Help My Unbelief | Mark 9:14-29 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

If you have a copy of God's word in your hand, please meet me in the gospel according to Mark in chapter nine in verse 14, Mark nine fourteen. This is a lengthy portion of scripture that going we're going to be covering, and so we're going to read it in its entirety before we see it in smaller portions. Just want us to have a holistic view of this scene, this episode of God's demonstration of power and mercy. And so follow with me beginning here in verse 14. 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, oh 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 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, 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. And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, he came out and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out?

And he said to them, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. Let's pray. We confess our reliance and dependence upon you, oh god. We do not presume that our desires are enough. We confess our neediness.

And we ask that you would help us in the experience of this moment. As the word of God is delivered, may it be delivered in the power of the invisible one, the Holy Spirit. We ask, oh God, that our hearts would be receptive, and that more than just a stirring of the mind or the heart, there would be a deep work done where you would inspire us onto greater obedience, and that you would cause us to be moved to walk closer with thee. This is our prayer. And so, Lord, even now, humbly, sincerely, genuinely, we say we are nothing without you.

We cannot do anything without you. Help us now. And Lord, for some, help our unbelief. In Jesus' name. Amen.

This is an important story to the Holy Spirit. And one reason why we know that is because it is not exclusively found in the gospel of Mark, but it is also found in Matthew and in Luke's account. But what's interesting is that if you find the story in Matthew and Luke, you'll notice that Matthew and Luke have a much shorter version of this account. Mark gives around double the attention in terms of verses than the other gospel writers. And as we read this, we realize comparatively that Mark is being very careful to give details about this scene.

And a simple reading of it like what you and I just did reveals the rich reporting that Mark offers concerning the interactions and the activity, and it gives us much to work with in terms of historical accuracy and reliability and godly application into our own lives. It almost seems overwhelming. Right? You look at a text like this and you can you can make four or five sermons out of it. Right?

But we won't do that for the sake of our time together. Instead, we'll try to investigate all that it has to say, and we'll divide it we'll divide it just by really going through it, but the way I looked at it, I see five things, around five things here. I see that there is a specific scene. I see that there is a situation. I see that there is the servant's example.

I see that there is a stumbling block. And lastly, I see that there is schooling. Notice everything starts with an s. Preachers like to do that stuff. We have a scene.

We have a situation. We have the servant's example. We have a stumbling block and we have lastly schooling. There's a lesson at the end of this as you heard. And so let's examine this carefully.

We read here in verse 14. And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them and scribes arguing with them. Just envision it. And immediately all the crowd when they saw him were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. So there's chaos going on here.

You have disciples and scribes arguing and debating. You have this crowd now who are probably leaning in and paying attention, and the sight of Jesus descending from that mountain with three of his disciples caught the attention of the multitude. And they turn away from this debate and they come to Jesus like a celebrity, the celebrity that he is, the only celebrity you should really care about really and follow in terms of example. And they greet him. And it's hard to move on without contrasting the scene here with the scene that you and I enjoyed in our previous sessions.

What a contrast it is. When Jesus and those three were on the summit of that mountain, that atmosphere was holy. That atmosphere was glorious. That atmosphere contained heavenly fellowship. And as they came down, there is a chilling shift that takes place.

Now they've entered into a very dark place filled with pain, filled with brokenness, demonically energized. What a difference. And looking at this, I wondered in the perspective of Christ, you can see by looking at Jesus coming down here how this is almost like a miniature illustration, a miniature picture of what he did in coming into our world. The glory that he left in order to come into our environment, our mess in order to save us. You know, when we read second Peter verse one, we're told that on that mountain according to Peter in verse 17, Jesus was crowned by the father with glory and honor.

And that is not the only time Jesus enjoyed glory and honor. By virtue of being the son of God, he knew glory and honor from eternity past. But at the perfect time, at the right time, he set aside such status and recognition. He turned his back on it in order for him to come here. To come into our world that is mirrored quite accurately by this scene.

What do we see here? We see Jesus entering into a place that is prevailed by sin. We see Jesus entering into a place where Satan's power is at work. We see Jesus here entering into a place where there is layers and levels of pain and misery and brokenness. And so even allow this sequence of events to inspire you to realize how Jesus, not just in a moment left a mountaintop of glory to come into a world that is devilish and heartbreaking.

He turned his back on a heavenly abode where there was angelic love and perfect praise. And because of a great love, he came to not keep us in this mess, but to save us and to deliver us. I thought, wow, even in this you see a gospel truth. But I didn't just wanna see it through the perspective of Christ. I thought to myself, what about the perspective of the disciples?

The disciples were also on that mountaintop, and we've used this term, we've used this phrase, and perhaps it came from testimonies like this in the word of God, mountaintop experiences. Right? Brother, how how's your walk with the Lord? I'm in a valley. How's the conference?

Oh, it was a mountaintop experience. What does that really mean? I think it simply means that you and I experience something of an unusual intensification of God's presence, his revelation, awakening and affection, awakening sense of faithfulness and desire for him that seems to be almost unbroken, so strong and consistent. And when we are in those moments, whether it's a moment, whether it's a season, we like Peter who was on that mountain top say, Rabbi, it is good that we are here. It is good that we are here.

And more than that, we're like Peter in wanting to make tents so that we can stay there as long as possible. It is good that we are here. Can we stay here? Can we remain here? If you had those moments of the Lord, you know what I'm talking about.

But just like how these disciples learned that this permanence of the glory of God being experienced and tasted, that glory will not be permanent until a time to come. What is more common is what you and I see in this valley. That's more real to us than anything else. Now, what do we see here? We see bullies.

Right? Even religious bullies. You know, religious people can be bullies. What do you see here? You see the brokenness of a parent who can't seem to get control of the erratic behavior of his child.

Is that common? What do you see here? You you you see here Satan working in and through people, tormenting them, harassing them, afflicting pain. And on top of all of this, what else do you and I experience in this world? Followers of Jesus Christ who don't really have it all together.

Just like these disciples. That's what you and I are familiar with. And the hope that we have is the hope of the glimpse that they got on that mountain. It's not going to stay this way. There is a time coming where Jesus will subdue all of Satan's power and save us not just from temptation, not just from the power of sin, but from the very presence of it.

That time is coming. But may I add and may I suggest that our hope for that future is not merely something that you and I can't enjoy today to some regard. What do I mean? Because this scene in the valley, though it is common, though it's inescapable for you and I in this life, it can look different based on one premise, and that is the presence of Jesus Christ in it. You see, Christ is going to enter into the scene and things are going to change.

Things are going to be different. And may I say to you that though you and I can't ultimately escape until we go to glory or glory comes to us, we can navigate through it with a joy and a peace upon one reality, whether or not Christ is in it with us. Jesus is gonna make all the difference here. Jesus is going to come and bring solution here. And you and I can be encouraged to know that although there is an ultimate fulfillment, there is also a relief that we can enjoy now that is totally dependent upon one thing, your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

So Christ comes now, and he's gonna do some work. He's gonna bring some alleviation here, A level of salvation and deliverance, one that you and I can also expect and believe God for, not just when heaven comes, but even now in this pain filled world. So Christ is coming. Christ is here. This is the scene.

Now we look here at the situation. We read. He asked them, what are you arguing about with them? And he gets no answer. He He gets no answer from the scribes, perhaps because they were more than willing to debate with the disciples, but now here comes the master debater.

Maybe we shouldn't say anything. And he doesn't get an answer from the disciples because perhaps they were embarrassed. They're ashamed that they couldn't fulfill what they've been given power to do, by the way. And the silence is suddenly broken by the voice of a father. This father interrupts, he speaks up and he gives the answer to what is taking place here.

And he says, teacher, I brought my son to you for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And then he goes on to explain what happens what happens when the spirit takes a hold of the son. And he's saying, I brought I brought him to you. I I came expecting you. You weren't here.

So I gave him to the disciples and they were not able to do what I had hoped that can be done in your name. And there's so much to say about this. So much can be expounded upon, but I wanna make one point clear based on this example, and it is this. That the Holy Spirit through this text wants you and I to be informed about the heart of the evil one. Satan absolutely hates not just those created in the image of God, but even little children who are created in the image of God.

We read later on and you heard it that when Jesus asked, how long has this been going on for? He said, from childhood. From childhood. So the evil one, his hatred is not reserved for those who have reached a certain age of mental and physical maturity. No.

He loathes them at the earliest phase possible. He loathes them while they're in the womb. And if they escape the womb, if they are born into this world, we should not think for a moment that he has the decency to restrain himself from afflicting and assaulting these vulnerable and fragile gifts from God. I'm not presenting this truth to you to frighten you or to cause you to live in anxiety, grandparents, parents, older siblings, uncles and aunts, but why I am bringing this to you so that I can remind you that there is a war for our children. There is an all out war for our children.

And I'm saying this so that you and I can be aware of the nature of this war, lest we fight it aimlessly. So that we can be more effective as his father was effective in fighting for the soul of his son. And we can make the rest of this sermon about how it is that we can fight for our children, and defend our children, and raise our children, and disciple our children. But let me summarize it in this. The best thing that you can do, the best thing that you can do for your offspring, for the gifts that God has given you, is that no matter how old they are, young or old, no matter how receptive or rebellious they may be, learn to bring them to Jesus.

Learn to bring them to Jesus. What does this man do? Evidently, he he felt as though there was nothing he could do in his own strength, in his own ability, and yet, this is how many parents feel about their own. They're exhausted. They've run out of solutions.

And all they do is, as they get older, see their children becoming more and more influenced by evil, by the flesh veering further and further away from the truth that you love and hope would be replicated and emulated by your own children. And I wanna tell you this afternoon that as helpless as you might feel, you cannot afford to be hopeless. Month after month, year after year, even if they go from bad to worse. Learn that you can give them to Christ and don't you dare allow your faith to shrivel up for them. Don't let it die.

This man could have given up. He could have been dissuaded by the fact that these disciples who supposedly had a reputation of radiating the power that's been given to them, but he doesn't. He remains. He stays right there. And there are some perhaps parents now, and again, siblings, older siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, you're heartbroken.

You're tired. Maybe you're even numb. I wanna exhort you though you may be feeling those things, whatever you do, don't let your hope die. Don't let your faith die. In fact, Jesus reveals that the absence of faith in God's ability to intervene the life of someone you love is to be denounced and rejected altogether.

Look what he says here in verse 19. And he answered them, oh faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me. Is he is he rebuking the scribes?

Is he rebuking the crowd? Or or is he speaking about his disciples? Well, you can say he's including all of them, but the most concerning out of them all is the disciples. The ones who have confessed Christ and have vowed to follow him and to learn from him. Oh faithless generation.

How long am I to be with you? You you should know this by now. Your your faith in me should be stronger than this. Well, what about the faith of the disciples? Proved to be weak?

How did their faithlessness manifest? What was it here in terms of observation that the Lord was righteously exasperated about? I think the clue is here. Look at the last part of verse 18. The father says, so I asked your disciples to cast it out and they were not able.

They were not able. And then you come down here in verse 28, and what do you see? And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out? The situation here, the the the dilemma is that the disciples were expected to bring about results and they didn't. So the father says, they couldn't do it and the disciples realized they were guilty of that.

So in a private meeting with the Lord, they said, Lord, why could we not do it? Remember earlier, Jesus doesn't give him an explanation, but he does give commentary. Faithless generation. What's synonymous with faithless? Unbelieving.

Unbelieving generation. Then the disciples say, hey, why couldn't we do it? Well, he said earlier, because you're faithless. But then now Jesus narrows it down and explains what faithlessness looks like in this context. And he said to them, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.

Oh, so now we understand what the disciples failed to do. It wasn't just unbelief. It was an unbelief that led to prayerlessness. It was a lack of trust and understanding of how God relates to this situation that caused him not to even inquire of God. Jesus underscores that true faith in God.

This is so important to hear. True faith in God, a faith that pleases him and a faith that unleashes his power is not tapped into when you argue or debate about a situation, when you think about the situation and ruminate over it, or even if you desire the outcome of the situation to be favorable, even God glorifying. The faith that brings about results is faith that expresses itself in supplication. Prayer. And so when Jesus says, oh faithless generation, you know what you can almost say?

In part what he means is this, oh prayerless generation. Oh prayerless generation, when will you learn to depend on me? When will you believe that I can actually intervene even immediately and bring about my power? When will you learn not to rely on your own wisdom and strength? And the reason why Jesus was righteously frustrated with his own disciples was because they needed to learn how to exercise that power, how to walk in such a faith.

Faith that expresses itself in prayer because he soon was going to leave. And he was hoping that they would have learned that lesson while he gave him a trial run. Where was Jesus while this was taking place? Was he with them? No.

He was on the mountain. He was on the mountain. And there would be a time coming in a few short months where Jesus would die, rise, and ascend. And the disciples needed to know by now, I'm not always going to be with you. And because of that, you need to know how to connect with me.

How? Not through conversation, not through pulling me aside privately, but in prayer. Disciples, you should know by now how to pray. You're gonna need prayer if you're gonna fulfill the great commission. You're gonna need prayer if you're gonna go and preach to the lost.

You're gonna need prayer if you're gonna plant churches. You're gonna need prayer when people come in with demons and disease. How will you do it if you don't know how to pray? And this is why he's rebuking because they're supposed to be trained by now. Can I ask you a question this afternoon?

Does your faith pray? Does it pray? I don't care how you articulate it. I don't care what you blog about it. I don't care how many debates you win.

It doesn't matter how you can articulate your theology and your doctrine and systematize it. Does your faith pray? If so, keep praying because you're doing the best thing that you can do with your faith. If not, I ask that you allow this sermon today to encourage you to take up spiritual arms and to fight in the place of prayer especially for your children. It's the best thing you can do for your son.

It's the best thing that you can do for your daughter. It's the best thing that you can do for your niece, for your nephew, for your grandchildren. Yes, I know example is important. Yes, I know life is more practical than that, but there are certain levels of demonic influence that only prayer can deal with. This is the situation at hand.

Oh faithless generation. Oh prayerless generation. But now we come to the servant's example in verse 20. 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 you would think at this point then, here is this boy now manifesting and this demon is clearly trying to destroy him even before the Messiah.

You would think that at this time, Jesus would immediately interject and bring about the deliverance that only he can bring, but we read something quite strange, something maybe that you might have just read past, but I find it to be absolutely fascinating in light of how Mark writes about Jesus. Verse 21, and Jesus asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? Is Jesus ignorant? No. He's all knowing.

Is Jesus trying to discover something about the length of this possession so that he would know exactly how to exercise his power? No. It doesn't matter if the demon was there for five minutes or for fifty years. He can deal with them equally. Why is Jesus asking this question?

Does he want the crowd to know something? Does he want the crowd the the scribes to hear something? No. No. No.

No. The reason why Jesus is asking this question is because Mark wants to see how the perfect servant serves. Luke omits this detail. Matthew omits this detail. Mark is the one who tells us and shows us that he asked this question to the father.

And when you consider, and I'm reminded again, this is why it's beautiful to go through a book in its entirety, what kind of portrait Mark is trying to paint concerning Christ, you remember that what? It's about Jesus fulfilling the prophecies of him being what? The perfect servant of Yahweh. That's true for the prophecies and it's helpful for us practically. Because the Lord here is engaging with the father and by asking a question, he is showing his sympathy and caring heart for this man.

Asking listen, asking questions isn't always about finding answers. But sometimes it's about showing that you are invested and that you actually care and desire to connect with the sufferer. And here's the Lord just giving a chance for this father to unburden his heart. As much as he is concerned about this boy who is being tortured, he's also concerned about this father whose heart is heavy. And so he turns to this father and he asks, and he's inviting him to unload, and he wants him to know that he is approaching a personal God.

Not just a powerful one, A personal God. Not a vending machine that if you press the right button and if you get the right amount of faith you'll get some results, but one who actually cares how long has this been happening. You've met people like that. They they don't just they don't want just a surface relationship. They ask more.

They ask more because they actually genuinely care. At least, hopefully they do. And I looked at this verse last night and I I thought to myself, if this is Jesus demonstrating what it means to serve God in very practical ways, then surely there's instruction here for you and I. As a church, there's instruction for you and I. When people come into this place and we pray that people would visit this place, believer or non believer, they're not coming here for a performance, nor is our aim for them to come to be plugged into a program.

We want them to come to meet people. Caring, loving people. When you and I are planning to go out to the world, we did and we're gonna go again, We don't want people to see us heartlessly proclaim a message of righteousness. We want them to see people who care. They care about my soul.

They care about my life. They're not just trying to satisfy their religious conscience. They're not just trying to do this so that they can say something to others about how much they serve and stand for the truth. They actually care. This is Jesus actually caring.

He pauses. He gives time. He inquires and he convinces this man and encourages him that he does care. And this this man was able to perceive that so he finds the courage to look at Christ and to say, if if you are compassionate, I perceive that you are compassionate. Help me.

Please help me. I can't do this anymore. And so in verse 22, we read that. And now we look at the stumbling block. It says here, at the end of verse 21, he said, from childhood and has often cast him into fire and into water to destroy him.

Can you just imagine that kind of a life? Imagine being a father or a mother and so much of your time is to protect the unpredictable behavior of your child where a demon is in him and launches him into a fire pit. And if not into a fire pit, then to some kind of a well or a pond to try to drown him. Imagine all that time and energy rescuing, putting out fires, trying to arrest them while trying to be kind and letting them live an as much of a normal life as possible. This is what his father is dealing with.

Then he says, but if you can do anything but if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. But if you can do anything Does that sound like strong faith? But if you can do anything. Even Jesus gives this surprising expression, if you can. If you can.

I would have loved to hear the Lord say that. If you can. That doesn't sound like strong faith. What does strong faith look like? You know, I'm reading Romans.

I was reading Romans this week and this first came to mind. Every time I go to Romans chapter four and read about Abraham, my faith is always checked, always. Because the Holy Spirit describes this father of faith in such a detailed manner, and it gives us language to what strong faith looks like. Can I show you what strong faith is according to the Bible? We know what faith is, but what does strong faith look like?

Well, turn to Romans four with me. Romans four and let's go to verse 19. Every time I come to this chapter and this portion of this chapter, I examine the quality of my faith. Romans four nineteen. It says here about Abraham, he did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.

So Abraham didn't weaken in faith the older he got. He didn't weaken in faith the older Sarah got. That's an astounding commentary. Look at verse 20. There's an end there.

No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith. Okay. This is strong faith. He grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God. Verse 21 is a description of strong faith.

You ready? Fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That's strong faith. Fully convinced. Not partially.

Not 90%. Completely. As assured as I am that this is a wooden pulpit, that this is an ESV Bible, that this is a white shirt. That's how you are with the promises of God. There's no doubt.

There's no question. I'm fully convinced that what God has said. He will that's strong faith. That's what you and I should strive for. That's God glorifying faith.

You come back to this man. Is he fully convinced? If you can do something. That's not Abraham like faith. Abraham didn't weaken in faith, he was fully convinced.

So the opposite of weak faith is fully convinced faith, but but that's not what we read of in this story. Let's come back. May I add that this man is not coming to Jesus blindly. He wasn't taking a walk with his son and saw Jesus and heard for the first time, you know, this Jesus can do miracles. I'm sure this man was very, very aware of who Jesus was.

I'm sure he has heard the reports and the eyewitness testimonies. That's why he came to Jesus to begin with. So this man is informed. He's not in the dark concerning the reputation that Jesus had. But despite the reports, despite the accounts, there was still doubt in him.

There was still this uncertainty. And Jesus takes this opportunity to say something not just for this man, but also for his disciples. His disciples who are also going to live most of their life without the immediate physical presence of Jesus Christ. This is what he says. If you can, all things are possible for one who believes.

All things are possible for one who believes. That's really the center. That's the core of what this is all about. Believing. Believing that as long as what you're believing for doesn't contradict the word of God, is in alignment with the will of God, it can happen.

All things are possible. And if we're honest, if we're honest. Let's be honest. We're in church. We're Christians.

We should be honest. When we hear that, all things are possible for one who believes. Our response is more like this man than it is being fully convinced. This is a little too good to be true. All things are possible for one who believes.

So we can resonate with his response, I'm sure, more than anything else in verse 24, immediately the father of the child cried out and said, I believe. This end there. I help my unbelief. I believe there's emotion here. There's like an outburst.

Right? Like something was triggered. I believe. Help my unbelief. I believe.

Help my unbelief. Which one is it? Do you believe or you're not believe? Both. You're familiar with that.

Right? You believe, but there's a little bit of doubt. I don't know. I'm not sure. Really?

Can it? You know what's amazing? This man says, I believe, help my unbelief. And before you read verse 25, you would anticipate that Jesus would respond with what we saw earlier in verse 19. Oh, faithless generation.

Like, when does the faithlessness stop here? Oh, faithless. How you're just this is just not gonna stop, is it? You would think so. You would think that would be the appropriate reaction that Christ would have, but he doesn't give that.

What does he do? He actually performs the miracle. And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit. He rebuked it. And he brought deliverance to this child.

How can this be? He he said to the disciples mainly, oh faithless generation. And when you go to Matthew's version, you don't have to turn there in Matthew 17, You read there that Jesus actually tells them why they couldn't cast it out. Mark emphasizes prayer. Jesus says, because your faith is weak.

It's weak faith. They didn't have zero belief. It was just weak. Well, isn't this man's faith weak? So why isn't he rebuking him?

Why did he rebuke the disciples for their weak faith, but here's a man with equally weak faith and Jesus doesn't rebuke him but actually honors him? I'll tell you why. You ready? It's because what the disciples did with their weak faith was much different than what this man did with his weak faith. The weak faith in the hearts of the disciples caused them not to pray but to be self reliant.

The weak faith of this man, though it was weak, there was enough of it for him to act upon and say, I need you. It's weak but I still give it to you. It's contaminated with doubt but I still cry out to you. Do you see the difference? It's not necessarily the strength of the faith, though that strength can glorify God.

It's that despite the measure of it, can you act upon it and still move forward with it? And if you really think about it, this man is acting in more faith than you might perceive. I believe help my unbelief. Do you realize that in his unbelief, he is actually believing? This is I love this miracle for this this reason right here.

Help my unbelief. The fact that you're identifying that unbelief is good, but the fact that you're surrendering it to the Lord is an act of faith in itself. So it's not necessarily the presence of doubt or fear or anxiety that disqualifies God channeling through our faith. It's that, though you see that doubt, what do you do with it? And here's the mercy of Jesus Christ.

Here's the glory of his compassion that you can even take your doubt, give it to the Lord, ask him to help you with it and he'll honor the faith behind that request. Does that not move you? Doesn't that stir you? You can't lose. Only way you can lose is if you don't come to him at all.

You you see earlier where he says, if you have compassion, have compassion on us and help us. That same word for help is being used here about his unbelief. Help us concerning my son. And then when it came to his lack of faith, he goes, help my lack of faith. I'm desperate for my doubt to be dealt with.

And the Lord honors that. The Lord answers that. The Lord works with that kind of faith. And so, I don't believe God necessarily as strongly as I know I should. Well, don't be like the disciples and reserve yourself from coming to him altogether.

Come to him even with that mustard seed like faith. One that is murky and slimy, not rock solid. Say, Lord, I I know I should believe you more about this, but it's not as strong. Can you help me here? That's faith.

And that's the Lord in his goodness willing to answer and rescue us and even bring about results and fruit. You want proof of that in Acts chapter 12 when the church there praying for Peter to be released from prison, Rhoda hears some knocking at the door. It's Peter at the door. She runs back to the permitting and says, you know, Peter is here. They go, you're out of your mind.

No. No. No. It's it's really Peter. The one that you're asking God to deliver, he's actually outside in the courtyard.

It's probably his angel. What kind of faith is that? And yet, that was the kind of faith they were offering to heaven and God still was willing to send an angel and deliver Peter. How good is our God? How awesome is he?

How can you not pray? How can you condemn yourself to the point of being paralyzed in your prayer life? May not be so. This man says, help my unbelief. I can pray to God in my unbelief and he'll recognize the act of faith behind that plea.

And finally, we come not just to the stumbling block that was overcome, but we come to the schooling. The boy was delivered. Verse 27, but Jesus took him by the hand. Again, Mark loves to use that language. He loves to show Jesus touching and looking and asking more and being more personal.

He takes him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose. And now the scene shifts again. There's a there's a private meeting. They go to a house. We're not told which house it is.

And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out? Now the disciples have the right to ask this question, obviously, because of their failure, but in light of their previous experience. This is not the first time that the disciples dealt with demons. This is not the first time that they were confronted with a problem in the supernatural. Go back to Mark chapter six very briefly.

Look at verse seven of Mark six. And he called the 12 and began to send them out two by two, and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits. And then you come here to verse 13. And they, being the disciples, cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. So the disciples had a history of success with demons before.

And now they come to this, and there's no fruit. There's no power. There's no demonstration like what they have known, and they're they're they're confused. Jesus, we're not understanding this. You gave us authority.

We've seen results. Now we're here. Why isn't anything happening? Why didn't anything happen? And Jesus says something so insightful.

This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. What is the Lord getting at here? Between Mark chapter six and Mark chapter nine, for some reason, the disciples developed a prayerless attitude. And the disciples relied on previous success, maybe even technique, maybe some kind of methodology, but where they went wrong is they stopped being dependent upon God Almighty. And where do you stop being dependent upon God almighty?

When you stop praying. And that's what Jesus points out. You stopped praying at some point. And this is for those who are servants of God who desire to see fruit, even supernatural fruit. Right?

It's all really supernatural, but you wanna see God do great things. You wanna see God bless your ministry, your efforts. It's very tempting to rely on a reputation or to to get a hold of a certain technique or routine and see on the surface level something steady and satisfying where you begin to now remove yourself from the place of getting before God and speaking to him and asking help from him. It happens all the time. It happens more frequently than you think.

It's a great temptation for us to get off of our knees, especially on the other side of success. And this is what happened to these disciples. And I think it's more than just Jesus saying, in this moment, you didn't pray. I think this is Jesus saying that altogether, their sense of dependency was removed. And so this is a long term thing, not just an immediate thing.

And Jesus as God almighty brought about results, not just because he's God almighty, but because being man, he actually modeled how you and I should go about serving him. He tells him, you didn't pray. But Jesus coming down the mountain, was he prepared? Was he prepared? Let me show you how he was prepared.

If you go to Luke in chapter nine in verse 28, this is the same account of the transfiguration where Jesus went up to the mountain to make his glory known to his disciples. But look what we see here in Luke nine twenty eight. Now about eight days after these sayings, he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to what? Pray. Jesus was prepared.

So Jesus is talking more than just about spontaneous prayer in light of a surprise attack. I believe the Lord is speaking about a lifestyle of prayer that makes you ready for the surprise. We all know how to run to prayer when there's chaos. We all know what to do when there's things that go get out of hand. Prayer is our nine one one, and it should be, but it should be more than that.

Prayer should be our posture all the time. Pray without ceasing, Paul said. How do I pray without ceasing? Do I stay in my room the whole time, ask my wife to make me dinner and to put out the closet door and quit my job? Is that what prayer means?

To pray without ceasing? No. Develop an attitude of dependency on the Lord every day, all day. That's what prayer without ceasing means. And Jesus is saying, you've forgotten that And it shows.

It shows. I wasn't planning to go to this text in the old testament, but I think it's helpful. It's helpful because I wanna show you from more than one place how what I am saying to you is valid and for our consideration. Please understand me. You can know a level of success without prayer.

I know that sounds blasphemous. You can know some kind of superficial results and not pray at all. I remember hearing this years ago where a minister was at a minister's conference and what he discovered with these pastors who had churches of thousands of people that most of these pastors don't pray at all. They're so busy. They have so much to do, administrative work and meetings and conferences.

And they have thousands of people. They have books. But you know what they don't have? A prayer life. And there was a man in the Old Testament who saw some results without prayer, and there is an amazing lesson here through his life that I wanna bring to your attention.

It's in second Chronicles. Let's turn there. We're we're gonna end it here. Second Chronicles. It's after first and second Kings.

First and second Kings as of first and second Samuel. Second Chronicles. It's after Genesis, it's before Revelation. Second Chronicles in chapter 16, king Asa, the king of the Southern Kingdom, heard reports of Baasha king of Israel coming up against Judah and built Ramah. There is a war that was about to ensue between the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom.

So what does king Asa do in order to deal with the enemy? Verse two of second Chronicles 16. Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king's house and sent them to Ben Hadad, king of Syria who lived in Damascus, saying, there is a covenant between me and you as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel that he may withdraw from me.

Stop. Is aligning with the Syrians a good thing or a bad thing? It's a bad thing. The Syrians are enemies as well. And so he makes an alliance with Syria.

He asked Syria to break their covenant with Israel and notice what happens. We see here in verse four, and Ben Hadad listened to king Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and they conquered. And at the last part of the verse, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. Look at verse six, then king Asa took all Judah and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah. Success?

Results? Advancements? Relief? Yeah. But the story doesn't end there.

God sends a prophet. And this is what the prophet says in verse seven. At the time, Hanani, the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the Lord your God, The army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Asa, because you trusted in human power, because you trusted in human resources, Read your bible carefully. He said the king of Syria has escaped you.

He didn't say the king of Israel. King of Syria. The same Syrians that you made an alliance with. You know what he's saying by this? If you had just relied on God, not only would have God given you Israel, he would have given you Israel and Syria.

But you forfeited that by trusting in your own strength instead of God's. People wonder, do I miss out on prayer? What do I really miss out? Is it really practical? I don't wanna live a life where I can navigate through it comfortably, but not know what else could have been done if I had just sought God.

Some Christians are comfortable with it. That's why this part of the message isn't moving you a bit. I'm not interested in that kind of Christianity. Because again, you can go about you can do ministry and not pray. But Jesus said, this kind cannot come.

It cannot come out but anything but prayer. Meaning, you always will reach a ceiling of potential being prayerless. But there is unlimited possibility for the prayerful. So do it, but you always reach a limit. You only come so far.

This kind, there is a level that you will never reach if you don't pray. Why does this church pray? Why? Why do we put a meeting uncomfortably during the week? Is it because we have nothing else to do?

Is it because we're bored? Is it because we wanna eat something together on a Wednesday night? We don't eat anything on Wednesday night. The reason why we pray is because we know that we can't know God's full potential unless we do. That's why we pray.

That's why we take time to seek God's faith because we don't wanna be like disciples and rely on our strength and our gifts and our money and our hopes and plans. God, if you don't come, we're finished. If you don't help, we will not go far. And now look at this in verse eight. He reminds him of the past.

Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. That's that bothers me because this man was a prayer man. He was at one point. Usually when people are early in their ministry, early in their walk with the Lord.

We usually become prayerless as time goes on. And so here's the reminder just to get an idea of how this man prayed. Go to chapter 14. This is Asa as well. Look at verse nine of chapter 14.

Zera the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men. A million men and 300 chariots and came as far as Marishah. And Asa went out to meet him and drew up their lines of battle in the Valley Of Zephatha at Marishah. Did did Asa have an army here? Yes.

He had an army here but he has something else. Verse 11. And Asa cried to the Lord his God. Oh Lord, there is none like you to help between the mighty and the weak. Help us, oh Lord our God, for we rely on you.

And in your name, we have come against this multitude. Oh Lord, you are our God. Let not man prevail against you. The power of Asa and his kingdom was not his army. It was in prayer.

And Hanani says, you were a praying man before. You knew how to rely on God, but then you got smart. Then you became confident. You allowed your track record and a time of peace to convince you that you don't need to plead before God. What happened to you, Asa?

And then he gives verse nine as a motivation for us. Unfortunately, one that was too late for Asa, though he could have repented. Verse nine, for the eyes of back in chapter 16, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. Asa, do you know why you can pray? Because God is actively looking for those whose hearts are completely his and that will seek him so that he can bring about his power through them.

Can you imagine that? The eyes of the Lord in 2023, not just then, 2023 are still scaling the earth to find a man, a woman, a mother, a father, a church whose heart is blameless toward him, and that shows itself by relying on him in the place of prayer. What is God looking for in this hour? Intelligence? Looks?

Charisma? Prayer? It was true then. It is true today. It'd be very strange to end this meeting by singing two songs and not allowing it to bleed into some kind of response.

Let's pray. What do you need God to do in your life? I do not stand here to present to you a nice religious lesson. I present to you the truth of the living God. What do you need to what do you need God to do in your daughter's life?

What do you need to see God do in your son's life? What do you wanna see God do through your ministry? What do you want God to do? And as doubtful as it may seem, as drug addicted as they might be, as confused as they might be, as rebellious and hardened, as difficult as the fruit has been, as limited as the opportunities are, I believe help my unbelief. I I did my part.

I I mean, if if if after this, your heart isn't stirred to pray, I mean, I can't do anything. I can't make you pray, put your neck down, get on you. I can't do that. It's between you and God. But I pray that we would remain prayerful as a church and pray that this church will remain prayerful.

Whether that prayer meeting is five or 500, may God find a praying people in this place. What do you need God to do? That's the answer. That's the response to this message. What do you need God to do?

And the praise team will come. They'll set themselves up. We're ready to sing, but we'd be remiss not to seek the Lord after hearing all of this. And so don't get distracted by who's on your left, by who's on your right. If you need to fast a little bit by waiting a little bit longer to to pray and not get your lunch, it's good.

Fasting is good. Ask the Lord, I need your help, Lord. Forgive me for my presumption. Forgive me for trusting in myself. Forgive me for not looking to you like the disciples that help me be like that father who knew how to come to you still in weakness and in brokenness, and the Lord will honor that kind of faith.

What do you need to see God do? Don't let your mind wander. Engage with your God. And praise team, when you're ready, after you have finished praying, please come and prepare so that we can sing together.