Weekly Sermons

The Weak Disciple

“There was no gap between what I said and what I knew I believed deep in my soul.”                            -B.G., Just As I Am

“Maybe it’s time we stop trying to outsmart the truth and let it have its day.”                                                                   -Batman’s butler Alfred in The Dark Knight Rises  

Read Mark 9:14-29 ESV               The Weak Disciple                        Let’s Pray!

Jesus exposes pride and unbelief                                                                    V. 14-19

While three disciples were having a mountain-top worship service with Jesus, the other nine were back down in the plain surrounded by needy people.

And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those whom He desired, and they came to Him. And He appointed twelve (whom He also named apostles) so that they might be with Him and He might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.                        -Mark 3:12-13

So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.                                                                                  -Mark 6:12-13

3 Reasons this miracle didn’t happen until Jesus was present:

To expose the pride and unbelief of the scribes.

To reinforce the necessity of humility and prayer to the disciples.

To challenge one man that day and all of us now to have a settled faith in Jesus.     

A little faith in a Big God goes a long way!                                                    V. 20-29

You can almost hear in his voice his doubting whether Jesus is really both willing and able to do what no one else has been able to do. It’s the same doubt many of you wrestle with when you think about Jesus.

Jesus’ statement that “All things are possible for one who believes” must be bought into through the affirmation of 4 truths:

1. My God is great and has the power to do anything
2. My God is good and wants what’s best for me (even more than I do)
3. My God is gracious and if He says ‘No,’ it’s gonna be for a greater ‘Yes!’
4. 1-3 will never make sense if I am only factoring in this life and not eternity

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who seek Him.                                                                                                        -Hebrews 11:6

“The core of all sin is the belief that God is not good.”     -Oswald Chamber

The reason weak faith in Jesus is still effective to save a sinner is because the key to faith is the reliability of faith’s object, not the amount we start with.