Title: Revival
Contents
▒▒ Bible_ Mark 9:14~29
Today's text is an event that happened after he came down from the mountain of change. While Jesus went up the mountain and changed, the disciples remained at the bottom of the mountain. At that time, a father brought his demon-possessed son to his disciples and asked them to heal him, but they could not heal him despite their efforts in every way.
When Jesus arrived, he said, “If you can, heal this child.” Jesus asked, “If you can do it, what do you mean? Nothing is impossible for those who believe.” He said and corrected it. Then the disciples asked Jesus, “Why are we not able to cast out the demon?” Jesus answered, “This kind of thing cannot go out except through prayer.” He said to his disciples.
This parable gives me a lot to think about. Because we who believe in Jesus, like the disciples in today's text, live in this world as Christians, and we are the ones who work hard so that the evils of the world can be removed and God's goodness can spread throughout the world. We make our own efforts. ‘How can the kingdom of God be further expanded on this earth? How can evil spirits retreat and the world can be ruled by the Holy Spirit?' But is the kingdom of God expanding and evil retreating according to our efforts? is to do In front of this question, even if we labor just like the disciples, the results are weak.
In today's text, the disciples ask Jesus. “Jesus, why can’t we cast out demons?” Jesus unequivocally answered in verse 29, “This kind cannot go out except by prayer. While speaking, demon possession is expressed as 'this kind', but the English Bible expresses it as 'this kind'.
Jesus' disciples had already cast out demons. In Luke 10:17, “When we preached the gospel, even the demons went away and miracles took place when we believed in Jesus.” But in today's text, Jesus said, "Just because you cast out demons in the past, don't think that you are casting out demons again this time. In the past, when you cast out demons, you must not think that the demons and the demons in the child are the same.” These kinds of demons, these kinds of demons, is the saying, 'Don't think that just because you have cast out these demons in the past, you are also casting out these demons.'
Then what is preventing our revival and growth? We need to figure this out exactly. First, the Korean church does not have repentance. It means that repentance has disappeared. It means that they continue to commit the same sins. True repentance is not among us. The second is that the Korean church only sees and does not practice. I believe that our members will work hard for the Lord and praise Him, and we will have to run diligently in the places we are all in. However, the problem is that this practice is rare for us today. Third, one of the great weaknesses of our Protestantism is that the authority of the Bible and the authority of the church are ignored. Here's why Protestantism declined, but Catholicism was revived today.
In today's text, an important lesson Jesus is telling his disciples is that it is impossible to achieve what is called this revival, the breaking of evil, and the fact that with human experience, knowledge, and your power, it cannot happen. Today, the work of revival cannot happen with our knowledge, our experience, and our strength. Our Korean Bible, which says in Mark 9:29, “This kind cannot go out except through prayer,” omits one important thing. In the original text and the English Bible, it says “but by prayer and fasting”. It can be seen that the Korean Bible omitted fasting.
What is prayer? We surrender before God. “I have no will, so I am raising my hand. I cannot live without you. I cannot live without praying to the Lord.” It is surrender. What is the purpose of fasting? is to focus. Why do we fast? If we pray while eating, we will give up eating because we are afraid that our thoughts will be taken away, and we focus on looking only at Jesus.
Today's worship is blessed and judged at the same time. If you focus on Jesus and worship, you will surely be blessed. However, if you do not focus on Jesus during the worship service and are caught up in other thoughts, you will not be blessed at all. People who are next to them rejoice that they have received grace, but those who have scattered thoughts cannot receive grace. That is why even when we pray, “God, help me to focus only on Jesus.” This should be our prayer.
What is Jesus telling us today? “This kind cannot go out except by prayer and fasting.” We hope that you will receive the promised filling of the Holy Spirit through our earnest prayers. May you receive the blessings God gives you today by focusing on Jesus. In the name of the Lord, I pray for the revival of individual souls, the revival of our families, the revival of the church, and the revival of the Korean people.
2007-07-26 16:01:39