WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.100 We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christ Church. 00:00:05.580 --> 00:00:09.519 This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication, 00:00:09.900 --> 00:00:15.300 redistribution, or any other use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christ Church. 00:00:15.300 --> 00:00:22.640 Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at ChristChurchEastBay.org. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:37.820 Today's reading is from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 9, verses 14 to 29, as printed in the liturgy. 00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:45.500 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:51.260 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. 00:00:51.760 --> 00:00:54.219 What are you arguing with them about, he asked. 00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:56.219 A man in the crowd answered, 00:00:56.219 --> 00:01:02.179 Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:06.780 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. 00:01:07.340 --> 00:01:11.719 He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. 00:01:12.579 --> 00:01:16.539 I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not. 00:01:17.319 --> 00:01:20.700 You unbelieving generation, Jesus replied, 00:01:21.340 --> 00:01:23.099 How long shall I stay with you? 00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:25.539 How long shall I put up with you? 00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:27.560 Bring the boy to me. 00:01:28.220 --> 00:01:29.340 So they brought him. 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:34.860 When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. 00:01:35.380 --> 00:01:38.880 He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 00:01:39.820 --> 00:01:41.420 Jesus asked the boy's father, 00:01:41.939 --> 00:01:43.680 How long has he been like this? 00:01:44.219 --> 00:01:45.800 From childhood, he answered. 00:01:46.680 --> 00:01:50.480 It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:55.120 But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. 00:01:55.859 --> 00:02:01.780 If you can, said Jesus, everything is possible for one who believes. 00:02:02.439 --> 00:02:04.760 Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, 00:02:05.159 --> 00:02:06.159 I do believe. 00:02:06.540 --> 00:02:08.280 Help me overcome my unbelief. 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:13.939 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. 00:02:14.659 --> 00:02:17.159 You deaf and mute spirit, he commanded. 00:02:17.759 --> 00:02:21.080 I command you, come out of him and never enter him again. 00:02:21.780 --> 00:02:25.139 The spirit shrieked, convulsed violently, and came out. 00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:29.360 The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, He's dead. 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:34.640 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. 00:02:35.240 --> 00:02:38.880 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, 00:02:39.320 --> 00:02:40.880 Why couldn't we drive it out? 00:02:41.440 --> 00:02:44.820 He replied, This kind can only come out by prayer. 00:02:45.140 --> 00:02:46.620 This is the word of the Lord. 00:02:47.160 --> 00:02:48.460 Thanks be to God. 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:49.700 You may be seated. 00:02:52.980 --> 00:02:56.960 So, this story is in your pew Bibles. 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:01.500 If you want to open that on page 820, you can see the larger context. 00:03:02.300 --> 00:03:08.520 It's after the transfiguration where the glory of Jesus as the divine son of God 00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:11.540 has just been revealed to Peter, James, and John. 00:03:12.300 --> 00:03:15.659 And while Jesus is up on top of that mountain with his three disciples, 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:19.260 the nine other disciples are down at the bottom of the mountain, 00:03:19.260 --> 00:03:22.439 and they're wrestling, they're struggling with evil. 00:03:23.319 --> 00:03:26.000 And Jesus comes, and he finds them in an argument, 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:28.879 and he says, Well, what are you arguing about? 00:03:29.699 --> 00:03:32.060 And this man, this father, steps forward, and he says, 00:03:32.139 --> 00:03:37.479 Well, I'm the cause of all this commotion because, you see, my poor boy, 00:03:38.199 --> 00:03:43.620 he has been attacked by these convulsions since childhood. 00:03:43.620 --> 00:03:50.180 And I thought that you and your disciples could help and could heal my boy. 00:03:51.460 --> 00:03:53.439 But your people could do nothing. 00:03:54.259 --> 00:03:56.759 You know, they tried and they failed. 00:03:57.980 --> 00:04:05.920 And Jesus proceeds to exercise this demon out of this boy and heals and restores him just in a moment, 00:04:06.020 --> 00:04:06.599 in an instant. 00:04:06.599 --> 00:04:11.219 And the disciples asked Jesus to say, Why could we not drive it out? 00:04:11.340 --> 00:04:15.879 I mean, we've had ministry success before, but today we failed. 00:04:15.939 --> 00:04:16.620 Why is that? 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:22.259 And Jesus said, Well, because this kind can come out only by prayer. 00:04:22.259 --> 00:04:29.219 And Jesus demonstrated that fact, that, you know, Jesus in a moment with extreme ease, 00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:34.060 he just spoke a word and evil was vanquished and the boy was healed. 00:04:35.079 --> 00:04:37.719 Now, some of you may feel a little nervous at this point, like, 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:41.240 Man, we sent our pastor on sabbatical, and he's come out, you know, 00:04:41.300 --> 00:04:43.699 talking about revival and demons and exorcisms. 00:04:44.500 --> 00:04:46.180 And maybe that wasn't such a good idea. 00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:48.759 Maybe we should send him, you know, away for another four months. 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:50.319 And that would be great. 00:04:50.500 --> 00:04:52.879 That would be fine by me. 00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:55.579 But hang with me here. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:05:01.920 I want to explore Jesus' statement that this kind can come out only by prayer. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:04.819 Jesus says this kind. 00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:11.259 And I think in many ways in this boy we see a picture of the modern world 00:05:11.259 --> 00:05:14.480 that is seized and convulsed by evil, 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:18.560 an evil that is distorting and destroying the image of God. 00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:23.139 And in the disciples we see the church of Christ, they're trying. 00:05:23.699 --> 00:05:27.099 You know, they're doing their uttermost, but they're lacking in power. 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:30.099 They're obviously failing to deal with the situation. 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:34.500 And do any of us ask that question that the disciples ask, like, 00:05:34.980 --> 00:05:41.879 Lord, why do we have no power to deal with the evil that convulses our world? 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:50.459 Why does the church seem to lack such spiritual energy and authority to engage with the situation that confronts us? 00:05:51.779 --> 00:05:53.839 And Jesus answers that question. 00:05:53.959 --> 00:05:56.860 Why couldn't we drive out this evil spirit? 00:05:57.300 --> 00:05:59.500 And his answer is this kind. 00:06:00.839 --> 00:06:01.699 This kind. 00:06:01.819 --> 00:06:04.219 You don't understand this kind. 00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:12.260 You've not yet learned to differentiate between that kind and this kind. 00:06:13.140 --> 00:06:16.800 You see, the disciples knew how to deal with that kind of spirit. 00:06:16.960 --> 00:06:21.380 After some initial training, our Lord sent his disciples out and he said, 00:06:21.460 --> 00:06:24.980 I want you to go and preach the gospel of the kingdom of God, 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:27.500 and I want you to drive out evil spirits. 00:06:27.500 --> 00:06:29.759 And they went and did just that. 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:38.720 And in Luke chapter 10, we read that on one occasion they were so successful that they came back with such elation and such excitement, 00:06:38.860 --> 00:06:43.000 really full of an overconfidence in themselves. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:47.480 And the Lord rebuked the pride of his little church of disciples there. 00:06:47.740 --> 00:06:49.920 And he said to them in Luke 10, 20, he said, 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:57.300 Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. 00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:05.379 You are full of excitement because in my name and in my power, the devils are being made subject to you. 00:07:05.660 --> 00:07:10.839 And as you go out preaching the kingdom, this kingdom of darkness, 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:17.480 this kingdom of all these evil spirits are just falling before you as you preach the gospel. 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:22.180 But this time, this father brings his son for healing, 00:07:22.579 --> 00:07:27.259 and you approached that problem with confidence and with assurance. 00:07:27.500 --> 00:07:30.879 And you had no doubt that you were going to succeed. 00:07:31.100 --> 00:07:36.240 And yet, in spite of all of your efforts, the boy was no better at all. 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:40.300 He's just as desperate, just as miserable as he was before he came to you. 00:07:40.300 --> 00:07:52.699 And so Jesus is saying, I want to give you eyes so that you can begin to see the difference between that kind that you've encountered before with some success, 00:07:52.960 --> 00:07:57.680 and this kind, which is far stronger than anything you've ever dealt with before. 00:07:59.080 --> 00:08:00.360 You guys tracking with me? 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:08.420 Some of you have read Screwtape Letters, and C.S. Lewis got that whole concept of that book from the New Testament, 00:08:08.420 --> 00:08:12.040 which teaches the difference between devil and devil, right? 00:08:12.259 --> 00:08:15.420 Junior devil, senior devil, weaker devil, stronger devil. 00:08:15.420 --> 00:08:24.400 That's what Jesus is teaching here, that in this evil kingdom of dark powers, there are gradations and there are hierarchies. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:31.759 So that in Ephesians chapter 6, the apostle Paul says that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. 00:08:31.879 --> 00:08:37.679 That if you think, you know, our struggle is against human beings or human groups or human institutions, 00:08:38.079 --> 00:08:41.279 you've misread, you've misinterpreted the situation. 00:08:42.079 --> 00:08:43.539 That our struggle is against something else. 00:08:43.620 --> 00:08:45.779 Well, what is it that we're wrestling against? 00:08:45.779 --> 00:08:54.740 The apostle says, we wrestle against principalities and against powers and against rulers of the darkness of this world, 00:08:54.860 --> 00:08:58.579 against spiritual wickedness in high places. 00:08:59.539 --> 00:09:07.139 You see, there's this gradation, this hierarchy, and at the head of all that is Satan himself, 00:09:07.319 --> 00:09:11.360 whom the apostle calls in Ephesians 2, the prince of the power of the air, 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:16.159 the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:24.820 And under Satan, Jesus' teaching, is that all of these spirits, all these powers, all of these forces vary in their strength. 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:30.019 And you disciples do not yet know what it is that you're up against. 00:09:31.779 --> 00:09:39.500 See, earlier the disciples had been easily able to deal with these lesser spirits and they could master them, 00:09:39.500 --> 00:09:41.100 they could exercise them. 00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:46.440 But Jesus says, here is a spirit of greater power, this kind. 00:09:47.300 --> 00:09:49.560 It's not like those feebler spirits. 00:09:49.700 --> 00:09:50.620 It's altogether different. 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:53.539 You're facing a much greater problem. 00:09:54.840 --> 00:10:01.600 The disciples had rushed and attempted treatment before they really understood the nature of the problem. 00:10:02.860 --> 00:10:05.720 And I think in the church today, we're so active. 00:10:05.720 --> 00:10:10.720 And I'm talking about, you know, the church in North America, including Christ Church. 00:10:10.800 --> 00:10:12.259 But we're so active. 00:10:12.860 --> 00:10:13.920 We're so busy. 00:10:14.040 --> 00:10:21.720 We're devoting massive amounts of time and energy and money without stopping to consider Jesus' diagnosis of this kind. 00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:30.560 That we may not be aware, as aware as we should be, of the real essence and depth of the problem that's confronting the church. 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:39.639 That we may be carrying on with certain methods which were once successful but which will now fail us because we're in a new situation. 00:10:39.639 --> 00:10:52.460 In 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher, he wrote that we must unchain the earth from the sun. 00:10:52.460 --> 00:11:01.080 We must unchain the earth from the sun and find a new center, right? 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:02.300 That's what he means by that. 00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:06.879 And that unchaining the earth from the sun, we should revalue all values. 00:11:08.759 --> 00:11:21.540 And the result of this great movement, you know, led by Nietzsche and many others, 140 years later, is that we now live in this late modern post-Christian secular age society 00:11:21.539 --> 00:11:29.179 that's seized and afflicted and convulsed by this kind of destructive evil and it doesn't even know what's happening. 00:11:31.059 --> 00:11:36.839 You know, since Nietzsche's time, belief in God has been rapidly fading. 00:11:38.179 --> 00:11:42.639 Knowledge of biblical truth has diminished to the point where it's almost virtually gone. 00:11:44.039 --> 00:11:51.480 We've lost a sense of the universal, timeless, moral absolutes of right and wrong that pretty much every culture used to acknowledge. 00:11:51.539 --> 00:11:52.339 Together. 00:11:53.679 --> 00:12:01.480 The notion that human beings need saving is increasingly dismissed and even mocked as something, just a ridiculous idea. 00:12:02.819 --> 00:12:06.179 Jesus is interpreted as just a man among men. 00:12:06.299 --> 00:12:09.279 He's a political agitator, a social reformer. 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:13.279 He's a great ethical teacher and example, but he's nothing more. 00:12:14.519 --> 00:12:17.879 The Bible is interpreted as just a book among books. 00:12:17.879 --> 00:12:28.200 You know, inspiring stories, beautiful poems, wise sayings, really mostly myth and legend, superstition, nothing much more than that. 00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:42.200 And the result of this 150-year experiment in the Western world is that most of our friends and neighbors and colleagues and our family are in positions of plenty. 00:12:42.200 --> 00:12:48.740 They're able to get what they want, but they're totally unconcerned about spiritual things. 00:12:49.560 --> 00:12:51.840 Not interested in the things of the soul. 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:55.540 Not interested in the higher and eternal things of life. 00:12:55.620 --> 00:12:57.920 Not interested in God at all. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:03.519 And they're just sitting there eating and drinking and enjoying themselves. 00:13:04.959 --> 00:13:06.159 Completely powerless. 00:13:06.979 --> 00:13:12.479 When these headlines come across the news of evil convulsing the world, don't know what to do with it. 00:13:13.479 --> 00:13:25.199 Completely unprepared to meet God face to face and to stand before the judge of all the earth with his exacting standards of holiness and righteousness. 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:36.360 Christchurch, we're facing an unprecedented post-Christian context and an increasingly anti-Christian zeitgeist. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:42.320 And the question is, do we adequately understand the spirit of our age? 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:52.420 Because we can't carry on thinking that the problem is that kind when really Jesus is teaching us the problem is this kind. 00:13:56.900 --> 00:13:59.780 I haven't preached in a while, so I can't tell if you're with me or not. 00:14:02.700 --> 00:14:05.080 This kind, Jesus says. 00:14:06.400 --> 00:14:07.940 He wants us to deal with that. 00:14:07.940 --> 00:14:09.980 But he also goes on. 00:14:10.040 --> 00:14:13.000 He says this kind can come out. 00:14:14.020 --> 00:14:15.780 This kind can come out. 00:14:15.860 --> 00:14:25.180 When you looked at all the actors on the scene, you have, number one, the devil who Scripture says is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. 00:14:25.300 --> 00:14:28.120 And the disciples pose no threat to him whatsoever. 00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:33.380 You have this boy who's in this terrible condition of helplessness. 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:36.080 Evil is making him more and more subhuman. 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:40.500 You have the scribes who just argue and debate. 00:14:40.620 --> 00:14:45.560 Basically, they're the clergy, just useless in the face of confronting real evil. 00:14:46.580 --> 00:14:49.020 You have this crowd that's in total distress. 00:14:49.240 --> 00:14:53.379 I mean, imagine how many other people are waiting in line to be healed and be delivered. 00:14:54.520 --> 00:15:00.980 You have this father who's distraught and he prays, rescue me from my unbelief. 00:15:00.980 --> 00:15:10.500 And you have the disciples who are confident they can help, but then they're mortified by their failure and they're baffled by it. 00:15:11.220 --> 00:15:13.820 It's a scene of total despair. 00:15:13.820 --> 00:15:18.980 And is this not our situation exactly? 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:21.960 Satan is rampant. 00:15:22.560 --> 00:15:25.200 The world is convulsing with evil. 00:15:25.940 --> 00:15:29.480 The church is impotent with her squabbling scribes. 00:15:29.480 --> 00:15:37.800 This crowd of agonizing and endless need is just watching this spectacle helplessly. 00:15:39.080 --> 00:15:44.740 The people of God have a faltering faith that's polluted and choked by unbelief. 00:15:45.899 --> 00:15:51.060 And the disciples are perplexed about what to do in the face of real evil. 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:53.639 Do you feel desperate? 00:15:53.639 --> 00:16:05.319 Well, see, that's a good thing because the church has never experienced revival until she's found herself in a state of humble desperation. 00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:09.539 When we cry out and say, oh, Lord, help us. 00:16:10.419 --> 00:16:11.840 Oh, Lord, have mercy on us. 00:16:11.860 --> 00:16:15.059 And I mentioned six actors in the scene, but actually there's a seventh. 00:16:15.899 --> 00:16:19.019 And he enters the scene and he says, this kind can come out. 00:16:19.779 --> 00:16:22.100 And he shows us his power to drive it out. 00:16:22.100 --> 00:16:30.360 And then he has this follow-up Q&A session where he says, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but. 00:16:30.940 --> 00:16:37.060 He's saying that there are certain approaches that are utterly useless when applied to this kind. 00:16:37.460 --> 00:16:39.580 You know, church, you've had power before. 00:16:39.680 --> 00:16:40.940 Disciples, you've had power before. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:42.080 And that was good. 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:43.440 But now it's insufficient. 00:16:43.899 --> 00:16:44.500 It's inadequate. 00:16:44.800 --> 00:16:46.259 It's going to be ineffective. 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:51.120 It's going to leave you, disciples, just helpless and hopeless. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:54.179 It's going to leave this boy just diseased and powerless. 00:16:56.299 --> 00:17:03.539 Jesus is driving his disciples to a deeper dependency and a deeper sense of desperation for him. 00:17:05.180 --> 00:17:10.039 I mean, what do the disciples do when they realize that in spite of their efforts, that they are not enough? 00:17:11.220 --> 00:17:12.400 That they're useless? 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:20.040 That they lack the power that they need to confront the powers and principalities of this world? 00:17:20.039 --> 00:17:27.180 What does the church do today when she realizes that she's not touching the secular age at all? 00:17:28.779 --> 00:17:35.559 That the spiritual and moral condition of our society is not being helped by us one bit. 00:17:35.639 --> 00:17:42.960 In fact, in many ways, we're just reflecting the spiritual and moral condition of the society back to itself and making things worse. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:55.360 Jesus says, in this situation, I want you to put your faith in my power to deal with this kind. 00:17:56.700 --> 00:17:57.680 Look at verse 19. 00:17:57.819 --> 00:18:01.079 He says, you unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with you? 00:18:01.140 --> 00:18:03.220 How long shall I put up with you? 00:18:03.299 --> 00:18:05.059 Bring the boy to me. 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:06.660 He looks at all the actors on the stage. 00:18:06.700 --> 00:18:07.880 He says, there's no faith here. 00:18:08.120 --> 00:18:09.480 I'm the only one who has faith. 00:18:09.480 --> 00:18:11.240 Verse 20. 00:18:12.380 --> 00:18:19.759 So they brought him, and when the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion, and he fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:21.960 See, the spirits know Jesus. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:28.900 The spirits know his power, and when they see him approaching, they resist, and they tighten their grip. 00:18:30.200 --> 00:18:30.860 Verse 21. 00:18:31.059 --> 00:18:33.860 Jesus asked the boy's father, how long has he been like this? 00:18:34.380 --> 00:18:35.880 From childhood, he answered. 00:18:35.880 --> 00:18:43.500 It has often thrown him into fire and water to kill him, but if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. 00:18:43.540 --> 00:18:48.460 I see this father just shrugging his shoulders and saying, you know, your people have been helpless. 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:53.620 If there's anything you think you might possibly be able to manage, go for it. 00:18:54.860 --> 00:19:00.500 And Jesus, I think, teasingly rebukes him in verse 23, and he bounces the question right back. 00:19:00.560 --> 00:19:03.020 He says, what's this if you can nonsense? 00:19:03.019 --> 00:19:07.139 The issue here is not my ability. 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:16.400 The issue is you, all of you people, putting a limit on God for whom everything is possible. 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:19.619 And this man hears that word. 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:20.680 In verse 24, it says, 00:19:20.680 --> 00:19:47.039 And that's the prayer for revival, right? 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:50.559 It's praying, Lord, enliven the lukewarm among us. 00:19:51.639 --> 00:19:54.099 Quicken the sleeping among us. 00:19:55.059 --> 00:19:58.399 Awaken the lethargic among us. 00:19:58.539 --> 00:20:00.980 Come, Lord, revive us and help us. 00:20:02.299 --> 00:20:04.819 And Jesus responds to that prayer in verse 25. 00:20:04.899 --> 00:20:08.920 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. 00:20:09.299 --> 00:20:10.920 You deaf and mute spirit, he said, 00:20:10.980 --> 00:20:14.319 I command you, come out of him and never enter him again. 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:19.519 And the spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. 00:20:19.579 --> 00:20:22.500 And the boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, he's dead. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:25.839 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet. 00:20:26.119 --> 00:20:28.079 And he stood up. 00:20:29.460 --> 00:20:32.939 This is Jesus on the way to his own death and resurrection. 00:20:32.940 --> 00:20:40.039 And he takes this boy out of death, dealing evil, and he raises him up to new life. 00:20:41.660 --> 00:20:50.620 Jesus' might and Jesus' majesty is most visibly displayed when we've exhausted all human resources. 00:20:51.460 --> 00:20:51.640 Right? 00:20:51.640 --> 00:20:58.259 And he comes in as the life giver, the giver of life who breaks Satan's power. 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:04.640 And he puts this boy back together again. 00:21:05.360 --> 00:21:09.900 He releases him through the power of his authoritative word. 00:21:09.900 --> 00:21:15.500 And the question for us today is, have you experienced this yourself? 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:24.740 Have you experienced Jesus taking you by the hand, as it were, and saving you? 00:21:26.040 --> 00:21:32.540 Raising you up from darkness and evil and sin and death and giving you new life? 00:21:32.539 --> 00:21:43.619 Has Jesus come to you and has he unleashed the power of the Holy Spirit in you and delivered you from this kingdom of darkness and into his kingdom of light? 00:21:43.659 --> 00:21:45.299 Because you cannot become a Christian. 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:48.319 You cannot enter the kingdom of God in any other way. 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:58.759 And if you're a Christian, it's only because this one who's gone through death and come out the other side has come searching for you. 00:21:58.759 --> 00:22:05.420 And he's found you and he's grabbed you by the hand and he's raised you up to new life. 00:22:06.460 --> 00:22:08.819 And that's why some of us are here today. 00:22:08.839 --> 00:22:15.879 Because Jesus came and he raised us up from addiction and abuse and abandonment. 00:22:17.019 --> 00:22:22.859 That Jesus came and he found us and he raised us up from greedy desires for more prosperity. 00:22:23.539 --> 00:22:28.240 And a prideful quest for more power and lustful cravings for more pleasure. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:30.539 He set us up on our feet again. 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:31.720 Right? 00:22:31.740 --> 00:22:40.180 He came and he found us and he raised us up from this demonic pull of self-centeredness and self-interest and self-indulgence. 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:43.000 And he gave us a new life. 00:22:44.299 --> 00:22:52.559 And if Jesus has taken you by the hand and he's given you life and he's lifted you to your feet, give him thanks today. 00:22:52.559 --> 00:23:06.359 And if you've not yet experienced that power to save, but you want to, or you want to want to, then I encourage you just to take the risk and to pray, 00:23:06.500 --> 00:23:09.240 Lord, I kind of believe. 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:13.519 Come and rescue me from my unbelief. 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:20.519 Because Jesus says this kind, it can come out. 00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:25.079 This kind can come out. 00:23:25.940 --> 00:23:29.619 But Jesus says it can come out only by prayer. 00:23:30.680 --> 00:23:35.900 And again, I'm out of preaching shape, so it's hard to preach short sermons when you haven't preached in a while. 00:23:36.500 --> 00:23:39.960 I've got one more point, but really it's Jesus' fault because it's his point. 00:23:39.960 --> 00:23:44.460 He says it can come out only by prayer. 00:23:44.579 --> 00:23:47.000 And I want to just say a final word here about prayer. 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:54.299 He says you succeeded before because you were dealing with that kind of lesser and weaker spirits. 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.460 But you failed here with this kind because you didn't have the sufficient power. 00:23:59.539 --> 00:24:06.259 And the reason you didn't have sufficient power is because you were ignorant of these hierarchies and gradations of power that you're up against. 00:24:06.360 --> 00:24:08.799 And therefore, you lacked the preparation you needed. 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:11.799 You lacked the faith-filled prayers that you needed. 00:24:12.139 --> 00:24:13.559 And therefore, you failed. 00:24:15.399 --> 00:24:19.180 But I did what you could not do because I have the power. 00:24:20.419 --> 00:24:24.480 Because I'm filled with the power of God that he gives me by the Holy Spirit. 00:24:24.539 --> 00:24:27.299 And that's what Jesus has been doing up on the Mount of Transfiguration. 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:29.180 He's been praying to his Father, 00:24:29.579 --> 00:24:35.359 Please, Father, fill me with your Holy Spirit for the things that I need to go do now. 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:38.699 For the things that you've given me to do. 00:24:38.779 --> 00:24:41.679 Fill me with your Spirit of power. 00:24:41.799 --> 00:24:47.500 And Jesus comes back from this particularly intense time of prayer with heightened power. 00:24:47.500 --> 00:24:49.200 And he says, 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:58.900 You disciples, you'll never be able to deal with this kind unless you've applied to God for the power which he alone can give you. 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:02.220 Presumably, they had been praying, right? 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:05.480 They didn't try to do something here without praying. 00:25:05.480 --> 00:25:08.220 But Jesus is calling them to deeper prayer. 00:25:09.140 --> 00:25:17.019 To a deeper awareness of their need and their impotence and their helplessness and their desperate dependency on the Lord. 00:25:17.079 --> 00:25:18.860 To say, We are in over our heads. 00:25:21.059 --> 00:25:24.400 We're confronting something that's too deep for us to deal with. 00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:27.840 Jesus says, I'm calling you to special prayer. 00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:32.540 I'm calling you to a focused spiritual effort where you say, 00:25:32.540 --> 00:25:37.140 Lord, we need something that can go down beneath this evil power. 00:25:37.240 --> 00:25:38.519 That can shatter it. 00:25:38.680 --> 00:25:45.500 The only thing that can really do that, Lord, is your extraordinary and supernatural power. 00:25:45.600 --> 00:25:48.600 Because you are the almighty God. 00:25:48.599 --> 00:25:55.859 And on my sabbatical, I just sensed the Lord inviting me to pray in new ways. 00:25:56.519 --> 00:25:58.539 To enter into a new season of prayer. 00:25:58.619 --> 00:26:01.839 And I guess if he's inviting me, I presume he's inviting you too. 00:26:04.199 --> 00:26:06.019 To disrupt the status quo. 00:26:07.299 --> 00:26:15.359 And to give our time, give our energy, give our focused attention to prayer for the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit among us. 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:29.579 A prayer that's desperate that says, Lord, we cannot accomplish the great mission that you've given us as a church here if we don't have the authority and the might and the strength and the power of the Spirit. 00:26:30.719 --> 00:26:39.039 And if we're utterly convinced of our need for this, we will, I will cease to have much confidence in ourselves. 00:26:39.379 --> 00:26:39.819 Right? 00:26:39.879 --> 00:26:43.219 In our methods and the things that we've accomplished in the past. 00:26:43.220 --> 00:26:49.299 Friends, do you want to be full of the power of God's Spirit? 00:26:50.500 --> 00:26:55.980 And do you believe that God can fill you like he filled Jesus with the Holy Spirit? 00:26:57.180 --> 00:27:05.960 We need this power that can enter the souls of people and break the grip of evil to liberate them and to make them new. 00:27:06.839 --> 00:27:09.200 And that's the power of the living God. 00:27:09.380 --> 00:27:10.860 And God's been doing that. 00:27:10.859 --> 00:27:15.359 You know, he did it 118 years ago in Wales, in Korea, in India. 00:27:16.419 --> 00:27:20.099 He did it, you know, 165 years ago in New York City. 00:27:20.179 --> 00:27:26.519 And as I read more and more about these times where God answered the prayers of his people, I think, you know, we should seek it. 00:27:27.179 --> 00:27:28.339 We should plead for it. 00:27:28.359 --> 00:27:31.679 We should yearn for it with more intense prayer. 00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:35.039 What do you think? 00:27:36.680 --> 00:27:40.640 You're willing to join me in this concern for revival? 00:27:40.759 --> 00:27:47.860 Willing to pray with me for the power of God to fill not just our church, but his church everywhere? 00:27:47.859 --> 00:27:56.079 Many of the ancient manuscripts say that this kind can only come out by prayer and fasting. 00:27:56.079 --> 00:28:06.740 Maybe God's calling you to fast from food, from entertainment, from technology, from, you know, those lesser things that drain away our time. 00:28:06.740 --> 00:28:10.000 On things that don't really matter. 00:28:11.299 --> 00:28:14.099 To give our undivided attention to prayer. 00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:20.120 Because we'll never deal with the problems facing the church unless the whole church. 00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:22.299 Not just, you know, a couple people in the church. 00:28:22.380 --> 00:28:29.819 But the whole church is concentrating its attention in prayer and waiting on God and saying, God, fill us with your power. 00:28:29.819 --> 00:28:35.639 Maybe tonight you'll begin on your knees beside your bed before you go to sleep. 00:28:36.659 --> 00:28:40.079 Maybe you'll get up and roll out of bed and you'll fall on your face. 00:28:41.339 --> 00:28:48.299 And enter into that place of prayer where Jesus says, our Father who is unseen is seeing what's done in secret. 00:28:49.439 --> 00:28:56.059 Maybe as you gather, as our community groups launch, you'd spend more time praying like this. 00:28:56.059 --> 00:29:07.119 And maybe, you know, as we come together next week at 9.30 Sunday morning in our boiler room where we pray that we had about six people, seven people in there. 00:29:07.299 --> 00:29:08.659 And there were a few more seats. 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:14.440 You know, maybe you'd come and fill those seats and come pray that God would do great things here when we gather. 00:29:14.700 --> 00:29:22.079 That, you know, as we launch Wonderful Wednesdays, we're setting aside second Wednesdays to come as a church. 00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:24.720 All of you are invited to come to even song and prayer. 00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:29.319 We'll just sing hymns and we'll pray in the way that Jesus is calling us to pray. 00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:39.200 Because there's really no hope of dealing with this kind unless God manifests His power. 00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:46.360 But when He does manifest His power, it's like this boy. 00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:51.559 You know, Jesus just overcomes evil with apparent ease. 00:29:51.559 --> 00:29:56.200 And He deals with this problem in an effortless manner. 00:29:57.559 --> 00:29:58.940 The devil's exercised. 00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:00.399 The boy is healed. 00:30:00.500 --> 00:30:01.419 The father's relieved. 00:30:01.639 --> 00:30:02.599 The family's restored. 00:30:02.759 --> 00:30:03.559 The community rejoices. 00:30:04.419 --> 00:30:05.720 May it be so among us. 00:30:07.240 --> 00:30:08.679 Because Christ is risen. 00:30:10.119 --> 00:30:15.379 And our risen and living Lord is waiting for us to pray that He would do this again. 00:30:15.380 --> 00:30:20.880 And so may we come to terms with our own powerlessness in the face of evil. 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:25.300 May we come to know the power of God in Jesus by the Spirit. 00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:29.520 And might we seek more and more to be full of the Holy Spirit. 00:30:29.760 --> 00:30:31.400 Full of His power through prayer. 00:30:32.700 --> 00:30:37.160 And as we pray, let us pray with confidence that as Jesus says, 00:30:37.360 --> 00:30:40.420 everything is possible for those who believe. 00:30:40.420 --> 00:30:45.100 Let us pray deeply believing that nothing is impossible for God. 00:30:46.279 --> 00:30:54.880 And let us pray knowing that the eternal, the infinite, the unlimited power of God is there for the asking. 00:30:56.019 --> 00:31:03.900 If only we would radically humble ourselves and rely on His ability and His alone. 00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:06.940 In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:31:07.779 --> 00:31:08.019 Amen. 00:31:08.019 --> 00:31:08.140 Amen.