Bring It to Jesus

When you're able, I'm going to be reading today

a little bit more than usual, but if you can

bear with me out of Mark chapter nine, if you

can go there with me or look at the screen, Mark

chapter nine, verse 17. Amen. I'm going to read

a few portions of scripture here. And as I was

preparing, I was about 90 percent done with this

sermon when I decided to take a look. at our

YouTube, but I wasn't here a few weeks ago, and

I saw that our deacon, Brother Ben, preached

out of this same text. And I said, oh man, he

preached it before I did. So if you were here

a few weeks ago, I pray that you don't think

this is a repeat or a rerun. We're going to try

to bring something out of it. But I was too deep

into it. I couldn't back up. I said, I'm just

going to have to preach it anyhow. But there's

always something new and something different

that God brings out, right? And the word of the

Lord reads this way. Then one of the crowd answered

and said, teacher, I brought to you my son who

has a mute spirit. And whenever it seizes him,

it throws him down. He foams at the mouth, gnashes

his teeth and becomes rigid. So I spoke to your

disciples and they that they should cast it out.

But they could not. How about that? He said,

I brought you your disciples, him, and they could

not cast it out. And he answered him and said,

O faithless generation, how long shall I be with

you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him

to me. Someone say, bring him to me. Then they

brought him to him. And when he saw him immediately,

the spirit convulsed him and he fell on the ground

and wallowed. Foaming at the mouth. So he asked

his father, how long has this been happening

to him? And he said, from childhood. From childhood.

And often he has thrown him both into the fire

and into the water to destroy him. But if you

can do anything, have compassion on us and help

us. And Jesus said to him, if you can believe.

all things are possible to him who believes.

Verse 24. Immediately the father of the child

cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe.

Help my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people

came running together, he rebuked the unclean

spirit, saying to it, deaf and dumb spirit, I

command you, come out. of him and enter him no

more. Somebody say amen for that. Then the spirit

cried out, convulsed him greatly and came out

of him and he became as one dead. So that many

said he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand

and lifted him up and he arose. I'm going to

preach for a few moments on the thought, bring

it to Jesus. Bring it to Jesus. I'm going to

invite you to pray with me. Let's ask God to

speak to us. Father, we love you today. We thank

you, God, on this special day as we celebrate

and honor our fathers, which your commandments

tell us to do to honor them. And so we do that

today. But we also honor you, our heavenly father.

And we thank you, God, for your goodness and

your mercy today. Ask God that you would speak

to us today, Lord, that you would touch our hearts

and our minds and be glorified in this place,

God. In Jesus' name we pray. Someone say amen.

For those of you that scroll on Instagram, you

may have noticed that there's sometimes a media

that is deemed sensitive and is blurred out.

And you get a warning screen, a warning screen

that says... this video or this picture contains

content that some people find upsetting. I don't

know. Has anybody ever seen that? And then you

have to tap. If you still want to see it, right,

you have to tap the video. And if you do that,

you do at the risk of being disturbed or offended,

right? It's a risk. Or you can do what I do oftentimes.

I just keep scrolling. I don't want to see it.

I don't want to know what's behind that blurred

image. But sometimes you can't resist. You're

like, ah, what are they hiding from me? I want

to see it. Well, our text today doesn't come

with a warning screen, even though it is one

of the most traumatizing, if not disturbing,

scenes in all the Gospels. And you'll find that

through every story of Scripture, there is no

warning. We just... We come upon them. No blurred

images to hide the graphic nature of this man's

crisis. No filters to make it look better than

it appeared. And no edits to polish the flaws

that we see even in the Father's faith. It's

so raw. Everything about this scene is so emotionally

raw, upsetting, and intense. One of the more...

intense scenes in all of the Gospels, in all

of the ministry of Christ. And there are some

very intense scenes, some very traumatic, very

dramatic episodes in the ministry of Christ.

This is one of those that ranks among the highest

in terms of its sheer rawness, its sensitivity

to the eyes and the ears. of all of those who

were actually there that day to witness this

happen. And maybe that's why it speaks to us,

all of us, not just fathers, because in the middle

of this situation is a desperate father who is

willing to do everything he can to find a solution

for his tormented son. But it speaks to all of

us because we all know what it's like to carry

something that, we cannot control. Amen, somebody.

A problem that we thought we could solve, a pain

we thought would heal in time, a need in our

family or home that we thought we could manage

or even hide, sweep under the rug and contain

in some way. At some point you realize that even

as children of God, we are not immune to the

traumas of life, the pain of sin, or the frustration

of a delayed answer. We're not immune to these

things. I wish that we were. I wish that as God's

people, we didn't have to go through these types

of things. Amen? How many of you wish that too?

And we will get a few pats from the traumas of

life. But even as God's children, we too come

to realize that the rain falls on the just and

the unjust. And no one can escape these things.

Not in this side of eternity. And such is the

case for this father. We don't know the whole

back story of this father and his son. How the

son became enslaved to his condition. So it's

best not to speculate as to why. But what is

clear, however, is that it was not a new problem.

This was not something that just happened the

night before. When Jesus asked how long he had

been tormented, he answered, from childhood.

And that two -word answer reveals a lot about

how the enemy works. I want to, for a few moments,

alert all of us to the strategy of Satan. We

must not only know the strategy of Jesus, church,

we also need to know the strategy of Satan. Somebody

say amen. Satan has a strategy. And it's revealed

in this two -word answer. How long has this been

going on? From childhood. That says a lot, doesn't

it? What it tells us, first of all, is the pattern

of the enemy. One that we see all throughout

Scripture. We see it from the very beginning

of Scripture. It's such. Infamous stories as

Pharaoh issuing a decree for all the Hebrew baby

boys to be thrown into the Nile River. We see

it even in the time of Jesus when King Herod

issued an order for the elimination of boys and

to kill children. We see this time and time again.

Scripture is filled with... This repeated effort,

threat of the enemy to kill and to destroy a

life as young as possible. So when the father

says from childhood, it tells us something about

the way the enemy works, which is to destroy,

to crush, to diminish a life as young as possible.

So at some point in this. This young man's life,

a door was open. We don't know. We don't want

to speculate. But at some point, his life was

affected. His life was attacked by the enemy.

And this is why we need strongholds. We need

churches. We need fathers and mothers and everybody

to get in and to help protect our children. Amen?

our children. Come on, somebody say amen to that.

He wants to invade their life as young as possible

to destroy them. So the father says his childhood.

It also reveals the tenacity of the enemy. Satan

is stubborn. He is stubborn. Once he has a foothold,

he doesn't surrender that easily. The fact that

he had since childhood, his grip on his life

that easily. Once Satan establishes a foothold,

he intends to stay there. He intends to set up

camp. He intends to stay there for generations

even, from generations On the door. He's not

going to go because of you. You beg him to leave.

Or because time has passed. No. He intends to

stay there. So when the father says. you Jesus

because First point today is that we've got to

recognize the real battle is spiritual. Somebody

say man today. The real battle. Someone say the

real battle. Someone say it's spiritual. Notice

the father said. He said. People may have misjudged

the problem in this son's life as being purely

behavioral. They may have misunderstood his suffering

as being only a mental health crisis or a series

of emotional outbursts. People... for just being,

you know, something he's doing for attention

even. Something that is purely physical or emotional.

I said, man, you know, they really got to talk

to their son. They got to get this thing under

control. He understood that this was a spiritual

attack. That while there may be outward symptoms,

physical symptoms, emotional symptoms, mental

symptoms, he's not denying it. It's not just

another philosophy. It's a spiritual attack.

It's the enemy trying to infiltrate the minds

of society and young people and children. And

so we must be alert. Amen. Come on. We must be

sober -minded and understand that this war that

we're in is spiritual. of Jesus. And so I'm here

to tell you, if you need spiritual help, you're

in the right place. Amen. I said you're in the

right place because at the root of it all is

spiritual. Secondly, we must learn from this

man that we cannot afford to get stuck in disappointment.

He said, hey, these guys have been with Jesus.

They are his students. It's so easy to say, you

know what? Forget all of this then. You know,

it's false advertisement. I didn't get what I

thought I was going to get. It didn't happen

the way I thought it was going to happen. And

this father could have done what many people

do when things don't go according to plan. They

just give up and walk away. But something in

him would not let him give up. This father was

to... And that's what we need today. You know

what we need? We need some people with determination.

Come on, help me out here today. I said, what

we need is some determination. We need some determination

from people today that says, you know what? Like

Jacob, when he wrestled with God, I'm not going

to let you go. Until you bless me. There is something

to be said about determination that is needed.

I believe that we need a revival of determination.

about what... Just like this man did. He was

disappointed. And his disappointment was that

your disciples failed. Let me tell you something.

People are going to fail you. Hello, somebody.

Anybody ever let you down? I'm sure they have.

People are going to fail you. They're going to

let you down. There have been times in my life

where people... never fail you. I said, how many

of you don't ever fail you? The church will let

you down. Religion will let you down. Organizations

will let you down. They'll fail you. They'll

disappoint you. But God, God never fails. God

is faithful. God is faithful. I see people walk

away from church because of something that somebody

said or did to them. They disappointed them.

They broke a promise. For whatever reason. And

the thing I've always got to tell these people

is take your eyes off of them. Don't serve God

based on other people. Don't come to church looking

for validation from other people. Don't come

to be impressed or be perceived by other people.

Get your eyes off of them because those people

are going to disappoint you. He gave this thing

another chance. And that's what God is telling

somebody right now. Why don't you try again?

Why don't you try again? Give it another chance.

But I already did it that one time. It didn't

work out. I had the best intentions, but that

one sister, man, she looked at me cross -eyed.

Forget it. I'm not coming back next Sunday. A

lot of people are going to look at you cross

-eyed. Hallelujah. But you can't let somebody

Who discourages you or disappoints you, keep

you from your... This man could have done that.

He could have said, what's the use? Why even

bother? If Jesus' disciples couldn't fix it,

why would I even keep trying? But there was something

in him that said, you know, I can't give up that

easily. No, I've got to press a little more.

Amen, somebody. I've got to try a little harder.

I've got to be determined about this because

what if God will do it this time? you'll suddenly

say, well, because you're the pastor. No! Ah!

Because you've got to go down and read all the

things that he will not do. No. Like when he

said all things are possible. That means all

things. Every form of disease. stand up on your

feet right now and help me give God some praise

would you help me give God some glory would you

help me worship him would you help me bless him

would you help me magnify him hallelujah oh thank

you Jesus sometimes we miss our miracles because

we're trying to present God with the faith that

we wish we had instead of the faith we God is

saying, if you just give me what you've got.

Give me the little faith that you've got. Give

me that mustard seed that you have. And watch

what I'll do with that. Because I could do a

whole lot more with imperfect but sincere faith

than I can with fake. insincere faith. I've seen

people walk out of services still hurting, still

wounded. Not because God didn't want to heal

them. Not because God didn't want to work a miracle

in their life, but because of their pride. They

were more concerned about how other people would

perceive them. They were more concerned about

how other families would judge them. They were

more concerned about how it might look. How it

might be perceived because we're more concerned

about that than we are sometimes about getting

what we need. But this father, let me ask you,

do you think he cared what other people said?

In fact, you know it got worse before it got

better? Right when Jesus was delivering the young

man, the Bible says that he convulsed again.

Can I tell you that when things get worse, sometimes

that means you're right on the verge of a breakthrough.

You say, but it's getting worse. If it's getting

a little worse, if it's getting a little more

intense, all that tells me is you're that much

closer to seeing a breakthrough in your life.

anymore and he's throwing everything that he

can at you and he's acting out and he's spiraling

out of control he's losing his grip and he's

panicking and so right when Jesus was about to

deliver him the son went through another episode

but that was the last time because Jesus said

come out of him and enter him no more I've come

to tell somebody it might look a little worse

before it gets better and his power. I don't

know if there's somebody right now saying, I

need God to do it right now. But I invite you

to pray right where you are. Oh, hallelujah,

hallelujah. God wants to touch you. God wants

to deliver you. God wants to touch your family.

God wants to bless your home. God wants to bless

your children. God wants to bless your family.

In the name of Jesus, I speak it right now. I

speak. I speak deliverance. I speak it in Jesus'

name. Deliverance. I bring down every stronghold.

I bring down every vice. I bring down every curse.

In the mighty name of Jesus, I decree and declare

this right now over somebody's life. I rebuke

the heart. I feel the Holy Ghost right now. I

rebuke the hand of the enemy that's been on your

mind. and on your spirits and attacking you in

the midnight hour. I rebuke it right now. The

devil is a liar and he's the father of lies.

I rebuke his hand right now and I command him

to take his disgusting hand off of your mind.

Jesus, I declare it right now. God is moving

in this place right now. I need somebody to get

a hold of it. I need somebody to tap into it.

I need somebody to believe for it. Even if just

a little bit, brother. Believe. Believe that

it's possible. Oh, God. Hallelujah.