Against the backdrop of this story is a very familiar scene where Jesus has taken the inner circle of His disciples up to the mountain in what has now been termed by theological scholars ‘The Mount of Transfiguration’; because in a real sense Jesus is transfigured before their very eyes. It is at that point on this mountain where the P.A. System of Heaven is cut on; the windows of Heaven opens; and God gets on the boom box of eternity and says—as it is reported in verse 7—‘This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased, Hear ye Him.’ Here is this scene with Moses and Elijah (two of the major players in Old Testament tradition) who are both major prophetic liberators of the Old Testament. And they are on this point of the Mountain of Transfiguration and they say to Jesus, ‘Let’s just chill up here. Let’s not go anywhere at all. Let’s just stay right here where we are’.
- The problem with staying right where they are; is that if they stay where they are they can’t fulfill WHO they are.
Get this—HE is called to be the Savior of the world; THEY are called to be His disciples and followers of the Most High God Himself. And the danger of getting caught up and enamored in Transfigured moments is that you want to stay & remain in a place that was only designed to get you PREPARED.
• It is a simple and important memo—never allow yourself to become emotionally enamored with that which is designed to be a temporary place.
• One of the dangers of always being in constant desire of staying in high moments of celebration is that if you stay on the MOUNTAIN you will miss and bypass your purpose in the VALLEY.
And so when they come back down they encounter this demonic boy. And one of the things that you must understand that the text makes very clear to us—is that while they are on the mountain of transfiguration that there was something going on in the valley. And that oftentimes while you are having your mountain-top experiences the Devil is already busy in the VALLEY orchestrating and devising your next destruction to meet you at point where you come off your high and your worship.
• And that’s the word for somebody today because someone today can testify that you are IN the mountain right now; but in about an hour from now you are going to leave the mountain and go back to some stuff that the Devil is already preparing for you right after your moments of celebrative communion with Almighty God.
And when they come back down, there is an interesting twist in the story that is bypassed and is often overlooked in the reporting of the story. This boy is brought by his father and I want you to hear the words of the father in verse 17, the father says that he has a ‘dumb spirit’. It is ‘alay-los’ in the Greek and it means that he is mute; but it is Matthew who gives a stronger connotation in Matthew chapter 17 verse 15 and the report is that he comes to Jesus Christ and says to Him, ‘Master, my son is a lunatick’, it is the word sel-ay-nee-ad'-zom-ahee and it means to be moontruck; to be crazy; buckwild, foolish, outlandish, fanatical, wild, ferocious and extreme.
Interestingly, one version goes so far as to say that he is epileptic; but he describes his son as a lunatic who possesses a “dumb spirit.” And watch what he says in verse 18—that “Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid.” And in verse 22 he says that his son keeps falling IN water and IN fire.
• He keeps falling into the same stuff. He keeps doing the same thing and ending up in the same places.
• He keeps falling in the same miserable cycle and he’s a lunatic.
• He somebody who doesn’t appear to be learning from his mistakes; because he keeps falling back into the same stuff over and over.
And I know right now I’m making somebody mad because you think I’m calling you a lunatic; but if I can use the text, the TEXT suggests that anybody who keeps falling into the SAME mess, the SAME activity, SAME depression, SAME dysfunction, SAME type of relationship—to the extent that you’ve been falling into BAD stuff so long that GOOD stuff seems dysfunctional.
Get this—you’ve grown accustomed to falling into the WRONG thing, that when the RIGHT thing comes along, IT looks abnormal.
And there is somebody who may not be a lunatic, but you’ve some luna-tickish behavior. You keep falling IN and OUT of the same SIN, Self-Inflicted Non-Sense.
- The FIRST man should have taught you a lesson.
- The first WOMAN should have taught you a lesson.
But there you go again—falling back into the same cycle.
- You’ve moved from job to job and nothing has changed.
- You’ve moved from city to city but nothing has changed.
- You’ve moved from job to job but nothing has changed.
- You’ve moved from man to man but nothing has changed.
- You’ve moved from woman to woman but nothing has changed.
- You’ve moved from women to men and not STILL has changed.
“Reverend, All men are dogs”. Maybe all men aren’t dogs, maybe you’re just to best dog-catcher in town.
Falling back in the same mess:
- The same SPENDING habits
- The same JOB habits
- The same kind of friendships
- The same kind of boyfriends—you left ONE thug and went to another thug
- Brother, you left ONE gold digger and went to another gold digger
And you keep going through the same stuff over and over again; and you keep trying to figure out what is wrong with you—why you can’t change/make better choices/discern the voice of God/hear the Lord clearly/why things can’t get better.
It’s because you are a lunatic.
Verse 18 – he keeps doing stuff and falling into stuff that’s killing him and it is extreme. But here is the shout of the story. Verse 22 says that he keeps going through fire and water; which means he’s been through stuff that should have burned him and something that could have drowned him—BUT what makes this shouting material—is an understanding that what could have killed him becomes the ingredients that gives strength for a greater testimony.
And I am looking at somebody who’s looking at me today….
• People think you’re shouting because of the car/house/job….NO.
• You are not shouting because of what you HAVE, you are shouting because of what you have SURVIVED.
- I survived every abusive relationship
- I survived every dysfunctional relationship
- I survived backstabbing friends
- I survived being fired
- I survived cancer/unemployment/molestation/the divorce
And if I survived that, I can survive this.
Paul said in I Corinthians 4:8-11…
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed: we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
YOU SURVIVED
Preacher, how can I stop living like a lunatic?
I. The first thing that the text is tailored to teach us is that you need somebody in your life who knows when HELPING YOU IS BEYOND THEM.
Watch the text. The text says that the father’s been with the disciples when Jesus is not there. Now you have to remember that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—Mark being written first—but they writer their gospels AFTER the resurrection of Jesus; and they write their gospels to the first century Christians.
They write their gospels to the first century Christian culture, NOT just to tell the story of Jesus Christ; but they use some of the story of Jesus Christ to prove particular points to the first century church and to make points to the Judaic culture of that day; and the religious aristocracy of Judaism. So that when you read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—it is NOT just a chronicle of the historicity of Jesus Christ; but is also a message to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when you understand that, then you understand also that the disciples represent the church.
Now that we’ve been to school let me unpack it for you. That the man brings his son to church. And when Jesus comes back from the mountain, the father tells Jesus, ‘I brought my son to church; and the CHURCH could not help me.’
Watch this—he brings his son to church. Even when the church could not help him, he DID NOT LEAVE; he stayed RIGHT THERE; because he knew that Jesus Christ may have been on the mountain; but EVENTUALLY something within him said, ‘But He HAS to come BACK this way! So I am going to TARRY until Jesus shows up.
The text says in Matthew when he comes to Jesus that he kneels. It is the Greek word gon-oo-pet-eh'-o; from where we get our English word prostrate, face to the ground. In the Biblical connotation, ‘prostrate’ means he worships; so that he gets in the Worship posture, and he says, “LORD”—which means he’s in worship demeanor.
Get the picture: worshiping before he gets anything; worshipping before he asks for anything; worshiping before he knows what the Lord is going to do.
- Worshipping BEFORE he asks for anything
- Worshipping BEFORE he gets anything
- Worshipping NOT know WHAT he is going to get.
But here’s the trip and the twist—He’s worshipping to set up a miracle for his SON.
• You KNOW that you are MATURE when you can go to God and it is NOT about you. But you can go to God on behalf of somebody else.
• You KNOW that you’re the real thing, when your worship is not about what YOU want/about what YOU need/about what YOU desire/about what YOU’RE asking for; but you’re worshipping to ask God to step in for somebody else.
And is there anybody in the room today who can testify, “Preacher…I’ve learned how to go to God for other people’.
As a matter of fact you ought to tell your neighbor: You sat in the right seat today…because this praise is not for me/is not for what I need. I’m about to give God some praise for YOUR breakthrough/deliverance/miracle/healing.
And God is looking for somebody who is willing to join in partnership with their neighbor and declare:
I’m about to shout for YOUR:
…..breakthrough/healing/marriage/child/job/wife.
Don’t you move anywhere, you sit RIGHT THERE, and I’ll worship God FOR YOU!!!
• Our praise and our worship ought not be selfish, self-centered, self-seeking, and me-focused. You need some worshippers in your circle.
Watch the text. He’s setting up this miracle; but you must understand the culture. Because in that day in time, children lived with you, to become financial assistance FOR you; and to help you as you got older. So that if his SON doesn’t get a blessing, HE doesn’t get a blessing.
Because if his SON doesn’t get well, then he doesn’t have financial assistance in his house. BUT if he PRAYS for his SON and his SON gets blessed, while he is blessing his SON, it is setting up HIS blessing.
Get this: I need somebody in the room to understand and agree that while you are going to God for somebody else, what you need to realize that you are setting up your own miracle/blessing/breakthrough.
• While you are going to God for somebody else’s healing, God’s got away of healing somebody in YOUR family.
So watch what he does. He worships and then he says: JESUS I NEED YOUR HELP; BECAUSE MY SON IS IN A CONDITION THAT I CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT.
Get this: he knew what HE could do; but he knew what was BEYOND him to do.
And you need people in your life that know when helping YOU is beyond THEM.
Let me tell you why that is a major word. Because you have some people that are so dysfunctional that they need to always play the hero. As a matter of fact, I know some people who are so sick, that they will INTENTIONALLY be destructive so that they can set up being the DELIVERER.
- I know some people—they will mess EVERYTHING up…so that THEY can show up, jump in, and save the day, and collect the credit.
• Everybody is not mature enough to know when to let stuff go and let somebody else help you.
• Everybody is not comfortable enough to be able to say, “I can’t help you with this; but I know SOMEBODY Who can.”
Get this: You need people in your life that love you enough to LET GO AND LET GOD.
- You need people who are mature enough to still WANT you to be delivered but know that when they are in a position that it is beyond them, they take their hands off and deliver you to somebody else.
And some of you have dysfunctional associations around you—who try all they can to be the hero for you.
• Please know that how it is presented is not always the problem.
I was watching an episode on Discovery Channel and they were reporting on people who would go into the ER and the medical division for emergencies and physical traumas. And what I noticed about the Doctors in many of the cases presented that the doctor would get the evaluation from the patient and would respond by saying, “Well…it is PRESENTING itself like such and such.”
- So the ACTIVITY makes it APPEAR to be a certain kind of thing.
So lets say I have a bad cough, and the doctor would say, ‘Now….it’s PRESENTING itself like Pneumonia. But I don’t think that is what it really is.’ It’s PRESENTING itself a certain way. Get the picture?
WATCH THIS. It’s very interesting—the juxtaposition of the words used to describe the condition of the son by the father and the words used by Mark to describe what Jesus does. Matthew calls the boy a lunatic; Mark here simply says that he has a dumb spirit. Luke, who is a physician, says that the boy is epileptic. HE has epilepsy.
- It’s PRESENTING itself like it’s a MEDICAL condition.
- It’s PRESENTING itself like it’s a physical, medical malady.
But when you read the text, verse 18 does not say that Jesus cure him of epilepsy. It says that Jesus rebuked the demon.
- It PRESENTED itself as if it was a physical problem
- But Jesus understand that it is NOT what it looks like that is the problem; but there is something DEEPER that needs to be confronted.
Do you know what I love about Jesus verses other people? OTHER people will deal with you and treat you based upon your symptoms; but Jesus Christ steps in and get to the SOURCE of your problem and change your issues.
And I know I’m speaking to somebody today, because you keep dealing with people who try to deal with how it PRESENTS itself. You have certain SYMPTOMS; and nobody around you knows how to get to the root:
- YOU ARE MEAN! And so it PRESENTS itself like you just have a bad personality. Or you’ve just been hurt by so many people. BUT there is a DEMON called BITTERNESS that needs to be dealt with.
- YOU ARE ARROGANT! And that is how it PRESENTS itself. But there is a DEMON called INSECURITY that makes you ACT like you are better than everybody. When in reality you don’t even like or love yourself.
- IT PRESENTS ITSELF LIKE YOU JUST LIKE TO SHOP! When in reality, it’s a DEMON of SUPERFICIALITY AND INSECURITY that has caused you to have such low self-esteem that you think you’ve got buy name brand to know your own NAME.
- IT PRESENTS ITSELF LIKE A GOSSIPER! And PEOPLE think you just really like to gossip or think you are just really concerned about everybody to the extent to you have to be in everybody else’s business. But it is really a DEMON of SLANDER and NEEDINESS that has you needing people so much that you have to get affirmation from everybody; so you TALK with them so they will AFFIRM you and make you the HERO in your own VICTIM story.
- IT PRESENTS ITSELF LIKE A GOOD HOBBY OR CASUAL FRIENDSHIPS. But when it is anything that detaches you from God and His Kingdom it is a DEMON SPIRIT OF ATTACHMENT, IMMATURE CHRISTIANITY and DOUBLE-MINDEDNESS. And you’ve become unstable in all of your ways to the extent everything and everybody that’s right is WRONG, and everything that’s wrong is right; you start hanging around and attaching yourself to shallow, superficial people—and you are confused in your mind and never establish a firm foundation.
Can I go further?
The reason why some of us can’t get free is because you keep dealing with how it is PRESENTED. “I Can stop shopping; I’m just going to stop shopping”.
Watch this—So you stop shopping for clothes but you start shopping for men. Because the real ISSUE is your INSECURITY.
“Child…I’m gone stop gossiping; I ain’t talking about nobody else”. And so you stop but you still let folk call you with it. Because you still haven’t dealt with the DEMON of needing AFFIRMATION.
I LOVE JESUS; because Jesus doesn’t waste time dealing with SYMPTOMS. Jesus gets right to the HEART of the matter, verse 21.
- It’s as if Jesus said, ‘my disciples are so dumb; their around here trying to heal a PHSYICAL condition; when they don’t realize that they have to deal with a DEMONIC condition.’
And one of the problems with the church today is the SAME problem that the disciples had—for too long we’ve been trying to be CUTE with our words; and instead of calling people what they ARE, we try to excuse away what they DO. The Devil is a liar.
• If you’re DEMONIC you’re DEMONIC!
- You aren’t just mean.
- You aren’t just insecure.
- You aren’t just a gossiper.
No…you’re DEMONIC.
And some stuff will never be CURED and some PEOPLE will never be SET FREE until you TALK TO THE SOURCE.
The text says (Verse 25) that he talks to the Demon.
- He speaks TO it to EXPOSE it.
• Some of you need to start talking to the Demons that are in your life.
- SPEAK to cancer/insecurity/debt/inferiority
• What you need to realize is that if you ever start speaking OVER your life and start speaking to some stuff IN your life in the name of Jesus Christ, DEMONS are going to run.
• And I am looking at somebody that needs to start SPEAKING to your stuff; and tell it to GET OUT OF YOU.
o Depression/Insecurity/Debt/Cancer/Sickness—get out of me.
You need to learn how to start looking at some stuff and say, I know what the REAL problem is. The REAL problem is the DEMON in me.
And don’t you sit up in here today and start acting brand new and act like you don’t have some demonic ways in you.
- I’ve got some
- You’ve got some
As saved as you are, you are NOT that saved.
Paul said, “When I WOULD do good…I end up doing the demonic stuff that I don’t want to do”.
We all have flesh and demonic wrestling on the inside of us.
- Part of me wants to be a Christian; part of me wants to drop it like it’s hot
- Part of me wants to be a Deacon; but part of me wants to smoke a blunt
- Part of me wants to be a missionary; but a part of me wants to pass the courvosier
- Part of me wants to be a preacher; but a part of me wants to be a PIMP
Isaiah said, “Woe unto ME…for I am a man of unclean lips and I live in the midst of a people of unclean lips.”
You’ve got “demonic” and “spirit” wrestling on the inside of you.
- Sometimes the spirit wins; sometimes the Demon wins.
- Some days I do the right thing; some days I do the wrong thing
- Some days I pray; some days I cuss
- Some days I keep my mouth shut; some days I gossip
- Some days I praise; some days I don’t say nothing.
But if I EVER learn to OPEN UP MY MOUTH. And speak to the demon and say:
- GET DOWN
- SHUT UP
- BE UNDER SUBMISSION
- GET UNDER SUBJECTION
- IN THE NAME OF JESUS
- UNDER THE BLOOD OF JESUS
- UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY GHOST
- I BIND YOU
- I KICK YOU OUT
- I GET RID OF YOU
- YOU HAVE NO AUTHORITY
- YOU HAVE NO PLACE
- YOU HAVE NO POWER
- YOU HAVE NO DOMINION
- GET THE HELL OUT!!!!
Is there anybody who is ready to tell the demon in you….GET OUT!!!!
My last point is this. That when the disciples ask, verse 18, 19 and 28, Jesus why couldn’t we do it. Jesus responds by saying, ‘It is because you don’t have enough faith. And you don’t know how to open your mouth. “
He said, ‘Because when your FAITH and your MOUTH get TOGETHER, stuff will start to happen.’
I LOVE what Jesus says in the same story in Matthew and Luke. He says if you SAY to the mountain, ‘Get out of my way’, then the mountain has to move!!!
Watch this.
- The mountain is bigger than you
- The mountain is stronger than you
- The mountain is heavier than you
But with your VOICE, you tell the mountain, “I don’t plan to climb you/crawl you/go up you…but I plan to MOVE you and walk right where I’m SUPPOSED and DESTINED to walk.
So my last point is: SPEAK IT; BECAUSE WHAT YOU SPEAK…SO SHALL YOU HAVE.
CHANGE YOUR LANGUAGE
Some of you need to change what you say…because you keep saying the wrong stuff into your life. You’ve got to learn how to open up your mouth and speak the POSITIVE over your life/marriage/son/daughter/sickness/depression.
Call those things that are NOT as though they already ARE.
- Speak your healing/prosperity/breakthrough/deliverance/joy/restoration.
Sorry old school—I’m not climbing UP the mountain…I’m not going up the mountain. When I get to the mountain; I’m going to speak to my mountain and say ‘mountain…get out of my way…in the name of Jesus…you’ve got to move/you can’t stop me/you can’t hold me back’
I hear Paul saying, ‘What shall we say? If God be for us…He is MORE than the WORLD against US’.
The power of life in death is not in my money/car/house…but it’s in my mouth.
If I open up my mouth, I’ll speak:
- Joy
- Recovery
- Healing
- Deliverance
- Redemption
- Salvation
