An Encounter That Can End It | Mark 9:21

There's an exeggetic invitation I want to extend to you, and I pray that you accept. You've been invited to fellowship with me today in the Gospel of Saint Mark. The Gospel of Saint Mark. TC is the, the member of the day. That's how you stand up quick. That's how you stand up quick right there. Rather send him to Disneyland. Saint Mark's Gospel and chapter number 9. I'm gonna do my best. Saint Mark chapter number 9. I want to read beginning at verse number 21. Word of God says, how long has this been happening to him? Jesus asked the Father. The father said, from childhood. You may be seated. How long has this young man been under the influence of this spirit? The father says he been dealing with this since childhood. For just a few moments on this 4th Sunday, God has laid it upon my heart to share from the thought, An Encounter That Can End It. An Encounter That Can End It. Physics— there is a concept called phase transition. And phase transition simply describes how one element of matter can transition into another. For instance, it describes how water can change from liquid to solid, because when water freezes, it becomes solid. By the same token, when ice melts, it transitions from a solid to a liquid. The interesting thing about it is that even Though it changes from liquid to solid, it happens seemingly over a long period of time. But when water reaches the proper temperature, 32 degrees Fahrenheit, it changes from water to ice instantly. Amen. So though it appears that it's taking a long time, no one can really ever see with their physical eyes the exact moment that water becomes ice. Amen. Because when water gets in the presence of the right condition It transforms to a new place instantaneously. Children of God, what if right now you are in your liquid state and you may be in a transitional phase when you're in the process of changing but the actual change will happen overnight. And it is possible, children, that what you have been waiting on and what you have been waiting with— all it takes is for you to come into contact with the perfect and optimal condition, and the change and transformation that you need can happen suddenly. And child of God, I don't know who I'm talking to, but I came to let you know that no matter how long you've been dealing with what you've been dealing with, you serve and believe in a God that all it takes is one contact with him and your life can change suddenly. I don't care how long you've been sick, you can become well suddenly. I don't care how long you've been broke, you can become prosperous suddenly. I don't care how long you've been depressed, down and out, God's word today is that the change that you're looking for can happen suddenly.

Suddenly, and you may not even recognize when it happens, but you can just look one day and say, I look back at where I've come from and I used to worry about, but now I'm in a whole different atmosphere, in a whole different place.

You want to know why?

Because sometimes God has moved suddenly in your life, and while you're sitting here worried, while you're sitting here stressed, while you're sitting here with doubt, God's said today is that just keep on living and just watch what I do in your life. Just keep on believing in me and watch how it just transform your life. Is there anybody today who's bold enough to believe that if I keep on enduring, God can get me to that place where what I'm dealing with has to end? This sickness has to end. This pain has to end. This mentality has to end. I'm I've been dealing with it long enough, and God has been keeping me. But I believe by faith, on this 26th day of January in 2025, that God one day is gonna put it to an end. It will not always be like this, but one of these old days my life will transform. One of these days my mind will change. One of these days my circumstance will be different. So in the meantime I'm just gonna thank God in advance that he will put it to end.

Sneak with me to Saint Mark chapter 9. Jesus and his big three, Peter, James, and John, have just come from what we know as the Mount of Transfiguration, where Jesus in his glory has shown They come back down from a mountain and see a mess. There's this man, his father, a young man, the other 9 disciples and the scribes, and this young man who is demon possessed. The demon has been running this boy wild. Jesus comes down right on time, and the disciples had done got whooped by this devil. And it appears as if the disciples are being made a fool of because they could not cast out this demon from this young man. The scribes are there with their finger of judgment because you supposed to be Jesus' boys and y'all can't do nothing with this demon. And now you have the father And you have Jesus, you have the young man with the demon. Jesus asked this critical question. I'm trying to save it for later, but he asked this critical question: How long has he been dealing with this? The father says, since he was a child, which means that this has been happening for a long time. The Father and the Son have been dealing with this problem for multiple years. And who in Pilgrim Rest this morning has been dealing with problems for multiple years?

Who am I talking to this morning?

You've been dealing with the same thing for multiple months, and it seems like that nothing that you have tried has worked. It seems like nothing that you have wanted to go in your favor has gone in your favor. And now, child of God, you have tried and it still has not worked. But guess what?

Jesus is on the way, and when Jesus comes to the scene, God can undo all of the years of pain that you've been going through. Who am I talking to today? You have already given up.

You thought that it was already over.

You thought that life would not get any better, but I came down 167 today to let you know that you need to tell the devil that he's lying to you. Because your life is not always gonna be like this. But God says he's about ready to put it to an end. And I believe by faith that if you are listening to my voice this morning, that the end is almost near. Don't you stop praying now. Don't you stop believing now. Don't you stop shouting now, because the end is near. Because you had one encounter with the master. Is there anybody today who can testify I believe in you, God. Come and fellowship with me. Come and have supper with me. Come and get in my life, because all I know is it takes one encounter with you to put this hell to end. I know they don't— they acting crazy now, but they ain't came into contact with you yet. I know this sickness is driving me crazy, but it ain't came in contact with you yet. And I believe by faith that one encounter can put this to an end.

And that's what I tried to set up today. That just takes one encounter with the master to put all this mess to an end. That your life can get better from here if it just has one encounter with God. I got some homiletical luggage. Yeah, that one unpack today, and once I do that, I'm gonna see if my prediction for today's game is gonna be right. This text highlights for me, and I hope it highlights for you, that when we are waiting for an encounter to make these things come to an end We must have an appreciation for unperceived grace. We must appreciate unperceived grace. Tony, you want to know what this unperceived grace is in the text? All right, Jesus asked the question, how long Has he been dealing with this? The father says since he was a child. The father also said earlier that this same spirit has been causing the young man to throw himself into fire and water with the intent— the word— to destroy him. So this young man has been dealing with a spirit since childhood that's been causing him to throw himself into fire and water with the intent to destroy him. That word destroy in the Greek means to not just harm, but to eliminate off of the face of the earth. Let's retract that. This young man at the scene of this text has been dealing with a demon that's been causing him to throw himself in fire and water with the intent to take him out. Jesus asked the man how long has he been dealing with it. The father says since he was a child. And since he's been dealing with it Since he was a child, that means that the young man is not a child now. So in the route from was to is, this young man has been dealing with something that's trying to destroy him.

But no matter how much the devil tried He could not take him out. Is there anybody in Pilgrim Rest on this radio who can testify and say, preacher, that's me? I've been dealing with demons for a long time and they tried to kill me. They tried to make me stop believing and tried to depress me, but look at me today. I still got my problems, but look at me, I'm still here. I still take medicine, but I'm still here. I still have more months than I have money, but I'm still here. And I gotta confess that the only reason that I went through life that tried to destroy me and I survived it is because of this word called grace. Can anybody in the house today confess that I'm a recipient of grace. Because if the devil would have had his way, I would be somewhere crazy, I would be somewhere dead, I would be somewhere strung out. But God wouldn't let it be. He kept on getting me up in the morning, he kept on speaking to my heart, he kept on lifting my bow down head. And I thank God for the grace that I didn't even see.

We think that grace in the text is only if the young man didn't have the demon. But I want to suggest that the grace in this text is the fact that I've been dealing with a devil. That's been causing me to act crazy. But God didn't let me destroy myself.

And I don't know about you, but I thank God for that every day, because I was lost in sin, I was shaped in iniquity, but God kept on giving me time. I was headed straight to hell with a first-class ticket, but God intervened right in time and didn't let me destroy myself.

Uh-huh. I know it's grace if he would not have had the devil, but it's also grace that he had the devil but the devil couldn't take him out.

And that's somebody's testimony today. Ah, God knows he showed it to me that you've been dealing with a hard life for a long time., and you wondering how you still here. Tell the devil it's grace. You've been going through hell and high water and you can't explain how you're still blessed. It's grace. You could have gave up a long time ago, but God wouldn't let you give up. You know why? It's grace. You wanted to cuss them out, but God closed your mouth. You know why? It's grace.

And the same grace that could prevent it is the same grace that can help you prevail with it. And that's somebody today that it ain't over yet, but I'm still here. I'm still dealing with it now, but I'm still here. It's the picture of what's called the Phoenix palm tree. This Phoenix palm tree can grow in an arid, dry desert land. You are asking me how a tree that needs water to survive. How can it survive in an environment with no water? Because trees need water to survive. But I just told you that the Phoenix palm tree somehow, some way can survive in a dry region. Please ask me how. Thank you. Oh, I need to get this out. It's something about the Phoenix palm tree. Even though it's not removed from the environment, underneath the ground it's equipped to store water.

That when water ain't pouring from the sky, that it's got some water that can't nobody else see.

And because it got unperceived water, it's able to survive in the same place that's designed to kill it.

Who in here today, you know that you're surviving in places that you're not supposed to survive? Because on the inside of you, you got a reservoir of water that you can pull on. And people wonder how you survive when they throw plots against you. It's because you got some grace stored up. People wonder why they trying to scheme against your name, you're able to keep on ticking. It's because you got some grace stored up. You want to know why the lie didn't take you out? Because you got some grace stored up. They trying to figure you out, but you got some grace stored up on the inside, and you don't have to change locations.

You can prosper right there. I'm talking to— I'm talking to life, talking about that unperceived grace, because it made me so happy. Because you think you gotta come out before you have grace, but you got grace while you're in it.

And sometimes the grace will get you out, but sometimes grace will keep you until it gets you out. I wish I had time today.

Not only do we see unperceived grace, but you also got to be able to endure unsuccessful gambits. Gambits, cute word. Say attempts. You gotta endure unsuccessful gambits. Didn't you— don't you know that you can find success in the unsuccessful through God? Come here, come here, come here, come here, come here. The father took the son to the disciples, and the Bible says they couldn't figure it out. Jesus later told them that this kind comes by fasting and prayer. I'm almost scared to even ask the disciples, if y'all wasn't fasting and praying, how were y'all trying to get this devil out? But I ain't gonna ask him that question because that's not the point. You and I, child of God, must come to grips with the fact that it is possible, because we deal with human beings and we deal with sin in the earth, that our attempts for relief sometimes will be unsuccessful. Oh yes, oh yes. Mhm, mhm. Have you ever tried to go to a person for relief and that person told all your business? Have you ever tried to receive favor from people and those same people let you down? Have you tried to count on a person to be able to be a source of rescue for you, and those people did not deliver on what you needed? I want to argue that Jesus showed up right on time to let the man know that I don't care how men may fail you, I will always be right on time to outdo what men did to you. You know what makes it even worse? These boys, disciples, and they still couldn't figure it out. Can I, can I help a disciple in the house today? Because we always are hard on the disciples. In this text. But the fact that they couldn't deliver, God didn't stop them from being disciples. And for the rest of us disciples in here, I know there are some areas in which we should measure up, but God says be okay with being human and messing up because I still have a place for you as a disciple. Jesus makes this plain in his line of questioning with the Father. He asks him how long he been dealing with it, and then the Father say, uh, if you can take this devil out of my son. Jesus said, if?

Who you talking to, Father?

Hit me with if. You must don't know who I am, but stay tuned, I'm about to show you. The father says something strange. He says, I believe, but I need you to help my unbelief. Which explains why the dev— the disciples were unsuccessful. Stay with me. The father was dealing with a struggle in his faith, and in order for his faith to be developed, he could not see other human beings being successful. His faith could only develop if he saw that despite human failure, I got a God I can count on.

Thank you, Holy Spirit, for your deliverance.

If the disciples would have been successful, then the Father would have been believing in disciples. But it was the lack of success are the unsuccessful disciples that let the Father know for the future that men may fail me.

People can let me down. I may let myself down sometimes, but I know a Father who spoke into nothing and made everything into being, and I believe in him. I know a God that when Moses took the children of Israel to a Red Sea with the sea in front of them and Pharaoh behind them, that Moses couldn't do it. There had to be a God in the midst who can do it. And I'm talking to somebody today that you're dealing with unsuccessful people. The doctors are letting you down, the bank is letting you down, your boss is letting you down, your supervisor and co-workers letting you down.. But be encouraged when you're not having success with people, because there is a God who sits high and looks low, who can meet every last one of your needs. And by the end of the story, you'll be able to say, God, I thank you that they failed me, because it lets me know I gotta depend on you.

I never saw that before today. That it was this unsuccess or the lack of success from other people that increases reliance on God.

And I want to let somebody know today that if in your last week somebody done made you mad, somebody done irritated you—

matter of fact, if somebody may be the woman or the man in the mirror—

but look at that disappointment and say, thanks be to God that you let me down, because cross and let me know that God comes in right on time. And I thank God today that when people fail me, God came down the mountain right on time. He was an old-time God in this case, because when people let me down, he showed up at the right time. And I thank God he fixed everything that men did not do.

Y'all miss what I just said? One encounter or one appearance from God, he did everything that men couldn't do. You going to work tomorrow? Don't say it out loud because I don't want you to lose your job. When your co-workers get acting crazy, when your boss get to act a little bit crazy, say, thanks be to God, because I got a God who gonna get me through.

Whenever the doctor is not saying the right thing, say, doctor, that's what you say, but I got a God who has the final say. And if God wants increase my faith. He'll use you letting me down so I can lift him up.

And it lets me know that when God is in the midst, he will not let the failures of people be final, because he will come right on time and bring you through. There is this desert in Chile. It's called the Atacama Desert. It's kind of like the story I just said. This desert is actually— it's in Chile. It's known as perhaps the driest desert in this terrain other than the poles. It's called Atacama Desert. It's in Chile. It spends years without rain. Sometimes it spends even decades with no rain. This should not be a surprise to you that because there is so much time without rain, there is no vegetation. It's no rain, so therefore we expect no vegetation. That's us, because many of us have deal— have dealt with years and years of the environment being against us. We deal with years and years of not being in a conducive environment that helps us enhance our growth. But the Atacama Desert helps me preach this morning because there's something that happens every few years in the Atacama Desert. Every now and then One rain will come, and guess what happens with that one rain? With that one rain, the entire desert becomes covered with vegetation. Wait a minute, it's been years of dryness, it's been years of lack, it's been years of nothing that's causing the desert not to produce. But after— help me, Holy Spirit— all of those years of nothing, it takes one bit of rain, and from that one rain, the entire desert gets covered with flowers.

Who am I talking to? I don't care how many years it's been when you've been under the influence of nothing. I don't care how many years it's been, where you've been through depression, I don't care how many years it's been, where you've been through circumstance after circumstance, it just takes one. It just takes one blessing from God. It just takes one breakthrough from God. It just takes one miracle from God. Is there anybody in Pilgrim Rest who's expecting God for that one? I just need one, God. I don't know when you're gonna do it, but just give me that one breakthrough, give me that one miracle, give me that one healing, and I promise that my life is gonna be fruitful.

All it takes is just one. I gotta leave you. Y'all remind me to ask my brother who gonna win, and if he wrong me and him gonna argue about it. But before I text him, let me tell you this one last thing. God has an ultimate game plan. God has an ultimate game plan. Lord have mercy, help me to preach your word this morning. Uh, this Young man had been dealing with a lifelong issue. He has been dealing with a demon that caused him to throw himself into fire, right, and water. It was a demon that caused him to be self-destructive. But read the text, prove me later on. We can argue about it too. When Jesus got to casting out the devil, Jesus referred to this demon as, 'You deaf and dumb spirit.' Wait a minute. I thought this devil was destructive. Jesus never referred to it as a destructive spirit. He referred to it as deaf and dumb. In other words, the only thing this devil was doing was just preventing the boy from hearing and preventing the boy from speaking, right? But since the disciples— come here— were looking at the output of the devil, they didn't take care of the root of the devil, which lets us know why Jesus says that you can only do this by prayer and fasting.

Translated, you can't always look in the flesh at outcomes and properly identify what's really going on.

Yeah, you talking too crazy today. And while y'all see him throwing himself into fire and water, really what's really going on is something else spiritually. What if I told you— come here, come here, come here, come here, come here— that you've been dealing with it for so long because you've been looking at what it causes to happen and not what causes it. Gavin R. Hamms, you don't preach with your chocolate self. You are looking at what is causing and not what's causing it.

Translated, God said, if you rely on me, I can take you to what the problem really is. You think it's just your, your blood pressure, but it may really be an issue with your heart that you need to deal with. It's not that your child bad, but your child may be dealing with some trauma and it takes the Spirit of God to deal with.

And here is our challenge in 2025: stop working so hard and work more spiritual. I'm preaching by myself. If we would work so more spiritual, we wouldn't have to work so hard.

When is the last time you prayed to God? God, let me know what to pray about this situation. Because it's running me crazy. And it may be to not seeing that situation from a spiritual lens.

I tell you that God has ultimate game plan. He was teaching the disciples, he was teaching the man, he was teaching the son that in some things only the Holy Ghost gonna be able to do.

It ain't about who you know, it ain't about how much money you got. There are some things that only getting down on your knees saying, Father, I stretch my hand to thee, no other help I know. And when you rely on God, you have a source who sees the root of problems and not what the problem just causes.

When the Gospel of Saint Mark— I'm done, that's the best I can do for today. When the Gospel of Saint Mark proves that Jesus is human and that he cares about human needs. That's good for me because it lets me know that even my smallest of problems, that Jesus cares about it. Even those things that I think are just so small, God cares about even those smallest things. I got some mistakes that screamed out at me. We see the disciples who couldn't figure it out. We see the Father, we see the Son, we see Jesus. But I want to say that Jesus also had another game plan, that he was proving something to those scribes. Those scribes in the text who were the antagonists of the disciples— can't you see those scribes? Because they were the keepers of the law. And I can see him. Oh, Matthew, y'all can't do nothing now that Jesus ain't around. Bartholomew, Judas, what y'all gonna do now that Jesus ain't around? I've been telling y'all that Jesus ain't about nothing. Where is Jesus now?

And you got some people in your life who got that scribe spirit.

Who always wants to prove that you're believing in a false god. But Jesus shows up right on time to teach these scribes a lesson too. He said that you all are rulers of the law. You all know what you should do and what you should not do. And the rules say that I'm not supposed to deal with this boy. Because he got a devil. But he's teaching a lesson to the scribes, and he's teaching a lesson to scribes that you deal with right now, that when it comes to all the rules that are against you, God just got one rule and said, I got everything for you.

And Jesus said, I'm God enough to deal with you right where you are.

There it is. Jesus teaching these scribes also that once he does something, it's complete. Because Jesus told the devil, get out of him and don't come back no more. You— I told you that these scribes are rulers of the law, so they were familiar with atonement and what all the rules said about how year after year you supposed to go back have turtledoves, pigeons, all these type of lambs, and all these type of animals, and sacrifice them every year. And it was supposed to atone for the sin of man. But if it atoned for the sin of the man, why you got to go back and do it every year?

Because those scribes were familiar with laws that were incomplete.

But what Jesus is teaching them here— help me, Holy Spirit— that what I can do once, it take y'all years and years to do.

And what it's been taking y'all years to try to figure out, I can just do it in one encounter. And you think I did this in one take, but just wait a few days later, I'm gonna go to a cross and I'm gonna shed my blood, and I'm not gonna have to do it year after year, but it's gonna take me one time to get on that cross to shed my perfect blood. And after that one time, it's saved once for all and once and all. And is there anybody here who's thankful for that one time that he shed his blood? And I still have access to eternal life, and because of that that one sacrifice, and because him getting up that one time, now too my life is forevermore new.

It just taking one time. It just taking one time, child of God. One time. What you've been spending your whole life trying to figure out, it just take him one time. To make your life new. That's why I depend and seek him, because I want to make sure that I'm always in the presence of a God who— it just takes one encounter to make your life brand new. We offer this Jesus here to you today, this one-time God who can turn your entire life around. And you won't even really know when it happened. You'll just be saying, how'd this happen? I've been dealing with this my whole life, but it just took one time from you. Now look at me. I've been struggling year after year. I've been struggling month after month. I've been struggling day after day. And now I'm in 2025 and I don't expect nothing different. God is saying, you ain't encountered me yet this year. And my prayer for you and my prophecy for you this year is that God will give you that one encounter. Y'all ain't believing God. Y'all missed everything I just said. I just told you that what you've been thinking about, what you've been walking the floors all night for God got one time, and it may just— it may be sooner than you think. Thank you. You think that the lack of success and the ineffective disciples is going to be the end of your story. God says, I'm coming down the mountain. I'll be coming out of the money mountain. Here I come. I can hear Jesus now coming down your spiritual mountain to meet your need. I don't know why God gave me this message. But it may be for you. It may be rhema for you that what you've been dealing with over and over and over again, that after that one encounter with him, you will be praising over and over and over again for what he can do in your life. Let us give God praise if he spoke into your life tonight. Thank you.