 1: let the dramatic nature of this Bible story make us
Speaker 1: think that it doesn't apply to us. Because the story
Speaker 1: I'm going to read you it's very extreme, and there
Speaker 1: are people here who have extreme situations that you're dealing
Speaker 1: with and joining us who have extreme situations. But even
Speaker 1: if the situation that you're dealing with in your life
Speaker 1: today and the need that you have isn't this dramatic
Speaker 1: or doesn't fit this particular description of this picture, I
Speaker 1: believe the dynamics of what God wants to teach us
Speaker 1: what apply to every person in the room of every age.
Speaker 1: So just with that in your mind, listen as I
Speaker 1: read this account. The scripture says Mark chapter nine, verse
Speaker 1: fourteen when they came to the other disciples, they saw
Speaker 1: a large crowd around them and the teachers of the
Speaker 1: law arguing with them. As soon as all the people
Speaker 1: saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to
Speaker 1: greet him. What are you arguing with them about? He asked.
Speaker 1: A man in the crowd answered, teacher, I brought you
Speaker 1: my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has
Speaker 1: robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him. Whenever it
Speaker 1: seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams
Speaker 1: at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I
Speaker 1: asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they
Speaker 1: could not. And listen to Jesus, How frustrated he solves
Speaker 1: you unbelieving generation, Jesus replied, how long shall I stay
Speaker 1: with you? How long shall I put up with you?
Speaker 1: Bring the boy to me. Bring him to me. Now,
Speaker 1: hear the Lord saying that today to somebody. Bring him
Speaker 1: to me. Now, let's keep reading. So they brought him,
Speaker 1: and when the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the
Speaker 1: boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and
Speaker 1: rolled around, foaming at the mouth, and Jesus asked the
Speaker 1: boy's father, how long has he been like this? From childhood?
Speaker 1: He answered? It has often thrown him into fire or
Speaker 1: water to kill him. But if you can do anything,
Speaker 1: take pity on us and help us if you can,
Speaker 1: said Jesus, I like that part. You like that too.
Speaker 1: Everything is possible for one who believes. Oh. Immediately, the
Speaker 1: boy's father exclaimed, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief.
Speaker 1: When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene,
Speaker 1: he rebuked the impure spirit, you deaf and mute spirit.
Speaker 1: He said, I command you come out of him and
Speaker 1: never enter him again. And the spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently,
Speaker 1: and came out. The boy looked so much like a
Speaker 1: corpse that many said, he's dead. But Jesus MANI said,
Speaker 1: he's dead, but Jesus. Many said, that's it. But Jesus.
Speaker 1: Many said it's over. But Jesus, WHOA, that's not my message.
Speaker 1: But I want to shut in the middle of the
Speaker 1: cities by God, Hey, but God who But Jesus took
Speaker 1: him by the hand and lifted him to his feet,
Speaker 1: and he stood up. Now, this is the part I
Speaker 1: want to preach about. After Jesus had gone indoors. His
Speaker 1: disciples asked him privately, kind of embarrassed about the way
Speaker 1: things went down, just experienced a terrible failure and got
Speaker 1: called out in front of the Son of God. They
Speaker 1: asked him, why couldn't we drive it out? And here's
Speaker 1: why Verse twenty nine. This kind can come out only
Speaker 1: by prayer? Why couldn't we dry it out? This kind
Speaker 1: can only come out by prayer? And I want to
Speaker 1: give you this message today. You are not it. You
Speaker 1: remember aenie meenie, miney moe, My mama told me two
Speaker 1: fifty and you put your finger six feet from your
Speaker 1: neighbor's face. Let's obey the law. But look at him
Speaker 1: right now and say you are put it in the chat.
Speaker 1: Not it be seated. Let's talk about it. You are
Speaker 1: not it. Oh. It's my oldest son's sixteenth birthday today,
Speaker 1: Happy birthday alive. He's not in church today, he's on
Speaker 1: a little trip with his mom. They're coming back today.
Speaker 1: And I love you so much. I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 1: It hurts how much you love your kids, doesn't it.
Speaker 1: It hurts how much you love your kids. Sometimes I
Speaker 1: just walk by them. I can't even speak. I just
Speaker 1: sometimes I just walk by them and just think, Man,
Speaker 1: it hurts. I hate you for making me love you
Speaker 1: so much. I love you. Man. He's watching. They're flying back.
Speaker 1: I think they're headed to the airport as we speak.
Speaker 1: And if the signal's good, he'll be getting this message.
Speaker 1: If not, I I'd be watching this message and taking
Speaker 1: notes later in the week. Little birthday trip. They're headed
Speaker 1: back today. We're excited to have Holly back today. Our family,
Speaker 1: our Graham and Abbey, are really excited. We have door
Speaker 1: dashed every restaurant in the Carolina's three days a mirror.
Speaker 1: So sixteen, I got a sixteen year old, y'all, that
Speaker 1: is the devil. I rebuke that accusation on my age
Speaker 1: sixteen year old. But Elijah is I don't know if
Speaker 1: he's a litigator at heart. He always finds a loophole,
Speaker 1: kind of reflecting on his personality because when you're a dad,
Speaker 1: you look for all these techniques and you'll steal, begborrow
Speaker 1: anything as a dad, you know, like the guy in
Speaker 1: this passage, he's doing anything he can to get a
Speaker 1: son healed. And when you become a parent, since God
Speaker 1: forgot to put the manual and the instruction sheet inside,
Speaker 1: all the little seventy five million pieces of parenting a
Speaker 1: human life. And since they make you take a test
Speaker 1: to drive a car, but not to be responsible for
Speaker 1: a human life, you'll try anything. My friend Judah Smith
Speaker 1: told me that his dad used to tell him when
Speaker 1: he was a little boy, of all the five year
Speaker 1: olds in the world or whatever age he was seven
Speaker 1: and nine. He said he did this all the time
Speaker 1: growing up. He said that his dad would say, if
Speaker 1: they lined up all the five year olds, seven year olds,
Speaker 1: nine year olds in the world, and then he would
Speaker 1: name all the continents and countries, all the seven year
Speaker 1: olds from India and Australia, Africa, all the foreign countries, Alabama,
Speaker 1: Chief Shock, and they let me choose of all the
Speaker 1: five year olds, I choose you. So I tried that
Speaker 1: on my kids, and of course Elijah is our lab rat.
Speaker 1: And I do have a theory about firstborn children. While
Speaker 1: you're putting away their college funds, save them a therapy fund,
Speaker 1: because you're learning all the stuff that doesn't work on them.
Speaker 1: And Elijah, when I was putting him to bed one night,
Speaker 1: I said, of all the kids in the world, if
Speaker 1: they lined up every kid from and I went through
Speaker 1: the role call of all the countries and states that
Speaker 1: I could think of. If I could choose anyone, if
Speaker 1: God let me choose any little boy, a little five
Speaker 1: year old boy, I would choose you. And he'd say thing,
Speaker 1: and then I'll do it again the next night and
Speaker 1: the next night. But the third night I did it.
Speaker 1: Elijah says, I say, if they lined up all the
Speaker 1: kids in the world that were five years old and
Speaker 1: let me choose one, I would choose you. And he goes, technically,
Speaker 1: you can't say that because you haven't seen all the
Speaker 1: five year olds in the world, And y'all think that's bad.
Speaker 1: Graham is much worse. Graham's he's a couple of years
Speaker 1: younger than Elijah, and he's much more ruthless. And one
Speaker 1: night with Graham I tried to turn it on him.
Speaker 1: I said, now, if they lined up all the daddy's
Speaker 1: in the world, would you pick me? And he goes,
Speaker 1: just cold blooded, He goes, how could I know? I
Speaker 1: haven't seen all the different dads talking about the demon
Speaker 1: possessed children today in the scriptures. No, no, no, I know.
Speaker 1: Part of me was like, I feel you man, because
Speaker 1: I really mean the part about I wouldn't pick a
Speaker 1: different kid. I make a lot of jokes in the fullpit,
Speaker 1: but you know, being a dad is to me, it's
Speaker 1: the greatest privilege other than being Holly's husband, even more
Speaker 1: than being your pastor. Yes, yes, yes, yes, I would
Speaker 1: let you'll all go to hell before I would let
Speaker 1: one of my kids grow up without an active dad.
Speaker 1: That's just a fact. And I'm not even saying it's right,
Speaker 1: but that's how I feel about it. One guy said
Speaker 1: to me one of the kids baseball games, I was
Speaker 1: getting kind of fired up. Nothing really bad at the umpire,
Speaker 1: but I was kind of, you know, making myself known
Speaker 1: because he made a bad call on my kid. And
Speaker 1: one of the other parents said, I thought you were
Speaker 1: supposed to be a pastor, and I said, but right now,
Speaker 1: I'm a dad. And I went back to yelling at
Speaker 1: the umpire. Right now, you could take my ordination certificate.
Speaker 1: I don't care, man, I'm a dad right now, but
Speaker 1: I do think and when it comes to your kids,
Speaker 1: like how crazy it can be that I thought the
Speaker 1: same thing. Graham was just kidding, obviously when he said
Speaker 1: that he knows I'm the greatest dad of all time.
Speaker 1: But he said what I fear sometimes I think they
Speaker 1: could do better with a different dad. And not to
Speaker 1: go so deep, so quick on y'all, but you know,
Speaker 1: I think every parent has thought it before. I don't
Speaker 1: want to pass this on to you. I don't want to.
Speaker 1: I don't want you to be later in life showing
Speaker 1: up for something, not having the tuition to pay for
Speaker 1: a lesson that I should have taught you when you
Speaker 1: were twelve, but I didn't know I was supposed to
Speaker 1: teach you. And it's nerve wracking. And that's why I
Speaker 1: want to cry when I walk by him sometimes, because
Speaker 1: I'm like, you are so much better of a kid
Speaker 1: than I am of a parent, and I just don't
Speaker 1: want to mess this up for you. And it's a
Speaker 1: real feeling. And I know this isn't Father's Day or
Speaker 1: Mother's Day, but it's my kid's sixteenth birthday. And this
Speaker 1: dad and this passage got me thinking of all the
Speaker 1: different ways that Graham was right. You know, maybe you
Speaker 1: should have a better dad. We watched a Space Gym
Speaker 1: two the other night, and I thought to myself, how
Speaker 1: much better would Graham's life be if Lebron were his dad, like,
Speaker 1: what's inside of him that will never come out? Because
Speaker 1: I'm five to nine, right, So I'm punishing myself for
Speaker 1: genetics that have nothing to do with my decision. I
Speaker 1: don't wonder if Jesus ever looked at the disciples and
Speaker 1: thought I could do a whole lot more with different disciples,
Speaker 1: because you see it in the passage. Jesus wasn't always
Speaker 1: feeding little children Captain D's happy meals, regardless of the
Speaker 1: selected Bible stories that you've had cherry pick for you
Speaker 1: to personify Jesus to always be so patient that he
Speaker 1: never corrected anyone in the passage I just read you,
Speaker 1: and I'm talking seven minutes ago. When I started the sermon, Jesus,
Speaker 1: your Savior, your loving arm Savior, your sheep stroking Savior,
Speaker 1: your good shepherd Savior, your let the children come to
Speaker 1: me Savior, said something that every parent in this room
Speaker 1: has said before. How long shall I put up with you?
Speaker 1: Made me wonder do you ever feel that way about me?
Speaker 1: Heavenly Daddy, Like if you could pick all the preachers
Speaker 1: in the world to be in this pulpit today and
Speaker 1: line them all, the forty one year old preachers, all
Speaker 1: the forty one year old five nine preachers. Would you
Speaker 1: have put me in this pulpit? Sometimes I can't figure
Speaker 1: out did he pick me? Or is he putting up
Speaker 1: with me? Because you know, like I think that I
Speaker 1: am what I do. I am what I do. The
Speaker 1: disciples here stand on the other can work? Can we
Speaker 1: work backwards through the passage, because there's a lot to
Speaker 1: talk about, the only thing you really need to know
Speaker 1: about what happened right before this miracle for the lesson
Speaker 1: today is that Jesus has just taken his favorite three disciples, Peter, James,
Speaker 1: and John up on the mountain to see him transformed
Speaker 1: when they get back down the mountain. And this might
Speaker 1: remind you of Moses coming down Mount Sinai with ten
Speaker 1: commandments and the children of Israel or dance and naked
Speaker 1: around a caf like you can't leave these disciples alone
Speaker 1: for seven days. And they're fighting with the teachers of
Speaker 1: the Law, arguing about something that they were very capable
Speaker 1: of doing but didn't exactly accomplish. And Jesus is explaining
Speaker 1: to them the root of their failure, and he says,
Speaker 1: the reason you couldn't drive it out this evil spirit
Speaker 1: who possessed this boy who has been thrown into fire
Speaker 1: and water, and whose life is on the line. The
Speaker 1: reason you couldn't do it is because this kind of
Speaker 1: situation can only be fixed by prayer. Let me point
Speaker 1: out the obvious. I know you're thinking it. If it
Speaker 1: can only be driven out by prayer, why didn't Jesus
Speaker 1: pray before he cast the spirit out? I'm sure he did,
Speaker 1: Bester Furick, I'm sure he did. Let me see, no, Jesus, look,
Speaker 1: the boy said. The father said, I do believe. Help
Speaker 1: my belief. And Jesus saw a crowd was running, and
Speaker 1: he rebuked the impure spirit, you deafen, mute spirit. He said,
Speaker 1: I command you come out of him and never enter
Speaker 1: him again. And the spirit didn't like it, but he
Speaker 1: had to go. It didn't want to go, but it
Speaker 1: had to go. Put up a fight, but it had
Speaker 1: to go. And the disciples said, why couldn't we do that?
Speaker 1: Because they've done a lot of amazing things, They've healed
Speaker 1: a lot of people. Why couldn't we do it? And
Speaker 1: she said you had to pray, But he didn't pray.
Speaker 1: He just did it, didn't pray. Maybe Jesus isn't so
Speaker 1: much talking about the activity of prayer as the attitude
Speaker 1: of prayer. Maybe he's not talking about the technique. If
Speaker 1: you would have said the right words, you know, if
Speaker 1: you would have done the right whatever you grow up in,
Speaker 1: if you would have done that, if you would have
Speaker 1: done this, you could have had the result. No, it
Speaker 1: seems like the disciples in this particular passage of scripture
Speaker 1: have confused the power with the source. Because when Jesus
Speaker 1: gets down the mountain, they're arguing with the teachers of
Speaker 1: the law. So here's what's happened. They have confused their
Speaker 1: ability to do it with their dependence on the one
Speaker 1: who can enable them. You are not it. Maybe a
Speaker 1: little pride started entering into the disciples. You know, Oh,
Speaker 1: look how God used us last time. If you're not
Speaker 1: careful in your life, you will start to believe that
Speaker 1: you are what you do. One scripture that got my
Speaker 1: attention one time was about Jacob and the Old Testament
Speaker 1: and just came to my mind when I was studying today,
Speaker 1: and I thought I should share it with you. Because
Speaker 1: when he was in the wound with his twin brother Esau,
Speaker 1: he was fighting for position with Esau, and he tried
Speaker 1: to come out first so that he could get all
Speaker 1: the blessings that the firstborn gets. But it didn't exactly
Speaker 1: work because instead of coming out first, he came out
Speaker 1: being named after his aspiration, Jacob Deceiver, supplanter, heel grabber.
Speaker 1: Now Jacob grows up and he does this little trick
Speaker 1: thing where he tricks his brother out of his birthright
Speaker 1: and his blessing, and he learns how to play a
Speaker 1: certain game, and he even wears this really willy suit
Speaker 1: to pretend to be his brother so that his blindfather
Speaker 1: Isaac will think that he's blessing the older one, but
Speaker 1: he's really blessing the younger one. Because you can learn
Speaker 1: how to trick people with stuff you can, you can
Speaker 1: actually act like it and not be it. That's the
Speaker 1: message here to the point that when Jacob had to
Speaker 1: run away from his brother Esau and go stay with
Speaker 1: his uncle Laban, and he was coming back to make
Speaker 1: peace with Esau after twenty years away from his homeland,
Speaker 1: the Bible says something really interesting in Genesis thirty two,
Speaker 1: verse twenty. He said to his messengers, be sure to
Speaker 1: say your servant Jacob is coming behind us, For he
Speaker 1: thought I will pacify my brother, the one I trick.
Speaker 1: I will pacify the issue. I will pacify the thing
Speaker 1: I need to deal with. I will pacify the thing
Speaker 1: I've been running from. I'm going to preach today. I'm
Speaker 1: going to preach today a man. I will pacify my problem.
Speaker 1: With these gifts. He sent out all these animals that
Speaker 1: he had accumulated. He sent out all these clothes that
Speaker 1: he wanted to offer to Esau, and he sent put
Speaker 1: it back off. He sent his gifts ahead. Say it,
Speaker 1: He sent his gifts ahead. One more time. He sent
Speaker 1: his gift ahead. And when I see him, perhaps he'll
Speaker 1: receive me. And I look at Verse twenty one. So
Speaker 1: Jacob's gifts went on ahead of him. The things went
Speaker 1: ahead of him. The things that represented his status went
Speaker 1: ahead of him. The things that were impressive when ahead
Speaker 1: of him. Because maybe Esau will see all these blessings
Speaker 1: that I've acquired, and maybe if I send my gift
Speaker 1: he will accept me. So I'm sending it so that
Speaker 1: he will receive me. But here's the separation. Watch this,
Speaker 1: you are not your gift. His gifts went ahead, but
Speaker 1: he one more time. I'm going to leave this alone
Speaker 1: in a minute. But he himself spent the night in
Speaker 1: the camp when I saw that, it gave me such
Speaker 1: a clear picture of what we do when we confuse
Speaker 1: ourselves with our stuff, ourselves with our gift, ourselves with
Speaker 1: our ability. Did the disciples come to a point where
Speaker 1: they begin to believe that they could do ministry without Jesus?
Speaker 1: And how many times have I found myself in a
Speaker 1: state of failure because I tried to do what God
Speaker 1: called me to do without him. You begin to believe
Speaker 1: you can just do stuff I work last time and
Speaker 1: do it again. You know what that's called manipulation? Huh.
Speaker 1: You have me to say more about that, I'm honestly
Speaker 1: a lot more about that. You are not your gift.
Speaker 1: When Jacob was left alone from all of his stuff,
Speaker 1: he had to wrestle with who he was. And that's
Speaker 1: the season of life some of us are in right now.
Speaker 1: Is that we realize at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I can drive it, but eventually I have to park it.
Speaker 1: I can wear it, but eventually nobody else's name can
Speaker 1: make me feel sure of who I am. If I
Speaker 1: wear a brand name on the outside, but I don't
Speaker 1: know it on the inside. If my identity is given
Speaker 1: through a gift that I have, or even a label
Speaker 1: that people confer on me, I will always be a
Speaker 1: slave to their label. It says. The other disciples were
Speaker 1: standing there arguing with the teachers of the law, arguing
Speaker 1: and fighting, while a young boy is dying, and Jesus said,
Speaker 1: how long do I have to put up with y'all?
Speaker 1: I picked y'all, but I'm sick of y'all. Heavenly Father,
Speaker 1: deliver me from stupid. You haven't pray anything like this,
Speaker 1: and yet God, God is not like Graham. God isn't
Speaker 1: still shopping his options on you. I read something in
Speaker 1: Ephesians too that helped me one time. That says, for
Speaker 1: it is by grace you have been saved. Woo. How
Speaker 1: many are really glad about that? Right there? Let me
Speaker 1: show you how it could have been without Jesus, without
Speaker 1: the blood of Christ, without the mercy of God. If
Speaker 1: God were not slow to anger and bounding in love,
Speaker 1: it could say by behavior you are saved, and you'd
Speaker 1: be burning up your butt wouldn't be able to be
Speaker 1: in that seat right now. You'd be burning with the
Speaker 1: fire of judgment right now, little sneaky self, I know
Speaker 1: what you've been up to. If it was by behavior
Speaker 1: you have been saved. But he said, by grace, you've
Speaker 1: been saved. Watch us through faith. And this is not
Speaker 1: from yourself. It is the gift of God, not of work,
Speaker 1: so that no one can boast. But Verse ten really
Speaker 1: sealed the deal for me because that made me happy
Speaker 1: to think about is God's gift not mine that identifies me?
Speaker 1: I think I need to teach this more in the church.
Speaker 1: I don't think we understand what it means to have
Speaker 1: imputed righteousness, our standing in Christ. I think we still
Speaker 1: secretly think that some days God doesn't even want to
Speaker 1: talk to you. I think we still secretly think that
Speaker 1: we can hit a certain point where we actually deserve
Speaker 1: and are worthy of the grace of God. So we
Speaker 1: haven't truly accepted Ephesians to it. Yet we still can't
Speaker 1: receive his gift because we're still identifying ourselves by ours.
Speaker 1: He said it's not a work, so that no one
Speaker 1: can boast. The disciples are down there arguing because they
Speaker 1: thought they were the work they were doing. Now Verse
Speaker 1: ten is awesome. You thought eight and nine were good.
Speaker 1: Look at verse ten. This is a prime cut. Baby,
Speaker 1: you ready for we are God's handiwork created in Christ
Speaker 1: Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance
Speaker 1: for us to do. That blessed me to know that
Speaker 1: God created the work for me to do before he
Speaker 1: created me me to do it with diverse again, it said,
Speaker 1: God prepared the work in advance. We define ourselves by
Speaker 1: the work that we do. That's why for some of you,
Speaker 1: the last year and a half has been the hardest,
Speaker 1: because either you've been unemployed for the first time in
Speaker 1: your life or your position has been shifted. I told
Speaker 1: our campus pastors a few months ago how hard it
Speaker 1: was to be a pastor when there were no people
Speaker 1: in the building, when there were no people to pastor,
Speaker 1: and you can't lay hands on people, and you can't
Speaker 1: pray for people touching or they'll come lock you up.
Speaker 1: The CDC will shut you down. And that's fine, and
Speaker 1: that's good to be healthy. But I talked to them
Speaker 1: about how difficult it is when you've identified yourself one
Speaker 1: way in one season to have that strip. But the
Speaker 1: Bible says that Jacob got the greatest blessing of his
Speaker 1: life when he was stripped of his gifts and left
Speaker 1: with himself. So if it gets me to the core
Speaker 1: of my self off to realize that before God gave
Speaker 1: me the work to do, he created a work with
Speaker 1: my name on it. God isn't like Graham. He isn't shopping.
Speaker 1: Would they be a better parent, would they be a
Speaker 1: better fit for this opportunity? Huh? I wonder if I
Speaker 1: could get somebody a little bit smarter, a little bit taller.
Speaker 1: I wish I was a baller. I wish I had
Speaker 1: a good No, that's another era and Todd. God's not
Speaker 1: doing all that. God doesn't pick people like people pick people.
Speaker 1: God formed the role, and then he filled you with
Speaker 1: his spirit to do the thing he formed you to do.
Speaker 1: This is where theology becomes therapy. See it. This is
Speaker 1: where I understand that I'm not it. I'm not it.
Speaker 1: For years I preached this passage, and I would share
Speaker 1: it's a difficult passage to preach, right because okay, okay,
Speaker 1: the first group of Christians, they want to make it
Speaker 1: all about foaming at the mouth and all about the
Speaker 1: symptoms of the boy and demon possession. And I've seen
Speaker 1: all of that. I've been preaching since I was sixteen,
Speaker 1: so I've seen every manifestation of evil. I think I've
Speaker 1: seen every category, if not every specific one, I've at
Speaker 1: least been in the neighborhood. Some of it I saw
Speaker 1: even in my own dad, when he was dying. We'd
Speaker 1: be like, that's not him, that's not him. It was
Speaker 1: partially he died of als. It was partially the sickness,
Speaker 1: It was partially the I think the medication, the loss
Speaker 1: of control. Part of it is the crazy that you
Speaker 1: can keep down for most of your life and then
Speaker 1: it just builds all this strength and comes back up
Speaker 1: when it sees the door. And my dad had a
Speaker 1: lot of crazy. Oh man, he start telling me stories
Speaker 1: in the last year of his life, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: how were you so normal compared to what you should
Speaker 1: have been? And I thought he was crazy till I
Speaker 1: understood the context of his crazy and realized he was
Speaker 1: the most normal person on earth for the context of
Speaker 1: crazy that he could have been. Look at somebody and say,
Speaker 1: be nice to me. You don't know how bad I
Speaker 1: could be. Be nice to me. You don't know if
Speaker 1: you only knew what I wanted to do that I
Speaker 1: don'd you you wouldn't judge me so much? After all,
Speaker 1: there is a judge. But didn't you hear the preacher.
Speaker 1: You are not it. You're not my judge, You're not
Speaker 1: my jury. You loll get to tell me how far
Speaker 1: I've come on my journey, how crazy God from where
Speaker 1: I am? God made me. I'm his handywork. He's my manufacturer.
Speaker 1: You are not the customer service hotline. I'm not calling
Speaker 1: you about my detects. I'm bringing it to Jesus. There
Speaker 1: is a power that can heal, there is a power
Speaker 1: that can deliver, There is a power that can save.
Speaker 1: And you are not it. Don't tell what the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit starts speaking to me. When I will say I
Speaker 1: don't want to preach today, he said, you don't have
Speaker 1: to those other preachers. You're not it. You know to
Speaker 1: to to two letter word in the passage. Y'all were
Speaker 1: laughing when I read it, because it's so funny. If
Speaker 1: you can do anything, If you can do anything, how
Speaker 1: long has he been like this? From childhood? He didn't
Speaker 1: always say, if there's a good chance his father, if
Speaker 1: he's the kind of man who has the instinct to
Speaker 1: put up with the dumb disciples long enough to wait
Speaker 1: on Jesus to get down the mountain, put up with
Speaker 1: the arrogant Pharisees and Sadducees who are arguing with the disciples.
Speaker 1: I gotta put this in because I'm gonna forget it
Speaker 1: once I take this next turn. There's no coming back
Speaker 1: to this. But I gotta tell you. I gotta tell
Speaker 1: you this. Sometimes you are fighting against them and the
Speaker 1: real enemy is it That first verse said that they
Speaker 1: were arguing with the teachers of the law while the
Speaker 1: spirit was wreaking havoc on this boy. Sometimes we are
Speaker 1: fighting somebody when we really ought to be fighting a spirit.
Speaker 1: Everybody that's been married under two years two years are
Speaker 1: under been married? Stand up. Sometimes she's gonna be the
Speaker 1: one that you're frustrated at. But y'all got to square
Speaker 1: up together, man, y'all got to square up together, because
Speaker 1: it's this is what the Lord showed me one time
Speaker 1: with Holly. It's not me versus you right now, it's
Speaker 1: us versus it. You'll hear me. I know y'all don't
Speaker 1: ever fight, but if you ever did, well, am, I yeah,
Speaker 1: you could sit down. I know it's embarrassing standing up
Speaker 1: in church. The people with the other campuses aren't even
Speaker 1: doing it. They're like he's on a screen. I'm not
Speaker 1: doing money. Sayst hate this guy, but watch y'all we
Speaker 1: fight against them and not it. I was talking to
Speaker 1: somebody I loved the other day and this came out
Speaker 1: of my mouth. Oh, I wish I could take it back.
Speaker 1: I wish I could have took it back. And I
Speaker 1: said it, but I didn't really mean it. I said it,
Speaker 1: but I was just frustrated in the moment. I said,
Speaker 1: you're so negative, and I could see the color dre
Speaker 1: now of their face. And the more we talked about it,
Speaker 1: this is what the person said to me. Next time,
Speaker 1: can you make it about what I did, not who
Speaker 1: I am, because I can't fix it if it's who
Speaker 1: I am. But if it's about what I did, we
Speaker 1: can discuss it. So next time, will you say, man,
Speaker 1: I feel like being kind of negative right now now?
Speaker 1: It still would have pissed the person off. And I'm
Speaker 1: sorry I said that word in my surmember back in
Speaker 1: the rhythm here, but that would have made it about
Speaker 1: the problem, not the person, and the devil wants us
Speaker 1: arguing against them, so we never deal with it. I
Speaker 1: have an enemy, but you're not it. You're not it
Speaker 1: any meaning. I just heard that phrase, you are not it,
Speaker 1: and the Father said, if you can do anything, if
Speaker 1: you can't do anything, help us, help me. In fact,
Speaker 1: he says something pretty powerful when Jesus said if if
Speaker 1: I thought, I used to think he was insulted. But
Speaker 1: did you know that this man's gift was an invitation?
Speaker 1: The boy still got healed. The Lord didn't say, go
Speaker 1: straighten out your theology, and when you get this if out.
Speaker 1: I grew up in a time of ministry where people
Speaker 1: taught that you had to show God your faith, and
Speaker 1: if you showed him anything other than your faith, you know,
Speaker 1: when you pray, you have to say, Lord, I enter
Speaker 1: your gates with thanksgiving, and I enter your courts with praise.
Speaker 1: But sometimes that left me standing outside the gate for
Speaker 1: like six days out of seven during the week because
Speaker 1: I didn't feel thankful and I didn't feel it's crazy
Speaker 1: in this situation. I know what the Bible says, that
Speaker 1: you should not doubt in your heart. And if your
Speaker 1: double minded man unstable and all he does you like
Speaker 1: tost in, dream with the wind and love not that
Speaker 1: man think you receive anything from the Lord for his
Speaker 1: double mind. I know the Bible, y'all, But Jesus didn't
Speaker 1: penalize the man for his if I do believe, help
Speaker 1: me overcome my unbelief. Now, this man's son is sick,
Speaker 1: but there's something very healthy that's happening in this passage.
Speaker 1: This is where the theology meets the therapy. You ready,
Speaker 1: He separates his faith from his feelings. We are going
Speaker 1: to have a million different feelings every day of our life.
Speaker 1: We are going to go from feeling like even in
Speaker 1: this service today. I don't know how many, but somebody,
Speaker 1: probably at Gaston, probably Gaston, thought this is the best
Speaker 1: thing I've ever heard in my life. This is exactly
Speaker 1: what's for lunch. Wasn't even a breath, wasn't even a coma,
Speaker 1: Just in the same sentence, God help my unbel We're
Speaker 1: gonna go over to So what I noticed about the
Speaker 1: man is he owned his unbelief, but he did not
Speaker 1: identify himself with it. So I didn't see this when
Speaker 1: I was when I was twenty eight preaching this text.
Speaker 1: All I saw was the boy foaming and gnawing, and
Speaker 1: I thought this was all about demons and evil. I
Speaker 1: missed the point because I was so hung up on
Speaker 1: the word if, and I was trying to eliminate the if,
Speaker 1: and I was trying to eliminate the insecurity, and I
Speaker 1: was trying to eliminate the doubt. And I was like,
Speaker 1: if I could just get this out of my life,
Speaker 1: I could just be a better person. You know, I
Speaker 1: was still trying to qualify myself rather than understanding that
Speaker 1: I was created for what God will qualify me for.
Speaker 1: And if I'm available, my ability will never be the issue.
Speaker 1: It's not about. If put verse twenty two on the screen, Oh,
Speaker 1: this is so good, he said, it has often thrown
Speaker 1: him into fire or water to kill him. But if
Speaker 1: you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.
Speaker 1: If the Lord told me to look at the other
Speaker 1: two letter word in verse twenty two, he said it
Speaker 1: it has often thrown him. Look how this father sees
Speaker 1: his son. He knows that it is not him. That's
Speaker 1: why it drives you crazy when your disciples are kids
Speaker 1: are doing something that you know is so driven by
Speaker 1: their amygdala. But you know, if I can keep you
Speaker 1: because because I know you, I've seen you, and this
Speaker 1: is not you. This isn't it. Your kids may not
Speaker 1: be foaming at the mouth, that's fine. Don't get distracted
Speaker 1: by the dynamics don't think this is about a demon possession.
Speaker 1: This is about everybody's it. I could elaborate on that,
Speaker 1: but let me just say this. Everybody has an it.
Speaker 1: It has thrown him into the fire, it has thrown
Speaker 1: him into the water. No, Pastor, I don't have anything
Speaker 1: like that. Now. I never just went and just jumped
Speaker 1: in swimming pool. Now I do have good I don't
Speaker 1: go in there with the alligators in there. I don't
Speaker 1: gonna touch fire. Man. I know what's on them better
Speaker 1: than that. But you're drowning in debt. It you're you're
Speaker 1: you complain. I appreaciate myself right now. Not you don't
Speaker 1: take it hard. See everybody else is. It is something
Speaker 1: you can see, but you're it. Help me, Holy ghosts,
Speaker 1: help me, help me. Lord. You're it is hidden because
Speaker 1: you think it's you. But you are God's workmanship. You
Speaker 1: are a new creation. You are not a body. You
Speaker 1: are a spirit in a body. You understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So it is not you, and you are not it.
Speaker 1: You are not it. No, the devil made me do it.
Speaker 1: How many times have we used that excuse? Ah? The
Speaker 1: devil took my joy. The devil gave me a flat tire. No,
Speaker 1: that was a nail, and you knew the tire pressure
Speaker 1: was low, and it was a construction site anyway, and
Speaker 1: you weren't paying attention. The devil made me late. You
Speaker 1: slew seven times. I'm not talking about blaming the devil
Speaker 1: for decisions that we should make ourselves. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: that even at the root of what you did, we
Speaker 1: get so distracted by the behavior foam at the teeth,
Speaker 1: become rigid. But what has it robbed you off? God,
Speaker 1: it's heavy, man, because it takes from you. It takes
Speaker 1: from you. I'm talking to every person who who has
Speaker 1: been in a battle with depression. You are not it.
Speaker 1: It might it might be throwing you around right now,
Speaker 1: because you know, you get happy for a minute and
Speaker 1: then you're like, God, I can't even hold happy for
Speaker 1: five minutes. I guess I'm just depressed. I guess I'm
Speaker 1: just just said that this it for this boy. This
Speaker 1: spirit tried to drown him, try to throw him in
Speaker 1: the fire. He could have had no way of knowing
Speaker 1: that his healing was the last thing that Jesus would
Speaker 1: do before he headed to Jerusalem to give his life
Speaker 1: for our sin. When you identify yourself with it, whether
Speaker 1: it's your gift and your good stuff, you end up
Speaker 1: like I read about one Olympic athlete, guy Michael something
Speaker 1: felts twenty eight gold medals, y'all, and I googled him
Speaker 1: the other day to try to find out how many
Speaker 1: gold medals, and they pulled up an article about Michael Phelps,
Speaker 1: the most decorated Olympic athlete. A y'all, watching the Olympics,
Speaker 1: I can't watch water. That gives me heart palpitations watching
Speaker 1: people treadwater for that long. But the headline said from
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, I didn't want to be a part of
Speaker 1: the sport. I didn't want to live. That's how he
Speaker 1: would feel after he did it. He said, I could compartmentalize.
Speaker 1: I could do it, but deep down I never dealt
Speaker 1: with me. Got a gift. I got more gold metals
Speaker 1: than letters in the alphabet. And I didn't want to
Speaker 1: live because I started to think I wasn't it. Jesus
Speaker 1: never called the boy it. He said, bring him to me.
Speaker 1: Are you thankful that when he sees you, he doesn't
Speaker 1: see what you did? People do? Oh, she gained a
Speaker 1: little bit. They're in quarantine, say that's how they identify you.
Speaker 1: But I'm not this. I can lose this, gain this,
Speaker 1: put it on, take it off. I'm not I'm not
Speaker 1: this sad or the other that you can see or
Speaker 1: counterway or measure. No, no, no, I am a spirit,
Speaker 1: and my spirit testifies with God's spirit that I am
Speaker 1: his child. That Dad said, I know my boy, and
Speaker 1: this is not him. And Jesus said, how long has
Speaker 1: he been like this? Now? I asked God, what do
Speaker 1: I tell them after I've told them that they are
Speaker 1: not it, that they are chosen by you and you you,
Speaker 1: but they have to include you, and they can't get
Speaker 1: out there in their own power. And that's why they've
Speaker 1: been tired, and that's why they've been dying. And that's
Speaker 1: why there's no life detached from the vine. Because you
Speaker 1: started to think that you were the vine, but you're
Speaker 1: just the branch. You were not it. And you started
Speaker 1: to think that you were the sin, but you are
Speaker 1: not the sin. We are so sin conscious in church
Speaker 1: that we can name everything that's wrong with us and
Speaker 1: not name anything that God has done for us. If
Speaker 1: your instinct is to identify with it, Jesus said, bring
Speaker 1: him to me, Bring him to me. The father said,
Speaker 1: I believe. Help my unbelief. Jesus said, bring that to
Speaker 1: me too. That's not you, that's it. Your doubt is
Speaker 1: not you, Your doubt is it. You can overcome that.
Speaker 1: With this help, all things are possible To him who believes.
Speaker 1: How long has he been like this? Jesus said, He's
Speaker 1: been like this so long that all I've got left
Speaker 1: is an if. And God said to tell you won't
Speaker 1: always be this way. What has been taken from you
Speaker 1: can be restored to you. What has been snatched from you.
Speaker 1: The man said, he robbed his ability to speak. He
Speaker 1: can't hear, so he can't speak. You know, the enemy
Speaker 1: loves to do that. He loves to get it where
Speaker 1: you can't hear God. You can't hear truth, you can't
Speaker 1: hear beauty, you can't hear peace, you can't hear it anymore.
Speaker 1: So now you can't speak. You can't do it. Every
Speaker 1: time you go to it throws you into fire and water,
Speaker 1: and you push the people away that could help you.
Speaker 1: But the Lord said, it's not always gonna be like this,
Speaker 1: because you are not it, and any it that you
Speaker 1: will bring into the presence of Jesus I'm not talking
Speaker 1: about bringing it to church. You can bring it to church,
Speaker 1: put it in your purse and chew it with chewing gum,
Speaker 1: and you won't get better. But if you will bring
Speaker 1: it to Jesus, the man said, I brought my boy
Speaker 1: to you, and she said, you haven't brought him to
Speaker 1: me yet. You brought him to my boys. Bring it
Speaker 1: to me, but make sure you bring the boy, not
Speaker 1: just the issue. Now. What we've been doing in church
Speaker 1: so long is we keep bringing God issues that we
Speaker 1: want him to fix. Well, they're so quiet. I know
Speaker 1: I'm preaching good. I got your penned. I know sometimes
Speaker 1: I think of myself even like some kind of machine.
Speaker 1: It and men are the most dysfunctional. We want to
Speaker 1: compliment another man. We say he's a beast. He said it,
Speaker 1: and the Lord said, bring me your boy. Whatever you're
Speaker 1: it is, today I see God separating it out for
Speaker 1: you to understand that you are not it. Yes, he
Speaker 1: chose you, he wants you, and before he created you,
Speaker 1: he created what he wanted you to do. So in
Speaker 1: that sense, you're it right. One time I told Holly,
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm the right pastor for this church.
Speaker 1: We were three or four years into the ministry, trying
Speaker 1: to have a date night at Firebirds, and I was
Speaker 1: mad at every staff member. I couldn't fire any of
Speaker 1: them because I didn't have any better options. I would
Speaker 1: have if I could have, but I couldn't, So I
Speaker 1: said I might just fire me if all the players
Speaker 1: sucked fire to coach right, I said, I don't think
Speaker 1: I'm it. I don't think I'm it. She said, this
Speaker 1: is so, this is how, this is how Holly can
Speaker 1: just cut through with a sentence. She said, you're the
Speaker 1: one we got now, Graham, you watching this, boy, I'm
Speaker 1: the one you got. This is not CarMax, this is
Speaker 1: not Amazon dot Com. You cannot shop, this is not
Speaker 1: this is not this is not a selection process. I'm
Speaker 1: the one God gave you. I'm the one God gave you.
Speaker 1: And even this imperfect Dad said, I got a lot
Speaker 1: of unbelief, but deeper down I do believe and see,
Speaker 1: deeper down there is an anointing, and deeper down there
Speaker 1: is a knowledge, and deeper down there is a wisdom.
Speaker 1: But you have let it take over you. Jesus spoke
Speaker 1: to it to free him. And I want to thank
Speaker 1: God today that even when I feel unbelief. And it's
Speaker 1: no secret to me what people are going home to.
Speaker 1: I'm not stupid, y'all. I know everybody isn't leaving here
Speaker 1: to cross, stitch and crochet of as you will love
Speaker 1: my sermon from today. But the Bible says that he
Speaker 1: looked at that boy whose body was as good as dead,
Speaker 1: and took him by the hand and helped him out.
Speaker 1: In my prayer time today, I saw God separating you
Speaker 1: from it, because honestly, the depression has been talking, and
Speaker 1: the anxiety has been talking, and the fear has been
Speaker 1: talking so loud we talk about these spirits that we
Speaker 1: can see, and he shook and convulsed and shrieked. But
Speaker 1: what about the ones that throw you around? What about
Speaker 1: the spirit of fear that's been throwing you around. You
Speaker 1: can't even speak up anymore. Things that you used to
Speaker 1: be able to do easily, things that you see others
Speaker 1: do easily. And it's a spirit, but it's not you.
Speaker 1: And there's a greater spirit. Greater is he that is
Speaker 1: in you than he that is in the world. And
Speaker 1: it is by grace you are saved through faith. You
Speaker 1: are not it. And the devil's been telling you that
Speaker 1: one way, and you've been hearing it. You're not it.
Speaker 1: You're not a good dad, you're not it. You're not
Speaker 1: a fit for this. You're not it. You're not experienced,
Speaker 1: you're not it. Look at you, you're not it. Look
Speaker 1: at them, they're it. You're there, You're not it. So
Speaker 1: here's what we're gonna do all week long. We're gonna
Speaker 1: agree with him to a point. Okay, I'm not it.
Speaker 1: There is a savior, I'm not it. There is a
Speaker 1: power that is greater than all sin and shame, and
Speaker 1: I'm not it. There is a righteousness that comes from
Speaker 1: God by faith, and I'm not it. But let me
Speaker 1: tell you something, devil, you accuser of the brethren. At
Speaker 1: the same time you're pointing your finger in my inadequacy
Speaker 1: and my shortage of my life of knowledge, at the
Speaker 1: same time that you're dragging out my mistakes from three
Speaker 1: years ago or three months ago or three minutes ago
Speaker 1: and throwing them in my face, you need to understand something.
Speaker 1: He became sin, who knew no sin, that I might
Speaker 1: become the righteousness of God. God. I pray for a
Speaker 1: restoration of your understanding of righteousness. I am the righteousness
Speaker 1: of God. I am a child of God. I'm a son.
Speaker 1: I am not it. I'm in him, I'm his workmanship.
Speaker 1: You are not your sin. You are not your fear.
Speaker 1: I command insecurity. Get out in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: Step aside, But Gloria, the Lord is in this place.
Speaker 1: The keg is here. You gotta go. I'm not it. God.
Speaker 1: You have all authority, you have all power, and you
Speaker 1: have all might. We think you by the hand right now,
Speaker 1: just stand up on our feet. You are not it.
Speaker 1: Our sins had to be punished, had to be dealt with.
Speaker 1: God needed a lamb, a perfect lamb, without blemish, without spot,
Speaker 1: with a sacrifice, so that your shame and your sin
Speaker 1: wouldn't stay with you the rest of your life. And
Speaker 1: God needed a sacrifice. And guess what you are not it?
Speaker 1: Not it. You're going to punish yourself for what Jesus
Speaker 1: paid for on your behalf. He became sin, who knew
Speaker 1: no sin, so I could be the righteousness of God.
Speaker 1: Right now, there's an opportunity for you to bring your
Speaker 1: sin and unbelief to Jesus. I want to pray for
Speaker 1: those of you who need to be set free from
Speaker 1: your sin today. It is by grace. You are saved
Speaker 1: through faith. It everybody say it. It is the gift
Speaker 1: of God. It is the gift. And you know what,
Speaker 1: not just the grace is the gift of God. The
Speaker 1: faith is a gift too. God will give you the faith.
Speaker 1: I want to believe Lord, I want to trust you.
Speaker 1: I want to move forward. Help my unbelief. So here's
Speaker 1: what we're gonna do. You bring your imperfect faith, You
Speaker 1: bring your unbelief to Jesus, and watch him take you
Speaker 1: by the hand and give you a brand new life.
Speaker 1: Right now, For all of those who came into this
Speaker 1: service today or who logged on and you say I'm
Speaker 1: far away from God, man, I feel like I've been
Speaker 1: robbed by that same enemy. Different manifestation, but the same enemy.
Speaker 1: I've been robbed. Well, the thief comes to kill, still
Speaker 1: and destroy, but he came that you might have life
Speaker 1: and that you might have him more abundantly. So right
Speaker 1: now I'm going to lead you in a prayer. And
Speaker 1: this is how we bring it to Jesus. He's not
Speaker 1: in a physical form before us today, but he's seated
Speaker 1: in heavenly places. And the Bible says that if you
Speaker 1: will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and
Speaker 1: believe in your heart God raised him from the dead.
Speaker 1: You will be saved. You are not it. You can't
Speaker 1: do it on your own. You're not supposed to. He
Speaker 1: already did it. So right now, all across this church,
Speaker 1: whether you're by yourself or in ability, I want you
Speaker 1: to repeat after me this prayer. If you honestly in
Speaker 1: your heart you say, I want to turn from my sin.
Speaker 1: I want to trust Christ. I want to receive his grace.
Speaker 1: I want the gift. You pray with me. Right now
Speaker 1: We're going to pray out loud as a church family
Speaker 1: for the benefit of those who are coming to Jesus,
Speaker 1: are coming back to Jesus. Repeat after me, Heavenly Father,
Speaker 1: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
Speaker 1: and the Savior of the world. And today I make
Speaker 1: Jesus the lord of my life. I believe he died
Speaker 1: that I could be forgiven and rose again to give
Speaker 1: me life. I receive this new life. This is my
Speaker 1: new beginning. On the counter of three. Shoot your hand up.
Speaker 1: If you prayed that one, two, three, look at that
Speaker 1: new life. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to
Speaker 1: those of you who give generously to this ministry. Is
Speaker 1: because of you that this ministry is possible. You can
Speaker 1: click the link in the description to give now, or
Speaker 1: visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information and
Speaker 1: if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can
Speaker 1: share it with your friends. You can click the share button,
Speaker 1: take a screenshot and share it on your social stories
Speaker 1: and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 1: God bless you.