How Faith Becomes Fame | Matthew 9:27-3 | Pastor Neil McClendon

Neil McClendon, Lead Pastor
Grand Parkway Baptist Church

How Faith Becomes Fame
Matthew 9:27-31
1. Knowing informs how we relate, v. 27
• 2 Samuel 7:12-16
2. Our experiences require belief, v. 28
• Mark 9:19-24
Differences in belief and faith...
a)Belief is about information while faith is about application.
b)Belief is agreeing but faith is experiencing.
c)Belief is internal but faith is external.
• James 2:19
3. Faith shapes our expectations, v. 29
Five things to do when your faith feels small...
a)look at
b)look in
c)look around
d)look out
e)look back
4. The goal of faith is fame, v. 30-31

Mental worship...
1. What do you do regularly to increase your knowledge of God?
2. Do you believe in God or do you actually have faith in Him?
3. Do your prayers express your need or your faith?
4. What questions will you ask because of what you heard today?
5. Is there anything in your life that you cannot not talk about?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

How many of you have been in church so long? You have got religious reasons why your prayers don't get answered. Because this is why you pray this all the time. If it be your will. What if Jesus is just shouting down from heaven? If you can. See, you got taught by the church in America to not expect God to do what only God can do. See, you put that little PS on there. If it be your will, what if prayer is the place where God wants to hear your will?

SPEAKER_00 0:29

This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. For more information about Grand Parkway, visit our website at grandparkway.org.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Yes. Yes. We clap for that. Let's pray together, church. Well Jesus, we lift our hands up and we lay our lives down because you went first. You laid your life down for people that knew better and did it anyway, for people who put it in the ditch multiple times. So you didn't do it for perfect people. You came for people who are sick. You said the healthy people don't need a doctor. I came for people that understand they got a disease. You came to set us free. Not to give us a big list of things to do, but to make obvious what you've done, which makes this life possible. So I pray for anyone in this room right now that has kind of excluded themselves and said, you know what? There's no way I could ever do that. No one has sinned so much that you've given up on them. So, Holy Spirit, say something today that has our name on it. From your word and by your spirit, remind and reorient us around what we were created for. Not religion, but a relationship. That's a big difference. It's a relationship. It's not, we don't need more religious people in the world. We need people who have a relationship with God that makes God famous. Holy Spirit, teach us about that today. From your word and by your spirit, we pray in Christ's name. And everyone said, Amen. Amen. You can have a seat. If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it. Open up to Matthew chapter 9. If you don't have a Bible, don't sweat it. Everything I'll say will come on the screen behind me. If you're our guest today, let me say welcome. You're always welcome here, okay? We're preaching through the book of Matthew, which is what we do. We preach the books of the Bible, which is not like a religious lecture. We just kind of unpack uh what the Bible says, and then uh which is what I'm gonna do, and then at the end, we'll take a little about like a couple minutes and just kind of think about what we heard, and then we'll get out of here and beat the Methodists to the good restaurants. Amen. They've already gotten out. Anyway, I want to talk this morning about how faith becomes fame. How faith becomes fame. Not your fame, but God's fame. Okay? And so relax. Uh, not something goofy here today. Uh uh now, what we're gonna read is a story about Jesus heals these two blind guys. And so it concludes a cluster of ten miracles that are recorded in Matthew chapter 8 and chapter 9, where Jesus is teaching and he's preaching and he's performing miracles. And here's why. He wants He wants Israel, God's people, to know that their king has come and that the kingdom has come. And so, like all these other miracles that we've been reading about, there's something for us to see here today, something to understand. So let's dig into the text. Uh Matthew chapter 9, I'll start reading verse 27. And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, Have mercy on us, son of David. When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, Do you believe that I'm able to do this? And they said to him, Yes, Lord. Then he touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it done to you. And their eyes were opened, and Jesus sternly warned them, See that no one knows about this. But they went away and spread his fame throughout all that district. Now, that it's very short, but look at me. Jesus tells these people, hey, see that no one knows about this. Keep your yapper shut. And they were like, We can't help ourselves. We cannot help ourselves. Ask yourself this kickoff question this morning. As you sit here in this room, what is the one thing that you cannot not talk about? Like for some people, it's the World Cup. Like someone said to me this week out of their mouth, hey, hey, are you excited about the World Cup? And I said, I'm not gonna watch a game of it. And they were like, What? And I said, it's the most popular, it's the most popular sport in the world. Not in my house. The most popular sport in the world in my house is beachfront bargain hunt or something on HCTV, not the World Cup. And I'm I'm I'm not down the World Cup. If you're into soccer, glory to God. I played soccer once and I realized you gotta run a lot in this thing. I gotta stop smoking weed if I'm gonna play soccer. I didn't play soccer anymore. I let you fill in the gap. But that was before I became a Christian, so get off of me, okay? Don't send me emails. Uh now there's a couple things. How how faith becomes fame. There's four things you gotta understand from the text. And the first one's right there in verse 27 is this knowing informs how we relate. Knowing informs how we relate. The more you know somebody, the more intimately you know somebody, you understand things about them, you relate to them differently. Okay? Like people have said to me over the years, when I first met you, I first heard you speak, I was so intimidated. And I'm like, what? That's absolutely unnecessary. Now, I have two daughters. They know me in a way that other people don't. They've never been intimidated. There's, I mean, they just come up to me, they're like, Oh, that's my dad. I mean, ask my dad for anything. Oh, dad, can you do that? Dad can do that. Absolutely. I'm your dad. We know each other in a way that informs how we relate. These two blind guys knew something about Jesus that informed the way they relate to him. Now, some of you, look, listen to me. If you're sitting here and you're like, every time I come to church, I think the building's gonna fall down on me. That doesn't mean you're a bad person. It just means you probably need to learn a little bit more about Jesus, not religion, not church, but about Jesus. Because when you know more, you relate to him differently. You start to think differently about yourself than you used to. You say, What do you mean? Last week I talked about how because the Bible said that Jesus saw these people. And the word, the Greek word for see is the word aura'o, and it means to see with the eyes, but also to see with the mind. You remember that? Say amen. Now, here's the thing the Bible doesn't do this on on, it's not an accident, it's on purpose. Here we have two guys who cannot see with their eyes, and so they see Jesus in their mind. And so these guys that they know some things about him, and this informs and affects the way they relate to him. Now, you if you read the Bible, you gotta learn to read the Bible and ask yourself, now, what stands out to me about that? This is only like five verses. So you should think, hey, what stood out to me about that? Like for some people, it would be that, hey, there's two blind guys following Jesus. Did that not like hook you like, oh what do you mean, two blind people? How do two blind guys follow Jesus? Did they pick up their C9 dog and swing it around? They go, What are you doing? Just looking around. How do blind people follow Jesus? And yet they did. The Bible says right there in verse 27, and Jesus passed on from there. Two blind men followed him. I'm like, what the what do you what? That should stand out to you. Here's another thing that stands out to some people. Some people look and say, Oh, it's the fact that Jesus was integrated. He said, What do you mean? Have you ever you kind of heard about somebody or you heard somebody talk, and then you finally later you hear things about them, or it comes out something about them. You're like, man, you're not who you say you are. You just you're sorry. Get out of here. For some people, it's the fact, oh, I can believe in this Jesus. He's integrated. What do you mean? Back in verse 13, he told the people, he said, Hey, go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Here's what means that Jesus is integrated. He's practicing what he preaches because these guys, when they cry out to him, these two blind guys following him, they're crying loud, have mercy on us, son of David. Have mercy on us. And he does. So when in Jesus, you have a God that practices what he preaches, somebody that you can believe in, build and bank your life on. Both of those things should stand out to you. But the thing that should supersede them incredibly is this last thing that it should stand out to you, is those last three words, son of David. Son of David. It's the first time Jesus is referred to as the son of David. There's 17 verses in the New Testament that describe Jesus as the son of David. But the question arises, okay, if Jesus is the son of David, that's jacked up, bro. How could that be? Because David, like King David, lived in the Old Testament a thousand years before Jesus came, so why are they calling him the son of David? Matter of fact, if you sit look in the New Testament, when people call Jesus the Son of David, typically something healing and powerful and miraculous was about to happen. And so when in your prayers, you shouldn't just say, hey Jesus, sometimes you should just acknowledge Jesus, you're the son of David. Why is that a big deal? Here's why it's a big deal, because again, uh Jesus, how can he be the son of David? The answer is simply this is that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. He's the fulfillment of the prophecy of the seed of David, okay? This is what God said when he made a covenant with David, okay? Way back in the book of 2 Samuel, God established a covenant with a guy named David, who was not a perfect man. He was a man after God's own heart. He did a bunch of knuckle-headed stuff, amen. And some of you in here, you're good people, you love Jesus, but sometimes you do knuckle-headed stuff, amen. Yes, don't quit on yourself, don't beat yourself up and go, that's it. I tried it, it didn't work. Here's what I mean by a covenant that God established. This is why it's important that Jesus is referred to in the New Testament as the Son of David. By the way, this is the first time in the Bible Jesus is referred to as the Son of David. Okay? Here's why this is important. This is from 2 Samuel chapter 7. It says this. God's talking to David, he said, When your days are fulfilled, which is Bible taught for when you die and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body. I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for my name. Now you should be like, wait a minute. He will build a house for my name. That's David's son who built the temple, whose name was Solomon. Yes, Solomon. And Solomon's parents were David and Bathsheba. Yes, yes. Now, if you're like, hey, I'm new to this whole thing, I think that means something. What does that mean? David saw a woman, Bathsheba, taking a bath on a roof. Like she was not his wife, she belonged to somebody else. David had an affair with Bathsheba, got her pregnant. Now, as a consequence of that sin, the Bible says God struck the child. They got pregnant, had another baby. His name was Solomon. And he went on to do incredible things. Now, why am I pointing this out? Because you don't have to come from a perfect family in order for God to use you. So some of you use your family as an excuse. Well, I would, but you know, my family, I got a stepmom died. I got a stepmom. I had three of them growing up. They're not that bad. I collected them. I mean, and then you could mix and match, you could compare them to one another, like you're not as good as the other one. I can go back to the other one. Yeah. So a lot of people, you give yourself and you give yourself an out because of your family. Jesus came from, he descended from imperfect people. He says, He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men. But my steadfast love, here's covenant love. My steadfast love, my hesed shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you, and your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. Now, this is why it's important that two blind guys who could see Jesus in their mind, because they didn't, their eyes didn't work. They saw Jesus as the promised Messiah. This means for him to be the promised Messiah, it means he had to be of the lineage and the house of David. So this is why we remember we started in the book of Matthew, one of the first things we preached through was a genealogy. And some of you are like, Are you really gonna preach on the genealogy? And I responded, Yes, I really am. Here's why. Because I tell you this all the time. I haven't told you in a couple months, so let me tell you. Before Christianity is personal, it's historical. Before Christianity is personal, it's historical. A lot of stuff happened before you got here. And if you don't understand the history, then you'll read stuff in the Bible and be like, nah, I don't get it. It's just a book written by men. I'm like, not so fast, my friend. See, he's the promised Messiah. He's a descendant of David by adoption through Joseph. He says, but he's also a descendant by blood through Mary. This is why Matthew starts with Joseph's and Luke's genealogy starts with Mary. Traces it all the way back. Now, at this point, you should be thinking, man, why do you make a big deal out of this? Because typically when you see someone crying out and calling Jesus Son of David, they need, hear this, they need him to do something only the Messiah can do. And so when they say son of David, they're saying, Hey man, we believe you're the real deal. Come on, bro. This is why in two chapters from now, we'll get in chapter 11. God named John the Baptist is in prison. He's fixing to get his head cut off. And he sends his disciples to ask Jesus, hey, are you the one to come or should we expect somebody else? Now, by the way, if you ever doubt your faith, it doesn't mean you're a bad person. John the Baptist is the greatest man ever born of a woman, and he doubted. He said, Hey, are you the one to come or should I expect somebody else? And Jesus, this is incredible. Jesus said, You go and tell John what you hear and what you see. The blind receive sight, the deaf can hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is he who does not fall away on account of me. Jesus says, You got 99 problems, but I ain't one, okay? This is not your issue. If you're worried about me, take that off the list of things to worry about, because I am the real deal. So here in Matt in chapter 9, these two guys cry out. They say, basically, because you're the Messiah and you're here, we need you to do what only the Messiah can do. This is give us mercy that brings about healing. Again, when you know somebody, the way you know them, knowing informs how you relate. Secondly, our experience requires belief. Our experiences require belief. It's verse 28. He says, when he entered the house, the blind men came to him and said to him, and Jesus said to them, Do you believe that I'm able to do this? One of the things that you'll see is that when Jesus gets ready, a lot of times he gets ready to heal somebody, he asks a real practical question. Like the world's going crazy right now because Theo Vaughn is in kind of a spiritual crisis. I don't know if you've noticed this, but Theo Vaughn is a podcaster, very popular guy. And he talked about in John chapter 5, because the guy called in and said, Hey man, I'm in the same kind of behavior patterns. I don't want to do this stuff, I don't want to, you know, drink, I don't want to use cocaine, and I get around my buddies and I do that. I get on that booger sugar and I just can't stop. And so he's like, How do I do this? Because I'm not advancing my life goals. And and Phil Vaughn starts answering the question. And in the middle of answering it, he says, Yeah, I kind of relate because I'm like that guy. He said, There's a story called John 5. And I thought, oh, this is so good, Theo. You call the chapter in the Bible a story. That's awesome. And then he says, This guy's been paralyzed for 38 years, and Jesus asked him, Do you want to get well? And Theo Vaughn said this. He said, I realize I'm like that guy because I can, he said, I can be praying for God to take things out of my life, and I know I'm not done doing them. Yes. This is Theo Vaughn. This isn't a good Christian who votes Republican. This is a real life sinner. He went on to say this. He said, I hey God, you know, I don't want to just stop. I tell you, I don't, I want to, while I'm praying to Jesus, and he's bawling talking about this. He said, while I'm praying to Jesus, asking Jesus to take away that desire, I in my mind I'm like, ah, I still got that desire. He said, Jesus, I don't need you to touch the water in the well. I need you to touch the walls of the well, everything around it. Because I need to change. And he kept saying, I want a new story. I want a new story. I'm tired of living in this story. Here's the good news of Jesus: everyone in the world can have a new story. This is the power. This is why Paul says in Romans chapter 1, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God unto salvation, a new story. To anyone who believes. Anyone who believes. See, our experience requires belief. Jesus asked a very simple question. Do you believe I'm able to do this? Here's a question for you. What if Jesus acts and keeping what we actually believe, not what we say? Not what we have bumper sticker on the back of our car. What if Jesus acts, he does according to what we actually believe? The word believe means to think something to be true and to place your confidence in it. This is what that word means in the Greek. Believe means to think something to be true and to place your confidence in it. Many people profess to believe things to be true, but they don't place their confidence in it. Let me say that again. A lot of us, we haw, I believe this to be true, but you don't place your confidence in him. You say, How do you know? When's the last time someone wronged you? When's the last time someone violated your rights? Did you take matters into your own hand and go, uh, uh oh, no, you didn't? Or did you say, you know what? How does the gospel speak to this? Because my confidence is in God and the gospel. The gospel is just the good news of Christianity. What is it by how does the Bible teach me to respond in this situation? You see, you can believe something and never have confidence in it. This explains a lot of people and the way they relate to God. Now again, we're talking about our experiences require belief. This is not a one-off here in Matthew chapter 9. I'll read, this is in Mark's gospel, Mark chapter 9. Let's say Mark's gospel. The first four books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are four guys that follow Jesus called disciples. And each of them wrote, recorded under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit from their own experience. They emphasize this, they emphasize this. The whole belief thing, Mark tells the story. Now, here's the context of the story. Jesus is coming back, and his disciples are arguing with this guy. And the guy's frustrated, and Jesus rolls up and says this. And he answered them, uh, Oh, faithless generation. Because what they the kid, the man's son had an evil spirit that made him have convulsions and threw him on the ground. And they were they were like, hey, they couldn't cast it out. And Jesus answered them, Oh, faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me. And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw Jesus, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. Now get that in your mind. There's a kid rolling around on the ground, foaming at the mouth, and look what Jesus is like, call 911, hurry, get a doctor. No. Jesus says to his father, How long has this been happening to him? Jesus is never in two words, you'll never see Jesus say, hurry up. There's a scene going on. And Jesus is out of sync with what's happening. He says to his father, How long has this been happening to him? And he said, From childhood. And it often casts him in the fire and into water and to destroy him. But if you can, this is my favorite part. Don't miss this. The dad says to Jesus, remember, you gotta believe people. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, if you can, what? If you can, who you talking to, bro? If you can, I gotta knock you. What? If you can, hey, by the way, you're like, I would never say that. You've been some of you have been in church so long, you have got religious reasons why your prayers don't get answered. Because this is why you pray this all the time. If it be your will. What if Jesus is just shouting down from heaven? If you can. See, you got taught by the church in America to not expect God to do what only God can do. See, you put that little PS on there. If it be your will, what if prayer is a place where God wants to hear your will? Now I'm not saying name it and claim it, you speak it, it's gonna happen. I'm saying, what if what if God's looking for men and women who have the audacity to say, hey, this is what I want? I want this to be your will. I can't control that, I can't control you, but I want you to know me. This is where I'm coming from. You ever around anybody prays like that? Are you around? Because some of y'all think you can't pray because you've heard people pray like this. Lord, we beseech you on this holy sacred Sunday, while rain cascades down outside and nourishes the earth, it causes the grass to grow. Thank you for the rain. Lord, please heal grandma of cancer if it be your will. Well, grandma dies of cancer, and your kids growing up believing in a God that killed grandma. Did I just make it awkward? Yellow like, ah, why are you if you can? And look what Jesus says. All things are possible for one who believes. All things are possible for one who believes. Immediately the father child cried out and said, I believe. Help my unbelief. Remember last week I said, learn, believe, faith. There's a correlation. You should go to a church that actually teaches you the Bible, so you gotta learn some stuff. It messes with your head sometimes. You've got to unlearn some things in order to learn some things, but the more you learn, look at me, the bigger your belief gets. You believe you learn more, you believe more. You believe more, your faith gets bigger. Faith is a byproduct of what you learn and you come to believe. You say, uh, but here's the other thing: there's a difference in belief and faith. There's a difference in belief and faith. Let me give you three of them. I'll tell you why it's important. Number one, belief is about information while faith is about application. If you do not apply what you're learning here to your life, it makes no difference. Eventually you'll give up on the church and think it's the church's fault. Belief is about information, it's not bad. Faith is about the application of that information to your life. Secondly, belief is agreeing, but faith is experiencing. And then thirdly, belief is internal, faith is external. Now, why do you tell us all that? Because, and this is this is gonna this is gonna click with some of you in this room. You can believe in God and not have. Faith in God. Some of you in this room, I would say many in this room, you believe in God, but you don't have a faith-based relationship with God. It's all in here, it doesn't get out here. You don't apply it to your real lived life. You can believe in God and have faith in yourself. You say, I don't know what you mean. James chapter 2, verse 19 says this. You believe that God is one, you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. Now, a lot of people misquote it. They say, Oh, you believe in God, you do well. No, no, the Bible is so subtle that it says a lot with a few words. Look at what he says. He says, You believe that God is one. Why is that part important? That God is one. It doesn't say, Oh, you believe in God, the demons believe. No, no. You believe that God is one. Look at me. They're giving it to the Jews. Why? Because in the Shema of Deuteronomy 6.4, an Orthodox Jew would get up every day and recite that. He would say, Oh, the Lord our God is one. The Lord our God is one God. And the Bible comes along and says to religious people, Oh, you believe that God is one? You got great orthodoxy, you got great theology. The demons believe and they tremble over it. So what? You want a trophy because you believe? They believe, but they didn't have faith. See, you can believe in God and not have faith in Him. And look at me, beloved. There's a lot of people in the American church. They believe in God, but they do not have faith. It never gets out of them and affects their life. It doesn't affect how they spend their money, how they raise their kids, how they relate to their spouse, how they feel about the future. It's just, it all this learning doesn't get applied to their life. Here's a third thing we see: faith shapes our expectations. Faith shapes our expectations. What are you talking about? Verse 29. He says, Do you believe that I'm able to do this? They said to him, Yes, Lord. Then he touched their eyes. Now, by the way, these guys are out on the street following Jesus, crying out, Have mercy on us, son of David. And Jesus is like, Listen, y'all stop saying that, okay? This is the first time people have said it. And when Jesus hears it, look at me. He takes what's happening in public into a private setting. That's why he goes in a house. He's like, I gotta, I don't want people catching on to what's going on. We'll get to that in just a minute. They go inside the house. The blind guys come to him. Now, faith shapes our expectation. He says, Do you believe I'm able to do this? Yes, Lord. Verse 29. Then he touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it done to you. Mark that in your Bible. According to your faith, be it done to you. According to your faith is a proportional statement, and it means out of or in keeping with. Like there's another time, I think it's in Philippians 4.19, it says, My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches and glory. Hear that again. My God shall supply all my needs, all your needs according to his riches and glory. What God does to meet your need is not according to your need, it's according to his riches and glory. It's out of, it's in keeping with, it's proportional to all that God has. So you don't want to pray to a God who responds according to your need. He responds according to his riches and glory. So God's provision in your life is as big as God is. It's not shrunk down to the size of your need. Does that make sense to anybody but me? According to, it's proportional. It's what he says. When I say faith shames our experiences, he says, according to your faith, I keep getting emails from people saying, you make it sound like Jesus does stuff because of people's faith. That's exactly what I'm saying. Because that's exactly what the Bible's saying. You go back, remember the guy that was paralyzed and his friends brought him to Jesus? Like duct taped him to a stretcher, and we see him down there, and the Bible says, when he saw their faith. When he saw their faith, he decided to act. I told you last week, hey, God does things because of faith, and he doesn't do things because there's a lack of faith. Here he says, according to these two blind guys, hey, according to your faith, faith, by the way, faith doesn't merit God's favor, faith experiences God's favor. Look at me. Hear this, okay? Uh faith is not the way you manipulate and control God to get what everything you want. That's the prosperity gospel, and that's no gospel at all. That's not that's not the gospel. So we're not about that here. But he says if faith should shape your expectations. It's why a lot of times when people pray, they don't have expectations because they don't really have faith. You have to distinguish between the expression of need and versus an expression of faith. Let me say that again. You have to distinguish between an expression of need. I'm expressing a need here, and I'm expressing my faith. Like these two blind guys, when they cried out, have mercy on a son of David, they're not expressing their need. They're expressing their faith. They're saying to Jesus, we think you're the son of David. We have faith in you. If you weren't the son, if you weren't the Messiah, there would be no mercy to be had. But because we know you're the Messiah, we see in our mind because our eyes don't work, we know, Jack, I ain't got to see you. Blessed are those who don't see and they believe. They're like, that's us. They're not expressing need, they're expressing their faith. You should ask yourself, when you pray, do you express your need or do you express your faith? Because these men, this establishment, I mean, it helps if you establish who you're talking to and let that inform what you ask them for. You say, okay, this is great. These guys, they seem to have a lot of faith. My faith doesn't feel very big, okay? Look at me. In the past six months, get ready to participate. In the past six months, if you've gotten up at any time in the past six months and just kind of thought, Whew, I think my faith is a little tired. My faith needs a little pep talk. It's not as big as it, it doesn't feel as big as it used to. If you've had that feeling in the past six months, say amen. I'll say it with you, amen. Because yeah, there's days I get up, I'm like, geez, there's a there's a lot of jacked up stuff in the world. You got your eye on this? Yes, yes. So here's five things to do when your faith feels small. And they're not big, they're easy. I do these when I cut because when I feel myself kind of like, man, my my faith feels more like a tradition than an experience. Automatically I kick into, okay, I gotta look at, in, around, out, and back. What? Yes. Let me just unpack them one at a time. Look at. What I mean when I say look at, look at means look at scripture. The Bible says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. I ask people and people, I'm just kind of struggling. I ask, how's your time in the word? What do you mean? Are you reading the Bible? Not for information, but for understanding and intimacy. So look at. Secondly, when your faith feels small, look in. Look in. As a Christian, when I became a Christian on July 5th of 1982, the Spirit of God came to live inside of me. Okay? I've been sealed by the Spirit till the day of redemption. Nothing got nothing good. He's not gonna take his spirit away from me. Uh so when I say look in, ask yourself, what is the spirit of God? What's the Holy Spirit doing in you? Like recently, I asked this question sometimes in counseling. I see a lady and she's like, hey, I'm just, I said, tell me you're here. She goes, I just I struggle with a little bit of depression. And I said, Are you a Christian? And she goes, What's that got to do with depression? And I'm like, why are you yelling? And she goes, No, seriously. I said, No, seriously. Are you a Christian? And she goes, Yes, I'm a Christian. I said, Okay, let's distinguish between depression and maybe the spirit of God in you is grieved. And she goes, Excuse me? And I said, Not everybody that's depressed is depressed. Sometimes the spirit of God is so grieved in you that your soul is sickened and you're depressed. It feels like depression, but you've grieved the Spirit of God because you consistently live in sin. And I believe depression's real. Don't don't misquote me. I ain't got time to fight all y'all today. But look at me. You should start with, is the Spirit of God in me grieved because of the way I'm living? Because not everything we call depression is depression. Sometimes it's it's the grief of the Spirit. And so when I say, hey, look at, look in, that's what I mean, look in. Thirdly, look around. See what God is doing in other people and rejoice. See what God's doing in other people and rejoice. Just rejoice. Just be like, oh, yes, I got to be a part of great things in the past two weeks. Some of us help the guy get a car. Some of us helped a woman get a roof on her house. I look around, see, sometimes you got to borrow from other people's faith just to be reminded that faith is really happening. God's still on the move. That's what I mean when I say look around. Fourthly, look out. Look out. What do you mean? Look out on the creation. Get out and just kind of check things out. Be reminded, like Romans 1 says, what may be known about God is obvious because God has made it obvious and what has been created. Creation builds a case against humanity. Psalm 19 says that day after day and night after night the heavens pour forth speech. The heavens are saying something about God. He says, there is no realm in which their voice is not heard. So when we say look out, that's what I mean, and finally look back. Remind yourself what God has done in the past. Look at me. Sometimes the faith to move forward is found by looking back and reminding yourself. Oh yeah. Remember that time? And then there was that time, and then, and then yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember seven months ago when this happened? Oh my gosh, yes. Sorry, God, I kind of lost perspective there for a second. I'm good. I don't need you to prove yourself. I just need you to be yourself like you've been in the past. When your faith feels small, there's five simple things you can do. Here's the last thing we see in the text. The goal of the faith is fame. The goal of faith is fame. Verse 30. And he says, and their eyes were opened. Just stop right there. Can you just imagine you've been blind, and the first thing you see is the face of Jesus? Oh, you look just like I saw you in my mind. Yes. And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, because Jesus is hardcore. See that no one knows about it. But they went away and disobeyed Jesus. They went away and they spread his fame through all that district. And they spread fame is not the issue. It's a word right in front of it. His fame. Let me say something that you should listen to. We got too many famous preachers in America. And they're famous, made famous by people who don't go to a church in the town they live in. I was in a business this week. And because the people are normal preachers, some lady said to me, Yeah, yeah, I was watching so-and-so the other day. I said, Well, where do you go to church? I don't go to church. And by the way, those famous preachers love it. They're the ones that wear hats and jackets. Apparently, it's cold where they preach. Yeah. They just build their brand. They got a social media team that's putting them out there. Yeah. Boosting influence. Yeah. Yeah. Got a podcast. Gotta have a podcast. Yes. And I'm just saying this. Preachers are getting more famous than Jesus in America. And God is grieved by that. His fame. See, see that no one knows about this. Again, I want to end where I started. Can you imagine having an experience with God that you cannot not talk about? And by now you probably realize you probably know that the longer you're a Christian, the easier it is to be quiet. Some of you hadn't had a spiritual conversation in years. Not days, weeks, months, in years. You tell God, thank you in private, but in public, you're just like, I'm good. I'm good. And here's all I'm gonna say, and I'm gonna be done. Why does Jesus tell them? Because people have asked me, hey, why did Jesus heal somebody and tell them don't tell anybody? I mean, the Greek language is really intense. Jesus gets on to him, he raises his voice. When he says these words right here, when he says, see that no one knows about it, it's like he's pointing his finger at them. He's like, hey, see that no one knows about this. Why? Because here's why, and we're done. You still let me say amen. It's because the people are expecting some liberating politician like Donald Trump to come and make America great again. Not that we would put our hopes in a politician instead of God. Yes. And so Jesus does not come. Look at me. He does not come as a conquering politician. Look at me. He comes as what's called the suffering servant. He comes to die. And even his closest disciples, his closest followers didn't get it. He was like, the Son of Man's gonna go to Jerusalem. I'm gonna suffer at the hands of sinful men. I'm gonna be crucified, buried, and I'm gonna rise again. And Peter gets up and says, Not on my watch. Get behind me, Jesus, I'll protect you. And Jesus is like, Come on, man, you're gonna get me killed in a bar fight. You're cutting the guy's ear off, and Jesus picks it up, knocks the grass up, three-second rule, puts it back on. No. Look at me. They were not ready for who Jesus really is. And you have to ask yourself, are you? Because the church, the system in America will teach you a lot of things about Jesus that are not true. They're just not. It's just religious gobbledygook. That's why Jesus, that's why preachers are more famous than Jesus in America. The goal of your faith. God establishes a relationship with you to make himself famous. This is why Isaiah 26, 8 says, Yes, Lord. Walking in your ways. It's the desire of our heart. Your name and your renown, your reputation is the desire of our souls. Your name and your fame is the repu is the desire of our soul. Ask yourself and we're done. Is that really the desire of your heart, of your soul? The deepest, most eternal part of you. You just want God to be famous. I want God to get all the credit. I want God to get all the glory. Or does your name have to be on it? Let's pray together. If you're a guest, just relax. We like to teach the Bible, and then we uh give you some space to think about it. Some questions come up on the screen. Uh that's for our you can take a picture. Don't try to write all those down. But just right now, just ask, spend the next minute or two just asking the Lord, Lord, what'd you say to me? What had my name on it today? What should I go home and think about as a result of the fact that I was here today? Let's think just for a minute. God, that's our prayer. We just say to you, hey, we don't want any of us to get it, and and and we not. We're not okay with that. We're tired of the kind of life, we're like Theo Vaughn. We want a new story, we want to live in a bigger, better story, and that's Christianity. It's the best story because it's true, and it's gonna happen. We don't want to miss out on it. So thank you for giving us songs that express our heart. We just we're grateful today. So we say thank you in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen, amen, amen. If you're a guest today, let me say thanks for being here. I always ask of you if you want us to know you're here, if you would hit that little tap tag, get your phone, hit that tap tag in the back of the seat in front of you, it'll pop up. You can click on the I'm new. If you want us to know you're here, if you're like, I'm just checking you out, that's okay. We respect your boundaries and your privacy, all right? All we want to do is help you take the next step of your spiritual journey, whether that's finding a church, answering questions you may have, or exploring Christianity, okay? Um, we want this to be your church, but look at me. If you're visiting today, you're trying to think, I want to be your pastor. I want your kids to see me in H E B or Lowe's or whatever and go, oh, that that's my pastor right there. Absolutely. All right? And so when you're ready for that, you let us know. We don't believe in pressure, manipulation, or religious guilt. All that is overrated and unnecessary. You'll know the truth, and the truth will set you free. All right? We always got things going on in the life of our church. We'll make you aware of those every week by way of our video announcements. So check out the screen to see what's coming up.

SPEAKER_04 37:58

At Grand Park Way, we have the expectation that we will worship, connect, and serve. Here are some ways to do that.

SPEAKER_02 38:06

Women of Grand Park Way, drop by the fellowship hall June 17th at 9 a.m. for a quick free breakfast. Good conversation and a chance to get to know some new faces. If you're dropping the kiddos off at Pine Cove or Camp Bar, swing by for a bit. We love your kiddos, but this one is for adults only. Please register to let us know you're coming. See you then.

SPEAKER_04 38:27

Our next men's night out will be this Wednesday, June 17th at Spectators Bar and Grill. Plan to join us for a relaxed evening. Come enjoy great food, meet new people, and connect with other men from the church through meaningful conversations and fellowship. The event is from 6 to 8 p.m. and the cost is $13 per person. To get this special meal price, you must register online by midnight tomorrow.

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We believe the Bible loves to see us proclaim God's goodness from one generation to the next. Join us for the second annual Convergence of Women and Students at Graham Parkway on Sunday, July 19th at 6 p.m. We'll eat, laugh, and talk about what matters. The deadline to register is Wednesday, July 14th.

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For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org or tap the stickers located throughout the sanctuary with your smartphone. If you have any questions or would like someone to pray with you, please find a staff member or elder at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

Just to be clear, the chat and chow on Wednesday is not just for people who've got their kids at camp this week. Uh, it's for all women of our church. Okay. Uh it's Wednesday morning. We'd love you to rest here so they can plan and have enough breakfast. It's free. It's a chance to escape your kids and your husband and come have a free breakfast that somebody else prepares. Not a bad gig. Uh would I conclude our service with a spoken blessing? So if you would stand to your feet, hold your hands out. The Holy Spirit teaches you things because he wants you to learn. And the more you learn, the bigger your belief gets. And the bigger your belief gets, the more enjoyable your faith gets. Depart now and enjoy a faith in God that will last you the rest of your life and change every day between now and then. In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Bless you.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

Thank you for listening to this message. Be sure to give us a five star rating in review and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you'd like to go deeper with our sermon content, you can hear more on our Circling Back with Neil McClendon podcast at Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.