SPEAKER_01: Welcome to DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_01: Our Sunday morning services are weekly at 9 and 10 30 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: You're listening to an audio recast of this past week's service.
SPEAKER_01: We hope you enjoy.
SPEAKER_01: God bless.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning, church family.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all doing alright this morning?
SPEAKER_00: I was told the first service, uh, I'll tell you guys again.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, when I was in third grade in music class, we did recorders.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody have to do the little plastic recorders?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and once I nailed hot cross buns, man, let me tell you, that was the height of my musical career.
SPEAKER_00: Which is this the camera that's on live stream right now?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, my mom gave me three piano lessons and gave up on me.
SPEAKER_00: My own mother.
SPEAKER_00: Like that, that's the truth.
SPEAKER_00: So to be led in worship like that, she's gonna be watching later on.
SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to explain that.
SPEAKER_00: I'll put the grandkids on the camera, that'll cover a lot.
SPEAKER_00: But to be led and worshiped by the band there, uh it and for the people to be able to use skills, talents, abilities that that like I don't personally possess is it is really, really, really great.
SPEAKER_00: Can we give the band another round of applause again?
SPEAKER_00: And specifically, brother Sid looking good in a blue shirt and a navy jacket and khakis.
SPEAKER_00: Grant, you missed the memo, but it's all good.
SPEAKER_00: Uh as Grant said, uh my name is Hunter Smith.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm the new uh Minister of Students here.
SPEAKER_00: Uh roughly a month in uh here here at our time.
SPEAKER_00: I've I've got t-shirts.
SPEAKER_00: I've got official DeSoto Hills t-shirts now.
SPEAKER_00: I I spilt salsa on one.
SPEAKER_00: I have one DeSoto Hills t-shirt now.
SPEAKER_00: Um so so we're official, we're part of us now, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so uh a few weeks ago, as Brother Grant said, him and David were at the Southern Baptist Convention this past week, and it was it was my first Monday in the office.
SPEAKER_00: I hadn't even unpacked all my boxes.
SPEAKER_00: We had a staff meeting, and then he asked me, he said, Hunter, let me talk to you in my office for a second.
SPEAKER_00: Now you need to understand a little bit of something you might have been able to pick up on this.
SPEAKER_00: I've spent a few hours in my career in the principal's office, and I'm sitting here like I haven't even been on the job for 24 hours.
SPEAKER_00: What have I already done wrong?
SPEAKER_00: But he asked me to be able to preach this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm grateful for the invitation, the opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: If you have your Bibles, we're in Mark chapter 9 this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 9, and and to tell you, you know, like third grade, hot cross buns on the recorder.
SPEAKER_00: That's the height of my music career.
SPEAKER_00: But uh I I I did, my academic career did progress just a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: I actually actually made it to college.
SPEAKER_00: It was quite a work of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Um but uh but I played football for two years while I was in college, and one of the things you had to do every year on the football team is you had to take your schedule to your position coach, and they had to oversee your schedule and make sure that it was appropriate, make sure it was right, make sure it followed in the Campbellsville University football guidelines.
SPEAKER_00: But but, you know, to use a good Southern phrase, like my my mom didn't raise a dummy, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And I noticed and I understood that if you took a night class or an afternoon class, you could leave practice early and you could clip out of conditioning for the day.
SPEAKER_00: That's called running, folks.
SPEAKER_00: All right?
SPEAKER_00: And so I was like, okay, I'll do that, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so I signed up for a night class.
SPEAKER_00: And I I go and I sit before my position coach and he looks at me.
SPEAKER_00: He he had reader, reader glasses on, the magnetic ones.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not there yet.
SPEAKER_00: I'm old, but I'm not there yet.
SPEAKER_00: But he had the reading glasses on, he was looking, and he like looked over top of me.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Are you serious?
SPEAKER_00: I said, Yes, sir, that's my schedule.
SPEAKER_00: He said, No, it's not.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I I did sign up for that night class, but unbeknownst to Hunter, you had that night class had to be something for your degree program.
SPEAKER_00: It couldn't be an elective.
SPEAKER_00: And I took the most elective-y elective there could be.
SPEAKER_00: It was three words.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all ready for this?
SPEAKER_00: Art 101.
SPEAKER_00: Drawing.
SPEAKER_00: Or if you're from Kentucky, drawing with an L, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's the first classes they teach you actually how to say the word.
SPEAKER_00: And he looked at me and said, No, you're not taking this class.
SPEAKER_00: Well, coach, I, you know, I gotta have X amount of electives to get at, I think, and I could talk my way out of it.
SPEAKER_00: I left the office, I was walking to my dorm, not even like two steps out of the office, I get a text, hey, good news, I talked to your advisor.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you can reschedule your classes.
SPEAKER_00: And I felt very sad.
SPEAKER_00: But but what happened in this moment?
SPEAKER_00: Somebody who had a little bit more authority than I did made the decisions for me.
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I never got to take that art class.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, with a four-year-old and a two-year-old, it really shows that it could have really paid off for me.
SPEAKER_00: I was I was anticipating, I was trying to explain myself.
SPEAKER_00: I said, I'm gonna be a youth minister, guys.
SPEAKER_00: I I could I could boldly exposit the truths of scripture through Crayola.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be great.
SPEAKER_00: And he didn't really, you know, buy it, but but all I have to say is I said, like there was somebody who had authority over me that made decisions for me.
SPEAKER_00: And for all of us, that that's things that we face.
SPEAKER_00: We all have somebody that we answer to.
SPEAKER_00: We all have something that we answer to.
SPEAKER_00: It could be external forces like coaches, teachers, employers, moms, dads, mammas, papas, crazy aunts and uncles.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that is.
SPEAKER_00: Brother Grant.
SPEAKER_00: You know, all those things.
SPEAKER_00: Like, there are things in authority that we answer to externally, internally as well.
SPEAKER_00: You know, things like fear rules over us, does it not?
SPEAKER_00: Things like anxiety rules over us, things like stress rules over us, things like busy schedules rule over us, things like just past experiences and trauma from those things rule over us.
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to let them go.
SPEAKER_00: And for us to be a risen church of Christ, for us to be a church that is that has overcome the grave, that pronounces victory over death and sin and all these things, for us to be able to do those things to its fullest completion, our lives have to be in submission to the rule and reign of God the Father above all else, and not of the things of this world, and fully, completely, totally, and that is what Jesus demonstrates for us this morning in Mark chapter 9.
SPEAKER_00: If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to stand.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 9, beginning of verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: It says this, and when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them, and immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him.
SPEAKER_00: And he asked them, What are you arguing about?
SPEAKER_00: And someone from the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute.
SPEAKER_00: And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, he foams at the mouth, he grinds his teeth, he becomes rigid.
SPEAKER_00: So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able to.
SPEAKER_00: And he answered them, O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you?
SPEAKER_00: How long am I to bear with you?
SPEAKER_00: Bring him to me.
SPEAKER_00: You may take a seat this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We have this moment in Mark chapter 9, and Jesus' ministry was defined by great commotion.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was there's a commotion everywhere he went.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times good, a lot of times there was something going on, there was impetus that led to his actions.
SPEAKER_00: Whether that's a great teaching, whether that's a miracle, whether that's you know, whatever that might be, that there's always typically a commotion that was going on, and Jesus speaking peace into those moments.
SPEAKER_00: And so what is going on right here?
SPEAKER_00: Well, predominantly, there's a young man, there's a boy whose father brings him, who has an unclean spirit, who has a demon possession, uh, whatever that might be.
SPEAKER_00: Now I need to warn you, church, this is not this morning about the ins and outs of demon possession.
SPEAKER_00: If you have questions about that, Grant would love to talk to you after service, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But but all that to say, this is that's that's not what it's about, but but it is what it's about, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because if we're all going to be honest with ourselves, we find ourselves in this story.
SPEAKER_00: We find ourselves in this.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's not this this demon possession, this unclean spirit that causes muteness and all these things.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's not that, but but all of us have something in our lives we would love to be rid of, right?
SPEAKER_00: We all have something in our lives that tends to rule over top of us.
SPEAKER_00: We all have something in our lives we would give anything to get rid of, to get going.
SPEAKER_00: We would love those things.
SPEAKER_00: And it can be anything.
SPEAKER_00: It could be sin, it could be sickness, it could be depression, it could be addictions, whatever that might be.
SPEAKER_00: We all find ourselves in a similar situation as this young man in need of healing, in need of a work of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And so this commotion is built off of this young man who has an unclean spirit, but it's also built off of the lack of the disciples being able to answer the problem.
SPEAKER_00: The lack of the disciples being able to create a solution, to be able to take care of it.
SPEAKER_00: Because we need to understand what are the disciples doing up to this point.
SPEAKER_00: If you have your Bibles and you want to flip over, Mark chapter 6, beginning in verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: Grant teed you up for it, and I knocked it out.
SPEAKER_00: But Mark chapter 6, beginning in verse 7, it says this.
SPEAKER_00: He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two.
SPEAKER_00: He gave them authority over unclean spirits.
SPEAKER_00: He charged them to take nothing for their journey, except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals, not put on two tunics.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there.
SPEAKER_00: And if any plates will not receive you, and they will not listen to you when you leave, shake the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.
SPEAKER_00: So they went out and they proclaimed that people should repent.
SPEAKER_00: And they cast out many demons, anointed with oil, many who are sick, and they healed them.
SPEAKER_00: So here are the disciples who are doing the thing that Jesus commanded them to do.
SPEAKER_00: They're doing the thing that Jesus commanded them to do.
SPEAKER_00: But I think we can speak for all of our lives is that when we are tasked, when we are commanded, when we are equipped to do something that Jesus has specifically designed us for, and we are unable to do it, or there's a failure to do it to the fullest capacity, it's unnerving, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: It's a little frustrating.
SPEAKER_00: It's this thing that I know I can do it, but but but all of a sudden it's it's not working.
SPEAKER_00: I I took a group to uh camp out one time and we were going out in the camp, you know, gonna go camping.
SPEAKER_00: Wherever we were staying, they they had a thing where you could register to rent like a fire ring, a fire pit, and they would supply you all the equipment to make said fire.
SPEAKER_00: So so I'm Hunter from like Bucknasty, Kentucky, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I've built my sheriff bonfires, okay?
SPEAKER_00: My other adult with me, I had two adults with me at the time.
SPEAKER_00: One was ex-marine, so I know like if there's bears and anything, he's gonna fight them with his bare hands.
SPEAKER_00: But the other guy I had with me was a former Eagle Scout.
SPEAKER_00: Surely to goodness, between the three of us with a public Kentucky public education, we can put our heads together, we can make a fire for these kids, right?
SPEAKER_00: But the equipment that they brought us was not great, okay?
SPEAKER_00: It was one of those like little 99 cent like plastic bic lighters, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And then it was a log, like like a stump.
SPEAKER_00: It was like yay big, it was green all the way through, like it wasn't just something, no lighter fluid, no nothing like that.
SPEAKER_00: So so we're sitting here trying to like figure out how to get this thing started.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like ripping fibers off because I'm because I'm really strong.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like prying this stump apart with my bare hands and like chopping it into pieces.
SPEAKER_00: Like we're trying our best to try and get this thing started.
SPEAKER_00: And and my my Eagle Scout buddy's sitting there like with the big like I really thought he was gonna like stick, make it happen, and everything like that.
SPEAKER_00: And he's trying to get it started.
SPEAKER_00: He's got a piece of cardboard, he's he's spanning it, you know, doing this.
SPEAKER_00: He's getting angry, and and got like I love teenagers.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and they are beautifully created in the image of God to be some of the most patient and understanding people on the face of the planet.
SPEAKER_00: Love you guys dearly.
SPEAKER_00: Please stop staring at me.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but but all that to say, and so they're all like, oh, do you guys not know how to start a fire?
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys not how to and my buddy like if looks could kill, if like lasers could shoot and make fire, he was gonna do it.
SPEAKER_00: But but this idea that man, like, we're created to do something great, but but there's a failure to do it in this moment.
SPEAKER_00: And how does Jesus respond to the disciples?
SPEAKER_00: How does Jesus respond to the crowd?
SPEAKER_00: How does Jesus respond to everybody gathered?
SPEAKER_00: What does he call them?
SPEAKER_00: He says, faithless generation.
SPEAKER_00: What a scathing indictment on our trust and our belief in the Lord in this moment, is the way he describes us as a faithless generation.
SPEAKER_00: And that might sound harsh, but we need to understand that that that definition, faithless generation, is juxtaposed by what's happening next.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: It says, And they brought the boy to him, and when the spirit saw him immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground.
SPEAKER_00: He rolled about, foaming at the mouth.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus asked the father, How long has this been happening to him?
SPEAKER_00: And he said, From childhood.
SPEAKER_00: And it has often cast him into the fire and into the water to destroy him.
SPEAKER_00: But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.
SPEAKER_00: It it should be a humbling thing in this moment.
SPEAKER_00: Like the this they bring this kid to Jesus, and what immediately happens, flare up.
SPEAKER_00: Like he he immediately has an episode, right?
SPEAKER_00: And that is not coincidental, coincid coincidental.
SPEAKER_00: That's not whoopsie daisy, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I don't big words hard.
SPEAKER_00: That's not an accident by any stretch of the imagination.
SPEAKER_00: Like we know that to be true.
SPEAKER_00: James, the brother of Jesus, in his in his book in the Bible, even writes, talking about the demons, that the demons believe in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They believe in his power.
SPEAKER_00: They shudder, they are terrified, they are fearful.
SPEAKER_00: This is not just like I said, an accident.
SPEAKER_00: This is not trying to like pretend to be sick so we can stay home from school or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00: We're familiar with that.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, mom walks in.
SPEAKER_00: You know, all I had a my my two-year-old was sick all last night.
SPEAKER_00: She was up all last night.
SPEAKER_00: Like, and then at five o'clock in the morning, my son comes to the bed and says, Paw Patrol, pancakes.
SPEAKER_00: Two separate things, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Not at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: But like I see three of y'all.
SPEAKER_00: It's like Rocky Four.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna hit the middle and hope it's right.
SPEAKER_00: If you understand that reference, we're friends, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But but it's not just like faking sickness in any capacity like that.
SPEAKER_00: This demon recognizes Jesus in this moment and fear takes over that all of a sudden like this this flare-up happens.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the enemy knows the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: Godlessness knows the power of our risen Savior.
SPEAKER_00: And we see that on a global scale in this world as well.
SPEAKER_00: We know that to be true.
SPEAKER_00: We turn on TV, we scroll through the news.
SPEAKER_00: When there is something that is truly godless out there, that is meeting, like what Paul writes in Philippians chapter 4, verse 8, whatever is true, whatever is lovely, whatever is honorable.
SPEAKER_00: When true evil meets true good, reactions, controversy, everything strikes up.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because it knows that it's real.
SPEAKER_00: Because it knows the full extent of the power.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: Godlessness will always see godliness as the enemy.
SPEAKER_00: And we should never be surprised by that.
SPEAKER_00: Godlessness will always see godliness as the enemy because it knows that it's wrong, because it knows it does not have the power.
SPEAKER_00: It knows it far better in this moment.
SPEAKER_00: This unclean spirit knows the power of Jesus far better in this moment than all the crowds, than all the disciples, than everybody that is gathered in this moment.
SPEAKER_00: And so, what is this plague doing?
SPEAKER_00: What is this unclean spirit doing?
SPEAKER_00: What is it doing?
SPEAKER_00: It's causing harm.
SPEAKER_00: It's causing discomfort, it's causing chaos.
SPEAKER_00: Go a step further.
SPEAKER_00: Like the father even describes, like it is seeking to destroy my son.
SPEAKER_00: Is that not a definition of the effects of sin in our lives?
SPEAKER_00: We can easily read this and be like, okay, well, I don't have an unclean spirit like this.
SPEAKER_00: This doesn't apply to me.
SPEAKER_00: No, we all have things that plague us, we all have things that eat at us, we all have things deep inside of us that wish to destroy us, that wish to let us be hurt, that wish to cause discomfort, to cause pain, to cause heartache, to cause stress, to cause anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: We all have those things within us.
SPEAKER_00: And here is what the Father brings his son to Jesus, and he asks him this question in verse 22 if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.
SPEAKER_00: And there is a level that we should be like applauding the dad in this moment, subsermon within a sermon.
SPEAKER_00: Go to the source, go to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I love y'all, I will do everything I can.
SPEAKER_00: I cannot do for you what Jesus can do for you.
SPEAKER_00: And the father brings the son to Jesus and lovingly asks, if you can do anything for my son, please help him.
SPEAKER_00: As a dad, we all know that to be true.
SPEAKER_00: We want to applaud that moment.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus' response tells something very, very telling about this request.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 23.
SPEAKER_00: The father asked, Can you do anything for him?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 23, Jesus said, If you can, all things are possible for the one who believes.
SPEAKER_00: And immediately the father of the child cried out and said, I believe, but help my unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, never enter him again.
SPEAKER_00: And after crying and convulsing him terribly, it came out and the boy laid like a corpse, so that most of them said he's dead.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus took him by the hand, he lifted him up, and he arose.
SPEAKER_00: You see this response.
SPEAKER_00: If you can do anything for my son, please help him.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus' response is not okay, it's not sure, it's not anything like that.
SPEAKER_00: It almost sounds a little indignant, does it not?
SPEAKER_00: If you can.
SPEAKER_00: You see, earlier, if you if you want to study Mark really, really closely in Mark chapter 1, there's a scene where a leper, society's outcast, comes to Jesus looking for healing.
SPEAKER_00: And what does the leper say to Jesus in this moment?
SPEAKER_00: He says, If you will, you can make me clean.
SPEAKER_00: What is Jesus' response to that request?
SPEAKER_00: It says, He is moved with pity.
SPEAKER_00: He is moved to compassion.
SPEAKER_00: His heart breaks for him.
SPEAKER_00: He reaches out, he touches him, he heals him.
SPEAKER_00: You have that response versus this.
SPEAKER_00: I said kind of like un, like, I can't believe you would ask that question.
SPEAKER_00: This sort of indignant response.
SPEAKER_00: Because I think all of us, we need to recognize, we need to understand there is a whole difference in our approach of can versus will to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: If you will, affirms his power, affirms that, and submits us to his plans.
SPEAKER_00: But if you can, is this idea of doubting his ability, of doubting if he's really able to take care of this, if he's really able to respond.
SPEAKER_00: Again, we come back, faithless generation.
SPEAKER_00: That that is the request of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And how does Jesus or I'm sorry?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus rebukes, he kind of responds like if he can't, all things are possible.
SPEAKER_00: And what does the father respond?
SPEAKER_00: I love the humility of this prayer.
SPEAKER_00: I love the humility of this request.
SPEAKER_00: What does he say?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you're anything like me, if you take a step back in difficult moments and take a thousand-foot view, man, I have big picture syndrome.
SPEAKER_00: Details are not my thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's this idea that, man, everything's gonna work out.
SPEAKER_00: Glass half full.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And you have this this this idea, but you but your head sits here and it's like, I know that God can do it.
SPEAKER_00: I know that this situation is not my end.
SPEAKER_00: I know that this season is not forever.
SPEAKER_00: I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
SPEAKER_00: I know that eventually the clouds are gonna break and things are gonna be okay again.
SPEAKER_00: I know that this can be done.
SPEAKER_00: I know that he can respond.
SPEAKER_00: I know he can do these things.
SPEAKER_00: And our head, admittedly, sometimes moves a little bit faster than our heart does, does it not?
SPEAKER_00: Because then there's this this this tendency of like, I know he can do it, but in the heat of the moment, the circumstances are bigger than our view of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And there's that little, little, little ounce of unbelief in these moments.
SPEAKER_00: It looks in all kinds of ways.
SPEAKER_00: It looks like hope so.
SPEAKER_00: Or or not to not to make light of this, not to belittle this.
SPEAKER_00: This is this is absolutely in.
SPEAKER_00: Appropriate response for us, but but we come to the Lord boldly in prayer and we say, God, please, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and then we tag it with, but let your will be done.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, we want to submit to that.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, we we want God's will to be done above ours.
SPEAKER_00: We should want God's will to be done above ours because he's good, he's perfect, he knows things.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, but but is that truly a responsive or submissive admission of his power, or is that just a a caveat, a little cop out to say in case these things don't happen, because I don't know if they will.
SPEAKER_00: Or I don't know if you can.
SPEAKER_00: Because for all of us, it's so much easier to see ourselves as a victim.
SPEAKER_00: It's so much easier to see our circumstances as greater than everything else we face.
SPEAKER_00: It's so much easier to think that God's busy with other people's problems than our own.
SPEAKER_00: And if we are gonna sit here and we are gonna affirm the gospel and we are gonna affirm Christ, and we're gonna gather together, and quite literally, we're gonna sing to the king.
SPEAKER_00: If we're gonna do those things, then we also need to affirm his power in our everyday circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: We need to affirm his ability in our everyday circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: We need to affirm his ability to be able to answer, to be able to respond, to be able to take care of the things that we face in this life.
SPEAKER_00: Because again, if we take a moment and we stop and think, that, okay, all these things in Scripture that happened one time, but but I don't see God moving in my day-to-day life.
SPEAKER_00: I say that's false because I think if we, again, if we take a thousand-foot view, we see that God is still capable of big things in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Take a moment here and just really appreciate everything that had to go right for us to even be here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of things that had to go right for us to be here, for us to fellowship together, for us to sing praises to the Lord, for us to spend time together in community.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of things had to go right for this thing.
SPEAKER_00: I consider that a miracle of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Or the DeSoto Hills Baptist Church to be planted here where we are, get well road, lie in the darkness in this community.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of things that had to go right for that to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Is that coincidence or is that God?
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: I have a hard time believing it's coincidence.
SPEAKER_00: Or, man, let's just take a moment and really appreciate the fact, let's let's talk about the gospel for a second.
SPEAKER_00: If you are here and you are a born-again believer of Christ, what you are affirming, what you are believing is that while we were dead in our trespasses, while we were in target of the wrath of an almighty God, he poured that wrath on his son so that we might be saved, so that we might be redeemed, so that we might be made whole.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, I kind of think that's a big deal.
SPEAKER_00: That God is still capable of big things.
SPEAKER_00: He is capable of rescue.
SPEAKER_00: He is capable of saving.
SPEAKER_00: He is capable of all these things.
SPEAKER_00: And what we see in this moment, hardly any effort goes into it.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus never broke a sweat.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus never looked at it and said, This is beyond my pay grade.
SPEAKER_00: He brings forth this boy.
SPEAKER_00: He brings forth this boy who has terrible sickness, who has a terrible disease, who has a terrible affliction.
SPEAKER_00: And what does Jesus do?
SPEAKER_00: He heals it.
SPEAKER_00: He takes care of it.
SPEAKER_00: He hears the prayer, he hears the request, he is able to take care of it, and he acts on it.
SPEAKER_00: That's the message that we have here in this moment.
SPEAKER_00: That's the message that we see.
SPEAKER_00: Is that the truth for those that are hurting, the truth that those that are scarred, the truth that those who are scared, the truth of those that are that are lonely, that are broken of all these things.
SPEAKER_00: What is the truth of the gospel?
SPEAKER_00: Is this is that he hears us.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say he hears me.
SPEAKER_00: He is able to respond.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say able.
SPEAKER_00: That's big.
SPEAKER_00: And then lastly, what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: He acts.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say he acts.
SPEAKER_00: He hears us.
SPEAKER_00: He is able to do great things and he acts on those things.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think anything could be more heartless than to have somebody who has the ability to do something who either will not turn an ear to us or will not do something about it.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord does both.
SPEAKER_00: He hears the cries of his children.
SPEAKER_00: He responds to the requests of his beloved.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens here in this moment?
SPEAKER_00: There is a boy who is sick.
SPEAKER_00: What does Jesus do?
SPEAKER_00: He heals him.
SPEAKER_00: There is something in this young boy that is broken.
SPEAKER_00: What does Jesus do?
SPEAKER_00: He fixes it.
SPEAKER_00: Let's take it a step further for the dad in this scenario.
SPEAKER_00: As a dad, there is absolutely nothing that we would not do to try and take care of our kids.
SPEAKER_00: And he's spinning his wheels and he's probably stressed in this moment.
SPEAKER_00: What does Jesus do?
SPEAKER_00: By healing him, he gives peace.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go a step further and be a little bit real.
SPEAKER_00: I would imagine that this dad also is sitting here this whole time, like, man, I'd love to go out in town, I'd love to go to the market and everything, but I have no idea when he's going to have another flare-up.
SPEAKER_00: I have no that fear is gone.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has radically saved not just a young boy, the family.
SPEAKER_00: He has amazed the masses he has done, something great, something big, because he heard the request, he was able to respond, and he acted on that.
SPEAKER_00: Man, what a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_00: That what Jesus does in this moment is he heals, he takes care of it.
SPEAKER_00: But what I love especially is this that when he rebukes that spirit, he doesn't just say, get gone.
SPEAKER_00: It says, never return again.
SPEAKER_00: I love the concept, I don't know about you, that the past no longer defines my present and my future.
SPEAKER_00: I I love the fact that high school hunter does not dictate what 33-year-old Hunter looks like and does.
SPEAKER_00: I love those things.
SPEAKER_00: I I love the fact that what our Lord does is He rewrites, redeems, and redirects futures for us.
SPEAKER_00: That's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the message, and that is the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: If you are hurting, if you are sick, if you are broken, if you are weary, the message for us today is that we do exactly what this Father does and trust our situation to someone who hears us, who is able to respond, and who can act on it.
SPEAKER_00: That's the message for us, but but we're not done yet because we we have one more interaction between Jesus and his disciples, verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: It says this, and when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him in private, Why could we not cast it out?
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.
SPEAKER_00: It almost sounds like Jesus just says, Y'all need to pray more.
SPEAKER_00: But but we we know and we affirm and we have to trust, we have to believe that since Mark chapter 6, that is something that these disciples have been doing.
SPEAKER_00: That they've been serving, they've been active, they've been participatory in the mission of God at hand.
SPEAKER_00: But but they come to this moment and all of a sudden the things that were once so easy now are so hard.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know exactly what the reason is.
SPEAKER_00: If it were me, I think one or two things happened to these disciples.
SPEAKER_00: I know, I know I would have faced it if I were them.
SPEAKER_00: I think one or the two things happened.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, I think they could have found out that they were doing all these things in their own strength.
SPEAKER_00: There was this moment, there was this feeling that, man, like there was success, they were healing, they were casting out demons, they were teaching, that things were going really, really well.
SPEAKER_00: And the comfort of that moment made us kind of forget our reliance on the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the Christian life, that is the Christian walk, that is Christian service's day in and day out reliance on the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And that maybe there was this moment of this thought that, man, I can do for myself.
SPEAKER_00: And what they see firsthand in this moment is they can't.
SPEAKER_00: That there are some things that only Jesus is going to be able to do for people, for his people.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's one or the other thing is this.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe everything was going really good, but then there was some adversity.
SPEAKER_00: But then something happened, the bottom dropped out in this moment, and all of a sudden panic set in.
SPEAKER_00: And we talked about earlier that all of a sudden circumstances were heavier than their view of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And what does Jesus say is the solution to both of those things?
SPEAKER_00: What is the solution to the sick child that we talked about earlier?
SPEAKER_00: What is the solution to all these things?
SPEAKER_00: The solution is understanding and humbly admitting our reliance on him.
SPEAKER_00: Humbly admitting our reliance on him to be able to fix what is broken, to be able to heal what is hurting, to be able to redeem what is dirty and broken and all these things.
SPEAKER_00: Is our reliance on him and him alone to do those things.
SPEAKER_00: And so that is the message, that is the takeaway this morning.
SPEAKER_00: That is what we need to focus on is that we can trust our situations to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We can trust the things we are facing to the Lord because He is somebody who hears us, He is somebody who is able to respond, He is somebody who has the ability to act and to take care of it.
SPEAKER_00: But what it requires most of all is a humble heart.
SPEAKER_00: I have no doubt that this dad probably sent and went to every doctor, every physician, every specialist, every whatever they tried, every medicine, everything.
SPEAKER_00: I have no doubt that he loved his son enough to do that.
SPEAKER_00: And regardless of how hard he tried, he was never gonna fix it himself.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if that's you.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what your situation is, I don't know what your season is, I don't know what all those things look like.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're sitting here and you're spinning your wheels, spinning your wheels, spinning your wheels, trying to fix it for yourself, know this.
SPEAKER_00: There are situations that only Jesus can fix for us.
SPEAKER_00: There is peace that only he can give.
SPEAKER_00: There is strength and resilience that only he can give.
SPEAKER_00: And it is found through humbly admitting our need and our reliance on him.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be in the front.
SPEAKER_00: We would love to talk to you.
SPEAKER_00: If you would love to pray, if you'd like to ask for forgiveness, if we talk about this sin, this affliction that has affected this kid, that Jesus was able to take and cast away and destroy altogether.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here and you would love to know what that freedom looks like to be a child of God, we would love to talk to you.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love to pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: If you just want to come to the altar and pray, we we support that.
SPEAKER_00: We love that, we celebrate that.
SPEAKER_00: We will pray for you as well.
SPEAKER_00: But the message is this that we humbly admit our desperate need for someone who hears us, who is able to respond.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he acts and he does, and he does astonishingly well, far greater than we could ever imagine for ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: God, we we love you, and in in in the quiet of this moment that we just sit here and we we think about everything that we're juggling, everything that we're carrying, all the all the burdens, all the things that are weighing us down.
SPEAKER_00: And God, the the beautiful thing, the amazing thing is we don't have to carry those things.
SPEAKER_00: That you you stand with the opportunity to relieve us of those burdens, to let go of those things.
SPEAKER_00: You call us to yourself.
SPEAKER_00: God, your your word in Isaiah tells us that you are a prince of peace.
SPEAKER_00: You are you are an authority on the subject of peace.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, so many times in our lives in chaos, and storms, and bad seasons, we desperately need peace.
SPEAKER_00: And you offer it in abundance.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, thank you for doing what only you could do, and that is that is rescuing, that is saving us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, nothing that we could possibly do on our own merit, on our own strength, our own abilities.
SPEAKER_00: But God, we can we we can know you as we leave this place.
SPEAKER_00: That we don't have to leave these things questioning, we don't have to leave weighed down, burdened, confused.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we can know you, we can know truth, we can know freedom, we can know salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And that is only through you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: God, we love you.
SPEAKER_00: We pray these things in your name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.
SPEAKER_01: If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at DeSotoHills.com.