Wk 20 "If You Can" in the Name of Jesus
What's Next • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 6 viewsNotes
Transcript
GENEROSITY
GENEROSITY
A testimony story of giving!
UPDATE
CF Website
Agape
Hispanic church today at 2pm
Wed MidWeek Circle this Wednesday 600p
YMCA Summer Program
CF will be providing Lunch Tuesday May 27 and two days in August
THANK YOU!
May 31 Bike Blessing 11:30a- 100pm
Child Dedication Day
June 1, 2025
Summer Camp July 21-25
Registration is open
Current Series: Post Easter “Walking in Wholeness”
Daily walking with Father reaping His Fruit not my own.
TODAY WE TACKLE A POWERFUL STORY OF FAITH AS JESUS WALKS AMONG EVERYDAY PEOPLE WHO ARE JUST LIKE YOU AND ME!
14 When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them. 15 When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and they ran to greet him.
16 “What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked.
17 One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. 18 And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.* So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”
19 Jesus said to them,* “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
20 So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.
21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.
He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22 The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”
23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”
24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
25 When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil* spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!”
26 Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.
28 Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?”
29 Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.*”
THIS KIND:
We don't know the nature of demons; but we de nature of Christ revealed to us.
In Mark 9, you can see that the focus is on prayer only.
Fasting is implied in being included with prayer in some translations, but the emphasize in Matthew, which is the synoptic that gives the most description out of any gospel.
20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, 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.*”
Note that the father of the child says…
"I believe, help me overcome my unbelief".
Theology isn't about manuals or "how to" guides but pointing to the truth of who Christ is in the biblical narrative. It is all about Him and how He, as messiah, savior, and God, relates to us.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/theology/comments/1hak5kk/matthew_1721/]
WHAT KIND IS THIS?
I believe that what Jesus is really saying is, We Need a Relationship with Father.
We don’t just throw around our family Name
We don’t just expect that because we are joint heirs that we can just say things and it’s going to happen
We must be filled with faith
Speak out of tempered Relationship with Father
Then expect that mountain to be cast into the sea!
5 Simple Ways to Walking in Wholeness and Strengthen Your Faith
[https://www.lettinghislightshine.com/5-simple-ways-to-strengthen-your-faith/]
1. TRUST
This one is a bit obvious, but sometimes the hardest to execute. We must trust Him in all things.
It’s commanded in Proverbs 3.5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
but here we see Jesus commanding it again. Have faith in God, have complete trust and complete confidence. If we have faith in God feelings of worry, stress, anxiety, fear, and doubt should never surface. If we have faith in God, then we completely trust that He will provide all provision needed.
2: PRAY
Like you mean it! Pray like God is in the room sitting right beside you. Mark 11:23 instructs us to pray without doubt in our hearts, and believe that what we say will happen. In the same verse Jesus says that if we do this, it will be done for us.
It’s okay to lift up our every need to God.
It’s okay to give Him every single one of our burdens, worries, and fears.
It’s okay to ask God to intervene in our lives, and ask Him for the provisions we need.
He wants to hear our voices, and He wants a personal relationship with each and everyone of us.
Daily prayer will invite God into our lives and help us establish a deeper trust. Our faith will grow stronger as we release the power of prayer in our lives.
Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.*
3: READ SCRIPTURES
We must know the Word of God! We must make time to sit down and curl up with our Bibles. We need His Word inside, in our minds and in our hearts. Knowing God’s Word goes hand in hand with trusting God and praying. Read His promises, and then have great faith in God, that they will come to pass. Pray them over your life. In God’s Word we will find strength, hope, love, peace, and joy. We will also find promises of provision, and instructions to keep us away from sin and rebuke the devil. We will gain wisdom, knowledge, and understanding in our lives through His instructions.
Read Matthew 17:20, and then believe that faith can move mountains.
Read Philippians 4:19 and have faith that God will supply all your needs.
Read Malachi 3:10 and believe that if God is first in your finances He will pour out blessings for you until they overflow.
Read Ephesians 6:10-17 and know that you have The Amour of God, what can possibly come against you.
If we want to exercise faith in our lives, we must let God’s instructions and commands be our guide. In doing so we will strengthen our faith greatly.
Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.
4: LIVE OUT HIS WORD
We’ve done all that reading, studying, and note taking, now it’s time to start using our knowledge. Applying the Word of God to the lives we live, will deepen our walk with Him and strengthen our faith.
Practical application: I think our world would be a better place if the people who claim to be Christians actually acted like Christians. I understand this statement is incredibly blunt, but it’s honestly how I feel. Obviously, no one is prefect, but we have to make a commitment to grow in our faith and commit to living God first lives. I love the Gospel’s, I love getting to know Jesus, and understanding the life I am called to live. This is where index cards come in handy when studying scriptures. I write down verses I know I personally need to work on, and then intentionally start to apply them to my life. One day at a time, the goal is always to be better than I was yesterday.
22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.
5: BE THE LIGHT
You are the light of the world, so shine bright my darling friend.
We are to be loving and caring towards each other.
We are to be encouraging, and build one another up.
We should be joyful people, who don’t spend our days complaining.
We should practice thankfulness and be forgiving. Refer back to Mark 11:25, Jesus stated that when we pray we must not hold anything against anyone, but we are to forgive, so our Father can forgive us of our sins.
We must be giving of our time, our talents, and our treasures.
When people see you, let them not only see a person that is a believer in God, but let them see a person that exercises great faith in their lives.
Let them see a role model for God, let your actions draw people closer to God.
In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.
RECAP:
Trust Completely
Pray at every turn
Read relationally
Live out the Word daily (not just with certain people)
Be the Light to guide people to The Way, The Truth, and The Life!
“If You Can”—or “Yes You Can”
