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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
Welcome to the Sandals Church podcast. My name is Brian Berson, and I'm the campus pastor at Sandals Church Redlands. We are so happy to have you join us today as we listen to this incredible message. If you've enjoyed our content, consider leaving us a rating to help this podcast reach more people. But for now, let's get into the message.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Well, everyone, the lights have gone up. The world feels a little bit brighter for just a moment and of course Mariah Carey has officially thought out from her year long freeze and she is singing away. And the song playing over the speakers at that crowded department store is reminding you that it is the most wonderful time of the year. This of course is all happening while you rush to find a gift hoping that your seven minutes of thoughtfulness will be received well by the person who you happen to be getting the gift for on your way to the Christmas party you now know they're going to be at. This is why December is often thought of as the month of emotional contrast.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Why? Because Christmas has a way of exposing where you and I feel powerless. The gap between what we wish Christmas felt like and what it actually feels like. This gap is oftentimes referred to by the experts that there's a powerlessness gap, which means right now in your life and in my life, there's a distance between what we think we can control and what we can actually control. And when this gap widens we start to feel frustrated, anxious, and of course this happens during Christmas time because there are relationships you still can't repair.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:There's financial pressures that we can't control, family tensions we're not sure how to fix, and we can't make our homes feel the way that we would want to during the Christmas season. We have traditions we're trying to keep alive, but we're just too tired and out of time, and no matter what you try to do, you can't force joy into anyone's heart much less yours. And so you're left saying, I don't have the power for this. So what do we tend to do in that moment when you feel powerless? What do you do?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:When you realize you don't have power, what happens? For many of us, we tend to reach for what's known as kind of a false power. Meaning for some of you, you overwork. You get very productive and you tell yourself a lie. For others, you like to offer quick solutions and opinions when your wife did not ask you for them.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Not that I'm speaking from experience. For others, we pretend that everything's fine and you subtly just say, I'll figure this out. Like I always do. For others, we like to try to control the little things, in trying to tell us that we actually are controlling the big things. For many like me, we give ourselves to distraction.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I'm chill, relaxed, peaceful person on the enneagram. And so let me just distract myself with another piece of idle entertainment so I can ignore what makes me feel powerless. We project strength as a way to cover up the weakness we feel internally. And it's an illusion. And to be honest, y'all, it's very tiring.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Anyone tired from that? And this happens even during the Christmas season. There's just sometimes, you know, the Christmas story hits like, oh, holy night has you crying. Other moments, it just falls a bit flat. We want to believe in that mountaintop moment magic that Christmas brings us, but oftentimes we too quickly return to live in the valley of the real life that we all are walking through.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And I'm just here to say, if that's you today, you're in very good company. Like, welcome to Sandals Church. Because the very first Christmas was born into powerlessness. A teenage girl in Mary with no control over her circumstances. Her fiance who didn't have the ability to fix what he actually couldn't fully understand.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Living in a nation under oppression, you have a family who's too poor or too late to find a place to stay, and then of course the manger, this symbol we all look at each and every December reminds us that God was born into a world that felt anything like it was under control, much less feasible. Christmas doesn't ignore powerlessness, guys. It actually names it. It meets us in it. It actually welcomes all of us to be honest about the ways that you and I are not in control.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:The ways that we don't have the power we think we have. Then it actually honors us there. And I share all that because man, God has a word for us today. That's right. Out of Matthew 17, we're going to see what it's like for the disciples to walk through what it feels like to be powerless, and the way that God speaks to them and he speaks to us in our own lives.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And so, if you're willing and able, would ask that you would stand with me for the reading of God's word together. We are in Matthew 17 starting in verse 14. Matthew writes these words, at the foot of the mountain, a large crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, Lord have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He often falls into the fire or into the water. So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn't heal him. Jesus said, you faithless and corrupt people, how long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy and it left him. From that moment, the boy was well. Afterward, the disciples asked Jesus privately, why couldn't we cast out that demon? You don't have enough faith, Jesus told them. I tell you the truth.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, move from here to there and it would move. Nothing would be impossible. Amen. This is God's word. Let's pray together.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Heavenly Father, as we have gathered here in this moment, we take a moment in prayer to pause and be mindful that you have gathered here with us too. And so we ask now, God, that you would speak to us from your word. That as Jesus said you would give us ears to hear and eyes to see so that we might become all that you desire us to be in him. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Amen. Thank you so much. You can be seated. You know, life, especially life as a Christian, is filled with moments that seem to kinda go up and down. Mountain top moments, and then you have the reality of the valley.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Moments of high, moments of low, you know, celebration, a vacation, then you're immediately met with a very dirty home when you get back and hit with ordinary life. We know what this is like to move from the mountain and then back to the valley of our real lives. And that's exactly what we see here in this scene. Jesus has just returned from the Mount Of Transfiguration. And what happened up there?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Well, we're told that a father, the the father spoke from heaven. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Listen to him. We have on the mountain a father delighting in his son, but as Jesus comes down from the mountain we meet another father who's not full of delight but of despair. Let's look together there at verse 14 again.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:At the foot of the mountain a large crowd was waiting for them. It's like Jesus can't even come back from this moment and people are already waiting to meet him. We're told a man came and knelt before him, Jesus said, I'm sorry, and said to Jesus, Lord have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. Now for a moment, note the stark contrast of this narrative.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:On the mountain top, a father is praising his son. In the valley, a father is pleading for his son's healing. On the mountain top, have the sun radiant, face shining like the sun. He's clothed in glory. But in the valley, have another son who's tormented.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:We're told he's thrown into fire and water. He's oppressed by darkness. Matthew, I think wants you and I, the readers to fill the contrast here. The juxtaposition of this reality. Glory above, agony below.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Faith above, failure below. Telling us that mountaintop revelation and valley reality often live right next door to each other in our lives. And so it's important for us to ask ourselves, where are you at today? Are you maybe, you know, reveling in the glory of a great experience Or do you find yourself in the valley? Because we know what it's like to go from a spiritual high to a spiritual low.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Sunday service was amazing. Fredo brought a word, hello. You know? But then you get home and the Sunday scaries hit and you forget everything you just were singing about. In this story, we met a father in the valley who's pleading for his son.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Jesus have mercy on my son. Now, in this story, and in Mark and Luke, they all record this event. We get some great details. For example, in Luke, we're told that this son had been dealing with this since childhood. In Mark, we're told that this oppression causes him to foam at the mouth.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:It's a violent attack. He he has and is suffering from what we would understand to be a form of epilepsy. But notice though, all three of them account for the fact that there is a spiritual reality to this too, which is a reminder today that the afflictions you and I are navigating through have both a physical component, but also a spiritual one as well. And we would be foolish to neglect one over the other. But just think about this father for a moment.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:His mom too. Because it's easy again to read these stories as just kind of stories. This is a real life event. A father who has lived in the persistent fear wondering when when is the next episode of my son's seizure going to hit? He's thrown into the fire water.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:In other words, this demonic force tries to take his life at times. For those of you who, you know, know people in your life, family or friends who have dealt with seizures, you you know what it's like. You feel powerless in these moments. It can be very, scary and disarming. That's right.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And I would imagine that at this point of their life, this father, you know, they've seen every doctor, every charlatan they visited. This probably put a strain on their marriage at this point now. A strain on their finances, a strain on their relationships. Where can they go? How can they build community?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And I share this because I wanna just go slow here and acknowledge that maybe some of you here today, you've been caring for a child who's hurting. Or maybe you're walking through suffering that you didn't expect, and I just want this text to be a clear declaration and reminder to you that Jesus has not left you today. He has not left you. And we see him engage the story. Let's continue reading there in verse 16.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:We're told from the father, so I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn't heal him. Let that sink in for a moment. Not only is the public ministry of Jesus blown up so that people know that they can go to him to get healed, but the ministry of his disciples has become public too. So that any Jesus absent when he's up on the mountain, this man in need can go to his disciples. Wow, well Jesus isn't here, but I can go to his disciples.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And hearing that, you know, the father brought his son to them, but they couldn't do it. It might surprise some of us because you might remember in Matthew chapter 10, just you know, a few months ago we were in there. We recount the story where Jesus himself empowers his disciples with both the power and authority to cast out demons, to heal the sick, to preach good news. He empowers them to do that. And so I wonder if in the minds of the disciples they're thinking, well, we've done this before.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:We can do this again. A trap that all of us know what it's like to fall into. Thinking that last season's dependence on Jesus will somehow now carry me into my present battles without Jesus. That's a trap we fall into because the problem for these disciples isn't so much that they were lacking experience. They've done this before.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:What they were lacking was connection to Jesus. This wasn't so much a technique problem. Right? Like, you know, casting a spell at the school of Hogwarts, like they missed that lesson. This has nothing to do with technique or magic.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:This is a key reminder that power to do kingdom work was not their own. We need to hear that today. Power in your life today does not ultimately belong to you. It's been given to you. And so what flows out of you is the work of God in and through your life for the good of others.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And again, I'm just stuck on this phrase. I brought them to your disciples but they couldn't heal. What a picture of what it's like for the hurting world to finally show up to church and they couldn't be cared for. I came. I I brought myself, but I couldn't be healed.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:What do we meet people with? Like, I I've just been stuck, not just as a pastor, but as a person wrestling with that phrase. Like, Fredo, when someone who's hurting shows up to me, what do I have to offer them? What do you have to offer them? I brought myself to church but all that was met with was judgment.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Wow. I came to church and all's I got was, you know, a great insight for life because it sounded great on social media and it's gone viral. I showed up to church and God forbid I got tips on how to vote next year. I showed up to church. What are we offering people friends?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Let it be clear that when people show up, when the hurting world shows up to church, we bring them to Jesus. We bring them to Jesus. We bring them to Jesus through our words. Amen. We bring them to Jesus in the way that we listen to them.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:We bring them to Jesus in the way that we serve them. We bring them to Jesus in the way that we pray for them. When the hurting world shows up to Sandals Church, what do we offer them? Not a program, not a philosophy, but the person of Jesus. The only one who can do something for them.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:That's what we need to gather from this passage. Because notice how this story continues to unfold there in verse 17. Jesus responds now after hearing this, you faithless and corrupt people. Stinks. How long must I be with you?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:It's like, Jesus, I thought you liked hanging out with me. How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me. It's clear that this rebuke and this correction, not easy to hear from the one who is also gentle and lowly at heart. Right.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:But you could almost begin to hear in Jesus' tone that he's grown frustrated. That despite his time with the disciples, even the crowds to some extent, they still lack a kind of trust in Jesus. The kind of trust in Jesus that watches God work through our needs. That's what's specific here. But I love his confidence in this situation.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He says, bring the boy to me. Bring the boy to me. That transfigured, powerful, divine God in human form, glorified on the mountain is now able to step into the valley of reality and draw close to brokenness. This is what is so profound about Jesus and really Christianity is that you have this divine powerful God who enters into our life and is not afraid to face the darkness of our lives. That's right.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And speaks against it. And he pushes back against this darkness. We're told that in a moment the boy is made well. Jesus rebuked the demon. It left him and from that moment on the boy was well.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Think about it. The father, for the first time in his life, gonna be able to sleep knowing that his son is good. Yeah. They're gonna go back to their village. They're gonna go back home.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:People are probably not gonna recognize this boy. Demonic oppression now gone at the moment that Jesus says he's healed. He's made well. Now notice how this story continues to unfold specifically with the disciples response. Verse 19, follow along.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Afterward, the disciples asked Jesus privately, why couldn't we cast out that demon? A question that I think resonates with a lot of us. Why couldn't I do it? Why don't I have the power to change? And notice Jesus's response.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:What's it say? You don't have enough faith, Jesus told them. Enough faith. Now in, another translation, it's translated as little faith, and I think that could be a bit more helpful for us. Why?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Because throughout Matthew's gospel, little faith is how we see that happen all the time. You think of, Matthew when Peter is beginning to sink even though he's walking on the water. It says, why did you doubt? You of little faith. You think of when the disciples were panicking in the storm.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You of little faith. Jesus then says, why are you afraid? When people are worried about their physical needs, Jesus again says, you of little faith seek first the kingdom. So this phrase little faith comes up often in Matthew's gospel. It's important that we not miss this because little faith essentially means that there is a failure to rely on God in times of need.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:That's what little faith means. Not that you lack all of faith, but that there's a failure to rely on him in moments of need, and that failure then leads to the inability to act on spiritual power. That's what's happening here. Then he goes on to say, man, if you just had faith the small of, you know, the size of a mustard seed, you can move you could move mountains. You could say to this mountain, move, and it'll move.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Nothing will be impossible. It's a great phrase. Many of us, you know, have heard this before growing up in the church. You could have the faith to move mountains. But this is a proverbial phrase in Jewish literature that essentially means you can do the impossible.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:That's right. That's what Jesus is getting at. He's saying that even the smallest amount of faith can unlock a power that leads to impossible things becoming realities in your life. Amen. Now you might notice what's kind of crazy about this whole situation is that Jesus kind of says, well here's the problem.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You couldn't cast it out because you have little faith. That's the problem. But what's the solution? Small faith. Well, which one is it Jesus?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Is the problem that I have little faith or small faith? And I think he wants us to wrestle with this. To sit with this distinction. Little faith is small because it's disconnected from him. Small faith, mustard seed faith is small, but it is connected to him.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:We are reminded from Matthew 13, a mustard seed gets thrown into the soil, and once it's there, it dies, but then it turns into something far bigger than it could possibly imagine. The same is true with our faith. Even the small amount of faith will unlock a power to see God work through you and in you in ways that you could not possibly begin to believe in right now. And some of you know what this is like. You've seen this happen already before.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You've seen mountains move in your life. Even with this a small amount of faith, this can happen. And so what are we to make of all of this? I say this because by way of confession, for so many years of my Christian life, when I have come across this passage in Matthew 17 and other versions of it as well, I have just felt very discouraged. Very discouraged.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And here's why. Because I hear Jesus say to Fredo, Fredo, don't have enough faith. And I'm like, well shoot, you're right Jesus. Like I don't. And I'm not sure when I'll ever have enough faith.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Because there's a way to read this passage where you're kinda like, all right, well if I want God to do big, great and grand things in my life, then I need to have big faith. Great faith, grand faith. Like I gotta be in service, hands up all three songs. Even that middle one that's just, know, it's not it for me. Like, so there's a way to kind of take in this story and to think that what Jesus is calling you to is some grand faith and then to be like me and just kind of exhale.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I don't know if that's ever gonna be me. But notice though, Jesus never praises big faith. Yeah. He actually praises small faith.
Pastor Brian Burson:Amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Faith that is honest. There you go. Faith that kind of displays itself as the father did throwing himself on the mercy of Jesus. It becomes fully dependent on him, which then tells us that the strength of faith isn't found in how much we have y'all, but in who we're connected to. Amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:The strength of your faith is not found in how much of it you have, but in who you have with it. Yes. This is an issue of quality, not quantity. Because genuine life changing faith draws its strength from the source. Not necessarily its size.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Which means then that this particular passage for all of us today becomes far more of an invitation than it is a condemnation. And by that I mean, I think Jesus specifically invites Sandals Church into three kinds of invitations. Invitations that cause us to think about our inner life. The life of our soul and the ways in which we can experience faith that actually moves mountains. Right.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:The kind of faith that reconnects us to him. And so first of all, the first invitation I see Jesus drawing us into is this. Jesus invites me to name the places where I feel powerless. To name those places. Matthew 17 verse 19 is worthy of our reflection once again.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He says there, in verse 19 verse 19, afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, why couldn't we cast it out? Why couldn't we cast it out? Now, this question is a question that I found myself asking a lot in my own life. I really do. I say that because it's an absolute gift to be a pastor here at Sandals Church.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:It really is. This last year alone, I mean we've seen countless people come to faith in Jesus for the first time. It's a gift to attend Sandals Church. That's right. It's even more so of wanting to be a pastor here.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:It's been amazing to watch lives change, faith happen, mountains begin to move. And as I sit back, I I think to myself, man, who am I that I get to be a part of this and help people in this? But at the same time, in my own personal life, I think about someone who I've known my whole life. Someone dear to me and my family. Who I regularly ask Jesus, why can't I cast that out?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Because of what they endure, their decision making. Why is it that I am so helpful in this scenario, but so helpless over here? Why can't I cast it out? Why don't I have the the power to help this other person? And I think about them every day.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I pray for them every day, and I find myself being invited by Jesus to name this area of my life where I am powerless. And friends, this becomes now a doorway to receive the grace of God in a fresh way. That's right. This first invitation is about telling the truth. Yep.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Getting honest with yourself. Being real as we say here about the areas, the specific areas in your life where you are powerless. And despite your best efforts, you cannot change anything. This this is important for us to to wrestle with because without it, we will continue to live in a place of denial and denial will just leave you more disconnected from Jesus. But if you can get honest and and and refuse the temptation to kind of try to perform your way through what you know is powerless, you're going to find a different kind of way of life.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:So receive that invitation to name right right right now in your life. Like, where are you powerless? What can you not change? Secondly, Jesus invites me to move from self reliance back into dependence on him. This is a way for you to ask the question, where have I drifted from dependence into self reliance just like the disciples did?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And I think mister Rogers is immensely helpful here. Got my sweater on for him. Oftentimes he would, observe and caution his audience with this phrase that it's easy to get to a place where you're doing the work but forgetting why you started it in the first place. It's easy to get to a place where you forget why you did the work. Think about that.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He talked about that as it related to people who were in helping professions and the ways that they tend to lose heart over time because they drift from the inner life that made the work so meaningful and beautiful from the very beginning. Yeah. If there's anything that becomes abundantly clear to all of us, is that we are very good at drifting from dependence. We drift from dependence. Jesus understood this, which is why at the end of his ministry, at the end of his time with his disciples, he invited them in to one of his final teachings there in John 15.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Three years of teaching. Three years of life together. Three years of performing miracles. And he has a particular word on dependence that he frames around this idea of abiding in John 15. One of his most important teachings, worthy of your reflection in our time now.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Look at verse five. It says, I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. You know what that means?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You're gonna see mountains move. But then he ends up by saying, apart from me you can do nothing. His invitation is to abide in him, and I love that in that verse he says, if you remain in me and I in you. Don't miss that part. This is one of the most beautiful and most profound truths and mysteries about Christianity is that the triune God, father, son, and holy spirit abide in us.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:They reside in us. As we abide in Jesus, he abides and remains in us. And one of the most simplest ways that this profound truth gets grounded into your everyday life in the valley is through prayer. Abiding prayer. Amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Where you get to experience the loving presence of God and daily practice what it means to move away from self reliance and into daily dependence on God. And it is in this place where you encounter the same words that Jesus heard spoken over him. Those words are spoken over you. You are loved by God. And hear me clearly, there is no greater discovery you will ever make in your life that is more formidable than the revelation of God's love for you.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And listen, it's just that. The father's love must be discovered, not just known objectively. Meaning, knowing something objectively and experiencing it in your own life are two very different things. Love between two people must be experienced. I think about it like this, with my daughter Ella, for whatever reason now, she's getting very curious about coffee and she's only eight years old.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And she's watched us, you know, her whole life. Drink it every day. Multiple times a day. Sometimes at night. A little crazy.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And it's astounding to me that I have told her over time, although this is hot and it's bitter and it's sweet because she's like, what does it taste like? Why do you drink it? Why do you drink so much? All these why questions. I'm like, it's hot, it's bitter, it's sweet.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Don't it's not for you yet. Sure enough, a few weeks back, what is she doing? I walk away from my nice warm cup of coffee and she sips it and when she sips it she goes like this. And I said, now you know. It's hot, bitter, and sweet.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:What she knew about coffee was something that now she had experienced with coffee. And love between two people, when you think about it, is the most universally pursued experience in all of human history. It is the core to the plot of every film. It's the chorus of every song in the top 40, and love cannot be learned friends. It must be discovered.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Now, I'm not saying you can't learn about love from scripture. You can, but you must experience it through prayer. Prayer becomes the very place where we anchor ourselves. Where your life is sustained and you get to hear the word of the father speaking word of life over you. This this is what happens.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And I say this because you can't sustain a life of prayer by just simply believing in the power of prayer. You sustain a life of prayer because you have discovered that it is in that place, in that environment that the father loves you and you experience it for yourself. Amen. So that you find yourself saying the words like the Psalms, he is the son and the shield of my life. He binds my wounds up.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He indeed sustains my strength. His unfailing love wakes me up in the morning. Oh lord, I will place my hope in nothing else but your unfailing love. The words of the Psalms become the words of your daily life in the valley. And I share this because I am not here to advocate for you all these great spiritual disciplines through prayer, Even though they are helpful.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I'm simply here to tell you that, man, this is the most profound place that you experience the love of God in your life, and I'm becoming more and more convinced that your full life begins and ends with knowing that you are loved by God. Begins and ends there, and all real power in your life will flow from the reality of you having that mountaintop experience and then being able to return to your valley life and do something about it. This is what happens. If you don't believe me, look no further than Peter's own testimony about the mountaintop experience. We have the words in second Tim, second Peter chapter one what this was like.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Listen to Peter's, excuse me, words. For we're not making up clever stories. I love that phrase. This ain't a lot when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was on to say, we saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes when he received honor and glory from God the father.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, this is my dearly loved son who brings me great joy. This is Peter recounting the story of the mountain. He goes on to say, when we were with them, or we ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the Holy Mountain. Because of that experience, take note of that phrase, because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. Do you catch what Peter is saying?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Because of the experience we had on the mountaintop, we can live our life in the valley. Because we heard that voice from father speak, we can enter into life. So what Jesus is saying to us today, if you believe who I am, that same person you met on the mountaintop, also know that I'm with you in the valley. If you believe who you say, you know, if, if you believe that you are who I say you are, you're gonna be able to do impossible things. Amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:This is a beautiful word that we need to receive. And when you think about it, the word faith in Matthew 17, pistis, is yes translated faith, but it's also translated as trust. Trust. So when you think about it, you go all the way back to the garden. The serpent wasn't tempting Eve to get her to doubt God's power.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He was tempting her to doubt God's love. That's what was happening there. And so when you have these mountaintop moments, these moments of prayer, these moments of depending on Jesus, they provide for you the ability to know in your heart and your mind what is very true and what's going to come out of your own life. That's why they matter so much. Which of course then makes our third invitation so so clear and helpful to us.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Lastly now, Jesus invites us to offer him my smallest trust believing he can work in what feels impossible. Amen. My smallest trust. The invitation for you and I today is to offer small trust. Love that.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Mustard seed trust. That's right. The words of the father aren't quite captured in Matthew 17 as they are in Mark nine, but it's a familiar verse that we say oftentimes when he's having this exchange with Jesus about faith. It says, immediately the boy's father exclaimed, I do believe. I do believe, but what?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Help me overcome my unbelief. What that confession is, is an acknowledgement that I have genuine trust in you, but it's small and it's not perfect. And you know what Jesus says? I can work with that. I can work with that.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And so I wanna just leave us with this question in particular. What feels impossible in my life right now that Jesus is inviting me to trust him with? Think about that for a second. What feels impossible in your life right now that the Lord is inviting you to trust him with? What mountain won't be moved?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:For some of you, is forgiving someone who has hurt you. Feels like an impossible mountain to move. For others of you, it's perhaps breaking old patterns that you still feel chained to. It's a mountain to move. For some of you, it's restoring a marriage.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:For some of you, it's returning to church like who would have never thought you'd be in church. Blows us all away. We're happy you're here. For others of you, you know that God is inviting you to trust him in the particular way you show courage to make that change in your life that you know is coming. Maybe about a job.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Maybe it's the next big decision. Perhaps for those of you, some of you are parents raising kids struggling to do so because of an illness or because of a behavior thing. Whatever it might be, what is the small ways that Jesus is inviting you to trust him today So that you might see the impossible happen. You know, what struck me about this passage in Christmas and the gospel is that in this scene you have a father in the valley and you have a father in heaven. And one of the things these two fathers have in common is they both know what it's like to see their son suffer.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:The father in heaven, we're told during the Christmas season, out of love for the world gives us his son. The scriptures say a child is born. A son is given. The birth of this child that we celebrate this year grows up, lives a life, ushers in the kingdom of God, saves us through his life, death, and resurrection. Jesus is making this world new today.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And part of celebrating that is declaring and singing, Emmanuel. Yes. God with us. But, Emmanuel, God with us in the valleys too. Amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:God with us in the valleys like he was with that father. That is the good news of the gospel that we get to take everywhere we go. Yeah. That's right. Because here we are finding ourselves at that crowded department store listening to that terrible Christmas song again, feeling powerless.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Feeling powerless. And then you realize that you're not alone in this valley today. You are not alone in the valley today. Jesus walks with you and invites you to trust him in small ways. Let's pray together.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Lord, we ask now that you would help us to confess where we are powerless. And in so doing, to find in you the ability to trust. To trust you maybe even for the first time. And so we ask now Holy Spirit that you would come. Holy Spirit, would you come and awaken our hearts to have mustard seed faith in the valley of what we walk through.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And would you help us to have eyes that are wide open to see the mountains move in our life. Jesus, we cannot do the impossible, but you can. And you are here. We pray these things in your name. Amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Want to take a quick second just to say thank you for joining us for service today. Wherever you happen to be watching this, it means the world to us. It really does. And we pray and hope that you would walk in a way this week where you trust in Jesus even with a small amount of trust. And listen, if our church and this message has served you in any way, would you pray about supporting the work that God is doing in and through Sandals Church?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:To do that, you can go to sandalschurch.com/support. Grace and peace.