Father, thank you again for your provisions,
for your love and for your watch care over each
one of us. Thank you that Aaron did get this
insurance. And now Lord, as we turn our focus
away from the worldly things and toward your
word and our behavior and our reaction and different
things, I pray you just Help us to forget all
the things around us and just to focus just these
few minutes on you and what you're trying to
accomplish as we look at these disciples what
you are trying to accomplish in their lives is
really the same thing that you're trying to accomplish
in our lives. Thank you again for your patience
with us. Thank you that you are dependable as
you show through Scripture especially in the
Gospels and in the Old Testament as well that
you were dependable to repeat. We're so so grateful
for that. Help us to be ever dependent upon you.
Thank you again. We just pray for their hearts
as well. Thank you again for your patience and
for your love and for your grace that you show
to us each and every day. In Jesus' name, Amen.
I'm going to read our text first of all tonight
and then I'm going to do our, I guess, our review.
And that way we get a, I think it's important
to read the whole text because that way we get
a whole flow of the story. It said, and when
he came to the disciples, this is Mark 9, 14.
And when he came to the disciples, he saw a great
multitude around them and the scribes disputing
with them. Immediately, when they saw them, all
the people were greatly amazed. and running to
him greeted him. And he asked the scribes, what
are you discussing with them? Then one of the
crowd answered and said, Teacher, I brought you
my son who has a mute spirit. And whenever it
seizes him, it throws him down, it foams up the
mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid.
So I spoke to your disciples that they should
cast it out. But they could not. He answered
and said, O faithless generation, how long shall
I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?
Bring him to me. Then they brought him to him.
And when he saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed
him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed,
honing half a mile. So he asked his father, how
long has this been happening to him? And he said
from childhood, and often he has thrown him both
into the fire and into the water to destroy.
But if you can do anything, have compassion on
us and help us. And Jesus said to him, if you
can believe, all things are possible to him who
believes. Immediately the father of the child
cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe.
helped my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people
came running together, he rebuked the unclean
spirit, saying to it, Death, a mute spirit, I
command you, come out of him and enter him no
more. Then the spirit cried out and bulged him
greatly and came out of him, and he became his
one death. So that many said, he is dead. But
Jesus took him by the hand. lifted him up, and
he arose. And when he had come into the house,
his disciples asked him probably, why could we
not cast it out? He said to them, this kind can
come out by nothing but prayer and fasting. By
prayer and fasting. As we come again to Mark.
We are not too far from the base of Mount Huron,
where Jesus and his closest disciples Peter,
James, and John have just came down from the
Mount of Transfiguration. What they arrive to
is Jesus's other nine disciples are in argument
with the scribes, and a great number of people
are surrounding them. What we find out is that
the desperate father has Has come bringing his
only son who is demon possessed and has been
has been to be healed by Jesus But Jesus was
not there. So they asked Jesus's disciples to
heal They were known for doing miracles before
As we have found out they could not heal the
boy. I believe this is where the argument began
The scribe sees the opportunity to discredit
not only Jesus' disciples, but Jesus as well.
Naturally, this will bring doubt to the onlookers,
including, I believe, this boy's father. We have
seen where it has caused doubt in him. So as
the story progresses, there have been some things
we have seen. The boy's father spoke. before
anyone else can and begins to tell why he is
there. I brought my son to you who needs healing
and is demon possessed. And the father gives
a brief description of why he believes his son
is demon possessed. He has a mute spirit, he's
thrown to the ground, he foams up the mouth,
he grinds his teeth, becomes rigid, which I which
can mean to waste away, meaning he's lost a lot
of weight and things. And it can mean to stiffen
up. He tells this to Jesus, and that his disciples
had failed at healing his son. And Jesus' reply
was, O faithless generation, it's as if Jesus
can't believe what has been shown to them all.
Over the past two and a half years, all the miracles,
signs, and wonders, and teachings like no other.
Even the religious leaders knew this. And yet,
they are without faith. Jesus says, bring the
boy to me. As he is being brought, an evil spirit
is wrecking havoc on him. Looks as if it is trying
to kill him. Mark gives a vivid picture. of what
it looks like. You know, and one preacher I listen
to says if they were going to do a movie, Mark
gives a lot of details in his gospels. He doesn't
necessarily quote a lot of scripture, but he
gives details where you can make a movie about
where the other two gospels don't, Luke and Matthew.
So Mark gives us a very vivid picture of what
this demon -possessed boy looks like. And Mark
gives us twice as long, if not three times as
long, of a picture of this story than the other
two gospels, which is kind of rare in Mark, because
Mark is usually... Boom right next to the next
story, but this one gets a lot of attention As
all this is happening Jesus is listening to the
father Tell his story and we talked about that
before Jesus asked him how long he's been like
that. He wanted the father to tell a story To
where everyone around could hear especially the
disciples Which seems like a hopeless case. At
the end of the Father's story, out of desperation,
he asked Jesus, if you can do anything, have
compassion on us and help us. You know, that's
man's final plea too. Should be the gospel. The
gospel should, when all else fails, And man will
try everything before coming to the gospel. There's
an empty void that's inside all of us. We're
going to talk a little more about that. But it
seems like man will try everything before coming
to the gospel. And in verse 23 it says, Jesus
replied, if you can believe, all things are possible
to him who believes. Immediately, the father
of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord,
I believe. Help my unbelief. I love that. I love
how the father puts it. I mean, he's just, he's
not holding nothing back. He's saying these things
with tears. And he's just putting it out on the
tape. It doesn't matter who's listening. He just
needs help and wants help. Well, we can empathize
with that. We can't, especially with our own
kids and things. A lifetime with that situation.
Oh, no one knows how long it's been. A long time.
You're exhausted. I mean, you are mentally exhausted.
And you're approaching this teacher who by all
rights is supposed to be able to alleviate this.
I mean, you've seen nothing happen up till now,
you know. Nothing's worked. And you're out of
your mind. Now this is like the last stop right
here. You're white. Mentally white. And you're
supposed to believe that this man can cast this
demon out of your soul. And to have that kind
of a response. That is an end of the line response
right there. And the big thing is... I don't
believe. Help me with my unbelief. That's right.
I want to believe. How can I believe that you
can do this? Well, obviously he had some belief
because he brought him to Jesus. He did. Yeah.
But he found out pretty quick that it didn't
seem to help. Yeah, and that's why I think it
was because his disciples had failed. Right.
That's right. Why did his disciples fail? Because
I don't think they were the same thing. They
were. Jesus had a prayer infesting. They were.
And we're going to look at that. They forget
to pray? Well, in short, in short, we fall into
this same trap of teaching or doing something
a certain way and we get self -dependent, even
in our jobs, even in the things that we do and
sometimes we forget where that authority comes
from. And I believe this had happened to these
disciples. They had a certain method of doing
things. And early in their ministry, they were
relying on the power of God because He gave them
the authority. And He hadn't taken that authority
away. But they just wasn't relying on His strength.
They were relying on their own ability. You know,
we talked about that last time. I'm telling this
demon to get out. They only came by fasting and
praying, right? Getting your mind back where
it needed to be. That's right. Jesus always fasts,
always prays. We're going to talk about that
more toward the end. sicknesses and healings
that Jesus gave you, the thoracic that you've
overcome, were gone pretty quickly. It wasn't
a great hassle until then. And we'll talk about
later. Really, this is what looks to be like
a trial run for these disciples. It's really
the first time that they've been away, Jesus
and these three leaders. And it's interesting
to me that they were gone as well. Peter, especially
Peter since he was, I don't know if you'd call
him a ringleader, but he was one of the chief
apostles or chief disciples. And they had been
called away and this I believe is a little test
for them. They failed. They failed. That's right.
Because of their self -reliance on themselves.
It was a good learning experience for them. There's
a reason why this whole context is here about
them arguing. And you can just see that where
Jesus and, like you say, your James and John
of God were absent, right? Meanwhile, all this
gathers and there's healing maybe, probably some
other healing going on perhaps, and then all
of a sudden this situation rises and you start
getting... And when you get into an argument
with somebody, your pride starts... Oh yeah,
I'm... yeah. And then I think you're on the right
target there, that you start getting self -reliant
and you forget where you're... resources and
Peter who is the one that is primary source for
Mark's account. In his epistle, 1 Peter writes,
God opposes the problem against grace and honor.
I think you may be right about that. So I wonder
about it too, how do they not have the power
to do this? Yeah, again, you know why why is
that need to tell him about the argument? I think
there's there for a reason. Yeah and Yeah We
looked at this verse last time short version
is the father believed Jesus wants To help but
the circumstances surrounding this event has
put doubt that Jesus simply can't And that's,
I say that because of the disciples' prayer to
be able to heal. If the disciples can't do it,
then most likely Jesus can't do it. I think the
disciples got used to having that authority,
and then when it seemed to fail the way it had
done in the past, they were trying to reconcile
that. Then it looked like to the Father that
it was not going to work out. Yeah, I agree.
I agree. The disciples have much to learn about
their lack of dependence on divine power from
above. We will say they were not in communication
with the one who gave them the authority they
had. And I say that because of that last verse,
verse 29, this kind can come out by nothing but
prayer and fasting. You know, we're going to
talk more about that, but we should constantly,
the Bible tells us to constantly be in a state
of prayer. And I think that's not simply with
your head bowed. That's being constantly aware
of God's presence around you all the time. And
that communication, just thinking, you know,
referring back to scripture. and including him
in your thoughts about different things that
you're going to do, even your work or your activities
or your play or whatever, just recognizing. You
know, we were out fishing yesterday, me and a
couple of fellas, and just God's beauty, I was
just aware of creation that God had created and
the beauty of it. Pray in or anything like that,
but just being constantly aware, you know But
but in certain circumstances I'll mention this
again, but in certain certain circumstances You
need more prayer. I Mean you need to separate
yourself and I think that's where the fasting
comes in if you have a hard situation to come
to That's just not normal every day things or
incidences, so you need to confront somebody.
And a lot of us have had to do that. Not just
about spiritual things, but about other things.
You want to make sure you spend time in prayer
about that. I don't always do that. Sometimes
when I confront somebody, it's on the spur of
the moment. You know, you're retaliating, I guess
we did. Better word, but you don't need to do
that. You need to you need to pray about it And
then even if that if you don't feel like that's
sufficient Do without something in your life
and that's what fasting is doing without something
that you normally do For a particular purpose
and that would be pray about that situation And
apparently they had not considered this prayer
Or he wouldn't have mentioned it down here in
verse 29 Yeah, I was going to ask that a little
bit. That fasting is not just food, is it? No,
it could be. It could be anything. Any worldly
pleasure at all. Yeah, it could be anything.
We associate it with food. You're right. Well,
food's pretty good, ain't it, Pastor? Yeah, it
is. That's a tough one. That's one of the toughest.
Yeah. But I guess, yeah, any worldly input, just
stop it. Yeah, the Bible uses that also with
having a relationship with your wife. Yeah. We've
seen from that whole period. I think they had
television back in the day. Television would
be at the top of the list. Exactly. I was thinking
about that too. Fascinating. Because that takes
up a lot of time. Fishing shows. Soccer games
and fishing shows and stuff. Exactly. How worldly.
I believe this man's request was answered. The
Bible doesn't tell us that explicitly. But the
Bible tells us that his son was healed. And I
believe the man's faith had grown from this experience.
Does it say fasting? Oh, okay. That in verse
29? Well, let's look at his prayer translations.
Well, this is the legacy we got here, but it
just says prayer. I think this is the King James
version of New King James is this one. I think
this one is, no I think this one just says this
is the King James, the one that's got all three.
I like it because it's got all three of them
right back to back so I can compare them really
easily. The point is that prayer was needed.
Apparently the disciples didn't look for it.
How hard is prayer? Serious prayer, if you're
not fast. Every time you do the same prayer,
and just like that, you're off somewhere else.
You're not in prayer at all. Especially if you're
driving and praying. I think more than just prayer,
it was a special kind of prayer because of the
situation. Pretty serious situation. Pretty heavy.
I think so. He came humbly asking in a submissive
way, acknowledging Jesus as Lord. If you notice,
he called him Lord there. Jesus will not turn
away from those asking in this way with the right
spirit and the right heart. We know God does
the drawing, and I'm not leaving that out of
the equation, but this man does come with a humble,
and we can see the humbleness in the words that
he says. And then Mark jumps quickly to the next
scene. in verse 25, when Jesus saw that the people
came running to get him. It seems Jesus does
his healing away from the crowd. Remember, his
ministry and work for the multitude is basically
over. He is focused on his chosen twelve. Jesus
is preparing his disciples as leaders. Being
a leader often requires being a servant. Mark's
gospel demonstrates Jesus as a servant. And we've
talked about that toward the beginning of chapter
nine, the end of chapter eight is where Jesus
is making his descent toward Jerusalem or toward
Calvary. And so he's turned away from the people
more or less, but he's still got some things
he needs to. to teach his disciples, and I think
Mark gives us 10 or 11. It's on the back of that
clipboard. I wrote them down on that last page
there. The last two ones are sticking out. Lessons
that Jesus will teach his disciples in the next
chapter or two. The first one is faith. The second
one is humility. The third one is offenses. The
fourth one is seriousness of sin, marriage and
divorce, a place of children in the kingdom,
earthly riches, true wealth, leadership, sacrificial
service. And then chapter 10, verses 46 to 52
is on faith again. So he begins on faith here.
and he ends up again on faith. And then in chapter
11, Jesus enters Jerusalem. So there's several
things that we're going to be looking at that
Jesus is heading towards and he's training these
disciples. It seems Jesus is not looking for
repair or the attention. It may even be Jesus
wanted to get this done. in a hurry before the
crowd came. He rebukes the unclean spirit. Jesus
shows authority over the spiritual world, which
will speak volumes to his disciples. Notice again
the action that Jesus shows. Say to it, deaf
and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him
and enter him no more. Notice Jesus himself speaks
directly to it on his authority from God. Matthew
28, 18, Jesus said to them, all authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to me. All
authority comes from heaven and is delegated
from heaven. Jesus received that earthly delegation
and therefore he was able to delegate it as he
wills. We know he did this. to his earthly apostles,
that's in Matthew 10, 5 to 8, and also to 72
others to heal the sick in Luke 10, 1 to 11.
So he gives certain people, and we know even
in the New Testament he delegated that authority
to Paul because he was able to do some miracles,
but it wasn't to everyone. Jesus told us who,
basically, he delegated those signs to, those
miracles. And it was, again, not for their benefit,
but to prove who he was, to prove who Jesus was.
We have been delegated, I believe, as believers
to make disciples of all nations. Our job is
to train followers of Jesus. those He calls out
of darkness. So we've not been delegated to do
miracles and things like that, but we have been
delegated to make disciples. You got something
to say, Dave? He was in constant prayer, so He
did the will of the Father. And like you said,
we're delegated to make disciples. Now Jesus
didn't just... He did the will of His Father,
and He showed up here. He was totally up to the
Holy Spirit to... orchestrate the rest of it
through time to bring all the examples and everything
right before Christ to use it as an example.
He's teaching these disciples. I mean it wasn't
just Melee that this guy showed up with his son
to exemplify the teachings that he just made
while they were walking along the road, you know.
And as you disciple, ship, others. I believe
those instances come in right in front of you,
too, to be an example or to show them the power
of God. The Holy Spirit, he's never been sitting
down relaxing much, has he? I mean, the more
that you see these type of events and stuff like
that, and the way he orchestrates these events
in the life of Christ. We see it easily in the
Father's actions and the Holy Spirit's actions.
It's definitely not just the Son and the Father.
You're right. It's the Holy Spirit that does
it all. It's been done for generations and generations
to make this one point in time. With this man
and his son, and the son's need and desire. It's
easy for us to pick these things out of Scripture.
We can read on them, re -read on them. we can
get this visual picture, but when it happens
to us, it's... But he does that through our entire
life. We miss a lot of it. Yeah, it's hard for
us to see. But he brings those examples in front
of you a bunch, and we miss the mark quite often.
We miss the point of the hard time. So Jesus
commands the evil spirit to come out of this
boy, and that's not all. He says, never enter
him again. As I read through this story, it is
one of the most severe cases of demon possession,
maybe even equal to the man in the tombs in Mark
5, 1 -20. We have seen how severely beaten this
boy has been. By all human wisdom, he should
have been dead. There may have been more than
one demon to do all this damage. I don't know
the Greek language here. But it seems he may
have been Demon possessed more than one time
With more than one coming in because it says
enter him no more And I'm not sure if this if
if he had been demon possessed and the demons
left You know, there's a I think it's over Matthew
where it says that Demons can come in and if
they leave Remember the house is swept clean,
or you've cleaned up your life, but the house
is still empty. But there are more demons even
worse than the first that can come in. The 325
says come out again and enter him no more. The
question, can a soul of a person be unoccupied?
And I looked that up on Google. The Bible suggests
that souls should be occupied ideally by the
Holy Spirit, and a relationship with God rather
than being left empty and vulnerable to negative
influences of worldly pursuits that ultimately
leave people feeling unfilled. Matthew 12, 43
-45. These verses suggest that a person's soul
can be empty, but if so, it is in danger of being
occupied by evil spirits. And if not occupied,
influenced by them. Satan or his demons are not
our worst enemy. You know, and sometimes we think
that. We think that Satan... and his demons are
our worst enemy. But our worst enemy is our own
selves. It's our sin. Our sin is our worst enemy
and it does us the most harm. All that said,
we all do have an empty place in our soul that
only God can fill. We try to fill it with earthly
pleasures and we never can. Jesus tells us that
this evil spirit Will never enter him again He
was protected from being occupied by evil spirits
again There's only one way to do that To fill
the void It would seem like I Don't know I don't
know if that's the case. I mean Jesus has all
authority over the spiritual world That was my
initial thought, Dave, that this boy came to
a point of salvation. But the Bible doesn't tell
us that. He just tells us that he commanded that
the evil spirits not go there anymore. It may
suggest that he was occupied now. It could just
be a suggestion. I mean, and that's a very logical...
suggestion, but I'm not. I don't know if I'm
willing to go that far. We've seen the father's
plea on the boy's behalf, but we never hear from
the boy. You know, we can go on behalf of our
children all day long, but they're the ones that
have to make the final say. I'm sure that had
an impact on the boy, too, later on. I'm sure.
I'm sure. I'm sure. You're right. If he does
it around no go, that's awful. And Jesus shows
a lot of compassion. He had a lot of compassion
for people. And it is very possible that he said
this boy has suffered enough. No more. But it
doesn't say that. It doesn't say that. It doesn't
say either way. It doesn't say either way. He
just commanded him not to come back. Not to come
back. He said he was healed. Yeah. Yeah. It's
like the moment they get a dog, it goes in no
more. Yeah. Yeah. But the Bible does say that
if you're occupied by the Spirit, by the Spirit,
that you can't be occupied by anything else.
Never. Never. That's pretty cool. So I'm gonna
leave it at that. That's pretty cool. And according
to Mark, he left it at that too then. He left
it at that. And time to move. Yeah, Mark and
Peter, they left it at that. As Jesus commands,
we can see the resistance of the evil spirit,
or at least, again, this evil spirit trying to
kill this boy. In verse 26, it says, then the
evil spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly,
and he came out of him. Again, we see the disciples
see how great the authority of Jesus is. And
one, they can put their faith in. And again,
Jesus' ministry here is to these disciples. So
the healing of this boy is a by -product of Jesus
working through the disciples, wanting to teach
his disciples something. And that's okay. If
God wants to bring good to my life because of
my wife, then I'll take it. It's okay. It don't
have to be because of me. If it's because of
her, it's almost like an unbeliever being married
to a believer. The unbeliever. sanctified or
set apart. That's right. That's right. The cause
of this bullying. It's almost like that demon
was unusual and resistive and determined to do
it his own way. He convulsed him and stuff like
that. for a beginning, for a moment or two until
Jesus and you come out. Yeah, that was it. It
probably also displays the great authority that
Jesus had when we needed this kind of resistance.
Yeah, John McArthur said at the very least this
boy should have been severely had brain injuries.
Yeah. And it gives him... statistics on football
players that get hit so many times and what do
they call that? CTE. What is it? CTG. Yeah, but
not necessarily the brain traumatic. Concussions.
Concussions. Concussions. Having several of them
can lead to that. Yeah, that's the word I would
look for. Is that the same thing as sick to you,
Brian? Sorry? Is that the same thing as sick
to you? No. Pay attention. I'm just kind of drifting.
Okay. Yeah, yeah. But you're right. God did save
him. Save him from that. I think what else is
interesting here is that Jesus says, bring him
to me. So they bring the boy, and then apparently
he wasn't convulsing and whatever by that point,
but as soon as the demon, the boy sees Jesus,
he fills him. And this whole conversation that
he has with the Father then, how long has this
been happening? Meanwhile, he's in the background,
he's convulsing, foaming in the mouth and carrying
on, and they're just having this little conversation.
I just, I don't know what to make of that other
than here's another example of where Jesus is
just completely chill. Yeah. About things that
I would be freaking out. I'd be like, let's get
this guy quiet. Let's help my son. So that we
can talk. You know, we'll have a conversation
later. Yeah. Or even the father, you know, let's
talk about this later. Let's heal him now. Yeah,
right. You're right. We talked about that in
our... one bible study you may have missed it
but we talked about that how as Jesus is calling
him that this evil spirit is wrecking havoc on
this boy and they are just they're having this
conversation and the father's pouring out his
heart to Jesus giving him even more detail than
he did at the beginning you know and again as
this As the boy would walk by either fire or
water, this evil spirit would break him down
to where he would fall into that fire. Where
he would fall into the water. It was just at
random. I mean, the evil spirit had his will
and way over that boy. And it was for this very
purpose, I believe. of teaching these disciples
about faith. I thank God. Also, when the boy
was convulsing, and it says that the father kept
talking to Jesus, it shows that Jesus was not
desperate or concerned that maybe something would
happen too severe for him. He was in charge,
even with all the... Language all the argument
everything that Jesus knew he was in charge and
he was not gonna let happen what? That's right
It says as the spirit came out and he began And
he became as one dead so that many said he is
dead It appeared to all witnesses that Jesus
had lost the battle the boy is dead until verse
27. Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him
up and he arose. Luke adds that and he went back
to his father. Jesus has seen many times taking
people in need by the hand or touching them and
Mark 1 .31 remember Peter's mother -in -law.
who Jesus heals. Mark 1, 41, the leper that wanted
to be cleansed, and Jesus touched him. Mark 5,
41, the ruler of the synagogue's daughter, where
Jesus and I think three of his disciples at that
time, too, went into her. And I think the parents
went into, and Jesus touched her, and she rose
from the dead. And then the blind man, who was
healed in stages, in 823. And then after this
event, after he rose up, he was healed, he went
back to his father, Jesus goes into a house away
from the crowds, verse 28, went in and come into
the house, his disciples asked him privately,
why could we not cast it out? And that was a
good question, a very good question. And he said
to them, this kind can come out by nothing but
prayer and fasting. The disciples evidently began
to trust in themselves and maybe their methods
of miracles. Their faith had turned away from
depending on God's authority to their own abilities.
And you know, I overheard Pastor Peter one time
tell a missionary, that we supported years ago,
not to drift from depending on God's activity
and his ministry to his own abilities. That was
because he was a very gifted and very interesting
speaker. Do you remember that? No. I do. I remember
that very vividly. Just here in the background,
it was that... That family that went over to
Rome, went over to Rome, had them kids and then
came back. He was a very gifted speaker. And
I remember Pastor Peter telling me, I remember
when they came to our church and spoke. I remember
very vividly, Pastor Peter, you told me that.
That's really stuck with me. And it is true,
it's very true. You know, it's interesting what
sticks in your brain when a lot of other things
don't. But I remember that very, very vividly.
That's good for any kind of ministry, whether
it's preaching or singing or whatever it is.
It's easy to rely on your gifts. That's right.
Yeah, even teaching. You know, you do it time
and time and time again and eventually you build
up a confidence, I guess. And you can, that confidence
can be... direct it on yourself rather than on
God and His Word. I don't have that problem.
I'm not a very gifted speaker. Well, at the time,
the Holy Spirit would tell the man, not for his
benefit, but for your eavesdropping. For my eavesdropping.
So be careful what you say in church. I've only
been worried where Larry Walker is, been worried.
I mean, he's spoken to the man. The man might
have been looking out the window. But just like
when he's up there at the pulpit, I'm sure you
can see the faces. You can. And you can see when
you're speaking, even though it's not even in
your notes and you're speaking, you don't even
know why you're speaking it. The Holy Spirit's
speaking it. And that person's reaction immediately...
absorb it. And then you get back to your notes.
Why was that done? That was for that person.
And he told it to the missionary. For you to
hear, I mean the other guy probably heard too,
but for you to hear and for it to affect your
life. That's just what he does. That says a lot
about this prayer. Prayer is necessary, so don't
go before, and I've done it. I've picked up my
Bible and started studying, writing notes before
ever praying. I'm guilty of that, and that's
not the way it needs to be. You need to go humbly
in prayer, asking the Lord to show you and give
you direction. and give your thoughts, clarity
of thoughts, and things like this. And your understanding
of all these things. No, it ain't. You didn't
write it. No. And that's why you compare Scripture
with Scripture. That's why you compare Scripture
to Scripture. Matthew 17 .20 says it plainly.
It says, because of your unbelief. And the ESV,
that's in the New King James, the ESV reads,
because of your little faith. Matthew even says,
he says a little more, he gives a little story,
Matthew even says, a little bit of faith can
accomplish things unheard of. And he compares,
if you have a little bit of faith as a mustard
seed. And that is small. I've never seen a mustard
seed. I don't know if it's a small seed. It's
a small seed and a small amount of faith can
move a mountain. That's what it says over Matthew
concerning this account too. This whole scene...
was like a trial run. Jesus and the lead disciples
were absent and they failed. More work being
needed. It also seems to imply that there are
situations that may take more prayers and even
fasting. Our life should be one constantly in
true communion with God, always being aware of
His presence and involvement. in our lives. But
at times, more wisdom is required and should
be asked for in special prayer and even fasting.
So the faith was the big issue. So we finished
that whole section tonight, which I'm glad. Thank
you. But that's essential. I like your little
addition there. And so more work to be done.
More work to be done. More work to be done on
us. Another failure. More work to be done. More
work to be done on us and on these disciples.
So as we read it, we put ourselves in their situations.
The scripture is speaking to us just like it
is speaking to them. The disciples just didn't
have it together like we do. We seem like that
sometimes. Yeah, we do. We think that. They needed
some serious work, didn't they? We can look at
it like that sometimes. I can't believe they
couldn't just see it. Yeah, they could just pick
up the Bible and read it for themselves. That's
right. Because they hadn't written it yet. We
are very blessed to live on this side of the
cross. More and more every day I realize that.
Every time I pick the Bible up, I'm very appreciative
of living on this side of the cross. I sure am.
One of our many Bibles. One of our many Bibles.
That's right. Many, many. I'm glad we also don't
have to take lambs down to the temple for the
slaughter. Get some of those places. They get
a chapter tore out and handed to them, you know?
Yeah. to pass around chapters, that's right.
They're excited to get it. So, Diana, if you
want to close us in first. You got anything to
add? I was just thinking. Think out loud. That's
what you're supposed to do, is think out loud.
Now I was just thinking, Jesus as an example,
I would say that He prayed before He did none
of miracles. And as an example, I don't know,
you know, that the disciples, we were healing
everything. Does that mean that they weren't
praying before? You know what I'm saying? The
healings? Yeah, where they actually, when He
gave them the authority, where they actually...
praying before they were doing When he kept when
he sent him out two by two, is that what you're
is that what you mean? I Don't know there was
a more dependence upon Upon Jesus and the authority
that was given to I think because I think it
was brand new and it was it was something that
they They cherished and they realized where that
authority came from they realized Jesus is authority
because it's something that they've never done
before I mean this was I mean if I had the power
of healing I would Where'd this come from? You
know it came from Jesus man. You know I'd be
thanking You know thank you Lord that I can do
this, but as time goes on You know it's even
even like when we're first first saved it's been
said many times when you first saved you're very
very appreciative and you want to spread the
gospel and you want to tell people but as time
goes on it just kind of becomes get over it get
over it kind of thing you know and i think that's
what had happened to them i think they were very
dependent on Jesus in the beginning Jesus also
identified that spirit by saying this kind So
maybe it was because of the kind of spirit that
they were dealing with? Were they dealing with
health issues? They were dealing with everything.
They were casting out demons. It could have been
a different spirit. And that's why I was saying,
situations in our life... Take more than just
a casual prayer. Like I said about confrontations
and things like that which I'm not good at. I
always pray about a confrontation before I go
because I don't want to do it. I hate confronting
somebody about anything. Usually I stay awake
all night worrying about it. Am I gonna hurt
this person's feelings? And prayer, actually.
Fighting that, with that boldness. I want to
be bold and do that, and yet I'm not wanting
to. So I'm asking God to help me to make that
choice. I know the choice I need to make, but
I'm asking for... confirmation for that choice,
I guess. As well as the church prayed that the
Lord would give them bonus. Yeah, and I pray
the same thing. And I think some things require
a deeper prayer. I think so. And I think that's
the point here. This kind of spirit requires
something more. I think that's what fasting is,
is intensifying self -denial and self -pray.
That's the missing ministry in the church that
we don't fancy. I guess we're not desperate enough,
really. Well, like I said, sometimes I do it
without... One particular thing I can remember,
when the guys started putting my roof on, and
they were friends of family, and when I came
home, they put four or five sheets. sheets up
and it looked terrible. I mean, it had big dents
in it. Screw it. And I knew that evening. I knew
that day I was going to have to call them that
next morning and tell them, you know, I don't
need your services. And I laid awake all night,
all night, debating over that. How do I say it?
And I prayed and I lost sleep. And I guess that
could be a type of fasting without even realizing
it, you know. You kept yourself from sleep or
rest. It was. Instead of food, it was rest. It
wasn't even something that I even thought about
as far as fasting, but it's just something that
naturally happened. You deprived yourself of
sleep or rest. Yeah, and that next day I called
that fellow that next morning and I said, I hate
to tell you, but I said, the job that you're
doing is just not up to par with what I was expecting.
He said, well, he said, I'll come back out and
take it down. And he says, we'll be done. I said,
yeah. I said, I'm going to pay you for a day's
work, a day's labor. And I think I gave him $500
for the day for him and the guy. They came down
and took it. Took it down and that was it. I
was just thinking about that, I hadn't thought
about that before, but that fasting coming in,
laying awake all night, thinking about that,
praying about that, and some situations just
take more prayer and doing without something
to have an outcome that's suitable. And the guy
wasn't mad, you know, I don't know, maybe...
I think he would have been mad at himself. I
don't know, screw it. Yeah, but anyhow, maybe
he didn't think it was a shot of job, but anyhow.
But that fasting, that was the point of the story
there. Kyle laid awake, doing without sleep.
You beat yourself a little bit. Yeah, I didn't
even know if I was fasting, but I looked back
on it. Anyhow, anything else? No, that was a
very good lesson. It was? On faith. That's what
I said this morning. in some of the school we
weren't there for, but we've been introducing
John 17 where this is Jesus' prayer. It's the
longest prayer of his recorded in scriptures.
And I've been studying the armor of God in Ephesians,
the very end of Ephesians. Thursday Bible study,
we're entering that. And you see this close parallel
there where, of course, Jesus... as our higher
priest is praying for us and receiving for us.
But we're called to do the same thing in the
context of spiritual war. Paul, that's where
we get the believer's armor, right? The armor
of God. And a lot of people, myself included,
there's six pieces of armor there, but there's
seven ingredients. Six of them have armor, but
the last one is prayer. Paul says this praying
at all times with all prayer petition in the
spirit and to this end being on the alert with
all person and petition for all the saints as
well as on my behalf that words may be given
to me and opening my mouth to make known with
boldness mystery of the gospel which I am an
ambassador of things that I may choose so that
in proclaiming it I may speak boldly as I ought
to speak. It's kind of similar to what you're
saying. But here, he's talking about each believer
putting on the armor, but then us, the importance
of us praying for one another. And I've just
been, not that you never say, oh prayer's not
important, we all know it's important, but in
the context of spiritual warfare, prayer is absolutely
indispensable as part of God's equipment that
he's given us. for each other. So you put on
your armor, but you're praying for God's strength
and support and blessing for believers as well.
As Paul says here, to speak boldly, to exercise
the gifts that God's given each of us. That's
important. That's why it's important. Vital it
is, you know, I mean Satan is all about destroying
relationships And you know, so just pray pray
for each other's marriages pray for each other's
relationship with your children parents All these
areas that are sinking boats come in and destroy
and attack. He sinks to isolate us. Yes, he does.
That's what he sinks to isolate us. Just like
a wild animal would do in a herd. I know you've
all seen National Geographic where you've got
this lion chasing this herd of zebras. And one
will follow back. And that's the one they bounce
on. That's what saves them. Satan does, he tries
to isolate us. So if you have something that
you need prayer for, you don't need to announce
it to everybody, but find somebody that you have
confidence in and ask them to pray with you.
Especially if it's something that you don't want
to spread. We don't gossip at church, but find
somebody to share that with. I can share that
burden, and we'll really pray with you. You don't
have to share it with everybody. But don't isolate
yourself, is what I'm trying to say with that.
Because prayer, prayer is, it moves the hand
of God. It does. It moves the hand of God. What
does that mean? I'm signing to husband, so moving
the hand of God, we can... Have God changed his
mind about something, right? Yeah. Just like
Moses? I think so. Who was it that changed God's
mind? Coming out of Sodom and Gomorrah. Yeah.
Remember he was coming out of Sodom and Gomorrah
and said, Lord, if I can find 50 believers here,
will you spare them? You know, he got all the
way down to, what, 10? 10, I think. And he couldn't
find them. But he said he would if he could find.
He thought he had. If he could find. But he said
he would. But he couldn't find. And you know,
we know that God is sovereign and he knows the
end. So that's kind of a loaded question. I think
too what I said to her about that was, you know,
that scripture uses anthropomorphisms, meaning
it's a literary term for... assigning, ascribing
to God human characteristics then. But we have
to remember He's not human, right? He's divine.
And so, He doesn't, like the Scripture says that
He is in the sea of forgetfulness. It doesn't
mean that God has amnesia, you know, as if He
never... I don't remember that saying. What it
means is that He doesn't bring it up again. He
doesn't remember it before you, before one else
again. And the situation where Moses interceded
on God was like, get out of my way, I'm going
to destroy these people, right? They come out
of Egypt, and Moses intercedes. It's not that
God needed Moses to do that, but in that particular
situation, Moses is like a type of Jesus for
us, how Jesus intercedes. before the bar of God's
justice. But Jesus is very clear that He's on
a mission from the Father, right? He's the priest
appointed by God to intercede for us. So there's
this interesting tension in a way. God has to
execute His judgment. He's getting ready to do
that. But then God the Son comes and intercedes
for us. But the point is that He uses... not
only does He ordain the ends, but He ordains
the means. And in that particular case, he ordained
Moses pleading on behalf of the Israelites. And
Moses did that too, by the way. He also said,
hey, wait a minute, what about those watching
nations? You've done all these great signs to
deliver your people, and now they're going to
destroy them and wipe them out. Moses wasn't
thinking seriously about that. But the point
is, there's a scripture of him where it says,
God is not a man, and he should change his mind.
He doesn't need more information to, oh, okay,
well, I thought this, but now you've given me
more information, so now I see this is the better
course of action. It seems to me like Moses'
intercession was an intercession against real
judgment. God said He was going to bring judgment,
and He knew Moses was interceded, and He did,
and He spared him. We owe a lot of... Thanksgiving
to the Lord for interceding for us. Against immense
judgment and anger. He gives us a lot of examples.
I know. He gives us a lot of examples. Even in
the New Testament about this lady that comes
before the judge. That's an illustration. Wanting
some type of restitution. I don't remember exactly.
But she comes several times and she keeps basically
badgering the judge. You know and finally he
gives in you know, and I think that's that's
what we've got to do with even prayer You bring
it before prayer So you keep bringing it. You
were lost cause to them. And on the same hand,
you can think, well, why do I even bring it to
God? Because he already knows what you're going
to pray for. But he wants you to tell him that.
He wants that communication. I think that's really...
What's that? He wants to hear the words out of
your mouth that you want that new Subaru. He
knows the beginning and the end. There are some
people that bring light to the conversation and
turn the light off. He knows the beginning and
the end. He knows it by design. He designed it.
We can move the hand of God during that time
to create a different situation, a temporal situation.
It's not going to change the end result. Like
Moses did, we can ask for this to happen. And
God can hear you and He can move that example
situation, not in any way disrupting the end.
It's amazing how many minute little things through
life happen to create the end. That's right.
That's why I say He's... And you can ask God
to move these. temple issues around. And as it
turns out, that prayer that you pray, God uses
that to accomplish the... It still accomplishes
His absolute... But you can move the hand back.
We have a privilege of being participants in
that. So did you pray of your own accord to move
the hand of God, or did God cause you to pray...
so that he could use your prayer to move his
hand in the direction he wanted. That's getting
complicated. The answer is yes. You probably
can't figure God out that easily. Prayer, I will
go in on this. Prayer will always make a difference
in your life. Whether it makes a difference in
the other person's life or not. The one you're
praying for will always make a difference in
your life. That's exactly right. So pray. Continue
to pray. Amen. Okay. Thank you. Dear my Father,
I thank you for this time, Lord, and the study
of Mark the Lord. And I just thank you for your
examples for us, Lord. And thank you for the
example of prayer, Lord, and the importance of
it, Lord. Just thank you. for that and I pray
that we will not only in prayer but we will during
the day think about you and everything that we
do Lord. I pray for safety as we go home and
I also pray that we will think about what we've
talked about tonight Lord and apply it in our
lives Lord. Pray these things from your sensei.
I agree.