WEBVTT 00:00:07.836 --> 00:00:10.025 Amen, amen, choir. 00:00:10.025 --> 00:00:11.129 What a phenomenal job. 00:00:11.129 --> 00:00:13.347 Do you believe God's in this place today? 00:00:13.347 --> 00:00:15.301 What a phenomenal. 00:00:15.301 --> 00:00:20.980 Yeah, we can clap for that, absolutely. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:27.682 Let's bow and pray together and acknowledge the God who is in our midst, right where you are. 00:00:27.682 --> 00:00:36.204 We just take a moment today and thank God for who he is, that he's holy and he's righteous and he's good through and through. 00:00:36.204 --> 00:01:01.524 Take a moment and thank him for the chance that we get to worship him together as the body of Christ, the family of God, people from all walks of life, all backgrounds, all sorts of different places. 00:01:01.524 --> 00:01:04.787 God has gathered us together in this moment. 00:01:04.787 --> 00:01:05.721 Let's thank him for that. 00:01:05.721 --> 00:01:30.581 Let's pray for where God's leading us as a church, the future that he has in store for us as one church in two locations. 00:01:30.581 --> 00:01:51.068 Take a moment and pray for the people around you today. 00:01:51.068 --> 00:02:04.087 Maybe you know them by name, maybe you know the circumstances of their lives, maybe you don't, I know we've got people in here that are living in the highest of highs right now, and we have some people that are walking through the lowest of lows. 00:02:04.087 --> 00:02:25.242 So let's pray for one another today and those of us in the room. 00:02:25.242 --> 00:02:26.947 Let's pray for those watching online. 00:02:26.947 --> 00:02:27.990 Those watching online. 00:02:27.990 --> 00:02:28.772 We welcome you. 00:02:28.772 --> 00:02:30.941 Will you pray for us gathered in the room today? 00:02:30.941 --> 00:03:01.582 Let's ask God to speak to us from his word, by his spirit, to apply his truth right to our lives, right where we are today. 00:03:01.582 --> 00:03:24.055 So, god, we thank you for this moment, got a moment that you saw before time was even a thing. 00:03:24.055 --> 00:03:26.426 God, you knew that we would be gathered here today. 00:03:26.426 --> 00:03:32.650 You knew the circumstances that we would carry into this place with us this morning. 00:03:32.650 --> 00:03:36.367 You knew the celebrations and the joys. 00:03:36.367 --> 00:03:40.489 You knew the darkness and the pain and the hurt. 00:03:40.489 --> 00:04:04.650 So, father, today we simply want to ask that, by your spirit, through your word, god, that you would shine the light of truth into our lives, father, in a way that challenges us, that confronts us, that shows us, maybe, some things in us that aren't in alignment with your will for our lives. 00:04:04.650 --> 00:04:15.229 And, father, we pray that we would be transformed from one degree of glory into the next as we behold the beauty and the wonder of Christ. 00:04:15.229 --> 00:04:22.292 God, we love you, we thank you in Jesus' name, and everybody says together this morning amen, amen. 00:04:23.002 --> 00:04:23.906 Well, welcome to church. 00:04:23.906 --> 00:04:26.206 I'm so glad that you're here today. 00:04:26.206 --> 00:04:27.228 My name's James. 00:04:27.228 --> 00:04:28.745 We had the chance to meet. 00:04:28.745 --> 00:04:38.608 I'm normally over at the Pinewood campus on Sunday mornings, but Randy and I did a little switcheroo today, so I am honored to be here with you guys this morning. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:43.028 Isn't it a great time to be part of Somerville Baptist Church? 00:04:43.028 --> 00:04:57.704 And I just want to take a moment at the beginning today and honor you as a church, as people who, according to the plan and the purpose and the will of God, are seeking God with everything that you have. 00:04:57.704 --> 00:05:10.596 There's a lot of change upcoming in the future, and what's amazing and incredible and powerful is to watch you as a body say yes to Jesus and to say hey. 00:05:10.596 --> 00:05:21.048 Whatever it takes for us to make space to meet people and to invite people into a place where they can encounter a relationship with Jesus and have their life and their eternity transformed. 00:05:21.048 --> 00:05:30.591 Y'all don't blink, you don't waver, just say yes to Jesus, and it is an honor and a privilege to be part of a church like that. 00:05:30.591 --> 00:05:33.588 So thank you for being a church like that. 00:05:33.588 --> 00:05:36.247 We've got great days ahead, do we not? 00:05:36.247 --> 00:05:44.912 God is going before us, god is preparing a way and it's going to be a phenomenal journey as we follow Jesus together. 00:05:45.540 --> 00:05:47.608 By the way, one more order of business. 00:05:47.608 --> 00:05:50.186 It's 28 days from today. 00:05:50.186 --> 00:05:51.509 Is what Anybody know. 00:05:51.509 --> 00:05:54.026 Yeah, y'all hang out with Randy, I don't know. 00:05:54.026 --> 00:06:03.716 It's 28 days until Easter Sunday, which means which means there's still plenty of time right for you to make an invite for you to pray and say God, who do? 00:06:03.716 --> 00:06:13.990 I know that is near to me but far from you, and how can I put an invitation on the table in front of them to get them into a place where they can hear the good news about Jesus? 00:06:13.990 --> 00:06:24.526 You got 28 days 28 days, so let's see what God wants to do with you and who God wants you to invite to be part of what's going on Easter week. 00:06:24.526 --> 00:06:26.888 It's going to be a phenomenal time together. 00:06:26.888 --> 00:06:31.151 We're going to be in Mark chapter nine today, mark chapter nine. 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:35.850 Let me take a moment and kind of set the stage for where we are going. 00:06:35.850 --> 00:06:45.290 We're in a series called Seven Transformational Habits and we're talking about cultivating intentional habits in order to cultivate a life with God. 00:06:45.290 --> 00:06:48.126 That's what this whole series is about. 00:06:48.126 --> 00:06:50.050 Y'all know this. 00:06:50.050 --> 00:06:51.233 I don't need to say this. 00:06:51.233 --> 00:06:53.340 I don't want to say it anyway. 00:06:53.340 --> 00:07:00.894 We live in a world of abundance, our day and time and place in which we live. 00:07:00.894 --> 00:07:08.684 We live in a culture of abundance, and I know there is a such thing as poverty in our world and food insecurity. 00:07:08.684 --> 00:07:09.908 All of that exists. 00:07:09.908 --> 00:07:23.132 I'm not minimizing any of that today, but at the same time, it is unequivocably true that we live in the most prosperous and convenient time period in human history. 00:07:23.132 --> 00:07:26.507 I mean, let's just think about it for a moment. 00:07:26.609 --> 00:07:31.627 Today, if you get hungry, is your first thought? 00:07:31.627 --> 00:07:37.062 I need to grow something or kill something, or is it? 00:07:37.062 --> 00:07:43.650 Well, you know, I can go to Wendy's, I can go to Publix or Foodline or Harris Teeter. 00:07:43.650 --> 00:07:56.448 I can go on the Internet and access via the cloud the ability to put some stuff in a cart and a few hours later somebody's going to drop it on my doorstep. 00:07:56.448 --> 00:08:06.187 Or, if I'm really like feeling fancy, I can go to the Taco Bell and I can get some beef and bean enchiladas and burritos. 00:08:06.187 --> 00:08:09.569 Like you know, I got options in front of me. 00:08:09.569 --> 00:08:15.846 Aren't you grateful that we don't live in a time where, if you want to eat something, you got to grow something or kill something? 00:08:15.846 --> 00:08:19.449 Like natural selection would have just selected me right out? 00:08:19.449 --> 00:08:21.847 I'm just telling you like I'm just grateful for that. 00:08:21.847 --> 00:08:31.584 You know, we can't even go to the Target without stopping by the Starbucks in the front of the Target on the way in the door. 00:08:31.584 --> 00:08:33.509 You know what I'm saying. 00:08:33.509 --> 00:08:36.588 Like we just live in that type of day and time. 00:08:36.588 --> 00:08:40.210 It's a day and time, a place, a culture of abundance. 00:08:40.740 --> 00:08:46.347 Think about, on the entertainment front, you get bored on a Tuesday afternoon, tuesday evening. 00:08:46.347 --> 00:08:50.769 What am I going to do with my free time tonight? 00:08:50.769 --> 00:08:59.508 You know there was a day and time when you get bored, you put the candle out and you go to sleep, right, I mean, you know, you know there are options. 00:08:59.508 --> 00:09:03.229 Right, we got to wait for the sun to rise so we can go outside and grow some food, you know? 00:09:03.229 --> 00:09:10.263 So now, now it gets dark outside, looking around, hey, I got, you know I got. 00:09:10.263 --> 00:09:11.786 I don't have to go to bed until 10 pm. 00:09:11.786 --> 00:09:12.868 I got four hours. 00:09:12.908 --> 00:09:13.589 What do we need to do? 00:09:13.589 --> 00:09:14.632 Well, let me think. 00:09:14.632 --> 00:09:15.413 I got Netflix. 00:09:15.413 --> 00:09:18.368 I got some new shows on Netflix. 00:09:18.368 --> 00:09:21.447 I got Amazon Prime. 00:09:21.447 --> 00:09:24.687 My cousin's got Hulu Plus. 00:09:24.687 --> 00:09:26.663 I can borrow their password and log in there. 00:09:26.663 --> 00:09:30.308 You all do that. 00:09:30.308 --> 00:09:31.250 I don't know you can't. 00:09:31.250 --> 00:09:32.452 Can you admit that in church? 00:09:32.452 --> 00:09:33.153 You can't do that? 00:09:33.153 --> 00:09:35.784 Right, and he's on the front row like, no, we don't do that. 00:09:35.784 --> 00:09:36.527 Nobody does that. 00:09:36.527 --> 00:09:37.249 This is church. 00:09:37.249 --> 00:09:43.161 Netflix, hulu, amazon right, you can. 00:09:43.161 --> 00:09:44.673 You can pull the DVDs out. 00:09:44.673 --> 00:09:48.725 You know like entertainment is everywhere. 00:09:48.725 --> 00:09:58.211 With a small connection to the internet, hours and hours and hours of content is available for our consumption. 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:12.370 The reality, you all, is this we live in a day and time in which any appetite that we have on the inside can be satiated in a number of different ways. 00:10:12.370 --> 00:10:23.751 You're hungry, you're thirsty, you're bored, you're, you're lonely, like there is an appetite satiating outlet available to you. 00:10:23.751 --> 00:10:31.522 And I'm just here today as someone who's on this journey of life and I'm looking at my own life going. 00:10:31.522 --> 00:10:34.589 I'm not sure that that's always a good thing. 00:10:34.589 --> 00:11:14.480 The desert fathers, these early church guys, they, they had this perspective on the world that a fullness of appetite within us robs us of the hunger and the thirst for righteousness that we're called to as followers of Christ, and they would go so far as to say that when we are so full of the world, we're going to that we don't have need, we don't have lack, we don't have want. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:21.173 It hinders our relationship with God more than we are aware. 00:11:21.173 --> 00:11:27.683 And so today we're going to talk for a few minutes together about fasting and then we're going to go eat lunch. 00:11:27.683 --> 00:11:30.387 Okay, that sounds good to you this morning. 00:11:31.642 --> 00:11:33.648 This is actually just for your information. 00:11:33.648 --> 00:11:38.060 This is like the second part of a sermon on fasting. 00:11:38.060 --> 00:11:40.448 I preached the first part last week at Pinewood. 00:11:40.448 --> 00:11:47.412 You can go back and watch it on YouTube if you want, or you can just take my one sentence big idea which is on the screen. 00:11:47.412 --> 00:11:51.831 Fasting is an intentional no to my flesh. 00:11:51.831 --> 00:11:58.594 I'm saying no to something that I want, something that I feel, something that I feed my flesh. 00:11:58.594 --> 00:12:04.572 I'm saying no to that in order to give an intentional yes to God. 00:12:04.572 --> 00:12:09.630 I'm saying no to me so that I can say yes to God. 00:12:09.630 --> 00:12:13.711 Now, don't tell the people at Pinewood I just preached a 40 minute sermon in a sentence. 00:12:13.711 --> 00:12:16.108 They won't come back to church next week. 00:12:16.207 --> 00:12:31.639 Right, you got last week's sermon in a sentence, but last week, if you're interested in going back, I talked about how we are called to fast from the scriptures and some practical ways that we can implement some of that in our lives. 00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:47.471 And it was fascinating so right after service last Sunday, kind of standing at the back of the room and some friends of mine who grew up in our youth ministry here at Somerville Baptist and have since gotten married and the husbands now in the Air Force and they're stationed in Hawaii. 00:12:47.471 --> 00:12:55.230 He came up to me after church last week and they were back to see family and he said hey, that was a phenomenal message on fasting. 00:12:55.230 --> 00:12:59.411 I'm really feeling convicted to put that into practice in my life. 00:12:59.411 --> 00:13:11.130 He said but I got to tell you my family had already scheduled a trip to Myrtle Beach today to go to the All you Can Eat Crab Leg Buffet and I was like that is providential, is it not? 00:13:11.130 --> 00:13:14.048 The Lord is testing you right now, you know. 00:13:14.048 --> 00:13:23.198 But like fasting, it's a no to me so I can give a yes to God, a no to me so I can give a yes to God. 00:13:23.198 --> 00:13:31.334 And I don't know, maybe you're like me, maybe the idea of fasting is relatively kind of new to you. 00:13:31.334 --> 00:13:38.153 I don't know if that's an ingrained part of the rhythm of your spiritual life. 00:13:38.153 --> 00:13:56.200 But my goal today is just to share a little bit of what God's been teaching me and invite you to consider the practice, the habit of fasting, and to see what's possible as we begin to say no to the flesh in order to say yes to God. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:04.610 So with that said, mark, chapter 9, we're going to start here in verse 14, and read a pretty good chunk of scripture together this morning. 00:14:04.610 --> 00:14:11.893 Context Jesus has just been transfigured in front of Peter, james and John. 00:14:11.893 --> 00:14:15.960 Mountaintop moment, right, powerful moment. 00:14:15.960 --> 00:14:31.951 They've seen the glory of God on the mountaintop and now they've come back down the mountains and verse 14 said when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them and scribes arguing with them. 00:14:31.951 --> 00:14:36.147 Now, just a quick I'm not going to do this through the whole passage, but isn't that how life works? 00:14:36.147 --> 00:14:43.159 You have an incredible mountaintop moment and the next moment you're right in the midst of a conflict. 00:14:43.159 --> 00:15:00.512 Things are great and you're flying high and all of a sudden you meet that person, or you have to step right back into that situation, and it's like you go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, just like that. 00:15:00.860 --> 00:15:06.794 They see a crowd gathered around the disciples, there's an argument going on and immediately all the crowd. 00:15:06.794 --> 00:15:13.847 When they saw Jesus, they were greatly amazed and they ran up to him and they greeted him and he asked them what are you arguing about with them? 00:15:13.847 --> 00:15:21.822 Someone from the crowd answered him teacher, I brought my son to you for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 00:15:21.822 --> 00:15:28.202 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down and he foams and he grinds his teeth and he becomes rigid. 00:15:28.202 --> 00:15:31.090 And so I asked your disciples to cast it out. 00:15:31.090 --> 00:15:31.932 And they were not able. 00:15:31.932 --> 00:15:38.273 And he answered them oh faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? 00:15:38.273 --> 00:15:41.288 How long am I to bear with you? 00:15:41.288 --> 00:15:42.592 Bring him to me. 00:15:42.860 --> 00:15:44.888 And they brought the boy to Jesus. 00:15:44.888 --> 00:15:51.180 And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy and he fell on the ground and rolled about foaming at the mouth. 00:15:51.180 --> 00:15:56.580 And Jesus asked his father how long has this been happening to him? 00:15:56.580 --> 00:15:59.167 And he said from childhood. 00:15:59.167 --> 00:16:02.600 And it is often cast him into the fire and into water to destroy him. 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:09.094 But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. 00:16:09.094 --> 00:16:18.173 And Jesus said to him if you can, all things are possible for one who believes. 00:16:18.173 --> 00:16:23.851 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said I believe, help my unbelief. 00:16:24.821 --> 00:16:31.721 When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit saying to it you mute in deaf spirit. 00:16:31.721 --> 00:16:36.024 I command you come out of him and never enter him again. 00:16:36.024 --> 00:16:41.277 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out. 00:16:41.277 --> 00:16:47.312 The spirit came out and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said he is dead. 00:16:47.312 --> 00:16:53.998 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose. 00:16:53.998 --> 00:16:59.272 When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately why could we not cast it out? 00:16:59.272 --> 00:17:06.838 And Jesus said to them this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. 00:17:06.838 --> 00:17:09.884 Now I want you to look at that last word just for a second. 00:17:09.944 --> 00:17:11.631 Mark, chapter 9, verse 29,. 00:17:11.631 --> 00:17:25.597 But prayer, and in my Bible and on the screen there's a little two beside that word prayer, and it says at the bottom of the page some manuscripts add and fasting. 00:17:25.597 --> 00:17:37.853 If you're reading the King James or the New King James or a couple of other English translations, that verse, verse 29, reads this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting. 00:17:37.853 --> 00:17:59.383 Now, context, that's what's called a textual variant and we get those sometimes in the New Testament, in the scriptures, where some of the earlier manuscripts that were actually discovered later read a little bit differently than some of the later manuscripts that were discovered earlier. 00:17:59.383 --> 00:17:59.884 Are you with me there? 00:17:59.884 --> 00:18:05.577 So the King James uses later manuscripts that we actually had before. 00:18:05.577 --> 00:18:11.197 There are a lot more of them in those manuscripts say prayer and fasting. 00:18:11.197 --> 00:18:16.019 Later on in the timeline of things, we archaease. 00:18:16.019 --> 00:18:21.351 We like, I was involved I had nothing to do with it Archaeologists and people that dig places. 00:18:21.351 --> 00:18:37.759 They found other manuscripts that actually dated further back than the manuscripts that were used in the translation process of the King James, and those earlier manuscripts, just said, cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:41.904 So then the question becomes okay, where did the and fasting come from? 00:18:42.567 --> 00:19:04.775 And most scholars, theologians, say that in the days of the early church they were trying to figure out what transformational habits looked like for them and Jesus, in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, Sermon on the Mount, he highlights three things that he says as people who are of the kingdom and following after the king should do, and guess what they are. 00:19:04.775 --> 00:19:10.546 He says we should give, he says that we should serve Four things, I guess. 00:19:10.546 --> 00:19:14.872 He says that we should pray and he says that we should fast. 00:19:14.872 --> 00:19:16.875 That is four, right, y'all check me on that. 00:19:16.875 --> 00:19:17.154 That's four. 00:19:17.154 --> 00:19:18.998 I'm not a math, I'm a history guy, not a math guy. 00:19:18.998 --> 00:19:24.474 Four things Give, serve, pray and fast. 00:19:24.474 --> 00:19:33.614 And so in the early church days they're trying to incorporate these habits, these practices, into their church, and so they say prayer and fasting. 00:19:34.164 --> 00:19:44.259 Now, the point of today's message is not to debate whether Mark, chapter 9, verse 29 should be but prayer or but prayer and fasting. 00:19:44.259 --> 00:20:01.101 Whether it's prayer and fasting or simply prayer, the point of Mark chapter 9, the passage that we read this morning today, is that we, as the followers of Christ, desperately need to cultivate a life with God. 00:20:01.101 --> 00:20:03.904 Anybody just agree with that this morning. 00:20:03.904 --> 00:20:12.884 We need to walk with God, and we're going to see why from Mark chapter 9 today. 00:20:12.884 --> 00:20:17.904 So this question that we're going to ask, why does fasting matter or does fasting matter? 00:20:17.904 --> 00:20:40.663 The principles that come out of Mark chapter 9 as to why we need to walk with God, they apply whether it's prayer or fasting, or community, or coming to church or worship, whatever spiritual habit you want to put in the blank today, these principles from Mark chapter 9 apply. 00:20:40.663 --> 00:20:45.904 So today we're going to apply Mark chapter 9 to the habit of fasting. 00:20:45.904 --> 00:20:46.386 Why? 00:20:46.386 --> 00:20:47.612 Why consider fasting? 00:20:47.612 --> 00:20:58.559 Why would I, why would you consider saying no to something that I want and need food, in order to give a yes to God once? 00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:07.839 Well, the first reason is this number one we need a spiritual depth that goes beyond human capacity. 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:13.778 We need a spiritual depth that goes beyond human capacity. 00:21:14.105 --> 00:21:16.835 I love what happens here in Mark chapter 9. 00:21:16.835 --> 00:21:27.435 Jesus, peter, james and John come down the mountain, they're moving into the valley and they see a crowd gathered. 00:21:27.435 --> 00:21:31.308 And y'all, you got to know, like for Jesus. 00:21:31.308 --> 00:21:41.861 When he sees a crowd gathered with his disciples at the center and he's not there, you got to know like in his mind he's thinking I know he's God and he knows everything. 00:21:41.861 --> 00:21:48.918 There's got to be something in the human side of him that's like oh my goodness, what have they gotten themselves into? 00:21:48.918 --> 00:21:50.325 Now, right? 00:21:50.325 --> 00:21:51.968 And so he walks down the mountain. 00:21:51.968 --> 00:21:52.969 He sees the crowd. 00:21:52.969 --> 00:22:01.539 The scribes are arguing with the disciples and the crowd, they see Jesus and they're like all right, the disciples don't have anything to offer us, now, let's go to Jesus. 00:22:01.539 --> 00:22:03.547 And so they run to Jesus. 00:22:03.887 --> 00:22:11.579 This man speaks up and says teacher, my son is possessed by a spirit, a demon. 00:22:11.579 --> 00:22:15.553 My son is possessed, I brought him to you. 00:22:15.553 --> 00:22:19.904 I brought him to you, but before I brought him to you, what does he say? 00:22:19.904 --> 00:22:29.500 He says I brought him to your disciples and they were not able to cast him out. 00:22:29.500 --> 00:22:51.217 So this spirit, y'all, it makes this young boy, it makes him mute, it overtakes him, it seizes him, it throws him to the ground, it causes him to foam at the mouth and grind his teeth and he becomes rigid when this spirit overtakes him and the disciples were not able to do anything to fix it. 00:22:52.266 --> 00:22:59.438 How many of you know that at some point in time in life we come to the limits of human capacity? 00:22:59.438 --> 00:23:02.887 And you know, sometimes, sometimes we say things. 00:23:02.887 --> 00:23:11.771 We say things, like you know, and it sounds really, really spiritual, like, well, we can't do anything unless God gets involved, and it sounds really spiritual. 00:23:11.771 --> 00:23:13.208 And to an extent it's true. 00:23:13.208 --> 00:23:16.737 But at the same time, like some of y'all are pretty extraordinary, you can do a lot of stuff. 00:23:16.737 --> 00:23:23.717 Let's be honest, right, some of you are great business people and you can do a lot of great business in your strength and in your power. 00:23:23.717 --> 00:23:25.904 Some of you are great parents. 00:23:25.904 --> 00:23:29.335 You can parent with a lot of patience, in your strength and in your power. 00:23:29.335 --> 00:23:38.884 Some of you are great husbands and wives, and some of you know people who have no relationship with God, who are able to accomplish and achieve at a really high level. 00:23:39.185 --> 00:23:56.159 Anybody know anybody like that and you're like, no, they seem to be doing a lot in their strength and in their power, but how many of you know that at some point in time we all hit a wall when it comes to our strength and our power. 00:23:56.159 --> 00:24:12.554 Maybe it's not today, maybe it's not tomorrow, but for every single one of us in the room and online, there will come a moment, a time, a circumstance, where you hit the limit, the limit of your human capacity. 00:24:12.554 --> 00:24:17.904 The disciples hit their limit when this demon-possessed boy was brought to them. 00:24:17.904 --> 00:24:35.884 They had nothing to offer in that moment and if you've ever been there, maybe it's grief or loss or a shift in circumstances of your career that you didn't see coming, or maybe it's relational tension that you just can't resolve. 00:24:36.385 --> 00:24:44.358 When you hit that limit of human capacity, that is incredibly disconcerting, is it not? 00:24:44.358 --> 00:24:51.548 Especially if you're used to being the kind of person who can just pull yourself up by the bootstraps and just keep on achieving. 00:24:51.548 --> 00:24:57.436 When you come to the end of yourself and go I got no answers, no solutions. 00:24:57.436 --> 00:25:03.877 I'm at a wall and I am powerless to move forward in the face of what is opposing me. 00:25:03.877 --> 00:25:07.799 That is a difficult place to be. 00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:16.987 Maybe that's where you are now, and maybe you've been trying to duct tape your life together. 00:25:16.987 --> 00:25:20.569 You know that's the whole saying right, you can fix anything with a little bit of duct tape and WD-40. 00:25:20.569 --> 00:25:22.870 And maybe that's what you look like right now. 00:25:22.870 --> 00:25:28.698 You're duct tape and WD-40 and everything you can trying to hold it together. 00:25:28.990 --> 00:25:32.833 Maybe you're here today to hear that what we just said? 00:25:32.833 --> 00:25:34.940 There is a limit to your capacity. 00:25:34.940 --> 00:25:37.595 There's a limit to your capacity. 00:25:37.595 --> 00:25:43.588 Not only that, we need a spiritual death that goes beyond human capacity. 00:25:43.588 --> 00:25:45.797 We also are in a spiritual battle. 00:25:45.797 --> 00:25:48.174 So there's a limit to us. 00:25:48.174 --> 00:25:53.569 And then there's the reality of the spiritual world around us. 00:25:53.569 --> 00:25:55.393 Why consider fasting? 00:25:55.393 --> 00:25:58.911 Because we are in a spiritual battle, y'all. 00:25:58.911 --> 00:26:07.789 All that you see is not all that there is, and we know that right, there's something within us that we know. 00:26:07.789 --> 00:26:18.746 There's an invisible world that is every bit as real as the spiritual world or the physical world in which we live. 00:26:18.746 --> 00:26:24.077 There's a spiritual battle that's raging all around us every single moment of every single day. 00:26:24.592 --> 00:26:32.538 One theologian said one time that every square inch of the universe is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan. 00:26:32.538 --> 00:26:36.549 Now I want you to think about that for a moment today. 00:26:36.549 --> 00:26:45.370 That means that everywhere you go, everything you do, you are entering into a spiritual battlefield. 00:26:45.370 --> 00:26:56.029 And how many times do we just wander through this spiritual battle completely unaware of the spiritual realm around us? 00:26:56.029 --> 00:27:06.710 Now I have to say this a decade in youth ministry has made it to where I can't talk about spiritual warfare without saying this not every bad thing that happens in your life is Satan's fault. 00:27:06.710 --> 00:27:10.097 You were driving 15 over the speed limit and you got a ticket. 00:27:10.097 --> 00:27:11.609 That was not Satan, that was you. 00:27:11.609 --> 00:27:13.370 You were broke the law, you were a bad driver. 00:27:13.370 --> 00:27:15.609 That's on you, you know. 00:27:15.609 --> 00:27:19.607 You didn't pay your taxes on time and you got to find Satan didn't do that, that was you. 00:27:19.607 --> 00:27:19.809 You know. 00:27:19.809 --> 00:27:25.624 Like, whatever it is like, there's some things in life it's like no, that was just me, I just forgot, I didn't do it. 00:27:25.624 --> 00:27:27.910 I didn't do it, I said I failed, I fell short. 00:27:29.355 --> 00:27:38.644 And at the same time, we can't discount the fact that we do have a spiritual enemy. 00:27:38.644 --> 00:27:40.370 Now there's good news right. 00:27:40.370 --> 00:27:49.701 There are angels Hebrews 1 says that are sent out as ministering spirits to serve those who will inherit salvation. 00:27:49.701 --> 00:28:04.890 There's also a spiritual enemy and his name is Satan and he's got a force, a power under his control to wage war against the plans and purposes of God in the earth. 00:28:04.890 --> 00:28:11.870 And we see that in Mark, chapter nine, this demon possessed boy is brought to Jesus. 00:28:11.870 --> 00:28:15.412 Jesus says faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? 00:28:15.412 --> 00:28:17.008 How long am I to bear with you? 00:28:17.008 --> 00:28:17.881 Bring him to me. 00:28:17.881 --> 00:28:20.029 They bring the boy to Jesus and watch this. 00:28:20.029 --> 00:28:25.049 When the spirit saw Jesus, immediately it convulsed the boy. 00:28:25.049 --> 00:28:30.141 He fell on the ground and rolled around foaming at the mouth. 00:28:30.141 --> 00:28:38.416 Here's spiritual warfare lived out right in front of Jesus and his disciples. 00:28:38.416 --> 00:28:43.060 Now imagine being in the crowd and watching that. 00:28:44.770 --> 00:28:47.980 Now again, we live in a different day and a different time. 00:28:47.980 --> 00:28:53.549 We live in a different world than first century Palestine. 00:28:53.549 --> 00:29:01.130 It's a different day and time, but the spiritual realm is every bit as real today. 00:29:01.130 --> 00:29:08.170 The spiritual clearly impacts the natural, the unseen clearly impacts the scene. 00:29:08.170 --> 00:29:09.809 So what does that mean for us? 00:29:09.809 --> 00:29:15.693 It means that we need two things we need wisdom and we need discernment, do we not? 00:29:16.771 --> 00:29:22.999 Ephesians, chapter six, the apostle Paul is writing about putting on the armor of God. 00:29:22.999 --> 00:29:32.150 He says the goal, the goal for the armor of God, is that we would be able to stand against the schemes of the enemy. 00:29:32.150 --> 00:29:34.609 Who wants to stand against the schemes of the enemy? 00:29:34.609 --> 00:29:37.009 I do, and I hope you do as well. 00:29:37.009 --> 00:29:48.442 So Paul says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers and principalities and powers, against cosmic powers over this present darkness. 00:29:48.442 --> 00:29:56.800 And so when Paul gets to the listing of the spiritual armor, he starts with the belt of truth. 00:29:56.800 --> 00:30:00.419 We need wisdom and we need discernment. 00:30:00.419 --> 00:30:08.418 We need the ability to look at the physical world and discern the spiritual. 00:30:08.418 --> 00:30:31.358 We need the ability to look at the scene, circumstances and, through the wisdom of the word and the presence of the spirit in our lives, discern what God is doing and where Satan is attacking, so that we can navigate not by our feelings and our emotions and our thoughts, but by the truth that comes from God. 00:30:31.358 --> 00:30:34.519 Anybody need wisdom and discernment in your life today. 00:30:34.519 --> 00:30:36.913 Yeah, me too. 00:30:36.913 --> 00:30:42.798 Me too, we need a spiritual death because we're in a spiritual battle. 00:30:42.798 --> 00:30:48.980 And can we just say number three, the stakes are high because Satan's goal is your eternal death. 00:30:48.980 --> 00:30:53.920 Satan's goal is your eternal death. 00:30:54.589 --> 00:30:58.356 Jesus asked the voice father, how long has this been happening to him? 00:30:58.356 --> 00:30:59.673 He said from childhood. 00:30:59.673 --> 00:31:16.882 From childhood, from childhood, satan has been after this boy and it has often cast him into fire and into water to destroy him, to destroy him. 00:31:16.882 --> 00:31:20.490 The stakes are high. 00:31:20.490 --> 00:31:24.401 Satan is not playing games. 00:31:24.401 --> 00:31:26.490 He's a defeated foe. 00:31:26.490 --> 00:31:31.583 The cross is our sign of victory. 00:31:31.583 --> 00:31:36.903 The empty tomb is our promise that Satan is a defeated foe. 00:31:37.029 --> 00:31:43.838 Jesus will return, but in the meantime, satan's strategy is scorched earth. 00:31:43.838 --> 00:31:47.057 He knows that he is going to hell. 00:31:47.057 --> 00:31:49.738 He knows that's where he's going to end up. 00:31:49.738 --> 00:31:56.714 His strategy is to take as many of the people made in the image of God with him as he can. 00:31:56.714 --> 00:32:00.498 Like, james, this sounds like this is a pretty big deal. 00:32:00.498 --> 00:32:02.817 This is a big, big deal. 00:32:02.817 --> 00:32:09.520 Satan knows where he's heading and he wants to take as many people with him as he possibly can. 00:32:09.520 --> 00:32:15.038 Maybe you're here, maybe you're watching online. 00:32:15.130 --> 00:32:27.681 Like I can't believe that a loving God would send anybody to hell, I just wanna say really, really clearly today God's goal is not for anybody to go to hell. 00:32:27.681 --> 00:32:32.839 God doesn't want anybody to go to hell. 00:32:32.839 --> 00:32:41.759 God's plan, god's purpose for me, for you, for people, is not that anybody should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 00:32:41.759 --> 00:32:45.711 That's 1 Peter, chapter three God's heart. 00:32:45.711 --> 00:33:05.904 He's patient towards us because his heart is for as many people as possible to see the beauty of Christ, the power of Jesus' blood shed for us, the beauty of the resurrection, the promise of eternal life, and place their faith in Jesus. 00:33:07.255 --> 00:33:13.838 Hell was not created for me and it was not created for you, James. 00:33:13.838 --> 00:33:14.642 What do you mean by that? 00:33:14.642 --> 00:33:17.704 Well, look at Matthew, chapter 25, verse 41. 00:33:17.704 --> 00:33:19.402 I want to show you this really quickly. 00:33:19.402 --> 00:33:21.598 Matthew 25, verse 41,. 00:33:21.598 --> 00:33:31.223 Jesus is in a conversation with some of his followers about the last days and he's promising hey, judgment is coming. 00:33:31.223 --> 00:33:35.586 There is coming, a day when judgment will come. 00:33:35.586 --> 00:33:47.443 And on that day of the final judgment, there will be those on the left of Jesus to whom he says depart from me, you cursed into the eternal fire. 00:33:47.443 --> 00:33:52.846 But here's the key prepared for the devil and his angels. 00:33:54.335 --> 00:33:56.159 Who was hell created? 00:33:56.159 --> 00:34:00.307 For the devil and his angels. 00:34:00.307 --> 00:34:03.863 So what does that mean for me and for you? 00:34:03.863 --> 00:34:12.502 Well, it means simply this you and I were created to live today and forever in the presence of Almighty God. 00:34:12.502 --> 00:34:36.026 And when I messed that up, and when you messed that up, and when people throughout human history rebelled against God and chose their own way, god took things into his own hands and he sent his son to do for me and to do for you what I could not do for myself and what you cannot do for yourself. 00:34:36.026 --> 00:34:51.724 Jesus shed his blood, jesus died, jesus was buried in a tomb, jesus resurrected from the dead so that I and so that you don't have to go to hell and we can live forever in the presence of Almighty God. 00:34:51.724 --> 00:35:03.443 You were not created for hell, and we can clap for that because I'm glad about that Right, you're like James. 00:35:03.684 --> 00:35:05.721 It's so much more than about not going to hell. 00:35:05.721 --> 00:35:10.183 Absolutely, god wants to give you life, and life to the full. 00:35:10.183 --> 00:35:11.500 God wants to give you peace. 00:35:11.500 --> 00:35:12.739 God wants to forgive you. 00:35:12.739 --> 00:35:17.459 God wants your life to be characterized by joy in the midst of pain. 00:35:17.459 --> 00:35:19.863 God wants to give you hope in the darkness. 00:35:19.863 --> 00:35:23.583 God wants to use you for his plans and his purposes in the earth. 00:35:23.583 --> 00:35:25.839 Absolutely, all of that is true. 00:35:25.839 --> 00:35:33.599 And then one day, at the judgment, god wants to usher you into his presence forever by the blood of Jesus. 00:35:33.599 --> 00:35:44.043 So can I just say, if you're here and you don't know Jesus a savior, you're watching online and you don't know Jesus a savior, the invitation is open to you. 00:35:44.043 --> 00:35:46.822 Today you don't have to go to hell. 00:35:46.822 --> 00:35:55.263 You can live in the presence of the loving, almighty Father, who has made a way for you to go to heaven. 00:35:55.263 --> 00:35:57.017 Isn't that good news? 00:35:57.017 --> 00:36:01.022 Jesus is greater. 00:36:01.022 --> 00:36:06.676 This demon wants to cast this boy into fire and why he's been doing it since childhood, to destroy him. 00:36:06.997 --> 00:36:15.360 The man, the father who is hurting for his son, looks at Jesus and says if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. 00:36:15.360 --> 00:36:25.825 Jesus says back to the man if you can, all things are possible for one who believes. 00:36:25.825 --> 00:36:31.681 Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said I believe, help my unbelief. 00:36:31.681 --> 00:36:37.560 And isn't that such an honest expression of where we are so many times when it comes to our faith? 00:36:37.560 --> 00:36:39.425 God, I've got questions. 00:36:39.425 --> 00:36:42.437 God, I've got doubts, but I believe, help my unbelief. 00:36:42.437 --> 00:36:45.741 God, I trust you and I'm still weak. 00:36:45.741 --> 00:36:50.805 God, I want to follow you, but I also struggle sometimes. 00:36:50.805 --> 00:36:59.165 Aren't you grateful that we come to the Jesus who says anything is possible for the one who believes? 00:36:59.165 --> 00:37:03.223 See, here's the great news from Mark chapter 9. 00:37:04.114 --> 00:37:13.082 The power in Mark chapter 9 was not in the amount of faith that the father was able to muster up. 00:37:13.082 --> 00:37:21.578 The power in Mark chapter 9 comes from who the father puts his faith in. 00:37:21.578 --> 00:37:26.500 And the same thing is true for me and it's true for you today. 00:37:26.500 --> 00:37:30.305 The power is not in your ability to believe. 00:37:30.305 --> 00:37:35.826 It is in Jesus's ability to save and to redeem and to restore. 00:37:35.826 --> 00:37:39.705 He's a much better savior than I am believer. 00:37:39.705 --> 00:37:43.224 He's a much better sustainer than I am follower. 00:37:43.224 --> 00:37:48.442 Jesus is greater, and that is good news for me and for you. 00:37:49.714 --> 00:38:00.000 So Jesus sees that the crowd comes running together, he rebukes the unclean spirit saying to it you mute and deaf spirit, I command you come out of him, never enter him again. 00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.638 After crying out and convulsing him terribly, the spirit came out. 00:38:04.638 --> 00:38:06.475 Come on y'all. 00:38:06.475 --> 00:38:08.642 The spirit came out. 00:38:08.642 --> 00:38:14.465 The darkness had no power at a word from Jesus. 00:38:14.465 --> 00:38:16.559 The spirit comes out. 00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:18.259 The boy's like a corpse. 00:38:18.259 --> 00:38:24.064 Most of them are looking at this situation and says they're saying he is dead. 00:38:24.064 --> 00:38:29.585 But Jesus took him by the hand, lifted him up and he arose. 00:38:29.585 --> 00:38:31.317 And he arose. 00:38:31.317 --> 00:38:38.083 Resurrection is the end of our story. 00:38:38.083 --> 00:38:43.882 Redemption is in our future. 00:38:43.882 --> 00:38:47.500 Jesus wins. 00:38:47.500 --> 00:38:49.994 Jesus wins, like. 00:38:49.994 --> 00:38:51.681 That's where this story is going. 00:38:51.974 --> 00:39:08.165 And so, last thought for the day, fasting in the meantime, for followers of Christ, those of us who have been made alive by Jesus, fasting is a means, a means by which we starve the flesh and feed the spirit. 00:39:08.165 --> 00:39:14.238 We long to see the power and the presence of God at work in our lives. 00:39:14.238 --> 00:39:18.925 We long for the work of Christ to be done in our lives. 00:39:18.925 --> 00:39:23.105 We long to see Jesus one day, face to face. 00:39:23.105 --> 00:39:38.024 Fasting is saying no to me so that in the meantime, in the in-between between now and the time I see Jesus face to face, I can focus my attention and the affections of my heart on Jesus Christ. 00:39:38.024 --> 00:39:53.040 I don't want to be so full of the junk of this day and time that I miss the power of Almighty God, because, yes, Satan is a defeated foe, yes, jesus wins. 00:39:53.040 --> 00:39:56.263 But can we just be honest Sin is still deadly. 00:39:56.263 --> 00:40:06.644 We still have the power to self-destruct our lives here and now, and I don't want that to be my story and I don't want that to be your story. 00:40:06.644 --> 00:40:10.724 I want to live in alignment with the plan and the purpose of God. 00:40:10.724 --> 00:40:16.014 Let me illustrate it like this and I'm done and we're going to sing and we're going to respond to what Jesus is doing. 00:40:17.077 --> 00:40:30.074 About a year and a half ago, I was taking Judah, my youngest, for we were walking through the neighborhood and he was in his stroller, and anytime we see any sort of like dead animal on the road, we have to stop and examine it. 00:40:30.074 --> 00:40:32.303 That's what life with boys is like. 00:40:32.303 --> 00:40:35.054 Sorry, we're talking about fasting. 00:40:35.054 --> 00:40:37.582 Maybe you're like I need to fast now because I definitely don't want to eat. 00:40:37.582 --> 00:40:46.982 We came across I don't know how to say this other than like this we came across a recently deceased copperhead snake, fresh, like it was fresh. 00:40:46.982 --> 00:40:50.540 And Judah two and a half years old at the time. 00:40:50.540 --> 00:40:54.568 He looks at me and he's like Dad, I'm going to touch it. 00:40:54.568 --> 00:41:01.074 And he's like climbing out of the stroller, like trying his best to get to this recently deceased copperhead snake. 00:41:01.074 --> 00:41:10.669 Now he's two and a half, he doesn't know what I know, and it's that just because this snake is dead doesn't mean it's any less deadly. 00:41:10.669 --> 00:41:21.240 And I knew that if Judah got near this snake it could still bite him, it's venom could still infect him, it could still be a dangerous moment. 00:41:21.240 --> 00:41:28.074 Y'all, satan is a defeated foe, but in the meantime he's still deadly. 00:41:29.336 --> 00:41:36.069 And so, for me and for you, what we need to do is walk by the Spirit. 00:41:36.069 --> 00:41:38.502 As Paul says it in Galatians, chapter five. 00:41:38.502 --> 00:41:42.074 We need the power that comes from a connection to God. 00:41:42.074 --> 00:41:59.074 We need to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, not gratifying the desires of the flesh, but seeking Jesus with our heart, our mind, our lives, with everything that we are. 00:41:59.074 --> 00:42:00.137 Why fast? 00:42:00.137 --> 00:42:03.786 Because we need the power that comes from connection to God. 00:42:03.786 --> 00:42:08.444 And can I just remind you of the promise in the Sermon on the Mount? 00:42:08.444 --> 00:42:14.297 Jesus says this those who fast, god will reward Like? 00:42:14.297 --> 00:42:15.179 What does that reward mean? 00:42:15.179 --> 00:42:25.487 I'm not sure it could look like a lot of different things, but I think it has everything to do with the power of the Spirit working through your life. 00:42:26.355 --> 00:42:30.615