Believe

Mark 9:14–25 ESV

And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

Jesus and his disciples met a father who son

Revival Faith COMES FROM Jesus

First there is a source of revival faith. Notice what the man says:

Mark 9:24 ESV

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

This mirrors what Peter teaches in 2 Peter 1, perhaps he was thinking of this father and his request when he noted,

2 Peter 1:1–4 ESV

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Notice what Peter say:

“To those who have obtained a faith...”

The faith that Peter and those he was writing has was obtained.

The word for obtain is lachousin - and it means to obtain by lot.

The practice of casting lots is an ancient practice. Known as Clerormancy, it is a form of selecting a path or outcome means that normally would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice, bones or lots, but are believed to reveal the will of a deity. Lots are mentioned seventy times in the Old Testament and seven times in the New Testament. In spite of the many references to casting lots in the Old Testament, nothing is known about the actual lots themselves. They could have been sticks of various lengths, flat stones like coins, or some kind of dice; but their exact nature is unknown. The closest modern practice to casting lots is likely flipping a coin.

So the word obtain means something given devoid of the worth of the recipient. It's not something earned, but something bestowed.

So Peter calls us those who have been bestowed by God with faith. He reiterates this when he proclaims in v. 3 that God in "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness..."

Faith is not earned. It’s not a character trait innate within us, it’s something God gives to us.

So like this man, we need to trust Christ. When we have faith in God, big things happen.

When Hudson Taylor, the famous missionary, first went to China, it was in a sailing vessel. Very close to the shore of cannibal islands the ship was becalmed, and it was slowly drifting shoreward unable to go about and the savages were eagerly anticipating a feast.

The captain came to Mr. Taylor and besought him to pray for the help of God. “I will,” said Taylor, “provided you set your sails to catch the breeze.” The captain declined to make himself a laughing stock by unfurling in a dead calm. Taylor said, “I will not undertake to pray for the vessel unless you will prepare the sails.” And it was done.

While engaged in prayer, there was a knock at the door of his stateroom. “Who is there?” The captain’s voice responded, “Are you still praying for wind?” “Yes.” “Well,” said the captain, “you’d better stop praying, for we have more wind than we can manage.”

Do we have faith that God? If not, let us ask God to give us the faith that we need to see revival come.

Revival Faith DEPENDS ON Jesus

Secondly there is a focus to revival faith, that focus is on the work of Christ and not our own.

It is God who:

v. 3 "called us to his own glory and excellence."

v. 4 "granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature"

In Nehemiah 1, 30 times Nehemiah calls out to God for Revival.

English Standard Version (Chapter 1)

And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you...

7 We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.

8 Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples,

9 but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’

10 They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.

11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”

God alone can save us!

Are you depending on God for revival?

Are you praying daily for revival?

Not praying is a clear indication that we are not believing.

Revival Faith is CONFIDENT IN Jesus

Look at Nehemiah 1:11

Nehemiah 1:11 ESV

O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.

This verse is an expectation to act.

2 Peter 1:8 ESV

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Every moment of faith in the bible was sealed by a step of faith. Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, Mary, Joseph, Peter… all of them had to trust Christ.

Do you believe this? Do you believe that the only hope for your life is Christ? Do you have the faith of Hudson Taylor, or the faith of George Muller:

This story is told by the captain of a ship on which George Muller of Bristol was traveling. During his life he received more than 1,000,000 pounds from the Lord, without advertising—every penny came as an answer to prayer.

“We had George Muller of Bristol on board,” said the captain. “I had been on the bridge for twenty-four hours and never left it and George Muller came to me and said, “Captain, I have come to tell you I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.” “It is impossible,” I said.

Muller responded “Then very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way. I have never broken an engagement in fifty-seven years; let us go down into the chart room and pray.”

“I looked at that man of God and thought to myself, “What lunatic asylum can that man have come from, for I never heard of such a thing as this?” “Mr. Muller,” I said, “do you know how dense this fog is?”

“ “No,” he replied, “my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life.” He knelt down and he prayed one of the most simple prayers. When he had finished I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. “As you do not believe He will answer, and as I believe He has, there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.”

“I looked at him and George Muller said, “Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years and there has never been a single day when I have failed to get an audience with the King. Get up, Captain, and open the door and you will find the fog has gone.”

“I got up and the fog indeed was gone, and on that Saturday afternoon George Muller kept his promised engagement.”

WOW! I want that kind of faith. The kind of faith that doesn’t focus on the density of the fog but on the power of my God!

Revival Faith has its source and its focus on Jesus. Are you focused on him today?

What will history say about us?

We serve a God who loves to reward authentic faith. Do you believe God will do something big this November?