Marked by Faith: 7 Lessons from the Gospel of Mark

Praise the Lord.Will you stand with me this morning?And we’re gonna be in a number of places in the Gospel of Luke.We are continuing, this Sunday and next Sunday, we’re continuing our, our, our series on branded.Whose brand are you we- wearing?We’re all marked by something or someone, you know.The cars we drive, the clothes we wear.I wanna be marked by Jesus.I want people to look at my life and go, “Hey, there’s a resemblance in that guy’s life to this Jesus of Nazareth.”And I know I fall short all the time, but Jesus is my model.He’s, he’s the one I’m trying to be more like.And so this morning, the title of our message is Marked by Faith, and I wanna read from Luke 6:1-6.So if you have your Bible with you, and we do like to stand with our Bibles or our smartphones because we want to honor the Bible as God’s word.Luke chapterI’m sorry, Mark chapter.Did I say Luke?Have I been saying Luke?It’s ’cause my son Luke’s here, I think.That must be it.I don’t know.So Mark chapter 6, I’m in the Gospel of Mark, that’s what I meant to say.Mark 6:1, “Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples.When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.’Where did this man get these things?’ they asked.’What’s this wisdom that has been given him?What are these remarkable miracles he is performing?Isn’t this the carpenter?Isn’t this Mary’s son, the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon?Aren’t his sisters here with us?’ And they took offense at him.And Jesus said,” verse 4, “And J- Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.’ He could not do any miracles there except lay hands on a few sick people and heal them.”And verse 6, “He was amazed at their lack of faith.”Let’s pray.Lord, thank you for this story and the many stories in the Gospel of Mark that encourage us to have faith in the identity and the authority of Jesus, the Son of God.And Lord, I’m praying for an increase of faith.I’m praying for a revival and renewal of faith in my own heart and in the hearts of your people.Lord, give us childlike faith.Give us faith to trust God.Give us faith to believe in who Jesus is.And I know, Lord, if we’ll just have faith in you, you’ll do the rest.You’ll take care of the miracles.You’ll take care of everything else that needs to be done.But our task is to just believe in who you are.Lord, let faith break out all over this house of God, we pray.In Jesus’ name, amen.Amen.You may be seated this morning, and God bless you.And so we’re gonna be in a number of different passages in Mark.Forgive me, but this is one of those messages this morning that I got carried away.So as I put together 7 lessons on faith in the Gospel of Mark, I started going to story after story and asking God, “What can I learn from this story in the Gospel of Mark as it relates to Jesus and to my life and the life the Lord wants me to live?”And I, before we get started, uh, I wanna just remind you that the Gospel of Mark is the earliest gospel.And so from, from that, it, it’s important that we really understand, well, what is Mark telling us about Jesus, and what did Jesus claim about himself since Mark was written, like, 65 AD to 75 AD, somewhere in there.So just 30 years after Jesus reportedly was crucified, died, was buried, and then rose from the dead on the third day.That was the report.That’s what the disciples were running around, not in far off lands, but right there.They were saying right there to friends and relatives and neighbors, right there in Jerusalem, they were claiming, “This Jesus that we’ve been following, this Jesus that we’ve been believing was gonna be the Messiah, the promised one that was gonna kick the Romans out and be a conquering warrior, he has both died and now he is raised from the dead.”That was reported in Mark’s gospel, and Mark was only written 30 years after all that happened.It’s amazing to me that on at least 3 occasions, Mark 8:31, Mark 9:30, and Mark 10:32, on at least 3 occasions, Jesus predicted his death and resurrection, and explained to his disciples, “This is gonna happen.I know you don’t like it.I know this doesn’t fit your picture of the Messiah, but this is what I’ve come to do.I’ve come to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth, and I’ve come to be the Lamb of God, slain for the sins of the whole world.I’m going to be beaten, betrayed.I’m gonna be crucified, but on the third day, I’m gonna rise from the dead.”That’s in Mark 8, Mark 9, and Mark 10.3 different times, Jesus predicts his own demise and his resurrection.Some have said of Mark’s gospel, “Well, Jesus doesn’t actually claim to be God anywhere.”And Mark’s gospel often gets attacked by critics and atheists because Mark is the earliest gospel.They say, “Well, maybe John’s gospel, since it was written, like, in 90 AD, maybe John’s gospel has Jesus saying that he was God, but certainly not Mark’s gospel.”Well, I would challenge you to go through the chapters and pages of Gar- uh, Mark’s gospel, because I believe that in every chapter, in one way or another, Jesus is claiming to be God.In Mark 2:5-7, Jesus claims to be able to raise a paralyzed man from his paralysis, or he claims to, to be able to forgive his sins.And the people there know exactly what he’s saying.He’s claiming to be God.In another place, Jesus claims that he is Lord of the Sabbath, meaning he’s Lord of the Old Testament.He’s Lord of the Ten Commandments.He’s Lord of even the Sabbath rest that begins in Genesis chapter 2 after God has worked to create the world in 6 days, and now on the 7th day, God rests.And in Mark 2:28, Jesus claims authority even over the Sabbath day of rest.Mark chapter 6, he walks on water.Friends, that’s good enough for me.If you can walk on waterI’ve come close a few times, but I’ve never actually been able to stay up there that long.But if you can walk on water, wow.In Mark 6:48-50, Jesus is walking on water, but it’s not just that.He’s declaring himself as ego eimi.He’s declaringThat’s in Greek.He’s declaring himself, “I am.”Where does that come from?Exodus 3:14.Yahweh who meets Jesus, or, I’m sorry, Yahweh who meets Moses in the burning bu- bush and declares himself as the, the I Am that is eternally existent.He is the great Yahweh.Now Jesus comes to his disciples walking on water and saying, “I am that I am.I’m Yahweh.I’m God.”So friends, if we really understand Mark’s gospel and the words of Jesus in Mark’s gospel, we see again and again and again that Jesus is claiming to be the divine Son of God.He’s claiming to be equal to the Father.So I want us to remember that now as we look at 7 different stories about faith and being marked by faith as we follow Jesus.first, I just wanna think about what is faith?And I began to think about the book of Hebrews.So faith in the book of Hebrews is defined really for me, here’s how I say it, bold confidence in a God whom we cannot see but trust as creator, sustainer of all things, and as a promise giver and promise keeper.Here, here’s what Hebrews 11:1 says: “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for.It is the evidence of things we cannot see.”But I wanna ask this question: Why is faith important in your life today?Young or old, why, why does it matter that I have faith in God?Why does it matter that I have a Christian faith?Here’s what I would say.Faith is important because it begins and sustains a relationship with God.Jesus died for the whole world, but the whole world ain’t walking with God, right?Why?Well, because people have not expressed their faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.They’ve not expressed their faith in the death of Jesus and resurrection.They’ve not expressed faith in the things of God.Another reason that faith is important in our life today is Hebrews 11:6.The Bible is clear in Hebrews 11.It says, “Without faith, it’s impossible to please God.”So without a bold confidence in God and his Word and who he is, it is impossible to make God smile.It’s impossible to please God without your expression of faith.I wanna turn over real quick.I was reading in Hebrews 11 this morning, and I, I came to verse 13 because in Mark’s gospel, it’s clear faith is believing in who Jesus is and his authority.It’s pretty simple in, in the Gospels.God wants you to have faith in Jesus.He wants you to be convinced that Jesus is the Savior and Lord of the whole world, and he can be Savior and Lord of your life.And we put our trust, we put our bold confidence in Jesus.That’s what the Gospels are all about.But it’s interesting, as you move to Hebrews, and of course Hebrews chapter 11 is the faith chapter, and if you know anything about Hebrews, Hebrews was written to kind of Jewish Christians.They come from a Jewish background, but they believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and they’ve been scattered throughout the Roman Empire, and they’re experiencing a lot of persecution in the 1st century.And so as we go through the faith chapter and see all these heroes like Abel and Enoch and Abraham and Noah and all these people who walked by faith, look with me at verse 13.Hebrews 11 verse 13.Here’s what it says about these great heroes of faith.”All these people were still living by faith when they died.They did not receive the things promised;they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.”Friends, that verse grips me this morning.Because as I read through Mark’s gospel, I’m reminded, and we’re gonna see it again and again, Jesus wants our faith to increase.He wants us to have more faith in who he is and his authority and what he can do.And I want that in my life.But I’m also reminded as I look at Hebrews that bold confidence in God is also holding onto God when our prayers don’t seem to be answered, when the promises that we thought for healing or for salvation for a loved one or, or someone dies in the Lord and they’re in heaven, but we’re left going, “Lord, why didn’t you heal them?”And Hebrews 11 would remind us that people who have a firm hold on God, and they put their faith in God, and they’re trusting in God, and they have a bold confidence in God and who he is and his word and his promises also are defined as faithful.Because when things don’t come through like they thought, they just keep on having faith.Uh, uh, that grips me this morning.So faith is believing in Jesus and his identity and his authority, but faith is also trusting in Jesus and holding onto God when it seems like your prayers aren’t being answered.But let me just say, God’s always working.God’s always working, even, and I would say especially, when we feel likeAnd I don’t wanna base my f- my walk with God on feelings, but we do have feelings, don’t we?And we do have doubts, and we do have struggles, and it’s in those moments that we feel like, “Lord, I don’t understand what you’re doing.I don’t understand why youYou know, Lord, you let me down over here,” or, “I didn’t f- I don’t feel like you showed up over here.”God is still working.In church, what faith really looks like according to Hebrews 11 is we keep holding onto God with bold confidence even though we haven’t received all the promises that we thought we were going to receive.That’s faith.Let me just share a story by way of illustration that helps us understand what even missionaries and other people go through when they’re walking by faith but not always seeing the results.Faith honors God, and God honors faith.A story from the life of missionaries Robert and Mae Moffitt illustrates this truth.For 10 years, this couple labored faithfully in Botswana, Africa, without one ray of encouragement to brighten their day.They could not report a single convert.And I’ve heard missionary stories.I praise God that when we were missionaries in Kyiv, Ukraine, that wasn’t totally true.It wasUh, there were some years when it was difficult, but I remember when our, our Russian teacher, Vera, gave her heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, we were dancing.We were excited, ’cause that was somebody we were spending a lot of time with, and for her to confess faith was so wonder- wonderful.But can you imagine being a missionary for 10 years in some place, no converts, not even one?They could not report a single convert.Finally, the directors of their mission board began to question the wisdom of continuing the work, but the thought of leaving their post brought great grief to this devoted couple, for they felt sure that God was in their labors and that they would see people turn to Christ in due season.They stayed, and for a year or 2 longer, darkness reigned.Then one day a friend in England sent word to the Moffitts that she wanted to mail them a gift and asked them what they would like.Trusting that in time the Lord would bless their work, Mrs.Moffitt replied, “Send us a communion set.I am sure that soon we will have believers who will be needing it.”And God honored that dear woman’s faith.The Holy Spirit moved upon the hearts of the villagers, and soon a little group of 6 converts was united to form the first Christian church in that land.The communion set from England was delayed in the mail, but on the very day before the first commemoration of the Lord’s Supper in Botswana, the set arrived.Amen.Pretty cool.Pretty cool.And so especially when we’re not seeing God work as we thought he would, we should keep on keeping on because God is always working.Let’s turn now to 7 lessons of faith in Mark’s gospel.Uh, turn with me back to Mark 2:1-12, and this is the first lesson we learn about faith, is surround yourself with people of faith.Mark chapter 2 verse 1 through 12 is the story of the paralyzed man who can’t get to Jesus because of all of the crowd, and yet he’s got 4 friends.And in this story, it’s not the faith of the one who is ill, but it’s the faith of the friends who are around this dear man that are so persistent and so determined to get their friend closer to Jesus so that Jesus can see his need and minister to his need, that they make a hole in the roof and they put him down through that roof.Man, can you imagine the excitement of that day?All those people sitting, it’d be like sitting in church here today, and all of a sudden a hole opens up and somebody drops down through on a rope saying, “I need Jesus, help me.”Wow, we’d, we’d all be pretty surprised.But the lesson here in chapter 2 verses 1 through 12, and let me just read verses 3 through 5.”Some men came bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by 4 of them.Since they could not get to him, to, to, get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus, uh, by digging through it, and then lowered the man, the mat the man was lying on.When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.'” Think about that.So Jesus didn’t see his faith.Jesus saw their faith.And so the lesson here about faith is get around people who have a faith in God.Get arou- get some friends and some, some loved ones who have faith in their heart, and spend some time with them.Maybe it’ll rub off, but even if it won’t rub off, God’s gonna see their faith, and you might get blessed because of that.A second lesson on faith comes from Mark chapter 5, Mark 5:21-36.This is the woman with the issue of blood.And the second lesson of faith is simply get closer to Jesus.If you’re struggling in faith, if you’re struggling with doubts, if you’re struggling with your walk with God, if you’re struggling with an issue that’s going on in your life, get closer to Jesus.That was the determination of the woman with the issue of, of blood.Look with me there in, in, in verse 25.I’m gonna pick up in, uh, Mark 5:25.”A large crowd followed and pressed around him,” and then verse 25, “And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years.”So this wasn’t a, a small issue, it wasn’t a temporary issue.This is a long-standing health problem.And verse 26 said, “She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better, she grew worse.”And so we know from this detail of the story, she had tried everything she could to get healthy, to get better, but she had suffered a great deal, and nobody could help her.Verse 27, “When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.”And here’s her faith in verse 28, “Because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.”That word suffering should get our attention.Aren’t you glad Jesus cares about our suffering?Jesus cares when we suffer.Jesus cares when we have a hard time.Jesus cares when we’re troubled.And, and yet this woman’s faith is expressed simply in the thought, “If I can just get closer to Jesus.”And so I’m praying in my life today, “Lord, help me to have an increase of faith,” which wh- what does that look like?Well, I think what it looks like is I need to keep getting closer to Jesus.I need to have that, her thought in my mind saying, “Lord, with my problems, with my frustrations, with my discouragements, with my relationships, everything going on in my life, I just need to keep getting closer to Jesus.”That should be my response, because she got close enough to Jesus to touch him, and power, divine power went out of Jesus, and she experienced healing.And so faith causes us to run toward the Lord in the midst of our struggles rather than away from him.You know, too often when we go through hard times, that’s what we do, we, we shrink away.We shrink away.I really believe that so many people in our generation today, that’s why they don’t connect in church, ’cause they think, “Well, church is for everybody.That’s a place where people who have it all together with God.”It’s not true.I don’t have it all together, and I’ve been in the ministry for 30-plus years, and I’ve still got areas of my life that God’s working on.I’ve still got things I’m trying to understand about God and life.And so we’re not a group of people who have it all together, amen?And we need to spread that, we need to spread that message.We’re a group of people who are forgiven.We’re a group of people who are walking with the Lord.We’re not perfect.We don’t have it all together, but we’re looking to the Je- to the Lord, and we’re trying to get closer to Jesus, because we know that whatever we’re facing, that’s the direction we should be running, not away from him.A third, uh, truth as it relates to faith, and I think this may be the crux of the matter.It goes back to chapter 6, which we read in the opening.We need to recognize the authority of Jesus.That’s really what the Gospels are all about.Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they want us to understand who Jesus is.They want us to understand that Jesus is the Son of God, that he’s God himself, that he’s equal to the Father, that he has the power and authority to forgive sins and to heal and to save, and he can transform your life, that he’s brought the heavenly kingdom to an earthly kingdom, and the god of this world has no more power in your life when you invite Jesus into your life.And I love that.I love that, that though I, though I live in a dark world, I live in a world of suffering, I live in a world of trouble and trials, and I get up every day having to face that often, right?We have toWe live in the real world.You don’t live your Christianity here at church.This is where we come to get refreshed, and we come to get reminded, and we come to get built up in the Lord, and we come to connect with other believers and get around people who are people of faith.But we’ve gotta live our Christian life out in the real world, right?Every day, and we, and you and I, we face darkness, we face c- uh, the chaos of this culture, uh, we face fear and sometimes anxiety in our own hearts.And so we have to live our life out in the, in the real world, and it’s so important that as we’re doing that, that we have a firm grip on who Jesus is and his authority.It’s not like I’m asking God, “God, give me more faith in my faith.You know, Lord, help me just to be able to stir up my positivity and just be more faith or think good thoughts.”No, it is have faith in who Jesus is-in your life.I’m not him, and he is he.That’s right.Right?I mean, he’s the one who can work the miracles.I’m no miracle worker.I can’t work miracles, but Jesus can, and if I’m close to him, he, even his authority can get into my life, and I can begin to walk in his authority.I don’t have to live in the darkness or let the darkness overcome me, ’cause I have Jesus in my life.See, it’s interesting in this passage of scripture, Mark chapter 6, there’s a lack of faith in Jesus’ hometown.And of course, his hometown is Nazareth.That’s what Mark is referring to.Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but he spent his early years in Nazareth.As an adult, it was Capernaum, which is on the northwest shore s- of the Sea of Galilee.Capernaum was kind of his headquarters, but here Mark is referring to Nazareth.And so Na- Jesus goes to Nazareth.He’s in his hometown.It’s the Sabbath.He goes into the synagogue, and he begins to teach, and everyone’s saying, “Wow, he’s teaching amazing things, and we’re hearing about miracles.”And yet because they knew his mother and his brothers and his sisters, they despise him, and they are offended at him, and he’sThey’re like, “Who is this Jesus saying he is?Because we know that he’s just the son of a carpenter.How could he be anyone special?”And so Jesus, in verse 4, chapter 6, “Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own town among his relatives and in his own house.'” And trust me, I searched and searched and thought, “Lord, what, what Old Testament scripture is he quoting?”He isn’t.There is no Old Testament saying.That s- must have just been a cultural common phrase of the day.And so Jesus is not quoting from the Old Testament.He’s not alluding to the Old Testament.He’s just saying maybe something that was going around in tho- in the first century, that a prophet is without honor in his own hometown.But here’s what really was amazing for me in this passage that spoke to my heart.Verse 5: “He could not do any miracles there.”wait, Jesus, you’re the Son of God.You are God himself.Yeah, he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, but there were no mighty miracles.Why?Well, it’sI don’t think I’m adding in to this story.I think it’s right there.There was no faith in his hometown.They didn’t believe that Jesus was who he said he was.They didn’t believe in his identity.They didn’t believe in his authority.That speaks to me today that, wow, maybe I need to spend a little more time focusing on Jesus.I’m gonna trust you.I’m gonna believe in you.I’m going to, when I face problems and struggles in my life today, and I can go the world’s way, or I can come to you and say, “Lord, you are the God of heaven.I’m gonna trust you, and I’m gonna pray like you can do anything in my life, and then I’m just gonna trust you.”Wonder what would happen if we had that kind of faith.Lord, give me that kind of faith.Give me that kind of faith, Lord.Help me to have faith that really understands who Jesus is, how great He is, how marvelous He is, and that He canAnything’s possible with Jesus.And then a fourth lesson comes from the faith of the Canaanite woman.This is a very interesting story in Mark chapter 7.Mark 7:24-30.Let me just begin in verse 24.The lesson here is persevere in faith when praying.Sometimes we have to pray, and we have to keep on praying.Sometimes we have to pray, and we have to keep on asking.Sometimes when we pray, we may feel like the answer is no, or the answer is wait, and, and we’ve gotta, if we’re praying according to God’s will, we just gotta keep praying.We gotta be persistent in prayer.Verse 24, uh, Mark 7, “Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre.He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it.Yet He could not keep his presence secret.In fact, as soon as, uh, in fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit”Excuse me.It’s pretty tricky to cough when you’re preaching with this on because you have to turn it off before you cough.Otherwise, it’s a real problem.All right, back to verse 25.”In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet.The woman was, was a Greek, born in s- uh, Syrian Phoenicia.She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.”And then here’s what Jesus says to her.”‘First, let the children eat all they want,’ he told her, ‘for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.'” I wanna just stop there for a minute because that does sound pretty harsh, right?I mean, it does.To our modern ears, we’re asking the question, why would Jesus be so harsh there in verse 27?Jesus, it seems He’s using a metaphor which compares a desperate mother seeking help to a dog being denied food, and it does seem harsh to us.It’s like, wow, He’s really going after her.What we need to understand is up to this point in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus, His ministry has been totally focused on Jewish people in every chapter, not Gentile people.Totally focused on Jewish people, and you see it again here in this chapter.He wants to keep his ministry rather secret.He doesn’t– He’s not ready for everybody to know that He’s the Messiah, and you see that again and again and again in, in Mark’s gospel.He, He’s wanting to kinda keep the lid on who He really is.And so He’s not really ready to spread the gospel and His message to, to the, to the Gentiles.But I think if we actually begin to understand that and then take a pause and see what’s going on here, that Jesus doesn’t ultimately push her away or send her away, but look at, look at verse 28.He actually ends up helping her.She says, “‘Lord,’ she replied, ‘even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.'” So she’s not deterred.I mean, Jesus says, “Hey, you’re a Canaanite woman.You’re a Gentile woman.I’m here to help the Jewish people.”And to us, uses a very derogatory, right, metaphor, calling her a dog, ugh.But she’s not deterred.she’s like, “Yeah, but I still need help.”So then verse 29, “Then he told her, ‘For such a reply, you may go.The demon has left your daughter.'” And so this is another example of not only persistent faith, but it’s an example of God’s heart for the outsider.And we see this in the Old Testament again and again, in the story of Ruth, in the story of Esther, uh, in, in the story of Rahab.We see God repeatedly in the Old Testament including those who are not Jewish people into the, the family of God, the nation of Israel, or even the line of Jesus as the Messiah’s going to come.And we see that here, that God has a heart for the outsider.Jesus is interacting with a Canaanite woman, and he really wants to minister to Jewish people, and, and so he rebuffs her at first, but when she comes back with persistent faith, she doesn’t give up.He says, “For such a reply, you may go.The demon has left your daughter.”Wow.A fifth truth as it relates to faith comes from Mark 8:22-26.The outcome of your faith may be gradual.The outcome of your faith may be gradual.Look with me at chapter 8 verse 22.They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.Verse 23, He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.That is an interesting verse.I think, again, it has something to do in the earlier parts of the gospel, Jesus is not wanting everybody to know that he is God’s only Son come to save the whole world, and he’s the Messiah.And if you look at John 6, where Jesus fed the 5,000, and you see that right after he fed the 5,000, they want, the crowds wanted to take him by force and make him their king.You understand then why Jesus at this point’s wanting to kinda keep things a little bit secret.He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”Now, this, this story of healing is unique in, in a number of ways, but first we see that there are many different methods that Jesus used to heal, and this one is quite unique.If you came forward to the altar and the pastor spit on your eyes, uh, y- one of 2 things would happen.You would, your eyes would be immediately healed, and you’d go, “This is the church I’m gonna make my home church.”Or, or nothing would happen, and you’d go, “That pastor’s lost his mind.I’ll never come back again.”When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”Here’s where the story continues to get very interesting.He looked up and said, “I see people;they look like trees walking around.”Verse 25, Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes.Then his eyes were opened.His sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.Jesus sent him home saying, “Don’t even, don’t even go into the village.”I love this story, ’cause it reminds me that sometimes when I’m praying, God is gonna bring an answer immediately.But if when Jesus prayed for healing and that man wasn’t healed immediately, it means that in my life, if I don’t get an immediate answer to what I’m praying about, that’s okay.Just keep praying.Just keep having faith, because what God is doing may not come immediately.It can be instantaneous, but it can also be a process.We see it right here in scripture.I’m not making this up, for even when Jesus prayed for a man’s eyes to be healed, it didn’t happen immediately, completely.It was just partial, and then Jesus prayed again, and then he could see fully.And so sometimes when we pray and we have faith in God, we need to remind ourselves that God is at work, but God has his timing.God has his ways to accomplish what he wants to accomplish.A sixth truth regarding faith comes from Mark 9:14-32, and this one also encourages me today, and I hope it’ll encourage you.Confess your lack of faith.It’s okay.It’s biblical, even.Look with me at, at, look with me at chapter 9, verse 14 through 32.When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around him 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 a- uh, 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 then Jesus, verse 19, “You 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 fire or water to kill him.But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”Now I want you to look with me at verse 23.’Cause Jesus seems to detect something in the father.And so in verse 23, Jesus says, “If you can?”Question mark, said Jesus.”Everything is possible for one who believes.”In other words, back there in verse 22, the father’s coming, saying, “Hey, Jesus, we got this huge problem.No one’s ever been able to heal my son or fix the problem my son is facing, but, you know, if you could do something, great.”And so Jesus says, “If you can?Everything is possible for the one who believes.”Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe.Help me overcome my unbelief.”I love the honesty of the Bible.This story is so beautiful because it gives me hope that just because I have doubts, just because I don’t understand everything about God, just because I don’t u- understand everything about what God’s doing in my life right now, young person, that shouldn’t mean that you give up your walk with God.Amen.And we live in a world where if you go on YouTube and, uh, I mean, everybody can challenge anything, and you can appear to be an expert on everything.And, and, and so before long, young believers, me included, uh, we can start to doubt things and go, “Well, do I really believe that, or should I believe that?”Don’t let your doubts destroy your faith.Doubt your doubts, not your faith, amen?Because here’s a father who he was trying to believe in Jesus, and Jesus even detected that he was not really, he was not really clear in what he even believed Jesus could do.And so Jesus comes back to him and says, “Hey, everything’s possible if you’d really believe.”And then the man confesses, “I believe.Help my unbelief.Help my unbelief.”And then seventh and finally this morning, a seventh lesson on faith is we need to pray specifically.Not just pray, you know, “Lord, bless the food,” and, “Thank you for a great day.”Those are good prayers, but I’m learning to pray specifically.Look with me at chapter 10, and we’ll wrap up with this.Mark 10:46, “Then they came to Jericho.As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Mart- Bartimaeus, was sitting by the roadside begging.When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.'” I, I’ve always loved this verse because it reminds me that faith often looks like a cry of desperation just for God’s mercy to help in a situation.It- faith doesn’t always look like, even though we define it as bold confidence and we define it as trust, faith doesn’t always look like, “Hey, God, look at my faith, you know.I’m ready for you to work a miracle.”No.More often than not in the Gospels, faith looks like, “God, I don’t have anywhere else to turn, and I need some big time help.Son of David, have mercy on me.I don’t deserve it.I don’t deserve for you to show up in my life.I don’t deserve for you to forgive me of all my sins.I don’t for- I don’t deserve for you to give me a new life in Christ, but if you would just have mercy on me, O God.”Verse 48, “Many rebuked him and hol- told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’ So they called to the blind man, ‘Cheer up!On your feet!He’s calling you.'” Wow.Ooh, that could get emotional.Think about that, being there if Jesus calls your name.Ooh, “Tom, come over here.I got something I’m gonna do for you.”But then verse 51, Jesus actually says to a blind person, “What do you want me to do for you?”Jesus, you’ve lost your mind?I mean, he can’t see.He wants to see.No, Jesus wants him to get specific.He’s been saying, “Have mercy on me.Help me.Help me, I need help.Son of David, have mercy on me.”But Jesus wants him to get specific.”What do you want me to do for you?”Jesus asked him.The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.””Go,” said Jesus, “Your faith has healed you.”So what does faith look like in this story?It looks like crying out for mercy, but it looks like praying specifically.Let’s get specific when we pray.Prayers of just thank- thanksgiving are wonderful.Prayers of, “Bless this food and give us a good day tomorrow, God,” are wonderful prayers, but I wanna encourage you, as you grow in your faith, to begin to pray specifically to the Son of God and trust in His identity and His authority, and begin to pray specifically, saying, “Lord, I’ve got this situation this week with my job, and I need your help, and I’m praying specifically that you’re gonna work this situation out.”‘Cause here’s what happens.Then, when God shows up and does that, you’re like, “Whoa.God just worked in my life this week.God just made a difference in my life.”That’s the joy of praying specifically.I wanna invite the worship team to come back and, and join us.And this morning, the altar call is, is very simple.Lord, give us more faith.Amen.I wanna have more faith.I wanna be a person who’s growing in faith.I wanna trust God and believe God for, that anything’s possible in my life, anything’s possible in the church, anything’s possible.No problem is too great for God.And I love these different lessons in the Gospel of Mark where we see that sometimes answers to prayer are gradual.Sometimes we just need to confess our faith, but also our unbelief.It’s okay to just say to God, “God, you know right where I’m at and what I’m thinking, and I’m confused, and I don’t understand,” if you’re even good right- It just doesn’t even feel like you’re good right now.So God is okay with that.We shouldn’t let our doubts push us away from God.But I’m praying this morning that we would be a church and a people that has more faith just to trust in who Jesus is and what He can do.Hi, I’m Pastor Tom Ragsdell.I’m Pastor Ellis Benus.And we’re from Columbia first Assembly.We are a church that’s on mission with Jesus.Our vision is simple: we wanna make Jesus famous in your heart and in our community.Absolutely.Thank you so much for connecting with us online.We would also love to connect with you in person.We are located at 1100 North 7th Street, right in the heart of Columbia, Missouri, right across the street from Hickman High School.So if you’re in the Central Missouri area and you’re looking for a home church, come hang out with us.If you’re just connecting online and you’re nowhere near us, then please connect with us in the comments.If you have a prayer request, if you have a question, if you’re, if you’re wondering anything about the Lord or Christianity, please let us know, and we would be happy to engage with you in the comments.We believe God’s doing something special at our church, and we want you to be a part of it.We’re a multi-generational church.We have people from all different backgrounds.We’re, we’re a church of the Word.We’re a church of the Spirit.We believe Jesus can transform your life.That’s why we’re on mission with Him, and we wanna help you know God, we wanna help you grow in God, and we wanna share hope in our community.So connect with us, and we wanna connect with you.Awesome.Have a wonderful and a blessed day.