August 21, 2025 • 26 mins
Episode 754:
In this episode, we dive into Mark 9:14-29, where Jesus encounters a desperate father seeking healing for his son. The father expresses doubt, asking Jesus, "If you can," to which Jesus responds powerfully, emphasizing that anything is possible for those who believe. We discuss the father's poignant cry, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief," and how this reflects the struggle many face in their faith journey.
In this episode, we dive into Mark 9:14-29, where Jesus encounters a desperate father seeking healing for his son. The father expresses doubt, asking Jesus, "If you can," to which Jesus responds powerfully, emphasizing that anything is possible for those who believe. We discuss the father's poignant cry, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief," and how this reflects the struggle many face in their faith journey.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a
couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in
practical ways. Good morning, good morning, we talk morning, good morning,
do you and man? Oh man, yes, it's twice this week.
(00:24):
What I told you is coming. Jeff, it's the immense talent.
I'm not sure that we can handle it. Chris, you
did not believe me, but I hold it out.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Man too.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Good mornings. Today's Thursday and I we we say good
morning on Tuesday. And by the way, I wonder if
people who have a habit of listening this in the
evening are like, come on, man.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Good afternoon, good any evening.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, well, I mean, like seriously, they're probably thinking themselves, like,
why do you always assume right bad assumptions.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well, yeah, the majority of people do watch in the morning.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah I know, I know they do. But anyway, way,
we are the Bible Guys, and we're in the middle
of a podcast or excuse me, I said that twice
now in the middle of a series about a podcast.
What if Jesus had his own podcast? And so today's
saying is something that Jesus said, Everyone is possible. Everything
is possible for one who believes.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
O good one tongue tied. I like that one, though,
it's possible for one who live Yes, yeah, so before
we get into that though, Chris, you know our longtime
listeners know this is true. We scour the internet for
the very best every week, every week, the very best news.
We try, trust worthy intellectual information we can find for
(01:41):
our people.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, we try it. We try other ones, but it
always brings us back to the Babylon B.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
What's the single greatest source of information on the whole Internet.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
If you don't look at the Babylon B on a
regular basis, you are totally uninformed and ignorant people.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Wow, wow, why.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Do why do people? What do people think? Are our superpower?
Where's this come from? It comes from the fact we
spent time with the Babylon B. That's it, ok think, yes, yeah,
so this one talking about deep research. There's been the
geniuses at the Babylon Bee have doing some very deep
textual research and they came up with this this thing,
(02:20):
nine movies that should be part of the Biblical canon.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Oh, I love it.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You like this?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I love it?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Okay, So here's what it says. As great as the
Bible is it's severely lacking in movies.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Wow, it's very lacking in movies.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Adding in some of the greatest films ever could have
ever made could bring some much needed excitement to the
collection in the Holy Scripture.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Okay, now, I didn't glance at this until just now. Yeah,
and I've decided this could be my favorite Babylon b e.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Okay, the Babylon b has come up with the following
list of movies that should be made part of the
Biblical canon. Oh one, the Matrix, of course, the one
coming from another world to save mankind. It fits right in.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Yeah, and I can go on and on about this.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yes, I believe you.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
It's all biblical. You know Zion the Hidden City. Trinity
is her name, right, he's the one.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah. They're not even trying to hide it.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, No, they're not, they're not.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Okay, I don't know this one. Robot Jocks.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I don't know what.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I don't know that one either. It's a post apocalyptic
tale about scores being settled by giant fighting robots, which
is basically an exact piction of the end times. I do,
I haven't seen it. I don't know. UHF I don't
know that one. Either, I don't.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I don't know if I have seen that or not.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
It's arguably the greatest story of redemption in finding purpose?
Not do you know? January sixth, No, don't know that one.
Let's move on. How about Brave Heart of course? Okay, Braveheart,
an epic tale of swords, blood and dismemberment on power
with the Book of Judges. Yes, yes, okay, Conan the Barbarian,
of course, I know that one. Yes, it's a sandal
wearing hero slaughters a giant serpent. Sound familiar.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
That's a good Field of Dreams. Of course, that's good.
The only movie that allows men to cry.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yet, Oh, that's really funny.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
The Lord of the Rings extended editions. Yes, except for
the boring parts of the Two Towers. That yeah, that's
that's a And then number nine, Raiders of the Lost Arc,
the single greatest movie ever made, features all the face
melting by the Arc of the Covenant left out of
the Old Testament.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Nice, and you love that. That's one of your favorite movement?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
That's right? Is that your favorite movie? Probably? Not only
would it make the Bible more complete, but it also
give megachurch pastors the perfect list of films to show
clips from for for their annual at the Movies sermon series?
Nice which other movies should be cannonized? Post your suggestions
so let us know.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
So, So there was a member Youth Specialties. Yes, so
when we were in I remember them when we were
in the nineties as pastors of high school.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Just crossed them up yesterday to some of these pastors.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Did you know they were? They were a great, big
company that used to supply all these different great ideas
for youth ministry. And one guy wrote a book from
satur Back Church and it was about incorporating movie clips
in every sermon.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, and you.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Remember that I do. And so I remember like he
would literally give you the time codes on the VHS, Yes,
and you'd fast forward into the VHS and you'd hit
play remember, and I used an okay, So do you
remember mister Hollins Opus, Yes, Okay. Do you remember at
the end when he walks into the high school theater
and then everybody uh hes all his the impact that
(05:22):
he made throughout his whole life.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Okay and everybody okay.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Well I set it up for that clip, and I
was following this idea of like teaching the Bible from this,
and you know how sometimes VCRs what they'll do is
they'll rewind a.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Little bit, just a little bit, and yeah, yeah, okay,
so I said it exactly where it is, I shut
it off, and then when I hit play, it had
played like the previous like five seconds and they call
the son, calls the dad.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
And a bad name, a bad name.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Oh no, and it's a total cust work, right, and
and uh and and so and.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
So that's that's right in the middle of your Bibles.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yes, okay, So so literally in the middle of my Bible.
Aston I'm like, watch this, I plus press play and
the bof there goes the customer and I'm like, oh
my goodness. I'm like, I'm don't get get fired. It
was really funny. But hey, let me just say this
real quick too. Did you ever watch The Big Bang Theory.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I've seen a couple of episodes.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Okay. Did you hear about or know about how they
critique Raiders are Lost Dark?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
No?
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Okay, so they are all three for of these nerds, right,
They're just like these nerdy guys who are like geniuses
and they love sci fi and they love all these
different things, and one of the things they love is
Raiders the Lost Dark. So they play it for Amy
and Amy is also, you know, incredibly intelligent, and and
she watches it and he goes, so did you love it?
And she goes, yeah, it was great. She goes, except
(06:41):
for the gaping plot hole. And and so Sheldon goes, Amy,
there's no gaping plot hole in Raiders of Lost Ark
and she goes, well, she goes, yeah, there is the
fact that Harrison Ford is irrelevant. He has served the
purpose in the movie. And she goes. He goes, what
do you mean, and she goes, well, if he wasn't
(07:02):
there this, everything would have happened the exact same. The
Nazis would have found the arc, they would have had
their faces melted off, and they were, and then the
government would have stored it in uh, the would have
gotten it well anyway.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Without having an American at the spot, it just would
have been left there because all those Nazis would have
died and the other Nazis wouldnt have known where it
was because it was a top secret project.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So so Harrison Ford got the government.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
That's the alls he did was he protected the whole
world by getting it into a US government warehouse. He
was the only American there. It was only him and
the girl that survived.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Okay, well, anyway, then you.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Just Amy's wrong, okay, all right, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Well that that is his only contributions.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Then it is right, that's it. Nine minutes of almost dying.
And the other thing was he happened to be tied up.
Yeah his eyes closed, right right? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Okay, all right, so there it is. I'll give you that.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I like it. Well, that's how most of my life.
Just keep my eyes closed and land on my feet.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
There it is.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Well, hey, talking about keeping your eyes closed and landing
on your feet, what I don't know?
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Mark chapter nine, Yeah, that's not it at all, No,
because it's the transfiguration.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, oh, speaking of.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Bright things.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Nine is transfiguration. I have Mark chapter nine as Jesus
heals a demon possessed boy, verse fourteen.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Oh we're in verse fourteen. That's the reason, Yes, Jesus
heals the demon possessed boy.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Okay, Well how about this transition?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Okay, talking about melting your face off, all that's terrible.
I don't know. I don't have a transition for that one.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
All right, well, hey, we'll just we'll take them melting
the face off things.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Okay, So we're gonna read Mark chapter nine, yep, Verse
fourteen through twenty nine, and it says when they returned
to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them.
They're coming down off the mountain of transfiguration. Yep. This
is Peter, James, John and Jesus. They saw a large
crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were
(09:08):
arguing with them. And when the crowd saw Jesus, they
were overwhelmed with awe and they ran to greet him.
Remember he's kind of glowing.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
You were still glowing?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Is he?
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I would imagine they were in awe.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
You were thinking, you're thinking Moses. Might I be getting confused?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
No, I had this idea that he was still glowing. Okay, yeah,
I don't know. Anyways, when the crowd saw Jesus, they
were overwhelmed with awe and they ran to greet him.
What is all this arguing about, Jesus asked, and one
of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, teacher,
I brought my son so you could heal him. He's
possessed by an evil spirit that won't let him talk.
And whenever the spirit seizes him, it throws him violently
(09:43):
to the ground, and then he foams at the mouth
and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked
your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they
couldn't do it. Jesus said to them, you faithful, faithless people,
how long must that be with you? How long must
I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.
So they brought the boy, and when the evils spirit
saw Jesus, that threw the child into a violent convulsion,
and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at
(10:04):
the mount. How long has this's been happening, Jesus asked
the boy's father. He replied, since he was a little boy.
The spirit often throws him into the fire into water,
trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help
us if you can. What do you mean if I can,
Jesus asked, Anything is possible if a person believes. The
father instantly cried out, I do believe that helped me
overcome my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the crowd of
(10:27):
onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. Listen, you
spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak.
He said, I command you to come out of this
child and never enter him again. Then the spirit screamed
and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him,
and the boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran
through the crowd as people said he's dead, but Jesus
took him by the hand and helped him to his feet,
and he stood up. Afterward, when Jesus was alone in
(10:50):
the house with his disciples, they asked him, I couldn't
really cast out that evil spirit, and Jesus replied, this
kind can be cast out only by prayer. And by
the way, ships read praying fast.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yes, I was just going to say that. Another another
gospel records that it's him saying this can this kind
can only be cast out by prayer and festing. And uh,
by the way, my favorite part of you reading that
is you, added the whisper of the crowd saying he's dead. Yes,
(11:22):
this is you, this is you reading?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
This is you?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Said, I remember ran through the crowd as the people
said he's dead. Jesus took him by the hand.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I didn't even know, yeah you did in the story man,
that's you were in it.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yes, so that's so funny.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, so I'm embarrassed.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Embarrassed. Why that's great reading right there. You know. Isn't
that what we do anyway? Isn't that part of our
job description to make these words come to.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Life and make them come to life? Yeah? Yeah, that's funny.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
So anyway, the uh, the Jesus heals the demon possessed boy,
So let me just bring this up, shall we?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yes? Please?
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Whenever you travel, which is a lot, So you travel
like probably one hundred days a year, yeah, right, out
of three hundred and sixty five, and you're gone to
how many different countries in a year?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
This year, I'll be in like twelve or thirteen fourteen countries.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Okay, And the number of times that I travel is
not very much. I've only been to one country outside
the United States, the Dominican Republics here yeah this year. Well, yeah,
I went to the Dominican once or twice. They going twice.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Just got back a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah. Yeah, so anyway, so considerably less than you. But however,
in my previous job, in my previous church, I traveled
all the time and been the twenty countries or whatever.
So I've also experienced that whenever you're overseas there demonic
possession and evil spirits and cast out demons. It is
(13:01):
a regular party outside of the United States, And so
people who live here they hear this scripture and it's like,
this is unrelatable. Yes, like other than like a movie,
which again I'm a movie guy, So a movie about
a priest performing an extorcism, which we've seen on different movies,
if you've seen those kinds of movies. But other than that,
(13:25):
we don't run into this even in conversation. But yet
when you travel it's almost everywhere. Yeah, okay, so you
had a theory that one time that you said it,
and I remember thinking to myself, that completely makes sense
to me. So why do you think it's prevalent outside
of the United States?
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Is this the front lines conversation?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah, this is this is the demonic.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Yeah, so there's I think that there's a limited number
of demons created obviously, right, there's a limited number of angels,
limited number of demons. Only God is everywhere, that's right,
can't be everywhere all the time. So he's marshaling his
troops because they're spiritual warfare happening, and so he's doing battle,
I believe, mostly on the front lines of where the
(14:10):
light is pushing against the dark man. And so as
the Gospel moves into new countries, then I think that
there's more demonic activity in those areas prior to the
Gospel getting there, and then when the Gospel is there.
The other thing is a lot of countries have completely
sold out their heart and soul to demonism. The countries
(14:33):
that have engaged in voodoo, for instance, they're not even
shy about the fact that it's the devil, right, Yeah,
they understand it, they believe it. I've talked to voodoo
priests on a number of occasions, a couple who've actually
become Christians. But I've spoken with voodoo priests who've said, oh,
one hundred percent, it was the devil. The devil gave
me all my power, right. And I had one I
(14:56):
have a friend, his name's Joseph. He was a very
awful witch doctor in East Africa. So it's not full
on voodoo, but which doctor work is very similar. And
he said, the devil gave me all my power. He
could make it thunder like he could demand thunder and
it with thunder. Right, he would curse people with blindness.
(15:16):
He would do all these horrible things to people. And
he sacrificed even He said, the demons will give you power,
but they demand more than they give. And he wound
up human sacrifices of his wife, his two children, and
his mother over a period of time in order to
be able to get this demonic power. And he started crying,
(15:39):
and he said, the devil will give you power, but
he always takes you far more than he gives, right,
And he said, what kind of man does this so
really horrible? Anyways, nations that have wholeheartedly given their hearts
over to the devil, it doesn't surprise me at all
that there's more demonic activity there. He just free to run.
There's really nothing to holding back in that environment. The
(16:01):
Bible says that that Satan is the prince of the
power of the air. Right, So another place, the Bible
calls Satan the God of this world, small g God
of this world. And so without the power of the
Holy Spirit, without the light of the Gospel, without Jesus,
there's nothing to hold back evil. And so then in
those places, I think the devil just plays it, does
(16:23):
what he wants to do, just tears into humanity because
he hates the image of God. He'll never defeat God,
but he hates those that are made in the image
of God and the object of God's love and affection.
Hates them, and so he just runs rampant and wild
among them. In places where the Gospel is still existing
and is bright and is functioning, I think we see
(16:46):
less of it, not that it doesn't happen. I believe
here in America they're deemed possessed people. It's just less
frequent or less visible to us than it is in
the places where they're just totally dialed in to the
demonic things all the time.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah, yeah, And that makes sense to me, And honestly
that's my experience as well. So I went to the
island of Haiti four different times, which is the same
island as the Domnican Republic, which means I've been on
that island quite a bit. But on the Haiti side,
now you can't even cross the border.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
But but here's just roving gangs, just it's it's horrific.
What's happening in Haiti?
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah, horrific. Yeah, And here's what I know. On the border.
If you were to be standing on the border, you
can look to the left, assuming that you're facing north,
and you can look at Haiti and it is all brown.
It's like desolate and dry and brown. And then you
could literally stand on the border and look to the
(17:44):
right in the Dominican Republican it's all green, and it's
almost crazy. It's like, this is the same island. It's
the same climate, it's the same vegetation, it's the same everything,
same conditions. So why is it? And I'm telling you
if when you're in Haiti everything is so dark. I
remember going to the village of SEUs Matlas, and I
(18:04):
remember being in conversation with people who are just like
you said, voodoo, which you know, masters, what do you
call them, tru witch doctors, witch doctors, voodoo leaders. But yeah,
completely talking about embracing voodoo. And you see it everywhere too,
So you see the things hanging right from the windows,
and man, it's just incredible.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I don't know, so so true. Even in Cuba, inside
the capitol building, Uh, there's a statue of a fallen
angel and it has a spot at the base all
the way around so it's a multi angled base that
has all the different provinces, the names of the provinces
of Cuba, and the people who believe in Santoia come
(18:48):
and they make little sacrifices through the slots on their side. Right.
That's in the capitol building of Cuba.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Wow. Right, which I've been to.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't see that. Yeah, yeah, it's in
their capitol building.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Yeah. Reason why it is because they were it was
under construction. We weren't allowed.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Oh yeah. So Santaia is essentially voodoo with Christian words
spread over you know, stretched over top of us Catholicism. Yeah. Yeah,
and so yeah, it exists all over the world. So
here's it's not a surprise to me that Jesus would
encounter demons. The light is bright and so the demons
would be more visible in that situation. Right, that's what's happening.
(19:24):
But I love this. This is one of the whenever
I'm sharing the gospel, I'm preaching the gospel and crowds,
especially if I have a sense that people struggle with
the idea of do I have enough faith to be
a Christian? This is my favorite passage to deal with
because this guy comes to Jesus. He goes, hey, if
if it's possible, could you have mercy on us and
help us if you can?
Speaker 1 (19:45):
And he says if I can, and he.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Goes, what do you mean if I can? It's one
of the coolest responses to yeah, mobile, what do you
mean if I can?
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Hey? Do you know who I am? Do you know
who you're talking to?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Well, so Jesus is being confronted by this demonic, of course,
and this man steps in and goes, hey, if you can,
would you would you have mercy on It helps out
and Jesus is kind of powering up in this moment.
He's like, what do you mean if I can?
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Right?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
He says, man, everything is possible, anything is possible for
some beliefs, and the father instantly cries out so you
can hear the just the agony. He's crying out to Jesus.
He's so desperate, and he says, I do believe that
helped me overcome my unbelief and I love this. You know,
people ask sometimes how much faith do you have to have? Well,
Jesus goes on. He casts a demon out and heals
(20:29):
the boy right, defeats this demon. It says never come
back right, so full on defeat against this demon. So
how much faith do you have to have to have
God act on your behalf enough to ask? Because this
guy doubted and admitted it out loud. We have a
hard time admitting that we doubt. We feel like if
(20:50):
we admit to God we're struggling with doubts, that God's
going to give up on it. It's gonna be mad
at us. Right, this guy looks Jesus in the face says,
I'm not positive you can, but if you can, would
you help me out? And Jesus says, anything's possible if
you believe. And the guy said, I do believe, would
you help my unbelief? And Jesus heals his son defeats
(21:12):
this demon. So the amount of faith it takes to
have Jesus move on your behalf is enough to ask.
That's it. That's it, I do believe, would you help
my own belief?
Speaker 1 (21:21):
So the people at our Stony Creek campus heard one
of our pastors, Dave Wilson, just three weeks ago from
this filming. And Dave has this statement that he had
written and it says, it's not the size of your
faith that matters it's the size of your God. And
it's a play on words, but it's basically it sort
of debunks the idea that people think I just need
(21:44):
more faith, more faith, more faith. And it's like, no,
you just you just have to have a little faith.
It's just stronger faith, right, It's just and and the
way to fix that is not to say, oh, my goodness,
I lack a quantity of faith. It's to say, no,
I lack perspective on who that is, right, right, So
it's saying no, you don't. You don't need to increase
the size of your face. You need to faith, you
(22:05):
need to increase your view of God. And so, yeah,
you just believe in God, which is why you know
he says how long do you have to put up
with you? It's coupled with if I can, right, if
I can, what do you mean if I can't? And
then he says, this kind of demon can only be
cast out through prayer and fasting. And I think that
(22:26):
it's really interesting how it's another it's another indication that
there are there are different levels of our relationship with
our heavenly Father. And I think that when God calls
us to do greater things, it's because those people are
(22:48):
on a different level. Which, by the way, I've said
this in the past before, I believe the only reason
why he asked Peter, James and John to go up
on the mountain with him for the Transfiguration is not
because he chose them. It's because they chose Jesus. They
kept asking, they kept they pursued him. In other words,
they wanted the next level.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
We want to understand, we want to know, we want.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
To know more than the average, we want to know
more than the crowd. Because guess what, nobody else came
up and asked him to explain those parables. Nobody else
pursued Jesus like they did. So Jesus rewards them with
next level experiences like the Transfiguration, right, and then other
places as well, and so and so again. This is
another indication that Jesus is saying, hey, you want next
(23:30):
level experiences, and it's then it's next level faith. And
this kind of casting out of this demon can only
happen through prayer and fasting, and it's and it's an
invitation to say, you want to go to the next level.
You want you want to you want to be right
there believing who I am, what I can do, knowing
more about me, knowing me personally, and then try fasting,
try more prayer, try communion with your heavenly Father. And
(23:53):
I think that fasting as something that we often overlook,
you know, uh, probably because honestly, there's no commandment to fast.
There's there's a commandment to pray.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Right, Jesus has an expectation that we would fast.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Yes, it's totally there when you when you pray, that's right.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
So there's an expectation, but there's no like, there's no
thou shout for these many days that you know this,
there's there's no there's no It doesn't lay out necessarily
on on exactly how to fast. We just know that
biblical traditional fasting was going without food, right, And it's
(24:31):
and and and it's basically giving up something you love
for something you love more, which is every time you're hungry,
you pray and you say, God, I love you, I
want to pursue you more than I want this next meal. God,
I want you your presence and your power in my life.
And it's a demonstration of saying God, I'm sacrificing something
in order to get something else, right and that's what
(24:53):
that's what fasting is. So it's it's again, it's this
next level pursuit of your relationship with your heavenly father
and order to experience the next level kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
So of course this passage in the New Living translation
doesn't include the word fasting correct just prayer. Some translations
include the word prayer and fasting the general meaning and
prayer fasting is a dual thing that's mentioned multi times
in scripture. So the principle is true here and there's
no other way. So when you find Jesus, he goes
up in the mountain to pray, he goes out into
(25:24):
the desert to pray. This was a regular occurrence in
Jesus' life. And so the worst time to dig a
well is when you're thirsty and everybody around you is thirsty.
Best time to dig a well, best time to be
tapped into the source is before the problem comes. And
so Jesus didn't have to run off and go and
pray and fast in order to have the power to
cast us out in the moment these thirsty people, these
(25:45):
hungry people show up, and he was already full of
the power of God. He just casts out the demons, right,
and so this is what your family needs, if your
mom and dad, if you're a brother's sister, you need
to be that person that's building this spiritual well, this
spiritual resid of war in your life so that when
you're confronted with evil, so that when you're confronted with
(26:05):
a problem, you're ready to face it and not have
to run off and hurry up and let me hear
up and go get right with God. Right, just be
walking in the powers of spirit all the time, and
you'll see God do amazing things. That's what happened for Jesus.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
It's like going out into the battle with no armor on.
He said, time out, time out, time out. Gotta go
get dressed right exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Do that. That's great.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
So all right, well, hey, that's all of our time.
So hopefully we'll see you tomorrow on the Bible, guys,
You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a
couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in
practical ways. Good morning, good morning, we talk morning, good morning,
do you and man? Oh man, yes, it's twice this week.
(00:24):
What I told you is coming. Jeff, it's the immense talent.
I'm not sure that we can handle it. Chris, you
did not believe me, but I hold it out.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Man too.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Good mornings. Today's Thursday and I we we say good
morning on Tuesday. And by the way, I wonder if
people who have a habit of listening this in the
evening are like, come on, man.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Good afternoon, good any evening.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, well, I mean, like seriously, they're probably thinking themselves, like,
why do you always assume right bad assumptions.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well, yeah, the majority of people do watch in the morning.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah I know, I know they do. But anyway, way,
we are the Bible Guys, and we're in the middle
of a podcast or excuse me, I said that twice
now in the middle of a series about a podcast.
What if Jesus had his own podcast? And so today's
saying is something that Jesus said, Everyone is possible. Everything
is possible for one who believes.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
O good one tongue tied. I like that one, though,
it's possible for one who live Yes, yeah, so before
we get into that though, Chris, you know our longtime
listeners know this is true. We scour the internet for
the very best every week, every week, the very best news.
We try, trust worthy intellectual information we can find for
(01:41):
our people.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, we try it. We try other ones, but it
always brings us back to the Babylon B.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
What's the single greatest source of information on the whole Internet.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
If you don't look at the Babylon B on a
regular basis, you are totally uninformed and ignorant people.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Wow, wow, why.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Do why do people? What do people think? Are our superpower?
Where's this come from? It comes from the fact we
spent time with the Babylon B. That's it, ok think, yes, yeah,
so this one talking about deep research. There's been the
geniuses at the Babylon Bee have doing some very deep
textual research and they came up with this this thing,
(02:20):
nine movies that should be part of the Biblical canon.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Oh, I love it.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You like this?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I love it?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Okay, So here's what it says. As great as the
Bible is it's severely lacking in movies.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Wow, it's very lacking in movies.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Adding in some of the greatest films ever could have
ever made could bring some much needed excitement to the
collection in the Holy Scripture.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Okay, now, I didn't glance at this until just now. Yeah,
and I've decided this could be my favorite Babylon b e.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Okay, the Babylon b has come up with the following
list of movies that should be made part of the
Biblical canon. Oh one, the Matrix, of course, the one
coming from another world to save mankind. It fits right in.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Yeah, and I can go on and on about this.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yes, I believe you.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
It's all biblical. You know Zion the Hidden City. Trinity
is her name, right, he's the one.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah. They're not even trying to hide it.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, No, they're not, they're not.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Okay, I don't know this one. Robot Jocks.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I don't know what.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I don't know that one either. It's a post apocalyptic
tale about scores being settled by giant fighting robots, which
is basically an exact piction of the end times. I do,
I haven't seen it. I don't know. UHF I don't
know that one. Either, I don't.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I don't know if I have seen that or not.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
It's arguably the greatest story of redemption in finding purpose?
Not do you know? January sixth, No, don't know that one.
Let's move on. How about Brave Heart of course? Okay, Braveheart,
an epic tale of swords, blood and dismemberment on power
with the Book of Judges. Yes, yes, okay, Conan the Barbarian,
of course, I know that one. Yes, it's a sandal
wearing hero slaughters a giant serpent. Sound familiar.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
That's a good Field of Dreams. Of course, that's good.
The only movie that allows men to cry.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yet, Oh, that's really funny.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
The Lord of the Rings extended editions. Yes, except for
the boring parts of the Two Towers. That yeah, that's
that's a And then number nine, Raiders of the Lost Arc,
the single greatest movie ever made, features all the face
melting by the Arc of the Covenant left out of
the Old Testament.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Nice, and you love that. That's one of your favorite movement?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
That's right? Is that your favorite movie? Probably? Not only
would it make the Bible more complete, but it also
give megachurch pastors the perfect list of films to show
clips from for for their annual at the Movies sermon series?
Nice which other movies should be cannonized? Post your suggestions
so let us know.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
So, So there was a member Youth Specialties. Yes, so
when we were in I remember them when we were
in the nineties as pastors of high school.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Just crossed them up yesterday to some of these pastors.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Did you know they were? They were a great, big
company that used to supply all these different great ideas
for youth ministry. And one guy wrote a book from
satur Back Church and it was about incorporating movie clips
in every sermon.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, and you.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Remember that I do. And so I remember like he
would literally give you the time codes on the VHS, Yes,
and you'd fast forward into the VHS and you'd hit
play remember, and I used an okay, So do you
remember mister Hollins Opus, Yes, Okay. Do you remember at
the end when he walks into the high school theater
and then everybody uh hes all his the impact that
(05:22):
he made throughout his whole life.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Okay and everybody okay.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Well I set it up for that clip, and I
was following this idea of like teaching the Bible from this,
and you know how sometimes VCRs what they'll do is
they'll rewind a.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Little bit, just a little bit, and yeah, yeah, okay,
so I said it exactly where it is, I shut
it off, and then when I hit play, it had
played like the previous like five seconds and they call
the son, calls the dad.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
And a bad name, a bad name.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Oh no, and it's a total cust work, right, and
and uh and and so and.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
So that's that's right in the middle of your Bibles.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yes, okay, So so literally in the middle of my Bible.
Aston I'm like, watch this, I plus press play and
the bof there goes the customer and I'm like, oh
my goodness. I'm like, I'm don't get get fired. It
was really funny. But hey, let me just say this
real quick too. Did you ever watch The Big Bang Theory.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I've seen a couple of episodes.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Okay. Did you hear about or know about how they
critique Raiders are Lost Dark?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
No?
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Okay, so they are all three for of these nerds, right,
They're just like these nerdy guys who are like geniuses
and they love sci fi and they love all these
different things, and one of the things they love is
Raiders the Lost Dark. So they play it for Amy
and Amy is also, you know, incredibly intelligent, and and
she watches it and he goes, so did you love it?
And she goes, yeah, it was great. She goes, except
(06:41):
for the gaping plot hole. And and so Sheldon goes, Amy,
there's no gaping plot hole in Raiders of Lost Ark
and she goes, well, she goes, yeah, there is the
fact that Harrison Ford is irrelevant. He has served the
purpose in the movie. And she goes. He goes, what
do you mean, and she goes, well, if he wasn't
(07:02):
there this, everything would have happened the exact same. The
Nazis would have found the arc, they would have had
their faces melted off, and they were, and then the
government would have stored it in uh, the would have
gotten it well anyway.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Without having an American at the spot, it just would
have been left there because all those Nazis would have
died and the other Nazis wouldnt have known where it
was because it was a top secret project.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So so Harrison Ford got the government.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
That's the alls he did was he protected the whole
world by getting it into a US government warehouse. He
was the only American there. It was only him and
the girl that survived.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Okay, well, anyway, then you.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Just Amy's wrong, okay, all right, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Well that that is his only contributions.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Then it is right, that's it. Nine minutes of almost dying.
And the other thing was he happened to be tied up.
Yeah his eyes closed, right right? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Okay, all right, so there it is. I'll give you that.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I like it. Well, that's how most of my life.
Just keep my eyes closed and land on my feet.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
There it is.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Well, hey, talking about keeping your eyes closed and landing
on your feet, what I don't know?
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Mark chapter nine, Yeah, that's not it at all, No,
because it's the transfiguration.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, oh, speaking of.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Bright things.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Nine is transfiguration. I have Mark chapter nine as Jesus
heals a demon possessed boy, verse fourteen.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Oh we're in verse fourteen. That's the reason, Yes, Jesus
heals the demon possessed boy.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Okay, Well how about this transition?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Okay, talking about melting your face off, all that's terrible.
I don't know. I don't have a transition for that one.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
All right, well, hey, we'll just we'll take them melting
the face off things.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Okay, So we're gonna read Mark chapter nine, yep, Verse
fourteen through twenty nine, and it says when they returned
to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them.
They're coming down off the mountain of transfiguration. Yep. This
is Peter, James, John and Jesus. They saw a large
crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were
(09:08):
arguing with them. And when the crowd saw Jesus, they
were overwhelmed with awe and they ran to greet him.
Remember he's kind of glowing.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
You were still glowing?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Is he?
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I would imagine they were in awe.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
You were thinking, you're thinking Moses. Might I be getting confused?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
No, I had this idea that he was still glowing. Okay, yeah,
I don't know. Anyways, when the crowd saw Jesus, they
were overwhelmed with awe and they ran to greet him.
What is all this arguing about, Jesus asked, and one
of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, teacher,
I brought my son so you could heal him. He's
possessed by an evil spirit that won't let him talk.
And whenever the spirit seizes him, it throws him violently
(09:43):
to the ground, and then he foams at the mouth
and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked
your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they
couldn't do it. Jesus said to them, you faithful, faithless people,
how long must that be with you? How long must
I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.
So they brought the boy, and when the evils spirit
saw Jesus, that threw the child into a violent convulsion,
and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at
(10:04):
the mount. How long has this's been happening, Jesus asked
the boy's father. He replied, since he was a little boy.
The spirit often throws him into the fire into water,
trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help
us if you can. What do you mean if I can,
Jesus asked, Anything is possible if a person believes. The
father instantly cried out, I do believe that helped me
overcome my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the crowd of
(10:27):
onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. Listen, you
spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak.
He said, I command you to come out of this
child and never enter him again. Then the spirit screamed
and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him,
and the boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran
through the crowd as people said he's dead, but Jesus
took him by the hand and helped him to his feet,
and he stood up. Afterward, when Jesus was alone in
(10:50):
the house with his disciples, they asked him, I couldn't
really cast out that evil spirit, and Jesus replied, this
kind can be cast out only by prayer. And by
the way, ships read praying fast.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yes, I was just going to say that. Another another
gospel records that it's him saying this can this kind
can only be cast out by prayer and festing. And uh,
by the way, my favorite part of you reading that
is you, added the whisper of the crowd saying he's dead. Yes,
(11:22):
this is you, this is you reading?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
This is you?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Said, I remember ran through the crowd as the people
said he's dead. Jesus took him by the hand.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I didn't even know, yeah you did in the story man,
that's you were in it.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yes, so that's so funny.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, so I'm embarrassed.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Embarrassed. Why that's great reading right there. You know. Isn't
that what we do anyway? Isn't that part of our
job description to make these words come to.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Life and make them come to life? Yeah? Yeah, that's funny.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
So anyway, the uh, the Jesus heals the demon possessed boy,
So let me just bring this up, shall we?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yes? Please?
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Whenever you travel, which is a lot, So you travel
like probably one hundred days a year, yeah, right, out
of three hundred and sixty five, and you're gone to
how many different countries in a year?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
This year, I'll be in like twelve or thirteen fourteen countries.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Okay, And the number of times that I travel is
not very much. I've only been to one country outside
the United States, the Dominican Republics here yeah this year. Well, yeah,
I went to the Dominican once or twice. They going twice.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Just got back a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah. Yeah, so anyway, so considerably less than you. But however,
in my previous job, in my previous church, I traveled
all the time and been the twenty countries or whatever.
So I've also experienced that whenever you're overseas there demonic
possession and evil spirits and cast out demons. It is
(13:01):
a regular party outside of the United States, And so
people who live here they hear this scripture and it's like,
this is unrelatable. Yes, like other than like a movie,
which again I'm a movie guy, So a movie about
a priest performing an extorcism, which we've seen on different movies,
if you've seen those kinds of movies. But other than that,
(13:25):
we don't run into this even in conversation. But yet
when you travel it's almost everywhere. Yeah, okay, so you
had a theory that one time that you said it,
and I remember thinking to myself, that completely makes sense
to me. So why do you think it's prevalent outside
of the United States?
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Is this the front lines conversation?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah, this is this is the demonic.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Yeah, so there's I think that there's a limited number
of demons created obviously, right, there's a limited number of angels,
limited number of demons. Only God is everywhere, that's right,
can't be everywhere all the time. So he's marshaling his
troops because they're spiritual warfare happening, and so he's doing battle,
I believe, mostly on the front lines of where the
(14:10):
light is pushing against the dark man. And so as
the Gospel moves into new countries, then I think that
there's more demonic activity in those areas prior to the
Gospel getting there, and then when the Gospel is there.
The other thing is a lot of countries have completely
sold out their heart and soul to demonism. The countries
(14:33):
that have engaged in voodoo, for instance, they're not even
shy about the fact that it's the devil, right, Yeah,
they understand it, they believe it. I've talked to voodoo
priests on a number of occasions, a couple who've actually
become Christians. But I've spoken with voodoo priests who've said, oh,
one hundred percent, it was the devil. The devil gave
me all my power, right. And I had one I
(14:56):
have a friend, his name's Joseph. He was a very
awful witch doctor in East Africa. So it's not full
on voodoo, but which doctor work is very similar. And
he said, the devil gave me all my power. He
could make it thunder like he could demand thunder and
it with thunder. Right, he would curse people with blindness.
(15:16):
He would do all these horrible things to people. And
he sacrificed even He said, the demons will give you power,
but they demand more than they give. And he wound
up human sacrifices of his wife, his two children, and
his mother over a period of time in order to
be able to get this demonic power. And he started crying,
(15:39):
and he said, the devil will give you power, but
he always takes you far more than he gives, right,
And he said, what kind of man does this so
really horrible? Anyways, nations that have wholeheartedly given their hearts
over to the devil, it doesn't surprise me at all
that there's more demonic activity there. He just free to run.
There's really nothing to holding back in that environment. The
(16:01):
Bible says that that Satan is the prince of the
power of the air. Right, So another place, the Bible
calls Satan the God of this world, small g God
of this world. And so without the power of the
Holy Spirit, without the light of the Gospel, without Jesus,
there's nothing to hold back evil. And so then in
those places, I think the devil just plays it, does
(16:23):
what he wants to do, just tears into humanity because
he hates the image of God. He'll never defeat God,
but he hates those that are made in the image
of God and the object of God's love and affection.
Hates them, and so he just runs rampant and wild
among them. In places where the Gospel is still existing
and is bright and is functioning, I think we see
(16:46):
less of it, not that it doesn't happen. I believe
here in America they're deemed possessed people. It's just less
frequent or less visible to us than it is in
the places where they're just totally dialed in to the
demonic things all the time.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah, yeah, And that makes sense to me, And honestly
that's my experience as well. So I went to the
island of Haiti four different times, which is the same
island as the Domnican Republic, which means I've been on
that island quite a bit. But on the Haiti side,
now you can't even cross the border.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
But but here's just roving gangs, just it's it's horrific.
What's happening in Haiti?
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah, horrific. Yeah, And here's what I know. On the border.
If you were to be standing on the border, you
can look to the left, assuming that you're facing north,
and you can look at Haiti and it is all brown.
It's like desolate and dry and brown. And then you
could literally stand on the border and look to the
(17:44):
right in the Dominican Republican it's all green, and it's
almost crazy. It's like, this is the same island. It's
the same climate, it's the same vegetation, it's the same everything,
same conditions. So why is it? And I'm telling you
if when you're in Haiti everything is so dark. I
remember going to the village of SEUs Matlas, and I
(18:04):
remember being in conversation with people who are just like
you said, voodoo, which you know, masters, what do you
call them, tru witch doctors, witch doctors, voodoo leaders. But yeah,
completely talking about embracing voodoo. And you see it everywhere too,
So you see the things hanging right from the windows,
and man, it's just incredible.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I don't know, so so true. Even in Cuba, inside
the capitol building, Uh, there's a statue of a fallen
angel and it has a spot at the base all
the way around so it's a multi angled base that
has all the different provinces, the names of the provinces
of Cuba, and the people who believe in Santoia come
(18:48):
and they make little sacrifices through the slots on their side. Right.
That's in the capitol building of Cuba.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Wow. Right, which I've been to.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't see that. Yeah, yeah, it's in
their capitol building.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Yeah. Reason why it is because they were it was
under construction. We weren't allowed.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Oh yeah. So Santaia is essentially voodoo with Christian words
spread over you know, stretched over top of us Catholicism. Yeah. Yeah,
and so yeah, it exists all over the world. So
here's it's not a surprise to me that Jesus would
encounter demons. The light is bright and so the demons
would be more visible in that situation. Right, that's what's happening.
(19:24):
But I love this. This is one of the whenever
I'm sharing the gospel, I'm preaching the gospel and crowds,
especially if I have a sense that people struggle with
the idea of do I have enough faith to be
a Christian? This is my favorite passage to deal with
because this guy comes to Jesus. He goes, hey, if
if it's possible, could you have mercy on us and
help us if you can?
Speaker 1 (19:45):
And he says if I can, and he.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Goes, what do you mean if I can? It's one
of the coolest responses to yeah, mobile, what do you
mean if I can?
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Hey? Do you know who I am? Do you know
who you're talking to?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Well, so Jesus is being confronted by this demonic, of course,
and this man steps in and goes, hey, if you can,
would you would you have mercy on It helps out
and Jesus is kind of powering up in this moment.
He's like, what do you mean if I can?
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Right?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
He says, man, everything is possible, anything is possible for
some beliefs, and the father instantly cries out so you
can hear the just the agony. He's crying out to Jesus.
He's so desperate, and he says, I do believe that
helped me overcome my unbelief and I love this. You know,
people ask sometimes how much faith do you have to have? Well,
Jesus goes on. He casts a demon out and heals
(20:29):
the boy right, defeats this demon. It says never come
back right, so full on defeat against this demon. So
how much faith do you have to have to have
God act on your behalf enough to ask? Because this
guy doubted and admitted it out loud. We have a
hard time admitting that we doubt. We feel like if
(20:50):
we admit to God we're struggling with doubts, that God's
going to give up on it. It's gonna be mad
at us. Right, this guy looks Jesus in the face says,
I'm not positive you can, but if you can, would
you help me out? And Jesus says, anything's possible if
you believe. And the guy said, I do believe, would
you help my unbelief? And Jesus heals his son defeats
(21:12):
this demon. So the amount of faith it takes to
have Jesus move on your behalf is enough to ask.
That's it. That's it, I do believe, would you help
my own belief?
Speaker 1 (21:21):
So the people at our Stony Creek campus heard one
of our pastors, Dave Wilson, just three weeks ago from
this filming. And Dave has this statement that he had
written and it says, it's not the size of your
faith that matters it's the size of your God. And
it's a play on words, but it's basically it sort
of debunks the idea that people think I just need
(21:44):
more faith, more faith, more faith. And it's like, no,
you just you just have to have a little faith.
It's just stronger faith, right, It's just and and the
way to fix that is not to say, oh, my goodness,
I lack a quantity of faith. It's to say, no,
I lack perspective on who that is, right, right, So
it's saying no, you don't. You don't need to increase
the size of your face. You need to faith, you
(22:05):
need to increase your view of God. And so, yeah,
you just believe in God, which is why you know
he says how long do you have to put up
with you? It's coupled with if I can, right, if
I can, what do you mean if I can't? And
then he says, this kind of demon can only be
cast out through prayer and fasting. And I think that
(22:26):
it's really interesting how it's another it's another indication that
there are there are different levels of our relationship with
our heavenly Father. And I think that when God calls
us to do greater things, it's because those people are
(22:48):
on a different level. Which, by the way, I've said
this in the past before, I believe the only reason
why he asked Peter, James and John to go up
on the mountain with him for the Transfiguration is not
because he chose them. It's because they chose Jesus. They
kept asking, they kept they pursued him. In other words,
they wanted the next level.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
We want to understand, we want to know, we want.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
To know more than the average, we want to know
more than the crowd. Because guess what, nobody else came
up and asked him to explain those parables. Nobody else
pursued Jesus like they did. So Jesus rewards them with
next level experiences like the Transfiguration, right, and then other
places as well, and so and so again. This is
another indication that Jesus is saying, hey, you want next
(23:30):
level experiences, and it's then it's next level faith. And
this kind of casting out of this demon can only
happen through prayer and fasting, and it's and it's an
invitation to say, you want to go to the next level.
You want you want to you want to be right
there believing who I am, what I can do, knowing
more about me, knowing me personally, and then try fasting,
try more prayer, try communion with your heavenly Father. And
(23:53):
I think that fasting as something that we often overlook,
you know, uh, probably because honestly, there's no commandment to fast.
There's there's a commandment to pray.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Right, Jesus has an expectation that we would fast.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Yes, it's totally there when you when you pray, that's right.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
So there's an expectation, but there's no like, there's no
thou shout for these many days that you know this,
there's there's no there's no It doesn't lay out necessarily
on on exactly how to fast. We just know that
biblical traditional fasting was going without food, right, And it's
(24:31):
and and and it's basically giving up something you love
for something you love more, which is every time you're hungry,
you pray and you say, God, I love you, I
want to pursue you more than I want this next meal. God,
I want you your presence and your power in my life.
And it's a demonstration of saying God, I'm sacrificing something
in order to get something else, right and that's what
(24:53):
that's what fasting is. So it's it's again, it's this
next level pursuit of your relationship with your heavenly father
and order to experience the next level kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
So of course this passage in the New Living translation
doesn't include the word fasting correct just prayer. Some translations
include the word prayer and fasting the general meaning and
prayer fasting is a dual thing that's mentioned multi times
in scripture. So the principle is true here and there's
no other way. So when you find Jesus, he goes
up in the mountain to pray, he goes out into
(25:24):
the desert to pray. This was a regular occurrence in
Jesus' life. And so the worst time to dig a
well is when you're thirsty and everybody around you is thirsty.
Best time to dig a well, best time to be
tapped into the source is before the problem comes. And
so Jesus didn't have to run off and go and
pray and fast in order to have the power to
cast us out in the moment these thirsty people, these
(25:45):
hungry people show up, and he was already full of
the power of God. He just casts out the demons, right,
and so this is what your family needs, if your
mom and dad, if you're a brother's sister, you need
to be that person that's building this spiritual well, this
spiritual resid of war in your life so that when
you're confronted with evil, so that when you're confronted with
(26:05):
a problem, you're ready to face it and not have
to run off and hurry up and let me hear
up and go get right with God. Right, just be
walking in the powers of spirit all the time, and
you'll see God do amazing things. That's what happened for Jesus.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
It's like going out into the battle with no armor on.
He said, time out, time out, time out. Gotta go
get dressed right exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Do that. That's great.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
So all right, well, hey, that's all of our time.
So hopefully we'll see you tomorrow on the Bible, guys,
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