Bring the Boy to Me
First B Jackson
2022-03-07

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Alright.

Hello, everybody. Welcome to another Monday night. Good to see you all. And a big thank you to Felix and Guadalupe for dinner tonight. They do so well with everything.

So we're making our way through the, the gospel of Mark right now. It's conversation style, so keep that in mind when we have our conversation time. But before we get there, what do you say we worship in in song together? Wanna stand and join me, we'll sing, how great thou art.

God's will thee. How great thou art, how great thou art when through the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the birds sing freely in the trees. When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and see the brook, the And when

breathe

I think that God is some not sparing send him to die, I spears can take it in. That on that cross, my burden gladly there being bladdened I take away my sins my soul my savior God God, we sing it,

but I also wanna just say it and pray it. You are great, God, and thank you for your love toward us, that you would lay down your life. You came as a suffering servant. The disciples said, here's our conquering king, but you came as a suffering servant in humility. God, that we would have humility to.

In Jesus name, amen.

And the gospel. I'm of the gospel. I'm of not

life not ashamed of

the the gospel, gospel. Not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I will stand both these say. And this is my life. He's the author of salvation and faith.

Let's sing this. And you are the author of salvation and faith. You are. You are. You are.

Victory that conquered the grave. You are you are David though. May stand and profane I'm not ashamed of the gospel, not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I'm a stand in both these things. This is my life.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I will stand and both these say. This is my life.

Romans one, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Why? Because it's the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes.

Into this one child that we is watching find in thee thine almond on Jesus to him I am alone had left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow and praises life up from the dead. Oh, praise the one who paid my debt and praises life up from the dead. Oh, Jesus. He washed it white as snow.

God, thank you for the righteousness that you give. Not that we have because we don't have a righteousness. Self righteousness is not a righteousness. We get our righteousness from you, and that's how we can stand before you. In faith, we believe, then you give us righteousness and eternal life.

That's that's how this things... This... That's how this this faith works. We didn't do anything to earn it or deserve it. We just come here as beggars telling other beggars where bread can be found.

So thank you, God. Thank you for the gift of salvation, the the way that you love us and care for us. And God, would you teach us tonight in the scriptures? In Jesus name, amen.

Can I give you one of these? I'll give

you finger pistols to change the the next slide. So here we go. Gospel according to to to Mark. Tonight, we're in chapter nine verses 14 through 29. We're just going chapter by chapter, verse by verse, and there's gold in every bit of it.

This is where Jesus heals a demon possessed boy. And at this point in the gospel of Mark, a big question is, what does it mean for Jesus to be the Messiah? Because for the disciples, their expectation of Jesus as the Messiah is go... They're going, well, he's the... He's gonna be this conquering king, and we're gonna defeat the Romans, our enemies, and here we go.

But Jesus is like, nope. That's that's not that's not what Messiah means here. Messiah means that he would suffer and die and then rise again. And he's explaining these things to their disciples. They're not quite getting it, not quite understand it.

And when it comes to following Jesus, the disciples go, well, if we follow him, then we're gonna be greatest in the kingdom. Right? Yeah. Right? In his left.

They even fight about it in this this chapter ahead. And Jesus is like, no. Guys, if you wanna be my followers, you've gotta deny yourself and pick up your cross and be willing to suffer. So with every interaction, with every interaction, Jesus is teaching them. But you know what, church?

Jesus is teaching us in these interactions too. And this is why we wanna pay attention because it's not just for those followers, it's for us. He's teaching about the kingdom. He's teaching about what it means that Jesus is the Messiah. He's teaching about what it means to be a follower.

And there are some great themes in the text tonight. Specifically, I wanna point out faith and prayer. Oops. Sorry, Blake. I should've, I should've take care of that.

The father's need for faith in this story and the disciples' need for prayer in the story. And you'll see it. You'll see it immediately as we read it. It'll make sense. And please, would you take note of what grabs a hold of you in the scripture tonight so that during the conversation time, we can bounce this around and encourage each other with it.

Because this is so good. This is so good. So starting with verse 14, when they returned to the other disciples, so the they there is, it's Peter, James, John, and Jesus, and they're returning from the top of the mountain that they were on, where Jesus was transfigured. He's radiated with God's glory. He meets with Elijah and Moses representing the law and the prophets.

You remember that right there? And Peter's like, I don't know what to do. Should I build you something? But God's voice from heaven goes, this is my dearly loved son. Listen to him.

Listen to him. So when they returned down the mountain from that that experience right there, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of the religious law were arguing with them, them being the rest of the disciples. So they come down from this literal mountaintop experience only to find the other disciples and the religious leaders arguing with one another. Isn't that just so human nature? And also just kind of how life as a Christian can work too.

Having a mountaintop experience with God and then you come back to work the next day and go, oh, this is what it's like. Ah, yes. The real world. Right? Fifteen, when the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe and they ran to greet him.

By the way, I just love that. I they're so overwhelmed with awe of Jesus, they run to him. They want to be near him. And I would imagine too, they're like, listen. Everybody's fighting.

You know? I I don't wanna be around that. Everybody's arguing. There was a crisis. They're like, maybe Jesus can do something about it.

I just I just really like that. I like that. And, Lord, would you help us not to be the ones in the argument, but the ones that are looking to you and representing you well as you live in us. In Jesus' name. Amen.

What is all this arguing about, Jesus asked, in verse 16. One of the men of the crowd spoke up and he said, teacher, I brought my son to you so you could heal him. He's possessed by an evil spirit that won't let him talk. And whenever the spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground, and then he foams at the mouth, he grinds his teeth, and he becomes rigid. And so I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn't do it.

So here's the picture. This father's in crisis, son's being tortured by an evil spirit, The disciples can't cast it out. We assume the religious leaders couldn't cast it out or didn't even try, and so the two just start arguing. Like, the problem's just getting worse here. It's awful.

And here's Jesus' response to that in verse 19. You faithless people. Wow. How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you?

That's a rebuke. That's a strong rebuke from Jesus. Specifically though, this is a rebuke for their lack of faith. But look at this. Jesus doesn't just go, forget it.

I'm out. He does not leave them. He doesn't give up on them. Look what he says. He moves to action.

Bring the boy to me. Isn't that great? He's like, okay. You're lacking faith. You're arguing.

Let me do the job because that's what Jesus can do. 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. I mean, this is this is ugly right here. How long has this been happening? Jesus asked the boy's father.

He replied, since he was a little boy. By the way, parents, can you imagine your children going through something like this, the desperation that you'd feel? It's important, I think, sometimes that we put ourselves in the story and go, what would I do? What would I do? 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. So in his desperation, the father calls out to Jesus. But catch this. So we've been reading about miracles. Right?

So unlike, say, the woman with the issue of blood. You remember her? If I could just touch his robe, I will be healed. Like, there was that belief before he could... Before even Jesus did it, she was like, I know he can do this.

I know he can. Or Jairus in chapter five. Jesus, please lay your hands on her so that she will be healed. There was that predetermined mindset in those people that goes, I know Jesus can do this even before Jesus did it. Not so much with this father.

Not so much. Have mercy on us and help us if you can. If you can. And then 23, here's Jesus' response. What do you mean if I can?

Jesus asked, anything is possible if a person believes. So in other words, Jesus has the power. He can cast out the evil spirit. We've seen that time and time again. That's not the issue here.

The issue is there is a faith that is lacking in that father, and that's why I love this story because it's so real. In desperation, the father cries out, I do believe, but help me help me overcome my unbelief. He's going, Jesus, I I do believe that you can heal my son, but I'm lacking faith in this moment. Would you give me more? And that's what...

Excuse me. That's what I love about this story. We all struggle to have enough faith. If we're honest, we don't have all the faith all the time. Right?

We struggle to have it. But when we struggle to have it, this is an example here to follow. This is a beautiful example for us to follow, to call out right there in that moment in humility and honesty, like the father in the story. God, I do believe you, but would you help me overcome my unbelief? I'm wavering here between belief and unbelief.

Would you help me? So good. Verse 25. When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the spirit. Listen, you spirit.

Here's Jesus at work here. He's flexing. Listen, you spirit. That makes this boy unable to hear and speak, he said. I command you to come out of this child.

Never enter again. And the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion, and it left. So, again, here is the authority of Jesus. Here's the power of Jesus. It's the no doubt about it.

Jesus can do this. The anything, for those who believe, that's the anything right there. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd. People said, he's dead.

But Jesus took him by the hand. He helped him to his feet, and he stood up. Verse 28. Afterward, when Jesus was in the house with his disciples, they asked him, Jesus, why couldn't we cast out that evil spirit? Why can't why can't we do it this time?

To their credit, they wanna know why why did we fail in this? And remember in chapter six... Oh, sorry. Remember in in chapter six verse seven, Jesus sent the disciples out before. He gave them authority to cast out evil spirits.

So it worked then. They're going, why is this not working now? And then 29, and and we'll end with this. Jesus replied, this kind can be cast out only by prayer. This kind can only be cast out by prayer.

So two things... Here's the next slide. Two things lacking in the story are faith and prayer. The father's need for faith and the disciples' need for prayer. And I believe Jesus is teaching a lesson about both to them and to us.

Remember, I want you to take a look at faith again. Faith is always a gift from God and never something that can be produced by people. So even if the father wanted to produce more faith on his own, he couldn't. Why? Because he can't do that.

Faith is God's divine persuasion. If we want more faith, what do we do? All we can do is yield our will to God's will. What this father said is how we get faith. God, I believe, but would you help me overcome my unbelief?

That's what Jesus responds to. That's what builds faith. So, yes, the father may have lacked faith, but let's give him credit. In that same moment, he had the humility to call out for more. As he was wavering between faith and unfaith, he had the humility to call on God.

God, give me more. That's how we get more faith. And it's a gift from God. As we yield our will to his and more was given, I just think that is a great lesson right there. It's a great lesson.

And we're not just trying to... We we don't just muster it up. I'm gonna have more faith today. No. God, would you give me more faith today where I lack?

It's beautiful. As far as the disciples needed for prayer, there's a lesson there too. Failure isn't always a bad thing. Would you agree? Because there's something to learn from it.

So, yeah, the disciples may have had the authority to cast out demons before, but what was needed now was prayer, not getting caught up in the argument there at the bottom of the hill. Not relying on yesterday's grace when we got to cast out demons then. What they needed was prayer. This right here, interaction with the Lord. Interaction with the Lord, switching their wishes for God's wishes.

That's what prayer is. It's going, God. I wanna exchange here. My wishes and desires for your wishes and desires. I want yours.

That's what prayer is. And that's what I love about tonight's scripture is just how patiently Jesus is teaching these lessons. Did we hear frustration in Jesus tonight? Sure we did. Absolutely.

But did he walk away? No. He didn't. He stuck around. He taught the lesson.

And he's headed toward the cross, and they're gonna learn more. He's gonna he's gonna teach them and us more about the kingdom, more about what Jesus... What it means that Jesus is gonna... Is the Messiah, and what it means to be a follower. So those are just a few thoughts for...

From tonight's scripture, and I would love to hear yours. But before we open it up in conversation, can I pray one more time? God, I thank you for this word to us tonight. Just, God, the privilege of being able to open the word chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Just see what you say.

Hear what you say. God, there is just nuggets of truth in every page that we turn, and I thank you for these lessons tonight. God, like the father, may we call out to you as he did. God, I believe, but would you help me overcome my unbelief? And as we pray, may we exchange our wishes and desires for yours depending on you, seeking you.

God, would you help us? And would you help us not to get caught up in endless arguments and distractions? There are so many. But to keep our eyes on you. And like the people who were ran to you because they were in awe of you, God, may we do that.

In Jesus' name, amen. Alright. So I'd like to hear from you. Is there anything from tonight's scripture that just grabbed ahold of you, arrested you, you know, stood out?

Can I start, Carl?

Yes. Would you please?

I... The connecting tissue between Sunday and Monday is something that's really cool to me yesterday talking about the son and the father. Like, if if the son asks the father for bread, are you gonna give him a stone? Is he gonna give his son a stone? If he asks for fish, is he gonna give him a serpent?

No. The father loves his son. And how much more does the father in heaven love you than your father here on earth? That message from yesterday, which which I really liked. And then I see the connecting tissue tonight too.

Like, this father, sure he has unbelief, but he brought him to Jesus. He loves his son. Please heal me. And then there's also an illustration of how much more Jesus and the father and heaven loves, and even with frustration, heals them. And so those connecting tissues is is serendipitous to me too, which I really like, which I haven't heard from or stood out to me tonight more than any other night or reading of this.

And, of course, the one that, as you said, if we're all honest, then maybe sometimes we struggle with our belief because this life's hard. You have a mountaintop experience, and then you come down into this this worldly experience, and it's hard. And you struggle on faith sometimes. And I don't have to speak for anybody else but myself, so it's... I love that verse.

I believe, but help me in my unbelief. Like, that's a go to in the whole Bible. So I really like that one, but tonight the part stood out to me that his earthly father loves him, but how much more does his heavenly father love him when he's healed?

I like that connection. And it it is... It's such a good does. It transfers. Like, that's the...

Here's the example of what Ray just read yesterday. Mhmm. Thanks for sharing that, Willie. Any other thoughts from Mark nine tonight?

This whole this this whole chapter was a nail biter for me. I love when he says, you faithless people, or or when when the when the father says, let's see. Let me see. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. And Jesus is like, if you can?

Like, the if, there's still some doubt, you still... There's still some disbelief there. What do you mean? If I can. I can do everything.

Nothing's impossible for him. So I think he's still like, guys, come on. I fed you guys. I did all this stuff, and still we have an if? How could we have an if?

So I love that. Let's see. Also, another one that I really liked is when it says, this kind can only come out only through prayer. So after Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, why couldn't we drive it out? And he replied, this kind can can come out only by prayer.

So that's, like, such a celebration. Like, what? All we have to do is pray? You're telling me that to cast out demons, to stomp on the serpent, to to win, All we have to do is pray and believe that and ask you, and that's... It's it's that simple.

So it it is interesting to me. I'm like, that's a celebration in itself. All we have to do is pray. That's it. All we have to do is pray and believe.

That's it. And I just... I find that just like... We should all be, like, stomping for joy. Like, that's just such a beautiful message.

That's it, guys. There's nothing more. And, yeah, it's beautiful to me.

What's interesting to me about that part is for them, it wasn't that simple. Yeah. For them, it was right there at the bottom of the mountain. They got caught in the argument. Do we get caught in arguments?

Does this happen today? Is there the back and forth and taking our eyes off Jesus and not being dependent on him? Absolutely. Absolutely there is. I think Jesus really is...

He's telling his disciples, would you look to me? Look to me here. Have you got a got a thought there?

Just a simple thought. I love the the fact that Jesus was interested in the boy's condition because, the son... The the father started to tell tell him what's happening. And, obviously, when you read that, you can see that the son has been through the very, very tough condition. And yet Jesus said, how long has been...

Has this been happening? And this makes me to think that the same thing today. Jesus looking at us and says, what's the condition of your heart? What's the condition of your life? How are you doing?

And and, you know, I've experienced like just Blake said. I've been on snorkeling on the top and feel God's hands right there. And then a week from that or two, three weeks, I'm down at the the bottom crawling like a soldier in in the war. And no matter the condition that we are, no matter how difficult our life gets, Jesus is always available to extend his hand and to heal our lives and to heal our minds. And in his hand, there is always a healing option.

No matter... This is the key that I have to share. No matter how difficult our life it gets, what it is right now, I don't know what's going on in your life, in your heart, in your mind. Might struggle with something. I might struggle with something.

And yet Jesus is willing. How long this happening? Come to me. Let me heal you. And he's willing to loves us, to love us, and to deal with ourselves the way we are.

Amen.

Thank you. Good work. Good work. Any others? Any other thoughts from from Mark nine?

Thank you. Thank you for sharing tonight. And how about we stand, and and we'll close in a song too about this, I believe. And before I forget to Monique, on this coming Saturday, there is a get together for you. Correct?

And if you want more information about that because I think... Is is it kinda kinda come one, come all kind of a thing? Fantastic. Right there on the back. As you are leaving, on that white bulletin board, there's information.

Saturday from six to eight. Six to eight.

Through your Holy Spirit conceiving Christ the son, Jesus our savior. I believe in God our father. I believe in Christ the son. I believe in the Holy Spirit. Our God is three in one.

I believe in the resurrection, and we will rise again for I believe in the name of Jesus. Goodness is in you ascended into darkness you rose glorious light is three and one. I believe in the resurrection that we will rise again for I believe in the name

And here's a verse I wanna part with from... Oh, there's one from Mark. Sure. We'll go with this one. Pay close attention to what you hear.

The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given, and you will receive even more. Lord, that we would be paying attention, looking to you, just as the disciples got sidetracked and and forgot to pray. Lord, we do too. And we need you. And like that father, would we call out to you?

Lord, I believe, but help me in my unbelief. Remind us, teach us. Thank you God for your Holy Spirit to carry us through the week. In Jesus name, amen.