The Jesus Way Faith
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Welcome
Good morning, My name is Troy, and I’m the Lead Pastor hear at FCCCB
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Jab 1
Valerie's Eye Macular Edema
Jab 2
My Ship coming in
Jab 3
How’s your Faith
How’s your Prayer life?
What prayers have you had answered?
What prayers are you still waiting to be answered?
What prayers have been answered NO?
What prayer of healing in your life do you need answered?
Physical
Relationship
Mental Illness
Anxiety
Depression
Suicide
Right Hook
The past few weeks we have been looking at The Jesus way.
The way He lived and taught us to live
Recap
Jesus tempted
Resisted temptation with the Word
Abraham tried
Trusted God’s provision to save his son
God said “now I know”
Jesus was on the mount of transfiguration was encouraged by the Law and the prophets
Moses and Elijah
“We can have a spiritual “transfiguration” experience each day as we walk with the Lord.”
The theological name for this experience is sanctification, the process by which we become more like the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the Father’s goal for each of His children
Last we week looked at
Being a living Sacrifice
Not conforming to the patter of this world
Giving our will over to God’s will
And we said that to do this we would have to pray
After Jesus came down from the mount of Transformation
He found the Disciples that he had left behind in an augment with the teachers of the law.
The very next red letter words in your Bible are:
“What are you arguing with them about?”
Explanation
This event is in Mark chapter 9
It’s an event that teaches us a great lesson about Faith and Prayer
So open your Bible to Mark Chapter 9
And walk through this passage together and learn from the Master how we should pray and have faith.
Jesus Heals a Boy Possessed by an Impure Spirit 9:14–28; 30–32pp—Mt 17:14–19; 22,23; Lk 9:37–45
14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. 16 “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.
The Disciples he had left behind
How would you feel if Jesus came up to you and asked “What are you arguing about?”
Not something I want Jesus to see me doing.
We are ugly when we are arguing.
Hopefully you agree with me on this.
How often do we find ourselves arguing about stupid stuff.
Politics
Wars
Relationships
The Bible
How to do church
Food
Dress
Music
Romans 14:17-18 ”For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.
Social Media
Today to start an argument on Social Media all you have to do is say you like something and someone is bound to disagree and want to argue with you about it?
Don’t fall for it!
It seems that we are more divided than ever today.
Let’s become uniteers not dividers!
Remember last weeks Verse takeaway
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Let Vain and stupid arguments end with you.
Don’t get caught in the trap!
Let’s let Jesus find us living in peace with each other!
We continue with the story:
17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” 19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
Jesus clearly shows frustration with the disciples here.
What, you guys could not get this right while I was gone?
How long must I put up with you?
Bring me the boy.
20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” 23 “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus“Everything is possible for one who believes.”
The evil spirit knew how Jesus was.
Jesus, like any good physician, asked “How long has he been like this?”
Remember our lesson on listening?
Listening to understand, not just respond.
Jesus was asking to better understand the situation
Listen to this fathers desperation in what the demon does to his son.
“It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him.
Can you imagine the struggle this father has gone through to try and keep his son safe?
“The father of the afflicted boy is obviously at his wit’s end and pleads, ‘If you can do anything, take pity on us’”
What would I do for my children
Then the father makes a statement that causes Jesus to question the faith of the father and the disciples
But if you can do anything
“If you can” Jesus said
Look at this, Look at what Jesus says next.
“Everything is possible for one who believes.”
Are you listening?
“Everything is possible for one who believes.”
Do we have this kind of faith?
I hope so!
I hope we don’t start our prayers with Our Father in Heaven “If you can…”
But I also know we struggle sometimes with our faith
The boys father was no different that us
Look at what he says:
24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
The boys father said he believed but he needed help
“Help me overcome my unbelief”
Have you ever asked God that question? Maybe we should!
How much faith do we need?
Apparently not very much but we even struggle with having a small amount of faith
Jesus says that we only need faith the size of a mustard seed
One of the smallest of all seeds
25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
The demon left at Jesus’ command
Jesus helped the boy up and he was restored.
28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 29 He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
Can you imagine the awkward silence around the group? You ask, no you, not me, you ask Him. Then finally someone has the courage to ask Jesus, why could we not cast out the demon?
“This kind can come out only by prayer.”
The disciples failed? Because they had been careless in their personal spiritual walk and had neglected prayer and fasting.
The authority that Jesus had given them was effective only if exercised by faith, but faith must be cultivated through spiritual discipline and devotion.
Application
So how is your prayer life and how is your faith holding up?
Are you being careless In our spiritual walk?
Are you neglecting daily prayer?
Have you fasted lately?
Are you praying and believing?
Are you cultivating your faith?
Are you grieving Jesus with your unbelief and lack of trust?
Today’s take away from this story is this:
“You have to believe!”
And it is okay to ask God to help you believe!
You might be thinking, can it really be this simple?
Can I ask God for anything?
The answer is yes!
Jesus said “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
So do you Believe and are you asking God?
Jame the brother of Jesus says this?
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.