On Sunday, November 5, 2023, VLC gathered in person and also broadcast online via YouTube. Pastor Stuart shared a message about when Jesus returned from the mountain with Peter, James, and John and discovered the disciples trying to heal a boy who was tormented by an impure spirit. This interaction with Jesus teaches us that between moments of glory are challenges of faith. We can choose to walk through the challenges with our own strength or through prayer and fasting, receive the Lord’s breakthrough for us.

The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”
“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”
Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.
Luke 9:37-43 (NIV)
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting.
Matthew 17:19-21 (ESV)