SPEAKER_00: Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_01: Want to welcome you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: If you're visiting, I know Pastor Dave welcomed you, but I want a chance to do that as well.
SPEAKER_01: I'm Pastor Greg, and if you're visiting, we're we're so grateful that you're worshiping with us.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to tell you, just let me give you a quick report.
SPEAKER_01: I came over from uh our Chaffee campus this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Over a hundred again this week.
SPEAKER_01: Lots of our visitors came back.
SPEAKER_01: We have two families talking about joining with us.
SPEAKER_01: Just been a great, great morning.
SPEAKER_01: I got to worship twice today, and both of our praise teams are excellent.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know.
SPEAKER_01: It was great over there.
SPEAKER_01: It was great here.
SPEAKER_01: God is good.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: And I want to thank you, church family, for all of your support in this journey of getting to that second campus and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: You guys have been incredible.
SPEAKER_01: You have prayed, you've been gracious in your giving and created the fund for us to do that.
SPEAKER_01: You've been supportive.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody this week was asking, hey, how was it?
SPEAKER_01: How's it going?
SPEAKER_01: And I just want you to know, you guys are awesome.
SPEAKER_01: And God is good, and he's good through his people, and he's really good through you guys.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to say thank you, church family, for who you are and for the ministry and for all that you do.
SPEAKER_01: And we are really just excited about the opportunity to really spread out the preaching of the gospel, the sharing of the gospel, ministry to families across the river valley.
SPEAKER_01: So, church family, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: If you would join me for a moment and let's just say a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord for how he has gotten all this started.
SPEAKER_01: So let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we come and we thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for your church, for the body.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for their support, their love, their prayers, their giving.
SPEAKER_01: People are going out there to serve.
SPEAKER_01: We have an incredible team you've raised up to serve.
SPEAKER_01: We've had people from here go over there and worship and drive back over here.
SPEAKER_01: And there's just been so much support from our church.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to say thank you for what you're doing in the lives of our people as we try to create more opportunities to do what Jesus called us to do, and that's go baptizing the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for our baptisms this week here.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for the ministry at our Chaffee campus.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for our praise teams, our tech teams, our greeters, all the people who are making both things happen because they love you, because they're serving you, because they love your church.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for what you're doing in the lives of your church and your people.
SPEAKER_01: We are so grateful and we praise you today.
SPEAKER_01: We ask now that you speak to us from your word.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: And all God's people said, Well, I'm grateful for uh Matt teaching last week.
SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, I tried to make something blow up, create fire, and I burned my fingers, and so I can't do that this week.
SPEAKER_01: But we'll plow ahead.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we are continuing our series that we started last week, and I really am grateful for Matt.
SPEAKER_01: He, I know we love him and his leadership, but as a teacher of the word, he's a blessing.
SPEAKER_01: And so we are writing these series together so that we can go back and forth and preach those things, and it's a great joy to talk through these moments with him.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh, whichever one of us is preaching, I want you to know he's a major part of how we are uh constructing these series, and so it's a blessing to work with him in so many ways, but in this one is in this situation as well.
SPEAKER_01: So we started the series where we are asking these questions that we ask Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: These are questions that we all ask in our lives, just like last week.
SPEAKER_01: And the beauty of God's word is that he gives us real life moments in real life people's lives where they ask these same real life questions that we ask as well.
SPEAKER_01: And so today we're going to look at question two, and I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter nine.
SPEAKER_01: Mark chapter nine.
SPEAKER_01: Now, where we find ourselves in this particular moment is an interesting moment in history, in the history of Jesus' ministry, and in this time.
SPEAKER_01: So last week we looked at a time, they were still early on, still learning who Jesus was, and so they asked that question about, you know, who is who why are you letting us drown in this boat and all that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, this brings us a little further down the journey, and so they know more about who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_01: He's trained them to go do ministry.
SPEAKER_01: And so all of his disciples are doing ministry.
SPEAKER_01: He sent people out to do ministry, and so here's what happens he uh takes his three closest men and they go off together to meet with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And then the others are continuing the ministry, and the other nine and the other followers around them, they're out doing ministry.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus and these three guys go.
SPEAKER_01: If you've been in church any amount of time, you've heard the phrase, the Mount of Transfiguration.
SPEAKER_01: Well, they go and they meet with the Lord, these three men, and God appears to them and he tells them, This is my beloved son, and he gives his affirmation to Jesus, and there's this sense that Jesus is being affirmed for the journey he's about to enter into, and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: Meanwhile, down in the towns outside the village, they're out there doing ministry.
SPEAKER_01: They finish this moment where they're meeting with the Lord, the Heavenly Father, Jesus and his three guys, and they come down off the mountain and they start going back to catch up with the other guys in their ministry team.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what happens.
SPEAKER_01: We find them in Mark chapter 9, verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: When they, that's Jesus and the guys he was with, when they came to the disciples, that's the ones that were left down, down in the villages doing the ministry, when they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes disputing with them.
SPEAKER_01: And that word means they were just flat out having an argument.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they were getting with it.
SPEAKER_01: When the whole crowd saw Jesus, they were amazed and they ran to greet him.
SPEAKER_01: Look, Jesus is showing up to fix this whole argument that we're having.
SPEAKER_01: So he asked them, What are you arguing with them about?
SPEAKER_01: Like, what are y'all doing?
SPEAKER_01: You stand out here in the street arguing with each other.
SPEAKER_01: What are we doing?
SPEAKER_01: Someone from the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought my son to you.
SPEAKER_01: He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak.
SPEAKER_01: Now, that word spirit means this is a demon.
SPEAKER_01: So he is demon-possessed.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down and foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid.
SPEAKER_01: I asked your disciples to drive out the demon, but they couldn't.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's an interesting deal.
SPEAKER_01: Next week we're going to talk about the disciples in this story.
SPEAKER_01: But they have done ministry like this before, and here they fail and they can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus looks at them and he says, You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you?
SPEAKER_01: In other words, I'm not going to be here that long.
SPEAKER_01: You guys have got to get this stuff right.
SPEAKER_01: How long must I put up with you?
SPEAKER_01: Bring the boy to me.
SPEAKER_01: So they brought the boy to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: When the Spirit saw him, the demon, when he is confronted with the person of Jesus, he completely freaks out.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that it threw the boy into convulsions.
SPEAKER_01: He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
SPEAKER_01: While this is going on, Jesus looks at the Father and he says, How long has this been happening?
SPEAKER_01: And the Father says, from childhood.
SPEAKER_01: Many times it has even thrown him into the fire or water to destroy him.
SPEAKER_01: But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us if you can do anything.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, If, if, like, really?
SPEAKER_01: I'm Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: If, and then he says, everything is possible for the one who believes.
SPEAKER_01: Immediately the father of the boy cried out, I do believe, help my unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, I mean, you think about this demon has got this boy in convulsions, and they've just been arguing and all this is going on.
SPEAKER_01: The crowd gathers around.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, You mute and deaf spirit, I command you come out of him and never enter into him again.
SPEAKER_01: Then it came out, but here you see it's not coming out without a fight.
SPEAKER_01: It obeyed Jesus, but it says, When it came out, shrieking and throwing the boy into terrible convulsions, the boy became like a corpse.
SPEAKER_01: So that many said he's dead.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus, taking the boy by the hand, raised him and he stood up.
SPEAKER_01: After he had gone, after he had gone into house, so this is all over now, he goes in the house with the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: They ask, Why couldn't we drive it out?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said, This guy can only come out by prayer.
SPEAKER_01: By prayer.
SPEAKER_01: This story is recounted in a couple of the other gospels, and in there it says that Jesus said it can only be done by prayer and fasting.
SPEAKER_01: So he's challenging them to prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Now it's interesting when you read this question.
SPEAKER_01: Here's our second question that we ask.
SPEAKER_01: The father comes to him and says, If you can do anything, help us.
SPEAKER_01: If you can do anything.
SPEAKER_01: He's never encountered Jesus before personally, it seems like, from the context of this story, but he's heard enough and he's hopeless enough with his demon-possessed son that he comes and he reaches out, even to the followers of Jesus when Jesus is not around.
SPEAKER_01: But he doesn't know him yet, and so he's asking, can you do anything?
SPEAKER_01: Can you do anything?
SPEAKER_01: That's a question that I believe we ask in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: I've had many a journey with folks who were trying to decide if they were going to follow Jesus as their Savior, and they and they say things like, I just, I'm just struggling, believing, or because I just don't know if he's that way.
SPEAKER_01: Or somebody will say, You don't know, Pastor, what I've done and all the things in my life, and he can't forgive me of that.
SPEAKER_01: But it's not just people who are trying to figure out how to meet Jesus as their Savior that ask that question.
SPEAKER_01: We ask these questions as believers.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, it's not just the man meeting Jesus who struggles with his faith, it's also the disciples who couldn't cast these demons out because they weren't in prayer reaching out to the Lord to impact them.
SPEAKER_01: So even as believers, we ask this question.
SPEAKER_01: Anytime that you have an issue in your life and you're trying to decide what it is, it may be a difficult one or it may be a question or whatever, when you take that back from Jesus and decide to do it on your own way, it's because you have asked the question, can Jesus really do this?
SPEAKER_01: Is he really going to make this work in my life?
SPEAKER_01: So, just like the disciples, we ask that question, and so the life of faith is a life of learning in progressive levels more and more about the magnitude and the person of Jesus and who he is.
SPEAKER_01: And you see that beautifully represented in this story.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus gives them the answer.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, I am always capable.
SPEAKER_01: And he proves he is capable.
SPEAKER_01: He is the Lord of creation, he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, he is the one who conquered death and sin.
SPEAKER_01: Demons are not a problem for him, death is not a problem for him, healing is not a problem for him, eternity is not a problem for him.
SPEAKER_01: He made it all.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, the Bible says that by him all things that exist, consist and hold together.
SPEAKER_01: He is always capable, regardless of our question.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus comes to him and says, You need to learn to believe in me.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, everything is possible for the one who believes.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is trying to answer this existential question we ask, can you do this?
SPEAKER_01: And he says, everything is possible if you believe in me.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus can do anything.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we look at this story and we find out that it is really a story about what faith is.
SPEAKER_01: How do we place our faith or our belief in Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Look how many times that word comes up.
SPEAKER_01: They're here arguing because the disciples can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus looks at him, looks at them, and he says, You unbelieving generation, how long am I going to be here with you?
SPEAKER_01: When are you going to learn to believe?
SPEAKER_01: He tells the Father, everything is possible for one who believes.
SPEAKER_01: The Father cries out and says, I believe, but I can't believe enough.
SPEAKER_01: Help my unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: And so all of this story is about teaching biblical faith, belief in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we want to ask a real question.
SPEAKER_01: Like, what is biblical faith?
SPEAKER_01: Has it worked?
SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes in church life, we we don't stop and explain these things as fully as Scripture does.
SPEAKER_01: And we just say churchy things.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we don't mean to, we're trying to capture a thought, but sometimes it just comes out as churchy things, right?
SPEAKER_01: And we say things that we think in our heads sound spiritual, you know.
SPEAKER_01: I remember years ago, my first position in ministry at my home church, I served as a single adult pastor.
SPEAKER_01: And people trying to sound spiritual would come up and say things like this single adults, they just come to church to meet somebody to date.
SPEAKER_01: You know, they're thinking, you know, you're supposed to come for Jesus and all that kind of, you know, they're thinking in their heads a spiritual thing, and I'm thinking, like, my parents would have killed me if I hadn't met my wife at church.
SPEAKER_01: Like, where are you supposed to go?
SPEAKER_01: You go off to the bar hanging out, whoever drinks the most with you and parties and dances on tables, okay, we'll marry her and then we'll go to church.
SPEAKER_01: Like, how does that work?
SPEAKER_01: We say these things we think sound spiritual, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so they're just not that spiritual.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what we do: we we we we try to explain things and sometimes we go past them so fast we just give these phrases like, let go and let God.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you heard that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, what in creation does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, really think about it a minute.
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not really sure that's communicating what we're trying to communicate.
SPEAKER_01: Or we say this sometimes, you'll hear this longtime preacher phrase.
SPEAKER_01: We glance at our circumstances and we gaze on Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I know what that means.
SPEAKER_01: You're you're supposed to pay more attention worshiping him and focused on him than you are your circumstances, but sometimes we throw these things out and we gloss past them without really delving into what it means.
SPEAKER_01: So, what does it mean to place your faith in Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: If, like we see illustrated here, it's a question that we learn when we get to know Jesus and we place our faith in him as our Savior.
SPEAKER_01: But if the Bible says walk by faith and not by sight, then we really need to unpack what that means and let Scripture teach us how we actually walk by faith and what that means in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Now the Bible gives us a clear definition of what faith is.
SPEAKER_01: In Hebrews chapter 11, it's a whole list of all these people that place their faith in what God was doing and the promises of God.
SPEAKER_01: You know, by no by faith, Noah built an ark.
SPEAKER_01: By faith, Abraham left his home and went to a far land.
SPEAKER_01: By faith, all these people did all these things.
SPEAKER_01: And so he's teaching us what faith is.
SPEAKER_01: He illustrates it in their lives and then he explains this.
SPEAKER_01: Without faith, it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to God must believe that he exists, number one, and that he rewards those who seek him, number two.
SPEAKER_01: Now look in that.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing that we're doing, there's no prerequisite for who I am to come to God.
SPEAKER_01: There's no amp up this amount of faith or whatever, and then you can come to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: There's none of that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: If you're going to draw near, that's what a faith decision is, drawing near to God, you believe he is, and he rewards those who seek him.
SPEAKER_01: We see that fully illustrated in this story, and it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: Let me let's break it down and just see that we can't figure out practically what it means to walk by faith.
SPEAKER_01: Here's truth number one: faith is not a noun, it's a verb.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I took English class and I did well.
SPEAKER_01: So I know in the one sense it is a noun.
SPEAKER_01: But when we're talking about biblical faith, it is not a noun, it is a verb.
SPEAKER_01: Why do I say it that way?
SPEAKER_01: Well, here's we've all felt this.
SPEAKER_01: Like, listen, we've all been here.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, I just don't have enough faith.
SPEAKER_01: You see, that's a noun.
SPEAKER_01: And we're presuming that there is some quantity of faith that we must have to follow Jesus or to activate him working in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: I just don't have enough faith.
SPEAKER_01: Or we might say, Pastor, my faith is not deep enough.
SPEAKER_01: We've all been there, right?
SPEAKER_01: We can relate to that.
SPEAKER_01: And we have this idea that somehow faith is like the force in Star Wars.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I like Star Wars, but I'm an original Star Trek guy.
SPEAKER_01: Like that's a whole lot better teaching model than Star Wars.
SPEAKER_01: Lightsabers are cool.
SPEAKER_01: Love Darth Vader.
SPEAKER_01: The whole faith thing is a problem with the force thing.
SPEAKER_01: And the force you tap into that, and this one is strong with the force.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all remember that?
SPEAKER_01: This one is strong with the force.
SPEAKER_01: This one is strong with the faith.
SPEAKER_01: No, it does not work that way.
SPEAKER_01: It is not a noun, it is a verb.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6 says this to draw near to God, you believe that he is.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't say you have some quantity or quality of faith that somehow gives you entrance and justifies your ability to come to the person of God.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: It says, draw near, you simply believe he's God and he rewards you when you seek him.
SPEAKER_01: However you seek him and whatever you seek him with, that's all you have to have.
SPEAKER_01: This father comes to Jesus, he brings his son, he says, if you can do anything, he's not even convinced Jesus can fix this, but he comes to Jesus anyway.
SPEAKER_01: And then the Bible says, I believe, help my unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: There is so not a quality of faith or a quantity of faith you need.
SPEAKER_01: This guy comes and he says, My belief is not even good enough, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Like I don't even have enough for this.
SPEAKER_01: Can you help me with that too?
SPEAKER_01: He brings nothing but what he needs to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He's not bringing anything of quality, he's not bringing anything of quantity, he has not generated all this faith in his own.
SPEAKER_01: He's not thinking my faith is big enough for this, but it's not big enough for that, but I can do this and I bring that.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: He's just desperate and comes to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He comes to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It's a verb.
SPEAKER_01: Faith to believe in Jesus is coming to him.
SPEAKER_01: It is drawing near to him and bringing what you don't have and everything else.
SPEAKER_01: That brings us to truth number two.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is bringing your dependence and your need to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I believe, but it's not enough, and you've got to help my unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: He comes to Jesus and he says, I don't even have enough, I don't even have enough to believe fully in you for this.
SPEAKER_01: Can you help me with that too?
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says in the book of Romans, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: It is even the truth of Scripture that birth, that kernel of faith in us, that we would come to Jesus and just believe he is, and he might do something with this.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is bringing your desperation to the person of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now you think about it, this is taught all throughout Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: It's really simple.
SPEAKER_01: Take the example of this father.
SPEAKER_01: Let's assume he's a guy that doesn't know Jesus and involved in this is his salvation decision.
SPEAKER_01: He's coming to trust Jesus as his Lord and Savior in this deal.
SPEAKER_01: If you can fix this, I'm just coming you to fix this.
SPEAKER_01: When we come to Jesus, it's a faith decision.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how the Bible explains it.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians chapter 2, 8, and 9, verses 8 and 9.
SPEAKER_01: If you've been in church, you know these verses.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he says: For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of human works, lest any of you boast about it.
SPEAKER_01: So think about that for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: For by grace are you saved.
SPEAKER_01: It is grace that saves us.
SPEAKER_01: What is grace?
SPEAKER_01: Well, sometimes we take that word and break it down, G-R-A-C-E, God's riches at Christ's expense.
SPEAKER_01: Mercy and forgiveness is God not giving us what we deserve judgment for our sin.
SPEAKER_01: Grace is God's Giving us things that we do not deserve.
SPEAKER_01: The abundant life in Christ and forgiveness and new life and the promise and hope of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: So God says very clearly, we are saved by his grace.
SPEAKER_01: For by grace are you saved.
SPEAKER_01: What's faith?
SPEAKER_01: Through faith.
SPEAKER_01: It's how we come to him.
SPEAKER_01: It's how we place our belief in him as our Savior.
SPEAKER_01: Now that verse says, not of works, lest any man should boast.
SPEAKER_01: So by definition, it is telling us that what I do when I come to Jesus is I bring nothing but my sinful, broken life and need for him to forgive me.
SPEAKER_01: I've got nothing to bring to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, he died for me on the cross because I was a sinner and had nothing.
SPEAKER_01: I would spend an eternity in hell for the judgment of my sin without Jesus working to become the Savior.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we sing, Jesus paid it all and all to him I owe.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is my coming to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Remember Hebrews 11, 6.
SPEAKER_01: If you would draw near to God, you must believe that He is, and He rewards those who diligently seek Him.
SPEAKER_01: Why do I come to Jesus and bring in my sin and brokenness?
SPEAKER_01: Because the Bible promises me that Jesus will save.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whosoever believes in him will never perish, but have everlasting life.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus promised to save us, and I don't know what to do with my brokenness.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know to do what with my sin.
SPEAKER_01: I just bring it to Jesus, and I go like, I got nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Will you please forgive me and save me?
SPEAKER_01: And he saves.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is just bringing your dependence and need to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Why does God in this story go through all this detail about this boy foaming at the mouth and going rigid and breaking into convulsions and then he even tells us that he's this demon comes out shrieking and throwing the boy into convulsions when he gets.
SPEAKER_01: Why is he going through all that detail?
SPEAKER_01: Like, why do we need all that?
SPEAKER_01: It's like this is scary.
SPEAKER_01: Why do we need this?
SPEAKER_01: Because he's trying to show us how desperate the father is.
SPEAKER_01: And that the father has nothing to bring to Jesus but his need.
SPEAKER_01: Now I have two kids.
SPEAKER_01: Um, as we met before, y'all met my daughter, uh, Mabrie.
SPEAKER_01: Um she sang a couple weeks ago, and our son Grant lives in Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_01: He's the deputy editor at the Washington Examiner magazine there.
SPEAKER_01: We love our kids, they're great.
SPEAKER_01: Mabry served her purpose when she gave us Killian.
SPEAKER_01: I don't, you know, unless she's got other kids on the way.
SPEAKER_01: I don't really need her anymore.
SPEAKER_01: She did her thing, like I got Killian now, right?
SPEAKER_01: So we love our kids.
SPEAKER_01: Grant, he's still kind of half useless.
SPEAKER_01: We haven't had a kid from him yet, so we're waiting on that.
SPEAKER_01: But Mavery's there.
SPEAKER_01: She's giving us Killian, right?
SPEAKER_01: So we we love our kids, and we're very proud of them.
SPEAKER_01: Mavery, when she was in college, went through some pretty severe health issues.
SPEAKER_01: She almost had to pull out of college.
SPEAKER_01: And part of what was happening was she had break into these seizures, and there were several times.
SPEAKER_01: I'd be in, I'd be in Cabot.
SPEAKER_01: I was pastoring First Baptist Cabot at that time, and her friends, she was at ASU, uh Arkansas State University, and she was there, and so my friends would call us like at midnight, Pastor Greg, you need to come here.
SPEAKER_01: We're in the emergency room with Mabry.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm driving over there.
SPEAKER_01: One night I drove over there in the snowstorm, two and a half hours from Cabot to Arkansas State.
SPEAKER_01: And so, but we had never seen that happen.
SPEAKER_01: Well, one weekend, her family had come, or her friends had come and they were staying at our house, and you know that deal, college kids all crashing in our house on the floor and every couch and every chair and all that kind of a deal.
SPEAKER_01: They went to a football game and it was cold and wet and rainy and all that, and it threw her into a like body stress and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: When she got home that night, first time we saw her have a seizure, I've never felt so helpless in my whole life.
SPEAKER_01: It was awful.
SPEAKER_01: I'm watching my beautiful daughter, her eyes roll in the back of her head, and nobody's home.
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to think, I remember those stories about put your thumb in her mouth and you know, hold their tongue back, and I thought, no, you're not supposed to do that because they bite your thumb off, and all this, and she's like in seizures, and I'm trying to figure out what to do, and I can't even figure out, and she's her body's rigid and all of that, and it went on for minutes.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, this, I can't, this, what am I supposed to do?
SPEAKER_01: This is my daughter, my firstborn child.
SPEAKER_01: What am I supposed to do?
SPEAKER_01: You think about how much bigger it was for this man.
SPEAKER_01: How long has this been happening?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, it's been happening his whole life.
SPEAKER_01: Look at him.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes this is so bad.
SPEAKER_01: The demon will throw him into the fire or he'll throw him in the water trying to drown him.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, can you please?
SPEAKER_01: Somehow, if you if you just can.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you have compassion on us.
SPEAKER_01: He brought his dependence and need to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's what faith is.
SPEAKER_01: Believe that he is, and he rewards those who seek them.
SPEAKER_01: You seek him by saying, Lord, I can't do this.
SPEAKER_01: I can't fix my job.
SPEAKER_01: I can't fix my boss.
SPEAKER_01: I can't fix these people, I can't deal with this health thing, I don't know what to do with this money thing, I don't know what to do with this.
SPEAKER_01: God, I need you.
SPEAKER_01: I need you to do this.
SPEAKER_01: I'm bringing this to you.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't even have enough belief to do this.
SPEAKER_01: I need you to help me with that too.
SPEAKER_01: And what does Jesus do?
SPEAKER_01: Truth number three.
SPEAKER_01: He receives his questions and doubts, and he builds us up through those.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, Jesus, I love this.
SPEAKER_01: He does not rebuke this man, he does not get on to him, he does not say, you should have had more faith than this.
SPEAKER_01: He does not give him a theological lecture about here's the theology of him as, you know, the creator God and all this kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: No, Jesus steps into his doubts and he encourages this man and he works.
SPEAKER_01: He takes care of it, he deals with it, he receives this man's question, help me with my unbelief, and he steps into that and he works.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_01: Everything is possible for one who believes, and the Father says, I believe, sort of, but I can't really get enough of it.
SPEAKER_01: And yet Jesus works and shows it's possible in the midst of his questions and his doubts.
SPEAKER_01: Don't ever be afraid to bring your questions to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what we do.
SPEAKER_01: Well, Pastor, I got this struggle.
SPEAKER_01: Well, here's what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: I just don't have enough faith.
SPEAKER_01: I just don't have enough faith for that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, here's what you do when you turn that into a noun instead of a verb and bring it to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what happens.
SPEAKER_01: You get in your head and you get in your heart and you decide, here's what potential outcomes should be.
SPEAKER_01: And I can't do that, and I don't really believe Jesus can do that.
SPEAKER_01: Or he might do it if I could get faith to this level.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like when you go to Universal or Walt Disney World, or you go to Silver Dollar City, and you walk up and you bring your kid to the roller coaster ride, and they have that thing standing there, you know, and Mickey Mouse has got that pole, and you got to get that high, and my kid isn't that high, and he can't ride.
SPEAKER_01: We act like that.
SPEAKER_01: I've got to get my faith here, and I can't get it here, so what I'm gonna do is I'm just going to decide on my own without ever asking Jesus that I don't have enough faith to do this, and I'm gonna pull out of it, and I'm gonna pull back, and I'm gonna do what I think I need to do.
SPEAKER_01: And we literally never even asked Jesus the question.
SPEAKER_01: We convince ourselves ahead of time in our own heart and mind that we don't have enough faith, and this is how much faith it takes, or this is what the qual should be, and we just don't think this, and I don't think this, and I don't think I can do that, and I don't think that, and I don't know enough about him to believe that he can, so I'm just going to decide this.
SPEAKER_01: And we never bring our questions and doubts to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Why do we set ourselves up and we decide that without even asking him?
SPEAKER_01: Whatever you have going on in your life, have you have you just given it to him and given him a chance?
SPEAKER_01: Well, have enough faith.
SPEAKER_01: Well, there we go again.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I just don't know if he is concerned about this.
SPEAKER_01: Well, look, you didn't ask him.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you get to say that Jesus is not concerned about that in your life?
SPEAKER_01: You didn't ask him.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm just I'm just not sure about that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, fine, you're not sure.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of times we're not sure.
SPEAKER_01: Go ask Jesus about it and tell him you're not sure.
SPEAKER_01: Help my unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: Faith, believe that he exists.
SPEAKER_01: That's why you go to him in the first place, and then he rewards those who seek him.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I don't even have enough belief, but I'm going to ask you because you're Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And let him work.
SPEAKER_01: Let him speak.
SPEAKER_01: Let him guide.
SPEAKER_01: Let him step in and show you who he is.
SPEAKER_01: And it is when you bring a doubt to Jesus, a question to Jesus, and he answers it, that you learn in a deeper way the power of who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_01: You think this man, this man would die for Jesus after this moment, wouldn't he?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he didn't even, he didn't bring anything to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't bring anything to the table.
SPEAKER_01: He even insulted Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: If you can, and I believe, but I don't really have enough belief.
SPEAKER_01: Will you help me with that too?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus stepped in and healed his son and brought him back to him.
SPEAKER_01: You think that's what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_01: And if you bring him your questions and you give him a chance to answer, you give him a chance to work, you give him a chance to help, you give him a chance to guide, you're gonna learn more about Jesus than you ever thought possible.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna learn about Jesus in deeper ways in your faith, and that's how our faith grows.
SPEAKER_01: And then we begin to understand what it means to walk by faith.
SPEAKER_01: I take my stuff, I take my questions, I take my doubts, I give it all to Him.
SPEAKER_01: Next week, a little preview.
SPEAKER_01: That was the problem with the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: They had done that before, even, the Bible says, when he sent them out.
SPEAKER_01: Why couldn't we do it this time?
SPEAKER_01: Because you didn't pray about it.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't bring your need to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't bring your dependence on him to do ministry to him yet.
SPEAKER_01: You walk by faith.
SPEAKER_01: What that means is I bring my dependence and need to Jesus, and he builds us through that.
SPEAKER_01: Which brings us to truth number four.
SPEAKER_01: When you come to Jesus by depending on him, man, he works supernaturally.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to the promise of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Everything is possible.
SPEAKER_01: I did some language work this week.
SPEAKER_01: I figured out what that means in Greek.
SPEAKER_01: You know what that means in Greek?
SPEAKER_01: Everything.
SPEAKER_01: Everything is possible.
SPEAKER_01: How many times did Jesus say, you ask and I will answer?
SPEAKER_01: You knock and the door will be open to you.
SPEAKER_01: You seek and you will find.
SPEAKER_01: John 14, when he's talking about John 15, we're talking about the vine and the branches and all of that, and he says, You abide to me and I and you, and you'll bear much fruit and all that.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, if you ask anything in my name, it will be done.
SPEAKER_01: Prayer is not that we deserved it or we did something.
SPEAKER_01: Prayer is I got nothing, and I'm coming to Jesus, and here is what I need.
SPEAKER_01: And that gives Jesus the freedom to work supernaturally.
SPEAKER_01: I love this story.
SPEAKER_01: Man, look at what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't just cast out the demon.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus works, he works.
SPEAKER_01: Come out of him and never enter him again.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus saved him and he saved him completely.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus cast out that demon completely.
SPEAKER_01: No demon is ever going to mess with this boy again.
SPEAKER_01: His life is now protected under the power of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords from any demon that would ever come after him again.
SPEAKER_01: And nobody deserved this work, and nobody even believed Jesus could do it.
SPEAKER_01: And he stepped into their questions and he worked that fully.
SPEAKER_01: When this thing threw him on the ground and came out shrieking, and he's laying there dead, Jesus reaches over and the Bible says that he personally picked this young man up, he lifted him up, and now he is alive and has life through the work of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: When the father comes to Jesus, he says, Listen, help us.
SPEAKER_01: Help us.
SPEAKER_01: The father's prayer was the prayer of a father brokenhearted for his son, but also brokenhearted at his helplessness.
SPEAKER_01: It's my job to protect my children, and I couldn't.
SPEAKER_01: And yet Jesus answered everybody's prayers all at once.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus never loses sight of the crowd.
SPEAKER_01: I love this.
SPEAKER_01: He walks up on the crowd, and there's a crowd there watching this.
SPEAKER_01: There's a crowd who watch the failure of the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: There are people in the crowd that have questions.
SPEAKER_01: There are other people that have family members that are sick, and other people who are asking, is Jesus really the Son of God?
SPEAKER_01: And other people who are asking these things.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus never loses sight of the crowd.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says when Jesus saw the crowd gathering, that's when he rebuked the unclean spirit and moved.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus answered the Father's prayer.
SPEAKER_01: He answered the Son's needs.
SPEAKER_01: And he answered and proclaimed the good news of Jesus to a crowd that was watching.
SPEAKER_01: Man, you can't get any bigger of an action than this.
SPEAKER_01: When we bring our need to Jesus, when we come to him in faith, when we just draw near and we say, I'm coming because you're Jesus and I can't do anything without you and help my unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: And we come to him and we search him and we give him our dependence because he is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus can work in ways we can never imagine.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus called us to more than a biblical worldview.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's good to have a biblical worldview.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus called us to walk by faith.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, in all things we are more than conquerors through him he loved us.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus called us to an abundant life.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus called us to a witness in Acts 1.8 where he says, the power of the Holy Spirit will come on you and you'll be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the othermost part of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: He has called us to live in the supernatural power of his work.
SPEAKER_01: What does it mean to walk by faith?
SPEAKER_01: It means that I am walking in my dependence, depending on Jesus, and it gives him the freedom to work in the full magnitude of who he is.
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible to watch Jesus work.
SPEAKER_01: So let me ask you a question as we close this morning.
SPEAKER_01: What's your question?
SPEAKER_01: What's your doubt?
SPEAKER_01: Have you pulled it back from Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Or have you said, help my unbelief?
SPEAKER_01: Help my unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to bow your heads as we close.
SPEAKER_01: Some here, you may be asking a question about salvation.
SPEAKER_01: You may have been struggling with that question and you feel like you've got a sticking point somewhere.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, I can't answer this question, or I'm not sure about Jesus, or Pastor, you don't know how bad I've sinned.
SPEAKER_01: You don't know what's in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, brother, I know what's in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Sister, I know how bad.
SPEAKER_01: If y'all knew what went through my head when I'm up here preaching, it would scare you to death.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, Jesus knows.
SPEAKER_01: That's why he died for you.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he knows.
SPEAKER_01: He knows already.
SPEAKER_01: Bring it to him.
SPEAKER_01: If you've never accepted Christ as your Savior in a moment, I'm going to pray.
SPEAKER_01: God's people are going to stand and sing a testimony and point the way to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And listen, I'm going to ask you, just bring your question to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to manipulate you.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to make a decision to walk down the aisle.
SPEAKER_01: If you just got a question you want somebody to pray with you about, bring it to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We'll pray about it with you.
SPEAKER_01: We're here just to encourage you in your journey and help you with that.
SPEAKER_01: Bring it to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You have a question, bring it to him.
SPEAKER_01: You have some brokenness, bring it to him.
SPEAKER_01: If you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, I'm going to invite you to come.
SPEAKER_01: We got ministers ahead of our aisles, we've got deacons available, help.
SPEAKER_01: We'll pray with you, we'll talk with you, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_01: If you need a church home, you come.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to pray at the altar, you come.
SPEAKER_01: Folks have been coming to the altar and pray, and God is good.
SPEAKER_01: Come.
SPEAKER_01: If you want one of us to pray with you, you come.
SPEAKER_01: Bring it to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Those who would draw near to God, all you need to do, he exists and he rewards you when you seek him.
SPEAKER_01: Seek him this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we love you.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm overwhelmed by the beauty of this picture in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: You just lay out this Father's heart and questions, and you show us Jesus' work through his unbelief doubts and struggles to change his life.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray this morning that you will speak through your word, that the worship has been to point people to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that you'll putty the cracks that I messed up and trying to explain it, and you'll just let the Holy Spirit take the word of God and speak to lives this morning and draw them to you as the one who answers our questions.
SPEAKER_01: Give us the freedom to bring our questions to you today.
SPEAKER_01: It is in your loving and saving name we pray, and all God's people said.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.