Shane Idleman emphasizes the necessity of breaking free from personal struggles and societal issues, asserting that hope and peace are found in God's grace. He encourages believers to persist in prayer and faith, even when immediate results are not visible, highlighting that sometimes the pressure of life's challenges is what leads to spiritual breakthroughs. Idleman reminds the congregation that the Christian life is a battle, and while God can deliver us instantly, He often uses prolonged struggles to deepen our reliance on Him. He calls for a return to fervent prayer and a commitment to seeking God, especially in a time of national decline, urging that true revival begins with personal humility and brokenness before God.

Hope is yours to take. Peace is found in grace. Something has to break. And I love those lyrics. Tear down every lie. Set the wrong thing right. Because something has to break when you have your way. When God has his way, something has to break. And how many of us have been praying through things and for things to break out of our lives? Personal confession? Sugar has got me this morning. I don't know why. It's craving and things. But on a bigger scale, of course, things have got to break. We've been struggling for years. Sometimes things don't happen right away. Maybe praying for something. Lord, something has to break in my family. Something has to break in my marriage. Something has to break in my heart. Lord, something has to break. Teenager, young adult. Maybe you're older and up there in years. I'm getting there, so I can say that, I guess. But there's things that we pray, Lord, take this away. Whether it's fear, anxiety. Whether it's a difficult marriage. Prodigal son. I mean, how long is the list? Lord, something has to break. And we've seen it next door in the prayer room, even pastoring for the length of time that I have, is that God will and can often deliver and set people free and get the wrong thing right immediately. But sometimes it doesn't happen. Sometimes it doesn't happen. And those are the times we have to persevere. We have to keep fighting. God never promised us a bed of roses. It's warfare. The Christian life is warfare. And probably one of the most frustrating things, probably in 20 years since I've came back to the Lord, daily, is praying for the direction of our nation. And God has given me that heart for that. For revival. And instead of getting better, I mean, if I look at, even when I was reading, going back in America's history, the top, in the 1970s, the top three problems in public schools. Chewing gum. Making noise. You don't want to know what they are today. Rape, robbery, assault lead the list. And I get very discouraged. But I have to encourage myself in the Lord. Because there might not be a place where our nation turns to God. It might just be remnants of people. And God bring you revival. And not trusting in a political party or in a person, but in trusting in God Almighty. And God used November to break a lot of people. And humble a lot of people. And it's in that humility and in that brokenness that we keep fighting and keep persevering. But I will tell you this. Sometimes it is a very good benefit when God doesn't break something immediately. Because that keeps us at the foot of the cross. That keeps us relying on Jesus. The difficult... How many of you pray better when things are going in a bad direction? Or when things are difficult? Your prayer life is dramatically affected when you're going through those difficult times. And I look back on my life, I would never take those things again. But looking back, I see how God used them to break me. So when we say something has to break, sometimes it's not the problem. Sometimes the problem is used to break us. And maybe the sooner some of you get to realizing that, the sooner you will have a breakthrough. Because instead of repenting and changing, God will allow that pressure to be put on us. Arthur Wallace said that pressure, spiritual pressure has to be maintained before there is a breakthrough in heavenly warfare. And I pondered that a lot over the years because I read it in his book on fasting. And actually this whole chapter gets... The crescendo at the end is the verse that a lot of people talk about. This kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting. And that's actually going to be next week. The title of the message next week is Locked and Loaded. And I hope you're ready. I hope you're here. But I started to work on that one and God just began to downpour this into my heart. And that's how it works for sermon preparation. I'm a little bit different. I don't sometimes have to sit down. I do, but sometimes I just start writing all these points, all these thoughts, and I have to put them in order, scriptures, and then that's the sermon. And of course I pull in studies and commentaries and things like that. But when it's pressured on my heart and when I'm feeling it, more often than not you're going to feel it. And that's how God often does it. He puts a fire in my heart to get the fire out there going. But isn't that true? Pressure has to be maintained before there is a breakthrough in heavenly warfare. Pressure, pressure. Even when Daniel prayed, the Bible says that the angel said, I heard you the first day, but the king of Persia, this principality, withheld me and I couldn't get to you until now. Now try figuring that one out. But we do know that it's in the Bible. We do know that there is spiritual ramifications. There is spiritual pressure that has to be applied. I'm amazed at this fact. And every time I read about the story of David, he was called and anointed by God. But it did not come without a fight. The Bible says the war between Saul and David was long, but David got stronger and stronger and stronger. And that's how it can work in your life as well. The war is hard, but you're getting stronger and stronger and stronger. And how long did it take for the children of Israel to go into the promised land and claim their promise? God said, I'm giving you this land. Did it take a couple weeks? No? I thought God said you can have the promised land. Here it is. Go into it. Eat of the vineyards and the land and it's all yours. A month? Well, 40 years of wandering. And many years, many years. I know there was at least seven years. And then Joshua, there was still land to conquer. There was still land to conquer. Many, many years of here's this promise. So it's almost like God gives us something and then you've got to fight for it. And I want to encourage you this morning that sometimes the wall comes right down like Jericho, but sometimes it comes down brick by brick by brick. And I saw this a lot in construction. Sometimes I would be able to rent a huge excavator with a breaking bar on the end of it. Have you seen those? And I could just knock down the whole wall in the back area really quickly. But sometimes you couldn't get equipment back there. So what do we have to bring? All day, which should have took ten minutes. What's the difference? Well, it's a different situation. Brick by brick by brick. And same thing in your lives as well as your fighting. Always remember that. Never give up because God will have the final say. We don't know what that victory looks like on this side of heaven. Sometimes people die. But Shane, I thought God was going to do this. And then they get disgruntled and discouraged because God didn't do what they thought he was going to do. And let me just tell you this up front. Just trust in his sovereignty. Not in your situations. Or how you want things done. Because his sovereignty will always prevail. So Mark 9, 14. Jesus saw that the scribes were arguing with the disciples. That's the image we have here. So the scribes, who are the religious leaders, they would take down the Scripture. They would record notes and different things on the Sanhedrin when they would meet. They were the scribes but they were also the religious leaders. So now they're arguing with the disciples. So Jesus sees that and he says, What are you discussing? Then one in the crowd answered and said, Teacher, I brought to you my son who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down. He foams at the mouth, he gnashes at his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to your disciples that they should cast it out, but they could not. So Jesus wasn't there. The man brought him to the disciples. You know, I'm kind of filling in the blanks here. And we do that when we're preaching, right? We kind of fill in the blanks. That's why some of you shouldn't be too hard on the movie, the series The Chosen. They're filling in the blanks, right? It's not off-doctrinally. They're just filling in the blanks. And I can imagine that disciples say, I got this. We got this. Jesus has showed us before. We know how to cast out demons. We've been doing this before. We've got this. And I don't know if pride got in the way. God humbled them. I mean, it's up to the imagination. But we do know that they were arguing. The scribes were arguing with the disciples. And I picture there was some possible mocking going on. Where's this Jesus you spoke about? Where's his power? Where's this authority that you spoke about? And mocking them about following Jesus. Look, he's still sick. He's still an epileptic. And why can't you heal this boy? I thought you said you could. And I'm pretty sure that's what they were arguing about. And so we see that there was possible mocking. Can anyone relate? If you're not mocked for following Jesus, I don't know if you're following Jesus. Let me say that again. If you're not ridiculed to some degree, mocked to some degree, are you truly following Jesus? Now, you don't go out and look for trouble. For example, I don't go out and look for trouble preaching. It just comes. This gets shared on YouTube and Rumble and Twitter and Facebook and it just comes. The mocking, the jeering. There's a whole Facebook page dedicating to slamming me. Where's this Jesus? Mocking God. And so I can picture this father, I'm sure many of you, what about the desperation, the frustration? You've ever had a child that's sick? There's nothing worse than that. Your child is sick. And especially, Matthew records it's epileptic seizures is how the King James translates the word that they're using. And the boy would just convulse. And the father was worried because he would be thrown into the water, thrown into the fire. And there's something about when it's happening to your children from when they were young. And so I can see in this man's heart something has to break. I don't think he was just having a casual chat. I think he's saying, Jesus, something has to break. God, I brought them to your disciples, but they could do nothing. Oh God, would you help me? And in the desperation and the cry of a father, Jesus begins to listen. God may ruin your schedule to repair your heart. God might ruin your schedule to repair your heart. Matthew 17 is a cross reference. Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic. And most of you know what that is, but it's electrical discharges in the brain that are off. They're sending the wrong signal so the body convulses. It can't control itself. And it would happen sometimes sporadically. Now this is interesting. I didn't spend too much time at the stadium last night on this. You can open up a can of worms. But I'll open it with you. How's that? More and more as I'm in this series on demonology, I'm realizing I wonder how often we rule out the demonic. I mean, most of us who are conservative, it's an interesting topic. We've seen some weird stuff before, and we kind of just, whatever. But it's clear here that this demon was causing mental illness. The demon was causing physical illness, and the lady that was bent over, she's walking like this, and Jesus says, Why should this daughter of Abram be bound by Satan? Woman, thou art loosed from your infirmities. He cast out the demon. The men in the tombs being tormented. Have you ever been tormented? Maybe some listening have. That's probably why they're not here. They don't go out much. There's a tormenting. They're hearing voices, and they're being tormented. And I talked in the first series, or the first message a couple weeks ago. You can go back and listen. I don't believe Christians can be possessed. The Bible actually doesn't use the word possessed. It uses the word demonized. And I'm wondering how much Christians are demonized. I actually met a lady. I baptized her last night at the stadium and just came out of Satanism four years ago. And when you talk to somebody, and you know they know what they're talking about, and she said, Shane, that demonic realm is real. That spiritual realm is real. Let me tell you. Things that would make your blood curl. It was just amazing what she went through. And she said after she became a Christian, it was amazing, but still needed deliverance because of the stronghold of the occult in her life. And she was just, as a Christian, but Lord, why am I struggling? What's going on? I can't have this. I'm a Christian. But opening up to witchcraft and the occult and black magic, there's some deep-rooted issues there. And finally someone was able to pray with her, and deliverance took some time. And she said, my body manifested, and I was released, though. It felt like this came out of me. It was incredible. And I don't quite understand how this all works, to be honest with you. Don't let any pastor tell you they've got perfect theology. Run to another church. One believes in the rapture, another one doesn't. One believes in this, another one doesn't. You know, as long as we agree on the essentials, that's the key. But in this area of demonology, you can get too far to the left where it's too much about demons. Demon under every rock. You're upset? You need to be delivered of anger. You've got Leviathan on you. You've got Jezebel spirit, and it's all about the demons. But then the other side, where I kind of camp out sometimes is I don't want to talk about the demons. I don't want to deal with it. Let's just discipline ourselves. Let's just follow the word. Can they just stay away from me? But as Jack Hayford said, you can't discipline a demon and you can't cast out the flesh. You have to discern what is going on. And I just truly believe I think there's a lot more demonic activity going on in the lives of people than they realize. For example, why don't we consider this option when there is mental illness or physical illness or any other types of situation? Why don't we go to God in prayer and fasting and discernment and find out? Because the gift of the Spirit is discerning of spirits to discern what is going on. And it's hard because people ask me quite often if I'm against medication when I teach on things like this. I'm not against medication. I'm not against things that work. For example, you heard me talk recently about serotonin reuptake inhibitors, that if somebody has a nervous breakdown and their serotonin levels are depleted, their adrenal glands are fatigued, and something is going to help boost that in a good way. But there's also natural remedies, gaba-gamma-aminobutyric acid, something called 5-HTP, I think it's hydro-tryptophan. And there's things naturally that do that as well. So my thought is always don't run to Xanax, run to the Scriptures. What is God's Word saying to you? Because we want to medicate everything nowadays. I've even talked to my doctor about this. And he agrees, praise God. Why when someone comes in with diabetes and high blood pressure and all these things, you just give them a pill? Why don't you get to the root problem? Do you know type 2 diabetes is diet-related? Diet-related? So why not get to the root, fix the problem, and then experience health? Because taking insulin is not going to fix it long term. Actually, most diabetics get worse and worse and worse and worse. Same with heart disease or high blood pressure. Oh, I'm taking this pill. I've got this Coumadin to thin my blood. I can get you off of that in good shape if you just follow what God's Word says. Now again, I'm not saying there's not a need for that sometime. But why do we always run to that? Always run to these situations? And look online. Xanax has just skyrocketed since COVID. And while you're there, type in side effects of Xanax or coming off of it. It's worse than the problem. And so we're medicating and we're never experiencing freedom. And we have to be careful in the area of medication because it does come from the word pharmacy comes from it's not a good word. It has to do with magic and witchcraft and things like that. Now I'm not saying if you walk into a pharmacy or get medication, that is the case. I'm just saying be careful. Be careful that we don't run that we're not running to Christ instead of all these other things. We have to get to the root problem of what's going on. So no, I'm not against medication if it's a last resort not a first resort. And if somebody truly needs it, they've sought God and they know hey, this is something God's put on my heart I think it's going to help in this area. Then by all means, look into that. But also look into the side effects. Look at what's really causing it. Do you know how many people I've over the years I have a background in health and fitness many of you know but I've talked to I don't even I mean it's up there in the hundreds and hundreds of people dealing with anxiety. Have you ever had that? Debilitating anxiety? Panic attacks? It's like you feel like you're going to die the heart rate and different it's just like I can't function. Well, when I start with their diet it's pretty revealing. I get up and I have a venti what did you know that 500 milligrams of caffeine actually lists that in the mental diagnostic mental book for disorders? That over 500 you start to experience psychological issues? Why not look at what we're consuming? Look at what I know it's convicting I didn't say I was coming to tickle your ears. This is the truth. This is the truth. And so why don't we look at those issues and then people get off of that getting off of it's hell but they get off and they feel so much better these things have lifted. Or you look at their mental diet. Oh, but Shane I just love horror movies. Well, your flesh might but that's what's causing a lot of it. I would be scared too if I'm watching all this garbage out there. And so we have to look first at our spiritual diet at our physical diet. Look at what we're feeding look at what we're allowing into our body and a lot of things that we struggle with with serotonin or mental disorders or challenges if you're not getting enough vitamins, minerals D and K and E and vitamin C and all these things in good God given food it actually causes these things. Just do your research don't take my word for it. And when people get back on the track physically they feel tremendous. So it doesn't always fix the problem. Usually it complicates it. But we should not rule out the demonic because of pride. Pride. And I've struggled with this before. I mean if somebody told me hey your son you know do you think there could be a demonic involvement? Oh no, no. I'm a pastor. Nope. Actually that could be. Why? And so talking to parents over the years like oh no, no, no our house is good. He's fine. No, I'm not saying it's not. I'm just saying how do you know? Kids having phones now at 10, 11, 12 you don't think they're being open to all kinds of things? And so I think we just need to really look at this area of demonic when we assess things. Do you know most of Jesus' ministry dealt with deliverance? I remember looking at at least 11 cases in the Bible or so of Jesus delivering people from demons. I don't know how they latch on and hold on exactly. I just know that they do. I know that we can open doors to the enemy. Actually I'll get into this in Genesis. The Bible talks about be not drunk with wine but be filled with the spirit because there's different spirits that can control us. We can give the enemy a foothold in our lives in these areas. And it begins to open the door and we open the door more and we open the door more. Also with legalizing marijuana but I love the excuse. Well, it's for medicinal purposes. Well, maybe that 1%. But the other 99% are being affected. You alter. It's called a state. You're altering your state. And so verse 19 and 20. I'll get out of the conviction area and keep moving forward. He answered him and said. Jesus answered him and said. Well, let's remember now because I kind of interrupted it. The man came to Jesus. He said, nobody was able to heal my son. And so Jesus said, okay. Bring him here. Oh, faithless generation. How long shall I be with you? Jesus is seeming a little irritated here. You think he ever got irritated? Yeah, the Bible says he struggled. He was tempted in all points like we are but was without sin. So there was a temptation but not the sin. Maybe some of you need to be encouraged this morning. Temptation is not yet sin until you act upon it. But if you keep fueling the temptation with your thought life, then it does become sin because you're allowing it to grow. Even though you haven't quite acted it out yet. Oh, just keep allowing that temptation to just come in. You have to take that thought captive. And so the door of temptation enters. You can enter or exit. You faithless generation. Can you imagine Jesus saying this? What about if I said that this morning? You faithless generation. How long do I have to endure this? 90% of you don't even come to 6 a.m. worship. You faithless generation. What is wrong with you guys? How long do I have to bear with you? How long is God going to keep me a pastor? This is pathetic. I can't continue to do this. It's hard bearing this. He's kind of saying that. Not quite like that. That is dramatic, I'm sure. But he said, bring him to me. Then they brought him to Jesus. And when the boy saw him, immediately, immediately, the spirit in him convulsed. And he fell on the ground, wallowed around, and foamed at the mouth. And if we got into more detail about demonic deliverance, it's interesting. When someone is delivered, they usually manifest according to what they've been delivered from. Mental illness or many of those being delivered from drugs, alcohol, things, will foam at the mouth. And it's because the body is being, there's like a battle going on. And the body is manifesting itself. I know it sounds odd to some of us. But that's how the body, remember the body is reacting to what's going on spiritually. So when the demonic demon is delivered, the body responds, it manifests. The same thing actually should happen when we're filled with the Holy Spirit. Not in a weird way, but there should be a response. Something leaps up inside of you saying, Thank you, Father. Now get away from me, Father. There's a response, something that comes out of us when we're filled with God's Spirit. We're not robots on autopilot. And so he was delivered, he was set free. And it's interesting here. We can see that nearness to Christ affects the darkness. Jesus walks up, sees the boy, and immediately, immediately, the demon, the darkness was exposed to the light. The darkness hates the light because the light exposes the darkness and shows that its deeds are evil. You know when you're living in sin, you don't want to be exposed. You want to keep it hidden. And the darkness was overcome. But I don't want to just leave here right now because this portion of Jesus, we don't see him get like this too often. But he got irritated. Oh, faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? He basically gave them a spanking. He confronted them, did he not? He lovingly confronted them. And you need to know that it's okay sometimes if you need to do that. You who are passive, it's okay to put on the gas sometimes and be a little confrontational. And those who like to be confrontational, you need to put on the brakes and find that balance. But it's okay. It's okay to sometimes lovingly confront because we should see what's going on in our nation and see what's going on in the church and say zeal for your house has consumed me. I hate to see the perversion. I hate to see the perverting of doctrine and the perverting of truth. I hate to see God's Word being mocked and I hate to see all these destructive things being taught in the school districts and in our churches. And there should be something that upsets us and we should boldly but lovingly confront these things. Jesus would confront entire cities that did not repent. He would confront people. He would confront the religious leaders. Did you know that? You know that Jesus did not get along with the scribes and Pharisees, right? He would call them names like brood of vipers. He would call them hypocrites. Hypocrites. You give of your tithe but you forget about mercy and justice and righteousness. You clean the outside of the cup but inside the cup you are full of greed and hypocrisy. You are like whitewashed tombs on the outside. I would love to see this sermon. I would have paid to see this sermon. He's sitting there talking to them, no microphone, telling them you whitewashed tombs. You are dead men's bones on the inside and you don't say to me that if you lived when your fathers lived that you would have never killed the prophets. That attested to the fact that you are sons of murderers. And he said, fill up the measure of God's condemnation in your heart, you brood of vipers, you snakes, how will you escape the condemnation of hell? And we get mad when somebody gets a little bold in a sermon? Well, that wasn't too seeker sensitive. Do you remember that whole seeker sensitive movement? That whole seeker sensitive movement in the 1980s and 90s? The whole movement was based on now be sensitive to those who are seeking. Now, in theory, that's not bad. We don't want to just blow people out the water. You're not trying to be sensitive and get brownie points. You're trying to honor God and His word and if the Holy Spirit convicts, let the hammer fall where it may. Let the conviction take place. That's what's happening in our nation today. And it's actually in that whole discord that Jesus is saying that the innocent blood that was shed back in the Genesis from Cain and Abel to Zechariah that was killed between the temple and the altar, all of that blood is going to be required on this generation. And He said, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if I could just gather you as a mother gathers her hens, if I could gather you, your time of visitation is here. Look, your house is left to desolation. Turn to the risen Savior. Your Messiah is here. Don't continue rejecting Him. He was preaching the truth in love. And America needs a spanking as well. Oh, can you imagine if the pulpits across America were flamed with righteousness again and they called the church to repentance. They called the politicians to repentance. They said, Governor, you must get on your knees before Almighty God. President of the United States, you must get on your knees before Almighty God. Can you imagine? Pelosi, AOC, you better get on your face before Almighty God when you're calling out the destruction of innocent children and mocking God's word. You better call, fall on your face because the judgment of God will fall upon a disobedient nation. Can you imagine? But no, we don't want to upset them. I might lead them to the Lord someday. And I don't want to upset them. I'm trying to build a relationship with them for the next couple of years. That's cowardliness. Yes, build a relationship. Don't say what I just said in the first five minutes. But can you imagine that? That breaks my heart. It breaks my heart. I mean, you see all the top sermons out there. I don't normally do this, but I'll do it. Let's say Rick Warren, or T.D. Jakes, or Steve Furnick, or Andy Stanley, or good old Joel Stein. I mean, can you imagine? You don't hear any of this. I never hear any of this. It's tell me what I want to hear because I'm trying to build a big church. It can't be hellfire and brimstone all the time. It can't be repentance all the time. We need to be built up. We need to be encouraged. But if that's all you do, if that's all you do, it would be like eating chocolate all day long. You'd be malnourished. You'd probably die of cancer. You'd end up in the hospital because you're not getting other things that you need. And so we see the church in America now is sick spiritually. Malnourished, spiritually speaking, with the truth of God's Word. You have to have all of God's Word. The totality of God's Word. And so Jesus asked His Father, how long has this been happening to Him? And this part just broke my heart this week. He didn't say a few weeks or a few days. A few months. What did He say? From childhood. And some of you know, my brother dealt with this when your child just goes into convulsions. Very scary. Especially back then, they would have open fires or they'd be down by the water. And the demon would begin to manifest and this boy would convulse from childhood. And He throws him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. Did you know that's the goal of the demonic realm? Their goal is to destroy you. So stop playing with sin. Stop entertaining the demonic because it's not there to just be entertaining. The thief comes but to kill, to steal, and to destroy. And sin leads us down this path. And when sin is conceived, it bursts forth sin. And sin conceived leads to death. You begin to allow that darkness to come into your life. It was trying to destroy Him. But if you can do anything, if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. So this man is pleading, Jesus, if you can do anything for us. Here's the changing factor. What about if this man said they couldn't do anything. He's still the way he is. I'm out of here. God let me down. I'm not going back to church. I'm not seeking God again. So be careful, people. And those listening, do not allow the failure of men to gauge your relationship with God. You're not looking to men. Men will fall. Do not put them on a pedestal. Keep them down on the ground. Look to the cross. My job is to get out of the way and point you to the cross. Don't look to Shane Eidelman. Don't look to the cross. I'm just a broken sinner pointing the way to the cross. An all-sufficient Savior. The old folks used to sing in those hymns, oh, the rock of Jesus Christ. Nothing but the blood, nothing but the blood that can wash away my sin. And don't get discouraged about church because of people. Life is messy. Sheep bite. Little cuddly sheep, they bite. They got big teeth and it hurts. But he kept pressing in and pressing in and pressing in. Jesus, have compassion. Do you know that's why we push 6 a.m. worship so much? It's not going through the motions, oh, I've got to be... No, it shows the desperation in the heart of a believer to get your keister out of bed. Get up. Tell King's stomach to shut its mouth. I'm not having breakfast. I'm fasting today. Yes, I want sleep, but I want God more. I want to wake up filled with God's Spirit. And you get on the altar and you say, oh, God, would you save my children? Would you deliver them? Would you set them free? Christ Jesus, hear the cries of my heart. I'm a father lost without you. Oh, God, I need you. You stain the carpet with your tears and God begins, that's the cries of my children. He is not eating. He is not sleeping. He's coming here to find me. There's a desperation. Folks, I'm not acting. I'm telling you, there's got to be a desperation. When are you going to want more of God? Stop playing games with God. A desperation of crying out, grabbing hold of the hem of His garment. Where is that in the church? We got our services down to one hour and you come now and then. That's going to cut in these dire times? Our services aren't an hour. I'm just saying that's the general rule out there. But isn't it shifted? Let's make God convenient. If you want to know God, He's not convenient. It's not convenient. You might stay up all night and pray. You might get up early in the morning and pray. You might have to say no to food. And we see here, this man did not give up. Your disciples let me down, but you don't. You won't. This man woke up and he kept fighting. He kept persevering. And I noticed this something, actually Friday, the Father led the way to the Savior. The Father led the way to the Savior. Often throughout the Gospel, sometimes you'll see a mom coming and the son that died, or the mother, or Mary Magdalene, you'll see it, but often you also see the Father leading the way, pointing the way. Martha, just go take the son to Jesus. No, he said, I'm owning it. The spiritual condition of my house, I am owning. I'm going to go forward. I'm going to bring my family to Jesus Christ. If the Fathers could lead the way, you would see a tremendous difference taking place. And so Jesus said to him, If you can believe. Well, he didn't heal him right away. He said, If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. Now be careful here. We know that a bad doctrine has came out of this. Have you ever heard of name it and? Name it and claim it. I want that big house on the mountain by the water tank. I actually know that guy. He's probably listening. So let me change that. But it's name it and claim it. And that's been taught. You'll see these big teachers. That's where Benny Hinn got in trouble, or Kenneth Copeland, or all these guys, Creflo Dollar. And it's this teaching kind of name it. If you just believe it. No, God's words say, If it's according to my will. If you give your heart and your life to me. If you commit your works to the Lord, your thoughts will be established. Then you begin to pray according to God's will. And God begins to answer those prayers because they are divinely inspired, not based on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. Those prayers will not get answered. So Jesus said, If you believe, this is God's will. If you believe, you will see the miraculous parents. If you believe God can set your kids free or your grandchildren. If you believe that belief is so important that God engages with your belief. He could not do many miracles there because of their belief is very important. You want to know why? What's the opposite of belief? Doubt. Debbie Doughter. Complaining. Critical. Negative. Those types of prayers will not reach the ears of God until our hearts are right. And I love what this man said. How many times have you used this one? Lord, I believe. Actually, he cried out. I don't know if we have it up there, but that's okay. He cried out. Lord, I believe. Have you ever said that? Lord, I believe. But help my unbelief. That's an honest cry. Lord, I believe. I believe you can set me free. I believe this can happen. But Lord, doubt is coming in. The enemy is firing his darts into my heart of unbelief and doubt and fear and frustration and failure. Lord, I'm taking those captives and I believe, so be encouraged. He's not talking about perfect belief where you walk out of here knowing for certain there's no doubt, there's nothing. Sometimes you have to deal with doubt and fear, but you cast those away and you say, I'm getting grounded. Lord, I believe. My heart is in belief. Your word says if you seek me, you will find me. Your word says that if I draw near to you, you'll draw near to me. My word says that I can strengthen myself in the Lord, and your word says all these things. But here comes doubt. But Lord, I'm believing, but help my unbelief. In other words, get rid of the casted far from me. Deliver me from this unbelief. And I believe this is where anger, failure, and frustration all met. Have you ever experienced that? Anger, failure, frustration, they all come together and he cries out, Lord, I believe. And you almost, you have to again look into, you know, who knows exactly how he's saying it. I mean, it could be kind of, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. In other words, get on with it. I believe, let's do this thing. Or is he being brought to his knees saying, Lord, I believe, I do believe, but please help my unbelief. Regardless, it is very applicable to us today. A personal confession, normally when I set out to do things, starting the church, when we prayed about it, was I 100% certain? No, maybe 80, 85%. When God put on a heart to purchase the radio station, 91.9%. Was I absolutely certain? Not really. Why? Because I trust him, I don't trust me. And so there's that unbelief comes in. I hope you guys, I'm glad I'm so transparent because it's humbling. But I'm just going to just bear my heart. Phil, remember this. I'm going to put Phil on the spot. He goes, I'm going to do some baptisms tonight, on Wednesday night, about a month and a half ago. I think there's going to be six kids baptized. I'm like, yeah, right. I mean my heart. You know, I believe. I believe, oh, praise God. But I'm like, Wednesday night, kids, teenagers, well, Lord, at least four. I mean, I know Phil said six. And were any of you here that Wednesday night? How many? Where did we end up? 25, 26? It's just, and I'm going home in tears. I'm leaving in tears. I'm apologizing. And God's putting on my heart, open it up to others. Open it up, oh. And I go up and just, if you'd like to get baptized, we'll be over, and then it just didn't end. I actually pulled the plug and was draining it twice. And people wanted to just keep getting baptized. So Lord, I believe. I know you can do it. I know you can bring revival. I know you can set the captives free. I know you can heal people as they walk in the door. And that's what we're praying for. But Lord, help my unbelief. Because it is hindering me in so many ways. I struggle with sermons a lot, too, when I get to these points, some of the hard points. Like, oh, man. That's going to go over like a bowling ball in the ocean. But it needs to be said. Something has to break. Something has to break. He rebuked the unclean spirit. In verse 25, He rebuked the unclean spirit and said to it, Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more. That could be a teaching right there on the different types of spirits and spiritual warfare. And it's interesting, Jesus names it often. Deaf and dumb spirit, come out of her. But with the man at the tombs, He said just depart. That was legion was His name. Others, the lady bent over. He would just command that the evil spirit or evil spirits would leave. Then the spirit cried out. I bet it did. You see, they weren't used to this before Jesus. They were not used to it. And I personally believe that that scripture that's a little hard to understand in the New Testament that says, The kingdom suffereth violence and the violent take it by force until the days of John the Baptist until now. I believe that's about spiritual upheaval. The demons didn't have to listen to anyone like this. When Jesus now comes, He's here. He's the Son of God. He was never defeated. Jesus never lost a battle. He never had to negotiate with the demons. It never was a close call. He just spoke the word. Lazarus, come forth. Four days of death and woke him up. Woman's son, sit up. She was healed. Her son came back to life. Talitha Kumai, the little girl, arise, little girl, get up. He just walked around. He commanded. He took charge. And that is the same. Jesus said, You will do greater works. Now, either we believe that, which I do, but guess what comes in? But help my... I read it. And He's not talking about nothing. You cannot do anything greater in the scope of a greater miracle or anything. But the greater works of all believers throughout all the nations of the world doing what Jesus did in the power of the Holy Spirit. Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. And so the spirit cried out. And the boy became one as a dead person. And so many said, He is dead, but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up. And always remember this. No matter what you're going through, if you're... This happens a lot when a person begins... If you say, I'm rededicating my life. I'm fully surrendering my life to Christ. Get ready. Get ready. Put on the boxing gloves. Get ready, because He's coming. There's always a last ditch effort. We see that here. The boy's convulsing. There's a last ditch effort. The demon has to come out of the boy and he's not going out without a fight. And he is not leaving your situation or your circumstance without a fight. There's always a last ditch effort that will often take us to the brink of desperation. Something has to break. And Jesus took and lifted him up. Jesus... Only Jesus can do what others cannot. But we've been talking about something has to break. The sermon titled the song. But let me leave you with a closing thought. And God delivers. He sets free. And things are just fixed instantaneously. But what about if it doesn't break? What about when things... You leave here in the same situation. The same struggle. Week after week. What do you do then? Well, that sermon was pointless. Shane lied to us. I'd say something will break all the time when you want it to. And I know the battle. I know the pain. I know the shame. The Bible is clear that you hold the line. That we hold the line. That we persevere. You can say... Many of us can say that I've tasted and I've seen the goodness of God. Isaiah 43 says, But now, says the Lord who created you, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. Sometimes it's not being delivered from the battle. Sometimes it's going through the battle with Christ. He says, when the water comes upon you, it will not overtake you. The rivers will not go above your head. The fire will not burn you. And the flame will not scorch you. For I, the Lord, am your God. I will hold you. I will lift you up. Yes, it might hurt. Yes, it might become uncomfortable. Yes, it's difficult. Yes, there's challenges. But the Son of God, who the Son sets free, is free indeed, will lead you to the cross. He will lead you to victory in Jesus' name. And some of us have to take this struggle to our grave. I wish I could tell you that everyone will be set free on this side of eternity, but not everyone will. It bears it out. The Bible bears it out. Paul said, I pray three times for God to take this away. It actually says that the messenger of Satan was sent to buffet Paul's flesh, whether through persecution. We don't know exactly. There's a lot of speculation. But Paul said, And what did God say? My grace is sufficient. My grace is sufficient. And we might be in the midst of a decaying and decadent culture and watching a nation plummet, but God says, My grace is sufficient. I will see you through. One question I want you to think about as we leave. But are you worried about dying? Are you worried about dying? That's good. That's honest. Children are honest. Don't be. You will live forever. I saw this on Facebook of all places. But it said this. All you have to worry about is location, location, location. Real estate agents, who's real estate agents? I know who you are. You're not raising your hands. But it is all about, and same with you. Listening later, you hear this morning. You will live forever. It's all about location, location, location. Do you truly know Jesus Christ? Not head knowledge. Have you repented of your sin? That's with the point of the cross. It's not like, I know about the cross. I know about it. I know what happened. It doesn't say anything about that. It says, have you been set free by the power of the cross? Have you repented of your sin and believed in the Son of God and be cleansed of the shame and the guilt again? What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, the old rugged cross, the old timers used to say. That cross has set me free. And there's now a relationship, an engagement. I don't know about it intellectually. My heart has engaged the risen Savior. And I've been set free of my sin. Do you have that relationship or are you just going through the motions? That's what they call religion, not relationship. And so many people get to that point. They come to church. That makes sense. I think there's a God. I understand the cross. But even the demons believe. Isn't that an interesting verse? Even the demons believe. And it says, and tremble. They have intellectual knowledge. And they tremble because they know the future of what will happen to them. I'm pretty sure. And so don't leave here this morning with a question mark there in your life. No matter what you're going through, physical struggles, emotional struggles. If something needs to break, let us pray with you and over you. Lay hands on you and say, Lord, we agree with them. You don't have to get specific if you don't want to. But if you've been dealing with something and it's not breaking, could it be a demonic type of issue going on? Do we need to take authority? Because when you take authority in Jesus' name, what can stand? The enemy can't do whatever he wants. He sits under God's sovereignty.