Title: Grow Your Faith to Please the Lord
Contents
■ Grow in your faith pleasing to the Lord
Mark 9:21-29
21 Jesus asked his father, "Since when has it been like this?" He said, "Since I was a child. 22 Demons often threw him into fire and water to kill him. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us." 23 Jesus said to him, "Do What do you mean if it is possible? Nothing is impossible for those who believe.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out, saying, “I believe, help my unbelief.” 25 When Jesus saw the crowds running and gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit. He said to them, "You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you to come out of the child and not to enter it again." 26 The demon cried out and made the child convulsive and went out, and the child became as if dead, many saying that he was dead. 27 Jesus said to him, "He is dead." He took his hand and raised him up, so he stood up. 28 As he entered the house, his disciples asked him in silence, "Why were we not able to cast out the demon?" 29 And he said to him, "This kind cannot come out except through prayer."
Hebrews 11:6
Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
▶ Sermon
Dear saints,
Anyone who has a good relationship with God and lives pleasing to God will be blessed by living with God.
Who will our God be pleased with?
In Hebrews 11:6, it says that God is pleased with those who have faith. You must have faith to please God.
What kind of faith is the faith that pleases God?
1. We must go to God. He rejoices when he approaches God.
Believe that the Lord is pleased with those who come to Him.
I pray in the name of Jesus that you and I will always come to the Lord no matter what happens. I want you to go out even if there are things to be thankful for, and to go out even when things are impossible.
Today's story in Mark 9:14-29 is an unusual story.
It is the story of a father and his mute son. He is not simply dumb, but "a son who is possessed by a dumb ghost and has epilepsy." What does this mean?
No matter who you look at, it's something that can't be fixed with medicine. I have no idea how to do it. That is, it is impossible with human ability. I mean, it's impossible. I can't figure out how to do it.
Almost everyone panics when a crisis hits when the impossible happens.
When I have a problem, the Lord wants me to come before Him. Hallelujah!
Jesus told us to come out with a problem.
The father in this story is just an ordinary father.
The difference is that you came to Jesus with all your heart.
Please believe that the Lord is pleased with everyone who comes before him with all his heart.
In verse 19, Jesus said, “Bring him to me.”
I believe that when you bring your problems to the Lord, they turn into opportunities.
Those who have been loved by the Lord work harder.
[Bring it to me.] When you have a problem, I hope you take it to the Lord.
When the Lord says, “Bring your problems,” he says, “Bring them to me, because he is pleased with bringing problems.”
When the people of Israel went out in faith in the face of the impossibility of the Red Sea, God parted the Red Sea. Humans cannot do these things.
Please believe that all solutions are in the Lord.
Please believe that the Lord is "too much" pleased when I bring my problems to the Lord.
2. You must believe that God lives. You are happy at this time.
Like the father of a child in Mark 9, disappointment, anxiety, worry, and fear can come to anyone because of the impossible task that is ahead of us. The most important thing is what to do at this time.
God's work can happen when the end of my way is seen.
Through this child's problem, the father came to experience the Lord's work through faith.
The important thing at this time is that I want to come to the Lord with my faith. He is waiting for my prayer.
We have to see if we have faith.
To believe in the living God means to take my eyes off my problems and fix them on the Lord of power.
Today's world does not recognize God the Creator and makes us not believe in God's Word. The world leaves God and makes us look at a world without hope. It makes you look at the problem more.
I believe that in life with God, everything is in him. Hallelujah!
The father of Luke 9 has already experienced one failure through his disciples. Failure leads to more confession of despair. If you do not believe that God lives, you will confess in despair like this father.
“If you can do anything, have mercy on us and help us” (Mark 9:22).
The child's father was not sure of his faith in Jesus when he saw the disciples fail. After I go before the Lord with my problems, I have to believe that God lives.
Like this father, when we feel our faith is weak, we too must confess, "Have mercy on me and help my faith." When that happens, problems turn into opportunities.
He rejoices when he believes that God lives. Those who believe that God exists are those who have faith in God.
○The son of a chieftain of an African tribe was dying of disease. Just in time, Missionary Livingstone came to visit the village and tried to fix it, but there was no hope.
Desperate, Livingstone took hold of the dying chief's son and began to pray for his life.
The chief slapped the praying Livingstone and said, "Even if you pray, my son is already dead!" It was said. When I opened my eyes, I was out of breath.
At that time, Livingstone prayed, "Lord, see my faith. I believe that this man is not dead, but I believe you have revived it." When he opened his eyes, the child was sitting up.
This event became a great driving force in Livingstone's missionary history. After that, Livingstone is said to have become one of his favorite phrases: "Whatever you have believed and asked, you have received."
In fact, while traveling all over Africa, the people he met were sick and troubled people. He confesses to them that they do not have anything but prayer. Therefore, it is said that they believed and prayed, prayed, prayed, and prayed unconditionally, believing only the word that said, 'Consider that you have received what you have believed and asked for.
There is no one greater than Jesus. This faith in our Lord Jesus made history.
3. We must believe that God is a rewarder of those who seek.
“If you can do anything, have mercy on us and help us” (Mark 9:22).
When Jesus said, “If it is possible, what do you mean? Nothing is impossible for those who believe.” The child's father had faith. So, I say, “I believe,” and fall down. He finally believed in the omnipotence of Christ. I believed that the problem could be solved.
There is only one faith. Hebrews 11:6 also says, “He who comes to God must believe that he is a rewarder.”
Folks, without faith, you are nothing. We believe in Jesus, we believe in His power, and we believe in His love and His grace. It is to believe in me in the love of Jesus. Meeting Jesus today is a great grace in itself. He is saying that this is a matter of faith.
“If it is possible, what do you mean? Nothing is impossible for those who believe.”
This father received the award for the healing of his beloved son.
But today the disciples ask a very important question.
Mark 9:28: "Why were we not able to cast out the demon?"
Mark 9:29 "This kind cannot go out by any other means than prayer."
This is to say to the disciples, "It's not just that you know me."
"It's not just that you guys went with me."
It's not your strength.
It's not your ability.
It is not your knowledge.
It's not your experience.
Only God can do it.
Only God, who is not impossible, can do it.
"That's why we must pray. We must believe and pray in a God who is not capable of anything."
"Prayer opens the way." That is what you are.
“Everything changes only when you pray.”
“Prayer experiences the power of God.” That is what you are.
“If you pray, God will give you wisdom.”
The gates of heaven open only when you pray.
Call to me, and I will answer you, and I will show you great and mighty things that you do not know (Jeremiah 33:3).
Dear brothers and sisters, I love my children like the father of a dumb, demon-possessed child.
Lord, grant us the grace that is constantly rising with the help of the Holy Spirit!
Here a father came to Jesus with his son's suffering problem. I came to Jesus with sorrow and pain.
Do not be discouraged when such sorrows and extreme situations come among us as well, and believe that this is an opportunity for the Lord to intervene in our lives. Like the father in the Gospel of Mark, we believe that when we raise our hands to Jesus, we will meet the amazing grace of the Lord.
“A problem is an opportunity.”
“A problem is an opportunity to see the work of the Lord.”
“A crisis is an opportunity.”
"A crisis is an opportunity for the Lord's work."
When I believe and go out like this, I believe that the Lord's work will continue in my life.
▶Conclusion:
Living in this world is not easy.
What is not easy is an opportunity for the Lord to intervene.
It doesn't work my way. What does not go my way is an opportunity for the Lord to work. It's not going my way. It doesn't even work as I wish.
Please believe that this is an opportunity for the work of faith to happen when things do not go as you wish.