(upbeat music)
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- Hey, this is Pastor John Ryan Cantu
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from PNEUMA Church in Houston, Texas.
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Thank you for listening to the message today.
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I hope that it blesses you
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and all those that you share it with.
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God bless you.
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(upbeat music)
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And so I also wanna give a special shout out
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to any spiritual fathers in the room.
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I know that we have many of them.
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Thank you for all that you do.
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Thank you for discipling men and making men of God.
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You know, today, I don't really wanna beat you down today,
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dads, 'cause every Father's Day is a word of man up
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and stop being lazy and be the priest of your home
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and all that stuff.
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Nine years of preaching, I just realized the other day
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that I've been pastoring a total of nine years.
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Next year will be 10, the big 10.
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Wild, that's wild.
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And so nine years of preaching these hard sermons
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to men on Father's Day,
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which is the day that we should be celebrated.
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So I wanna encourage you today instead,
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because I look at our church and I think about our church,
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because yeah, we can look at the world and we can say,
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man, there's a bunch of dads that aren't dads.
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They're not fathers.
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But when I look at our church, I see men of God.
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I see men of God and I'm grateful for that.
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We have godly men leading their families.
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We have single men who are godly men.
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And yeah, there might be a few that still need to learn
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how to be godly, but you know what, you're here.
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You're here.
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And when you're in the right place,
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and everything good begins by being
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just in the right place, right?
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So you're here and I wanna encourage you,
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and anybody else, whether you're a man,
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whether a woman, married or not, this word is for all of us.
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So I'm gonna ask that you would stand with me
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and go to the Gospel of Mark chapter nine,
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Mark chapter nine, 14 through 29.
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And this is the passage I've read on many, many times before.
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I've preached it many times before.
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And it's not really a Father's Day message, but that's okay.
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If you have it, say amen.
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- Amen. - Amen.
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Chapter nine, 14 through 29.
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Chapter nine, 14 through 29.
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I have it up here on the screen.
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It says this, "And when they came to the disciples,
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"they saw a great crowd around them
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"and scribes arguing with them.
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"And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him,"
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him being Jesus, "were greatly amazed
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"and ran up to him and greeted him.
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"And he asked them, 'What are you arguing about?'
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"And someone from the crowd answered him,
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"'Teacher, I brought my son to you,
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"'for he has a spirit that makes him mute.
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"'And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down,
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"'and he phones and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.
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"'So I asked your disciples to cast it out,
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"'and they were not able.'
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"And he answered them, 'O faithless generation,
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"'how long am I to be with you?
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"'How long am I to bear with you?
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"'Bring him to me.'
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"And they brought the boy to him.
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"And when the spirit saw him, immediately
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"it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground
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"and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.
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"And Jesus asked his father,
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"'How long has this been happening to him?'
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"And he said, 'From childhood.'
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"And it is often cast into the fire
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"and into water to destroy him.
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"But if you can do anything,
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"have compassion on us and help us.
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"And Jesus said to him, 'If you can,
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"'all things are possible for one who believes.'
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"Immediately the father of the child cried out
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"and said, 'I believe, help my unbelief.'
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"And when Jesus saw that the crowd came running together,
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"he rebuked the unclean spirit,
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"saying to him, 'You mute and deaf spirit.
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"'I command you, come out of him
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"'and never enter him again.'
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"And after crying out and convulsing him terribly,
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"it came out, and the boy was like a corpse,
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"so that most of them said that he is dead.
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"But Jesus took him by the hand
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"and lifted him up, and he arose."
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Amen.
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Let's pray.
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Heavenly Father, I thank you for this Sunday, my God.
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I thank you for this word that you've given your servant.
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Lord, I pray, Father God,
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that it would not fall on deaf ears, my God,
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but it would impact, Father, I pray,
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Holy Spirit, that you would be on my lips, my God.
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I pray that I'd be sensitive to whatever you wanna do
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and whatever you wanna say, Father God.
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And I pray for healing through this word.
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I pray for restoration.
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I pray for freedom and salvation, my God, conviction,
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my God, whatever you wanna do, Lord.
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This is your moment, Father God.
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Speak through your word in Jesus' name, amen.
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Amen, you can be seated.
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The title of my message today is It's Possible.
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It's Possible.
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Can you declare that with me?
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It's possible.
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It's possible.
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What is possible?
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Anything, anything is possible.
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Those were the words of Jesus in this passage
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when he tells his father, this little boy,
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anything is possible if you just believe.
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And this is not a story about demonic possession.
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I know sometimes we like to draw out doctrine
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from this passage about demons,
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but this is not a teaching on the demonic realm.
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This is a teaching about faith.
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This is about divine authority and divine power
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that come not from a calling to deliverance ministry,
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but to anyone who possesses unwavering faith
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in the power and the authority of who Jesus is.
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Anything is possible for those who believe
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and who Jesus is, amen.
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Now, I don't know how many of you believe that,
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but anything is possible.
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That's a pretty big word.
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Anything is infinity.
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Anything is anything.
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And it's possible when you believe.
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And so when you see that and when you read that
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or when you hear it, you might have some beef with the text
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because you're like, well, I've believed before
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and it didn't happen.
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I've declared before and it didn't happen.
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I've had faith before.
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I've believed before.
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You can't say that it's possible if you believe
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because I have believed and it didn't happen.
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And so you might have some beef with that,
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but I wanna challenge you today
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'cause I want us to understand something.
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This does not mean that faith is like a magic formula,
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that you get whatever you're asking for.
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We've treated it that way.
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We've treated faith like that.
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And so because we've treated it like that,
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we try to collect all the faith
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so that we can collect all the blessings
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because the more faith I have,
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the more my prayers will be answered
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and the more I'm gonna have.
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There's often a confusion between faith and the faith.
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There's a difference.
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See, when we talk about faith,
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it's usually tied to a promise, right?
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Typically, that's when we talk about faith,
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it's about faith in something,
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something that God said, something that he did.
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That's good, that's great.
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But the faith is tied to who God is, not to what he said.
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And I can make a very good argument
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that when the Bible is talking about faith,
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it's talking about the faith.
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Not all the time, but most of the time.
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It's talking about trust in God, not faith in a prayer,
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not faith in what you declare, faith in God, period, period.
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And so Hebrews 10, 19, 23 says,
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"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence
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"to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,
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"by the new and living way that he opened for us
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"through the curtain that is through our flesh, his flesh,
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"and since we have a great priest over our house of God,
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"let us draw near with a true heart
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"in full assurance of faith,
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"with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience
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"and our bodies washed with pure water."
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He says, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope
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"without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."
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Notice that it's not for what he promised,
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it's for he who made the promise is faithful.
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God is faithful.
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This is faith in God, this is the faith.
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I hope I'm explaining myself
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because some of y'all are confused.
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What I want to caution you on
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is that we not prioritize the faith
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of what we're asking for, the faith of our prayers,
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the faith of our declarations and the steps
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that we're taking in wisdom,
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in faith that is going to produce a desired outcome.
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We have to make sure that we don't prioritize that faith
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over the faith of who Jesus is.
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We cannot allow an unanswered prayer
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to taint our relationship with the Father.
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That is what we find a lot of in Christianity
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because there is a confusion between faith and the faith.
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And so you read a passage like this
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and you're like, "Well, I believed for a healing.
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"I didn't get the healing, what happened?"
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The word is obviously contradictory to reality.
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No, context matters.
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And I believe that when we're talking about the faith,
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we're talking about faith of who God is.
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Not every Christian can say, "If I lose everything today,
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"I'm still gonna be in his presence tomorrow."
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Not everybody can say that.
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Not everybody can say, "If God doesn't do the thing
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"that I'm believing him to do,
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"I'm still gonna have faith in him."
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But I want you to hear me.
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Faith cannot be, it can't be dependent
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on the things that God does or doesn't do.
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'Cause if I'm believing God for a supernatural healing
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and I'm calling upon all the saints and I'm saying,
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"Can you pray for me?"
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And I'm believing for it and I'm declaring it.
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And I'm already declaring myself healed in Jesus' name.
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And then God doesn't do the healing
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and now I don't have any trust in him,
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I have a flawed faith.
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Now, it works the other way as well.
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Because if I'm doing all of those things
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and I'm declaring my healing and it's gonna happen,
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I'm gonna walk in the faith and I'm praying
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and I'm believing and then God does the healing,
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now if I give him more trust,
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like he's earned some type of faith brownie points,
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my faith is flawed.
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Because God does not owe us anything
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and God does not need to earn your trust
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the way that your spouse needs to earn your trust.
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God does not need to earn our trust.
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If you have accepted him as Lord and Savior
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and you have a real relationship with him,
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your faith should be unwavering,
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no matter if he does or if he doesn't.
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Because when it comes to the faith,
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the thing that matters the most is that Jesus died
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for your sins to give you life eternal
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and now I walk in victory and I have that faith
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that I walk in victory over the enemy
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and over the power of sin that even though I walk
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through the valley of shadow of death,
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I fear no evil because I know that he is with me
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and his rod and stab comfort me.
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That's the faith because I know him, I know who he is.
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Because I know who he is, my faith in him remains.
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When I used to teach apologetics,
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I would tell my students, I would tell them
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what's known as the Epicurean paradox.
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So the Greek philosopher Epicurus,
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he presented this little riddle
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and it can be summarized like this.
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He says, "If God is unable to prevent evil,
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"then he is not all powerful.
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"If God is not willing to prevent evil,
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"then he is not all good.
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"If God is both willing and able to prevent evil,"
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which we believe, "then why does evil exist?"
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So first of all, sin is a real thing
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and we live in a fallen world which God plans to rid of
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upon the return of Christ, amen.
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That's number one.
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Number two, there's a reason that this question
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bothers the world so much and it doesn't seem to bother
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God loving, God fearing Christians on a personal level.
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Yes, it might be hard to, it might be a head scratcher,
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right, because it's meant to kind of trap you,
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but personally it doesn't bother me that much
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because when you know who God is,
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your faith is tied to who he is,
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not what he does and not what he doesn't do,
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not what he allows or what he doesn't allow.
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This is where your faith starts to look a little foolish,
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because it seems like everything that happens,
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everything that God allows to take place in your life,
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you have an answer for.
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Because we say, "Well, I don't know why,
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"but God is still good.
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"I don't know why.
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"I don't know why your son died of cancer
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"at a very early age.
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"I don't know why that God allowed that,
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"but God is still faithful."
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God knows all things, he knows best, right?
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You see how these answers seem to kind of dodge
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the real questions?
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It dodges the question of why does evil exist?
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I don't know.
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I don't have a direct answer for why God allows
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certain things to happen to certain people,
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but my answer is sufficient to guard my faith
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in who he is because I know him personally.
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So my challenge this morning is really to know God
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on a deeper level, because if you don't have
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a real relationship with Jesus,
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or maybe you're just getting started,
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and I know that we have a lot of people
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who are just getting started in their faith journey,
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you might think of faith like a formula.
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That's the way that you maybe think of faith.
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In fact, maybe faith is such a foreign concept to you
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that you think of faith as positivity.
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And so you're like, "Yeah, I'm gonna get the job.
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"In Jesus' name, I'm gonna get the job.
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"Yes, everything's gonna be okay in Jesus' name."
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And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that.
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It's gotta start somewhere, right?
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And in fact, that's how the faith of kids starts out.
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I'm not calling your faith childish,
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but I mean, I guess I am calling it childish.
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It's okay.
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I want you to understand something.
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That's the way that faith in children starts.
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It's the cutest thing ever, man.
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Anytime Leila's having an anxious moment,
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she's not feeling good.
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Ellie, I thank God for Ellie.
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Ellie is such an encourager, man.
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She's such an encourager.
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And she'll tell Leila, "Sissy, just pray.
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"God will help you."
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She says it every time.
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"Just pray.
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"God will help you."
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And it's so cute, and it melts my heart.
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And I love that she's starting to develop that faith.
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But if we're honest, the way that she's thinking,
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yes, it's innocent, but it's faith as a formula.
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It's if you pray, it's gonna happen like that.
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I can't snap with that hand.
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Like that.
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That's faith as a formula.
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And that's how it begins when we come to God.
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That's how we think of faith many times.
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It's like, okay, the more you have,
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the more stuff will happen to your favor.
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Leila is starting to come out of this phase.
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She used to think the same way, because faith develops.
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But now she's asking some different questions.
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Like, "Dad, how come when we prayed for that thing,
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"it didn't happen?"
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Those are real questions.
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She said the other day, "How come that when I prayed
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"to be healed instantly because I was not feeling good
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"and I wanted to feel better right away,
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"how come it didn't happen right away?"
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And these are great theological questions
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that all of our kids ask.
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And you know, a lot of times we try to answer these
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with theological and mental gymnastics, right?
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And that's good.
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They need to understand the theology of everything
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and the logic behind everything.
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But I would encourage you to begin with a personal type
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of answer before a profound theological one,
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especially with your children.
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And so the answer that I gave Leila is,
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Leila, sometimes our prayers don't get answered.
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That doesn't mean you stop praying.
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Sometimes the things that we're believing for,
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the things that we're hoping for,
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they don't happen the way that we want to.
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That doesn't mean that you stop believing.
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And the thing that is always true, and I told her,
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the thing that is always true is that Jesus is still God
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and Jesus is still good and Jesus is still faithful
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and Jesus loves you and anything is possible
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in his presence.
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See, when you build upon that type of foundation,
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that's when your faith moves beyond the shallow waters
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and into the deep because you are anchored in who God is.
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So no wave, no storm can take you out
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because you are anchored on God.
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And so maybe God didn't do it.
16:56 --> 16:58

Maybe God said no.
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Maybe God didn't help you the way that you wanted to help.
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Maybe the divine aid didn't come in the form
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that you wanted to.
17:04 --> 17:06

Maybe you asked God for more money
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and God gave you an Uber job.
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And you're like, really God, you want me to drive an Uber?
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Yeah, that's what I'm giving you.
17:11 --> 17:13

Maybe you asked God to save your marriage
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and God opened the schedule of a marriage counselor for you.
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Maybe you asked for healing and all God gave you
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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?
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And Jesus says, with man it is impossible,
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but not with God, for all things are possible with God.
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Someone say that, with God, with God.
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I believe that some of us need to have God stay
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and dwell with us in our home
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so that we begin to know God in an intimate way,
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that we will know that he is the God who can.
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He is the God who can and has all the power,
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all the knowledge to do whatever he wills.
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Let me pray over you right there.
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Holy Spirit, I pray right now, right now,
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over this group of individuals, of parents,
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my God, men and women, Lord, I pray for their faith, God.
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I pray that you would keep them, my God.
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I pray that you would have a real moment with them, my God,
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where they cry out to you, Father God, directly,
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and they say, Jesus, show me your glory,
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and you would reveal it to them, my God,
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and you would press deep, my God,
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and you would let them feel the love and the compassion
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that you have showed so many of us, my God,
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so that they would know who you are
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and that no matter what happens in their life,
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no matter what you allow to take place in their life,
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no matter how dark, no matter the valley,
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no matter, Father God, the evil,
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that you are still there, and you are still their God,
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and that you love them unconditionally, Lord,
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I pray in Jesus' name that that type of faith
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be found in the house this morning, Lord.
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In Jesus' mighty name, I pray, Lord.
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Men of God, I wanna invite you, I wanna invite you,
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come, come, everybody come, everybody come this morning.
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If you're a parent, I want you to come this morning,
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and I want you to encounter Jesus.
38:51 --> 38:54

I want you to stop thinking of faith as a formula
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and start thinking of it as a person.
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We serve the God who can.
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We serve the God who can.
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We serve an infinitely powerful God.
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And some of you need to start praying prayers
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that you stop praying.
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Some of you need to pick up those prayers.
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Some of you need to ask boldly of the Lord who can,
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who can do all things.
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- Thanks for listening.
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If you'd like some more information on PNEUMA Church,
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visit us on our website at mypneumachurch.org.
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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.
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(gentle music)
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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