Mark 9_9_31 Outline

Mark 9:9-31“The Valley’s of Life”

Intro: In the last Church we pastored, there was a Gentleman named Billy Wayne Cinnamon who suffered from black lung. He always sat on the second rows. His favorite song was Bill and Gloria Gaither’s “God on the Mountain.” About every other week Bill would turn to Elmer Jeffers who sat behind him and say, “sing me my song Elmer.”

Elmer would sing “Life is easy, when you're up on the mountain. And you've got peace of mind, like you've never known. But things change, when you're down in the valley. Don't lose faith, for you're never alone.”

I would wager that if asked “where is your favorite place in all world?” Peter, James, and John would answer on top of the mountain. Peter did not want to leave it, “lets build tabernacales,” He referred to it just before His death (2 Peter 1:16-18). It was a place where God manifested Himself to them.

My favorite place is my shower, it is a place of many Mountain Top Experiences, a place where I have heard the voice of God speak, a place of worship and prayer. There are days that I don’t want to leave my. I don’t want to go out and face the things which await me, the difficult circumstances, the sorrows, and the temptations. I don’t know of anyone who would prefer to leave the mountain and go into the deep dark valley. But, we live in this world and there will be valley’s that we will enter into. When we find ourselves in the valley’s of life must move forward in faith and prayer knowing that Jesus is the same in the valleys as He is on the mountain!

We find an Inclusio, {literary device used for emphasis (it’s like saying PAY ATTENTION)} in 8:31 and 9:31, each text tells us that Jesus will suffer at the hands of man, be killed and on the third day rise again. It comes before the mountain of transfiguration and after the descent into the valley. The Jesus before the mountaintop was the same Jesus during the mountain top and the same Jesus after the mountain top. Jesus doesn’t change; Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb. 13:8).

CPS: Jesus is the same glorious God in the valley that He is on the mountain. Times in the valley may be trying but we remain prayerful and faithful.

In the Valleys of life we must exercise faith

ILL: John Patton always wanted to be missionary, after mediacal school and seminary he was assigned to Tanna an island in the north pacific, three weeks later his young wife died followed by their 5 week old son. For more than three years Patton struggled to make Christ known to the hostile islanders, he finally fled the island. Later he returned and spent 15 years on another nearby island. He began to translate the Gospel of John into the native langue but was puzzled over the word pisteuō “believe in or trust in” How can I translate it, the islanders are cannibals; no one trusted anybody. Their was no word for trust in their language. His native servant came in. “What am I doing?” he asked the servant. “Sitting in your chair” the man replied. Patton then raised both feet off the ground and sat back in the chair, he asked “what am I doing now?” Patton servant used a verb in his native language which means “lean your whole weights upon”

ILL: A man approached a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, “Eighteen to nothing—we’re behind.” “Boy,” said the spectator, “I’ll bet you’re discouraged.” “Why should I be discouraged?” replied the little boy. “We haven’t even gotten up to bat yet!”

Through faith we find ourselves this hopeful and more, like the Psalmist we know Jesus is with us even in the darkest and scariest valleys of life (Ps. 23). This Jesus is the unchanging Jesus; the Jesus on the Mountain is the same Jesus in the Valley. Though His glory is hard to see during these times, Jesus told Martha in her deepest valley, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (John 11:40)*

In The Valleys of Life We Must Exercise Prayer

Jesus does what no man could do (even the disciples), He healed the boy telling the demon to leave and never return. The disciples were in a state of doubt but they were also perplexed. Jesus has given them authority to heal and cast out demons, He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; (Mark 6:7) and Mark tells us they cast out many demons, And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them. (Mark 6:13). Once in private they asked Jesus why, the answer was this kind can only come out by prayer. What does this reveal about the disciples? Taking Matthews account into perspective we see they were not living disciplined lives. “And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Matt. 17:20-21)

They had been relying upon their own power. They were relying on the fact that Jesus gave THEM authority to cast out demons, but He had not given it to them apart from God. They needed to rely on God, Jesus says, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5)

You want to talk about being in a valley, Jesus was in the valley all of His earthly life! He left the glory of heaven to come into the valley of earth to die for the sins of the world. He portrayed in His life the need for prayer! Prayer is a vital part of our Christian lives, it a time of communion and fellowship. In Mark we see Jesus pray, as He sought the Father’s guidance. “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there (1:35) While choosing His disciples, And He went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him (3:13), He prayed over their mission, And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (6:31) he prayed on the mount of transfiguration, Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; (9:2) Jesus taught His disciples to always pray and never give up, (Luke 18:1)

We find that this lesson hasn’t impacted the disciples, they were still living by sight and in their own power. Yet in their own power they were weak and truly powerless. Jesus was not saying that some special prayer prayed would have done the Job. Jesus is implying that they were neglecting a lifestyle of prayer. THEY WERE POWERLESS BECAUSE THEY WERE PRAYERLESS! In the valley’s of life prayer in essential and the reason for our powerlessness is our prayerlessness.

The Bible teaches us that we are to “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thes 5:17) This doesn’t mean that we are in prayer literally every second of our lives but that we have the attitude of prayer. True prayer is the attitude of the heart and when our heart desires what God desires we are praying all day long as the Holy Spirit of God intercedes for us and in us.

ILL: A preacher tells as story about a church service. The service was about to begin and the organist put his hands on the keys but there was no sound. Everyone knew there was a problem, so the preacher quickly got up and led in prayer. The janitor was aware of the fact that the organ hadn’t been plugged in. So he went over there as the preacher prayed, plugged it in and wrote a note to the organist. The note said “After the prayer, the power will be on.”

Conclusion: Jesus is the same God in the valley as He is on the mountaintop! So as we find ourselves in the valleys of life we continue in faith and prayerfulness knowing that He is present with us! You see, it is through faith that we have access to Him and through prayer that we are attached to Him.

Though the valley’s of life our difficult, through faith and prayer we too can sing;

For the God on the mountain, is the God in the valley. When things go wrong, He'll make them right.And the God of the good times is still God in the bad times. The God of the day is still God in the night.