This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to our third day of looking together through Mark chapter 9. We're going
to look at verses 14 to 29 today, and as we're looking through this chapter
we're seeing how the disciples learned, how they learned in different ways. The
disciples learned first through experience.

They went to a mount of transfiguration and they learned that Jesus is the
teacher. The disciples also learned through questions. They asked about Elijah
and when is he to come?

That's a great way to learn. Here we see that the disciples learn a third way.
It's a way that none of us like to learn, but it's probably the most powerful
way that we learn.

They learn through failure. Listen to what happens in the beginning of these
verses we're going to look at today, verses 14 to 18. When they, these are the
three disciples that are up on the mountain coming down, when they came to the
other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law
arguing with them.

As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran
to greet him. "What are you arguing with them about? " he asked.

A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought you my son who is possessed by
a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to
the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid.

I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not. " And
there's the failure. Well, Jesus and the other three were up on the mountain in
this wonderful moment of transfiguration.

The other nine are down in the valley having this difficult time with trying to
drive out a demon. Isn't that how life works sometimes? The moments of
transfiguration are few and far between, but the moments down in the valley when
you feel like you're trying to drive out a demon, that's what your life seems to
be filled with.

And in their case, they faced what we often face. They tried to make a
difference. They tried to drive out this demon and they failed.

And a whole crowd has gathered around them now to watch their failure, to maybe
even rejoice some of them in their failure, to enjoy their failure. By the way,
this experience in this moment is exactly what Peter had wanted to avoid up on
the mountain. He wanted to build three tabernacles.

He wanted to stay on the mountain. He wanted to not deal with problems anymore.
But that is not what life in this world is for.

We enjoy the mountaintops for a moment, but we grow in the valleys and we
minister. We change other people's lives through our ministry in the valleys.
All of us, we love our successes, but we grow most through our failures.

Now, before looking at the lessons that these disciples and you and I can learn
from failure here, there is another dramatic experience with a demon that goes
on here. And it brings questions for us as we look at it today, because we're
not as familiar with this spiritual reality as they may have been even in that
day. These verses, again, cause us to look at the reality of demons in a
spiritual world.

As we read through these verses and what this demon was doing to this poor boy,
you and I look at it and think, "Well, was this just a medical condition? "
Obviously not, because God confirms in these verses as Jesus casts out the demon
in the later verses that it was a demon. So what's going on here?

What's happening here? What's happening here is the spiritual world is coming
face to face with the material world, and in this case, bringing evil into it.
You see, the Bible is very clear about something you and I often forget in our
all-too-material world today.

There is a spiritual world that is right alongside of us, and that spiritual
world, in fact, is stronger, more powerful than the material. That spiritual
world is going to last longer. But that spiritual world is not only evil.

Yes, there are demons. There is evil in this spiritual world, but there is also
good. There are angels, good messengers of God, and beyond that, there is Jesus.

There is God the Father. There is the Holy Spirit, who is empowering us to live
the life that God wants us to live. That's why 1 John says, "Greater is he who
is in us than he who is in the world.

" There is a spiritual world. There is a spiritual battle. No doubt about it,
but in this spiritual battle, you do not have to be afraid.

You can be afraid and pretend there is no such thing as a battle, and you're
going to be worse off for it, or you can hear God's assurance, God's confidence.
Greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world. I can trust in that.

I can count on that. In Jesus' day, they weren't so afraid to notice the fact
that this spiritual world intersected the material world sometimes. Sometimes
we're afraid to notice that.

But in noticing that, we can also see that God wants to empower us to make a
difference in our daily lives. Now, in the lives of the disciples, they weren't
empowered to make a difference in this case. They had prayed that a difference
could happen, and nothing happened.

What do you learn from failure? Failure can be one of our greatest teachers. It
gets us to ask questions.

It gets us to listen like we've never listened before. Failure taught these
disciples two powerful things. It taught them the power of God, and it taught
them the power of prayer.

Look at how this happened. First, in verses 19 to 24, we see how failure taught
them the power of God. Let me read those verses.

"Oh, unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you?
How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.

" So they brought him. When the Spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy
into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the
mouth.

Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this? " "From
childhood," he answered. "It has often thrown him into the fire or water to kill
him.

But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. " "If you can," said
Jesus, "everything is possible for him who believes. " Eventually the boy's
father exclaimed, "I do believe.

Help me overcome my unbelief. " Failure taught these disciples that it's not a
question of if he can, because everything is possible to him who believes,
because God always can. It's a question of if he wills.

Jesus at the beginning of these verses expresses a compassionate heart over the
unbelief in the world. "But that hurt that he has, how long shall I put up with
you? That hurt that he has over unbelief does not cause Jesus to walk away from
the world.

" He doesn't have this spirit of despair where he says, "I've given up on you. "
Instead, Jesus walks straight into the world. He says, "Bring him to me.

" Instead of despair, instead of escape, Jesus chooses action. And in so doing,
Jesus teaches his disciples, he teaches us about the power of God. Our reaction,
I don't know about you, but oftentimes my reaction to failure is, "I didn't try
hard enough," or, "I didn't understand what to do.

I put it all on me. " And Jesus turns that thinking on its head when he says the
focus should be on God and not on us. Whenever you have a failure, it's an
invitation to put the focus on God and not on you.

If you put the focus on yourself, you're just going to get more and more
depressed. Who wants that? Put the focus on God.

God, what do you want me to learn? God, how do you want to show your power in
this situation, even though I have failed? How do you want me to see that even
though I am weak, you are strong?

God, am I believing in you who can do the impossible? Now I think all of us can
relate to the Father's Prayer in these verses. He prays, "I do believe.

Help me overcome my unbelief. " I love that prayer. It is a prayer of humble
trust.

We're going to come back to it in a moment. But first, let's focus on the fact
that failure taught these disciples a second thing. It taught them the power of
God, but it also taught them the power of prayer.

Listen to what happens in verses 25 to 29. When Jesus saw that a crowd was
running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he
said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.

" The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently, and came out. The boy looked so
much like a corpse that many said, "He's dead. " Jesus took him by the hand and
lifted him up to his feet, and he stood up.

After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't
we drive it out? " He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer. " Jesus
is teaching them in their failure about the power of prayer.

You see, Jesus had given the disciples the power to drive out demons. He gifted
them with this power, and so they're trying to use this power with this boy who
desperately needed that power in his life. But in this case, it didn't happen,
it didn't work.

In this case, Jesus said prayer needed to happen. In this case, what does he
mean when he talks about prayer? Jesus is saying in this case, a depth of
constant connection to God is what was needed.

Sometimes, you and I, we look at our lives and God has given us power to do
certain things. Maybe power in the way that we think, maybe power in the way
that we act, maybe power in some spiritual gift that we have. But alongside of
that power, I need, you need a depth of constant connection to God.

And when I don't have that, then many times when I try to do something in my
power or even in a power that I think God has gifted me with, I find myself
failing. And in that failure, God is inviting, he's giving you this invitation,
connect to me, do this in relationship with me. Why would you want to do this
out of relationship with me?

Connect to my power. This kind can come out only by prayer. There are sometimes
in your life as you're serving God that you can serve him and not pray very
much.

I've been in times like that in my life. I just haven't thought about him much.
Not that I didn't want to, I just got too busy doing other things.

And when that happens, there's usually going to be a failure at some point. And
that failure is an invitation. It's not a punishment.

It's not God saying you didn't pray enough, so I'm going to punish you. It's an
invitation. It's God saying, you need to connect with me because that's how
ministry is supposed to work.

Connect with me. Understand the power of prayer is the power of my relationship
with you. What do you need to learn from a failure you might be facing right
now?

You need to learn the power of God? You need to learn the power of prayer? As we
talk to God today, I'd like to mirror that prayer that that father prayed
earlier.

It's a prayer that I need to pray. You probably need to pray often. Let's pray
it together.

Just say to Jesus Christ, Jesus, I do believe. Help me in my unbelief. I do
believe you can meet my daily needs, even in a time of great need, even in a
time when I maybe don't have a job, maybe in a time when I don't know the future
financially.

I do believe you can meet my needs. Help me in my unbelief. God, I do believe
you can deal with this difficult relationship I'm facing.

Help me in my unbelief. God, I do believe that I can grow in my Christian faith.
Help me in my unbelief.

God, I do believe that you can free me from that temptation, from saying yes to
it. Help me in my unbelief. And Jesus Christ, I do believe that you have a
purpose and plan for my life and that you can empower me for that purpose and
plan.

Help me in my unbelief. I pray this, Jesus, in your name, amen. And we'll see
you back tomorrow.

We're going to look at Jesus' powerful teaching about living a great life.