Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Today’s passage is about prayer.

It’s easy to feel that…

Epiphany: Prayer accomplishes more than you think it does.

God is in control, so why pray.

Or sometimes we feel like God isn’t listening, so why pray.

And other times we get so busy with what we are doing and life is going ok, so we don’t see the need to pray.

Epiphany: Prayer accomplishes more than you think it does.

I think, no matter where you are at and how you are feeling, there is enough mystery surrounding prayer that we underestimate its power.

Body

And power is precisely what the disciples needed in our story today.

They had a…

POWER PROBLEM [SYNOPSIZE STORY TO v. 18]

, “I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.”

Have you ever felt powerless to change your circumstances?

What happens when you don’t have enough power?

How frustrating is this?

Jesus gifted the disciples to cast out demons and then all of the sudden this demon gets the best of them.

What happened?

(What happens when you don’t have enough power?)

What does ‘drive it out’ mean?

The nature of the demon, ‘classic demon’

Convulsions, seizures, foaming at the mouth

Shrieking when it comes out

Jesus rebukes the spirit: implication of rebuke—intentionality

No rational person rebukes an unintelligent being

Jesus gave them the authority to do this.

Sent out the 12 and later the 70.

(even the demons obey us)

But this one was mute and deaf.

Made the boy mute (in the text) and presumably deaf as well.

NOTE: Unclean spirit (pneuma); deaf and mute spirit — not a fallen ‘angel’

Angels have spiritual bodies

This is a disembodied spirit so it is able to take up residence in the body of a person

Jesus rebukes the spirit:

implication of rebuke—intentionality

No rational person rebukes an unintelligent being

deaf and mute was the demons defence and that is why the disciples couldn’t cast it out—it wasn’t listening

There is something unique about Jesus’s voice—he has a power that they do not have.

Jesus could drive the spirit out of the boy because Jesus’s voice has power over all things.

Conclusion: Although the disciples had been given authority to cast out demons, they had to appeal to a greater authority in the case of this tricky demon.

This is a reminder that, although God chooses to work through humans to accomplish His purpose, he requires that we rely on His power not our own as we do so.

The issue: The disciples had got in the habit of working on their own power and—at least in this story—did not even pray as a last resort.

We do this:

Act as though God doesn’t exist until we need him (ILL: Praying for food vs. Praying only when we need food)

Pray as a last resort

Or we don’t pray at all even when we need something because we never formed a habit of prayer

The disciples learned their lesson: If you read Acts, the disciples lives are ruled by prayer.

The problem with relying on our own power is that it’s limited (humans can be amazing, but we aren’t that great).

We have to appeal to a higher power.

And we all know prayer is important, but it really take a lot of faith—a strong belief in God’s power and promises to really harness the power of prayer.

The reality is, God’s power is available to you in proportion to your belief.

That’s…

THE BEAUTY OF BELIEF

, “Everything is possible for the one who believes.”

— gets thrown around a lot by Christians

, “Everything is possible for the one who believes.

c ;

d ; ; ;

Anything tho?

Jesus’s teaching elsewhere: (this seems to say that…)

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .Everything is possible for the one who believes.

(Anything tho?)

What is belief (faith)?

is the mode of belief.

(cf.

last week)

Action < belief < hearing < preaching

Belief is not irrational hope that something will happen—if I just believe hard enough, then maybe… — this type of belief will fail if you do not receive what it is that you ask God for.

Authentic belief has entered into you on an intellectual/rational level and been written into your subconscious so that everything you say and do is motivated by that core rational belief.

So, everything does mean everything, but you are never going to believe on an intellectual/rational level that God wants to give you a million dollars or God wants to give you a new BMW or something like that.

You know that’s nonsense, so it’s not going to happen.

Jesus says that if you have enough of that belief then you can ask God and he will give you what you ask for.

The man DID believe that God would not want his son to be possessed by an evil spirit—that’s something we can believe on a subconscious level.

You unbelieving generation.

(to the crowds)

Notice who Jesus is talking to:

You unbelieving generation.

(to the crowds)

I believe; help my unbelief.

(the father to Jesus)

NOTE: A week faith does not deter God’s working as in faith healer circles.

A week faith in yourself deters your ability to accomplish what is within your power to do as a human; but God’s power is never limited by our faith.

If you believe in Jesus then you get to pray and God hears you—he’s not waiting for you to turn into some sort of faith guru before He is willing to work in your life.

There are teachers that say God has bound Himself to give you anything you want if you believe enough or if your faith is strong enough.

But, it’s not that you have to have enough faith; it’s that you have to have faith.

But there are…

THE PREREQUISITES OF PRAYER: This kind can only come out by prayer (a reference not to ‘magic words’ or a particular style or mode of prayer, but to an individual who is a praying-person, as evidenced by the fact that Jesus does not himself pray when he casts this demon out).

PREREQUISITES TO PRAYER

i.e.

What makes prayer work?

The disciples wanted to know why they weren’t able to cast out the demon.

Jesus responded:

, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”

— What makes prayer a means to bring a demon out?

This kind can only come out by prayer (a reference not to ‘magic words’ or a particular style or mode of prayer, but to an individual who is a praying-person, as evidenced by the fact that Jesus does not himself pray when he casts this demon out).

Jesus is NOT saying to use ‘magic words’ — common in ancient societies

Jesus is NOT saying to use a particular style or mode of prayer.

Jesus did NOT even pray to cast the demon out in the story.

He has the power to do so.